Prayers, preachers and packin': Is this the vision of Christ?

Louisiana not only has liberal gun laws, but it's a place where you can take a gun to church. So while a high school in Washington state bemoans the violence of another school shooting, what does it mean when faith-talking conservatives praise gun-toting laws for Sunday worship protection?

Louisiana passed a law allowing guns in church several years ago. It did so as it has a popular foundation of support from a state where Second Amendment rights are as critical to the culture as are the Ten Commandments. Governor Bobby Jindal, whom few may know well outside Louisiana, outside of television images about the oil spill along the coast, advocated, supported and signed the bill into law.

The Ten Commandments, however, were modified by the words of Jesus Christ.  One might wonder when weapons are forged for violent response in places known as God's house rather than the rational and peaceful ways the ways of Christ proclaimed.

In the Old West gunslingers were supposed to check their guns at the door.  These days guns may be hidden from view, then taken into church without worrying about being checked by anyone.

And while guns are celebrated by the National Rifle Association, and are being taken to church, mental health experts remind us it is the verbal atmosphere of praising guns that allows violence to breed. Perhaps in that sense it isn't guns themselves. Instead it's the constant barrage from apologists who take extreme positions when it comes to guns.  Automatic rifles are seen as the best for hunting deer.  Those who argue about any type of restriction for guns are mocked even as multitudes of gun-lovers, and their lobbyists, continue to assert that it isn't guns who kill but people.
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This reporter conducted a survey of preachers in Natchitoches, Louisiana five years ago.  The survey found that most of the ministers contacted across Protestant groups either collected or just owned guns.  The Catholic Church in the main part of the city responded to the survey by stating that at no time did the priest in charge have a gun on the premises.

The violence of the gun remains a symbol of Western expansion, part of the symbolic takeover of the country, a country whose land was wrested from Native Americans as the expansion grew particularly great after the Louisiana Purchase.. Settlements developed with gun protection in Arizona and Oregon, where the Lewis and Clark trail ended.

The gun is glorified in stories, and by the media, and its rights are consistently upheld at election time, even as school shootings continue every year and as the number of guns in the United States continues to grow.  This is true in spite of the fact that in the small towns of Oregon, in the 1940's and 50's when hunting for deer was particularly an activity involving men whose families ate the meat brought home.  And in a town like La Grande, Oregon where almost every man had a rifle locked up and where every man's son was taught to hunt with their fathers, no school shooting was front page news.  Guns are as American as apple pie, but they were not talked about for defense but for hunting game.

In the wake of Washington State's misery, as the most recent example of a school shooting, it is likely, sadly too, that the gun-owning politicians will likely condemn the violence as an isolated thing and continue advocacy of guns even within the church. Oregon will continue to display its gun shops proudly on main thoroughfare and offer gun shows alongside car shows as entertainment.
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The saddest commentary of all in the public pronouncements of guns is that in the place where Jesus is to dwell as the head of the church, the gun can go to the altar in the pocket of the
supplicant while on knees bended in prayer. It is a symbol of the violence available anywhere, in a shopping mall, at a school, and even in a church where parishioners brandish weapons with pride as they pray for protection---or to shoot straight.

Jehovah's Witnesses and Quakers: How to forge links for religious understanding

Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses

In a world where divisions of all types can occur among people, building bridges toward understanding can occur by looking at areas of agreement.   On the surface, Quakers and Jehovah's Witnesses might appear so different in their beliefs that they would be unable to interact kindly.  But it turns out there are fundamental truths believed by both where they could dialogue in constructive ways.  It is an example of what could be done with many groups to create good will among religious groups and groups of various kinds.

Quakers admonish their followers to examine other religions with an open mind and heart. Others do as well, including many other religious group and individuals that include, but are not limited to, Unitarian-Universalists, Unity Church, and the Baha'i Faith .  Atheists too can find paths to peace in looking at the good within a given set of spiritual beliefs. World Religion Day, which is celebrated annually, is a time when members of different religions come together and share their ideas in ways that promote understanding. To do that means to get past preconceived notions to areas where a given group excels.

As a reporter who has covered religion over a number of years, some of my knowledge of the Jehovah's Witnesses comes from my interaction as an adult in social media groups or places where music and writing is shared.  Other information is gleaned from interviewing members of their church. But years ago I had already formed a positive view of Jehovah's Witnesses based upon my interaction with an any elderly couple I knew as a child.

I grew up in a small town in Eastern Oregon called La Grande, and the elderly couple, the Yentzers, were the parents of my Mother's stepfather.  They were known for their great love for one another and their kindness to others.  On cold days, when I would visit their home, they would greet me with candy and hugs, as they asked questions that showed interest in me.

I read the Watchtower many times during my visits.  It was usually on a side table, and even as a child I enjoyed reading almost everything I could find.  I had been raised to have an open mind and to ask questions. This was something new that challenged my thinking that I could compare with my Father's Mormon family and those of my Mother's core family who were Quakers.

Jehovah's Witnesse have many beliefs in common with Quakers.  They believe as Quakers do in non-violence and refuse to bear arms. They recognize Jesus as central to their faith, just as Quakers do, and do not believe in the Trinity but Christ as the Son and head of their church as Quakers do as well. Many Quakers retain the belief in the Trinity, but differ from other Christians in that Christ is seen not as God but God's son.

Group support for one another within a community is important for both Quakers and Jehovah's Witnesses. Witnesses also offer love and support to people outside their own religion, as do Quakers, although social activism is not a major principle of Jehovah's Witness belief.

Quakers advance the preservation of the good of the earth and care and caution with regard to taking care of one's health, as do Some of the Jehovah's Witnesses avoiding pork and unclean things, but many simply focus on living a healthy life.  Much of that depends on the individual's personal behaviors in each case. Quakers also have made a conscious effort to express community, regardless of race; and in the South, where many fundamental Protestant churches are not integrated, Jehovah's Witness groups pride themselves on embracing members of all races.

For every spiritual group there is a set of beliefs and principles that define it, but the best part is the way a person may practice in relationship with others. A loving heart and open mind is fundamental to the Quaker view, the concept of a loving heart regardless of belief.  To examine ways to dialogue with one another, when there are differences, establishes the fundamental principle of how to get along with others.  It is the concept of a loving heart for all, regardless of belief, that can reinforce for everyone the notion that all men are brothers truly.

