Paving, more parking indeed will improve Chintimini Park

Let’s set the record straight about proposed changes to Chintimini Park and the Senior/Community Center:

The park improvements will include a covered play area, new play equipment, handicapped-accessible surfaces, picnic area, garden path, therapy garden, basketball court and new restrooms.

The current building is 4 percent of the park. Some internal space will be reconfigured. But additional new construction, built to sustainable LEED silver standards, is needed to accommodate the dozens of programs and thousands of people already using the building — 47,000 visits last year. The expanded building will be 6 percent of the park (not 25 percent, as alleged).

Additional parking will be added east of the building. The lot, which will be heavily landscaped with many new trees, will occupy 15 percent of the park (not 50 percent). Pervious surfacing and rain garden treatments to address stormwater runoff are being investigated.

Some question the need for additional parking. I urge them to put themselves in the position of people less fortunate than themselves. For example, the volunteer Meals on Wheels drivers, who deliver 20,000 meals annually to housebound low-income seniors, must often park far away and haul the heavy containers considerable distances.

Many patrons have physical challenges that restrict their mobility; others use wheelchairs or walkers. Additional parking will provide access for users who cannot walk, bicycle or park farther away.

This information is publicly available to anyone with a telephone. Please consider seeking accurate answers to your questions from city staff, city councilors, parks board members, or the bipartisan Community Activities Committee.

Kent Daniels, Corvallis

Polar bears in trouble, and other global warming lies

I must admit I hadn’t paid any attention to “global warming” until a friend brought the “hockey stick” temperature graph to my notice. As a student of history, I knew that was wrong. Not a little wrong — egregiously wrong. The Medieval Warm Spell, the Little Ice Age — air-brushed from existence.

If they got something that simple wrong, what else was wrong? Turns out, just about everything. Polar bears — population increase since 1960, Inuit word for “robin” — documented by Swedish explorer in 1913.

Kilimanjaro snow cap (disappearing): University of Washington says it’s due to lack of rainfall from deforestation.

“Inconvenient Truth” Antarctic ice cap destruction — computer simulation from movie “The Day After Tomorrow.” (Hey — why didn’t Al say it wasn’t actual?), etc., etc.

Follow the money. Are the “global warming” advocates cutting back on their 24-carat lifestyles?

Al Gore, whose house already used 20 times the U.S. average, increased his energy use by 10 percent last year. Unfortunately, a full explanation of how the “green power” scam works is too long for a letter. If the “greenies” want to be fleeced, that’s fine — I love to watch the rubes get rolled. Just don’t try to force me into it.

Jonathan A. Hayes, Corvallis

McCain’s civility melting as campaign heats up

I had hoped that John McCain’s often- spoken desire for civility in politics would be a break from President Bush’s election strategies that featured blatant personal attacks and divisiveness. An opportunity for national healing.

Instead, McCain seems to have fully embraced the dark side after recently hiring Bush strategists. His newest ad portrays Barack Obama’s popularity as purely celebratory, even flashing images of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton . The subliminal imagery linking a black man to young blond women as well as the drawing together of immense crowds as somehow perverse is stunning!

Last week he was openly accusing Obama of willingness to lose a war over losing an election. A stunning character attack. The irony is McCain’s rigidity on foreign policy is reminiscent of George W. Bush who, after the Iraqi Prime Minister’s wish for a timetable of withdrawal, signaled a limited openness.

Both McCain and Bush called Obama an appeaser for his willingness to talk to “enemies.” Funny, talks with North Korea were ongoing and already had borne fruit, although not yet publicized. And now talks with Iran are in the news. Hypocrisy and mud slinging; same as it ever was.

Bill O’Brien, Corvallis

Let’s keep our kids in school and off the computer

In his July 30 letter, “To save on education costs, let’s put all schools online,” Kirk Nevin promotes closing all public schools in favor of online classes at home. While this would save Corvallis taxpayers money it would come at a great cost to our youth.

Young kids in particular would be less motivated to learn if required to do it from home, and they would still need to have help staying motivated each day.

Without a classroom teacher to push them and interest them their parents would be the only ones able to do this. This would be very difficult for many parents, especially ones needing to work during the day. We would see a much more skewed learning curve between kids with a parent at home and those left to their own devices every day.

Older kids would also be worse off. Middle and high school provide many social opportunities and outlets for teenagers. Most of kids’ friends growing up come from school, and it would be much more difficult for kids to have a broad social group if they spent all their time at home on the computer. Also, outlets such as sports, music, and drama would be nonexistent, as there would be no teachers or coaches for the kids to learn from, and it’s rather difficult to learn any of these from a computer.

It’s our responsibility to give our kids the education they deserve, so let’s keep them in school and off their computers.

Ted Richardson, Corvallis

Obama has benefit of proven political advisers

J. C. Whitted’s July 31 letter about the value of experience in the White House contends that “experience is not the most important determining factor in success.” I agree, when said “experience” is guided by an unproven self-serving ideology which claims that massive tax cuts for the rich will result in an economic boom. The Neocons who led us into our current economic mess were guided by professor of economics Milton Freidman’s unproven theory.

Barack Obama’s advisors, as reported in Washington Post for July 21-27, constitute an outstanding cast of real experts. They include: Anthony Lake, former Clinton national security advisor, Tom Daschele, former Democratic Senate leader, Caroline Kennedy, Sen. Edward Kennedy, Greg Craig, on foreign policy, Michael Froman, former chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, to name a few.

Obama’s personal experience is supplemented by expert advice, not from ideologues, but from many persons with real-life experience. When advisers do not agree, of course, the president is left with the difficult decision as to which side has the most compelling argument. The Neocons refused to listen to contrasting arguments.

Robert L. Stebbins, Corvallis