LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Marriage is a religious rite

I think it is illegal for government to perform marriages. Religious people have made it perfectly clear they believe marriage is a sacred rite. Obviously, therefore, weddings cannot be performed by the government at city hall.

Governments should issue certificates of civil union only, which would entitle couples to receive the civil benefits and to perform the civil responsibilities such a certificate would require. Couples could then be married in a manner proper to themselves - to use the word proper in its original personal and proper sense.

SUSAN KENYON

Eugene

What choice does Israel have?

On March 23, a Register-Guard editorial announced Israel's policy of "assassinating its enemies in order to enhance its safety is certifiable straitjacket madness." Isn't our pursuit of Osama bin Laden very similar?

What would The Register-Guard have Israel do? The Palestinians have been offered everything they demanded in our last negotiations with them. Arafat refused. Is Israel to continue permitting the slaughter of its women and children while more attempts at negotiation are rejected?

The Palestinians who live in Israel are peaceful citizens sharing prosperity. Those who chose to leave and become refugees in ensuing wars have lived almost 50 years in camps instead of living productive lives. Money has not been their problem. The camps are designed to invoke pity in the hearts of mankind. The fanatical belief of many Arab leaders is "an eye-for-an-eye" revenge, which is what Israel is faced with.

If Israel does not respond to the attacks, will they cease? I wonder. No one wants peace more than does this little country founded to create a safe haven in a world of religious persecution. Israel was forced to increase its boundaries in the West Bank and Gaza because it had no defenses there.

I respect that The Register-Guard's opinion is meant to open our eyes to the danger Israel is putting herself in, and I, too, have prayed that this bombing could be contained without a declaration of war. But I cannot agree that The Register-Guard knows best.

ANN LEON WHITE 

Eugene

Pot enforcement wastes money

Concerning the demise of the Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team (Register-Guard, March 9): How much of local law enforcement funding went for marijuana interdiction? How much of our money did law enforcement waste chasing chickens while the foxes making and selling methamphetamine and the coyotes running heroin went on doing business as usual?

What does it cost to put helicopters in the air to seek out marijuana plantations, while thieves hooked on meth steal our cars, break into our houses and are ultimately let out of jail on the matrix system? How many people died from heroin overdoses?

When was the last time that someone hooked on marijuana died from an overdose or stole property to support their addiction?

I have no patience with such foolishness. Our governor has made it clear where his priorities are, and they have nothing to do with a drug that, though illegal, causes little or no property damage, as the hard drugs do. Our local police forces have wasted our money, pure and simple. They have staged warlike, SWAT-team attacks on people for the crime of producing a drug that does the same thing at less cost than pharmaceuticals combatting depression.

It's really too bad they don't have money to continue, but perhaps if they'd spent what taxpayers had given them in a wiser manner, we'd have beeen willing to pony up more.

Maybe they should ask those people who have suffered the effects of real addicts how they'd like their money spent instead of pandering to federal fright-mongers.

DALE BRABB

Eugene