LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Question research on marriage

The Sept. 6 article, "Marriage measure hits home in Oregon," stated regarding Ballot Measure 36, "as their number one talking point, supporters are zeroing in on social science research that they say shows children do best when reared in families with a married mother and father."

This implies three things, all of which I believe to be false: 1) that there has been reliable research comparing the well-being of children of married heterosexual couples with the well-being of children of married homosexual couples; 2) that children of married heterosexual couples have been shown to do significantly better than children of married homosexual couples; and 3) that therefore a vote in favor of Measure 36 is a vote for children's welfare.

To the best of my knowledge, there is no such research. My understanding of the findings of research on the effect of parents' marital status is that the best-adjusted children come from homes in which the parents have a harmonious marriage; the next-best-adjusted come from families in which the parents have a harmonious divorce; and the worst-adjusted children come from families in which there is a hostile divorce. If the happily married parents in studies that concluded this happened to be "a married mother and father," my guess is that this is because only heterosexual married couples were studied.

People who really care about the welfare of children should consider how unequal treatment of gay parents hurts their children.

LAURA STEVENSON

Eugene

Bush, Rather both blundered

The debacles that President Bush and CBS News anchor Dan Rather each have created seem parallel, but with two exceptions.

Bush accepted Ahmed Chalabi's offer of false information. The CIA didn't vet it thoroughly. The collective Bush hawks' manipulative agenda led to major intelligence distortion and the rationale for war. Bush's credibility is damaged worldwide.

Rather allowed the glowing reputation and agenda of his producer, Mary Mapes, to drive a carelessly vetted assertion of a forgery's validity into a major error by CBS. The credibility of the network's news is now damaged.

Two differences, however, are apparent: Rather's mistake hasn't caused anyone to die, as yet. Bush's fatality score is still grimly increasing daily.

Also, Rather has admitted his error and has apologized. Bush is still presenting his smiley face to us while continuing in self delusion.

NEIL DAUGHERTY

Eugene

Nader thwarted by Democrats

The Sept. 24 editorial on the Ralph Nader ballot access case is marred by offensive misrepresentations and by what is at best a childish understanding of Oregon's legal requirements for ballot access.

I own the petition signature-gathering company hired by Nader's campaign to put the candidate on Oregon's ballot. We gathered more than 18,000 valid signatures of registered Oregon voters. That's more than 3,000 valid signatures over the requirement. Those signatures were certified as valid by county elections officials.

Despite the specious reasoning and specific claims made in the editorial, Nader's two earlier efforts did not fall short of a 1,000-signature requirement. The fact is that in Oregon, the law allows for 1,000 duly registered convention attendees to nominate a presidential candidate.

Far more than 1,000 Oregon voters, myself among them, turned out to nominate Nader.

Nader has had to contend with a very well-financed effort by Democrats to foil his appearance on the ballot in every state. The information that Democrats stacked Nader's Oregon convention, effectively blocking honest Oregon voters from entering and registering as delegates, is established. Other papers have reported that truth. Why not The Register-Guard?

Secretary of State Bill Bradbury is implicated in an organized attempt to defraud voters, and The Register-Guard needs to re-examine its reporting and editorial policies. Try keeping partisanship out of it. Newspaper editors should be honest.

JOHN P. SLEVIN

ElectionGypsies

Salem

Police don't cause student riots

Sounds like the police are responsible for the riotous behavior of University of Oregon students (Register-Guard, Sept. 10). I could not agree more!

My insurance rates are higher because of the police. A police officer wrote me a ticket for speeding, and now my insurance premiums have gone up! If that cop had given me a warning, my insurance would not have skyrocketed.

The police are also responsible for overcrowding in the jail. They keep arresting criminals, trying to lock them up to protect society from predators. Now the jails are so overcrowded that they have to let other criminals go early.

It is a sad thing when people cannot accept personal responsibility for breaking the law. Last time I checked, it was illegal to furnish alcohol to minors, for minors to consume or possess alcohol or to create unreasonable noise that disturbs neighbors.

We seem to be teaching the newer generations of students that there is no such thing as personal responsibility. It is not the fault of police these students are rioting. Students are breaking the law and do not want to accept the consequences for their actions. We can see what that has done with corporate executives the last few years.

Eugene residents need to start backing their police when they do the right things. Start punishing those who break the law. By the way, since when do we let the law-breakers tell society which laws are too strict and what the punishments should be?

DALE DAWSON

Eugene

Bike lanes unsafe for scooters

I cannot imagine what kind of parent would tell his child to "go play in the traffic." But that is what Eugene is now doing.

Scooters are banned from public park trails, and soon bicycles will be banned. Imagine a five-pound motorized scooter with its 80-pound rider bumper-to-bumper going down Seventh Avenue. Then imagine the scooter being dug out of the pavement and its rider being carried away to the morgue.

But, if I am to believe the newspaper, there are safe bicycle lanes on the streets for those five-pound scooters to ride on. I beg to differ. Bicycle lanes on a busy street are not a safe place for children to play. I cannot think of words strong enough to condemn such outrageous and negligent behavior as the city of Eugene telling unlicensed, untrained children on five-pound electric scooters to go play in the traffic. How many children must die before this stupid City Council action will be revoked and the children can again be allowed to go down safe park trails instead of playing in the traffic?

I hope that the parents of the first child who is mangled by a 5,000-pound SUV while riding his scooter on those "safe streets" of Eugene sue the city for $50 million.

ROY LEMKE

Springfield

Churches oppose gay marriage

It would have been nice if Jeff Wright could have gone beyond merely reporting in his Sept. 23 article that there is a clash of opinion among "faith-minded people" (read: Christians) over Measure 36, and explicitly spelled out what the details in his article show, namely, that in Oregon the majority of Christian churches want to deprive gays and lesbians of one of their civil rights.

By giving equal space to Measure 36's religious critics (however cogent their views were), the article risked creating the false impression that the two sides are more or less even. In fact, they aren't.

On one side there is the Catholic Church, the Mormons and the thousands of evangelical Christian sects. On the other side, who? Just the Unitarian Universalists? Buddha protect us.

ANDREW RATHMANN

Eugene

Good thing they got Cat Stevens

Hoo-ee! I'll sure be sleeping better now that I know that our ever-alert Homeland Security foot soldiers snared the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens and threw him out of here. No telling what a rabid dog like that could do wandering at large in the United States. Shoot, he may possess OMDs (opinions of mass destruction), and might even be heard speaking out on behalf of Americans of the Muslim faith.

Apparently, he was being followed by something a bit more ominous than a moon shadow - perhaps the clicking in the night of jackboots. Alas, the same may be coming true for far too many of us America-loving, constitutionally faithful citizens.

This is totally absurd, and one can only ask, "How do you follow that?"

Nov. 2 is not far away: Let's send those thugs in Washington packing, and add an exclamation point!

RICHARD HANSON

Blachly

Bush is fighting wrong enemy

Saddam Hussein is a tyrant, not a terrorist. Osama bin Laden is a terrorist, not a tyrant.

A tyrant seeks political and military power and is merciless in its pursuit.

A terrorist seeks to force his view of God's will on the rest of the world through the use of terror. They are both evil, but they are different.

When we come under attack by a tyrant, it's not time to start a new war on terrorism, it's time to go after the tyrant who attacked us. So why, when we came under attack by the terrorist bin Laden, did President Bush start a new war with the tyrant Hussein? He didn't even get the right kind of enemy.

Going to war with the wrong enemy did not make this country safer. This country will be safer if we elect Sen. John Kerry to the presidency because if he must take us to war, it will be with the right enemy.

RODGER W. GAMBLIN

Eugene