4A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL June 3, 2015
O PINION
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Test the plan
When we remodeled our kitchen,
we wanted an island with an attached
circular table on the end. My husband
and I made cardboard/ newspaper tem-
plates and placed them on the fl oor to
see how the traffi c would fl ow and the
doors would open. Over the course of
about two weeks, we altered the tem-
plates three times before being exactly
sure we had it perfect.
This same theory could be used
downtown. Let’s haul out the traffi c
cones and caution tape, marking what
the City Councilors are recommending
and see how the traffi c fl ows and the
doors open.
Debra Mathre-Dahlen
Cottage Grove
Fountain concerns
I am concerned for the public’s safety
concerning the Bohemia Park fountain.
I know that there are signs warning
people not to play in the fountain, but
on hot days I have seen children and
pets in the water. I would encourage
you to follow the same line of investi-
gation that I took last year. My ques-
tion, is there a public safety issue with
the fountain in Bohemia Park? And, is
the City of Cottage Grove responsible
for maintaining the fountain?
The issue? The fountain is fi lled
with affl uent water, which is not po-
table; people and pets should not be
in the fountain for their safety. That
is why the signs are posted. As I have
been told, the fountain often is tainted
with pet feces, etc., making the situa-
tion even more unhealthy. However,
people will be people and will ignore
the signage.
I was able to have a lengthy discus-
sion with Richard Meyers on the topic.
His explanations were clear and I ap-
preciated his time. There seems to be
a grey area on responsibility. Also, a
confl icting goal with public safety is
the need to use affl uent water — the
purpose of the fountain. My sugges-
tions of replacing the fountain with re-
cessed spouts that shoot water up for
children to play in requires chlorinated
water. I thought it was a good sugges-
tion because it was using safe drinking
water and impervious to vandalism. As
it is, the fountain is lined with a thick
plastic; if punctured would cost a lot to
replace.
I couldn’t get contact information
for anyone on the board of directors
of the Faye Stewart Foundation. At
the time, the park development plan-
ning decisions were still being made. I
hope some of my feedback on place-
ment of misters and drinking fountains
was considered. However, the idea of
replacing the fountain was out of the
question.
Rachel Kyle
Cottage Grove
Dog park?
How about a dog park in Cottage
Grove?
Other than private residenc-
es, Cottage Grove has no place
where a dog can legally run and play
off leash.
A dog park would:
Be a great draw for tourists traveling
with their dogs,
Provide a comfortable and casual way
to meet neighbors,
Provide a great environment to social-
ize with other dogs, and
Provide a way for you and your dog to
bond, play and get exercise.
Eugene, Jasper, Pleasant Hill have
dog parks; why don’t we?
Trish Gillespie
Cottage Grove
Offbeat Oregon History
Oregon’s highest, smallest city once
had its jail stolen
BY FINN J.D. JOHN
For the Sentinel
O
ne clear June morning in
1963, early risers in the
historic Blue Mountains town
of Canyon City were startled to
see that there had been an un-
scheduled addition to the Grant
County Courthouse the previous
night.
Sitting there in front of the
courthouse was a jail. It was
a ramshackle blockhouse jail,
small and square, its roof half
collapsed but its thick walls of
interlocking planks still as stout
as they’d been when it was fi rst
built.
It was quickly recognized.
The jail was a familiar one to
many Canyon City residents
— deer hunters in particular. It
was the old municipal jail from
the nearby ghost town of Green-
horn City.
As it turned out, a small group
of Canyon City residents — no
one seems to know exactly who
— had stealthily executed a dar-
ing and audacious heist the pre-
vious evening. They’d slipped
Nine million?
We are in complete amazement as to
how the city council can justify spend-
ing $9 million to change Main Street
— notice I said "change," not improve.