Small towns offer potential for ethical and spiritual resolutions to government inertia

Crowd at annual food festival in Natchtioches, Louisiana

While people nationwide in the United States are annoyed with the inertia of the federal government, often it is at the grassroots where problems can be resolved and true mediation occur.  Two towns, one in the South and one in the West, are examples where that might be able to take place, as other areas of the country can examine their connections that could serve to ignite a new direction for government to function more responsively to the needs of ordinary people.

census rally in La Grande, Oregon - CF

Local communities have close common interests because there are fewer degrees of separation socially.  People have long-standing relationships and marriage among families that fosters permanent bonds.  Social connections and spiritual bonds are formed at church.  This means there is a strong platform for discussing community problems.

Political problems do occur in small towns, but that dissension ordinarily only goes just so far, because an angry tongue unleashed against a neighbor is felt not just in one's immediate neighborhood but reverberates across town.  The higher up the food chain of government, however, the less personal and direct the relationships are, making it easier for people to become hostile in prominent and more long-lasting ways than occur in small towns.

In local communities like Natchitoches, Louisiana and La Grande, Oregon there are not just long relationships but some "bad blood" between individuals and factions, the town politicians know that helping to effect resolution of problems will help the overall community interest.  It is difficult to side with one faction over the other because overlapping relationships too. 

The process of having good things begins with grassroots coalitions that support the growth upwards of benefits that exist for everyone.

Sometimes that mediation and reconciliation takes place in simple ways, when two people from diverse groups agree on a problem that affects the greater good.  It is easier to talk things out in small towns over a cup of coffee at the local coffee shop or on a park bench where two people can overlook the town and speak of the good things while sorting out the problems.

Can reconciliation and mediation truly take place in ways that work?  It did during integration in Natchitoches when quiet negotiations took place among black and white business and community leaders who had never been schooled together but knew each other by reputation or in passing at large gatherings, usually involving immediate physical needs.  These negoitations allowed integration to occur between the Steel Magnolia ancestors and those of Uncle Tom's cabin with little violence or recrimination.  Ben Johnson, a prominent African American businessman and Arthur Watson, the town's most high-profile attorney were two of those taking leadership in days where other places had serious violence during integration.  These men helped keep the town intact, the voices of hate and dissension down, that allowed black and white children to begin attending school together in relatively peaceful ways.

La Grande, Oregon developed from the settlement of various factions of predominantly European groups into Indian territory under harsh conditions.  Out of this settlement came negotiations that remain part of the town's underpinnings, the type that can serve the nation at a time it needs this type of effort the most.

In La Grande, the mediation with Native American groups made a difference in the life of the town, so that Indian blood in one's veins became valued, not denied as a way to succeed.  Sacajawea, who was the famous Native American woman accompanying the Lewis and Clark expedition on the Oregon trail that bonded Louisiana and Oregon in the Louisiana Purchase, is widely revered in La Grande where an apartment building, and once an old hotel, were named after her.

It is that type of movement that works towards mediation among individuals, small groups and small towns that is now required to move the larger community forward, when people of good faith, regardless of political view or religious affiliation, sit down together and examine the issues that are common to most folks in their daily lives.  These resolutions support the potential of a movement up the chain where major government entities now sit so far removed from ordinary folk they seldom understand the local community plight.

That's the root of anti-government feeling at a time when the nation needs better bonding as a shield against outside attack and the breakdown of the culture from within from drugs, crime and acts of hate.

With grassroots bonding and the work of coalitions that cross racial and political groups,  small towns like Natchitoches and La Grande will be able to take great steps in maintaining their economic base and likely can improve it by accenting their values in getting things done.  These are solutions of the spirit that many people understand because they live and work closely together.

Grassroots mediation and working together on common issues can improve local communities, but this process can also form the basis of improving government at the national level where it doesn't seem to work.  As Hillary Clinton wrote in a book with reference to the raising of children, "It takes a village."  In this case that village might mean small towns making a difference in getting people to communicate amicably so they are able to take the message to the state and national levels and restore civility to government.

Growing trees helps save the planet

Oregon maintains and plants trees even in its flagship city, Portland

 "Agroforestry can deliver a wide range of benefits. It can
enhance food security, improve rural livelihoods, make better use of
scarce rainwater and absorb atmospheric carbon."

Dennis Garrity, Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre, made that 

statement in outlining the value of growing more trees on farmlands, especially in poverty-stricken areas.

Increasing trees on farmlands and the productivity of trees can positively affect
food security and poverty and reduce climate change, according to findings from scientists.

More trees can increase the fertility of trees and increase income from the sale of timber.

This has great potential to help the poor people of the world.  It is even being done in North Korea, one of the poorest countries. Agroforestry is a new but old practice but has yields many opportunities to help small farmers..

The World Agroforestry Centre several years ago launched an Agroforestry Policy Initiative at the XXIII World Congress of the International Union ofForest Research Organizations in Seoul, Republic of Korea to support policy reviews and reforms that will stimulate agroforestry and benefit rural people.

"This Initiative will support national and local policy reforms that will reduce barriers and improve incentives for private investment in agroforestry," said Dennis Garrity, Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre.

Changing policies about growing trees can help farmers produce income and help bring them out of poverty, the Centre maintains.  An example has taken place in Niger, where farmers have been growing new trees.  The country has seen a large increase of trees on over 5 million hectares in the past 20 years.

The benefits from growing more trees is substantial.  Trees can provide subsistence needs, people can earn money from the sale of their fruits,nuts, leaves, while producing animal fodder.  There is high value oils,gums and resins, timber and fuelwood for cooking and medicines from different parts of trees.

Many people in Kenya earn their money from trees.  Even in areas where tree cover is low, the impact of having them can be high, the Centre explains.

Agroforestry promises also to reduce future climate change according to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.   Frank Place, Impact Assessment Advisor for the World Agroforestry Centre, tells us. "It is one of the most effective land use systems in storing carbon above and
below ground."

