LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.

Byline: The Register-Guard

No weapons link to UO nanotech

Eric Eiden (letters, Sept. 17) seems to see a conspiracy behind every acronym, and based on the Bush administration's penchant for secrecy, I can hardly blame him.

However, I should like to point out that he is mistaken about the purpose of the new science buildings on the University of Oregon campus. I am part of the faculty team that worked on the design of the new building. I also manage several laboratories that will occupy the new facility, and I am familiar with the research projects that are ongoing and will continue in the new laboratories.

The bottom line is that there is no classified or weapons-related research on the UO campus. What is going on are numerous efforts to characterize material on the smallest scales, which include development of commercial electronic and optical components, evaluation of chemical toxicity and bio-activity of nano-materials, and a host of other scientific research unrelated to any commercial applications, such as the study of volcanic eruptive processes and investigations into extraterrestrial impacts.

The analytical instruments will not be relocated to the new facility for several months, but I invite Eiden to give me a call and come see our existing facilities. I would be pleased to give him a tour of the materials characterization research we perform; I think he will see for himself that we have every reason to be proud of our contribution to scientific knowledge, economic development and the public health of the state of Oregon.

John Donovan

Eugene

Prepare to invade Brooklyn

The federal Environmental Protection Agency tells us there are more than 17 million gallons of oil spilled under Brooklyn.

Here's the opportunity President Bush has been waiting for. He can bring those troops back from Iraq right now and invade Brooklyn. He'll have his oil, and our men and women in uniform can go home on weekends.

Bush always can come up with some rationale later.

John Powell

Eugene

Pot shouldn't be a DEA priority

On Sept. 11 this year, I was in the Eugene airport when a flight team from the Drug Enforcement Administration walked by me.

The next day, their helicopter spent some expensive time circling my 60-year-old neighbor's medical marijuana patch. Meanwhile, heroin poppy production in Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan continues to break all previous records and contributes directly to the deaths of Americans, both on that country's battlefields and on the streets of our nation.

As far as we know, marijuana has never been the cause of death for any of our citizens. Priorities?

Johnny Sundstrom

Deadwood 

In the end, it's always about oil

From the days of the Roman Empire there has been a political awareness that running or owning a country was more expensive than instilling social chaos, then bribing local warlords with arms in exchange for the resources you need.

Because these puppet rulers are foreign-supported, they will be unpopular and dependent on the empire's arms and support to stay in power. Look at Israel under the Romans. Herod was a flunky. Look at every petty despot in South America and Asia that we have supported.

We don't want peace or victory; we need a nation too weak to say "no" and make it stick.

The end game is to "manage" Mideast oil so we get oil consistently enough and just a little cheaper so we can maintain a 1 percent or 2 percent cost-of-manufacturing advantage over the other nations of the world until the oil dries up. That advantage doubles by the time a product hits the street; with U.S. distribution and advertising muscle, that little gap means we can muscle the global market.

It amazes me this ancient and well-understood game is never explained in the press. Nothing about this is a mystery. The real problem is in public relations here in the United States, where a messy affair big enough to make the evening news means losing elections and the ability to get rich from the gifts and deals the people in power can deal.

Leo Rivers

Cottage Grove 

Liberals need conservatives

After reading Brian Thompson's Sept. 9 column about last year's Eugene Celebration, I was ready to round up a posse and go string up some liberals - you know, for the sake of the children.

Then I got to thinking about this guy I know. He's never had a business; in fact, he rails constantly about usury rates. He never married, and so far as I know he's never had any children either. He doesn't even get upset about paying his fair share of taxes to the rulers, especially if it might help the poor.

He is quite religious, but he's Jewish. By Thompson's reckoning, he's certainly no conservative. His name? Jesus Christ.

Now, before we all start throwing stones at each other, let me submit that it takes more than eggs to make a good egg salad. I'm an unabashed, proud liberal who's willing to admit that my conservative brethren bring their fair share of bread to the table of political discourse. And we libs need it - just as much as they need ours. We've got many pressing problems before us, but we'll never solve a single one if we're more bothered bywho's right than what's right.

