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Opinion Letters Letters and comments for the week ending May 24, 2008
Letters and comments for the week ending May 24, 2008
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Spiegel, Morehead, Zinzer, Morehead, Bruce, Cooke, Hoffnagle We, the members of the Community Landscape and Forestry Commission, would like to express our appreciation for the extra effort and hard work of Teresa Gustafson, the La Grande tree care educator, in getting the spring tree planting accomplished this year. Every spring for more than 15 years the City of La Grande has been planting trees in parking strips and right of ways to provide future shade and beauty to the city. This is usually accomplished by the city with some organizational and physical assistance from many volunteers including the Community Landscape and Forestry Commission. This year much more of the effort than is customary was shouldered by the city’s part-time tree care educator, Teresa. This year, more than 50 young, vigorous trees were added to our urban forest through the hard work and organizational skills of Teresa. To get all those trees in the ground, Teresa worked with dozens of homeowners to match their sites with suitable species. She contacted the utility companies to mark underground lines, and she coordinated the volunteers for tree delivery and planting. We are very grateful to have such a hard-working, highly competent arborist working for the city. Lia Spiegel, chair Community Landscape and Forestry Commission La Grande
Leviticus 17:11 says that life is in the blood. And innocent-shed blood cries out to God. What kind of cry do you think the blood of 44 million babies aborted in the womb makes? What does that sound like to God? Ethel Morehead Joseph If you haven’t made plans to see the new Ben Stein movie, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” you owe it to yourself to see this humorous, eye-opening exposé on modern science’s dilemma in dealing with the increasingly difficult task of “explaining away” the possibility of a designer behind life on this planet. Stein provides a masterfully yet gently presented discussion in a logical step-by-step fashion leaving the audience little room for argument that the case for Intelligent Design (ID) deserves a fairer and unbiased look. This movie is not “preachy” or heavy handed and is in no way an attempt to force an opinion, other than the opinion that ID is now politically incorrect and speaking of it can be dangerous to your career in science or journalism. Stein interviews Darwinists and allows them the opportunity to speak their minds. Stein asks simple questions that deserve reasonable answers. The answers he gets are surprising, sometimes humorous, and even strange. British biologist Richard Dawkins, author of “The God Delusion,” is included in Stein’s interviews and Dawkins is given a great deal of time and latitude to attempt to convey his opinions. Stein’s methods are even-handed, fair and intelligent; his process is transparent and he reaches reasonable conclusions that demand further evaluation. The film will play only two more nights, Wednesday and Thursday at the Elgin Opera House. It is well worth your time. I also want to express my appreciation to our local community for supporting free speech with your attendance and advance purchase of tickets. We wouldn’t have been able to bring it here without your faithful support. Rich Zinzer Elgin
I want to commend The Observer for its coverage of Union County-Wallowa County sports. Paul and Bruce do a great job of reporting on the local teams. It is not an easy job, nor is it “nine-to-five!”
As we were driving back from the girls state golf tournament Paul was on the phone late at night to hear results, get some quotes and give congratulations. I know he was working past midnight and up at daylight to cover the district golf tournament. I’ve seen him give the same attention to various teams from the local area. I appreciate the emphasis that The Observer has given to the high school girls golf teams. We have come to enjoy supporting the girls from Enterprise, Union and La Grande. All the girls work hard and are deserving of recognition. In the past Heather was challenged by stories of Kayla Stoffel and Jessica Marcum. I sincerely hope that The Observer’s coverage of Keri, Anna and Heather and their teammates will encourage young girls to take up the sport so the local programs can thrive. Meanwhile, you do a good job of covering the boys teams and other spring sports as well. So, kudos to you. Your insightful reporting and your interest in our local sports programs does not go unnoticed. David E. Bruce Enterprise
Springtime with its joyful profusion of birdsong, flowers perfuming the air and colors feeding our eyes has become a time of dread for me. More than ever, this spring, I’ve seen people with their sprayers stinking up the air. Not just men — very old ladies, teenage girls and everyone in between is out dribbling poison on the earth. Walkers and bikers are breathing it in. Wake up, people! Herbicide contains five letters of the word “suicide” and that is what we are committing as a species. Please look for alternatives to control weeds or grass.On my unsprayed property, I have many salamanders controlling the slug population. I have birds eating insects. I admit I have skunks eating rodents and yellowjackets. Long live intelligence, whatever species possesses it. Long live the earth! Mary Cooke Cove I’m writing regarding Rich Zinzer’s letter promoting Ben Stein’s propaganda movie, “Expelled,’’ which advocates the pseudoscience of intelligent design. This movie highlights the strategies creationists use to promote ID. First, they say that ID is a valid scientific theory and that there is debate in the scientific community. There’s no debate in the scientific community on this issue. ID is not science and never can be science as long as it relies on forces outside of the laws of physics (a creator). Intelligent design is a back-door attempt to put Christianity in public schools, as was demonstrated in the trial in Dover, Pa. (/www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/id/program.html), and in documents from the Discovery Institute, which promotes ID (www.antievolution.org/features/wedge.html). Secondly, they say that it’s a free speech issue — that teachers have a free speech right in their classrooms (they don’t). Mr. Zinzer thanks the “local community for supporting free speech’’ for attending the movie. This is not an issue of free speech. Should history teachers be allowed to teach that the Holocaust never happened? Science teachers should teach science, not religion. The basis of ID is the belief that some things are so complicated that they must have been designed by a creator (a watch must have been made by a watchmaker). But every time they find something that they say is too complicated (such as eyes or flagella), science proves them wrong. So, following this logic, if something intricate and magnificent requires a creator, what created God? Dr. Kenneth Miller (who believes in God) wrote, “The struggles of the intelligent design movement are best understood as clamorous and disappointing double failures — rejected by science because they do not fit the facts, and having failed religion because they think too little of god.’’ Tim Hoffnagle La Grande
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