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Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, March 26, 2003
It seems that human beans, including couples and others,
always have had difficulty understanding each other. Some-
times it’s simply a matter of not hearing “properly.”
For example, I heard of a man quite a few years back,
telephoned by a neighbor, who asked him if he could come
over and catch a chick. As the neighbor had small children,
the man figured that a pet had gotten loose, and that the
neighbor needed assistance in corralling the critter. But
when he got next door, his buddy wanted to know if $50
was OK. “OK for what?” queried the man. “Well, I need to
cash that check I phoned about,” responded the friend.
And when our daughter, Vicki, was quite young, we
were in a restaurant, where the waitress asked her if she
wanted “super salad.” “Yes,” said Vicki. The waitress
looked puzzled, then repeated her request, but more slowly
and distinctly. What she said was, “Do you want soup or
salad?” (Vicki took the salad, which wasn’t super, but
tasty).
An aside here. Why is our language so “weird?” I mean,
we say that certain items are “pretty ugly.” Or that food was
“awfully tasty.” I can’t figure it out.
Anyway, this matter of hearing one phrase or word, but
incorrectly, sometimes causes family memories of a distant
kind. For example, when our son, Michael, was around 8 or
so, he was in our bathroom, and I was ill. Not because
Mikey was in the bathroom, but I had some ailment or other.
Jan went to the door of the reading chamber and yelled,
“Michael, is the Vick’s Day Care in there?” And Mikey re-
sponded, in all seriousness, “The big steak hair?” To this
day we still talk about the “big steak hair.” Actually, I think
that accurately describes the toupees worn by William Shat-
ner and Robert Redford.
A bit of confession here. When I was a teen-ager, there
was a popular song, “Poetry In Motion.” I swear to you that
until I was in my mid-20s I thought the words were, “Oh, a
tree in motion.” Strange. And that song that’s still popular,
“Love Potion #9” includes the words, “You know, that
gypsy with the gold-capped tooth.” For more years than I
want to admit, I firmly believed that the words were, “that
gypsy with the gold tattoo.” And truthfully, there was a long
period during which I thought the words were, “that gypsy
with the polecat too.” Selective hearing?
More recently, Jan sent me to Shop Smart for a jar of
spiced olives. I checked the olive supply, and came home
with a jar of pimento-stuffed olives. When I handed it to
her, Jan looked at me oddly and asked me what happened to
the sliced olives she wanted. I had no suitable answer. Or as
is said in the military, “No excuse, sir.” But olived through
it.
A few days later she asked me for a tooth pick. When I
handed her one from the kitchen she gave me that odd look
again, and said, “Where’s my Q-tip?” Again, I had no suit-
able answer. It was sort of an “ear-ie” situation.
But enough of this. I need to get to a bank and catch a
chick.
Illinois Valley News
An Independent Weekly Newspaper Co-owned and
published by Robert R. (Bob) and Jan Rodriguez
Bob Rodriguez, Editor El Jefe
Entered as second class matter June 11, 1937 at Post Office as
Official Newspaper for Josephine County and Josephine County
Three Rivers School District, published at 321 S. Redwood Hwy.,
Cave Junction, OR 97523
Periodicals postage paid at Cave Junction, OR 97523
Post Office Box 1370 USPS 258-820
Telephone (541) 592-2541, FAX (541) 592-4330
Volume 66, No. 1
Staff: Cindy Newton, Britt Fairchild,
Chris Robertson, Sharon Silva & Becky Loudon
Member: Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association
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(Editor’s Note: Views and
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Hand-
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* * *
From Bill Reid
Cave Junction
Webster’s Dictionary de-
fines fiction “as a making up
of imaginary happenings.” Ivy
Greenwood in a letter to the
editor last week wrote a mas-
terful piece of fiction concern-
ing depleted uranium.
Fact: Depleted uranium
(DU) is approximately 40 per-
cent less radioactive than
natural uranium. DU emits
alpha and beta particles and
gamma rays.
Alpha particles, the pri-
mary radiation type produced
by DU are blocked by the
skin, while beta particles are
blocked by clothing. Gamma
rays emitted by DU is very
low. When fired or after
“cooking off” in fires or ex-
plosions, the exposed DU rod
poses an extremely low radio-
logical threat as long as it re-
mains outside the body. Taken
into the body via metal frag-
ments or dust-like particles,
DU may pose a long-term
health hazard if the amount is
large.
