Gone but not forgotten
by JOHN CRAMER
 |
 |
With the new year upon us, the Ravalli Republic takes a look back at the stories of 2008 that affected us and caught our interest. (Top Left) Hamilton's Silver bridge comes down as part of the expansion of US Highway 93 - WILL MOSS; (Left) Darby citizens meet to discuss proposed countywide zoning - WILL MOSS; (Bottom Left) Dawn Merrill of Missoula kneels with rescued horses - PERRY BACKUS; (Center) The Capitol Christmas Tree is cut in preperation for its journey to Washington D.C. - PERRY BACKUS; (Top Right) Citizens discuss changes to the Forest Service travel plan with FS employees - WILL MOSS; (Right) A woman offers Ann Stout comfort moments before she is sentenced to life in prison for the murder of her husband - PERRY BACKUS; (Bottom Right) A massive downturn in the nation's economy affected many apsects of American life - WILL MOSS. Photo Illustration by WILL MOSS |
From zoning and rabies to horse abuse and the recession, 2008 was another busy year in Ravalli County.
So much so that the Ravalli Republic’s year-end list of top 10 news stories includes 11.
With its bucolic setting of farms, forests, mountains and streams, the Bitterroot Valley may seem to typify rural Montana -- a real-life version of the fictitious Lake Wobegon in A Prairie Home Companion, “the little town that time forgot and the decades cannot improve.”
In reality, Ravalli County hasn’t been forgotten by anybody -- its rapid growth embodies the West’s struggle to balance development and conservation -- and whether the passage of time is improving or hurting our homeplace is a matter of fierce debate.
Here then is our chronology of the year’s top stories, several of which attracted national attention:
• In November, voters repealed the county’s growth policy after a long, bitter campaign over land-use regulations.
Prompted by a population boom in the 1990s that made Ravalli the fastest growing county in Montana, local government had adopted a growth policy in an effort to guide development and prevent sprawl.
But when the county commission appointed citizen advisory boards to craft zoning and streamside setback proposals, property rights advocates rebelled at the idea of government limiting what they could do with their land.
The debate flared into a nasty and expensive political campaign, including roadside signs, billboards and newspaper advertisements, that state officials called the most contentious in Montana.
In the end, voters repealed the growth policy -- and by default any countywide zoning -- leaving land usage up in the air for the near future in Ravalli County.
• In November, the Montana Supreme Court ruled that the Mitchell Slough in Ravalli County is open to public recreation under the state’s stream access law.
In a ruling that attracted national attention, the court said the 16-mile long slough roughly followed the historic course of a waterway mapped 130 years ago and therefore was subject to public access and required permitting like other natural waterways.
The 54-page decision overturned two earlier rulings by state district courts that found the slough was not a “natural, perennial-flowing stream.”
Mitchell Slough is located east of the Bitterroot River between Hamilton and Stevensville.
The original court case began with a lawsuit filed by the Bitterroot River Protection Association, which challenged a 2003 decision by the Bitterroot Conservation District that the slough wasn’t a natural stream for permitting purposes.
• In October, a parent brought a dead bat infected with rabies to the Stevensville Elementary School, prompting a public health warning and vaccinations of scores of people who were exposed to the potentially fatal virus.
The Ravalli County Health Department identified 110 children and adults with potential risk for rabies after a woman brought an infected bat to five kindergarten and fifth-grade classes for an apparent “show and tell.”
The woman, who reportedly works as a nurse, allowed the children to touch the bat and showed it to people at a soccer field.
Officials said the chances the children were infected were small but that vaccinations were offered as precaution.
• In September, a Darby woman was sentenced to life in prison for fatally shooting her husband while he slept in 2007.
Anne Stout was convicted in Ravalli County District Court of deliberate homicide in June 2008 after a three-week trial that included testimony from more than 60 witnesses. It took the jury less than six hours to return with a verdict.
Judge Jeffrey Langton said he didn’t find any mitigating circumstances in a pre-sentence report, which indicated that Stout failed to show remorse for the killing.
County prosecutors said Stout subjected her husband to two years of public and private humiliation before shooting him after she discovered he had an affair and that she had carefully planned the murder.
• In August, a father and son from Georgia were charged with animal cruelty for allegedly mistreating four horses during a two-month-long pack trip into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness.
