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Opinion Letters Letters and comments for the week ending March 15, 2008
Letters and comments for the week ending March 15, 2008
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March, Firor, Fast, Bodewig, Fiorito, Hills, Smith, Wandschneider, Cooke, Garoutte, Petersen
I am writing in response to John Petersen’s letter in the Feb. 25 Observer. In his letter he dismissed global warming as being a myth and said not to worry because God will help us in the end. Well, maybe it’s time to start listening to the people who have the actual data and proof. It never ceases to amaze me how many people still pretend that the world is “just fine and dandy” and that Al Gore is just a very scary man. Global warming is real. I challenge all skeptics to do a simple experiment. Take a plastic water bottle, close the lid and put it in the sun for a few hours. The air inside represents the atmosphere. The plastic represents greenhouse gases. Soon the temperature on the inside will be hotter than that on the outside. I’m not going to go deep into the science since everybody has heard it at least a hundred times. The plastic bottle experiment clearly demonstrates the greenhouse effect on a smaller scale. Also, you don’t have to live like a monkey to be green. All it takes is to make some wiser choices. The idea that everything will turn out fine no matter what we do is just wrong. And for all the Christians out there, I am pretty sure that the Bible says that we are stewards of the earth and that we should protect it. Please don’t gamble the future of your children and grandchildren. We need to act now before global warming becomes a global tragedy. Noel March, seventh grader La Grande Linda Pereira’s bone marrow transplant is coming up soon. So many people in Union, Wallowa and Baker counties have come to her aid that I thought I would let everyone know what is happening. Linda and Skip have decided the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle is the best place for Linda to have her transplant. The doctors and staff there are very supportive and interested in her case. An added bonus is that the amount Linda must pay toward the cost of the procedure is somewhat less at “Fred Hutch’’ than it was going to be at Oregon Health & Science University. Through several fundraisers, through donations from friends, relatives, local businesses and so very many generous people in this valley and surrounding areas, and from pledges and the Dollars Corner fundraiser through the end of March, we believe we will have raised the $60,000 she needs for the transplant to take place. Your cards and notes and dollar bills have meant so much to Linda and to her group of volunteers. We are absolutely overwhelmed at the sweetness and generosity of this community. As soon as an excellent donor match is found, the folks in Seattle will hurry to get her transplant scheduled. Skip and Linda will spend an estimated five months in Seattle. Because her leukemia is now progressing more rapidly, her doctors are in a hurry. The treatment regimen Linda will undergo is very severe and scary, and her doctors at Fred Hutch explained this is a one-shot chance and will be Linda’s most difficult fight yet. Please keep sending your prayers and good wishes her way. Kay Firor Cove I want to share my appreciation for two local service providers. Often I hear La Grandites bemoaning the lack of certain medical specialists and having to travel great distances for treatment. One we do have here in town is an excellent ophthalmologist, Dr. William Pettit, to care for our eye health. Recently Dr. Pettit performed cataract/lens replacement surgery on both my eyes. Not only was he thorough in explaining the procedure, potential risks and post-surgery possibilities but his calm manner allowed me to be extremely comfortable with a very delicate (and scary) operation. I am grateful for his competent office staff, his expertise, skill and availability as well as for the excellent staff at the GRH Surgi-Center where the procedures were performed. The other service provider I want to give kudos to is PriorityONE. Since UNICOM was bought-out by a national company, our only “hometown” residential phone service provider is PriorityONE, a part of Eastern Oregon Net Inc. which is locally owned and operated by Jeff Crews and Kelly Mutch. Though they use the same Verizon-owned phone lines as the other companies, they have a physical office in town where you can talk directly to helpful, knowledgeable and friendly folks. When I switched service recently, they were able to undo an unpleasant mix-up (no fault of their company) and get my phone and DSL service installed correctly and on time. I highly recommend this “hometown” company. Josey Fast La Grande The final decision for the Thorn Fire Salvage Recovery Project will be announced Wednesday. Thinking about this decision leads me to wonder who is actually controlling Grant County’s economic future and that of our industries. Most people know that Grant Western Lumber is shut down and Prairie Wood Products is running only one shift. While it is true that markets are terrible, we’ve always been able to find the right mix of efficiencies to keep running during the tough times. What’s different today is that because of appeals, litigation and gridlock, we have almost no timber volume under contract, which means we have little flexibility to respond to changing market conditions. Coupled with the high cost of energy, we’re caught in a squeeze. A lot of people are looking forward to the Thorn Fire Salvage Recovery Project to provide a needed shot in the arm for the economy. I hope they are right. In order to really make a difference, the Forest Service should select Alternative 2, which allows the greatest salvage of dead and dying timber, the lowest potential cost per unit and the greatest efficiency for operation. This alternative would treat approximately 3,200 of the 14,527 acres burned in the Shake Table Fire Complex. In Alternative 2, special considerations were made to avoid inventoried roadless areas, to protect water quality, to preserve woodpecker habitat and to avoid dedicated old-growth areas. Despite all these safeguards, public input, collaboration, planning and review by top scientists, it is unlikely that Alternative 2 will be selected. Why? Because those with the least at stake in the outcome are the most likely to appeal and sue in court. The tactic is intimidation. The tactic works because local decision makers get zero support from the Regional Office for making the right decisions for the long-term health of the forest and for the long-term economic health of the community. Don Bodewig Regional Manager DR Johnson Lumber Co. Bill Grigsby’s column shows just how much of a student of propaganda he is. After reading his thoughts I came to the conclusion that he has done his homework well and is quite a propagandist himself. He should change his title to “associate professor of socialism.’’ Yes, Bill, the planet is warming, but then so is Mars. Could it be that the sun is the major contributor to planetary warming? Talk about propaganda, every school child from K-12 and all college students are getting an earful every day. The propagandists are slanted toward human-caused planetary warming in spite of much evidence that the sun is the real culprit. They also support U.N.-enforced global taxation of our use of carbon and other energy sources to further the elite’s control over earth’s human population. National and personal debt are at all-time highs due to the Dempublicans and Republicrats’ globalist foreign policies, phony free trade, manipulation of our fiat currency and our own lust of cheap Chinese slave labor-made goods. The propagandists continue to tell us that the economy is good and inflation is low. Tax cuts are not the cause of our debt, but if Mr. Grigsby feels he pays too little in taxes, I hear the IRS and the State of Oregon take contributions.
