Posted: Thursday, February 2, 2006 12:00 am
I am writing to voice my ever-growing concern about the military in public schools. I think the military's presence in schools sends a very bad message to youth. It shows that it is OK to not further your education because the military will take you as long as you are ready to sign your rights over. Without an education, you won't know any better, and children don't.
I also do not like being harassed on the phone by them. The schools give out personal information to the military so they can try one more time to convince you to join. I have had to hang up on more than one because they won't take no for an answer. What they tell the students is misleading and, for the most part, false. Bribing students by saying they will pay for college is wrong, and I think it should stop.
Heather Wild
Corvallis
Oppose unwise salvage logging
Proponents of HR4200 and SB2079, currently under debate, exhibit blatant disregard for the abundance of published research indicating that burned forests recover best - and improve future fire resistance - when left alone. They turn an unstoppable natural process into a convenient excuse to auction off taxpayer property.
Even the oft-compelling research supporting post-burn logging fails to adequately address its unavoidable damage to watersheds and the habitats of threatened and endangered species.
A forest is in its most precarious condition right after a burn. Pushing rigs and machinery into the wound adds verifiable insult to injury. There is absolutely no way to harvest salvageable timber with the delicacy and holistic perspective that such a recovering ecosystem demands.
And like many forestry bills before it, this one again threatens my right as an Oregonian and avid forest user to participate in major decisions affecting my forests and their permanent future.
Please write our legislators to oppose these bills.
Joshua Hough
Corvallis
Profs right to quiz salvage study
The public flap over a brief report from the Oregon State University College of Forestry on seedlings and wood on the ground following salvage logging in the Biscuit fire area is unfortunate. Authors' interpretations of the numbers reported are so inaccurate that experienced scientists sought clarification.
Studies such as this are needed, but results should be considered in appropriate context of the ecosystems and forest management applied. The critics respectfully requested that publication be delayed until clarification was made, or that criticisms that should have surfaced in a truly rigorous scientific review be put alongside the report.
This unusual request was not an attempt at censorship nor an attack on academic freedom. It was a call for thorough research and careful writing.
The report authors apparently failed to consult one of their own co-investigators in the U. S. Forest Service or any of the distinguished College of Forestry scientists just down the hall who could have counseled comprehensive consideration of the results.
I am proud of my critical colleagues for insisting on rigor, however unpopular that may seem to some. They seek scientific thoroughness and clarity, not publicity.
Jim Boyle
Corvallis
Focus on the
born children
I saw a sign beside several crosses in the yard of a church here in Corvallis. The sign read, "In weeping memorial for the 45 million children aborted since 1973." How sad when any life is lost! And yet I wonder if this expression of grief is being disproportionately focused on aborted embryos and fetuses while we forget that 20 children die from malnutrition every minute! Do the math on this statistic, and you will find a staggering number of children lost due to starvation!
In weeping memorial to these children!
I don't know the statistics on how many children are abused by parents who do not have the skills and emotional maturity to provide a healthy family environment. But research shows that more often than not abused children will grow up to be either abusers themselves or continue to be a victim of abuse as adults.
In weeping memorial to this loss of human potential and to this cycle of perpetuation!
So it would seem that our caring concern could be better spent on helping families with living children to be able to afford to feed and clothe them and to provide a healthy atmosphere so that their children can grow up able to care for their own children in a healthy way.
Every child deserves to be loved and cared for by loving, capable adults.
Maya Durie
Corvallis
Nuclear energy still too risky
I was unable to attend the Oregon State University presentation about nuclear energy and want to thank the newspaper for a well-written article about it (Feb. 1, "Expert: Reuse nuclear waste").
I find it difficult to comprehend how learned people can rather matter-of-factly accept the notion of placing the most toxic substance known to mankind at the heart of our energy generation needs, especially when all it will do immediately is boil water.
It's the long term - 10,000 years - that will be necessary to keep this substance from the living environment that causes me concern.
France has condemned future generations to unrelenting monitoring of this poison far beyond the time span of recorded history. Which would be fine, I suppose, if civilization continuously progresses. However, archeologists continue to confirm the rise and fall of civilizations. It's more than wishful thinking to believe that pattern will change. Nuclear energy: even if we can, I doubt that we should. Solar power and hydrogen offer similar technological challenges - without nearly the catastrophic risks.
Terry Moore
Corvallis
Police shooting video a wake-up
Monday morning's national news revealed another typical case of police brutality. The policeman's anger was out of control. Many of his obscene orders had to be "bleeped" for decency. He had his victim on the ground, and on his back.
The young man was saying things like "I am on your side" and "OK, I won't move … I'm not moving." His tone was gentle and courteous. The fierce policeman then shot him several times, point-blank, right into the chest! You can see the whole thing on video on the Web. Find it!
This young man has not been charged with any crime. They did not report what the policeman was accusing him of. It will not be acceptable to me if the police board finds this shooting was justified. Wake up to this fact fellow citizens: We have a big problem with police shootings and brutality. People are routinely shot to death, with a board finding it justified.
I urge you to get involved in this. Write our government officials and express your outrage! We shouldn't hire bullies for this job, and we must demand justice!
John Becker
Corvallis
(Editor's note: A U.S. Air Force policeman who just returned from Iraq was shot several times by a sheriff's deputy in Chino, Calif., late Sunday after a 100-mph chase. He was a passenger in the stopped car. Senior Airman Elio Carrion, 21, was listed in good condition at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton. He had been shot three times in the chest, ribs and leg. State and federal investigators are reviewing the case.)
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