In a case that drew national attention, Craig Heydon, 71, and Curtis Heydon, 37, pleaded not guilty to 21 misdemeanor counts in Ravalli County Justice Court and were released on bail.
The Heydons were charged with neglecting and mistreating four horses by overworking them in a cruel manner, failing to provide them with sufficient food and water and failing to provide appropriate medical care.
The horses were confiscated by the Ravalli County sheriff’s office and have recovered in foster care.
The first horse -- nicknamed Able by his rescuers -- was discovered by hikers Dawn Merrill of Missoula and Charmain “Q” DeHart of Victor on Big Creek Trail. The women found the emaciated horse lying beside the trail and tied to a log.
A trial date is set for Jan. 27.
• In December, the nation’s eyes were on the Bitterroot Valley, or rather the subalpine fir from the Bitterroot National Forest that was this year’s U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree.
After months of planning, more than 600 people gathered along Rye Creek in the Sapphire Range to watch the tree-cutting ceremony.
More than 9,000 people turned out in communities nationwide to watch the tree on its 4,280-mile journey to Washington, D.C. Thousands more tracked the tree’s journey via the Internet.
More than 12,000 people signed banners on the trailer that carried the tree on the trip.
And more than 5,000 handmade ornaments donated by Montanans adorned the tree.
A 9-year-old Havre boy was selected to flip the switch to light the tree in a ceremony before hundreds of well wishers on the West Lawn of the Capitol.
• In December, two Missoula hikers died after falling off a cliff near St. Mary’s Peak in the Bitterroot Mountains.
The bodies of Max Haldeman, 29, and Lisa Jones, 42, were located at about 8,500 feet on the side of the 9,300-foot peak, a popular destination for hikers.
Faced with rugged terrain and high winds, searchers took nearly nine hours to locate the pair using a GPS signal from Haldeman’s cell phone to get an approximate location,
The two had slid down hundreds of feet over ice, snow and sharp rocks before stopping near a large rock.
Haldeman’s golden retriever was found alive three days later on the mountain, huddled in the snow high on the ridge where Haldeman and Jones fell to their deaths.
• In November, the Montana Department of Transportation completed the latest phase of the widening of U.S. 93 through the Bitterroot Valley.
Motorists endured months of slowdowns through a maze of orange pylons as crews striped, widened and repaved the Hamilton-to-Sheafman Creek Road and Stevensville Wye sections.
MDOT plans to widen U.S. 93 from Hamilton to Missoula from two- to four-lanes and to add a bike path along the entire route.
The project, which is being completed in phases, is expected to wrap up after 2011 depending on funding.
In July, traffic was diverted onto the new Veterans Bridge north of Hamilton and the old Silver Bridge was decommissioned.
A plan to turn the old bridge area into a city park was dropped when the Hamilton City Council learned it was covered in lead paint.
The highway widening is to resume next summer between Victor and Stevensville if funding comes through.
The four-lane expansion is a joint project between the federal government and the state of Montana. Federal funding is to cover about 87 percent of the project.
• The recession has hit Ravalli County hard.
Many working families are struggling to pay their bills, business owners have seen sales decline and many contractors have closed down or laid off workers.
Since the nation’s economy soured last summer, the number of new home starts and existing home sales has declined significantly in the county.
Across Montana, new home starts decreased significantly in the first nine months of 2008 compared to the same period last year, according to the state Department of Labor and Industry and the Montana Building Industry Association.
The state’s fastest growing areas have been especially hard hit by the recession. New home starts have dropped 37 percent in Ravalli County since last year,
State and Ravalli County industry officials said many laid-off construction workers have signed up for unemployment benefits or have left the area in search of jobs in the oil fields, mining and other sectors that are hiring.
The slowdown in home construction is hurting builders, manufacturers, retailers, distributors and other sectors that depend on construction,
• In January, more than 200 people packed a Darby meeting and assailed Bitterroot National Forest Service officials about a proposed forest travel plan that would reduce motorized public access to trails and roads.
It was the first of a series of meetings to gather public comment on the federally mandated plan,
Slated to be complete in 2009, the plan is supposed to balance motorized and non-motorized recreation, while protecting the forest’s natural resources. The proposal included reducing the number of miles open to motorized vehicles.