I am limited to the number of words that can be printed so I cannot address God, the war, infrastructure or rigged elections. But I have to ask why, a person who admits the system is corrupted is willing to give control of medical care, which is about a fifth of our GDP, to a government with such a poor track record, or support giving it any more of our hard earned money in the form of taxes? Union I am so proud of all the sports teams in Eastern Oregon. This year as always our young athletes have shown the other side of Oregon what we are turning out over here. Our young people are born mountain tough and they stay that way. You Joseph girls, state champions! We just gotta get those Little Leaguers going now as they are the sports leaders a few years down the road.
Young people, we are proud of you and support you all the way including you younger ones on the way up. Island City The intersection at Cove Avenue and Albany Street has been a legal crosswalk for at least seven years. People who travel this road have not yet realized it. I am a senior citizen and use this crosswalk on a daily basis. In the past five days I have nearly been hit four times. Twice in one day. I carry a visible stop sign that alerts drivers that I am crossing. Seldom does anyone stop as I wait at the corner. Isn’t that in itself illegal? Where are our public servants when we need them? I would like to see something done before someone is killed or seriously injured.
La Grande Some folks want to have it both ways. I wonder whether the “senators from Boeing’’ and other Seattleites who are upset with the Pentagon contract for big planes going to AirBus of Europe (and Alabama) see any irony in the fact that Boeing and other U.S. manufacturers are the biggest exporters of military hardware in the world. Or if China’s announcement that it plans to make its own “big planes’’ gives them pause. Rich Wandschneider Joseph In response to your March 6 editorial, “Driver’s license rules make sense,’’ I would have to point out your complaint in paragraph four, that out-of-state residents (whose home states had stricter rules) could claim residence in Oregon, had been corrected years ago. The DMV used to accept any letter addressed to the applicant at an Oregon address — easy to accomplish with cooperative friends. Lately, this letter has had to come from a utility or rental agent with the applicant’s name and address matching up, showing that he or she does live there. Your sixth paragraph insists that “there is no reason that we shouldn’t expect that ... the immigrant workers willing to do much of the work the rest of us are not inclined to want to do ... be legal residents.’’ Now you’ve slipped through the looking glass. Suddenly bereft of driver’s licenses, hence liability insurance, this work force shall be pushed to the brink of disaster. The system was already unsustainable. Second-generation farmworkers never want to be farmworkers. If we don’t show respect for this career, no one will be left to do it. The result will be high prices and food scarcity. Farmers will stop investing in high value fruits that require hand harvesting. Perhaps we’ll all come around to a local economy where local foods are harvested once more by local residents. If this is what you want for our future, then sure the new driver’s license rules make sense. Mary Cooke Cove I am writing to commend Noel March, the seventh-grader from La Grande, who wrote the letter in response to John Petersen’s letter concerning global warming. I had been thinking of some comments I might make to his letter, but after reading Ms. March’s remarks I feel that I couldn’t have said it better myself. I am impressed that she has so much knowledge and understanding of the situation our planet is in. It is encouraging to know that the younger generation is recognizing that whatever our views are in the religious arena, that being good stewards of this earth is imperative to preserving this great gift we have been given. Mary Helen Garoutte La Grande This is a response to Noel March’s letter of March 10: I find it commendable that you, Noel, a seventh-grader, are taking an interest in world affairs and reading and writing letters to the editor. Although I do not agree with your example of global warming, I admire and respect your desire to look for alternatives to a percceived situation and make wise and informed choices. I can only hope that all of our kids, grandkids and great-grandkids are growing up to be as interested, informed and willing to search out possible alternatives as you are. God bless you. John Petersen La Grande |
