I have lived in Polk County since 1965 and have lived by myself from 1979 to the present in Dallas. YES -- there is a KKK group in Dallas and they still have secret meetings. I had a black male friend, and his wife was white.They were harassed and abused like other minorities. My friend also had crosses burned in front of his house and the "N-word" was spray painted on his house, with KKK magazines and flyers left on his lawn. He was told by businesses to get out of their places of business. Some of these businesses refuse to serve minorities or people with disabilities.

I am a minority too. I also have been harassed, abused and beaten by people and even by cops -- who are racists and bigots. The whole Dallas Police Department is run by prejudiced, racist cops. I was threatened with being harmed or killed by them because they didn't like my race. I also was told by cops in this racist town that ONLY white people live in Dallas, and ONLY white people will control Dallas.

So maybe you should talk to us minorities instead of listening to a WHITE person named Holt, when he protects white racists.
ALSO -- the high school name -- DRAGONS is a white supremacist/KKK group name. It has been all these years.

So it's not a past myth or a lie. It's the truth -- Dallas does have a KKK group still. Other minorities that used to live in Dallas were run off by members of the KKK and by the white bigoted cops.
-- Carmen M. Perrez

All in the family

Thank you for the article about the influence the KKK once exercised in Oregon.

I was particularly interested in the statements about the KKK's push for anti-Catholic legislation. My great-great grandfather came over the Oregon Trail in a wagon. Family lore has it that my great-great grandfather, rather than starting a new life in this beautiful state, turned right back around after his arrival in Oregon.

What scared him off? Well, to hear my mother tell it, the KKK was very influential at that point in Oregon history, and they didn't like Catholics. My great-great grandfather, wouldn't you know it, was a Catholic.

I always chalked this story up to the fanciful imagination of aging relatives who wanted our family history to sound more dramatic than it really was. After reading your article about the KKK's anti-Catholic past in Oregon, I'm inclined to think there may've been a grain of truth to the tale after all.
-- Andrew Parodi

Sensationalism is dead
If you put three business leaders of any town in a parade with bedsheets on, it'd be all over the national media with a "look at those rednecks" slant. The reason is that the majority of Americans consider the KKK either radical or just flat out wrong. Even Strom Thurmond had to change his stance on the "race issue" to stay in office. Society doesn't look at racism in a positive light -- at least not publicly.

Racism is still around, but the KKK is not affecting public policy anymore.
-- Anonymous Web posting

Kiosks (Responses to: Where have all the kiosks gone?)

Dwindling resources

A resource is gone and it appears so has the imagination.
These kiosks were abused by users weekly and had very few limitations place on them, which then turned them into an eyesore more then a place to get information. Often one venue would post in the morning only to have another go on top of it a few hours later.

Apparently many thought volume advertising was more important then quality advertizing or the rights of others to use the board as well.

I have yet to hear from these sad souls how they might create a solution to get the word out without placing ads in the various papers. How about information boards available at several different business locations where like at Chemeketa the message is put up by someone who will be courteous to other users of the board and could also take down information that is no longer valid.

Let's replace the system with one that provides quality, accurate information and is inviting for people to take advantage of.
-- Anonymous Web posting

Kiosks: A home for homeless art

I find it ironic that our fair city removes these (wonderful) kiosks at this time.

You may notice that the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, one of our community's fine bastions of culture, is hosting an exhibit of ...  rock and roll posters(!!!).

Apparently, 40 years from now, these "unsightly, messy" posters that litter our kiosks downtown will be considered meaningful works of art.

In the meantime, removing the kiosks won't stop the posters, they'll just move to light poles and storefronts.
Save our homeless art!
-- Anonymous Web posting

Brooks Burner (Responses to: Burn, Baby, Burn)

Incinerators across the pond

I have just read "Burn, baby, burn" and feel that those concerned about health issues related to PM2.5 emissions from incinerators might be interested in reports by Dr. Dick van Steenis MBBS, which are listed at the bottom of the homepage at countrydoctor.co.uk and also in reports etc. at UKHR.

I have been examining infant mortality rates and other data in the 625 electoral wards in the Greater London Authority's area, here in the UK.

There are several incinerators within this large urban area, and also a major incinerator just outside the western boundary.

The electoral wards with high infant mortality rates are all associated with PM2.5 emissions from the incinerators.