The crowd of hunters, loggers, all-terrain vehicle users, skiers, conservationists and others debated the Forest Service proposal for four hours.
Many people vented frustration over motorized trail and road use, current road closures, recreational experience and land access in a meeting that included verbal attacks, obscenities and death threats.
• In March, Wal-Mart dropped its controversial proposal to build a 154,000-square-foot supercenter in Ravalli County.
The corporation had planned to build a store in the Bitterroot Valley since 2006 and considered sites just north and south of Hamilton.
The proposal generated support from some local business leaders but opposition from other merchants, neighbors and conservationists who said the big-box store would cause traffic congestion, light pollution and other problems.
The plan prompted county commissioners to adopt an interim zoning ordinance that blocked big-box stores.
Ravalli County Citizens for Free Enterprise, a group led by Dallas Erickson of Stevensville, collected enough signatures for a 2006 ballot measure to repeal the ordinance.
After a Ravalli County District Court judge ruled the ballot measure could go forward, voters repealed the ordinance, but Wal-Mart dropped the project and announced it would focus on its existing supercenters.
In October 2008, Montana Commissioner of Political Practices Dennis Unsworth released his decision on a 2006 complaint filed against Ravalli County Citizens for Free Enterprise.
Unsworth ruled it was a Wal-Mart front-group -- funded almost entirely by Wal-Mart -- that violated financial reporting and record-keeping laws, but he said the group didn’t violate more serious campaign laws.
Erickson dismissed Unsworth’s ruling as unfounded.
Log on to RavalliRepublic.com to comment on this and other stories.
Reporter John Cramer can be reached at 363-3300 or editor@ravallirepublic.com.
|
|
|
Reader's Comments >>
The Magical-Musical Wizard Of Hamilton wrote on Jan 5, 2009 2:46 AM:
I know that our national, state, and local leaders can't do it alone...
All of us need to pitch in and help in anyway we can in a bi-partisan/non-partisan spirit.
I stopped on over to the Rainbow Bar about a couple of hours ago and learned from the bartender that the
Place To Ponder was being foreclosed.
Since last year, I've been trying to muster up some music gigs there.
But now the favorite cafe and bakery
is closed, and so it's a struggle to
get in on some paying gigs. and I'm sure a lot of my fellow music colleagues
are feeling the economic pinch.
In any case, I think all of us...
Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and the like will need to come together
and come up with ways of getting our economy back up on its feet.
The zoning flap, trapping controversy,
abortion, and same-sex marriage are
non-issues and considered as old news of the past, since it has nothing to do with folks losing their jobs and their homes to foreclosure in today's economic crisis.
The economy and tapping into clean energy, is far more important and all the stuff that's been polarizing our nation.
If we fail to let go of these petty differences and ideological egos and shift our country to "center field"...
(not to the left or the right, but back to middle-ground), the end result would be total disaster.
Life is too short to hold any grudges...
I think one of the things we can do to show that we are a nation going through hard times, is display the
Stars & Stripes, like we did back in 2001, when we were attacked, and our nation became as one, in a true American spirit, when people from all walks of life and cultures set aside their differences and came together to lend each other a helping hand.
It would be nice if all of us would
keep the "spirit of 9/11" going, and not just on Patriot Day or the Christmas/Chanukah holidays alone....
But every day of the year throughout our lifetime.
And if we could do that, then we could stand a better chance of defeating terror, and the USA would truly be the
greatest nation(of many nations) on Earth.
But if we continue to polarize
and divide our state and country
then you could bet your
two-shakes-on-a-shingle, old
Bin Laden and his henchmen
are laughin' their behinds off,
'cause they thrive on arrogance, selfishness, greed, bigotry and hate,
and other things that divide our state and country.
But if we want to defeat their purpose
(and get them P.O.'ed at the same time),
then we must all work together for a common cause and show the rest of the world that we're not taking this lying down and become a buncha wimps.
We must all show our strong will and determination, and like the words
in the beautiful spiritual folk ballad,
"We Shall Overcome".
Not just by words and symbolism alone...
But with action and substance.
And if we all truly put our minds, hearts, and souls into it,
success will be at hand.
I just hope a little bit of my wisdom
will rub off on everybody here.
