LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Blame rests with administration

I am heartsick. We all should be heartsick. This administration abandoned all those people in New Orleans to die and many, too many, of them did die. And are still dying. How many are trapped in attics, dying unknown?

This administration brought this on us. It slashed spending to fortify the levees, canceled the budget for planning for this very event, ignored the approaching storm surge. And our leader, the one who is supposed to take charge in an emergency - the one who admitted he had no idea how bad this was after five days of this tragedy! - spent day one raising funds for his political party and days two, three, and four insisting everything is being taken care of. Meanwhile, his Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown said, "We told them to evacuate. Those who chose not to, that was their mistake." Chose not to? With no money and nowhere to go?

I look at the pictures of all those exhausted, dehydrated, drained people waiting their turn to leave and think about how we almost killed all of them.

And do you want insult on top of injury? All these people, some of them dying as they wait their turn to leave, suddenly have to wait even longer while the 700 guests and staff at the nearby Hyatt - where they had to wait in bored comfort - are moved to the head of the line for buses. It isn't women and children and the dying first, it's first class first in America.

KATHLEEN JONES

Eugene

Americans still liked overseas

We go about the world starting wars, insulting governments and touting our supposed superiority far and wide. Yet people from overseas still like us. It amazes me. It makes me cry.

JEAN MARIE PURCELL

Eugene

Therapy pool needs resurfacing

What is wheelchair accessible and brings pain relief, fun and social contacts to numerous residents of Eugene-Springfield and surrounding communities and needs to be resurfaced at a cost of $33 per square foot? Hint: One person, recuperating from a stroke, drives from Florence one day a week to use it.

The Stewart Aquatic Center is a 92-degree pool offering therapeutic services to people of all ages and abilities. This year celebrates the pool's 25th anniversary. The Stewart Aquatic Council, a nonprofit formed by clients following the sale of the entire complex two years ago, leases the pool.

Some clients have been using the pool for years while others attend only long enough to recuperate from an injury. Children from Eugene schools and the Lane Education Service District special education use the site during the school year. Classes include parent-child and regular swimming lessons; healthy back, arthritis, post stroke, and Ai Chi classes; family swims two nights a week and on Saturdays. The pool is available for rent.

During the summer, solar panels reduce utility costs, but wintertime gas bills can run over $3,500 per month. Unlike most swimming pools, SAC receives no support from park and recreation districts. All support for this vital community resource comes from client fees, donations and occasional grants.

The fund-raising goal to resurface the pool is $50,000, needed by Dec. 1. For more information please go to www.stewartaquatic.org or telephone [phone] or 686-9290.

S. TWIGHT-ALEXANDER

and two cosigners

Eugene

Liberals hope for more deaths

As usual, our idiot liberals in the mainstream media overreacted, overstated and tried, as usual, to blame everything about Hurricane Katrina on President Bush.

They promoted and celebrated every brain-dead celebrity who was willing to slander the honorable George W. Bush.

New Orleans' potential problems had been known by everyone for years, including a Democratic mayor and a Democratic governor. They had a plan to get their people out if the forecast called for it. They were warned by the hurricane folks and they were warned by, yes, the honorable President Bush.

Well, this Democrat-controlled city and state chose not to listen, and instead left some of their people exposed, fortunately not as many as the hysterical liberal media predicted.

What does this mean? It's all Bush's fault. Not only that, but since the Democratic mayor and Democratic governor chose not to take care of their folks, it means that Bush hates black people and wants them to die.

Idiocy on this level is excused only if it comes out of the mouths of liberals, the source of almost all idiocy.

The abusively liberal mainstream media and the Democrats care nothing for the folks of New Orleans, just as they care nothing for the folks in Iraq. New Orleans is politics as usual for our Democrats, just a chance to bash our president. Just like Iraq. They want and desperately need failure in Iraq and now in New Orleans. The more deaths, the better. These folks are shameless.

JAMES T. BRYANT

Eugene

Animal rescue is under way

In response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, The Humane Society of the United States has launched a massive relief effort to rescue animals and assist their caregivers in the disaster areas.

Highly trained Disaster Animal Response Teams are in New Orleans and Mississippi coordinating a multi-state animal rescue and recovery effort.

They now have more than 200 people on the ground doing search-and-rescue and staffing temporary shelters, and have rescued more than a thousand animals in the hardest hit areas of both states.

The entire relief effort is funded by donations, and the Disaster Relief Fund desperately needs support. Visit www.hsus.org.

