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Note: Guest Opinions are added to this page on an intermittent basis. Moving ahead Medford’s Southeast Plan is finally under way, and that’s a good thing We were pleased to see Medford’s Southeast Plan beginning to take shape, for three reasons. First, we have long been fans of the idea that mixing housing with commercial development, schools, parks and pedestrian-friendly streets makes sense. The idea is to encourage residents to walk more and drive less. Second, despite the traffic problems at the south Medford freeway interchange that held up the project for some time, it makes sense to us to proceed. If development is not allowed in the southeast, it will happen elsewhere, without the mixed-use approach. Traffic generated by development elsewhere would still add to the interchange problem as residents drove into Medford to work and shop. Finally, we’re pleased to see that the houses planned in the first two subdivisions will not be priced out of the reach of most buyers. Stonegate Estates’ 203 homes will range from $140,000 to $250,000 — hardly palatial prices in today’s market. Prices in the Summerfield development will start at $200,000. One of the major property owners in the area notes that this is the first master-planned project of this size in the state. It’s nice to see Medford in the forefront of urban planning efforts. No evidence We sympathize with the Shasta Indians who are convinced their oral history correctly recalls the poisoning of 3,000 Indians in 1851. Certainly the history of this region — and the entire country, for that matter — is replete with atrocities and injustices perpetrated on American Indians by European settlers. But historians doubt the incident described in the Shastas’ oral history ever took place. According to the legend, 3,000 Indians died after eating strychnine-laced beef and bread served at the signing of a treaty with the tribe at Fort Jones, Calif. on Nov. 4, 1851. Trouble is, historians say the signing didn’t take place there, and that the Indians who were present represented 3,000 others who were not there. Exhaustive searches of historical documents have failed to turn up any evidence that any mass poisoning took place. We’re inclined to think that if such an event had happened, there would be some mention of it in the historical record. |
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