>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

I was astonished that a family newspaper would publish a cartoon (as you did Nov. 28) that blatantly used the name of Jesus Christ in vain. Has our society become so perverse that nothing is sacred?

We strive to teach our young people moral standards and religious values, and they are bombarded from all variety of media that anything goes.

We hope, Mr. Editor, that you will in the future refuse to publish such outlandish material as the aforementioned cartoon. We will be forced to cancel our subscription if such material reoccurs. To profane the name of Christ is more than a misdemeanor in the eyes of God.

Delores Fielding

Summerville

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It's a shame that a person of Colleen MacLeod's dedication and sense of public service finds it necessary to step down as County Commissioner. The relentless attack on her and the other commissioners in the name of the public's right to know is absurd.

The Freedom of Information Act is in place to provide oversight, not to be used as a tool for harassment. This is a tactic of the far left. For all the time-consuming work by county employees, there has been no credible evidence of any wrongdoings or mismanagement by our commissioners. So, is this just someone's political agenda?

I want to thank Colleen for her service and a job well done. I wish her and her family good luck.

Jack Boyd

La Grande

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Perhaps, like me, you are not happy with your cable reception of the major networks these days. After several calls to Charter Communications, I was told the satellite company that provided the signal to Charter went bankrupt, so Charter now uses an antenna for that part of our cable lineup.

I don't know about you, but I'm still paying the cable rate to receive static-filled, intermittent images on television. I decided to write a letter to the company to ask when they plan to get a clear signal and also what they plan to do in the way of reimbursement for their customers who have been paying the full monthly rate for a faulty signal.

I'd been stewing on this for months when I sat down to write. At the website, I navigated to customer complaints. An hour later I realized: I wrote Comcast, not Charter! Grabbing a piece of leftover humble pie, I wrote an apology to Comcast, found Charter's website and wrote again.

On Nov. 25, I sent the e-letter to Charter. On Nov. 27, I received an automated reply instructing me to call the "contact center." That's the same place that told me about the antenna signal. I replied to the e-mail saying I had already called, requesting to hear from someone who could help.

On Nov. 30, an executive with Comcast called. She had seen my e-mail, and the apology, but wanted to make sure that my problems had been resolved. Not yet, I told her.

I wrote this letter to the editor on Dec. 6, and I'm still waiting. By the way, I did attempt to locate an e-mail address for any real person at Charter that I could complain to, but those are not available on their website!

Does anyone else think we could use a little cable competition out here in the wilds of Eastern Oregon?

Denise Stone

La Grande

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Perhaps I misspoke at the Cove City meeting on Dec. 4 regarding the library district.

I was questioned as to the number of patrons the library has per week since we are open two days a week at our non-city-owned library and that number was an average of 60.

Maybe they were mostly the same patrons with a few others from around this community thrown in. A large number of them are repeat customers, but the library is here for all to enjoy, and they do take advantage of our services.

The all-volunteer Cove Library is indeed privately owned and is run by the Improvement Club. It has been said that we are "just a bunch of little old ladies." Men are, and have been, welcome to belong.

We have been around and doing our library thing for give or take 100 years. The Improvement Club, from its president on down, loves this library like it is and so "little old ladies" do go by the wayside and new members are always joining.

We are helped by our husbands and residents alike to make needed changes and additions. Residents help because they too love the library and are often members too.

Is it justifiable to place an additional tax burden for this on all of our residents when probably 10 percent use this library's services? I happen to agree with La Grande's Di Lyn Larson-Hill when she said that she could not support a "top-heavy hierarchy of administration" for a county-wide library district.

Aren't we all librarians? According to Webster's Dictionary we are. I think Cove got it right the first time.

Yvonne Oliver

Cove

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Here we go again. In The Observer article (Dec. 10, page 8A), "Cheney maintains hard line on Iran," we read that once again Dick Cheney is fomenting for war. In spite of the fact that the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) reports that Iran halted its nuclear-weapons program in 2003 Cheney considers Iran a "concern."

What that means, as we all know, is that Cheney and Bush will distort, manipulate and subvert the truth in order to overpower this most recent report and proceed on their path to retaliate towards Iran for perceived affront to the U.S. What it really means, is that Iran has oil that we haven't gotten to yet and we need to destroy their country and its citizens to achieve complete control of the Middle East.

Now, remind me again who the terrorists are? And why is our administration so hated in other countries?

It is time that we return to diplomacy and put lots of resources into peaceful, nonviolent solutions to world issues. We have a model for this in the meeting held with Iran's president when he was here in the U.S. The Quakers and Brethren churches gathered church leaders together to dialogue with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Yes, they sat down

together and talked about how to resolve issues. Dialogue, diplomacy, peaceful resolution.

That would be a nice step in the New Year, and let's start today.

Mary Rose Nichols

Elgin

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This letter is written because of our concerns regarding our son-in-law and his dismissal from RiverBend Oregon Youth Authority. We do not live in the state of Oregon but hope that our feelings are taken into account.

We have known Paul Rankin for 20 years and he has always been an honorable man. Paul gave 100 percent to his job and loved working with the boys at camp. We have read Paul's dismissal papers, the newspaper articles, the grievance papers, and the answers from Oregon Youth Authority and feel

that the action that the state has taken is not appropriate.

When the accusations against Mr. Humphreys were made, Paul was very shocked and upset that Mr. Humphreys was not the person that Paul thought he was. Most people were surprised, including Mr. Humphreys' supervisors, yet they claim that Paul and the other three men should have known of Mr. Humphreys' actions. It amazes us that a person can lose their job because somebody thinks they should have known something that they themselves did not know.

Jerry and Kathy Ratterree

Caldwell, Idaho

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Please contact representatives who may act to regain Amtrak services in Eastern Oregon and Western Idaho.

I am an 87-year-old, physically handicapped lady who's also legally blind. There is no doctor in La Grande who will accept me as a patient because of my medical conditions.

I cannot drive and since the local hospital is not equipped to handle my multiple conditions, it would be great if I had access to transportation by Amtrak, to Portland, even sometimes to Pendleton.

Please write to or call anyone who may be of help in restoring rail transportation to La Grande, which is, after all, the former center for the Union Pacific Railroad.

Bette "Scotty" Stewart

La Grande

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Why is black ice or weather blamed for automobile accidents by news organizations?

I lived in Alaska for 40 years and was in one "accident" only. I was traveling too fast for the road conditions (pilot error).

Seemingly, using weather or black ice for blame of road accidents removes responsibility from drivers.

Rudy Candler

Union