The impact of DU ammu-
nition against a had target cre-
ates a fine DU dust that con-
taminates the impact site,
though small amounts of DU
dust drift downwind. Test date
demonstrate that normally,
approximately 20 percent of a
DU penetrator is aerosolized
on impact with a tank. The
impact of one 120 mm DU
tank round could therefore
create approximately 950 g of
DU dust. During a single at-
tack by an A-10 aircraft shoot-
ing a burst of 30 mm ammuni-
tion, between five and 16 DU
bullets will likely hit the tar-
get, creating 300 to 960 g of
aerosol.
In the last Gulf War, air-
craft accounted for approxi-
mately 86 percent (by weight)
of the DU shot. A strafing at-
tack from an aircraft typically
results in few DU rounds (5-
10 percent) hitting the target.
Tank rounds accounted for
approximately 14 percent (by
weight) of the total DU re-
leased, but more than half this
quantity was shot on practice
ranges in Saudi Arabia.
In combat, 80 to 90 per-
cent of the tank rounds fired
will hit the target and remain
in or near it. Rounds that hit a
soft target or the ground tend
to stay intact or break into a
few large fragments. In the
absence of evidence to the
contrary, it is plausible that
well over 80 percent (by
weight) of the DU shot during
the war did not hit a hard tar-
get, thereby minimizing the
creation of respirable-size DU
dust and reducing the immedi-
ate post-war health risks posed
by DU in Kuwait and Iraq.
Approximately 286,233 kg of
DU was used in the 1991 Gulf
War.
The voluntary Veterans
Affairs DU Medical Follow-
up program is an important
source for identifying poten-
tial untoward health effects in
friendly fire victims who have
retained DU fragments. About
a quarter of the over 60 level I
exposed individuals who have
been evaluated still carry DY
fragments in their bodies, and
they have elevated levels of
urinary uranium nine years
after the Gulf War. The pre-
sent health status of this group
shows they have not devel-
oped kidney abnormalities,
leukemia, bone or lung cancer,
or any classical uranium-
related adverse outcome.
For male, active duty mili-
tary personnel in the U.S.
military, the average frequen-
cies of hospitalization for ma-
lignant disease are: Leukemia
(all types) two per 100,000 per
year and All Cancer, 60 per
100,000 per year.
There are many uncertain-
ties about the use and effects
of DU munitions, but the
growing body of scientific
research points to the conclu-
sion that the use of DU muni-
tions creates environmental
contamination that can affect
the health of people. The most
prudent course of action for
Ivy Greenwood is to press for
scientific studies, and not sci-
ence fiction.
‘A plan’
From Fred Mittleman
Cave Junction
“Why do they hate us?” I
am afraid we are all in for a
demonstration.
What I was hoping is that
we were at a historic moment
of worldwide consideration
leading to a plan. The plan
could establish contracts,
timetables, inspections, sanc-
tions, and rewards for the
worldwide destruction of
weapons of mass destruction
(WMD).
The carefully observed
destruction of WMD in Iraq
could be the first part of a
package deal.
Wouldn’t this be some-
thing the world’s nations
could buy into? Even Iraq?
Wouldn’t it be a gift?
MILL DEMO - Despite the relentless rain, between 30 and 40
people attended the Lomakatsi Restoration Project’s wood
products demonstration with Economizer Wood Mill from
Hayfork Watershed Research Center in California on Satur-
day, March 22 at Kauffman Wood Products in Kerby. The
demonstration was funded through a grant from The National
Fire Plan, which gives money to state and area organizations
for such efforts as fire education and on the ground fuels
reduction. For the second year, the Lomakatsi Restoration
Project held a fuels reduction workforce training program, in
which some I.V. residents took part. The wood poles used in
the demonstration were from private lands, including three
valley residences.
(Photos by Sam Newton)
‘Advertising the war’
From Lucky Jean
Cave Junction
I am proud to stand for
peace with the Women in
Black.
It’s good to stand up as a
visible opposition to all the
lies on television. I’m tired of
seeing one war after another
being packaged for our ap-
proval like another new TV
miniseries.
War is not a movie or a
video game. Real soldiers that
have been in real wars will tell
you that. War is serious. War
is death and poison and pain.
Every time anyone con-
templates waging a war, there
should be someone with the
guts to stand up and say it’s
wrong.
I’m tired of being com-
plicit in all the death going on
in Iraq. I’m tired of being ex-
pected to just sit here and be
quiet about it like I’m too stu-
pid to tell that all the talk
about “freedom” and
“democracy” is just advertis-
ing.
I’m tired of George Bush
looting the treasury for his
rich friends and wasting the
rest on “playing war.”
To: Mr. William S. Mc Morrine Jr.
Thank you for your support of the Republican National Committee.
Working together, we will build a better future for America.
Best Wishes,
(Continued on page 3)
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