It's a Long And Winding Road
for all of us.....
And so if anyone here has any
differences of opinion, Let It Be.
Whatever differences that come about, are not important right now. "
the free-spirited Wizard Of Hamilton wrote on Jan 4, 2009 2:43 AM:
free-thinker and free-spirit, or you don't like people who are "different" from everybody else, nor conform to conservative tradition, I want you to take the time to know me as a person, and recognize my unique talents as an artist and musician.
Then perhaps you'll think differently,
and open your hearts and minds and all the prejudice would be replaced with compassion.
Deep down inside, I am a gentle soul who has a fairly good sense of humor,
and yes, I do have the tendency to become very sarcastic
(which I'm a master of, especially like of that of a New Yorker, so ya' talkin' to me??....Ya' wanna piece of me???)
LOL!!!
But seriously, I am a very sensitive soul deep down inside and at times, a bit stubborn and rebellious...
But when I find an editorial or blog post, telling somebody to go back where he or she came from, I go ballistic,
'cause there's one thing I don't take kindly to, is such animosty because of a person's geographic origin, or because he or she comes from a different culture, etc., etc., etc..
And I would let that person with that type of attitude that this,
"my-way-or-the-high-way" or
"go-back-to-where-you-came-from" rhetoric does not set well with me.
Keep in mind that we have people who move in from other states for a variety of reasons...
I came to Montana in '94, in anticipation of a prophetic event regarding major geological Earth Changes
(still yet to come) that may affect the entire coastal regions of this country and inland, such as the Great Quakes that would trigger monster tsunamis, sending states such as California, Oregon, Washington, and parts of Idaho, into the Pacific Ocean, and the polar shifting also affecting all of Nevada plus a few other states,
and Montana may also be affected by the major changes...Changes that haven't occured for eons, and we may be nearing that time when such changes may occur...
Imagine, a new coastline along the Montana/Idaho border.
But enough about that...
The main issue is I feel like I'm not being given a fair shake when it comes to mustering up some steady paying gigs or performing charitable concerts, and yes, even looking for love, and it's very frustrating.
And I think it's high time for folks actually took the time to really get to know me, as a person who has thoughts an feelings like everybody else, and not judge me based on my strange way of life or or the wild
retro-counterculture clothes I usually wear, etc., etc., etc.
But look deep within, and know that I have my joys, sorrows, fears, and frustrations, like any other human being on Earth.
Here are three videos I've posted in the YouTube site.
Please click on to the links and watch these three pieces.
The first two, are animated stills with lessons in each message:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Mm0oPGBfUQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWrZURxVEK4
The third one is a musical treat.
If you have speakers or headphones,
switch on and enjoy my cover of
THe ByRDS rendition of the
"Chimes Of Freedom":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nR7C2Idz2Q&feature=channel
Copy the link(s) and post in your
web-search address window and the click or press Enter.
Depending on your connection speed,
sometimes it take awhile for the entire video to fully upload, so be patient.
Peace. "
Wizard Of Hamilton wrote on Jan 3, 2009 8:11 PM:
I'm basically teaching everybody here
some responsibility, as well as predicting the future, on what our world may be like in the mid to late 21st Century and the 22nd Century
(such as the year 2159 or so)
Our world is changing.
If you choose to live in the past, that's your path.
As for me, I'm gonna continue to advance into the digital cybernetic
world of the future.
As for the fossil fuel and the like...
These toxic energy sources would only last us until the mid 21st Century.
If you haven't been watching the news
on that sludge from the coal-fired plant
that broke through and contaminated
a fairly large area with dangerous
chemicals such as arsenic, then I think you'll need to be educated on the dangers of fossil fuels.....
These are fuels of the past and they are poisonous to Earth's ecosystem.
And until we have space colonies in orbit between Earth and its moon, Luna,
we must take care of this planet,
'cause this is our home to more than six billion people and the
animal kingdom.
If we destroy Earth's fragile ecosystem and its wild inhabitants,
then we are destroying ourselves,
and Nature has a way of fighting back, with plagues, severe weather, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and droughts.
All these disasters are a clear reminder that Grest Spirit is
still in charge.
We do not own this planet...
We're only tenants here and the Creator is our "landlord".
And I certainly don't want to stick around on a planet if the air, soil, and water are being badly poisoned
by human arrogance and corporate greed.
