On the Whiteside building, athletic coaches' pay scales, civil unions, MSRA and Barak Obama

No-growth attitude no help to Whiteside

Since moving to Corvallis five years ago, I continue to be amazed at the no-growth, anti-business attitude of local government and activists.

The Whiteside Theatre is just one more example of the lunacy that has impacted or delayed Corvallis High School, Home Depot, Ninth Street retail development and multiple other projects in the city.

It is highly unlikely Susan Morre and her "Friends of the Whiteside" group will ever present any economically viable plan for the theater. (In case they haven't noticed, theaters aren't all that profitable these days.)

So instead of a more vibrant downtown with revenue-generating, tax-paying businesses, the city will be left with a dilapidated piece of history that eventually will have to be destroyed.

Greg Campbell

Corvallis

Invest in education rather than athletics

I read on Jan. 3 that the University of Oregon's plans to fund the tuition for the entering freshman class is going to cost, after the federal Pell grants and parental contributions, about $500,000.

This seems a bargain to me. If the UO doesn't know where to find the money, I can suggest a place.

Let's fire the head football coach, or at least some of the dozens of athletic coaches.

At many institutions the head coach is paid (you note I do not say "earns") more than the president of the university; for example, at Oregon State.

In this way UO will be able to fund the next two freshman classes in just one year.

Shifting the emphasis from being institutions of higher athletics to being ones of higher education at all the Oregon universities would be good for the state and the nation.

After all, Harvard is not known for its athletics; it is known for the intellectual prowess and subsequent success of its graduates. It is high time to end the obscenity of remunerating athletic coaches as if they were on some higher plane than the rest of the university staff and reinvest in the real reason for the existence of universities, scholarship.

Martin R. Mulford

Corvallis

Hope, determination grow out of sadness

The Jan. 2 candlelight vigil in support of same-sex couples brought people together both gay and straight. Even as the rain drops fell, hope and determination grew out of sadness for several hundred people.

All these people recognize that love and commitment are not just for straight couples.

For those people who are against same-sex partnerships, please try and think what would it be like for you if you could not visit your partner/spouse in the hospital or be assured of raising your children if something happened to the other parent.

The list goes on and on of injustices. We just want equality and this new same-sex partnership does not give us all the rights of marriage.

Why do you deserve it and we don't? We are not going away and love between same-sex couples will not go away either.

Let's all keep working toward a world where respect, understanding of our differences and equality are for all people are a reality.

Susan Elbinger

Corvallis

Take a good look at Whiteside west wall

My family has owned property downtown one block west of the Whiteside since 1915.

I grew up going to the Whiteside.

Have you ever really looked at the west wall of the theater?

I have always considered that wall one of the great eyesores in town.

Look at the Reed Opera House in Salem for what might have been.

Robert D. Corl Jr.

Albany

Corvallis can learn more about MRSA

"Quit freaking out about deadly illness," wrote Susan Benjamin, from West Virginia, in a commentary printed in the Jan. 7 Gazette-Times.

She thinks people are hysterical about imagined dangers of MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus.)

Ms. Benjamin had never heard of this bacterium, which, since 2005, has killed more Americans than AIDS (as reported in the

G-T on Dec. 6).

This organism was once confined to hospitals and clinics, but has entered the general population, and can be found in soil samples.

Corvallis will soon have an opportunity to learn much more about this highly contagious, antibiotic-resistant bacterium. Dr. David Beardon will speak about a new drug for MRSA at the OSU Alumni Association's Academy for Life-long Learning meeting at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, May 22, at the First Congregational Church.

I agree with Ms. Benjamin that fear, in general, is an unhealthy attitude.

FDR famously said "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." Wasn't fear the cause of the Cold War? The United States and the U.S.S.R. built over 10,000 nuclear warheads apiece because of mutual fear.

We started two stupid wars - Vietnam and Iraq - because of fear, but I digress.

A prudent fear of a real danger such as MRSA inspires serious people like Dr. Beardon to act wisely.

Ron Coffey

Corvallis

Obama is bringing change, optimism

For some reason I could not identify, I have felt very optimistic about the new year. I felt that change was in the air, and that the dark cloud that has hung over our country for the past five years was about to lift.

On the evening of the Iowa caucuses, I knew why. The stirring speech of Barak Obama after his clear victory in Iowa moved me to tears.

In their day I have listened via TV to the Kennedy "Ask not what your country can do for you" speech and the Martin Luther King Jr. "I have a dream" speech.

The Obama "Hope" speech I heard that night was their equal in eloquence and meaningfulness. I think it will mark a similar watershed in the history of our country.

John Wolcott

Corvallis