August Temu, Director for Partnerships at the World Agroforestry Centre, said, in outlining the value of growing trees,  "It is also vital to develop smarter and harmonized forestry and agriculture policies that do not inadvertently affect tree management on farms, to recognize the environmental services generated by agroforestry, and reward farmers who nurture the trees that provide these services."

Oregon is one of those states known for its trees. It also has citizens who value the forests and feel they know the benefit of trees in helping spaces for people to enjoy and to help with going green and climate change.  Oregon has been awarded recognition a number of times for its efforts in growing trees.

It is a need around the world, with deforestation taking place from too much over-development of the land, and as scientists say there is great value in maintaining forests and planting trees for securing man's future. 

Religion offers social benefits and a way to advance in business insmall towns

Natchitoches, Louisiana is a town where belonging to a church is important for both social and business success[/caption]

While many Americans may not always attend church, the right answer for social and business success is to at least espouse a religion in most places in the United States.  In the South it can make a difference in whether or not an individual has a support system as well, as often the church is the very center of recreation and a place to meet those who can help ensure one has the right contacts to advance in business.

That center of social action, the church, takes precedence over almost any type of contact and interaction in small towns.  Whereas many of the people of Portland, Oregon profess no religious affiliation, in La Grande, Oregon, a small town in the Eastern part of the State, membership in the Mormon Church can help facilitate making friends and finding job opportunities.  In La Grande, many people are Mormon, with twice the percentage of membership at 21% of those who profess to be Christian compared with approximately 9% in the State.

Many people in La Grande, who are Mormon, are descendants of the early settlers to the area of Eastern Oregon.  For children growing up in the town, the church affiliation offers a social experience that often fuses many of the activities in other organizations.  Often the same child is a member of the local girl scouts as well as the Mormon Church, where the focus is on learning skills and values that add to the community experience.  The Mormon Church's precepts of hard work and the importance of the family fit well with the Western traditions of rugged independence.  That popular saying, recited by mothers and grandmothers about idle hands being part of the Devil's workshop reinforces the values of work as a way to stay out of mischief.

In Natchitoches, Louisiana the dominant church is Southern Baptist.  The African American community has a number of Baptist churches, and the white community does as well.  For the most part the races do not mix on Sunday, even as they are buried in separate graveyards.  The most famous cemetery, one of the oldest in the United States, has few African Americans who are, for the most part, formerly servants of some of the more prominent white families, many of whose descendants continue to live in the town.  The Mayor, Senator of the District and President of the University all are often members of the largest church in town, First Baptist Church, a place where social activity thrives and new residents almost always given a friendly greeting and a welcome to attend.

The uniqueness of small towns in the United States is the impact of religion on social behavior that is not the same as in the cities.  In the small communities a special church in a town has a unique status and often is recognized as the one to attend, or at least hold membership, because it can make a difference in having the right friends and business contacts.  In cities, however, it is not a particular church that is important but rather, at minimum, a declaration that one is Christian, with being Jewish a secondary choice in Eastern cities.

How one worships also offers insight into the education and status of an individual.  Although Americans consider themselves open to different religions, most people are cautious about admitting any belief other than Christian.  There are, however, crossover memberships in New Age organizations so that people embrace an eclectic belief system, while continuing to identify themselves with a particular denomination or religious group.  In the South, however, most people continue to advocate a more fundamental Christian belief without much of the enticement of other belief systems fused with it, as occurs in the towns of Oregon.  By a wide margin, according to the Pew Forum most people in the South are Evangelical Christians.

Men are more apt to express no religious affiliation and African Americans more likely to identify themselves as Christian.  Two-thirds of these African Americans consider themselves Baptists.  Hindus and Jews have the highest income levels.  The West has fewer people who express themselves as having a religious affiliation or who say they belong to a particular denomination.  The opinions and religious views differ by region, with Southerners more apt to be conservative, born-again Evangelicals, the Midwest more of a mix of both conservative and mainstream, and the West with more people who identify themselves with no particular group and more apt to have more liberal social attitudes and religious beliefs.  But in many of the groups in the West Coast, the absence of religion can have a certain status as well, especially among the younger age groups.

Despite the changing climate of faith in America, with the tendency to be eclectic about religion as the more dominant theme for most folks, the value of belonging to the right social group, which turns out to be the church in small towns, continues to be important if one wants to get ahead and meet the right people.  So if you are that new kid on the block in a small town like La Grande, Oregon or Natchitoches, Lousiana and you are opening a candy store on the corner where everyone might come, the best place to begin that marketing effort might be around the tea and coffee in the church courtyard, or snack in the Mormon social hall after Sunday services, if you want to be successful in a small town.

Rajneesh cult and former girls hotel example of Oregon, where beingdifferent thrives

Martha Washington

Carol Forsloff-----More than 30 years ago, Oregon became the home of an unusual sect with its unique practices and unusual members.  The group took over acres of land around Antelope, Oregon as well as a former fine residence for girls in Portland once called The Martha Washington.  Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, the founder,  started the sect in the 1970's, where many of his ideas were rejected; so he went on to the United States and Europe to expand.  He ended up settling in Oregon, offering a story of eccentricity in a place where doing your own thing can thrive---for awhile.

The story of Rajneesh is indeed an example of Oregon's tolerance and unique ways, offering refuge to the refugee, Rajneesh, seeking tax shelter, indeed from taxes owed in India.

Oregon is the place where nude bicyclists move through the byways of Portland regularly every summer, and pantsless day is celebrated by young people through the city on an annual basis.  It is a city that draws in the homeless, and where myriads of young people protest where protest is part of tradition.  But Rajneesh was more than Oregon ended up being able to tolerate, for his behaviors caused some local residents some serious trouble.

Rajneesh was not a man who believed in either poverty or propriety in many ways.  He owned elaborate cars and residences.  He believed in, and promoted, sexual pleasures.  On the land in Oregon Rajneesh created a community, with the help of Ma Anand Sheela, also from India.  Together they and their followers built Ragneeshpuram in Wasco County, Oregon.  There they ran into conflict with local residents when they launched a bioterrorist attack and poisoned restaurant food in the Dalles.  At the height of their activity, the group had approximately 2500 members.  Rajneesh ended up being deported for immigration fraud, while other leaders and community members fled the area.

