Letters in the Editor's Mailbag.
Byline: The Register-GuardFund family planning
President Bush is set to cut off United Nations family planning funds, previously approved by both Congress and his administration, flying in the face of his own investigative team that found no truth to allegations that the money would be used for forced abortions (Register-Guard, July 15) in China.
The main goal of the U.N. program in China is to reduce forced abortions by providing family planning options. Worldwide, the program works to prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. It provides health care to women and children, and saves the lives of thousands.
Didn't Bush hear anything that was said at the recent international AIDS conference? Doesn't he get daily news briefings? Does he have no compassion? What happened to compassionate conservatism, anyway? I'm sure this isn't it.
Bush is surely leading this nation toward an alienated, and therefore less secure, position in this world.
MARILYN KELLY Eugene
Eye-opening flight
We recently flew from North Bend to Dillon, Mont., and back in a private plane at low elevation on a clear day. We traveled nearly 1,200 miles and crossed over parts of the numerous national forests and wilderness areas.
We saw only one active logging harvest unit on public land and saw little evidence of any activity over the past three to five years. What we did see was an eye-opener, especially in the roadless wilderness areas. These consisted largely of dead and scorched trees, including many square miles burned to bare soil. In fact, we didn't see any significant areas of old growth or large areas that did not show signs of severe fires within the last 50 years.
On the national forests, most of the stands of older merchantable size timber we saw showed evidence of bug kill and poor health. In contrast, areas that had been logged and reforested over the past 50 years looked vigorous and healthy but were in need of further management to keep them that way. Crossing over these hundreds of miles of national forests and wilderness was almost eerie. Not only was there no logging, but there was very little sign of recreation. Maybe this has something to do with harvesting activity keeping roads open and maintained.
What a waste! In the West, we are fortunate to have timber as a renewable resource. Properly managed, the public forests could provide revenue to support schools, maintain roads, eliminate user fees and reduce taxes as well as provide far better habitat for fish and wildlife than the burned-out areas that we saw in the unmanaged forests.
Please don't believe the rhetoric of the preservationists, whose ultimate goal is to lock you out of public land. Get out there and take a look for yourself.
SCOTT STARKEY, Timber manager
Menasha Forest Products Corp. North Bend
RON STUNTZNER, Forest engineer Coos Bay
Honking for clean air
Perhaps you saw us, standing on the corners of 6th and 7th avenues on the morning of July 16 - five Oregon State Public Research Group members holding signs that read, "Honk to Support Clean Air." That morning, we generated approximately 350 honks from drivers, not counting the number of bikers' verbal acknowledgements.
Skeptics may question, however, how tapping a car horn at environmentalists carrying signs supports clean air, but the idea was to raise awareness about air pollution issues. Already, air pollution triggers about 6 million asthma attacks nationwide, and the Bush administration's plan for this pollution problem will allow extra smog and soot into our air. This proposition will only add to the problem.
As I witnessed that morning holding my sign, people in Eugene support clean air, so I encourage people to discover what they can do to ensure a decrease in industrial pollution - such as contacting U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and letting him know how you feel about the Clean Power Act.
AMANDA BARKER Eugene
Change the station
In reference to all the letters complaining about talk radio negativity: I occasionally listen to these stations, but I change the dial if I don't like what I hear. I also don't always like what I read in different papers and periodicals, but I don't have to continue reading. I see garbage on TV, but again, I am able to get out of my chair and change the channel.
Are there no other sane individuals out there in the general public who bother to help themselves, or does everyone think that because a station is turned on that it can't be changed or turned off?
Wake up, people!
RICHARD THOMAS Creswell
LETTERS LOG
Letters received in past week: 163
Letters published: 67
What's on readers' minds: Wall Street scandals were the hottest Mailbag topic during the past week. Eighteen readers weighed in on corporate malfeasance and efforts by Congress to address it. We received nine letters on the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court's decision on the Pledge of Allegiance; eight reacting to July 14 stories by reporter Tim Christie about how the high cost of prescription medications is driving seniors to buying drugs on the Internet from foreign pharmacies; six each on the West Eugene Parkway and conservative talk radio; five on the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System, and four on the proposed designation of the South University Neighborhood as a federal historic district.
- The Register-Guard
CAPTION(S):
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| Title Annotation: | Letters |
|---|---|
| Publication: | The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR) |
| Article Type: | Letter to the Editor |
| Date: | Jul 20, 2002 |
| Words: | 948 |
| Previous Article: | Setting it Straight. |
| Next Article: | Traficant must go. |
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