I am not from this state, and I have no plans of returning to my birth state,
'cause sometime in the future
(possibly in my lifetime),
the state I was born in, may become the bed of the Pacific Ocean, as a result from the major polar shift and reversal of Earth's magnetic field.
Charles Dickens summed it up with this quotation or proverb:
"Man's courses foreshadow certain ends...That, we must all accept.....
But if these courses are departed from, the ends will change".
Such incredible wisdom from a famed author who wrote his holiday classic,
"A Christmas Carol".
And this great wisdom still holds
true today.
The future of this planet clearly
rests in our hands.
If mankind continues its path towards
bigotry, arrogance, and greed, the end result would be total disaster beyond our comprehension.
However, if humankind practices tolerance and diversity with their fellow human beings, grow with the changing world instead of repressing change, and care deeply for the ecosystem and the wild inhabitants thereof, instead of having them hunted to point of extinction, then disaster would be lessened or averted altogether.
Meanwhile, in the present era of 2009,
we are in difficult times, especially with the economy, and all of us will need to work together to come up with new ideas that would eventually lead to creation of new enviromentally-responsible jobs that would give our economy a booster shot.
Our world is not like it was 50-100 years ago, or so, and we must not hide our heads in the sand or wear rose-colored glasses and pretend that everything here is all prissy
like of that in the 1890's.
That was then...This is now.
For those whom are still stuck in the
previous millenium, I say:
"Welcome to the 21st Century...
You're now in the future, where we have space stations in orbit, and man has been to the moon and back a few times, about 40 years ago and we may return there to establish a base or colony, sometime in this century, and before ya' know it, we'll be sending our first astronauts to Mars and beyond in this millenium.....Yes, it's a much different world than what you're used to, and our technonlogy continues to advance each year, and perhaps sometime between the years 2050-2150 A.D.(or sooner) and beyond, future generations would be residing in shimmering crystal domed cities, and weekend vacations on the moon and Mars would be more common.....Yes, you're now in the future, where many of the things that were common in your century, are now exhibits at local museums, and while we have newer and improved tools to work with in our daily routines....Yes, this is now the future, where our nation also has it's difficulties and a few growing pains, as cultures(of those who want to keep everything as "dull and boring" status quo, and those who would like more variety and excitement in everyday life, with pop and jazz clubs to groove to the rockin' beat and get the latest gadgets), start to clash...
Sort of like the battle between the totally hip and the totally square."
The 21st Century right now as I see it, is a stepping stone between the past(where horse and buggies and old cars were common) and the future(where domed cities and ion-powered land-speeders, orbiting colonies between Earth and the moon, and manned flights into deep space), as the latest thing.
I think what's best for the state and the nation, would be to integrate the old with the new, and then gradually move foward into the ways of the future.
And besides, it's good to try
something new and different.
I can remember when the 8-Track was the latest thing back in the 70's.
Same thing with the old 45's and LP's
back in the previous century...
But they've faded away, like of that of the dinosaur, 25 years ago and only found in second-hand stores in some places.
Cassettes were also the latest gadgets.
Bow now, they're very few and far between, and gradually disappearing into the age of CD's.
Same thing with the VHS...
In the 80's and 90's they were the hot item of that time....
Now, they're gradually evolving into the DVD's and the like.
Back when I was a kid, Elvis became the King, The Beatles were the hottest group, and artists of the original Motown, were the groups, kids would dance to, along with the psychedelic scene, where flower children
grooved to The Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, and The Doors...
Today, kids are hip-hoppin' with rap, and girls who used to go crazy for New Kids On The Block, N'Sync, and Hanson in the 80's and 90's, are not goin' nuts for The Jonas Brothers.
Yes, dumb bitterrooter...
Times are a-changin'.
However, some of the music and fahsions of the 60's and 70's, make their
"enocore performances" in this century.
However, I doubt very seriously if we'll return to an era of the Old West.
The majority of people are living in the modern age nowadays.
Now, there are some stuff that's worth holding on to, as an oldies collection, such as some of the historical flags of the U.S.(especially the 15-star).
Great in the field of vexillology
(study of flags), as well as collectors items.
Now, long before the internet, I can remember friends would line up their lonely single friends with a date....
