LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.

Byline: The Register-Guard

It's just a way to get more taxes

Well, the politicians are at it again. First they cut police, fire protection and schools because they know that that is what the public wants the most. Then they wait a few years and let these programs deteriorate. Then they come back with a request for more taxes.

Chris Buchanan (letters, Feb. 6) hit the nail right on the head. You never hear about them cutting the other programs, at least not until after they have cut the police, fire and schools. As far as I'm concerned, these three programs should not even be considered for cuts until everything else has been eliminated. They would have to pass a law to that effect before I would ever vote for more taxes.

Now Springfield wants to charge us every time the fire department does something. I am under the impression that the firefighters are on the payroll when at the fire station, so what difference does it make if they are serving the public or sitting at the fire station? Why try to hide it as a charge for service when in reality it is just a way to get more taxes?

RAY LANDAU

Springfield

Publish Danish cartoons

I am more disappointed with the press than I can easily say.

Every newspaper everywhere that professes a belief in some semblance of free speech should publish those Danish cartoons and be done with it. That some particular segment of the world community should get a free pass on sociopolitical commentary is antithetical to free speech and itself blasphemous.

If The Register-Guard sidesteps this issue, I respectfully request that the editors refrain from publishing cartoons deriding values of importance to me. I'll send them a list.

H. L. SCHILLING

Eugene

It won't be a real ER

As an emergency physician, I am very troubled by the article in the Feb. 7 Register-Guard. "Competitor attacks Hilyard hospital plans." In it reporter Joe Harwood states that the existing Sacred Heart Medical Center campus will have a 24-hour "non-acute emergency department" once the bulk of Sacred Heart operations move to PeaceHealth's RiverBend regional medical center.

What is a non-acute emergency department? My perspective is that it is a very dangerous oxymoron.

An emergency department is a place that people go where they are acutely ill. The plans for the Hilyard site do not provide for the backup that emergency physicians require to provide quality patient care. Patients with true emergencies will have an ambulance ride to the Hilyard site, stabilization and then a second ride to the Riverbend site for definitive care. While this is a common practice in rural areas where patient numbers are low, it is a dangerous scenario in an urban setting.

This non-acute emergency department is an expensive approach to patient care and will result in transferred patients receiving two emergency room and two ambulance ride bills. How many patients will have to have their conditions deteriorate or die en-route from downtown to Riverbend before we recognize what a poor plan we have?

LEE W. DAVIDSON, M.D.

Eugene

Schwarz causes own problems

In my opinion, the story about Debra Schwarz' misadventures (Register-Guard, Feb. 7) was not newsworthy.

According to the report, her troubles began with a $350 traffic ticket that she felt was undeserved. Many of us have probably felt that way at one time or another. Schwarz' answer was to include feces with her check, which undoubtedly caused considerable inconvenience and repugnance to the staff who received the payment. This results in Schwarz being placed on probation. Subsequent nonpayment of a fine led to Schwarz being jailed.

Schwarz is certainly in a bad position, which is unfortunate. But her situation is more pathetic than tragic; the primary blame falls on her given her choice of actions. It is not the best use of the front page of The Register-Guard's City/Region section to tell the story of someone's commitment to nose-dive their own life to get even with the system.

When doing features on society's less fortunate folks, please stick with cases that were not so easily preventable and self-inflicted.

SCOTT SMITH 

Eugene

Real hindrance: Connor, Woolley

We are completely blown away that developers Tom Connor Jr. and Don Woolley would refuse to develop the nearly three blocks of property they already own if they cannot acquire the dozen small pieces of property they do not own. This puts an unbelievably unfair amount of pressure on those small business owners who have managed to keep their businesses afloat in a less than bustling downtown Eugene.

For what Connor and Woolley are essentially saying is that if these business owners do not sell to them, then it is those business owners' fault that downtown redevelopment is at a standstill. Frankly, it seems to me that Connor and Woolley are the hindrance to downtown redevelopment.

