Measure 49. It appears to me, that a majority of the people in favor of 49 and opposed to adequate compensation to property owners for lost value due to government intervention, do not really have anything to lose. They merely want to protect their "view" or some similar concept of their aesthetics at the expense of the "other guy," who has acquired assets. Measure 37 isn't broken yet; let's not "fix" it.

Measure 50. Oregon Department. of Health states "18 Oregonians die every day from lung cancer." That's 6,570 people per year. If each of these people smoked one pack of cigarettes per day and the tax is $1 a pack, the state loses $2,398,500 per year. In order to fund measure 50 then, aren't they going to have to induce 6,570 more people to start smoking each year? Inserting a single-product tax in our constitution may punish those nasty smokers but probably won't fund the health program. It would not cost me a penny, but I don't think it's a good idea.

Ross Hall

Corvallis

Don't let tobacco companies snuff Measure 50's approval

Tobacco corporations have contributed more than $10 million to defeat Oregon Measure 50, a proposed increase in Oregon cigarette taxes to help fund medical care for uninsured children.

Tobacco is an addictive health-compromising product and tobacco corporations are legal drug pushers who earn huge profits from selling this addictive substance.

Cigarette smoking compromises not only the health of the user, but also of the innocent bystanders exposed to tobacco smoke-polluted air.

A better way to defeat the measure would be for tobacco corporations to voluntarily create free public health care clinics in the state, something viable on a initial budget of $10 million.

Given the unlikely adoption of my idea, I'd prefer to see an increase in the direct tax on the tobacco corporations that are allowed to sell their addictive wares in our state, rather than on individual substance abusers.

Lisa Wells

Corvallis

2007 Fall Festival was a fun gathering in the right venue

Linda De Fleur's Oct. 15 letter titled "Move Fall Festival to a roomier venue" bothers me.

First, Ms. De Fleur says she has not attended the festival " … in years," so how does she know it is so overcrowded?

Second, I attended both days, spent several hours each day this year and found the crowd to be easy to manage.

I was able to stop at many art displays and seldom had to wait to view the work. I usually had the attention of the artist within a few minutes.

Third, I took advantage of the park-and-ride (which took only a few minutes), and it was totally stressless.

Finally, about half the time I spent there, I was volunteering, sitting in booths while the artist took a break. I found that the visitors were happy and having a good time while talking about the festival. (I didn't know much about the booth's art, and I needed something to get the visitors' attention, so I asked them how they were enjoying themselves.)

I did find the food booth lines crowded, but that was due to the small number of booths, not the large crowd.

I hope that Ms. De Fleur will attend next year and see for herself what a wonderful event this is.

Chuck Leland

Philomath

Christians are entitled to freedom of speech, too

The pro-gay/lesbian/bisexual and transgender community is nothing short of astonishing.

A letter published a few weeks ago claimed that Jesus never spoke a word regarding homosexuality. Charles Nelson's Oct. 5 letter, mistakenly believing that the initial letter was an honest effort to open a public dialog, responded to address the subject.

The result was Tom Johnson's Oct. 15 letter, in which he first states that letters that regard the Bible only belong in the "Religion section that is printed every Saturday." It is ironic that Tom conveniently did not object to the first letter that started the exchange.

Second, Tom states that some "Christians have hijacked our public policies."

Wow! If Christians exercise their Constitution-given right of voting freely - as all other country-loving Americans can - they are guilty of hijacking public policies. We must come to the conclusion that the only chance America has is revoking the voting rights of all Christians - or at least Christians who disagree with Tom Johnson's point of view.

Over the past several months, letter-writers have portrayed Jesus as a drug user and drug dealer. Christians have been referred to as a disease, liars and not capable of serving as public servants.

Corvallis citizens take pride in making a solid commitment to be tolerant to all segments of our community. But obviously some in Corvallis have a short list of selected groups that should not be tolerated.

Mark D. Lilley

Corvallis

For many, health costs drain financial earnings, savings

Joe Smith, quoted in the Oct. 13 article, "Study: Wages won't cover basics," says "As it turns out, health care is one of the things that are driving up the living wage … For a lot of folks, it's keeping them from moving forward."

We need to reduce the impact of health- care costs on the living-wage equation.

Millions of organized workers have known this for a long time. It's encouraging to see this knowledge spreading among the remaining portions of a powerful voting bloc - America's workforce. Organized workers have seen the cost of health care eat up greater and greater portions of wage and benefit talks for decades.

The Archimedes Movement is helping to find the path towards a better health care system, and made a significant contribution in the last session of the Oregon Legislature through the Bates-Westlund health care reform bill. But that act alone will only get us part way to a solution.

Look around for someone who is exactly like you - through such a futile search you can see why your help is so critically needed to shape a health care system that meets everyone's needs.

Robert G. Gourley

Corvallis

Myth: Social Security in danger of bankruptcy

Re: the statement in the Oct. 16 article, "First Baby Boomers file for Social Security," "The trust fund will go broke in 2041":

The trust fund is not Social Security; it is a trust fund paid for by the Baby Boomers for their own retirement. It should run out of money about the time most Baby Boomers will have died. Social Security can continue to pay as you go forever.

Re: " … some combination of benefit cuts and tax increases will be needed." Just remember these are your taxes and your benefits. For every dollar you "save" in "taxes," you would cut your own benefits by four dollars.

Re: " … entitlement programs make up half of all federal spending.."

Social Security is not "federal spending." Social Security is your money saved out of your paycheck and given back to you when you need it. Saying it makes up half of federal spending is complaining that you pay more for groceries than for your share of nuclear submarines.

The reason there are "political difficulties" is that most people know that Social Security is good for them. If they are going to live longer than their grandparents, it will cost a little more. The additional cost amounts to a one dollar per week raise in the tax each year from 2016 to 2036 for workers who will be getting a $10 per week raise in pay each year. The politicians would rather keep that money for themselves.

Social Security is not the problem. If there is a problem, it is health-care costs.

Dale Coberly

Corvallis