The story of Rajneesh continues to fascinate Oregon residents and visitors.  Portland's newspaper, The Oregonian, has covered the group over the years, including during their sojourn in Oregon that began in 1981.

Visitors continue to explore the remnants of the community and hear the tales from residents about the curious band of cult members whose ways were particularly unusual, even to the Oregon taste of wildness and different and where tolerance reigns sublime.   Blogs of those who travel through the area often mention Rajneesh and his followers.

The backstory of Rajneesh  talks about the man and his disciples.  While some portrayed the followers as loving and gentle people, the memories of the leader remain as someone who left India, owing taxes, and found his way to Oregon in order to continue his reign of infamy.

The former girls residence, once called The Martha Washington and located within a close walking distance of Portland University, is part of that history of Rajneesh, as many of his followers lived there a few years.  It is part of the tale a journalist, born and raised in Oregon who once lived in that residence learned.   This is just another reminder of how the Pacific Northwest State continues to fascinate its own residents, as well as visitors, as a place where almost anything can happen---and does.

Atheism becomes haven and the faith of discontents

[caption id="attachment_22228" align="alignleft" width="200"] symbol of atheism[/caption]

Leanne Jenkins---Is atheism a religion?  Is the lack of belief in God a reasonable foundation for building a religious framework, complete with membership guidelines and a place to meet for ceremonies?  Some folks think so, and the notion is growing.

In Portland, Oregon there are billboards that advertise the atheist organization, complete with meeting announcements and a campaign to promote membership.  Oregon is one of those states with a low involvement in religious organizations, and this may be a mechanism for those outside the mainstream, or even the alternative, spiritual organizations to align themselves with atheism.   In fact there are atheist meetup groups in the greater Portland area that advertise themselves as simply "neighbors getting together to learn something, do something, share something?  But what is there to share in an atheist group?

It turns out the discussion centers around everything from vegetarianism to information about Christianity, entitled "Christianity Explored."  And the vegetarian meet-up group narrows its definition to accommodate the membership generalities of non-theistic approaches to interaction by referring to its membership discussions as "agnostic vegetarians."

Many of these people maintain they have either not found religion to be coherent, supportive or necessary, and that they have been discontented with the fractionalism that occurs among sectarian groups.  Others see belief in God as mere superstition, reflecting instead on science as the solution to man's ills.  A number of discussions advertised by the national group are centered upon the sciences.

The American Atheists organization centers on civil rights interests and issues, making sure that other religions don't overstep certain boundaries in ways that would identify a state religion or a religion that indicates that all people belong to a particular religion designated unofficially, or subtly, as one defining the principles by which most people should live.

Experts tell us that it's hard to identify the demographics of atheism, as much of the world's populations identify themselves with a particular religion.  One estimate is 90% of the people of India and the United States.  But there is evidence that the fastest growing religion in the United States is "no religion."

Still while there is a claim by atheists and agnostics that their segment of non-belief is growing faster than faith groups, there are those who differ with this claim.  For example Foreign Policy Magazine observes Islam to be the fastest growing religion in Europe,  and its growth rate the highest in the world.  The rate of growth of Islam worldwide was 1.84% in 2010, the Baha'is at 1.7% puts it at Number 2 in the world in growth rate,  and Sikhism at a growth rate of 1.62% comes in at Number 3.  Christianity's growth rate of 1.3% places it at Number 6.

 

 

A cultural difference is reflected in visiting not your mother's LasVegas

Las Vegas Strip

Carol Forsloff-----Years ago when folks went to Las Vegas they looked forward to that special meal in a casino, played a few slot machines, and took in a show for an inexpensive vacation that had a little magic that was affordable and didn't break one's personal bank, but those days are gone in a Las Vegas your mother, and surely your grandmother, would not recognize and likely could not easily afford.

The Strip is all that glitters in the night where its glorious lights and majestic buildings line up in a fashion that makes the proverbial jaw drop, even as it all is a reminder that they weren't built by businesses seeking visitors who relish the good deal but those people willing to set aside all of that for the quick fix of the quick buck won and mostly lost.

Want to spend your children's inheritance as fast as possible? This is the place to begin. Visit a headliner show, if you can get there on a night when someone you want to see is available and doesn't require a major physical and financial effort to get there after all. The Donny and Marie Osmond show is highly acclaimed by Las Vegas insiders and outsiders alike, but at the usual $150 per person price tag (not counting the taxes and other fees) most middle-class folks would have to make serious choices after getting the bill back home. Other shows are also pricey, ranging at the minimum of $75 each for the cheap seats and in the several hundreds for the best.

A four-day trip turns out to be two days and partial days spent traveling, finding where to go, thumbing through event brochures, checking baggage and standing in endless lines for food, show tickets and entry into anything. This Disneyland for adults isn't for the person looking for rest and relaxation or just a vacation on the cheap. Instead it's for someone seeking excitement and who has endless energy and funds as well. For the food is just as pricey relative to the shows on the Strip, and those relatively cheap meals that were the temptations for folks to go to the casinos and try things out no longer exist. Every square inch of the casino territories is dedicated to making money, so there isn't even a coffee pot in the room let alone potable water, as everyone in the know knows not to drink from the tap in Las Vegas town. Add water to the price.

A journalist and spouse went to the city that sleeps only during the day for many folk to spend time with family and entertain at a locally-sponsored party and event. Food with family and free food at a party can substantially help a budget be less excessive than it could have well been for the couple lost in the inebriating textures of Las Vegas. Still the venue was overwhelming, of the nature that made rest a four-letter word of the past.

Expect, if you gamble and do that only minimally, to easily spend with that round-trip, airfare and hotel included at a lesser price, if you can get it, of $560 from Portland, Oregon, for just one show at $200 for two for a lesser-than-major-celebrity show, $125/day for food that includes one sit-down meal and otherwise fast food, which comes slowly after long lines of waiting, $100 each allowance for gambling, t-shirts for the happy couple at $40, a couple at $6 and counting for soda ; and that not-your-mother's Vegas turns out to be a high-priced rendezvous indeed. It is not easily affordable for the folks back home at the grand total of $1500.

