Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, May 3, 2006
Page 5
Gift of gab
gains prizes
for students
in LB event
Lorna Byrne Middle
School recently held its an-
nual Speech Tournament
with the following results:
*Reader’s Theater
1st: Margaret Ruiz, Ca-
sey Robertson, Cain Mor-
ton, Isaac Carnes. 2nd:
Aleesia Hennings, Jordan
Crouse, Geneva Vasquez.
3rd: Lindsey Aria, Breanne
Smith, Alex Miller, Lucy
Bell.
*Choral Reading
1st: Marissa Litak,
Kieran Rose. 2nd: Jaimme
Foster, Kristin Vidales. 3rd:
Celio Nordal, Forest Qxley.
*Individual Poetry
1st: Audrey Mechling.
2nd: Ryan Andrews. 3rd:
Bryan Mendivil. 4th: Robert
Lowden. 5th: Blanka Koci.
6th: TJ Parker.
*Storytelling
1st: Casey Pernicka.
2nd: Myiha Giles. 3rd:
David Siver. 4th: Radiance
Schroeter.
*Read Aloud
1st: Desare Foster. 2nd:
Ben Kendall. 3rd: Joseph
Schlabach.
*Impromptu
1st: Josh Free. 2nd:
Bekah Kaberline. 3rd:
Myana Dehin. 4th: Forrest
Oxley (Honorable Mention).
*Original Writing
1st: Marissa Litak. 2nd:
Buddy Barker. 3rd: Lorraine
Schlaback.
*Children’s Literature
1st: Jazman Danko.
2nd: Sarah Parker. 3rd:
James Williams.
*Monologue
1st: Crystal Gasser. 2nd:
Erik Carter. 3rd: Sarah
Parker.
*Informative Speech
1st: Zach Kay.
Volunteer judges from the Illinois Valley community selected the winners in a Lorna Byrne speech contest. (Photo by ‘Illinois Valley News’)
Food for thought item of constant attention by school district
By JIM WEAVER
Our primary mission at
Three Rivers School District
(TRSD) is to prepare our
children to cope and suc-
ceed in the world, and this
mainly involves training
them how to use their
minds.
But the body houses
and supports the mind, and
students do not learn well if
the body is unhealthy or
malnourished.
When I started public
school in the middle of the
century previous to this one,
the only provision made for
lunch was lunch period --
everyone brought their own
lunch, as our school did not
have a cafeteria.
Milk was made avail-
able in cardboard half-pints,
and it was often tepid by
lunchtime, as the school did
not have refrigerators.
We’ve come a long way
Guv wants protection for
1.9 million forest acres
Gov. Kulongoski an-
nounced that he will petition
the U.S. Forest Service to
protect nearly 2 million
acres of national forest
roadless lands in Oregon as
part of a multifaceted strat-
egy, the governor’s office
announced.
“I strongly support re-
storing protection to Ore-
gon’s roadless areas,” the
governor said. “These lands
are part of every Orego-
nian’s natural heritage. They
are priceless treasures that
provide critical habitat for
wildlife and fish, as well as
watershed and recreational
opportunities.
We must not subject
them to the damage they
would suffer from road-
building and logging.”
The governor will sub-
mit his petition later this
year in accordance with a
rule the federal government
adopted in 2005, which
grants 18 months to state
governors to urge either pro-
tection of the forest lands or
opening them for develop-
ment.
The controversial rule,
which Kulongoski opposed,
replaced the 2001 Roadless
Area Protection Rule, and
opened the possibility that
the federal government
would lift protection of
roadless areas in Oregon
and elsewhere.
In August last year, the
governor joined California
and New Mexico in suing
the federal government over
the 2005 rule. Several other
states have joined the suit,
which is still pending.
In October 2005, Ku-
longoski asked the federal
secretary of agricultural to
create a streamlined process
that would preserve the pro-
tection provided by the 2001
Roadless Area Protection
Rule, and not require using
the cumbersome process
specified in the 2005 rule.
The federal government
denied the request.
On March 9, 2006, Ku-
longoski asked the U.S. For-
est Service to halt plans for
logging in two timber sales
in the Biscuit Fire Complex
on the Siskiyou National
Forest in S.W. Oregon --
both roadless areas -- while
the petition process afforded
under the 2005 rule is car-
ried out.
“The 2005 Rule assured
states that these unique areas
would continue to be pro-
tected while governor pre-
pared a petition,” the gover-
nor said. “So while I con-
tinue to challenge the adop-
tion of the 2005 rule, I am
also simultaneously devel-
oping a petition for Oregon.
“I ask again that the
forest service defer logging
in the Biscuit roadless areas
while I pursue my objective
of permanently protecting
the 1.9 million acres of
roadless areas in Oregon.”
The petition process
will include evaluating the
analyses and inventories of
roadless areas used to adopt
the earlier rule. The gover-
nor’s staff, the U.S. Forest
Service, and the Oregon
Dept. of Forestry are already
coordinating this effort.
The process will assess
the public input received for
the 2001 rule, but will in-
clude its own public com-
ment component. The final
petition will be submitted by
November 2006.
Nothing is worth doing unless the consequences may
be serious. - George Bernard Shaw -
since then in terms of mak-
ing hot, nutritious meals
available to all. Good nour-
ishment is so important that
our federal government sub-
sidizes meal costs for those
who cannot afford the meals.
In many of our schools
breakfast is now available
free or at reduced cost.
Our food program is run
by Michael Morris, of So-
dexho, who has the mission
of making the program pay
its way while at the same
time offering healthy food
choices that the kids want to
eat. If you are curious about
what is being offered and
eaten at school, phone the
school your children attend,
and ask if you can come to
lunch and see for yourself.
Some students bring a
lunch from home. Snacks
and beverages are also avail-
able from student stores and
from vending machines.
The profit from sales at
student stores goes to bene-
fit student programs and
activities.
The profit from the
vending machines goes to
the bottling companies that
own them, and they share
these profits with the
schools.
The TRSD board is
concerned that many stu-
dents take a shortcut to satis-
fying their hunger by eating
sugar-rich snack foods and
beverages. We have set
minimal nutrition values for
beverages sold in vending
machines.
In time, drinks that pro-
vide only flavored caffeine
and sugar will no longer be
available.
Of greater consequence
is a new federal mandate
that we develop a Wellness
Policy that will govern not
only what foods are avail-
able on school property, but
will also emphasize physical
fitness and nutritional edu-
cation.
This policy will evolve
over time with much of the
input coming from students,
parents and the individual
schools.
In coming months the
district will be soliciting
help from parents and pa-
trons in deciding what to
feed our kids.
(Editor’s Note: The pre-
ceding, written by Jim
Weaver, chairman of the
TRSD Board of Directors,
appeared in the TRSD
spring newsletter.)