I've also examined the percentages of babies born with low birth-weight and the electoral wards with high percentages of low birth-weight babies also shows correlation.

It's not just incinerators that produce toxic PM2.5s, and in the wards downwind of Ironbridge Power Station there were 51 infant deaths and 6,591 live births recorded by the Office for National Statistics during the 8-year period of 1998-2005. The wards which are "upwind" of the power station had zero infant deaths and 1,302 live births recorded by ONS during the same 8-year period.

I don't have any medical qualifications but I can tell the difference between 51 infant deaths and zero. I've been doing this research in recent years as my wife and I have buried two of our children. Our only daughter died at 14 weeks in 1985, and our 19-year-old son died of leukemia in 1999. The Shrewsbury Hospital incinerator near our house burnt clinical and radioactive waste until it was forced either to close or comply with emission regulations in 1995. It chose to close and the infant mortality rate in my electoral ward fell to zero.

Here in the UK, the "authorities" tell us that incinerators are safe and yet they fail to examine any data.

Sixty-nine of the 625 electoral wards in London had zero infant deaths in 2003-05 and those wards are all free from PM2.5 emissions from incinerators. ?

I wish Susann Kaltwasser, Kyle Elwood and others all the best and would like to share something my late father told me many years ago when I was too young to realize exactly what he meant: ?"Children are a poor man's riches."
-- Michael Ryan

Spivak's Soapbox: Riverfront Park (Responses to Spivak's Soapbox from June)

How much time have you spent in the park?

Methinks you are making the mistake of judging usage of the park by perhaps your views of driving by it on the way home.
I've walked in the park on a regular basis in the evenings. I've also visited on weekends to walk the dog or just to take a moment to sit and look at the water (or sometimes the traffic). I'm never there alone.

The playground gets consistent, substantial use by families, who often take a stroll around the park before or afterward. On weekends I've seen groups -- from informal friend and family groups to more organized groups -- using the grounds for small gatherings.

Evenings see large groups of walkers and joggers.

And what is wrong with having some GREEN SPACE? It seems like you may feel that if something isn't being developed into condos, it isn't being USED. ?

-- Anonymous Web posting

Surely you're joking, Mr. Spivak

If I thought you were serious I would be upset, but Eric do me a favor.

Check out the park in downtown Vancover. I went there for a concert and it was a great venue and loads of fun. Now organize a group to do a series in Riverfront Park and I bet you'll rethink changing the park.

By the way I love the green space ... it makes up for the infill.
-- Anonymous Web posting

Out of touch with Salem's good music lovers (Response to Still Dead Alive and Kicking)

I'm writing in response to the article ["Still Dead alive and kicking" June 07] overall and specifically this quote, "'It's odd to find a group of younger individuals with a rooting in `70s and `80s rock and metal, groups like Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Ozzy [Osbourne], etc.' says Chris Finster, engineer on Still Dead's upcoming EP."

First of all, it is not odd at all to find younger individuals who prefer music from the past as opposed to the crap on the radio today. Perhaps you should take a look at Salem's current music scene because if you did you would notice that a majority of it is solely based on rock prior to 1980. This is because of bands like the one featured in this article, they clearly have no originality and merely reproduce the same pop "rock" or pop "metal" that has already been driven so far into the grave it's not even funny. Just because I'm 21 that doesn't mean I'm not allowed to listen to the best music there ever was such as Led Zep, The Beatles, T. Rex, Bowie, The Ramones, The Stooges, Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground, The Doors, Sabbath, and so on and so forth! Anyone living today wasn't alive during the days of Bach, Beethoven, or Wagner but I'm pretty sure the music still gets played.

And don't get me started on MTV.  It's easy to spot a phoney musician. Throw money at them and watch whether they become your whore or stay true to what it was all about before they become recognized. Jack White or Beck still make great music, don't conform to the popular genre of the time, and progress.
The point I wanted to make was more of a message to the wise: It is not odd for a young woman like myself to love artists of decades past and for you or anyone else to assume otherwise, is very offensive. It sucks that older people, baby boomers and such, assume everyone under 25 listens to hip-hop and sings along with Britney Spears. PS: Heart is playing at the Salem Fair this year. "I'm like ... like totally totally stoked!"
-- Anonymous Web posting