We did it for less without the gambling and drinks, but the magic that brought folks from anywhere is slowly disappearing along with the water table, both in short supply. But if you like that and fighting crowds that are like the worst at the midday hour at the Chicago airport at Christmas than leave your mother home.

Statistics show autumn most popular season for a bike to be stolen

[caption id="attachment_12133" align="alignleft" width="300"] Travelers bicycle[/caption]

Marsha Hunt---Oregon, Washington and California,  like many places in Europe, favors bicycling, often as an important source of transportation, so it's important for everyone to know when to be especially vigilant to prevent a bicycle from being stolen.

In Great Britain, according to TRACKER’s annual stolen motorbike recovery figures, 31% of all bikes it recovered in 2012 were stolen in the autumn months.   TRACKER states this is the time to be especially vigilant, to prevent bicycles from being stolen.

This same pattern of bicycles thefts being more prevalent in the fall occurs in other places where biking is popular and there are apt to be more bicycles used than in other places.  Around the greater Portland area, that's especially true.

This is what Stuart Chapman police liaison officer for TRACKER says about the problem, “Our figures show that autumn sees the highest increase in the number of bikes being stolen with the summer months having the lowest amount of bikes being stolen and recovered. In fact we saw a drop of 10% in bikes being stolen during the winter months, compared to autumn. Overall £477,200 worth of motorbikes, mopeds, scooters and quad bikes were stolen and recovered by TRACKER during 2012.

“At the end of a good biking season, it always pays to ensure you have taken adequate measure to protect your bike when you are not using it. These simple steps can save heartache and the expense of finding that your bike has been stolen while in storage for the winter.”

The following are some of the tips offered by TRACKER to help prevent bicycles from being stolen:

TRACKER’S MOTORCYCLE SECURITY TIPS

• Fit a tracking device to ensure recovery if the bike is stolen.
• Always put the steering lock and chains on.
• Keep your keys with you at all times and keep them safe at home.
• If you have a garage, use it to store your bike.
• Make sure your garage is fitted with strong locks.
• Mark the main areas of the motorcycle with your registration number or post code.
• Purchase a good immobiliser.
• Do not advertise your motorcycle to the world by leaving it on the drive. If you do not have a garage, cover it or park it in the back garden.
• When you park your bike in a public place, cover it and park in a well-lit area.

Celebrating 20 years of the successful vehicle recovery, TRACKER is a system used in Europe to help recover stolen vehicles.   TRACKER is the only vehicle tracking system operated by all police forces in the UK, offering bike owners what it claims to be the ultimate in security.

Other people in the world, as in the United States, are also trying to stop bicycle theft.  The Bike Index is an attempt to do just this, by allowing people a place to register bicycles so there is a record of ownership and location.

In the meantime experts remind us to keep particularly vigilant in the fall and early winter, when bikes are more readily stolen than at other times, even though the exact figures aren't known.

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Marsha Hunt is a free-lance writer who also enjoys bicycling around the West Coast of Oregon.  She became acquainted with the Journal of Humanitarian Affairs, where she contributes articles about the environment and other areas of interest, in this case the bicycle.

Seniors live on the edge in their golden years

[caption id="attachment_20362" align="alignleft" width="300"] Portland, Oregon downtown area where seniors live in pricey or small subsidized apartments.[/caption]

Carol Forsloff----A recent visit to the glittering condos of Portland in the up and coming areas of the Southwest regions of the metropolitan area provides a glimpse of social change that speaks of issues that affect us all, but most importantly those of a certain age who live on the edge as the old ways of nurturing communities fade in favor of impersonal and remote towers in the modern world.

Portland, Oregon is no different than many other cities, as the crime is most prevalent in the interior and spills into its nearby neighborhoods as well, even as the prices increase while incomes of seniors remain fixed or falling. But these neighborhoods are walkable in the sense that grocery stores and restaurants are available by foot and mass transit near the door. The price an elder has to pay, however, is either with price or crime or both, which forces older folks to live on the edge.

That edge is in the outlying areas, where the traffic flow does not affect daily life but impacts leisure activities and creates problems for those who walk slowly or need to find urgent care urgently. So those of a certain age, needing safety, security, walkability and low crime find it difficult to locate regions of the town that provide the basics during times of fading health. And the options are not as welcoming as one might hope, either in accessibility, price or location.

Many seniors elect to live in mobile homes because they are less expensive and often have inviting interiors in communities where other seniors live. But those mobile home parks or areas where people own their land are on the outside of towns that either have few amenities or are near the strip malls and highways that offer little by way of an easy and safe walk to a grocery or restaurant. Most municipalities shun the mobile homes, even though many are structurally sound and attractive, as they are viewed by neighborhoods as of lesser value and carrying the stigma of the “trailer trash” of years ago. Seniors in these areas are living on the edge as mobile home parks fees increase and land-use landlords see opportunities in the numbers of older people looking for a home.   They are not the cozy mobile home parks that have become standard ways of living for many seniors in Florida.

The residences for seniors, the tall, imposing structures that look like large apartment buildings or hotels, are also often on the edge of town or some other remote area or across from large shopping malls, as they are in Southwest Portland – Hillsboro corridor. These are not the neighborhoods of yesterday with the grocery nearby and the welcome mat of friendliness that were part of the life of yore.

Retirement homes in the city might offer the open door and welcome, but the areas where they are located present issues of safety because of proximity to crime. So seniors cluster in their lounges where card games and Bible study are the predominant activities planned, with an occasional day trip by bus with other elders, and with extra cost.

The all-in-one places of extended life planning, from independent living to assisted living and memory care, frequently allow for little options by way of social life, beyond those predictable events of cards and church that are touted as filling recreational needs.  The food is often starchy and tasteless, the help from folks who make little money and therefore have issues as well.   And the costs from $1500 to $3000 monthly is beyond the Social Security benefits most seniors receive.

