4A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL May 20, 2015
O PINION
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Try It On
keep all the potholes smooth!
The community of Cottage
Grove is wonderful in its in-
volvement — pro or con — for
the Downtown Refi nement Plan.
One way to test to see if the plan
will work is to try it on, like try-
ing on a pair of shoes before you
buy them. The City of Cottage
Grove, business owners and citi-
zens could extend the sidewalks
for two to fi ve business days to
test the driving lanes, business
interruption and safety concerns
that have been expressed. Park-
ing could be pushed out the
length of the extensions on both
sides by parking cones, saw
horses, kitchen chairs — well,
you got the idea — ideally, for
all the blocks in which the side-
walks would be extended. After
all, these are not shoes that can
be returned.
Anna Strong
Cottage Grove
Common Sense
I think we all are born with
common sense. This can get us
all through life — not to say that
accidents won’t happen! Spring-
fi eld is really doing things on
pedestrian and traffi c problems.
It was tragic when the three kids
got killed after the terrible ac-
cident, true, but they are trying
hard to not let this happen any-
more. The traffi c on Main Street
in Cottage Grove and other
streets is much too fast. Pedes-
trian crossing has improved.
Let’s think more of street safety
and less of unimportant issues.
One last comment — our streets
are in need of repair. If they are
so inclined to keep our town his-
toric, let’s gravel our streets and
grade them once in a while to
Ike Shepherd
Cottage Grove
Re: Democracy
Regarding the signature gath-
ering for the referendum: “This
is how democracy works.” I
couldn’t agree more.
Stephen Swiftfox
Cottage Grove
On Getting Old
I was born in 1927 and am
still breathing. Younger people
are always curious about what
old age is like. Well, as someone
once said, “it ain’t for sissies.”
Yes! It’s true! Sure, one
sleeps a lot — a sort of infancy
in reverse — gradually becom-
ing ever more helpless. And the
hours one sleeps increase as
time passes. But society doesn’t
think of you as they do a baby.
You still have “adult” respon-
sibilities — such as listening
closely to what others are say-
ing and doing, sort of “pulling
your own social weight.” Yes,
you have less energy, but you’re
still “responsible” to society.
But as real “old age” sets in,
the ability to continue meeting
social expectations wanes faster
and faster as the years roll by.
Yet because you’re old doesn’t
excuse one from “polite” be-
havior. It seems physical frailty
is more forgivable than mental
frailty. The body may require
crutches, but there are none for
the brain. Eighty and 90-year
old parents and grandparents
are expected to remember their
grown-up children’s special
days — birthdays, anniversaries,
etc. — and to celebrate them!
Offbeat Oregon History
Storm-tossed ships
shared a double date
with destiny
BY FINN J.D. JOHN
For the Sentinel
D
ecember of 1852 was a
rough month on the Or-
egon Coast, in more ways than
one. It was one of those years
when storm systems chase each
other across the sky, one right
after another, for weeks on end,
lashing the surf into a towering,
foamy lather — and fi lling the
Columbia River Bar with 40-
foot-tall walls of green water.
Outside the bar’s entrance, be-
ing tossed about mercilessly by
the serial storms, a small cluster
of sailing ships tacked back and
forth or rode at anchor. They’d
come from San Francisco,
working the new and profi table
run back and forth to Portland
to fetch supplies for the hordes
of eager miners still working the
Gold Rush diggings.
Of all the waiting vessels, the
barque Mindora had been there
the longest — four solid weeks.
Its crew had spent Christmas
being tossed around on the sea,
wet and cold, thinking longing-
ly of the warmth and seasonal
cheer being enjoyed a few miles
They are, after all, the most re-
spected members of the family,
and an elder’s attention counts a
lot coming from them.
Some adult offspring are very
understanding of this tendency
to forgetfulness, but others are
not and tend to scold and lose
patience.
On the other hand, elders can
be great entertainers and family
storytellers of the classic fam-
ily “stories”, keeping those old
bonds and tales alive from one
generation to the next.
So, it’s not just the younger
generation that has “all the best
answers.” How could they?
They’ve only watched “old
age”; they haven’t experienced
it yet. So go talk to your parents,
and then to their parents.
Caring about the elders in our
midst is one of the most enter-
taining things younger folk can
do. It’s entertaining for both
seniors and older young adults.
Old people have fascinating
lives to recall! Stories to tell!!
LISTEN!
away in Astoria.
By Jan. 12, 1853, the cup-
boards in the ship’s galley were
almost bare, and the captain
was rationing the hardtack and
beans. Water, too, was running
short — as were tempers among
crewmembers. The Mindora’s
skipper, George Staples, was
getting desperate.
But the day had dawned, and
it was fi nally calm. The worst
weather of the year had, it
seemed, blown itself out. Capt.
Staples lost no time in giving
the order to trim up the sails for
the crossing, then fall off the
wind and head inland.
