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‘Number of negatives’ come with Coquille casino

Recently, Gov. Kotek announced her opposition to the Coquille Tribe’s proposed Medford casino. Earlier, two prominent and respected community leaders, Sue Kupillas and Gary Wheeler, succinctly voiced their opposition in letters to the editor.

Our Naumes family, citizens in the Rogue Valley for almost 100 years, opposes the casino. It is simply the wrong economic fit and leads to a number of negatives — land off the tax rolls, likely increased crime and added gambling addiction etc. We don’t need any more social ills in our beautiful valley.

The Cow Creek Tribe has strong ties to our area, not the Coquille Tribe. Cow Creek respects the one casino per territory agreement relied on for decades by all Tribes in Oregon. They are positive economic forces in our valley buying properties and running solid businesses. They are also amazing philanthropic contributors in Southern Oregon.

Join the Naumes family and encourage the City Council to reverse their neutral position by emailing the City Council and asking them to return to their original opposition to the casino, council@medfordoregon.gov.

Also, let the Bureau of Indian Affairs (the final decision maker) know your opposition to the proposed casino project by emailing: Paula.Hart@bia.gov.

Mike Naumes / Medford

Food Bank offers thanks for Green Bag results

Spring has finally sprung in the Rogue Valley — yellow daffodils and pink and white pear and cherry blossoms seem to be popping out everywhere. And on April 8, so too did the Ashland Food Project’s iconic green bags on doorsteps and porches throughout Ashland.

Thanks to our generous community of donors, our legion of neighborhood coordinators, and our wonderful partners at the Ashland Emergency Food Bank, AFP collected over 29,000 pounds of food to help stock the shelves at the Food Bank and help feed our food insecure neighbors for the next two months.

Amey Broeker, executive director of AEFB, reports, “Our service numbers in March were up 43% over February; we are seeing the effects of the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) reduction. We are serving many families we have not seen since pre-COVID, and many we have never served. We had 80+ new households come for service in March.”

The Food Project’s motto is “Sharing Food, Building Community,” and if you want to help, we’ll make it easy. You can find information and join our green bag brigade at ashlandfoodproject.com.

Finally, we’d like to offer a special thanks to our April Thank You card sponsors — White Dental Studio and Ravassipour Orthodontics. Their support makes so many things possible.

Karl Pryor / Ashland

and the Ashland Food Project

Use the ‘Water Warehouse’ as social services center

Earlier this month, we received a solicitation letter under the signature of Ginny Auer, executive director of the Jackson County Library Foundation. My husband and I got out our checkbook.

Then we starting reading about the incidents in and around the main library.

We reread the “Library Giving Day” letter and realized that wording of the goals was code for the current interpretation of library services … for example, “fueling life-changing resources and programs” means social services?

We empathize with the plight of homeless, but for us the line has been crossed. We put our checkbook away.

But wait! A solution is already in the works? The massive hulk being built off Ross Lane could be the answer. The “Water Warehouse” is already deemed “multi-purpose.” It will have changing rooms, showers and lockers … perfect, right?

Also, with food trucks already in the design plan, could not additional trucks or even a mobile trailer as used for the blood mobile be designated to dispense social services?

There is property around Water Warehouse that would be suitable for tent sites for career campers. So there! Problem solved. Can we now have our library back?

Seriously, there seems to be some inequity with $8.8 million directed for homelessness and $93 million for the massive recreational center. Which “need” has more immediacy and affects the greater good?

Perhaps some of those watery millions should be poured into a Social Services Center & Dormitory.

Kathleen Parks / Central Point