LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Dowd is wrong about new pope

One would think The New York Times would have learned its lesson about releasing columns by writers who had not done their homework. Maureen Dowd's April 21 denunciation of Pope Benedict XVI is an embarrassment - not to the new pope but to the Times.

Dowd claims that Pope Benedict XVI wants to dismantle Vatican II and prefers 1397. The scholarly George Weigel biography of John Paul II rightly recognizes that both pontiffs were intellectual fathers of Vatican II and experienced in meeting "spontaneous sympathy" for each other's sense of what was needed to secure the legacy of Vatican II so that the church could engage the modern world with its own unique message.

If Dowd had read anything but sound bites she might know, as Weigel points out, that "John Paul did not appoint a medievalist or a patristic scholar as Prefect of CDF (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith). He appointed a theologian who had been deeply and critically engaged with contemporary philosophy and ecumenical theology."

Dowd refers to Benedict's "gloomy world outlook." This is the man who Weigel says regretted that "the hallmark of Christianity - joy - seemed singularly absent from many post-conciliar debates."

Never mind the vitriol, the caricaturing, the lack of charity toward the leader of a world religion. Dowd's portrayal is rife with frenetic misinformation. I hope The Register-Guard gets a hundred letters objecting to a poorly conceived analysis from a publication that ought to produce far better.

BARBARA BREADEN

Eugene

Slow down in construction zone

It's interesting that some people who are caught breaking the law - that is, driving too fast in the work area on Interstate 105 - seem to assume that the law shouldn't be there or that it doesn't apply to them, since it is a new law and they prefer the old one. Natalie Pokvitis (letters, April 27) is so angry, one can only assume she is one of the drivers cited by the police, who were out there to protect the rest of us from drivers ignoring the changed speed limit.

Whether Pokvitis sees it or not, work on I-105 does go on during the day. In any event, traffic buffers have been on the sides of the road for several weeks now; their presence alone should signal "slow down." They do signal that there is a reason for slowing down. Drivers who "are oblivious to the changed speed limit" and the buffers are the ones most likely to cause accidents, since they are probably also oblivious to what else is going on around them.

Leave a few minutes earlier, folks, and let all of us get to work or home safely. And save yourselves a ticket.

FRANCES POWELL

Eugene

Jeff Bantz offers new direction

I have known Jeff Bantz for more than 15 years. His two sons have attended Springfield schools from kindergarten through 12th grade. He is a knowledgeable, caring father and businessman. He will work to ensure our schools will improve academically by focusing on preparing students for advanced education or gainful employment.

He knows from the failures in other states that the best thing we can do for non-English-speaking students is to require that they learn English. It is much better to have those students struggle now than to condemn them to an entire life of second-class citizenship because they were coddled in school.

The current board is headed in the wrong direction. In November, it almost approved a plan to introduce a diversity plan. Board members were forced to back down when the community protested 2 to 1 against it.

That plan and the one the board is currently structuring insist that gender identity and sexual orientation be listed as special classifications for students. Bantz believes that special classifications are an invitation to lawsuits, are divisive and detract from education's core values.

RICHARD DRAYER

Springfield

It says 'security' for a reason

Tom Hannah's "Trust fund an accounting fiction" (letters, April 24) belies that his career is selling private securities and not accounting. Money loaned out from the Social Security trust fund to the operating budget is as secure as the money owed to China, Japan and others. Our government will pay all of us, or we as a country will be bankrupt.

As I watched the Senate hearings on Social Security recently, it struck me that the essence of this program is framed by its name. People who die young lose, people who live longer get more. The point is that what we all pay in offers security to us from disability and poverty.

There is no ownership beyond the relationship between what you pay in and what you can get back. Everyone is protected, no matter what. There is nothing to own and pass on, and that is the way it should be.

RICHARD GROSSCUP

Eugene

Organic food has more nutrients

Just saying that organic food is more expensive and not more nutritious (letters, April 30) is telling only half the story.

By choosing organic foods, you are making a choice not to eat pesticide residues or added chemicals used in many conventional processed foods. You choose to support farmers who use sustainable practices that conserve the land, and to spend your money supporting the local community.

