Letters in the Editor's Mailbag.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Why a double standard?

Interesting: Palestinians desecrate the sacred tombs of Joseph and Rachel - and there's no world protest. Palestinian gunmen invade and desecrate the Church of the Nativity as well as kidnap and hold hostage the church people inside - and there's little world condemnation.

Israeli soldiers have for over 40 years risked their Jewish lives to protect Christian holy sites and make certain Christians have access to them - and there's little world recognition of this. Israeli soldiers surround but do not storm or damage the Church of the Nativity for four weeks, while Palestinian terrorists shoot at them from inside the church - and Israel is condemned.

Interesting: The siege of the Church of the Nativity has ended. However, when Arab countries were asked to accept the exiled Palestinian terrorists, none would, including Egypt, Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia. For over 40 years the other Arab countries could have accepted and helped the Palestinian people to achieve decent lives, but it served their purpose better to keep them as refugees and terrorists. Laws in most other Arab Middle East countries do not allow Palestinians equal rights with citizens of that country - so it is in Lebanon, for example.

ROBERT RUBINSTEIN Eugene

A Memorial Day project

May 27 is Memorial Day - so what does my 4H group do in May? Clean!

Every year my 4H group, Country Critters Sheep Club, cleans up two cemeteries in our community. We clean for free so that people can visit a clean cemetery on Memorial Day.

An anonymous person admired our job and donated some money to my 4H group. That money went toward a supply cabinet that helped us stay organized at the fair. I think other 4H groups should clean cemeteries too - not for the money, but for the fun of cleaning and the wonderful comments.

I may be only 12 years old, but I think this is a good idea. So if you are in 4H, or your child is, and you pass a cemetery, please bring up cleaning it for Memorial Day. If you don't have any ideas, here are some: Sweep off the gravestones, plant flowers or even put flowers on the graves for every family.

STEPHANIE FARLEY Monroe

Where's the wood?

I am surprised (and rather disappointed) that the renderings of the new federal courthouse show no evidence of wood - which, after all, was long the backbone of Eugene's economy. On the other hand, concrete is used to pay a kind of tribute to the Three Sisters.

Hmm. Too bad man can't give nature its due in a project as significant as this.

PETER WENGERT Taos, N.M.

Support democracies

In his article titled "It's U.S. foreign policy that angers Arabs" (Commentary, May 19), Mahmoud Dhaouadi claims that the Arab world does not hate America because we are the world's only superpower, but because of our foreign policy. This is to say that Arabs are anti-American because of our support of Israel and our embargo of Iraq.

Because we support a democratic society and its citizens' right to defend themselves, we are somehow morally on the wrong side. Because we do not support a dictator who kills his own people - we, in fact, are the evil ones.

In his article Dhaouadi mentions a report in the French Le Courrier that reports that anti-Americanism is found not only among the Arabs but also worldwide. This, of course, is coming from a country where anti-Semitism is running rampant and synagogues are burning. Dhaouadi condemns President Bush's "axis of evil statement" and claims that the president's administration is going to " ... globalize the practice of political unfairness."

Was Sept. 11 fair? Is killing innocent civilians in Israeli supermarkets fair? I'm sorry, but I will never regard groups that blow up innocent men, women and children as civilized!

I do not care what Europeans - or anyone for that matter - think about America. I only care about what is true, and I hope that the United States will continue to always support the rights of democratic states to defend themselves from terrorist attacks.

CHRIS SCHUMACHER Eugene

Use fines for roads

Our government agencies keep revisiting the idea of increased gasoline taxes and vehicle registration fees for road repair. The Eugene City Council is even suggesting a road fee for each home. This being election year, let's pin the candidates down about these increases.

They're not really needed. How about having all traffic fine money going into a bridge and road repair fund on a city, county and state basis? This money currently goes into a general fund to be spent at the whim of the politicians. A repair fund could not be used for purposes other than road and bridge repair - not airport parking lots, reopening streets, new streets (the gas tax does this) or wages for law enforcement. Think about it!