Ya' know, some real-life introductions and match-making.
Nowadays, nobody wants to play "Cupid" anymore, and lonely-at-heart are having to turn to expensive phone and newspapaer personals and internet dating services.
But what about those who don't have a computer and are "socially isolated"?
Ya' know, the real-life introductions are still one of the best ways of helping to make connections
(as well as an old stand-by in case the computer crashes), and not just the internet alone.
And of all these 15 years I've lived here in Montana, I cannot remember one person ever asking me if I was married, dating, or single and seeking a special person.
Now, a lot of people here know me for my music and flag-decorated bike...
But I'm not sure if they really know me as a person who has thoughts and feelings like everybody else.
I used to do my early-mornning gigs at the Hamilton Farmers Market until I retired in 2006.
I was the "designer-cup" artist at
Wild Oats Cafe(now the Main St. Cafe),
until I retired in 1999.
But since no one has taken an interest in me for a date, or even a gig or two for various charitable causes
(after I did two performances for the Hurricane Katrina drive at the Eagles in 2005), then they're really missing out.
Just because I don't drink or smoke, nor own/drive a car, and the fact that I'm mostly a vegetarian, and I'm not into hunting and square-dancing, and the the fact that I was born in another state and I don't do like what everybody else does here, doesn't mean that I should be treated like a freak or outsider.
I have thoughts and feelings, like any other decent human being....
But if some people here are gonna
poke fun at me, play foolish head-games and acting weird or inconsiderate, instead of treating me with some respect, then I have nothing to look foward to, except for Great Spirit to
call me up to Heaven, where I could be with my friends and loved ones who left this world before me.
Once upon a time, I was a featured star in the local papers and in some cases,
on the local PBS programming, including
"Rhythms Of The Big Sky", back in January of 2005.
I don't know if any of you watched ABC's World News Tonight back on August 10/11, 2000, when we had the awful fires, I was the guy on the bike, trying to cope with all that awful haze and smoke here in Hamilton.
Ya' know, just because I don't conform to the conventional norms, doesn't make me into some kind of villian.
If people would dispense with all the prejudice/bigotry around here...
Then, perhaps, the Bitterroot would be one of the greatest places to live.
And most importantly, the planet Earth would be the best place to live on.
Don't judge me because of my resentment towards geographical/cultural bigotry and other social injustices.
But recognize me as a talented artist, musician, and decent human being who has thoughts and feelings like everybody else, living a very lonely life since the unexpected death of my first soul-mate in late February 2003, as well as the unexpected passings of some very close friends of mine in 2008.
(one was my drummer and two were my next-door neighbors about
4 1/2 years ago)
Meanwhile, I am very tired
and stressed out....
Hopefully, 2009 will usher
in better prospects for all of us.
Peace. "
Dumb Bitterrooter wrote on Jan 3, 2009 9:38 AM:
Wizard Of Hamilton wrote on Jan 2, 2009 3:00 PM:
on his quest for gold and making history, plus one or two other bright occasions, 2008, overall has been a very tough year, and I'm glad that year is in the history books.
I'm hoping 2009 will be a little better,
provided that everybody here, stop the primitive mud-slinging and actin' like a buncha rednecks from the previous millenium, and learn to compromise, embrace change, and change their ways in the changing times, as well as respecting and protecting Earth's ecosystem and the animal kingdom.
However, if nobody is willing to do so,
and continue with their bull-headed, self-centered, and bigoted ways, then
civilization as we know today, will cease to exist in the years to come.
And I'm hoping those who have read some of my posts, showing the deepest disdain
for such narrow-minded attitudes, as well as teaching bitterrooters here to dispense with these primitive, hateful,
"go-back-to-where-you-came-from" attitudes, would open their hearts and minds to those who come from other states(including California), as well as the various cultures and lifestyles,
and stop imposing their
ultra-conservative ideological dogma over everybody else.
We're not living in the Dark Age of the Inquisition, nor the Salem Witchhunt era, nor the public lynching from the repressive 2nd Millenium anymore.
Those days are in the past and such practices are obsolete and have not place in the 3rd Millenium.
