In an essay I could have found much to agree with, George Will (Dec. 2) gives away the fundamental problem with “conservatives.”

He quite obliviously equates worrying about a sick child with worrying about the cost of cable or being stuck in traffic. A human being would have noticed what was wrong with that equation.

Dale Coberly, Corvallis

Reading and a library district

Your two recent editorials (Dec. 1 and 2) regarding the value of reading and spending quality time with a good book have prompted me to write this letter.

As a former teacher and now involved with Friends of the Library, Sweet Home, I am very aware of the value of reading. We need to continue to promote reading as an exercise in building imagination, stimulating curiosity, and seeking answers to questions.

Studies have shown that TV watching does NOT encourage thinking or stimulate brain waves, and I would think that video games have the same numbing effect. Yet reading does provide our brains with ideas to be explored and shared.

The Linn Library League is working diligently to institute a library district in Linn County so all residents will have access to quality reading material. This issue may come before the voters as soon as 2008. The cost would be fair and equitable for all communities.

Think of how wonderful it would be if everyone could take home that book that catches their eye and be able to enjoy it in front of the fire with a hot cup of tea! A library district would provide that opportunity.

Sure, we can do that now if we live in the “city” or are willing to pay a hefty fee as a “country” resident. But wouldn’t it be nice for everyone?

Whichever way you feel about a library district, do keep on reading and enjoying books. History, romance, mystery, drama await you.

Diane Gerson, Sweet Home

A small tax would be enough

Have you ever been in the Corvallis library? Not only are there more books than you can shake a stick at but CDs and DVDs and videos and rooms for meetings and seminars and a huge bulletin board of community events and, and... the list goes on.

What makes me envious is all the resources that anyone in the county can use, check out and take home.

I want that for Linn County residents, a Linn County Library District with libraries that any of us living in Linn County can go to and check out books, music CDs, film DVDs or videos, and use all the other enriching resources for free.

If all Linn County residents paid a small tax, if a majority of us support this idea, we can make this happen.

Barb Langford, Lebanon

Free libraries for all

I just read Hasso Hering’s editorial on the value of reading and browsing in a real library with real books, as opposed to reading on line, and I have to thoroughly agree.

But I would also like to point out that residents of Linn County will not have to pay a small fee — $60 per family — to use the library if the residents of the county vote “yes” to the formation of a library district, which they will get a chance to do next year!

Then everyone can use the Albany library and not be turned away for lack of a fee. Education through reading is the American way to improve and we in Linn County want to have a free library system, one for everyone, not just for the elite.

Linda Lawrence, President, Friends of the Albany Library

Teens came and raked

I would like to express my appreciation to the young people who raked my leaves a few days ago. What a nice surprise it was to come home and find the leaves in a pile in the street. When I asked my next-door neighbor if he knew who had done the raking, he told me that he saw several high-school age students equipped with rakes and blowers. Yesterday, I found a note that they had left, telling me that they had done the raking. It was signed WA and SA leadership. I presume they are students at our two high schools. I want them to know that I am very grateful, since I can no longer rake leaves. Thank you so much.

Marie Anderson, Albany

SUNDAY letters should be e-mailed to news@dhonline.com with “Sunday Letters” on the subject line. They may also be mailed to the Democrat-Herald or Gazette-Times.