4A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL February 11, 2015
O PINION
Offbeat Oregon History
When the rebel fl ag fl ew over Oregon soil
BY FINN J.D. JOHN
For the Sentinel
O
regon in general, and rural
southern Oregon in par-
ticular, has been referred to more
than once as the “Dixie of the
West Coast.”
So perhaps it’s not surpris-
ing that the only Confederate
fl ag known to have waved in the
northwestern quarter of the con-
tinental United States during the
Civil War fl ew proudly over the
Beaver State, for a few weeks in
1862.
Now, that “only fl ag” claim
has to be qualifi ed a bit. The en-
tire northwest quarter is rather a
large patch, and plenty of emi-
grant farmers, gold miners and
ex-Army ruffi ans were sympa-
thetic to the South’s cause; surely
somebody, somewhere, hoisted
the stars and bars over a shoddy
Jackson County prospector’s
cabin or loathsome San Francisco
waterfront fl ophouse.
But if anyone did, he or she
kept it quiet enough to avoid the
intervention of federal troops.
Not so the fearsome Kentucky
natives who had settled in the tiny
town of Smithfi eld (now called
Franklin), just south of Cheshire
on old Territorial Highway.
The good people of Smithfi eld
were surrounded and outnum-
bered, and they knew it. But they
were a proud, fearless bunch,
and not a Republican or pro-
Union Democrat among them.
They were well supplied with the
long-barreled fl intlock rifl es with
which their fathers had helped
win the Revolutionary War, and
they had somehow also gotten
hold of a small cannon. They de-
termined, in the summer of ‘62,
to do their bit for the old southern
homeland, come what might.
So they set to work. The men
found a tall, straight fi r tree,
which they felled, peeled and
hauled to the town’s general store.
The women labored over a com-
munity sewing project: a massive
Confederate battle fl ag, the “Stars
and Bars.” Then they mounted the
pole before the store, ran the fl ag
up to the top, and let it billow in
the soft summer breeze.
Now, this was not exactly an
act of quiet rebellion. Smithfi eld
owed its regional prominence and
prosperity to the stagecoach line
that ran up and down the Territo-
rial Highway. Dozens of travelers
passed up and down that high-
way every week en route to or
from hamlets like Elmira, Veneta,
Crow, Lorane and west Eugene,
via Junction City.
One can only imagine the
shock of these passengers as the
stage pulled up before the Smith-
fi eld General Store and they saw
a giant rebel fl ag fl apping in the
breeze, its fl agpole surrounded by
grim-faced expatriated Southern-
ers with rifl es ready to defend it.
Word fl ew around Lane County
like a summer zephyr: There was
open rebellion brewing at Smith-
fi eld! What was to be done?
Staunch Unionists in Eugene
were outraged. They did not,
however, feel outraged enough
to brave those grim-faced Smith-
fi eld sharpshooters in an attempt
to do something about it. So in-
stead, they complained bitterly to
every authority they could reach:
the sheriff, the state legislature,
and yes, the federal government
in Washington, D.C.
The sheriff was the man ev-
eryone was looking at, but he
showed little inclination to risk
his life and those of his deputies
on a hopeless assault on such a
fearsome foe. So the fl ag contin-
ued to fl y.
A few weeks later, one of the
Smithfi eld rebels was caught in
Eugene trying to buy supplies
and arrested and lodged in a jail-
house. Word spread quickly, and
a lynch mob soon had assembled
to lay siege to the jailhouse. But
the rebel, who had hidden a tiny
penknife somewhere on his per-
son, put up such a ferocious fi ght
that vigilante justice was delayed
long enough for the sheriff to ar-
rive with a posse, and soon the
mob was dispersed.
And still that fl ag fl ew, proud
and rankling over the Long Tom
River, visible for miles from ev-
ery oncoming stage.
It fl ew there, proud and defi ant,
until a day in late August, when
something rather remarkable hap-
pened — another “fi rst and only”
for the Beaver State.
On that historic day, the Mc-
Cornack family had just settled
down to supper at their farm on
Elmira Road, just outside Eu-
gene, when to their astonish-
ment a large detachment of fed-
eral troops — blue-coated United
States Cavalry offi cers and men
— fi led up to the farmhouse in
two columns, which split apart
and fl owed around the farmhouse
and outbuildings. Soon the whole
spread was surrounded with a
cordon of several hundred armed
men.
Two offi cers then approached
the farmhouse, and family patri-
arch Andrew McCornack — no
doubt more than a little nervously
— came to the door to see what
they wanted.
The offi cers were gracious and
Please see OFFBEAT, Page 5A
School Board refuses to listen re: drug testing
A
s we all know — or ought to know
by now — in August of 2014 the
South Lane School Board, in fl agrant vio-
lation of Oregon Department of Education
standard 581-022-0413, voted to adopt a
drug-testing policy that targets exclusive-
ly those students so active and involved in
their own education as to choose to par-
ticipate in extracurricular activities.
At every board meeting at which the
Board and the Superintendent expect
community members to speak against this
policy, coaches and other staff trot up and
perform little speeches in favor of man-
datory and random student drug testing.
Misleading language is used, such as “I
have buried many kids because of drugs.”
Untrue. What causes the deaths of high
school students (they aren’t “kids”) in
Cottage Grove is predominantly alcohol,
which the board has specifi ed that CGHS
will NOT be testing for.