A federal study in April 2001 quantified for the first time the difference in nutrient levels between organic and conventional food. It reviewed all the available comparative studies on crops produced with organic matter and inorganic fertilizers and found that organic crops had higher average levels of vitamins and iron.

And something tells me that organic foods taste better: Organic products' retail sales are expected to top $20 billion in the United States by 2007, and grew 150 percent between 2000 and 2005. Educated people enjoy having choices, and it's obvious that eating organically is a sustainable one, for your health and for the Earth.

SCOTT KIRKPATRICK

Eugene

Parents need to teach children

Summer is almost here, and it's time for parents to take responsibility for their children's actions. It's the parents' responsibility to teach children which side of the bike path to use and how to cross the street.

The street is not the place for basketball hoops or skateboard ramps. Keep them up by your garage door. Even at 25 mph, we can't stop our cars if your child chases a ball in front of our car or falls off a ramp and rolls in front of us.

Teach children to respect their neighbors, not to scream or blast music from their cars. Some of their neighbors may be elderly or ill.

Eugene police say they don't have enough money to come out on theft or vandalism calls, but they still want taxpayers to pay for a new police department. Then why not start writing $10 tickets to those children for improper use of the bike path, throwing trash in the streets or being out after curfew? I am sure once parents have to keep paying for these tickets then maybe, just maybe, people might start to teach their children to respect others and have responsibility and accountability.

You can't allow your children to be in an unsafe atmosphere and then blame someone else if they get injured. Know where your children are and what they are doing.

D. Y. BARTON

Eugene

An idea for funding Medicaid

Congress has before it a proposal to cut taxes by $209 billion and to cut Medicaid spending by $10 billion. Would it be so disruptive to our economy if Congress cut taxes by $10 billion less for the people who need it the least and added that amount to Medicaid for the people who need it the most?

Blessed is the country that treats its most vulnerable citizens with kindness.

FRANK PATTEN

Elmira

Don't rush to judge Gary Powell 

I question the social benefit of reporter Greg Bolt's article on Gary Powell, "Eugene teacher charged with indecency" (Register-Guard, April 30). The tragedy of a free press is that often the public hears only half the story and is left to judge a person after hearing just one incident in the person's life.

I met Gary Powell last year while dating his stepdaughter who, by the way, adores him. I quickly bonded with Powell and, to this day, can name few men for whom I have greater respect. He is a man of compassion, love and dedication to his family, and he struggles like every one of us.

This is not a letter to justify Powell's actions or to say actions are without consequences, but rather to remind those who know him well or not so well that at the core he is an outstanding person of the highest quality, though still human and imperfect. For these reasons, be slow in casting judgment, generous with grace and aware of the power we all have to condemn a person or allow them to walk again.

I sincerely hope the school district acts wisely in dealing with Powell, or it may permanently lose a good teacher who surely deserves more than what our first reactions to his publicity might suggest.

We all make bad choices once in a while, though many of us would claim to be good people. Gary Powell is a great person.

ERICK BROWN

Eugene

Lower speed protects workers

Apparently some citizens of Eugene and Springfield, especially those with the mindset of Natalie Pokvitis (letters, April 27), have forgotten that driving faster than the posted speed limit is against the law. When you break the law, there are repercussions - like speeding tickets.

Clearly, Pokvitis has forgotten that the speed limit along Interstate 105 has been slowed for the protection and safety of the workers who are working within a few feet of speeding cars. While the majority of the work along I-105 may take place at night, there are still many workers along the road during the day.

It's amazing to me that people complain when the police enforce the law. It's even more appalling that someone would complain about the police enforcing the law for the safety of others.

I suggest that Pokvitis pull over to the side of an interstate like I-5 or I-105 sometime, get out of her vehicle and see how it feels to have cars speeding past her in excess of 60 mph. Perhaps then she'll reconsider her ridiculous complaint about the I-105 "speed trap."

PAUL SHERWIN

Eugene

LETTERS LOG

Letters received in past week: 208

Letters published: 61

What's on readers' minds: Letters endorsing candidates and issues in the May 17 election occupied a significant portion of this week's Mailbag. Kate Gawf's personal reflections in the April 24 Commentary section on the stress mental illness puts on families drew a number of responses from people who had been through similar experiences. On the national front, high gasoline prices and the need for a sensible energy policy edged out Social Security reform as the top topic.