We're indebted to Alyssa Villman, a junior at Jefferson High School, for her entertaining and informative account of one of her teachers, Wes Markus, who smiled from the top of our Young Voices page this week in his sport coat and tie.

This is a teacher who sets high standards, who insists on a respectful though apparently not stifling formality in his classroom, and above all who gives his students a big hand up in their studies now and later - and in life generally - by introducing them to Latin.

Many high schools dropped Latin long ago because they had too many other things to teach and too little money and time. Evidently, though, there's at least one teacher in the mid-

valley who realizes how valuable a little foundation in that language can be to understanding new words even in English when we come across them unexpectedly.

As is often the case, the Young Voices page seemed to me to be the most enjoyable part of the paper Thursday, thanks to Alyssa's story about Mr. Markus, a bracing commentary on a celebrity by Nicole Lepper of West Albany and an advance on a school event by Amanda McDowell of Lebanon High. The page also featured the first-person introductions of two students who have joined our list of high school contributors, Tedi Massey of Lebanon High and Jessica Lawing of West.

As you know by now, the Young Voices, coordinated by our associate editor Steve Lundeberg, ring from the People page every Thursday - well, most Thursdays - during the school year.

They are something to look forward to, and I'm grateful that in addition to all their studies and other activities, these students find time to let us hear from them.

Over the years I have from time to time sung the praises of the Oregon Blue Book.

That's a book published by the state government every couple of years, and it's a very useful source of information about lots of things involving Oregon's politics, economy and history.

The sad part is that the book is not quite as useful as it used to be many years ago. It now has more pages and color photos, but it also has fewer facts.

This was brought home to me last week when I was trying to find a quick reference to check the accuracy of what we had printed last June concerning the size of the Oregon prison budget.

You would think that a standard reference on Oregon such as the online version of the Blue Book would contain a simple fact like how much we spend for prisons. But, alas, no such luck.

So I inquired with the Blue Book staff. "Your e-mailed question has been forwarded from the Oregon Blue Book office to the reference unit of the Oregon State Archives," the answer came back a week later. "We do not have the information you need readily on hand. But here are Internet websites that may be able to help you."

That was helpful, and yes, the prison budget is what we had reported, roughly $1.3 billion for the current biennium. But the Blue Book should have known that too.

With questions or comments about the news or the paper, you may call the D-H editor at (541) 812-6097 or e-mail him at hhering@dhonline.com.