RICHARD DAVISON

Reedsport

Keep local blood bank supplied

We are all shocked at the devastation in lives and property left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. People are longing to help in any way they can.

Many in our community have been calling Lane Memorial Blood Bank wanting to donate blood to go to the victims of Katrina. This is an understandable desire, and we applaud these citizens for their willingness to take the time to give blood. However, blood needs have not been intensified by the disaster in the Gulf States and the nation's blood centers have not been asked to send blood to the region. We are monitoring the blood supply in the area and our blood center stands ready to provide assistance in any way we can. The national task force watching the blood supply has informed us that needs are being met by blood banks in those areas receiving evacuees.

This situation might change, and LMBB could receive word to ship blood. For this reason, we must make sure our local blood supply is kept at the maximum level in order to meet the needs of all patients in the Lane County hospitals in addition to any blood that is sent out of state.

We urge those who are eligible to donate - you must be at least 16 years old, weigh a minimum of 110 pounds and be in good general health - to call LMBB at 484-9111 to make an appointment to donate during the coming weeks.

CHRISTINE STOCKDALE

Community Affairs Manager

Lane Memorial Blood Bank

Eugene

Adult ADD can be hard to spot

At long last, I have recently been formally diagnosed with adult attention deficit disorder. I and others have suspected for years that it was at least a possibility, but because I am a non-violent adult female, finding a doctor who would take the idea seriously has been a long road.

A tendency to daydream or be forgetful is not necessarily ADD. Conversely, medication is not a magic bullet. If you suspect you or someone you know may have adult ADD, the best resources are input from loved ones, in-depth research and a practitioner who works with both ADD and ADHD patients.

If and when the diagnosis is made, it helps to know that you are more than your condition; each person has strengths and liabilities because of and in spite of it.

SHARI HARBARGER

Springfield

We can't win in Iraq; let's leave

To distract from Hurricane "Jim Crow," 1,895 American soldiers, 41 of them female, had died in Iraq. More than 16,000 have been wounded. Iraqi civilian casualties are estimated in the 80,000 range. No one knows for sure.

In financial terms, about $350 billion - with a B.

If you read the history of failed occupations, colonialism and invasions, the insurgents have the advantage. They don't have to win, all they have to do is stop you from winning.

You can put all the ribbons on your vehicle you want. You can wave the American flag all you want. But this man-made disaster is one we ain't going to win. That is Arab land, let's leave.

GREG HUME

Creswell

Physician's assistants vital

A recent article on diagnosis of skin cancers in local football coach Mike Bellotti and Nick Harrington gave me credit for the diagnosis. While I was the plastic surgeon who excised Harrington's melanoma, it was dermatology physician's assistant Kenda Hills who actually diagnosed both lesions and deserves the real credit.

We have two PAs in our office and have found that PAs offer the advantages of being able to often spend more time with patients and make appointments earlier. They also are able to see more patients with the most common conditions and ailments, leaving the physician more time for patients with complicated diseases.

As the demographic bulge of the baby boomers reaches the age where they require more medical care, physician's assistants will be increasingly essential to our medical system; they should be given credit for their competence and the excellent care they provide.

THOMAS M. DREYER, M.D.

Eugene

Another gift from the French

What I fail to understand is why anybody would build so much as a lean-to at the site of New Orleans.

I recently saw an old special on the TV that showed the huge pumps and drain system that they have there, just for the day-to-day water problems. Which is nice, today, but what did they do with all that water three or four hundred years ago? That place has always been a sump/swamp/toilet bowl, and I'm sure that like just about every huge city, New Orleans started small. There had to be a place that they could build a port city that was higher above the water.

I've got to look into this as, at this time, the only reason that I can find that the place was ever built is that it was mostly developed by the French. With the French involved, somebody probably saw a pretty flower when the weather was dry and decided, "This is the place."

TOM BROWN

Myrtle Creek

LETTERS LOG

Letters received in past week: 244

Letters published: 62

What's on readers' minds: Another 200-plus letter week, fueled by continuing interest in Hurricane Katrina and an avalanche of Internet-generated letters urging the Senate to reject the nomination of John Roberts as chief justice of the Supreme Court. Katrina letters were largely critical of the federal government's delayed response to the disaster, but many offered suggestions about ways to help the victims. Other topics receiving multiple letters included the pros and cons of field burning and the pain of rising gas prices.