LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.

Byline: The Register-Guard

End detention at Guantanamo

On Thursday, thousands of people throughout the world will act together to demand an end to torture and indefinite illegal and immoral detention of men and boys at Guantanamo, Cuba. The International Day of Action to Shut Down Guantanamo will be honored with planned actions in more than 40 cities worldwide.

Five years after the first hooded, shackled men were brought to the U.S. prison at Guantanamo, not a single prisoner has been charged, tried or convicted of any crime. Many have been released because no evidence has been found against them. More than 400 men remain in indefinite detention without hope of release.

People of conscience and justice must call on the United States government to repeal the Military Commissions Act and restore habeas corpus; charge and try or release all detainees; withhold funds for the proposed $125 million construction of new military courts at Guantanamo; and clearly and unequivocally forbid torture and all other forms of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, by the military, the CIA, prison guards, civilian contractors, or anyone else. The U.S. government also must pay reparations to current and former detainees and their families for violations of their human rights; and shut down Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, Bagram and all other U.S. prisons overseas, including secret CIA detention facilities.

Please call your congressional representatives today and insist these actions be taken.

ARIA SELIGMANN

Eugene

Fauntroy's stand disappointing

It is disappointing to read about Rev. Walter Fauntroy, who will be the keynote speaker at Eugene's Martin Luther King Day Celebration. Reverend Fauntroy opposes gay marriage, even though he is described as a "civil rights activist."

Fauntroy's stated concern about gay marriage is that it would cause "confusion" in African-American families "about what a marriage is and what a family is." I acknowledge that this may be a troubling issue for some people such as Fauntroy, but I wonder if he has considered that equal marriage rights would benefit many African-American children who have biological or adoptive gay and lesbian parents.

My gay son and his partner are adoptive parents of two African-American children who otherwise would be held in the foster care system. For a variety of reasons, significant numbers of African-American children are now being adopted by gay and lesbian families.

Somehow I don't believe that children will find it confusing to have loving parents, a stable home life and a forever family. But as they grow older, they may be puzzled to learn that their parents are not allowed to be legally married.

SUSAN KEHRLI ROGERS

Eugene

EmX time saving overstated 

Reporter Jeff Wright's Jan. 4 article claims, as other articles have, that the change from 22 minutes to 16 minutes on the Eugene-Springfield EmX route is a savings of 38 percent. Who did the math here?

The actual difference is 6 minutes, but the only way to get 38 percent from this is to take 6 divided by 16. What this really means is that there would be a 38 percent increase in time from 16 minutes to 22 minutes.

We are not changing from 16 minutes to 22 minutes, but instead moving from 22 minutes to 16 minutes for overall time. In order to find the correct time savings, one must divide the 6 by 22, which results in an actual time savings of about 27 percent.

To reach this conclusion accurately requires thought. How could this slip past all of the Lane Transit District managers and the editors at The Register-Guard for this long? If we were to see a 38 percent savings, we should have time savings of about 8 minutes, 20 seconds, not 6 minutes, putting the commute time closer to 13 or 14 minutes.

One should not just take two numbers and divide them without thinking about the meaning. Well, I guess if there is more than $25 million on the line you can.

Does LTD need someone who knows basic math to help with these advanced calculations? There may be a few elementary and middle school students available with the knowledge needed here.

SCOTT FALLSTROM

Eugene

Repairs: Don't hold your breath

Nick Urhausen speaks for all of us when he asks the city of Eugene to repair our deteriorated streets (letters, Dec. 2). But Urhausen may as well be asking an alligator to grow fur.

Here's an example of why. Back around the turn of the century, the city of Eugene had two teams of engineers. One, code named the Darwin Team, consisted of about 15 civil engineers. The Darwin Team was tasked with designing a new manhole cover for the city.

Those 15 engineers spent two years and who knows how much money designing a manhole cover. Our city streets are going to pot(hole) and gridlock has set in, but we have new manhole covers with a fish and dragonfly on 'em. Isn't that special?

That there, folks, is the mentality of your city government. It's the neo-lib way of life. Slower than an empty Lane Transit District bus trying to stay on schedule. Did I mention that Eugene is widely known as the Slug Capital of the World? Yes it is. A more fitting city slogan will never be offered.

Seriously, if time is money, there are an awful lot of bankrupt drivers in this town. And I have noticed that most of these slugpokes are sporting John Kerry and Kitty Piercy bumper stickers. Truth is, they're so broke, they can't even pay attention.

DON RICHEY

Eugene

Don't stop with motorboats

Although there's a 10 mph speed limit on Waldo Lake, one would think there must still be a lot of motorboat use there based on the attention the problem is receiving (editorial, Jan. 4).

If waterskiers and personal watercraft users are "hotdoggers," what do the editors call kayakers, canoeists and sailboaters? Hippies?

OK, fine, let's protect pristine Waldo Lake. But the newspaper's support for a gas-powered boat ban doesn't go far enough. If we're serious, then internal-combustion engines anywhere in the watershed must be banned as well.

In 2003, I saw a car parked underwater off the boat ramp at Waldo's south end. The hippie driver had lost control while backing down the ramp and launched not only the kayaks but her vehicle, too. When I arrived, the Subaru was completely submerged and a gasoline/oil slick was spreading across the surface. That single event probably put more hydrocarbons in Waldo's water than the exhaust from all the motorized boats on the lake that entire summer.

If we're serious about protecting Waldo Lake's water quality, then the access road should stop at the watershed boundary. The roadway from there to the lakeshore must be taken out and the road prism restored to natural conditions. Human use of the watershed should be restricted to foot travel only, if allowed at all, and watercraft must be limited to those capable of being carried in by hikers. No exceptions.

Otherwise the motorboat ban looks like yet another class-based land use allocation.

JOHN L. PERRY

Brownsville

Look beneath surface of charity

Jonah Goldberg's "Study shows conservatives are truly compassionate" (Register-Guard, Jan. 4) is another fine example of the mindless drivel spewed by the right.

As a former member of this camp of the deluded neurotic, allow me to point out what Goldberg's column forgets to mention. I long ago gave up trying to work with the local Christian Taliban, for their only focus was proselytizing, and if you are not one of them, they're not interested in actual charity.

Secondly, let's uncook the facts and figures and take into consideration the billions of dollars called charity that went into not feeding the poor but building decadent churches, financing radio and TV programs and the like.

Thirdly, some people are taught that if they do not give to the church - what Goldberg refers to as charities - they are going to burn in hell for eternity. They are also taught that if they give 10 percent of their income, God is going to bless them with millions more.

This is not compassion, nor is it charity. It's nothing better than slick marketing. There's nothing conservative about it.

CHRISTOPHER DUNN 

Springfield

Kindness made journey bearable 

Imagine being delayed in Las Vegas for more than an hour and circling the Eugene Airport for 30 minutes, only to divert to the Medford Airport to be told that you were on your own to get to Eugene because the diversion was due to inclement weather. Here we were, about 60 Eugeneans, stranded in Medford at 3:45 a.m.

The good news? The airlines got us a coach bus. We left at 6:30 a.m. for Eugene and finally got there 7 1/2 hours after our expected arrival time.

Finally, imagine traveling alone with a 15-month-old. This could have been a horrible, nerve-wracking ordeal, but I owe a debt of gratitude to several passengers who went out of their way and looked beyond their inconvenience to make sure that my daughter and I were OK.

To the woman who voluntarily gave up her seat on the plane, the man who stopped by and asked me if the baby was doing all right on the bus ride, the out-of-town businessman who picked up Mailin's pacifier and water and several others, I just needed to express my appreciation for their kindness.

SHERRENE KULM

Eugene