All of this comes as seniors live on the edge in other ways as well. That edge is in the total community response, which in a fast-moving world means often forgotten, unused talent or talent that is bought cheaply or offered for free. Seniors who use to be teachers end up volunteering as grandparents in the schools, and the local secretary of the bank becomes the clerk at a second hand store one day a week, just to have social contact and get out of the house to make friends.  Volunteering is said to promote senior emotional and physical health, but it's also a way to get labor more cheaply than anywhere else.   But even so these volunteers or cheap labor aren't the movers and shakers some of them once were, as the vision of youth remains the major cultural view.

There are ways to escape many of these concerns, but those ways often cost money and the complex planning that age and health-related issues can often make more difficult at a time when life is supposed to be simple.  So the saving and the planning must be carefully done in the years before retirement, with enough flexibility and foresight to understand that what works today might not work as well tomorrow.

As baby boomers increase in numbers and demands continue to grow, the options for living increase in technology but diminish in interpersonal ways.

Old age, they say, isn't for sissies, and preparing for it requires more than just a savings account but an attitude change as well. And that attitude means a compromise in either security, safety, financial investments or social activities as the golden age of life is spent in finding which option must be given up to make it through those times.

New Oregon poll represents seniors' concerns over Medicare spending cuts

[caption id="attachment_10642" align="alignleft" width="225"] Doctors office, seniors worry about having funds for care[/caption]

Heather Fromm----"Proposed cuts to the Medicare program threaten access to vital healthcare services that so manyOregon seniors rely on for care," stated Sarah Myers, CAE, Executive Director of the Oregon Association for Home Care. "Congress and the Administration must take steps to ensure access to quality, affordable healthcare is protected for current and future beneficiaries."

Myers expresses the opinion of many seniors who believe it is important to protect Medicare and who believe it is important not to make drastic cuts.

The Oregon Association for Home Care and Bring the Vote Home today released new polling data recently that demonstrates how Oregon seniors, like others in the United states. Oregon seniors support funding for Medicare healthcare services for  the 653, 905 seniors in Oregon. They also overwhelmingly oppose proposed cuts to Medicare for treatment services many seniors depend upon.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed cuts to Medicare funding for cancer treatment, home healthcare, cardiology and vascular care, and dialysis treatment.  Unless the President and Congress intervene, these cuts will go into effect on January 1, 2014, putting patient access to care at risk.

Key findings of the poll include: 

• 97% of seniors surveyed believe Medicare coverage of services provided in hospitals, physicians' offices and community-based settings are important.


• 92% of seniors do not approve of the government making large and sudden cuts to Medicare services.


• 92% of seniors support the government and President taking steps to prevent future Medicare cuts.


• 94% of seniors surveyed are more likely to support lawmakers who work to preserve the Medicare program by stopping fraud and abuse.

Medicare beneficiaries in all states are vulnerable to the negative impact of drastic funding cuts. But even more so will be those seniors and disabled individuals in rural and medically under-served areas who will be more severely impacted by additional cuts, forcing the elderly to seek care in higher cost settings. will be severely impacted by additional cuts. Many providers of vital services, such as home healthcare agencies, could be rendered inoperable if more cuts are implemented, forcing beneficiaries to seek care miles away from their communities in higher cost settings.

Social Security constituted 90% or more of the income received by 35% of beneficiaries in 2009

(22% of married couples and 43% of non-married beneficiaries).

• Almost 3.5 million elderly persons (9.0%) were below the poverty level in 2010. 14% of the seniors in Oregon live below that poverty line.

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Helen Fromm is a hospice nurse and free-lance writer who is concerned about the plight of seniors and who retired from the medical profession at the age of 65 and now worries about her own future health care.

Washing Well Wenches bring top performances in female comedy teams

Carol Forsloff-----

[caption id="attachment_20270" align="alignleft" width="300"] Washing Well Wenches[/caption]

The Oregon Renaissance Festival is one of the magic moments folks can have in the dregs of summer that finalize the season with the best, and one of those bests is the Washing Well Women, a comedic group of talented women who are a must-see event at any place they are featured.

This group travels to festivals and offers performances that keep audiences laughing and enchanted with the energetic women who interact with the crowd with verve and funny lines.

The usual audience participation brings out even more of the humor that is conjured up instantly or planned. It's hard to tell how much is spontaneous unless you are one in the crowd who is called, as Del Forsloff was at the Oregon Renaissance Festival, as he got in the groove with the girls and embraced the event with the same good humor that others did on a mid-September fair in Hillsboro, an annual event that brings crowds to the little town bordering Portland, Oregon.

The story is best told in videos and pictures that are here for all to enjoy, the Washing Well Wenches in one of their best routines along with clips that show the fun that await folks fortunate enough to be in an area where these festivals are found, where they are “Good, Clean Fun”

And as the festival is winding down in Oregon, these funny women, The Washing Well Wenches, have a schedule of where they are performing on their website here.

Oregon Renaissance Festival in Hillsboro: Here's the story in picturesand more

[caption id="attachment_20182" align="alignleft" width="225"] Sheriff of Oregon Renaissance Festival in Hillsboro, Oregon[/caption]

Carol Forsloff----Ever want to travel back in time to the time of the Renaissance, when poetry and history fused, and people lived simpler lives in Merry Old England and other places in Europe, ushering in the era of thought and customs that eventually traveled to the New World? Well, then visit the Oregon Renaissance Festival of Hillsboro, Oregon.

That travel back in time occurs annually in a wide open area between the suburbs of Portland and the small town of Hillsboro that offers much to do, especially in summer, with festivals and fairs. The Oregon Renaissance Festival has been enchanting visitors for over 50 years.

The entire Festival is based upon the concepts of the Renaissance, and every vendor and performer throughout the schedule speak in the old English of yore. The sheriff and the Queen are the key figures around which much of the activity develops. There are jousting events, knife throws, cannon demonstrations, belly dancing and various other acts for children and adults that are period-related to the Renaissance.

The story is best told in pictures, this month old narrative in festival form with all the colors and wonders of long ago, spread out for the visitor who wanders into the area in Oregon, or right here for a virtual experience of what life was like in all its various forms hundreds of years ago, made new by the program folk who make magic every year on the Hillsboro Fairgrounds.

Chinese immigrants find opportunity in small town America

[caption id="attachment_19994" align="alignleft" width="300"] Chinese restaurant[/caption]

Carol Forsloff---Vernonia, Oregon is one of those small town areas that beckon folks weary from the workaday world, traffic, congestion and impersonal lifestyle; and it becomes a haven and home for people from everywhere, including China.

