Bentz office restricts access to his constituents

For some time now, a group of concerned individuals, including myself, have gathered at the Medford office of U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz to ask questions and share our concerns about his policies. 

Three weeks ago, we were met by a locked door and a sign which indicated that entry was now restricted to Appointments Only. Since that time, several of us have called his office in an attempt to make an appointment for a sit-down meeting with members of his staff, as is our right as citizens and taxpaying constituents. 

As of Tuesday (Aug. 29), not one of those phone calls have been returned, or any communication received from the Bentz office. 

Not surprising, as his attitude toward any constituent not ascribing to his radical right-wing positions is typically ignored by him, and is a signal of the disdain he holds for anybody not holding a fat donation check, as does his 80% record of voting No on any Veterans Affairs funding bills. 

I urge the residents of the counties in his district reading this to contact his office and register your dissatisfaction with his tenure.

Ed Cooper / Gold Hill

Decreased water availability illustrates climate crisis

Kudos to Shaun Hall for his discussion of the problem of water availability in the valley. We have heard “Water is Life” much over recent years as water availability is increasingly compromised. As Shaun indicates, a major cause for the problem is the climate change induced by our emissions of greenhouse gases.

Anyone doubting the local trends and projections should visit the USGS National Climate Change Viewer (just search that phrase). It’s quite intuitive to use. Visitors can see that while variable annually, our temperature is clearly rising and, assuming our business-as-usual behavior of increasing greenhouse gas emissions, is projected to rise nearly 10 degrees F above the 1981-2010 average by the end of the century, with summers rising 12 degrees.

Meanwhile, the water content of snowfall, already down substantially, is likely to decrease 90% from the 1981-2010 average. This, of course, is critical since river flow and our water supply originates from the melting of this snow.

Finally, a consequence of increased evaporation and decreasing snowmelt is seen in the measure of soil water storage. Again, this has already dropped and is likely to drop 20% by the end of the century.

The inevitable consequences of these trends are reduced water availability, especially during summer and fall when we most need it. Additionally, we’ll see drying soils and vegetation and increased wildfire risk.

Although rural Oregon is on the frontlines, by acting together we can avert this outcome. Yet Republicans everywhere fight climate action tooth and nail. 

Bruce Bauer / Medford

Good fences don’t always make for good neighbors

The saying goes, “good fences make good neighbors.” Robert Frost coined the exact term in his 1914 poem “Mending Wall,” but the proverb is much older than that.

In 1640, E. Rogers wrote in a letter, “A good fence helpeth to keepe peace between neighbours; but let us heed that we make not a high stone wall, to keepe us from meeting.”

What if a potentially peace-giving fence is instead used to intimidate? What if the barrel of a propane cannon is propped on the fence pointed at a neighbor’s house, and a motion detector is mounted to set off a spinning red and white caution light which plays a menacing message, merely feet away from the entrance of a neighbor’s driveway and public road?

Every time the neighbors, which include children, come and go, they are greeted in this alarming way. This has happened in our community this year. Such outrageous actions lack common decency, but are they illegal?

Does a landowner have the right to act as they see fit on their own property regardless of the impact to others? There’s much talk these days about personal rights and freedoms, and less about responsibility and duty.

Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Love thy neighbor, yet don’t pull down your hedge.” The fence is where you meet your neighbor. If you meet them in a neighborly fashion, if you respect their rights as well as your own, only then will you have the peace of mind a fence can afford.

Cynthia Cooper / Lake Creek