Article perpetuates aging stereotypes

I want to thank the Gazette-Times for the “Stitching Together” story on March 10 covering our OSU Gerontological Student Association and Regent Independent Living knit and crochet group.

I felt a need to respond because our group believes negative aging stereotypes are perpetuated in the article through the use of the terms “elderly” and “old people.”

The accepted term is “older adults.”

In addition, the description of Regent residents, focusing on sounds of oxygen tanks and difficulty moving around, could have been interpreted by readers as though Regent residents have very little in life to be proud of except a few hours of knitting and reading.

These women have lived, and continue to live, rich and full lives that we learn about through our visits.

One of the goals of our group, and one we hoped the article would help us attain, is to raise awareness about the immense value of older adults to society.

Together, we need to work toward changing negative aging stereotypes into positive thoughts about older adults.

We also want it to be clear to readers that we visit with these women because we choose to be there.

We are not there because we have pity on them or are trying to build resumes. We look forward to the meetings and truly enjoy sharing time with them.

We hope the G-T will continue to produce stories that illustrate the value of older adults to the community, while working to reduce ageism.

Erin Thompson, Corvallis

G-T a cheerleader in OSU sports articles

Oregon State University wrestler Heinrich Barnes, as a member of the South African wrestling team, qualified to compete in the upcoming Olympic Games.

The Gazette-Times tells us this on April 26 in a nice story accompanied by a photo of Barnes.

However, when this same wrestler could only manage to finish in eighth place in last month’s Pac-10 tournament, not one word about that found its way into the G-T, because, when it comes to responsible local sports reporting, the G-T prefers to wear a cheerleader’s costume.

I believe Mr. Barnes is adult enough to take the bad news with the good.

Good luck to him in Beijing.

Robert Stevenson, Corvallis

Walker best for secretary of state

State Sen. Vicki Walker — wife, mother, homemaker, business owner, activist, Democrat, independent, leader, diligent, concerned and caring.

Caring and concerned about her family, neighbors, community and state, ask any one of her constituents, any colleagues, with her or on opposing side of an issue.

They will all agree that Vicki is all the above and many times more that these descriptive words I have chosen to tell you about my friend Vicki.

Vicki works hard, does her research and is prepared to do her job regardless of party politics because she believes everyone should be represented honestly, fairly and with vigor.

Sen. Vicki Walker will bring all these attributes and work ethic to the office of Oregon’s secretary of state.

Charles Crawford Sr., Philomath

Novick right choice to challenge Smith

Steve Novick may be the unusual choice but we believe that he is the right choice to confront Sen. Gordon Smith in the November election.

In the field of Democratic candidates, Steve Novick stands “taller” at 4 foot, 9 inches than do the rest because of his exceptional intelligence and his courage.

Overcoming physical handicaps with brainpower and determination, Novick skipped high school, graduated from the University of Oregon at 18 and from Harvard Law School four years later.

As the lead U.S. attorney in the famous Love Canal case, he succeeded in winning a substantial claim against those who had polluted the environment.

In Oregon, Steve is known as an activist citizen who is unafraid to challenge the likes of Bill Sizemore and Don McIntire when their proposed initiatives threatened to starve our state’s education, human resources and public security programs.

As the caucus administrator for the Senate Democrats in the 1997 session of the Oregon Legislature, Novick unified a fractious caucus in support of Gov. John Kitzhaber’s legislative proposals.

Both Cliff Trow, the Senate Democratic leader in that session, and former Gov. Kitzhaber have endorsed Steve Novick for nomination to run against Gordon Smith.

Commitment, skill, political knowledge and determination will make Steve a great U.S. senator.

The Portland Oregonian and the Medford Mail Tribune have recently endorsed Novick for the nomination.

We believe that Steve Novick is the right choice for U.S. senator and we hope you do, too.

Cliff and Jo Anne Trow, Corvallis

Many people have lived in Palestine

Many points can be refuted in Frank Howard’s letter attacking mine (“1 million Arabs live peacefully in Israel, April 25). Among them:

1. To talk of the U.N. “restoring” Israel to the Jewish people is misleading.

The Hebrews were one — but only one — of the many nationalities that inhabited Palestine over the centuries.

One study credits Jews with controlling Palestine, or parts of it, for less than 600 years out of 5,000 in Palestine’s recorded history.

With the rise of Islam in the 7th century, Arab rule was dominant for almost 1, 300 years.

2. Howard: “Israel, with no army, no air force, no weapons to speak of, defeated the Muslim invaders.”

Palestinian refugees of the 1948 battle dispute Howard’s claim.

Oral history from Nimr Khatib: “The (Israeli) attack on al-Mujaydid … began from airplanes....”

Dawud Assad in “Remembering Deir Yassin,” one of hundreds of villages destroyed by the Israelis: “On orders from future Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, 80 Irgun terrorists had attacked my village that morning….”

Refugee Hussein Mubaraki: “I am from al-Nahr … in al-Nahr they killed children … my brother was one of them — he was one year old … Why did they do that? Because they wanted the land.”

3. Howard: “They (Palestinians) made no attempt to establish a nation for themselves in the 19 years they lived there (West Bank) with no interference from Israel.”

No interference?

Separate laws for Jews and Palestinians. Separate road. Violation of promise after promise to stop illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. House demolitions. Separation wall. Checkpoints. Settlers attacking schoolchildren and farmers.

Jeanne Riha, Corvallis

Gun control not most vital issue

No, as voters, we are not “entitled to a little honesty” from our politicians, as Dick Gallagher asks in his letter (“Gun owners: beware of Barack, Hillary,” April 28).

At least that is the lesson of the past eight years of the Bush Administration.

Mr. Gallagher’s concern over the Democratic candidates’ stance on gun control is misplaced, to say the least.

Of greater and more urgent concern is the necessity to cope with and rectify the problems that have resulted from the Bush-Cheney lies — the endless and devastating war in Iraq, the abominable state of U.S. prestige in the world, the disintegrating economy and the tanking dollar.

Let’s face it, the NRA will take care of gun control.

Martin R. Mulford, Corvallis