Most major cities have a Chinese restaurant and most often many of them.  The Chinese restaurant in an area of a town is almost standard fare in most places.  It has, in fact, becomes as American in tradition as the proverbial apple pie.  But how many would expect to find one of the best in an off-site area near a town of less than 3,000 people?

The restaurant sits just on the edge of the main area of Vernonia, across a small bridge and tucked near the trees and riverbank so customers can see the natural landscape through the windows where customers can see well the beauty of the area.  That natural setting, coupled with the bright colors of the restaurant interior, offer the customer a visual treat.

Sammi Su and her family of husband, children and extended family of relatives, managed to make it to the United States years ago and gradually put together a series of restaurants catering to local personnel.    Sammi's family had seen the town and were impressed, deciding it as the place for good business and good living.  Vernonia's welcoming spirit and friendly atmosphere made the family feel at home.

[caption id="attachment_19995" align="alignright" width="300"] Vernonia downtown[/caption]

With the strength of community support, the New Hong Kong Restaurant continues to bring people for meals and also for meetings, entertainment or just tea and chat most hours of the day.  And like some Chinese restaurants, this one offers a few Japanese offerings that include sushi pieces.  Dinner plates for individuals and families range from $7.95 to $10.95, and the size of the portions are often large and filling enough so that one is never hungry that two hours later folks joke about occurs with Chinese meals.

But it is that smile, charm, of Sammi who mingles comfortably with her guests as she serves the meals that makes the restaurant special, along with a town that says welcome everywhere, including at the local Chinese restaurant, where the ambiance and taste-filled adventures make stranger and resident alike feel right at home.

[caption id="attachment_19996" align="alignnone" width="300"] Sammi Su, owner-manager of New Hong Kong Restaurant[/caption]

Northwest states compete for being best at reducing building energy useand costs

Billy Jenkins

[caption id="attachment_6279" align="alignleft" width="300"] Portland represents clean energy, like a world in flowers[/caption]

-- More and more buildings are being favored for their going green, most especially in the West Coast of the United States, an area paving the way for others to follow an environmentally-friendly path.

And these states are competing to see which ones might be the first and best for reducing their buildings' energy use.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has initiated the 2013 Energy Star National Building Competition: Battle of the Buildings. Teams involving more than 3,000 buildings nationwide  competing to see who can win the recognition for doing the  most to reduce their buildings’ energy use.

“Battle of the Buildings is a great opportunity for businesses to save money while reducing carbon pollution that contributes to climate change,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “These are the kinds of smart, innovative solutions that are going to help solve the environmental challenges we face today.”

Those competing in Battle of the Buildings in the Pacific Northwest include the Pioneer US Courthouse in Portland built in 1875 and buildings built in every ten years from that time forward.  The top three competitors in the Pacific Northwest by numbers of buildings are Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle with 63 buildings competing in Washington, General Services Administration with 49 buildings in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington, and Union Bank with 31 buildings competing in Oregon and Washington.

Energy Star’s Battle of the Buildings has been organized to encourage businesses to improve energy efficiency and save energy costs. Competitors evaluate their use of energy and try to correspondingly cut energy waste through making improvements in the efficiency of using energy, reducing monthly energy consumption using Portfolio Manager, EPA's Energy Star online energy measurement and tracking tool. Competitors cut energy waste through efficiency improvements that include everything from equipment replacement to changes in building occupant actions.

Commercial buildings use approximately 20 percent of U.S. energy and are responsible for greenhouse gas emissions at a cost of more than $100 billion annually.   Battle of the Buildings hopes to reduce these costs and consequently fight climate change.

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Billy Jenkins is a student of the environment and has worked for environmental causes with different organizations.  He is a freelance writer with the ambition of making known the environmental concerns, especially of major cities.

High school reunions offer summer refreshments in a whole new way

[caption id="attachment_19943" align="alignleft" width="300"] Franklin High School all class reunion[/caption]

Carol Forsloff----Every year the class of every year gets together to celebrate that graduation time of years ago, most often the most significant one of the transition from childhood to adulthood, and in the summer it brings refreshment in a whole new way, with or without food.

While folks tell humorous stories about poor Dick and his hair loss or Sue with her string of husbands and over-bleached hair, for the most part high school reunions are a way of keeping the past in perspective, allowing the individual to examine his/her life and changes that take place as they compare with former classmates over the years.

High school reunions are also a time to take stock of one’s own life, to measure how one fares in relationship to peers of a certain age, and to recognize that every individual will age in a different way.  Dick’s hair loss may be the topic of humor, but his intelligent conversation can be a reminder that he has retained many of the bright and interesting patterns that made him student body president or the class leader in some other enterprise.  Or it can be a time to observe how Dick has settled into life as just that average next door neighbor everyone wants to have a beer with.  Still it is a time to get to know Dick and have the rest of the story of how he has fared over the years.

Along with the joys of high school reunions also come some of the heartaches as the number of classmates dwindle as a factor of time and circumstances.  Those who graduated decades ago find fewer and fewer of their classmates available to reminisce about those good old days in class or on the football field.

Franklin High School,  in Portland, Oregon, like many of the larger high schools in a metropolitan area, has a reunion every summer for its decade of graduates, those every ten-year reunions that folks either anticipate or dread for a host of reasons.  But there are those smaller, more intimate reunions where people can visit with a random assortment of graduates, as can occur with an all-class gathering.  While the older graduates have fewer and fewer of their peers to reminisce with there are graduates from other years who can fill in the time and the interest as on an August afternoon in 2013.  Franklin High School, like many others in the United States, has its celebrations; and there can be no more fun than meeting new friends and finding time to reflect on those years of growing up and growing older and to savor the golden years with folks with whom there is that special relationship of graduating from the same high school.

Oregon;s message to Louisiana: Stay away from coal

[caption id="attachment_19938" align="alignleft" width="300"] coal mining[/caption]

Editor---A private citizen writes of the possible new ventures in Louisiana as something Louisiana folks should resist, which is the coal industry and reminds the citizens of that southern state that Oregon just said no.