We have never been downtown when
the sidewalks were so crowded that
they needed widened, except of course
at a time where there is a downtown
celebration, which is only a few times a
year. The width of Main Street is plen-
ty narrow enough now! The study that
was done was not done with all possi-
ble scenarios that have to be dealt with;
if it was,there would have been a differ-
ent conclusion. I think the people doing
the study had an agenda and wanted the
across the county line with some
heavy equipment and absconded
with the jail.
Was this a joke? A drunken
prank? Or was it a group of seri-
ous history buffs worried about
the deteriorating condition of
the historic building?
Given the larcenous nature
of the act — and the fact that
it involved an incursion onto
the territory of the neighboring
county — these questions seem
destined to remain unanswered.
As a joke, it would have been
a grand one — almost as good
as stealing a police car. But as
an act of guerilla historical pres-
ervation, if such it was, it has
to be one of the most effective
interventions in Oregon history.
Had these anonymous jail-nap-
ping ninjas not acted, the build-
project to move forward.
Drive any street in the city and you
will see that they all need work and im-
provements. Nine million dollars will
go a long way to pay for the work need-
ed on our streets. If the work needed
on the streets is not addressed soon, the
cost will increase immensely, or even
more than that.
As for the trees ruining the side-
walks, cut out the concrete or cement
for a distance of four feet lengthwise
with the street and two feet towards the
buildings facing the trees. This should
have been done before the trees were
planted, but no matter what's done a
person can always say "shoulda, woul-
da, coulda."
What happened to the three cents a
gallon gas tax that was supposed to go
for street maintenance? It must have
been spent for some other "need".
Dick and Barb Gilkison
Cottage Grove
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ing might well have deteriorat-
ed beyond repair or been torn
down for campfi re wood before
it could be saved by Greenhorn
City’s early-1970s rebirth.
Actually, “rebirth” is over-
selling it a bit. Greenhorn City
is still a ghost town. But it is
a very unusual ghost town in
many ways. For one thing, it’s
still an incorporated municipal-
ity, even though its population
held steady at zero for decades.
That’s because of the unique
way in which it was chartered.
President Taft, in 1912, issued
a patent directly to the town’s
mayor and his successors, mak-
ing Greenhorn City something
like a tiny principality rather
than a city, its mayor answer-
able directly to the federal gov-
ernment. Theoretically, the town
could establish its own army
and, if its residents fancied a
good joke, navy. (Greenhorn
City is, of course, landlocked.)
As far as I’ve been able to
learn, Greenhorn City is the
only U.S. municipality to have
been chartered in this way. It is
also both the highest (6,271 feet)
and the smallest (year-round
population fl uctuating between
zero and two) incorporated city
in Oregon.
the approximate amount of fi ber
contained in 2/3 cup of beans or
lentils, two cups of cooked col-
lard greens or 2 ½ cups of blue-
berries. The average daily intake
of fi ber in the United States is a
meager 16 grams, but a nutri-
tarian diet (the high-nutrient,
vegetable-centered diet I rec-
ommend), depending on one’s
calorie needs, provides about
60-80 grams of fi ber daily. I
want to make it clear it is the
use of high-fi ber whole foods
that enable this degree of pro-
tection against stroke, not add-
ing fi ber to a standard American
diet. It is more than just the fi -
ber in fi ber-rich foods that offers
protection.
Red and processed meats are
calorie-dense, micronutrient-
poor, saturated fat-rich foods.
Another major concern is heme
iron. The human body absorbs
heme iron, the form of iron
found in animal foods, more
readily than nonheme iron from
plant foods. Iron is an essential
mineral that transports oxy-
gen in the blood and has many
other crucial functions, but can
promote free radical damage,
called oxidative stress when
excess is present. As a result,
high body iron stores are as-
sociated with increased risk of
chronic diseases that have an
oxidative stress component: for
example, diabetes, heart disease
and dementia. Several previous
studies have found that higher
heme iron (or red and processed
meat) intake was associated
with higher blood pressure and
higher non-heme iron intake (or
plant food intake) was associ-
ated with lower blood pressure.
