4A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL June 24, 2015
O PINION
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
More logging?
Really?
It really seems from the head-
lines we see every day that the
problems stemming from global
warming are becoming increas-
ingly severe and dramatic. From
the red tide along the West
Coast that is restricting and
shutting down the fi shing and
crabbing industries to the diffi -
culties farmers are having with
access to irrigation, we are ex-
periencing this crisis now in all
different ways with daily living,
fi nances and the psychologi-
cal ramifi cations of witnessing
what is happening.
That is why it is both prepos-
terous and unbelievable to me
when I hear about the Bureau
of Land Management calling
for increased logging in the
Northwest. This was mentioned
in the same article that stated
their aims to further protect en-
dangered species. What, I ask,
is the logic system being used
here? Doesn’t the BLM know
you can’t do homework and
play outside at the same time?
Not only am I surprised by
the nerve of BLM calling for
more logging during these seri-
ously troubled times, I am angry
as well. For the BLM no longer
has the funding to monitor the
effects of increased logging and
global warming on our public
lands, which seems like their
real job. No, even though this
is predicted to be the worst year
with toxic blue-green algae,
they do not have the funding to
regulate this.
But they have the funding
for speculative logging for the
wood products industry, and I
am not really thrilled that this is
where my tax dollars are going.
This is a pretty blatant example
of industry-related pressures on
the environment continuing to
go unchecked while the restric-
tions and limitations are shoul-
dered by the working public and
families. The silver lining is that
this outrageous logic system is
beginning to expose itself. But
it needs all of us to call it out.
Agencies such as the BLM do
not have the internal structure to
moderate and check themselves;
that
is
perfectly
clear!
Kerstin Britz
Cottage Grove
Offbeat Oregon History
‘Ship of Romance
and Death’ came
to dramatic end off
Oregon Coast
BY FINN J.D. JOHN
For the Sentinel
S
ailing ships and curses go
together like Oreos and
milk. Curses and graveyards are
almost as good a match. And the
Columbia River Bar is known
as the “graveyard of ships.” So
it’s likely not a big surprise that
plenty of “cursed” ships have
seen their possibly imaginary
doom carried through to a not-
at-all-imaginary conclusion off
the wild and tempestuous north-
west coast of Oregon.
Over the next few weeks,
we’ll explore the stories of a
few of the sailing ships and
steamers with legendary curses
attached to them — curses that
came to their fi nal fruition in the
merciless waters of the Colum-
bia River Bar.
The Melanope:
Unlucky ship,
lucky ship’s dog
On a clear December day of
1906, a lookout in the steamer
Northland was scanning the
ocean when he spotted what
looked like a large derelict hull
far in the distance. Upon inves-
tigating, the steamer crewmem-
bers found themselves staring at
a big, waterlogged, dismasted
thing that had apparently once
been a barque. Its masts were all
broken off at the hounds, and the
remaining rigging hung in long-
neglected disarray. Its steel hull
was stained with rust. It listed
heavily to starboard. The life-
boat on the starboard side was
gone, indicating that the crew
had at least attempted to aban-
don ship. The barely legible
paint on the transom proclaimed
it to be — or to have once been
— the full-rigged barque Mela-
nope, out of Liverpool.
As the sailors tentatively ex-
plored the long-abandoned hulk,
a strange wavering cry reached
their ears. Investigating, they
found, in the forecastle, a small
dog, starved nearly to death.
The dog — which was quickly
taken aboard the Northland to
be nursed back to health — was
the only sign of life on the ship.
What had happened? It was a
great question, but one that the
skipper of the Northland was
only secondarily interested in.
The wallowing hulk was a valu-
able fi nd, and he immediately
got about putting a line on it and
towing it to Astoria.
Several weeks passed before
the salvors learned the story of
the Melanope. She had been
dismasted in a gale and thrown
onto her beam ends, swatted fl at
against the sea like a mosquito.
This sudden motion had caused
the cargo in her holds to shift en
masse, piling up on the starboard
side and giving the ship a dan-
gerous list. Convinced she was
going down but fast, the crew
had hastily abandoned ship, tak-
ing its chances with the howling
gale in a lifeboat. Miraculously,
they’d survived — but Queenie,
the ship’s dog, had been forgot-
ten in the rush.
Some of the Melanope’s for-
mer crewmembers considered
this an unusually lucky end for
a singularly unlucky ship. The
Melanope had been known as
a cursed vessel since its fi rst
launch in 1876, when — accord-
ing to the notoriously unreliable
accounts of the sailors — an
old woman was found peddling
apples to its passengers as it left
Liverpool on its maiden voyage
to Australia. She looked like
a witch, she had no ticket and
nobody knew how she’d gotten
aboard. The captain put her off
the ship with some fi rmness, an
action that infuriated her. Ac-
cording to the story, it took three
seamen to take her off the ship
and onto the tugboat, fi ghting
and scratching and screaming
blasphemies and calling down
curses upon ship, captain, pas-
sengers and crew as the passen-
gers looked on with wide eyes
and open mouths.
Then, from the tug (the story
goes) she pronounced a heavy
and ominous curse upon the
Melanope, a curse the ship
would labor under for the next
30 years.
Of course, curses are not a
real thing. But it was odd that
the Melanope was actually dis-
masted on that same maiden
voyage, after running into a hor-
rible gale.
Really, there can’t have been
too much in the curse of the
Melanope, because the ship
survived three decades of hard
service — from 1876 to 1906
— before coming to grief off
the Columbia River. That’s a
long and respectable run, con-
siderably longer than average.
