October 12, 2005
Language training unnecessary
You had an article on providing languages in school to help children who were having trouble with English. I’m not sure this is really needed.
Our family was moved to Zurich, Switzerland, from Chicago in 1968. We had four children: 3 months, 8, 9, 10 (15 months apart). We put our children in the Swiss public school, which is German. They were the only Americans in the school. They had 10 hours of language training in
German.
We "bribed" our children by offering a Swiss bicycle if they spent 90 days in the Swiss school. If, after 90 days, they didn’t want to go to this school, they could go to the American School. After 90 days, they decided to stay in the Swiss school for five years.
They are fluent in German, Swiss German, and pretty good in French. We spoke English at home. With our success in Switzerland with German I don’t see a need to add the extra language in our schools. — Gerry Robertson, Medford
Fix levees with phone books
How many phone books do I need? I have had as many as four at one time — which one should I choose? What shall I do with the other three? How many trees were sacrificed so someone can put out a better phone book? Perhaps all the leftover phone books could be sent to New
Orleans to help stop the leaks in the levees.
My friends and neighbors are in a quandary as to what to do with all these phone books. Perhaps we should have a law that states a person can’t own more than one phone book (two at the most). I’m sure this is not the only community in the nation with "phone book
glut." You know they will all end up in the dump. What a waste. — Randy Miltier, Phoenix
Bush keeps trying
President Bush made mistakes.
1. He doesn’t respond when critics assign him ridiculous motives.
2. He trusted his opposition. He came into office with the promise to bring an attitude of cooperation to Washington. What he didn’t expect was that his opposition saw that as a weakness, and acted like sharks who had tasted blood. He tries to cooperate with those who want it all and
will give nothing.
3. He keeps on trying to satisfy sharks. The result is a vast amount of unnecessary spending because he did not stand on what should have been conservative principle. The prescription drug "benefit" is one very expensive mistake, which will help the American people very little,
and medical and pharmaceutical sharks very much.
The Iraqi war may or may not prove to be a mistake. It may prove that a small group of terrorists can defeat the United States with the eager help of a large segment of our own people. — Ira M. Edwards, Medford
Blister rust is not new
The recent article regarding the threat to Crater Lake’s whitebark pine by blister rust disease was somewhat misleading. Described as a "new threat" by a "rare" disease, blister rust is neither new nor rare.
Blister rust attacks a particular group of pines — those whose needles grow in groups of five. This group includes white pine as well as sugar pine. Efforts to combat the disease have been ongoing for nearly 100 years.
The most promising technique is the development of rust-resistant trees. Foresters from BLM and the Forest Service examine infested stands of white and sugar pine to find non-infested trees which are likely immune to the disease. These trees are then crossbred with other hopefully immune
trees. The resulting progeny are then exposed to blister rust. Those which survive are rust-resistant and are planted in the woods to preserve the species.
In Southern Oregon, the Forest Service has the lead in white pine research while the BLM is responsible for sugar pine. The program has not been highly publicized because nut-case enviros might declare them Frankentrees and destroy the whole lot.
Whitebark pine could likely be saved using the same technique. — Pat Clason, Medford
