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Just when we’re saddened by news of the 4,000th military casualty in Iraq, there comes a glimmer of hope.

It comes from an illogical source — the king of Saudi Arabia. And it is based on sensible humanitarian logic.

King Abdullah suggests this: that the Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders on this planet Earth begin dialogue about bringing peace to our planet.

Brilliant! What better way to exert pressure on the political leaders around the world than to have those of faith come together in an effort to stop this killing nonsense. For, regardless of your beliefs about the turmoil in the Middle East and the role of the United States in it, I’m sure we agree that enough military firepower exists worldwide to exterminate life on this planet.

King Abdullah’s plea for the leaders of these three religions to sit together and seek solutions that are not being obtained by diplomatic negotiations comes as a surprise to many. For instance, Saudi Arabia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. Also, the king indicated he had the blessing of his country’s top Islamic clerics in making his plea for dialogue to begin.

As quoted in the press, Abdullah said at a religious seminar, “The idea is to ask representatives of all monotheistic religions to sit together with their brothers in faith and sincerity to all religions, as we all believe in the same God.”

To have it happen would be prayers answered.

SPACE AVAILABLE

Retail and office space, for many years a premium in downtown Patterson, is presently in plenty.

Three of our largest downtown buildings are currently empty. That would be the former Longs Drugs (Patterson Drug), the City Hall buildings on Del Puerto Avenue and the former True Value Hardware (remembered as Harley’s Department Store by some and even The Mart if you have a good memory) on North Third Street.

While the former City Hall and hardware store buildings are available to rent or lease, the drug store is still under lease to Longs.

With the economy being what it is, it might be awhile before the downtown fills up again.

WHERE ARE YOU, MR. COOPER?

Remember the story of D.B. Cooper, the guy who in 1971 hijacked a commercial airliner in the Northwest, demanded parachutes and $200,000 in cash, then jumped out north of Portland on a cold, rainy late November night, never to be heard of again?

Now they have unearthed in a farm field a parachute that might have been used by Mr. Cooper. And in 1980, some $5,800 in cash found along the Columbia River was identified by serial numbers as money given to Cooper.

What’s needed now is someone to identify the type of parachute found earlier this month. Too bad the late Eddie Brown of Patterson isn’t available, for Eddie was a renowned authority on parachutes. He would know.

Some of us (local resident and good friend Marian Pierce, to name one) really enjoy these types of who-done-its.

FOR THE SPORTS FAN

The world’s tallest human, Ukrainian Leonid Stadnik, who stands 8-foot-5, has yet to be drafted by the NBA, and I can’t understand why.

At age 37, he still has a few good years left despite having knee problems, a condition that might be remedied with a drop in weight from his current 440 pounds.

Besides, he would strengthen my argument that the basket should be raised to 12 feet.

AND FINALLY …

Leave it to the techies to give new meaning to “going topless.”

Going topless, we are now told, means no laptops allowed in business conferences. Also banned in some meetings are BlackBerrys, iPhones and other gadgetry too complicated to describe here.

To which I say of the ban: “All right!”

Ron Swift is editor/publisher emeritus of the Patterson Irrigator. His column appears weekly in this space.