Salary appears out of line with times

Live in Corvallis? Want to be a good citizen? Consider the following:

The governor of Oregon is paid $93,600. Other high state officials -. Secretary of State, Treasurer -. are paid $72,000. Circuit court judges are paid $114,000. All fair salaries.

The manager of the City of Corvallis, Jon Nelson, costs us a bit more than $195,000. Per year!

The city attorney gets a monthly check of about $19,000. Per month!

My opinion here -. and I hope I’m not alone -. is that in these uncertain economic times (recent headlines attesting to this include “Churches looking at more hard times” and “Stocks end month with worst decline in two decades“) is that these local employees are grossly overpaid, and that our representatives in city government have a legal obligation to renegotiate these contracts (and many others) to render them affordable in the current situation, or to find people who will do the work for reasonable salaries.

Mr. Nelson earns more than twice what the governor makes. That is totally ridiculous in every sense. The fact that Corvallis homes declined in value last year, and our property taxes increased by a substantial margin, is pretty strong evidence that the elected officials in Corvallis are shirking their obligations.

Kirk S. Nevin, Corvallis

Tolerance belongs on both sides

I find it fascinating that after the last eight years of intolerance, six years of one-party rule and talk of permanent Republican rule, that the Republicans think that the Democrats should be more tolerant and speak out against the dangers of one-party rule.

When people point out the hypocrisy, ignorance, rabble rousing and fear-mongering of McCain and Palin, they claim it is demonizing, and personal hatred, yet they don’t speak out about the intolerance of their leaders, the divisiveness their leaders promote.

Facts are presented, McCain and Palin are quoted, even shown clips of what they have said, and they deny it.

Tarring all Democrats because there are a few who set a bad example, without acknowledging the GOP excesses is as bad as what William Hormann complained about (in his Nov. 10 letter, “Democrats should be more tolerant”).

Actually it is worse, because it implies that the GOP is above the very thing he is complaining about, which (considering the past eight years) indicates a high degree of denial.

I have not met anyone who deifies President-elect Obama, yet Mr. Hormann and others on the Gazette-Times’ blog continually claim this as a fact. Ad hominem, demeaning, ridiculing attacks rather than accepting the results of the election that Obama won with a larger margin of the popular and a significant margin of the Electoral College than Bush ever had (despite voter suppression efforts), just sounds like sore losers and hurts their arguments.

Jeffery K. McGonagill, Corvallis

Obama/Lincoln study was no compliment

Aaron Brown sees striking “parallels” between Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln (Letters, Nov. 6 “Compare Obama to Lincoln”).

Like (19th century journalist and author) H.L. Mencken, I am not a believer in the Lincoln myth. Thus I do not regard it as complimentary to President-elect Obama to compare him to President Lincoln.

Mencken wrote of the importance of Lincoln’s “assault upon the Constitution, and especially upon the Bill of Rights.” Lincoln was scarcely in office, Mencken said, before he began to subordinate the Constitution to “military measures, and by the end of the Civil War it was in such a state of decay that it has never recovered. Every guaranty of the Bill of Rights was heaved overboard. The American people, North and South, went into war as citizens of their respective states, they came out subjects of the United States. And what they thus lost they have never got back.”

The statements I have quoted by H.L. Mencken are from his review of the book “Lincoln: The Man” by Edgar Lee Masters, New York Herald Tribune, “Books,” Feb. 8, 1931.

Aaron Brown states, “Many people disliked Lincoln because of his support of freedom for people of African descent.” But what kind of freedom did Lincoln advocate for people of African descent? Throughout his presidency, he tried to persuade them to return to Africa.

David R. Prichard, Corvallis

Why no outcry over caustic woodsmoke?

Every year for a few weeks around August, farmers in the Willamette Valley burn some of their fields, creating clouds of smoke.

These farmers are trying to make a living, producing crops important to the economy of the Willamette Valley.

And the state government and valley residents cry out “Our health! Our lungs!”

A variety of regulations and laws are in place controlling when a burn can occur, how much can be burned, type of burning. Farmers struggle, knowing that some crops do best with burning.

Then, every year around October, house chimneys start puffing smoke. This smoke comes out 24 hours a day until April, May or even June. No one cries out “Our health! Our lungs! Our stinging eyes!” And this smoke is right next door, or a block away. For months!

In Benton County, there are no laws or regulations to control when woodstoves or fireplaces can be used; to limit what people burn in their stoves and fireplaces or efficiency, maintenance, etc. of woodstoves. The only “control” is the occasional stagnant air alert, which many don’t heed.

In Corvallis, chimney smoke clouds streets, impairs visibility, invades homes, and impacts outdoor activities — every day for six months!

I’m crying out. My health! My lungs! My stinging eyes!

Joy Linn, Corvallis