This is the future now and it's time to do away with things that are obsolete, such as fossil fuel, and adapt to clean energy that Nature has in store for all of us, such as solar, wind, and geothermal, since these resources would last us for thousands of years, and thus, our soil, water, and air would be cleaner, and I think all of us would be more healthier than of that in the past.
It's time to leave the past with the past.
Topics such as abortion and same-gender marriage are nothing but old news of the past and it should be left back in the 70's and 80's, and not to be brought up again in this century,or the next century, and beyond.
Those two topics are non-issues.
The year now is 2009, and the main focus in the economy, as well as tapping into the clean "green" energy technolnogy, since the technology continues to evolve over a period of time.
Before the end of this century(and/or well into the 22nd Century), fossil-fuel powered vehicles will be nothing more than exhibits at your local museum,
and travel-tube shuttle cars, monorails
ion-powered hovercraft and other flying vehicles will be the major transportation of the future.
Geodesic domed homes will (eventually) replace the log cabins that were common back in the 19th and 20th centuries.
And in general, futuristic domed cities will take the place of the old architecture of the previous millenium.
And bicycles will still be around, but the design would be more advanced.
Meanwhile, this is the 21st Century and it's time to move foward into the future with the advanced technology that's available.
The analog era of the previous century, will come to an end on February 17th, as we enter the Digital Age, plus there are other changes that are on the horizon.
It's time to embrace the changes or we would all be left behind in an obsolete era.
Folk legend Bob Dylan pretty much spoke the truth in his lyrical chorus...
"And the times, they are a-changin'".
Even though we're moving foward through time, there are still some sacred values I still hold to the fabric of my being....
1. Getting to know your neighbors
and help them out as much as you
in time of need, etc.
2. Returning shopping carts to
the cart holders/bays or pass
it to a patron who's preparing to
do his/her shopping, and NOT having
them strewn in the parking lots
or in the the right-of-ways
(especially near doorways),
where folks in wheelchairs, as well
as emergency personnel
(such as law enforcement, fire,
and medical) cannot get through.
And if the carts get ruined or
stolen, stores would have ot replace
the carts and that costs money..
Thus, as a result, higher prices
on grocery and non-grocery items
alike.
In other words, showing
consideration and responsibility
for others, and not be
lazy and/or selfish.
3. Couples helping lonely
singles make a connection in
the kindly deeds of
real-life introductions and refrain
from their romantic
displays in the presence
of the lonely-at-heart.
Be sensitive to those who don't
have a love-life.
Don't poke fun or play head games.
Nobody likes game-players.
4. Driving repsonsibly and yielding
the right-of-way to emergency
vehicles, as well as pedestrians
and cyclists, and obeying traffic
signs and signals.
Similar duties also apply to
cyclists and predestrians.
STOP at stop signs and red lights
and wait until the light turns
green.
Walking aginst the red light is
not only inconsiderate, but it is
also against the law!
5. Finding middle ground and
compromise when there are
differences on an issue.
There's no room for
"my-way-or-the-highway" or
"go-back-to-where-you-came-from"
attitude".
Bigotry of any kind has no place
anywhere on this planet.
The Master once said unto His
flock...
"Judge Not And Lest Ye Be Judged".
6. Respecting others' indivdual freedom.
If you value freedom, don't impose
your beliefs over those who live
differently from the conventional
norms or do not necessarily conform
to your own traditions.
Everybody has their own style.
Don't mold anyone to be like
everyone else.
We are unique in our own way(s).
Variety is good.
Helps make our world more
a little more interesting.
7. And most importantly, HONESTY!
Over a peiod of time I hear
people make promises that have
been left unfulfilled, and it
only turned out to be nothing
more than "lip-service".
Soooo, people, take note:
When you talk the talk,
'ya bettr walk the walk.
Action Speaks Louder Than Words!
If everybody here could follow these
examples shown in this message, I think our world would be a better
place to live at.
We're not conservatives!
We're not liberals!
We're nor "red-state" or "blue-state"!
We are citizens of the planet Earth,
third in order from our home star,
Solaris, in the M-0(Milky Way) Galaxy.
If we are to defeat terrorism.
we must sacrifice a little bit of
ourselves, be responsible for our actions and inactions, and make a difference for those in need, as well as learning to compromise.
Diversity and self-sacrifice are the keys to prosperity and freedom.
Have a safe, happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.
Peace. :) "