Fines represent an unending supply of money, because some people like to abuse their driving privilege. Then there's a new crop each year that has to learn the law the hard way. Put that money in a lock box to be spent only one way. The last I heard, the city of Eugene has no road repair funds available for the rest of the fiscal year. Income from fines could help keep our roads in good condition. Each city, county, and the state would have its own repair fund, and we citizens could have some accountability.

DAVID VAN SICKLE Eugene

Protect kids, not priests

Roman Catholic Church leaders are resisting the idea that a so-called reformed priest who has sexually abused a child should be publicly exposed wherever he goes to practice his priesthood. The protection of the priest's reputation is the issue brought up by the church's leaders. I suggest we protect our children's lives and right to grow up with normal challenges in life, and not the priest's reputation.

There is no way to know for sure whether these predators have been reformed. I believe that people who are trusted to work with children should be retired after the first transgression when child sexual abuse is the issue. The risk is just to critical.

Perhaps the church should become more educated about the evil, far-reaching effects of child sexual abuse. One single incident of sexual abuse in a young person's life can inflict far-reaching mental and emotional damage, and can even ruin a child's future.

The top priority is the protection of children, not the child molesting priest's reputation.

GEORGE GRESHAM Springfield

Be part of community

I am one of those strange people who live, work, play, worship and send my kids to school in a small town. As a city council member, I am intrinsically involved in my town's present and future. I moved here to be a part of this community, to sense its ambience and to benefit from it. However, due to the pressures of Eugene growth, there are many who have come to our little town and have soaked in its ambience but not part of it.

They sleep and eat here, but do not send their kids to school here. They leave early in the morning and return late at night. To them, it is a bedroom community. This may offend some of my neighbors, but it has to be said: To live in a community (specifically a local small town) and yet not give back - either in participation or involvement - is to be a user of the worst variety.

Our local school is fighting for its very existence, and yet if all the local citizens would just try sending their children to our wonderful school its demise could very likely be averted.

I appreciate the many who do support our town and who volunteer in the schools, the city government and the local organizations. They are the ones who are the givers. They deserve the special joy that comes from walking down the street on a hot summer day, kids in tow and ice cream cones in hand, enjoying the small town ambience that is Coburg.

JUDY VOLTA Coburg

Farmland being lost

During the recent flap over putting a gravel pit near River Road there was a great deal of concern about losing valuable farmland and increased traffic in the area. Well, valuable farmland is disappearing every day in Santa Clara, and it's due to new housing.

The city of Eugene, in its hunger to annex more territory and increase its tax base, seems to be granting developers license to build anything they want. One need only look at the hideous Kendra Park development to verify this.

This farmland is gone too, and our roads and schools are increasingly burdened as Eugene gobbles up our community a piece at a time.

JOHN POWELL Eugene

Many causes claimed

Argentina's economic problems have stirred up opinions from all sides, but Dr. V. V. Chari, an economics professor from the University of Minnesota, may have uncovered a key statistic. In the last decade, while the gross domestic product of Argentina went up by 50 percent, the government's budget went up by 100 percent, mostly for salaries and pensions.

Other opinions vary. Asia News blames Richard Nixon, who abandoned the gold standard; U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill blames `too much government"; the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation blames `under-regulation'; The Economist magazine points to corruption of officials like former President Carlos Menem, who was dealing arms to Croatia on the side, and Argentina's former finance minister.

The International Monetary Fund looks for smaller provincial budgets and a flexible currency (not dollar-linked) to increase competitiveness. Your editorialist Joseph Stiglitz disagrees (Commentary, May 19). I hope someone can fix Argentina, and I hope Oregon can avoid these problems.

KEVIN GILBERT Eugene

Probe family ties

I think it is extremely cynical and just plain silly to think that Bush would sacrifice thousands of American lives just so his buddies in the military Industrial complex can reap billions without any accounting.

A more interesting question would be: What influence did the close ties between the Bush clan and the bin Laden clan have on the pre-Sept. 11 investigations, and what did the bin Laden family's political contributions buy them?

How was it that Osama bin Laden's parents and relatives where flown out of this country while many other planes were still grounded?

JERRY BRULE Eugene

CAPTION(S):

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