Truth is, when libs and cons do break bread together, they find out they have much more to agree about than argue over. After a while, no problem seems unsolvable when we work together. Let's get started. Next time Thompson is on the coast, lunch is on me. E pluribus unum.

Mark McKelvey

Coos Bay 

Homeowners were heroes in fire

We own the "brand-new home" on Eaton Lane mentioned in Andrea Damewood's Sept. 9 story on the fire.

What we experienced that Saturday afternoon was very frightening, yet reassuring. I think all in this neighborhood have a new respect for the power of fire and the strength of community. All of our quick thinking and united efforts saved homes, structures and livestock.

The fire ripped through the pastures, coming close to everyone's back doors, then moved west to Spires Lane. So did the team of volunteer neighbors. My husband, with the help of the three McBride boys and an Elmira boy just passing by, saved an old stand of fir trees behind our properties. They took down the fence, cut a break and used the neighbor's hose and buckets to put out an old downed tree and shed ablaze under the trees.

The fire crews were trying to get ahead of the blaze that already had moved past many of the houses and on toward the lake. The response was huge, and we thank the many fire agencies that responded. But the homeowners and volunteers were the real heroes here, and we wanted to publicly thank them all.

I'm sure we among many others on our two quiet little lanes plan to do more in the future to prevent another hard-to-defend fire. Please join together and limb trees, remove debris from fence lines, keep grasses low and have marked gates or fence openings to allow access.

JULIE VOGT

Eugene

Crack down on air pollution

Pacific Northwest gasoline has the highest level of benzene in the United States. Add to that 5 tons of Hynix's hydrogen fluoride every year. And now add 2 tons of Johnson Crusher's particulate matter every year.

And 39 tons of volatile organic substances every year. Do most people even know what this stuff is? Also add paint fumes from the Monaco and Country Coach motor home factories, and all the rest. What lovely compound does all this make?

Now is not the time to increase toxins into our environment. It is time to make factories toe the line.

Let's install up-to-date emission control systems. I am really sorry it costs so many dollars to do this but really, think about it. Why does the county and state let polluters get away with it? Where is the outrage?

Please don't continue to sell out our environment. I have an idea: Where do the CEOs live? We can find out and dump our 39 pounds or so of cat excrement in their driveways, every year.

Michael Walrath

Eugene

`Voice of the Ducks' left out

Both my wife and I went to the home opener of Duck football. Everyone was super polite and helpful. We both had a great time at Autzen Stadium.

The oversight came when we purchased a program and started going through it. We got to the media section and noticed there was no mention or picture of Don Essig. Why? After 40 years of being the "Voice of the Ducks," he was left out of the media section. We kept going through the program assuming he would be in a different section. He was not.

This is either an oversight by the program publishers or just an outright, big-time mistake. We hope whoever is responsible for this oversight will fix it as soon as possible - because it never rains at Autzen Stadium, and we should never forget who the "Voice of the Ducks" is!

MIKE GOWINS

Springfield

Petraeus is just following orders

Is it "General Petraeus" or "media betray us"? Why does MoveOn.org have to be the only media source to publicize the obvious?

Of course the military commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, is going to spin the war to fit President Bush's model. That's his assigned job by the commander in chief - as in, his orders.

It is a pathetic state of affairs that all major media in this nation (especially cable news), allows this in-your-face hoax to continue to go unchallenged, for the most part. Fox News may be the worst of all, but the rest are not far behind.

Who are you going to believe, Fox News, or your lying eyes?

H. Patrick Clancy

Eugene

Paper's content becoming trivial

What has happened to The Register-Guard?

The front page has gradually morphed into the City/Region section, culminating in the Sept. 10 edition. The lead article is about Oregon cranberry farmers. The other front page articles are about workers' benefits, toilets in Seattle, a backward walk and streetcars. On Page 2 is the only article on Iraq and a "Briefly" article about the Bush administration taunting Osama bin Laden.

Nowhere is there an article about the fact that scientists have found that the ice pack in Greenland is melting much more rapidly than previously calculated, with an ultimate potential of raising sea levels by 23 feet. In fact, the only pages that deal with the true major issues of the day are the editorial and letters pages.

Maybe it's time to change the name of the paper to the Daily Trivial to more accurately reflect its content.

JOHN BAUMANN

Springfield