But there is no denying that it
was more than usually color-
ful. The ship was involved in at
least three serious collisions, as
well as several strandings and
dismastings over the years. It
also was involved in at least two
odd romantic dramas, which
earned it a reputation as the
“Ship of Romance and Death.”
An Australian debutante tried to
commit suicide from its decks
after her fi ancée ditched her
to go roistering onshore with
his friends and the deckhands
started teasing and jeering at her
attempts to fi nd and corral him.
(She was fi shed out of the drink,
barely alive, and prosecuted for
attempted suicide.)
Later, the Melanope’s rakish
captain, already married, got
into an ill-starred romance with
another woman — a wealthy
young English woman who had
inherited her family’s estate.
The captain’s mistress, Emma
Please see OFFBEAT, Page 5A
Women and heart disease: What you need to know
BY JOEL FUHRMAN, MD
For the Sentinel
I
n recent years, the impact
of heart disease on women
has gained increasing attention.
Though
it is often
thought to
affect men
dispropor-
t i o n a t e l y,
heart dis-
ease kills
more wom-
en
than
men. Heart disease is respon-
sible for one in three deaths of
American women each year,
killing more women than all
cancers combined.
The standard American diet
(SAD), full of white fl our, sug-
ars, oils and animal products,
promotes heart disease; as a
result, taking medications for
elevated cholesterol and blood
pressure has become nearly
ubiquitous, and it’s common for
heart attacks and strokes to occur.
Health authorities often advise
women to know the symptoms
that may be characteristic of a
heart attack, and they make le-
nient, ineffective dietary recom-
mendations about reducing fat
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
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intake. This does not work; only
a Nutritarian diet, rich in protec-
tive plant foods can reverse this
epidemic and protect your life.
Women can take control of their
cardiovascular health; they can
become so healthy that a heart
attack is almost impossible. A
growing body of scientifi c lit-
erature shows that heart disease
is easily and almost completely
preventable (and reversible) by
following an eating style rich in
plant produce and dramatically
lower in processed foods and
animal products. My 25 years
in clinical practice is a testa-
ment to these principles. I have
treated advanced heart disease
for nearly a quarter century, and
all my early adapters are still
thriving into their eighties and
nineties without experiencing
heart disease again or requiring
medications anymore for hyper-
tension or high cholesterol.
When you learn how to take
care your heart with superior
nutrition, you automatically take
steps that will help to prevent
diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis
and other diseases, and maintain
youthful energy, positive emo-
tional outlook and enthusiasm
for life. It protects your brain,
not just your heart.
The most important strategy
for taking care of your heart is
to eat your G-BOMBS daily:
greens, beans, onions, mush-
rooms, berries and seeds. Natu-
ral plant foods have numerous
cardioprotective effects. For
example, greens turn on the
body’s natural detoxifi cation
mechanisms and protect blood
vessels against infl ammatory
processes that lead to athero-
sclerotic plaque buildup. Higher
consumption of fi ber-rich veg-
etables, fruits and beans helps
to keep blood pressure in the fa-
vorable range. Beans, nuts and
seeds have unique cholesterol-
lowering capabilities. Berries
and the fl avonoids they contain
have a blood pressure-lowering
effect, plus berries and pome-
granate have potent antioxidant
and anti-infl ammatory effects
that protect against the develop-
ment of heart disease. Getting
frequent exercise and main-
taining a healthy weight are
of course also important, as is
minimizing added salt, alcohol
and caffeine.
Radical fat exclusion or a
completely vegan diet is not
the foundational principle here.
The foundational principle is
micronutrient adequacy and
nutritional excellence. An ex-
tremely low-fat diet is not the
optimal method to address this
issue, since including nuts and
seeds in the diet contributes to
cardiovascular health in several
different ways including choles-
terol-lowering, arterial function,
blood glucose lowering, and
weight maintenance. Further-
more, the combination of deli-
cious dressings and dips made
from nuts and seeds with over-
all healthful diet and lifestyle
habits, not only leads to more
favorable outcomes, but also
was demonstrated to add almost
a decade of lifespan in the most
thorough study investigating
this issue.
Another important message I
have for women: don’t be fooled
by high-protein weight loss
schemes that emphasize animal
products and/or limit fresh fruit.
High-protein diets can generate
ketosis, which predisposes one
to electrolyte imbalances and
cardiac arrhythmias that could
lead to sudden cardiac death.
High-protein, low-carbohydrate
diets are associated with in-
creased risk of cardiovascular
disease and premature death.
Animal protein also elevates
IGF-1, which is associated with
increased risk of several cancers,
especially breast cancer as well
as cardiovascular disease. You
can lose weight without com-
promising your health; the most
effective eating style for weight
loss is also the healthiest way to
eat for protection from cancer
and cardiovascular disease.
When you use lifestyle in-
terventions instead of drugs
to reduce blood pressure, cho-
lesterol and other risk factors,
you achieve much greater re-
sults—because a high-nutri-
ent diet doesn’t merely lower
blood pressure and cholesterol,
it fl oods the cells and tissues
with benefi cial phytochemicals
and allows the body’s self-heal-
ing mechanisms to work at their
full capacity to restore health.
My book Eat for Health guides
you easily through the transition
toward a health-promoting Nu-
tritarian diet and can help you
achieve a healthy weight and
a substantial reduction in heart
disease risk.
Dr. Fuhrman is a #1 New
York Times best-selling author
and a family physician special-
izing 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. The
full reference list for this article
can be found at DrFuhrman.
com.
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