Dear Editor,
My wife and I would like to jump on the band wagon and donate $250 for the renovation of the Community Hall.  I appreciate this opportunity to do this small thing for a town and people who will always be special to me.
The Community Hall has a lot of special memories starting before it was built.  As I remember, it was built on the former location of Simon Oil Company.  In the winter of approximately 1952 my family watched this warehouse, with oil and gas trucks inside, burn actually below the ground.  We were watching from the front window of our home.  (Located at the corner of Stockyard Blv. And Grain Growers Gulch.)  With the Gas and Oil it had to be one of the more spectacular fires in Cottonwood, with flames shooting 100’s of feet into the air.
When the Community Hall was built I must have been in the 7th or 8th grade.  That summer I worked for Bill Jacks who was in charge of building the structure.  Along with a couple of my buddies, (Francis Jenny was one) we shoveled sand, rock, and cement into this old mixer and made concrete.  Then we had a competition on who could push the biggest load up the rickety scaffolding to the top of the walls, where we poured it into the blocks.  Don’t remember all we did, but I do remember my hourly wage was 75 cents and I donated 50 cents back to the City.  As I remember my Dad was my agent.  I’m not sure if he was mayor or not at the time.  However, looking back I’m wondering if there wasn’t a conflict of interest?
In High School I performed in a Sodality Play-“The Maxwells” I was Wilber Maxwell and I was supposed to knock my friend (the real Ted Toennis) over a couch and break his arm.  Seems unbelievable now but in practice we did break his arm and we had to change the lines to accommodate.
A lot of other memories of times celebrated at the Hall; Anniversaries, Weddings, Funeral Receptions etc.  Also many Saturday Night dances.
These and many other memories will always be special to me as well as the very special people in Cottonwood.  Please pass on this small token of thanks.  But more important, thanks for the memories.
P.S.  I hope my Memory is not too far off.
Hello to everyone!
Very truly,
Frederick Hoene
Portland Or.

To The Editor:
Mr. Arnzen (Shorty), in reading the most recent of your many articles to the editor I felt compelled to respond and share some perspective with you. You are clearly entitled to both, your political opinions and your religious views as AN AMERICAN CITIZEN. Despite the confusion I have over your points on voting for Obama translating directly into abortions or Judge Sotormayer's appointment to the Supreme Court being solely the President's doing. Those were not the points that motivated my response. Although I would like to point out that no Federal Abortion law has changed under any president, including this one, since the Roe vs. Wade ruling was finalized in1973. Since that case's origin, five Republicans held the Presidency, spanning over 20+ years ...and neither amidst their tenure nor any Democratic Presidency has that ruling or its potential reversal come through the Oval Office in bill form. Simply stated, the abortion laws are the same today with Obama in office as they have been for over 25 years. Just to clarify, as I expect you’ll have another fuming off-topic response, it is not your abortion stance I’m disputing, just the relevancy of this President's 200 some-odd days in office somehow being the fault of a Supreme Court ruling that occurred amidst a Republican Presidency in 1973. Regarding Judge Sotormayer's appointment, she underwent the same qualifying standards as any other justice on the board. The President's role starts with a nomination, but from there every justice undergoes rigorous interviewing and screening before being voted upon by the full United States Senate where she was then approved by a vote of 68-31 (which included 9 Republican Senators' votes). However, her appointment was not the reason I felt compelled to respond to you, either. My compulsion came from the most appalling comment in your excerpt that read, “If you agree with President Obama be quiet.” The hypocrisy and audacity of this comment alone is quite possibly the worst I've ever read in this periodical, and there have been plenty of submissions that I've either strongly agreed or disagreed with over my 30 years on this Earth. Here you are, exercising your own freedom of speech, however misinformed it might be, touting your personal views and religious beliefs which are granted to you in the US Constitution. Your sole aim is to silence anyone who might not wholeheartedly agree with your own stance? I do not agree with President Obama on every stance of his, nor have I of any President to date, because that is not the point of democracy. One thing I am fully certain of is that I live in the United States of America, not the “Retired Idaho Cattleman of Cottonwood Butte Road's United States of America.” So until your mythical country produces some documentation that supersedes those that govern the actual United States of America, I suggest you take your age and passion and use them to search out wisdom and tolerance. Perhaps you can access ‘Senator Mike Crapo’s’ library for references.
Jesse Uhlorn
 

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