H.R. 1146, American Sovereignty Restoration Act of 1999, has been introduced by Rep., Ron Paul of Texas. Co-sponsors are other U.S. House members who put their names on the legislation after it is written to say, "Yes, I'm for this too."

The enemies of freedom will be armed with all the dirty tricks in the book of Capitol-Hill politics. They will try to kill this legislation before it can even come up for a vote. This is because H.R. 1146 would shut down the U.N headquarters and cut off all American funding for the U.N., including all of its agencies, as well as its funding and participation in U.N. "peacekeeping" operations.

H.R. 1146 would also revoke diplomatic immunity for U.N. bureaucrats. H.R. 1146 makes the message crystal clear: U.S. out of the U.N. The global government types will go nuts.

More than 50 co-sponsors are needed in order to ditch the U.N. Since its founding 52 years ago, Americans have poured over $30 billion into the U.N. monstrosity. We pay 25 percent of all U.N. bills and 31 percent of all "peacekeeping" costs. Now they want $2 billion in "back dues" and the right to tax us directly on airline tickets, phone calls and international transactions. This is in addition to their designs to take control of U.S. lands and property rights, as well as regulate human behavior.

Please contact as many members of Congress as possible and encourage them to co-sponsor H.R. 1146.

-- L.S. Smith, Rogue River

A recent letter (Sunday May 9) on the subject of the Mount Ashland expansion stated "no more Engelman spruce are found south of this location."

As a professional forester and member of the Society of American Foresters, we subscribe to a code of ethics. There are 15 canons contained within this code. The purpose of these canons is to govern the professional conduct of members in their relations with the public to assure just and honorable professional human relationships, mutual confidence and respect, and competent service to society. Canon 1 states in part, "a member will challenge and correct untrue statements about forestry."

The textbook. "Seed Plants of Northern Arizona," by Walter McDougall acknowledges that Engleman spruce, Picea engelmanii, is found throughout its range from Alberta to British Columbia, south to California, Arizona and New Mexico. This same information can be found in the McGraw-Hill "Textbook of Dendrology," covering the important forest trees of the United States and Canada. My first introduction to Engelman spruce was in volcanic soils at 10,000 feet on the side of an extinct volcano in Northern Arizona.

In the political debate of multiple resource use. it is important to speak truthfully and knowledgeable about the subject in public forums. Failure to do so only exacerbates and further polarizes those involved and does nothing to resolve issues.

-- Blair Moody, chairman, Oregon Society of American Foresters

I wish people would open their eyes and see the truth presented to them concerning homosexuality. People seem to be ignorant to the facts even though they will quote facts. They don't understand them or they take them out of context.

One fact written by a letter writer in the May 9 paper, is that homosexuals have a suicide rate three times higher than heterosexuals. Another is that the average homosexual lives to be less that 50 years old, while heterosexuals live to be 70-plus years old.

Our Lord, Jesus Christ, warned us time and time again about the effects of homosexuality on the individual and on society.