In the 10 years that we have lived here - four of them in downtown - it is their property that has sat vacant, surrounded by established independent businesses that are thriving. Perhaps the city should use its eminent domain powers to condemn Connor and Woolley's vacant property and find buyers who are willing to redevelop the last three blocks of prime real estate in downtown without any successful businesses.

KIMBERLY HARPER

WILLIAM KENNEDY 

Eugene

Surveillance violated law

The president is wrong when he claims he has constitutional authority to spy on Americans without a warrant. Monitoring surveillance on U.S. citizens is the reason why the FISA Court was established. Bush's program is no better than disbanding the court all together.

If he is using the program to stop terrorists, he shouldn't have any problem getting a warrant. Bush, or any future president, can use warrantless wiretaps as a means to suppress political dissent.

STEPHEN EDWARDS

Eugene

Nutritional consensus is clear

The studies indicating that a low-fat diet has negligible effect on the risk of chronic diseases validate what leading health authorities have been saying for the past decade: It's not just fat - it's the saturated fat in meat, eggs and dairy products.

The studies found that women who cut down on saturated fat had a lower risk of heart disease, stroke and colon cancer. A wealth of other studies over the past three decades confirm that consumption of saturated fats raises substantially the risk of contracting these diseases. The `all-fat-is-bad' crusade probably dates back to the U.S. Senate's 1977 `Dietary Goals for the United States,' which originally recommended that Americans reduce their meat consumption. The meat industry forced the Senate to recommend reduced fat consumption instead.

Consumers who find the message of health authorities confusing have been listening to the wrong messenger. The national nutritional consensus, supported by the 2005 `Dietary Guidelines for Americans' and leading health advocacy organizations, has been simple, direct and unwavering: vegetables, fruits, whole grains, unsaturated fats - good; saturated fats and cholesterol (present only in animal products), trans fats, sugar, salt - bad.

ELLIOT MASSON

Eugene

No shortage of hospitals

I ask that the Eugene City Council and other public entities oppose the new Triad hospital for Eugene. If the hospital is economically viable, why do the promoters need to have subsidized land and/or city zoning favors? The main benefits will go to medical interest groups and land speculators, not patients.

There is no shortage of hospital facilities. Right now, only around 50 percent of hospital charges are paid by public or group entities like Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance. Hospital pressure to have patients pay the remainder is responsible for over 50 percent of personal bankruptcies.

The future is bleak due to corporate outsourcing and state and federal deficits. Why should city taxpayers, most of whom have moderate incomes, pay for a centralized dinosaur that will primarily benefit the wealthy? Why not ask what will meet the key medical needs of all our citizens within their economic means?

To me this means more decentralized facilities, greater medical paraprofessional education at Lane Community College and cost-effective ways to achieve disease prevention. Let us start the debate!

RICHARD GINNOLD

Eugene

Rezoning robbed landowners

We were robbed. Legally, it seems.

Residential rental property owners in west Eugene, lulled by false promises of increased density and nodal development, may not be aware of the damage done to them by the recent City Council action establishing a Chambers Area Special Zone - bordered on the north and south by Eighth and 13th Avenues and on the east and west by Polk and Chambers streets.

If you owned an R2 lot in that area on Dec. 12, 2005, everything changed for you by the morning of Dec. 13. Since that day, you no longer have the right to develop your property to its highest and best use. City councilors were told that the establishment of CASZ would `promote higher residential density inside the urban growth boundary.' This is untrue.

Prior to Dec. 12, 2005, my 9,044-square-foot R-2 lot had an allowable density of six dwelling units. The next morning, after the council established CASZ, the allowable density for the same lot was reduced to two dwelling units - a result that diminished the value of my property and is precisely contrary to the stated purpose of the CASZ.

As for me, I don't like being robbed and I'm madder than hell. I invite other similarly maligned and abused west Eugene property owners to contact me by e-mail at onehorse2004 @yahoo.com to see if we can't unite to plot an appropriate and effective response.

MIKE HELM

Eugene