THE "LETTERS TO THE EDITOR" ARE BELOW THE EDITORIAL From The Editor The adventure of the missing newspapers Late in the same week we mailed the November BEE to all who currently receive it in our monthly bulk mailing, we began to get calls.  Quite a lot of people in Woodstock called to say they had not received it yet. We expected at that point that it would still arrive.  But the most troubling report was that a large number of copies of THE BEE had been seen stacked near an apartment building in the Hosford-Abernethy neighborhood, north of Powell Boulevard. Unfortunately that report was relayed to us by one of our advertisers who had gotten a call from a woman who spotted the newspapers, which she had said were “blowing all over the place in the wind” – but she did not tell the advertiser where she was seeing this. By the time our advertiser could call her back, after the weekend, days had passed, and the newspapers were no longer there. Meantime, our correspondent Elizabeth Ussher Groff learned from her Woodstock mail carrier that a postal van on Woodstock Boulevard had been broken into, and all the mail in it had been stolen. The carrier was thinking it was all just bulk mail, but when we followed up at the Post Office we learned that it was actually the entire day’s mail delivery to one carrier route in Woodstock – a geographical area in the 97206 ZIP Code described as “from south of Steele Street all the way to Carlton, between 48th and 42nd.” If you live in that area, you probably did not get your November BEE in the mail. Elizabeth gathered as many of the extra BEE issues that we distribute through stores and libraries as she could -- without unduly shorting the locations which receive them – and placed them in a variety of additional stores and public places in and near that particular area. Theft of mail is a Federal crime, investigated by the FBI, and we hope they find who did this and prosecute them for it. Although this is the first time we have ever had theft of our monthly issues by criminals while they were in the hands of the USPS, we really don’t want something like this to happen again, and neither would you. It could be a useful deterrent if a would-be mail thief became aware of the magnitude of their risk of spending time in a Federal Prison for this particular crime. In the meantime, this is a good time for me to tell you about the various locations where every month you can pick up a BEE if you don’t get it by mail. While the issues last, you can generally find them at these convenient locations (during the hours and days that they are open): The Mill End Store, 9704 SE McLoughlin, Milwaukie 365 Convenience Store, 8533 SE 17th, Sellwood Bertie Lou’s, 8051 SE 17th, Sellwood (in newsstand on sidewalk) SMILE Station, SE 13th and Tenino Starbuck’s, 13th and Tacoma (in newsstand on sidewalk) New Seasons Market, 1214 SE Tacoma, Sellwood Sellwood-Moreland Library, 7860 SE 13th, Sellwood Sellwood Market, 7835 SE 13th, Sellwood Wallace Books, 7241 SE Milwaukie, Westmoreland Windermere Real Estate, 1610 SE Bybee Blvd., Westmoreland Sellwood-Moreland Post Office, 16th and Bybee (sidewalk newsstand) QFC Market, 6411 SE Milwaukie, Westmoreland Primary Care Northwest, 6327 SE Milwaukie, Westmoreland Brooklyn Pharamacy, 3131 SE Milwaukie, Brooklyn Rose City Veterinary, 890 SE Powell Blvd, Brooklyn Woodstock Wine and Deli, 4030 SE Woodstock Blvd. Woodstock Community Center, 5905 SE 43rd Street Woodstock Library, 42nd and Woodstock Boulevard Mehri’s Bakery and Deli, 6925 SE 52nd, at Bybee 3616 SE Knapp, in a sidewalk newsstand, Eastmoreland Jumbo’s, 4427 SE Johnson Creek Blvd, Brentwood-Darlington 1st Mini Mart, 32nd at Johnson Creek (sidewalk newsstand), Ardenwald We thank all these locations for volunteering the space for you to pick up your BEE there. And if you are NOT already receiving THE BEE by mail, let me remind you that you can now have a mailed subscription for one year for just $25.  It arrives earlier than our bulk mailing, since it is mailed at a higher class of postage; the subscription fee just helps defray the cost of postage in sending it to you for a year. As our postage rates have continued to climb, we have had to trim some carrier routes from our regular mailing, so if you once have gotten it by mail, but now you don’t, that’s why.  That paid subscription will bring it back to your mailbox. To subscribe, or to express willingness to join the above list of locations where people can pick up a BEE, call the Pamplin Circulation Office during weekday business hours at 503/620-9797, or send an email to – circulation@pamplinmedia.com. Thank you for reading THE BEE! For our Thanksgiving editorial in appreciation of dogs, CLICK HERE Letters to the Editor About the November BEE editorial Editor, No dog lives with me, but I am good friends with dogs who live with a good friend of mine, and I am very thankful for that. Thank you for your editorial regarding our unique relationship with dogs.  I am going to clip and save it, even though I will never read it again. I can’t. I found myself cringing and crying because I didn’t want to continue but I had to. I found myself slapping the tabletop in a roaring rage and bawling “NOOOO!!” Fortunately my cat was outside and the rest of my family isn’t here.  I don’t know that I’ve ever been so devastated at reading something. I hope everybody reads your editorial.  