Again, it is not merely the high
iron in meats; many other fac-
tors play a role including their
hormonally-induced
growth
promoting effects that promote
atherosclerosis.
Another recent meta-analysis
reported on fi ve studies of red
and processed meat and stroke
risk and found that for each 100
gram daily increment red meat
eating daily, there was a 13 per-
cent increase in stroke risk and
a 13 percent increase in risk for
every 50 grams daily of pro-
cessed meat. Processed meats
are nutrient-poor and high in
heme iron like red meat but
have additional sodium, which
is likely why the authors found a
Origins of Greenhorn City
The origins of Greenhorn
City, like those of many mining
towns, are shrouded in a confus-
ing cloud of fantastic campfi re
stories. The best of these is the
one told by author Lambert Flo-
rin: Two greenhorns from back
east wandered into a tent saloon
in a rough, unnamed mining
camp high in the Blue Moun-
tains one day in 1890 and asked
the barkeep where they could
fi nd some gold to dig up. The
bartender, laughing discreetly
into his sleeve, pointed to a ran-
dom spot on a hillside above
town (where he and his bar pa-
trons could watch and laugh)
and said, “Why not start there?”
With great enthusiasm the
greenhorns did so. Meanwhile
the saloon fi lled with regulars
quaffi ng shots of rotgut and
watching the show. Presently
one of the greenhorns came out
of the hole they’d dug with a big
rock and lugged it down to the
saloon.
Please see OFFBEAT, Page 5A
Red meat, fi ber and stroke risk
BY JOEL FUHRMAN, MD
For the Sentinel
people in the U.S. have a stroke
each year. A stroke occurs when
blood fl ow to a portion of the
brain is interrupted, prevent-
ing oxygen and nutrients from
reaching brain tissue. Elevated
blood pressure is the chief risk
factor for stroke, accounting
for 62 percent of strokes. There
have been countless studies on
dietary factors and their rela-
tionship to stroke risk.
Fiber and fi ber-rich foods are
S
troke
i
s
a leading
cause
of
disability
and death
in the Unit-
ed States.
A b o u t
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known to be benefi cial for colon
health and healthy blood glucose
regulation. For stroke preven-
tion, the blood pressure-lower-
ing effects of fi ber and fi ber-rich
foods are thought to be primar-
ily responsible. Foods that are
higher in fi ber tend to have a
lower glycemic load, which
limits the rise in insulin after
a meal; elevated insulin levels
contribute to elevated blood
pressure. Also, high-fi ber foods
are usually rich in phytochemi-
cals and minerals like potassium
and magnesium, which help to
keep blood pressure in a healthy
range. In addition to reducing
blood pressure, high fi ber foods
improve several factors relevant
to atherosclerotic plaque forma-
tion, such as cholesterol and tri-
glyceride levels.
In a recent meta-analysis of
six large studies, for every 10
gram increase in daily fi ber
intake, there was a 12 percent
reduction in stroke risk. A pre-
vious analysis of data from 10
studies found that each 10 gram
per day increase in fi ber intake
was associated with a 24 per-
cent decrease in risk of death
from heart disease. Ten grams is
steeper association with stroke.
These studies add to the al-
ready huge body of evidence
showing that whole plant foods
are health-promoting, while red
and processed meats are disease-
causing. Between the excessive
amounts of protein and heme
iron, new fi ndings on detrimen-
tal effects of red meat com-
pounds Neu5GC28 and carni-
tine, and the volume of evidence
linking red and processed meats
to cancer and premature death,
there is no question – these are
dangerous foods. People who
still desire to eat meat should
think of it as a condiment, only
to be used a few times a week in
small amounts.
Dr. Fuhrman is the #1 New
York Times bestselling author
of Eat to Live and Super Im-
munity, and a board certifi ed
family physician specializing
in lifestyle and nutritional
medicine. Visit his website at
DrFuhrman.com. Submit your
questions and comments about
this column directly to news-
questions@drfuhrman.com.
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