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January 29, 2009 Opinions |
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—Letters To The Editor—
Elkhorn Wildlife Viewing Is Real Learning Experience
To The Record-Courier:
Your picture of the horse drawn sleigh in the Historic Baker County section (Monday, Jan. 19) was very timely as we’d just visited the Elkhorn Wildlife Viewing area, and were so enthralled by the magnificent team of Percheron horses that Alice Trindle and Susan Triplett use.
As we all grumble about the day-after-day of freezing fog, and cold temperatures, I’d like to encourage people to take advantage of a real “learning” experience – right here in our locale.
Imaging yourself seated on a “semi-padded” seat on a railing-enclosed trailer, being pulled by a team of matched, black horses. You have an unrestricted 360-degree “up close and personal” view of elk munching on freshly fed, high quality hay.
Susan continues a non-stop biological, ecological, and factually accurate discourse about the elk that you’re viewing, while inserting asides about the individual characteristics of some of the animals. Having lived “up-close and personal” for 40 years with elk, we were astounded at how much we didn’t know about them.
While Susan is giving her information, Alice is guiding the trailer around the actively feeding elk using an indescribable technique. For anyone who has read “The Horse Whisperer,” observing Alice is like seeing the book in real life. She is quiet, soft in her rein handling, and constantly reassuring the team that they are performing how she wants them to work. She’s a highly skilled teamster – getting the horses to do exactly as she wants. It’s like viewing a symphony orchestra respond to a really good conductor.
Wear warm clothing and take a camera. To be that “up-close and personal” with those magnificent wild animals is an experience that everyone in Baker County should have. It’s a tour for young, old, and those who don’t move very fast. They’re gracious, and very knowledgeable, hostesses.
Jan Kerns
Haines, Ore.
Wake Up America
To The Record-Courier:
This bad dream we are having about the economy is actually real and will get much worse. The problem is, we don’t see it clearly nor really understand what we see. The reality is, WAKE UP AMERICA, OR YOU WILL BE NO MORE! Even now may be too late. Over time we have elected people to high office who have ignored our Constitutional and good economic sense. And we just did it again!
The official national debt, as of last August, was $9.5 trillion. The “unfunded” debt plus the War in Iraq and Afghanistan brings the total to $50 trillion or more. Our national debt now grows at about $1.8 billion each day of the week. (The New American, 1 Sept. 2008) And our elected officials still GIVE many billions of dollars each year to foreign nations, most of whom are not our friends. And yet we re-elect them.
The U.S. Constitution prohibits, among other activities, our engaging in foreign wars. It also provided for sound money that could not be inflated. But now at least 70% of current federal involvement is in violation of our constitution. So is the need for the many thousands of graves with white crosses over them!
And here at home federal agencies are locking up our forests to deprive us of the resources needed for prosperity. Our elected officials seem willing to help them seal our fate. Why are there so few residents, intended victims of this proposed atrocity, ready to fight for what is ours?
Then, even harder to understand is, why our own Baker County government is revising a County Ordinance to make it even more restrictive? For instance, road requirements for rural home construction exceed many existing city streets. New cabins on patented mining claims are mostly prohibited. Such restrictions limit freedom and drastically limit future economic opportunities. Why would our elected officials want to restrict where we live and limit access to valuable natural resources? What is there about freedom that they don’t understand?
One must wonder whether government officials at all levels have lost their bearings, and whether we, the electorate, have lost our courage.
Jasper Coombes
Richland, Ore.
Spread The Word
To The Record-Courier:
Have you ever just been siting around, doing nothing of any importance, just minding your own business when all of a sudden the Lord speaks to you about something He wants you to do? Well that is just what happened to me today. To speak and write about the UNBELIEF in the Church and the body of Christ today, those confessing Christianity, but with little or no power in word or deed.
The name Christian means Christ-like. Just that would put many of us in the outer courts! Not saying we are not saved, just saying many are still in religious unbelief and not in Godly relationship. Some have been raised in a religious surrounding, even taught in church many men’s views, not Gods. Think not? Then read on! Have you been taught HEALING is not for today, like TONGUES pass away with the early church while millions are dying today of all kinds of sickness and disease?
That God put this thing on you to teach you something? What did you learn? These are all lies right out of the pits of HELL! God has always provided healing for His people as well for unsaved ones. Jesus also said healing was in the hands of the BELIEVER! But it is to be taken to the one in need with FAITH.
Here’s a big one! Speaking in TONGUES, or in the Spirit, a Spiritual Language some say not for today! Religious teaching again, NOT BIBLE! It’s a prayer language given by the Lord when believed for to every born-again believer. Jesus said in First Corinthians 12, “be not ignorant of Spiritual gifts.” Have you heard this? I’m just being humble by taking whatever God wants to send my way. That’s not humble, that’s plain stupid. God has made provision of any and every need, but you must be knowledgeable about them.
God loves the poor! Sure He does, but He doesn’t say you have to stay that way! ALL believers are to be able to be more then meet their own needs plus the needs of others. That’s why God speaks of financial blessing throughout the Bible. Some believe, Pastors included, that it’s God’s job to send the unsaved to them, that all they need to do is wait on God to tell them, or set up somewhere they are seen. Jesus already said and teaches us to GO out to where they are, even house to house. If your Church has no EVANGELISM or OUTREACH teaching or PRACTICES to the lost, it is in Bible DISOBEDIENCE! The Bible says “it’s a wise man who saves souls.” Ever wonder what He says or calls one who does not? That’s the main reason Jesus went to the Cross, to save ALL who would receive His sacrifice and miss a real HELL! Now Jesus has left that responsibility to every born-again believer to spread this “Good News”. Folks let’s spread the Word through out the city!
Richard Fox
Baker City
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