Letters in the Editor's Mailbag.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Kelly is diligent

The Register-Guard's campaign against David Kelly stinks. The newspaper's editors admit that he's a most diligent and intelligent member of the Eugene City Council, yet because he's not pro-development they're backing a 21-year-old student with no government experience who will graduate in a year. Is this responsible citizenship?

Do the editors have the best interests of Eugene at heart, or the best interests of business?

GEORGE WICKES Eugene

Sinclair a keeper

Judge Cynthia Sinclair hasn't missed a day of work (excluding vacations) in six years on the bench. She donates about 500 hours of overtime a year. She donates books, toys and films to people who visit her court. She has made great efforts to make visits to her court as fast and convenient as possible for both English- and Spanish-speaking people, including installing an ATM and taking Visa payments.

Sinclair is far more qualified than her opponents. She has 30 years of experience in justice administration (13 of them in public service) and has training in grant writing and budgeting (she holds nine certificates relating to her position). She has a bachelor's degree in police sciences and administration; she has training in mediation in mental health, civil, child abuse, substance abuse and domestic violence; she has completed 26 educational courses relating to her job in the past five years, and she has spoken at schools, sporting events, on the radio and at the University of Oregon Law School on animal welfare and traffic safety.

Sinclair wants to institute night court for taxpayer convenience and has been recognized for service by the Lane County Board of Commissioners. She volunteers for five charities, is a member of county task forces on juvenile justice and animal regulation and voluntarily took on the animal abuse cases in Lane County.

Sinclair cares about people and animals. She is the best person for the job and has performed it very well for the past six years. Judge Cynthia Sinclair is a keeper.

RITA CASTILLO Springfield

Attention, candidates

Inconsiderate politicians who schedule phone messages, especially recorded ones, during or shortly before meal times are a pain in the neck - and they're foolish to think that people will be interested in paying any attention to them.

ALAN D. REID Springfield

Imperfect redistricting 

Democrats Phil Barnhart and Al King are seeking the nomination for the same legislative seat, Oregon House District 11. It is a result of redistricting that these incumbents, King and Barnhart, must compete.

The two candidates, each 55, share common views on many issues. This district is large in square miles. It takes in a good-sized chunk of urban southeast Eugene and, like a horseshoe, it circles outside of Springfield to take in a large part of more rural eastern Lane County and swings north to take in rural parts of Linn County. As a generalization, the district's land area is rural, except for southeast Eugene.

The Register-Guard has endorsed King as its choice for this sprawling district, citing a longer association with its more rural regions. There is a flip side for southeast Eugene. Barnhart's extended Eugene associations should heighten his appeal among urban voters.

Redistricting is not perfect, and District 11 is an example - a shotgun wedding forced upon an urban-rural population base.

BILL LYNCH Eugene

Castillo is respected

I was glad to see that The Register-Guard had the wisdom to endorse Susan Castillo as the most qualified candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction.

As the newspaper's endorsement pointed out, Castillo is well-known and well-respected in this area because of her past media experience and her past legislative service in Salem representing the people of this area. Rob Kremer, who is being supported by Bill Sizemore, is using a computerized phone message to falsely state that Castillo is a member of the extreme left. She is not an extreme anything!

As a person who has spent most of my working career in the field of education and who currently represents Springfield on the Lane Community College Board of Trustees, I know that Castillo is a supporter of public education and that Kremer is not.

Our schools are all facing the necessity of making major cuts due in large part to the efforts of Bill Sizemore and his supporters. This race represents a clear and stark choice. If you want your schools to have their budgets cut further, then vote for Kremer, the Sizemore clone. If you value education and recognize the importance of public education to your children and to the economy of Oregon, then vote for Susan Castillo.

DENNIS SHINE Springfield

LETTERS LOG

Letters received in past week: 233

Letters published: 72

What's on readers' minds: The May primary election dominated Mailbag flow during the past week. We received 48 letters in support of candidates and measures on the primary ballot; 12 on a watchdog environmental group's opposition to a Eugene-based running camp's use of the new Steens Mountain Wilderness Area in southeastern Oregon, six on Palestinian-Israeli violence in the Middle East, and five on the West Eugene Parkway.

- The Register-Guard

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