At least one other ship, wait-
ing there on the seaward side of
the bar, soon followed suit. That
would be the barque I. Mer-
rithew, also out of San Francis-
co. In fact, the Mindora and the
I. Merrithew had been docked
side-by-side in San Francisco
the month before, being loaded
for their respective journeys to
Portland. The Merrithew had
left a few days after the Mindo-
ra, so it had not been stuck wait-
ing quite as long; but its crew’s
Christmas experience had been
similar, and its stocks of food-
stuffs were also running out.
Unfortunately, those would
not be the only things the crews
of these two ships would share.
The Mindora and the Merrithew
had a double-date with destiny.
They would follow almost the
exact same path, on the same
day, with the same results and
lay their bones within a few
miles of one another on the
shores of what’s now Washing-
ton State.
The trouble started with the
Mindora, which was beating
across the usual southwest wind
making about four knots when
suddenly she slipped into one
of the elusive, unpredictable
wind shadows with which the
bar was plagued. Instantly adrift
with drooping canvas and at the
mercy of the river’s current, the
ship started drifting to port with
alarming rapidity, making for
the Middle Sands. Desperately,
the crew dropped anchor — but
the current was so fast, and the
bottom so sandy, that the Min-
dora was merely slowed down
by this Slowly, inexorably, drag-
ging her anchor behind her, she
drifted toward the Middle Sands
and slammed onto the shoals.
Like a swordsman delivering
the coup de grace, the ocean
now struck with full force: A
series of giant foam-topped
breakers thundered down on
the Mindora’s decks, sweeping
them clear of everything mov-
able, smashing deckhouses and
fl ooding the forecastle.
With remarkable discipline,
the crewmembers stuck to their
stations until Captain Staples
gave the order to abandon ship;
chances are, he was waiting for
the tide to turn, so that the seas
would be more manageable.
When the time was right, they
quickly got the lifeboat ready
— somehow it had been spared
the ravages of the boarding seas
— and launched it.
Mary Clark
Veneta (formerly of Cottage
Grove)
Please see OFFBEAT, Page 5A
Reverse Type 2 Diabetes with superior nutrition
BY JOEL FUHRMAN, MD
For the Sentinel
O
ver 25 million people in
the United States (about
11 percent of the adults) have
type 2 diabetes, and diabetes ac-
counted for 6.8 percent of glob-
al deaths in adults (age 20-79)
in 2010.
Excess weight interferes with
insulin’s functions and is the
primary risk factor for develop-
ing type 2 diabetes. Therefore
the most effective treatment for
type 2 diabetes is signifi cant
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
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weight loss.
H o w e v e r,
the primary
mode
of
treatment
by physi-
cians today
is glucose-
lowering
medication.
These medications give a false
sense of security, providing im-
plicit permission to continue the
same disease-causing diet and
lifestyle that allowed diabetes to
develop in the fi rst place. Many
of these medications promote
weight gain – making the pa-
tient more diabetic; most impor-
tantly, these medications do not
prevent diabetes from progress-
ing and causing complications.
Type 2 diabetes is associated
with serious health consequenc-
es. Diabetes is the seventh-lead-
ing cause of death in the United
States, and 84 percent of those
deaths are due to heart attack
and stroke. Diabetes doubles
the risk of these cardiovascular
events. In addition, diabetes is
the leading cause of kidney fail-
ure and blindness in adults and a
frequent cause of nerve damage.
Diabetes even increases the risk
of cancer, especially colorectal
cancers.
The good news is that diabe-
tes can be reversed and its tragic
complications can be avoided.
The key to diabetes reversal is
superior nutrition and exercise.
It may take a little extra effort,
but avoiding the devastating
complications of diabetes and
a premature death is well worth
it. My diabetes-reversal diet is
vegetable-based with a high nu-
trient to calorie ratio, containing
lots of greens and beans, other
non-starchy vegetables, (such as
mushrooms, eggplant, tomatoes
and onions), raw nuts and seeds
and limited fresh fruit with no
sweeteners or white fl our prod-
ucts. When diabetics eat in
this style, they lose their excess
weight – the cause of their dia-
betes – quickly and easily, re-
ducing or eliminating their need
for medications. They simul-
taneously fl ood the body with
disease-protective and healing
micronutrients and phytochemi-
cals that aid the body’s recovery
and self-repair mechanisms.
Hundreds of diabetic indi-
viduals who have followed my
dietary recommendations are no
longer diabetic! Here are just a
few examples: Charlotte, who
lost half her body weight (133
pounds) and Calogero, who lost
100 pounds in just seven months
both reversed their diabetes.
Richard had been on insulin for
25 years and was able to stop
taking it after just a few weeks
of following a high-nutrient
diet. Most of these individuals,
who have completely reversed
their diabetes, have never seen
me as a patient. They merely
read one of my books and then
received further encouragement
and information as members of
DrFuhrman.com.
The most lifespan-enhancing
eating style is also the most ef-
fective treatment of diabetes.
Diabetics have the right to know
this so they can make fully in-
formed decisions that control
their health destiny. Learn more
about reversing diabetes in my
book The End of Diabetes.
Dr. Fuhrman is the #1 New
York Times bestselling author of
Eat to Live and Super Immuni-
ty, 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.
(USP 133880)
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