Letters in the Editor's Mailbag.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Where is local relief effort?

At last, some good news from the war in Iraq: Innocent victims will be provided with food, shelter and medical care by our government.

Where will the relief stations be set up in Eugene and Springfield for the innocent victims of the Petroleum War - the schoolchildren, the mentally ill, the people without medical care?

JACK STEVENS

Eugene

Clarify licensing statutes

Oregon legislators Phil Barnhart and Tony Corcoran have introduced bills to clarify language in vague statutes regulating geologist licensing. The Board of Geologist Examiners' misinterpretation of the statutes led to its adoption of a rule restricting First Amendment rights to testify at public meetings and underlay the board's inappropriate censure of unregistered geologists.

Last year, Eugene Sand & Gravel complained to the board that geology professor Mark Reed's testimony against its proposed gravel mine constituted unlicensed practice of geology. The board pursued the complaint until faced with legal action. It then dismissed it and repealed its testimony rule. The current board has a new understanding of the legal issues, and most members support changing statutes to prevent future mistakes.

However, a group of registered geologists, professing concern for public safety, oppose clarification. They contend that if unregistered geologists are allowed to testify, their testimony might mislead decision-makers. While registration is appropriate for the commercial practice of geology, limiting testimony is no guarantee that decision-makers receive good advice and make good decisions.

There is a history of costly bad decisions based on recommendations by registered geologists. Jump-Off Joe and The Capes are two such examples where slope failure and property loss occurred at developments on the Oregon Coast. Open debate informs and improves public decision-making.

KAREN REED

Eugene

Try running for office

I know that I do not have the necessary information required to make the decision as to whether or not this nation should be at war or at peace.

I would encourage those who think they do to run for government office.

NANCY PATTISON

Eugene

Some questions for Bush

Here are some disturbing issues that don't get enough consideration:

1) President Bush very plainly told the world that he would call for a vote on a second resolution on Iraq in the U.N. Security Council to make all countries put their cards on the table. He lied to us. Does his Bible say, "Thou shalt not lie unless ... '?

2) How many neglected and struggling people worldwide could be saved if our expanding war chest and humanitarian energies went toward providing food, water treatment, medicine and other basic needs?

3) Bush keeps emphasizing the value of prayer and faith. Why doesn't God hear the fervent prayers of mothers praying for their dying children who got caught in the war's cross fire? And why do the daily prayers of spouses and parents asking for the safe return of their brutally ambushed GIs not count?

MIKE HOROWITZ

Eugene

Where are the weapons?

Weren't we told that we must go to war with Iraq because of their weapons of mass destruction? As of April 1, we had 44 dead soldiers, seven captured, 16 missing and 26 dead British soldiers and no such weapons had been found.

And as we liberate Iraq, which is the current mission, innocent Iraqi men, women and children have been killed and will never enjoy the freedom we are bringing to their country.

The excruciating pain of these losses will stay with us forever.

MARLENE S. PEARSON

Eugene

LETTERS LOG

Letters received in past week: 222

Letters published: 65

What's on readers' minds: The U.S. war against Iraq once again dominated the past week's Mailbag flow. As of mid-morning Friday, we received 110 letters about the war, roughly half the total volume. About five out of every six letters opposed the U.S. war in Iraq, and nearly half focused on anti-war protests. Other topics included the state's budget crisis, the U.S. Supreme Court's deliberations in a landmark affirmative action case, recent traffic fatalities on Highway 58 and proposals to rename Centennial Boulevard, the Ferry Street Bridge or another local landmark to honor Martin Luther King Jr.