Why coal?    Simply stated it’s the money,  prosperity for everyone, something Big Oil has promoted, and in many ways turned into fools’ gold.  But don’t be fooled by the newest machinations of folks who see bucks but at the expense of the ordinary private citizen of Louisiana.  That is the message from an environmental group with the reminder that Oregon is turning down dirty coal.

Pollution increases as a consequence of contaminants like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercurty into the air.  These contaminants negatively impact human and environmental health.

It increases greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.



Now Oregon has its issues with its own decisions, putting the green, environmentally valiant before the representatives of labor over the coal as energy debate.   And the message at present is that clean air and water, of which Oregon has in abundance, is more precious than the coal that will bring the bucks for a little while, then leave the land impoverished.

Cougar – cub relationships open new vistas of friendship and romancefor seniors

[caption id="attachment_19934" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ann Lindgren and Jared Johnson[/caption]

Carol Forsloff --When one thinks of special friendships among older women and younger men, they think of young to middle aged adults; but among seniors the attitudes have also changed, as some have found new vistas to explore in relationships.

Since women live longer than men statistically, there are more women available in the later years of life.  This means the pool of women is large, and the number of men available for close friendships, or even romance, dwindles.  So it is a clever woman who is able to bypass stereotypes to find that younger man to fill the need of having a mate, even if it’s for a simple social event, like dancing.

Ann Lindgren and Jared Johnson are a bright, happy couple with the eagerness for life that one often sees among those who forge their own individual path in life and relationships.   Lindgren had been married and lived in the East Coast, returning to the Portland, Oregon area after the death of her husband.  Through information provided by friends and family, she found herself at a senior center and other social events, where she met Johnson, sharing with him mutual interests, especially dancing.

Now the couple is seen at dances and picnics and other events, continuing to share those common interest and the passion for life and living that is reflected in their faces and their interaction with each other.

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has written about cougar-cub relationships and like many who have observed the phenomenon, treats the topic as one that shows how diverse seniors can be and how they too take on some of the patterns of modern life in order to make their way through autumn and winter years.

Cougar – cub relationships are more acceptable now, so that as seniors expand their social choices some will include that sizzling someone whose attraction is not limited to the physical but the interests and activities folks can share at any age.

An Oregon saloon continues to bring western cowboys and old time, goodtimes

[caption id="attachment_19896" align="alignleft" width="300"] Big 'O' Saloon[/caption]

Carol Forsloff---The pretty bartender smiles and pours you a drink.  She has all of the wit and charm you would expect from those gals who worked the bar back in those western movies, outside of the fact she isn't flouncing a skirt and singing as well.  But she and the ambiance of the saloon make one feel like they are right back in an old Roy Rogers movie, only it's a way station on the way to the Oregon Coast, but with the appeal that speaks to everyone of old time, good times.

Christina Kaul makes strangers feel right at home, as the restaurant serves food and those delightful beverages cowgirls and cowboys like to imbibe a bit on a journey or on the way home.  This restaurant - bar has all the decor of the Old West, which is what Oregon is, of course, as the last outpost of the United States that Lewis and Clark discovered and that people from everywhere have as well, finding those old ways still captured in places like the Big 'O' Saloon.

[caption id="attachment_19897" align="alignright" width="300"] Customer at the old saloon[/caption]

Country music on the weekends, beer on tap, great food and smiles from great looking gals dedicated to bringing the best, while enjoying the job as well work at the Big 'O' Saloon.  Christian and her friend and co-worker, who runs the convenience store that is tucked alongside the bar-restaurant, are the kind of young women one might think of as part of what's happening in some big town.  But these small town girls like living in the country.

"It's fun here," Christian exclaimed.  "There's plenty to do, horseback riding, meeting friends, being outside, living in the country and never dull around here."

[caption id="attachment_19898" align="alignnone" width="300"] Christina and Shelley, with Christina tending bar and Shelley tending the general store[/caption]

The West is here, in its full regalia, with the Olney General Store and the Big 'O' Saloon.  Enjoy the moment vicariously through pictures or stop by on Hwy 202 on the outskirts of Astoria, Oregon next time you're passing through.

Bask in the beauty of an ocean town for a moment or lifetime ofretirement

Bay in Florence, Oregon

Carol Forsloff---Looking for a cool place to retire and don't mind a bit of chill in the air here and there in order to get the fresh air, ocean smells and captivating views?  Try Florence, Oregon for that and more.

Drive down the coast from its higher tips of the familiar, like Seaside, Astoria and Cannon Beach, those family beach haunts that are a little over an hour's drive, more or less, from the outer edges of Portland.  Going South, past Lincoln City, and the town of Florence arrives with its special look and feel that draws in visitors and coaxes many to stay.

downtown Florence

It's true, waitresses will tell you, there are many seniors in this town.  In fact they literally dominate the population much of the time, with their activities and interests.  Still the downtown area is flavored with folk from every age and stage and race and style.  Because the town has a style that says welcome.

This coastal town of several thousand people is surrounded by beauty, with the ocean inlets, surrounding streams that derive much of the watery inspiration from the rival sea that is ever part of the town's lure.  Boats belly up to the bar in a harbor off the edge of town.  Here one views the bridge that links the town with more neighborhoods that stretch for miles in country neighborhoods.  The town center may be small, but tucked back beyond those trees, bushes and hillsides are myriad homes of various types that shelter people from California to the East Coast and even those who wander along, see the beauty and decide to stay.

The Bay and the View, in Florence, Oregon

The usual tourist type shops are dressed somewhat better and more inviting than the bold, almost neon-like shops that dot the landscape of the coast.  Here each shop seems to maintain its own identity and offerings.  And bargains there are and plenty, whether that's a seafood meal at one of the many restaurants or a leather purse - backpack, attractive, well-made and likely long-lasting for the grand total of twenty dollars.

A visual treat is here for the lovers of beauty or those who are curious about what makes Florence, Oregon one of the more welcome spots for retirement or just musing on an afternoon in summer.

[caption id="attachment_19755" align="alignright" width="300"] Seniors share a walk in the park in Florence, Oregon[/caption]