Monday 5/04/26 Bill Meyer Show Guests and Information
Podcasts on www.BillMeyerShow.com
Facebook – www.Facebook.com/billmeyershow
6:30 Caroline Callicutt, Social Media Manager National Center on Sexual Exploitation www.EndSexualExploitation.org with the latest about their “Dirty Dozen List” re sex exploitation for young people:
Google Chromebooks: Education or Exploitation?
As a mother, Lorraine (pseudonym) was well aware of the dangers children could be exposed to online. So, she took great care to monitor and lock down her 14-year-old daughter’s tech devices. But even with Lorraine worrying that she was doing too much … in the end, it still wasn’t enough. Sexual predators reached Lorraine’s daughter anyway. How? Through the girl’s school-issued Chromebook. NCOSE just named Google Chromebook to its 2026 Dirty Dozen List for this reason, among others.
Parents Beware: Grok’s Chatbot for Kids Exposed for Sexually Explicit Content by NCOSE
Grok’s AI chatbot for children, “Good Rudi,” has the capability to tell sexually explicit stories to children. A NCOSE researcher evaluated this chatbot, saying, “As soon as I started a conversation with Rudi, it began the conversation by wanting to share a fun childish story. After some prompting, I eventually got the companion to bypass all safety programming and give a sexually explicit story about two young adults named Lena and Calder who are in a love affair. It describes multiple sexual encounters in graphic terms, including describing removing clothes, getting into sexual positions, and sexual penetration. The sexual scenarios were too graphic for NCOSE to post publicly.” NCOSE can discuss what can be done to protect children and what Congress should do.
7:35 Jack Tomczak – Media outreach at American for Citizens Voting – www.OnlyCitizens.vote
Read about their constitutional amendment to REALLY protect the vote: https://onlycitizens.vote/what-why/
Most people assume that in order to vote in the United States a person must be a citizen of the United States. However, that isn’t always the case. Federal law requires citizenship in order to vote in a federal election but the law does not apply to state and local elections. Unless a state’s constitution specifically states that only citizens can vote, the possibility of non-citizens legally voting exists.
Why is citizen voting important?
Voting is a fundamental right of citizenship, and four amendments to the Constitution (15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th) specifically recognize and protect this right, guaranteeing it to citizens of all races and genders and economic means.
A plain reading of the U.S. Constitution and the states’ constitutions leads most people to assume that only citizens can vote but a handful of activist city councils have made it necessary to amend state constitutions to more clearly define voter eligibility. More activist cities will choose to allow non-citizens to vote unless action is taken now.
8:10 Dr. Dennis Powers, retired professor of business law at southern Oregon University with today’s “Where Past Meets Present”. www.DennisPowersBooks.com
The Lost Frenchman’s Mine (and Gold Deposits)
By Dennis Powers
The Frenchman Louis Belfils, a 25-year-old watchmaker, lived in the early 1850s in Jacksonville. When he needed more business, he saddled up his mule and rode to the mining camps, where the hard-living prospectors were as rough on their pocket watches. Belfils was returning to Jacksonville in 1856 from Sailor Diggings (now abandoned with little remains and located in Josephine County).
He was working his way up an old American Indian trail that wound around Tannen Mountain, north of the Oregon-California border. His mule suddenly froze and an arrow “whooshed by,” just missing Belfil’s nose by inches. Panicked, he dug his heals into his mule to get into a panicked, awkward gallop.
In his haste, Louis lost the trail; however, the Indians on foot had momentarily lost him. Belfils rode all night in heading west. When the sun finally rose, he was perched on a steep mountain ledge with live oak trees on its top. Reaching down, he spotted “Gold!” that was high-grade quartz and littered around him with the chunks of gold. Looking down, he spotted the Indians who were now climbing toward him, having followed his trail.
He jammed a golden rock into his pocket, jumped on his mule, and headed west across the Siskiyous until he reached the worn Happy Camp Trail along Indian Creek and to final safety in California. Once back in Jacksonville, the Frenchman showed his rock to Cornelius Beekman, the to-be banker, who bought it for $100 and for one-half interest, staked Belfils’ search for the claim. Louis spent three years trying to find the ledge of gold—before finally abandoning the area with the legend of the Frenchman’s Mine left behind.
For those of us who hike on or off the trails of Southern Oregon, the legacy of gold mines and miners can been seen. From Ashland to Jacksonville, Gold Hill to outside Grants Pass, the evidence is there. Abandoned mining towns, such as Golden outside of Wolf Creek in Josephine County, are there to see and wonder about. Mining for gold took many forms over time: from hydraulic mining on Rogue River tributaries to panning for gold, surface digging, and then later into hard-rock mining with deep, long tunnels.
This continued for decades in Southern Oregon. For example, Jacksonville residents from the Great Depression and on, would dig mines in their backyards. The mine shafts typically measured about 4-by-6 feet, and miners would dig until they struck bedrock (typically 16 to 20 feet below ground there). Typically they used sluice boxes to work the dirt from lower levels. They could either sell the gold dust or even trade it for groceries, meals, and what they needed. Gas engines pumped out the waters in the holds in the mornings, so that they could dig further down.
Miners were not supposed to dig laterally beyond property limits, but that never stopped them, and the town experienced sunken roads and property for decades. In 1982 a hole up to 10 feet deep and approximately 12 by 30 feet opened up on Fourth Street just off California. Sunken grades and cave-ins, however, decreased as the years passed.
Abandoned mine shafts abound in the wilderness where the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) has responsibility. You’ll find the warning signs when looking down a gaping hole. In fact, online sites indicate the locations of old mines to explore at your own risk with the GPS given to find a particular shaft. The BLM has listed some 2,000 abandoned mining “features” with near 500 abandoned hard-rock mines that have underground workings, many with vertical shafts or horizontal tunnels (known as adits).
Over time, the BLM has been plugging the most dangerous openings with everything from fill to polyurethane foam. In addition to BLM land, at least as many exist in national forests and on private lands in our area, as this author can attest to. Asking friends who live in very rural areas can lead to these discoveries—but be very careful in your search. This is a real part of our region’s history… with gold at near $5000/ounce still hidden in today’s fast-moving world.
Sources: Bill Miller, “He’d always remember where he found gold, but couldn’t get back,” Mail Tribune, Sept. 27, 2009; Tony Boom, “Mining their own business,” Mail Tribune, March 29, 2009; Paul Fattig, “Danger in the Mountains,” Mail Tribune, Oct. 2, 2011.