Thank you again. We needed that. Kerry Canfield Portland 97206 EDITOR'S NOTE: You can read the editrorial for yourself HERE.  Duniway book on sale at Holiday Home Tour boutique Editor, I’m a lifelong resident of southeast Portland, having grown up in the Woodstock neighborhood, and having now resided in the same home in Eastmoreland for the past forty years. I look forward to reading your paper every month and love learning about southeast Portland history and finding out what's coming up in the neighborhood in the near future. After working at Portland General Electric for over a decade, I was fortunate to be able to stay home and raise our son Drew, who attended Duniway Elementary, Sellwood Middle School, and Cleveland High School. While Drew progressed through school, I volunteered in the classroom and at after-school events. One thing I learned along the way was how little I knew about the woman Duniway Elementary is named after, Abigail Scott Duniway. After reading a 1977 children’s book about Abigail, I made it my mission to learn more about the prickly pathbreaker. I combed through her trail diary at the Oregon Historical Society. I read her novels, poems, and autobiography. I learned about Oregon history and discovered that the "good old days" in Oregon weren't that great. While racism ran rampant, grown women weren't allowed to vote. . .  I was inspired to write “She Forgot Her Manners and Got the Vote – The Pioneering Life of Abigail Scott Duniway”. I recently published my hardcover book chock full of colorful illustrations and anecdotes, and will be selling it at Duniway’s Holiday Home Tour boutique from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Friday, December 1. (Our home will also be featured on the tour, as it was sixteen years ago.) My sisters and I plan on dressing in early 1900s garb (complete with suffrage sashes) as we take preorders for the book, which I will hand deliver on December 14. (The book is also available on Amazon, and my hope is that the library and our local bookstores will soon carry it.) I've also written other books and within the next week, my memoir about growing up with a bipolar mom and a volatile dad in the Woodstock neighborhood, “The Bipolar Express”, will be available on Amazon. Early next year, I have two more colorful children's books coming out, “Nerd-vana –The Voyager Race to Outer Space”, about the first spacecraft to reach interstellar space, and “Chess Queens – How the Polgar Sisters Rocked the World”, about three Hungarian chess prodigies. Brenda DeWitz Niman S.E. 34th Avenue   BEE went straight into recycling? Editor, I threw away your most recent issue the minute it hit the mailbox. I’m sick and tired of local news focusing on negativity and fear. “Westmorelanders edgy” exhausted me immediately. I don’t want to hear about how shivering scared we all are – I want to hear about positive events - housing being opened, school activities, new businesses, local meetings discussing solutions to our problems. Instead the headlines always want to focus on making sure that no one forgets there is crime in our society. I’m not imagining that trouble goes away if we stop talking about it.  I’m saying that it doesn’t have to represent our dominant feeling about our community. And headlines like your most recent ones are not to helping inspire and uplift us.   Nancy Mack via email EDITOR RESPONDS: If you threw the paper away without reading it, you missed the content of the article, which pointed out that -- despite the widespread worry in the community -- there seemed no immediate reason to be concerned, which was the point of the article....other than correcting some of the incorrect information circulating about where the occurrence took place.  We thought that calming the community over this situation was probably the most important thing we could put on page one. As you say, fears do not go away just because we don’t talk about them. But there was a lot of other positive news about Southeast Portland in there too – things which you would not find anywhere else – so maybe you might want to fish the paper out of the trash and read it!   CORRECTION In our account in the November BEE of the Oregon Music Hall of Fame concert in Brooklyn’s Aladdin Theater this year, we stated that Dick Peterson of the Kingsmen participated in the finale on stage; author David Ashton believed that he had seen him there. Kathy Rankin of the OMHOF contacted us to report that he wasn't actually there, “although he was supposed to be”, and thus was not among those on stage for the finale. THE BEE regrets the error. Letters to the Editor may be submitted via e-mail by clicking HERE. All letters to the editor are subject to editing for clarity and available space, and all letters become property of THE BEE.   Comments? News tips? Click here to e-mail us! Note to readers: At some point, this, our original Internet website, will be replaced at this web address by our new website, as part of the Community Newspapers group. At that time, you will still be able to access this, our original -- and smartphone-friendly -- website, if you save this address:  www.sePDXnews.com. Right now, it takes you to our newest website; if you ever find that newest website appearing at www.ReadTheBee.com, you will then be able to find this old familiar website at that "sePDXnews" address.  And, you'll still have your choice of which one to visit! READY TO MOVE ON TO THE COMMUNITY STORIES AND CALENDAR OF EVENTS ON PAGE 4?   CLICK HERE!