LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Eugene police go the extra mile

A dear friend, almost 90 years old, was put in the hospital recently on an emergency admission so unexpectedly that she didn't have a chance to notify relatives who were already on the road to visit her from California.

When those relatives could not reach her by phone, they were afraid that she might be lying helplessly in her home. In a panic they called the Eugene police.

Quickly the police forced entry into her house and, not finding her there, did not give up and somehow managed to locate her at McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center. The police called her there, explained the situation and apologized for having damaged her door, saying that they would have it fixed.

Weak as she was, she called the police back and told them that there was no way the police should have to pay for damage done when they were trying to help her: She would pay for the repair.

Within an hour, there appeared a great looking (she tells me) police officer at her hospital bed, a huge bunch of flowers in his hand. Then, after having found water for the flowers, he spent quite a while at her bedside, chatting and cheering her up. Not only did he succeed, but the entire hospital wing was beaming.

"How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world" - Shakespeare.

SVEA GOLD

Eugene

Schools have plenty of money

I listened to our esteemed Gov. Ted Kulongoski last week and couldn't believe that he had the gall to say that our schools are underfunded.

You figure it costs $10,000 per student per year on average in Oregon. That means a high school education costs the taxpayers $40,000 per student to graduation. How much is enough?

I always hear the liberals crying that the schools need more money. Well, give me a figure. What should it cost per student - $15,000 per year? How much is enough?

We all know that the schools are simply an indoctrination into the liberal lifestyle. Schools don't teach our children well, and as a parent it is my job, not a teacher's, to instill morals in my child.

The final product schools are putting out in graduated seniors doesn't cut the mustard, because these kids cannot function in society because of the lack of a real education. I just simply want to know a figure of how much money per student we should spend so the schools would be fully funded.

Does The Register-Guard have the guts to go and ask someone and print the story? I am sure we would all drop if we knew how much they really wanted. Come on, libs, tell us dumb conservatives how much per student per year. Then again, it is like everything else liberal - quite simply a lie and a cry for more tax dollars.

MARIE LARSON

Eugene

Age doesn't limit awareness

On Nov. 23, Tara Nagelhout wrote a letter opposing student protests against the results of the vote on Measure 36 because she said they don't understand the complexity of this issue. She further took the student protesters to task for skipping school because it was "disobeying authority" and "shows a complete lack of respect."

You cannot assume based on age what level of awareness one will have. I've dealt with homophobia and anti-gay discrimination from elementary school. I would say that by the time I entered middle school, I knew about the complexity of this issue more comprehensively than most adults.

Nagelhout also claims that "this was a simple case of using little kids as pawns," yet they planned this protest themselves. They have a stake in the matter themselves. They were not allowed to vote on the issue, so what recourse do they have other than to protest?

When I was in high school I participated in my school's walkout against Measure 9, and it was one of the most empowering things I ever did. Having my fate decided in a vote I could not participate in, the protest experience was one of the best things I got out of my education.

I learned not to blindly respect authority and instead have followed in a proud tradition of civil disobedience. I learned that respect must be earned.

I would like to see more adults behaving in such a mature manner.

TOBY HILL-MEYER

Eugene

Urge Wyden to contest election

Due to widespread voter suppression and irregularities, I believe that the 2004 election was rife with fraud and should be contested.

The rule is: "One senator and one House representative are required to contest an election result prior to inauguration."

Without a doubt, the more congresspeople the better, and there will be plenty of them on the floor of Congress who will speak up this time. The question remains, however, which, if any, senator will stand up for democracy?

Will it be our Sen. Ron Wyden, from the most progressive state in the union? Or will we have another terrible scene like the one from ``Fahrenheit 911'' where not one senator will contest?

My fellow Oregonians, let's start asking Wyden to be that senator. There is already evidence of voting misconduct in Ohio, Florida and other states, and there is sufficient evidence of massive interference with the Ohio election.

As soon as credible, specific evidence is uncovered, let the proud, clear-thinking voters of Oregon begin a letter, e-mail, phone and fax campaign to request that Wyden join with members of the House in contesting the suspect election results on Jan 6. Because this investigation may take some time, President Bush's inauguration will have to be canceled, pending the outcome of the investigation, as per the Constitution.

I am confident that, if he were still alive and still our senator, Wayne Morse would surely stand up for our democracy. How about it? Does Senator Wyden have the same courage?

PAUL MOTTA

Eugene

FDA drug oversight still lacking

Recently, two issues about drug oversight at the Food and Drug Administration have been claimed.

First, U.S. drugs are said to be overpriced. Second, in exchange for rapid drug approval, the FDA promised Congress that post-approval oversight was to be improved; yet, this oversight has been said to be lacking.

You don't have to do multiple, double-blind trials or large epidemiological studies to show this.

In the 1990s, a drug for glaucoma was approved by the FDA - bimatoprost, 0.03 percent solution - after pre-approval studies. In all pre-approval studies, the dosage did not exceed 30 micrograms, averaging 27 micrograms, per dose.

Studies submitted for drug approval also showed that doubling the daily dosage actually reduced the efficacy. This is noted by the FDA and by the company. In the patient information, patients are told of this and warned not to increase the dosage. The FDA approved the drug based upon studies with an average 27 micrograms dosage.

Because the drug is very expensive compared to alternatives, the company also had to show to insurers that the drug was cost effective. They did so based upon a no more than 35-microgram dose protocol.

After initial FDA approval, the company chose a package that delivered the drug at 50 micrograms per dose. This is an 85 percent greater dosage rate than was used in the FDA drug efficacy studies, at a 43 percent greater usage rate than was the basis of the insurers' cost-effectiveness studies.

PAUL ENGELKING

Eugene

Bring U.S. troops home now

On Nov. 20 on the corner of U.S. 101 and Highway 126 in Florence, I was holding a sign that said "This country is out of order" as part of an anti-war demonstration. A large SUV stopped at the red light and two gentlemen inside lowered the window and said, "If this country is so out of order, why don't you leave?"

The light turned green before I had a chance to thank them for their interest. My answer to them is that I heard the same things and worse when we demonstrated against the war in the early days of Vietnam. More than 47,000 dead American soldiers later, we brought our fathers, mothers, sons and daughters home from that quagmire.

We are out demonstrating against this war because we love our country and we support our troops. The Iraq war is based on lies. Bring our troops home now. Join us. Work for peace.

DON NORTON 

Florence

Oregon's liberals don't get it

It's been more than three weeks since the election, and there is no end in sight of the wailing, moaning and caterwauling from the parasite class. They just cannot understand why they lost everywhere except in Oregon.

Now they're shocked - shocked! - that the "sheeple" have awakened from their apathy and voted for something called morals, whatever that is. This offends the elitists who have always been morally superior to the rest of us.

They just don't get it. They still think that depriving one's neighbor of the fruits of his labor at the point of a gun is somehow moral - as long as it's government holding the gun. They think that forcing their views of human sexuality upon the rest of the population - by judicial fiat, no less - is moral. And they cling to the belief that there is some kind of human right to force others to pay your health care costs for you.

The rest of the country gets it. But Eugene's new mayor and City Council and Oregon's state Senate have yet to learn, or maybe they won't learn - leftists are notoriously obtuse - that government does not create prosperity. Businesses create prosperity, and the more you tie their hands with regulations, the fewer jobs they create.

Ah, well. As this year's lawn signs proclaimed, this kind of willful ignorance is what we in Oregon call thinking. I think we had better get used to having the worst economy of any U.S. state.

KEN BARBER

Eugene