Vehicles or bicycles: Which is more damaging?

In an age of global warming and looming energy scarcity, Jolene Ballentine admits in her Dec. 12 letter that she drives her motor vehicle 50 miles "from Alsea to Corvallis and back five days a week."

She goes on to complain about the bicyclists who get in her way or don't ride in a manner that she likes.

I suggest that Ms. Ballentine examine her own behavior in traffic before publicly criticizing those who tread lightly on the Willamette Valley.

At a minimum, she drives 13,000 miles per year. At 20 miles per gallon, her car would burn 650 gallons of gasoline every year - thereby dumping 6.3 tons of carbon dioxide and a litany of other combustion products into the sewer that we breathe.

Motorists also pollute waterways with oil and rubber, and their racket drowns out nature or the serenity of silence.

But pollution is just part of the story, as the plight of (severely injured food server) Julia Penn Delacruz reminds us.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 70,000 pedestrians were injured in traffic crashes last year - while 53,800 pedestrians and 8,000 bicyclists were killed from 1997 to 2007.

In contrast, 57,000 U.S. soldiers were killed in the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1974.

Even when motorists are careful, the threat of their high-speed behavior intimidates most people into conformity with the car culture, thereby exacerbating its many problems.

Ms. Ballentine concludes by hoping that "someday the time will return when people understand they are accountable for their own choices."

Indeed.

Mark Knapp, Corvallis

Beware those subversive sustainability advocates

I agree wholeheartedly with the Green Out Group of Benton Co. from White City, Oregon.

It is our responsibility as citizens of Corvallis to fight the ultra-left, dictatorial mandates of the Corvallis Sustainability Committee. I think that these people and their so called "green" goals are just a cover for promoting atheistic, communist agendas and other subversive goals like supporting local farmers.

It is bad enough that we have nothing but liberal college professors spouting their liberal agendas of peace, tolerance and respect for the Earth and her resources.

If we allow the CSC to push their goals on our city, the next step will be making our school children eat organic foods instead of good, satisfying processed food.

Our whole economy could suffer if we don't transport foods long distances and fill the landfills with trash.

Think of all the multinational, agricultural conglomerates and garbage haulers that might lose their market shares and profitability. This is creeping socialism and if we can bailout the Wall St. investment banks then we can sure take the time to protect companies such as ADM, Waste Management, Republic Allied Waste, Kellogg and Kraft (my fav is the boxed Mac and Cheese) from redistributing the wealth to a select few local businesses and farmers.

I urge you to show up on Monday and demonstrate your opposition to protecting our planet for future generations and teaching our children how to live sustainably.

Fred Hughes, Corvallis

Were eggshells an attack by sore election losers?

Every night I park my car in the street alongside my apartment building in northwest Corvallis. Sunday I approached my car and found a surprise waiting for me: Rotten eggshells were plastered all over my rear window. The main concentration of egg material was directly positioned over the Barack Obama '08 sticker I had taped up on the window.

So, I swallowed my pride and wiped the egg material off my car in broad daylight, hoping that whoever did this could watch me from their windows and get their laughs. I wanted to notify the public of this incident because, quite frankly, I thought Corvallis was better than this.

I am not too shaken by this event, although highly disappointed. I can't help but think that if John McCain had won the election, I may have been sent into some sort of hopeless depression, but I never would have reached such a low as to egg somebody's political bumper sticker attached to their own personal property.

Yes, I hope the people who did this got their laughs. But remember, it was Obama who won the election. So who's really laughing now? Me.

Kirsten Studley, Corvallis

Some thoughts on the shoe-tossing incident

OK, one of the things one can do at a press conference when a battery of reporters fire questions or footwear at you is to either (lame) duck or turn the other cheek. Also, if the shoes don't fit, you must toss them back (with apologies to Johnnie Cochran.

I also wonder: Might not one sock in the face be better than two shoes at a Bush? Surely this journalist was not a goodie-goodie two shoes. (Or, as one shoe said to the other, "I missed you.")

Well, in the (paraphrased) words of the late Ed Sullivan, "That's shoe business, folks."

Finally, a bit of advice: When you are an annoying lame duck, avoid the limelight. It only makes you an easy target.

Leo de Vogel, Corvallis