Letters and Comments for August 31, 2009

Morgan, Hills

Use more discretion

To the Editor:

I am writing to urge The Observer to exercise more editorial discretion in publishing letters to the editor.

I, as with many of my friends and colleagues, am growing weary of cries from the fringes. Letters that unfairly attack a coach who has given decades of his life to the youth of this community (and is struggling with health issues, no less) have no merit and, thus, no place in our local newspaper.

Same goes for rants about death panels, socialism and birth certificates. Shouldn’t some factual basis for these arguments serve as a publishing prerequisite?

At the risk of sounding flippant, just because it’s typed doesn’t mean it needs to be printed.

Benjamin Morgan

La Grande

How will more be served?

To the Editor:

The politicians say there are 47 million to 50 million uninsured in the U.S. I wonder how long will it take to train doctors and nurses for that many new patients and how many more hospitals to build.

My doctor takes on the average 15 minutes to see me. How many a day does that make, plus hospital calls?

Now dear one, I don’t care what you say, any doctor will have to decide which sick person to see first, then down the line.

And the president says the health care he advocates will serve aliens. What?

Just look at how many more thousands a day are going to cross that border for medical help.

We are already a trillion in debt. How will we pay for that? Our representatives tell us Social Security and Medicare are both so threatened. How long until we seniors, who have paid into it, no longer have either of them.

I am only asking how do we serve that many more and how do we pay for it?

Roy Hills

Island City