As an eight-year resident of Corvallis, I continue to be moved at the goodness of the people of our community.

If one reflects on events just in the last several months, we can see how giving of time, money and resources has helped our community.

In just this short time, volunteers have build Wildcat Park, dedicated a Habitat for Humanity house and performed an “Extreme Makeover.” These events are just the ones we see in the media. There are other numerous behind-the- scenes organizations that reach out to members of our community.

If you were one of the volunteers who helped make these projects happen, thanks!. You are the reason Corvallis is more than a city; it is a community.

If you have not yet taken advantage of volunteer opportunities, I challenge you to get involved. I assure you, being an active part of your Corvallis community will be time well spent. As a community, we have more homes to construct, playgrounds to build, mouths to feed, shelters to staff ... and the list goes on.

Mark Hoffman

Corvallis

Honor da Vinci; don’t eat animals

“I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men.” These are the words of Leonardo da Vinci, whose genius will be celebrated at the da Vinci Days Festival this weekend.

Da Vinci was an ardent vegetarian. He would purchase caged birds from poultry markets and release them in the country. No doubt, he would shudder to see the food sold at the festival named for him.

Another genius, Phythagoras, said, “As long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed he who sows the seeds of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love.” Phythagoras also was an ardent vegetarian. In fact, before the word vegetarian was coined, those who refused to eat animals were called Pythagoreans.

Many of the greatest minds in human history were vegetarian. A partial list: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Emerson, Thoreau, Darwin, Edison, Albert Schweitzer, George Bernard Shaw, Henry Ford, Mark Twain, Voltaire, Newton, Einstein, Milton, Rousseau, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Victor Hugo, Tolstoy, Benjamin Franklin, Shelley and Kafka.

What about Hitler? It has been documented that Hitler not only ate meat, but he banned vegetarian organizations. We don’t hear about the vegetarianism of those who contributed so much, but everyone knows of the alleged vegetarianism of one who did such evil — an example of cultural bias.

Compassion for all life. Embrace this ethic. You’ll be in good company!

Nettie Schwager

Corvallis

Private Western airline a flying insult

A private, segregated Westerners-only airline to fly “independent contractors” between Jordan and Iraq? An airline that automatically blacklists citizens of India, Pakistan, and IRAQ?

What kind of message does this send to those countries which we are supposedly trying to cultivate as our allies in the “War on Terror?”

What a gross insult to Muslims everywhere! What an invitation to wavering Muslims to join the insurgency! What a perfect example of the mentality of the Bush-Cheney team! Instead of “Ex-pat Airlines,” a better title would be “Timothy McVeigh Memorial Airlines.”

Craig B. Leman

Corvallis

Defense of Iraq war increasingly hollow

I am sorry that Mr. Eldon “Al” Carr (Letters, July 9, “Where’s the outrage about terrorism”) did not understand what I was “screaming” about in my letter of July 5. I continue to be outraged and ashamed of our present administration and its conduct for the past six years. I am not “blaming America first,” as Mr. Carr asserts. I truly believe that the American people know they have been duped by this “outlaw” administration and that we want to do something — anything — to reclaim our rights as American citizens who are decent, law-abiding and honest (something that cannot be said of the present administration).

Mr. Carr may call us “radical liberals,” but to paraphrase Martin Niemoller’s famous poem: They came for my country, and I did nothing; They came for my city, and I did nothing, They came for my neighbors, and I did nothing. And finally, they came for me ... and there was no one left to do anything.

President Bush’s and Vice-President Dick Cheney’s broad-brush propaganda about this illegal war is wearing thin on many of us. Scream “liberal bias,” but if you went out to the Corvallis airport recently, you might have seen the body of a beautiful young neighbor of yours “coming home” in a box.

Thanks to Mr. Carr for his thoughts on freedom, and especially, thank you for the gift of these wonderful, patriotic souls you say you support but continue to allow to die in this unlawful, awful war.

Barbara Boudreaux

Corvallis