Adding injury to the insult of the un-
ethical and possibly illegal adoption of
this policy, students who participate in
athletics this year have been pulled out of
their classes and even yanked out of class
while taking their fi nals, in order to pee in
front of Principal Udosenata, the school
nurse, or who knows who.
It seems that some parents think that
should a student fail the drug test, the dis-
trict would help parents with the cost of
retesting and the intervention programs
that would be required for the student to
continue to participate in athletics, etc.
NOT SO. The policy states clearly that
it is the parents’ responsibility to pay for
the thousands of dollars such intervention
programs cost.
The members of Community United
for Sensible Policy (CUSP) proposed an
opt-out clause that should have been able
to satisfy everybody. The members of
CUSP were even willing to overlook the
original breaches of ethics and standards
from which the drug testing policy was
born. But the Board refused to even put
the option up for a vote.
The Board and the administration
of CGHS have refused to listen to any
of the many well-reasoned arguments
against their policy. They have refused to
take any notice of the majority of stud-
ies that refute the effectiveness of student
drug testing. They have refused to heed
the statements of the many organizations
concerned with the welfare of minors
that stand fi rmly against mandatory/ran-
dom student drug testing. And the board
in particular has shown no inclination
whatsoever to want to conform to Oregon
Department of Education standards or to
the ethical standards that should be ex-
pected of an elected body that represents
the public.
Citizens of Cottage Grove, please take
note: school-board elections are in June.
Five of the seven current school board
members are up for re-election. If you
put any value in the constitutional rights
of parents to control and guide their
children’s education, run for the school
board. If you value the rights of parents to
decide who can watch their children pee
and who has access to the bodily fl uids
of their children, run for school board. If
you value students’ rights to obtain a full
and well-rounded education without hav-
ing to submit to warrantless searches and
seizures, please, run for the school board.
If any voters in this district value your pri-
vacy and your rights and wish to protect
them from government over-reach, please
consider running for the South Lane
School District Board.
The deadline for fi ling as a candidate
for the school board is March 19. There is
a $10 fi ling fee — or you can skip fee if
you fi le “by petition” with 25 signatures
from registered voters in the school dis-
trict.
By Lokiko Hall, member of CUSP:
Community United for Sensible Policy
One in fi ve young adults has hypertension
BY JOEL FUHRMAN, MD
For the Sentinel
M
any people believe that
it is normal for blood
pressure to rise as we age, but
this is not true. Cultures whose
diet does not contain excessive
added fats, animal protein and
salt, and is high in fresh, whole
plant foods do not experience
the age-related increase in blood
pressure that we see in the West-
ern world. These age-related el-
evations in blood pressure are
not related to age itself – instead
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
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they are due to the cumulative
destructive effects of a poor diet
and insuffi cient exercise on the
circulatory system over years
and years.
Hypertension (blood pressure
of 140/90 or higher) is on the
rise – between 1996 and 2006,
hypertension prevalence in the
U.S. increased by 20 percent. In
2011, the National Longitudinal
Study of Adolescent Health re-
ported that 19 percent of young
adults (24 to 32 years old) have
hypertension. Plus, more than
half of these individuals were
unaware that they had high
blood pressure. This is mark-
edly higher than previous esti-
mates. This will only progress
as they continue to harm their
blood vessels with salt and pro-
cessed food.
If almost one in fi ve already
has blood pressure higher than
140/90 by age 32, imagine the
health risks that are in store for
this generation. First of all, the
risk of death from heart attack
and stroke begins to increase
when blood pressure climbs
over 115/75. Plus, high blood
pressure is an important risk
factor for hemorrhagic stroke,
kidney disease, stomach cancer,
dementia, osteoporosis, harden-
ing of the arteries, arrhythmia,
blindness and enlargement of
the heart.
Many people in this age
group, who were born between
1976 and 1984, have grown up
on diets made up primarily of
processed foods and fast food,
and this study revealed that
their bodies are already show-
ing signs of the damage. If they
do not change their habits, they
will be prescribed medication
that they will have to take for
the rest of their lives to control
their blood pressure. But this
will not remove the cause of
the problem and will put them
at risk for harmful side effects.
And their poor lifestyle habits
will continue to cause worsen-
ing of their cardiovascular dis-
ease. Of course, this outcome is
avoidable with lifestyle chang-
es. This generation of young
adults can enjoy a long, healthy
life without blood pressure-low-
ering medication by starting to
follow these guidelines now:
How to reduce blood pressure
naturally:
Avoid salt. A population-
wide 1200 mg/day decrease in
sodium consumption has been
estimated to reduce coronary
heart disease cases by 60,000,
strokes by 32,000, and heart
attacks by 54,000 each year.
Salt infl icts damage unrelated
to blood pressure too.
Avoid added sugars.
Minimize caffeine and alcohol.
Focus preferably on plant pro-
tein rather than animal protein.
Get plenty of minerals, phyto-
chemicals and antioxidants by
eating primarily whole plant
foods. For example, fl avonoids
from berries have a blood
pressure-lowering effect, and
nuts can promote proper blood
pressure regulation. Also, a diet
high in fruits and vegetables
is consistently associated with
healthy blood pressure levels in
observational studies.
Exercise regularly and vigor-
ously.
Follow high nutrient diet and
achieve a healthy weight.
Dr. Fuhrman is the #1 New
York Times bestselling author
of Eat to Live and Super Immu-
nity, and a board certifi ed family
physician specializing in life-
style and nutritional medicine.
Visit his informative website at
DrFuhrman.com. Submit your
questions and comments about
this column directly to news-
questions@drfuhrman.com.
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