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Friday, January 09, 2009

Lost Osos, Cont.

There will be services for the late Dr. Thomas Ruehr this Sunday, January 11th, 2009 at 2:00 pm at the First Presbyterian Church at 981 Marsh Street, San Luis Obispo, Ca.
Posted by Churadogs at 7:21 AM

4 comments:

Alon Perlman said...

It was packed and inspiring and touching and sad and joyful. It was a beautiful day to say goodbye.

7:10 PM, January 11, 2009
Churadogs said...

I agree. It was also nice to be reminded by some of the stories, just what a joyous life he had and just how much impact he had on his students and friends and community. I especially loved the minister's mentioning that lovely saying: You can count the number of seeds in an apple, but you cannot count the number of apples in a seed.

That's a good way to look at so many lives. Ripples (apples) that go on through space and time and reach far and wide and deep.

6:29 AM, January 12, 2009
Aaron Ochs - Managing Editor of The ROCK said...

TOM RUEHR (1943-2009)
AN APPRECIATION

Tom Ruehr was a giant in his community and county and a genuine hero of the Earth. A dedicated teacher and activist, he was a leading voice in the struggle for environmental and social justice for Los Osos and for transparent government absent in San Luis Obispo.

A Renaissance educator, Tom wore a variety of hats with ease and grace. Among his many skills he possessed a genius for clearly, fearlessly and eloquently articulating his positions, in writing and in public, that left no doubt where he stood and which way to go. Understandably, Tom was both revered and feared for his razor-sharp intellect and critical ability to separate the wheat from the chaff, science from myth, fact from fiction, and, ultimately, truth from its pale but highly active competitors.

Brilliant, profound, passionate and courageous, Tom Ruehr was the rarest of human beings: he lived the life he preached. The truth was no abstraction to him; he lived about as close to truth as a man can get and practiced living it with dignity day in and day out. Tom the accomplished individual, the honest and faithful man of matchless integrity, the learned and enlightened teacher, devoted father, husband, brother, uncle and grandfather, is utterly irreplaceable. Fortunately, as a role model, he has inspired an army of believers who will follow his example as thoughtful, caring human beings, always dedicated to infallible truth. That is the bright candle of Tom Ruehr's lasting legacy that continues to burn within all who knew and admired him.

Tom had been active in the Los Osos wastewater debate since the mid-1970s. Through the years, time and time again, he volunteered his expertise, wrote and spoke out, protecting the community he loved by reminding the State and Regional Water Boards and county that they would be held to higher professional and evidentiary standards. He demanded documentation supported by science and fact, not unproven assertions and unchecked bias. Tom Ruehr, the gentle giant, never backed down from a fight when the truth was on the line.

He relentlessly sought accountability from government agencies on the Los Osos Wastewater Project. Confronted by Dr. Ruehr's findings (often confirmed by other independent experts), the county felt it had no other choice but to try (and fail) to discredit him simply because they could not refute him based on real science and cold fact, and still haven't to this day.

The Rock is proud to have featured an exclusive in-depth interview with Tom Reuhr in the May 2007 issue. It may be the most comprehensive interview with Dr. Ruehr ever published and covers a wide range of sewer-related issues that unapologetically cut to the core of the debate. Tom Ruehr's comments on the Los Osos Wastewater Project on www.rockofthecoast.com are 'must reading' for anyone seriously involved or interested in the Los Osos sewer. The truth can be easily found in Dr. Ruehr's comments, if the truth is what you're after. His words remain powerful testimony forever on the record.

Ed Ochs
Publisher
The Rock

11:42 AM, January 12, 2009
Watershed Mark said...

For Dr. Rhuer-

No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death.

To Ed "The Mighty" Ochs-

A hero is born among a hundred, a wise man is found among a thousand, but an accomplished one might not be found even among a hundred thousand men.
Plato

3:46 PM, January 12, 2009

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