Students changing city neighborhoods

Susan Shumway has spoken for many of us victims of the deterioration of our neighborhoods ("Neighborhood turns into student ghetto," Letters, June 2).

In 2000 my wife and I bought a new house adjacent to Franklin Square. Ten of the 12 houses in our block were owner occupied.

Three years later most of the houses had been sold as student rentals.

Unfortunately many students have no clue about what it means to be good neighbors.

Partying noise often goes into the wee hours, garbage accumulates in plastic bags, and indoor furniture is dragged onto lawns.

Every student has a car, and parking is allowed on both sides of narrow, older streets.

Our neighborhood had deteriorated dramatically.

Finally, six years after we settled into our new home, we were forced to sell it.

Home owners living in neighborhoods surrounding the university have chosen to live there because these neighborhoods make it easy, often car free, to get events on campus as well as to downtown shops, banks, and restaurants.

A healthy downtown is dependent on easy access to these businesses.

Yet when homeowners are forced by circumstances to move further away from the downtown, they also choose to shop in outlying areas.

To save our older neighborhoods and downtown businesses the city needs to develop regulations making property owners more responsible for what goes on in their rentals.

Jerry Rooney, Corvallis

Park land flooded with herbicide

Those responsible for maintaining Marys River Natural Park have recently flooded its land with Roundup, presumably as part of their wetland habitat restoration project.

In restoring the wetland flora, chemicals were dumped on invasive plants.

However, I beg to ask what of all the insects, birds, amphibians, and mammals that live and feed in the "natural" area?

Are they not part of a habitat restoration? Are they not key components of a natural area? How is a natural area natural if it is so controlled and maintained by humans?

Dubbed "benign" herbicide, glyphosate is described by The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health as a mutagen.

According to Ncap, glyphosate causes genetic damage with human and animal cells in laboratory tests.

The European Union asserts that glyphosate is toxic for aquatic organisms and a danger to the environment.

Roundup consists of many other "inert" ingredients, some more toxic then the "active" ingredient like the surfactant, which is lethal to frogs.

So, what of the western pond turtle and the great blue heron? What of the mallard and the brush rabbit?

What of us, who also drink from the river right beside the sprayed wetland?

The EPA safe water website lists glyphosate's maximum contaminant level in water as 0.7 ppm, not because it is safe at this level but because this is the lowest level that current technology and resources can remove the contaminant.

Think about this next time you sip a glass of city water.

Niya Lee, Corvallis

'Meet a Black Guy' was in poor taste

I was not part of the "Meet a Black Guy" stunt at the Farmers Market on May 31.

I was just a passerby, but now you have included me in your story and published my picture and I have been made a part of this situation.

The main reason I thought it was in poor taste is because it reminded me of drawings and historic movies I have seen of slave auctions in 1700s America.

A white guy standing with a black guy shouting to the crowd that they should come up and have their photo taken with him. A sign on the table to come meet him.

Reminded me a lot of a part of American history of which I am not proud.

Instead of asking me, a white guy, how I felt about it, I wish you would have asked one of my black friends how he or she feels about it.

I continue to hold the opinion that this is in poor taste.

Ronald J. Naasko, Corvallis

Obama's nomination step toward change

As a Latin-American woman, I am delighted that Barack Obama has finally secured the Democratic nomination for President.

I have been disappointed in Hillary Clinton throughout the campaign.

Her tactics in this campaign have demonstrated dishonesty, obstinacy, and closed-mindedness.

We have suffered long enough with that kind of character in our executive branch.

It is time for a change, especially now that we have a marvelous opportunity to achieve positive and meaningful change with the election of Barack Obama.

On the evening of June 3, after Sen. Obama's nomination was assured, Sen. Clinton's speech should have acknowledged this historic event, and should have promoted the urgent need for party unity at that time.

Instead, she chose to focus on herself and her accomplishments, still insisting that she was the strongest candidate. Her words only served to foster more party division.

What a contrast to Sen. Obama's speech. After heartily praising Sen. Clinton, he eloquently inspired us to work together to overcome the critical problems we are facing. At no time did he focus on himself.

I would be delighted to one day see a woman achieve the presidency. But gender and race must not take priority over character, charisma, magnetic connection with diverse U.S. citizens, and sincere compassion for people around the world. Those are traits offered by Barack Obama.

Elizabeth Elder, Corvallis

Oil barons have us over a real barrel

As I see it there is an eerie irony in the situation we are facing today.

Fossil fuel yielded from the remains of a once dominant life form will soon cause the undoing of the present dominant life form.

Consider this, compared to the dinosaurs who roamed the Earth for 125 million years (from the Triassic to the Cretaceous period) the human race has been around for less than a blink of an eye in gelogical time. And the three or four generations it has taken us to deplete the dinosaurs' legacy is but a fraction of that period.

Yet our craving for this elixir has turned us into junkies and the oil barons have us over a barrel.

It is estimated that there are 1 billion cars around the world and feeding and maintaining them will soon exceed the cost of feeding ourselves.

A footnote. The folks insisting on increased drilling off-shore and in the Arctic Preserve have their heads in the sand (presumably looking for oil?).

Aside from the irreparable harm to the environment, the enormous cost of this enterprise would yield but a minimal benefit to the rest of us.

Let us have the audacious hope that an enlightened leadership will free us from the tyranny of Big Oil.

Leo de Vogel, Corvallis

People of Darfur need our help now

The genocide in Darfur has continued on far too long under that watch of the world.

The world sits by while people are being killed and driven from their homes.

The candidates made a statement about their commitment to helping those in Darfur, yet the people there cannot wait for the next president to step into office.

It is great that they are coming together on this issue, but that does not help the issue at the moment.

Those in Darfur need help now and we all must call on President Bush to take action. We have stood by far too long. This is outrageous.

We must also hold each of the candidates for the presidency accountable for their word on trying to bring peace to Darfur.

If you want to call any of the representatives or the White House, call 1-800-genocide and you will be told what the main issues are and be directed to a messaging system.

Yuliya Kostromitina, Corvallis