But where was the news?

I loved your March 23 coverage —local kids hunt for eggs at Elks Lodge — but where’s the coverage of the demonstration by more than 400 local residents against the continuing occupation of Iraq? Are you people printing any news at all?

Terry Rossiter, Corvallis

Our debt is not the fault of aged

It is unfortunate that David Broder cites David Walker and by extension Peter Peterson on the growing debt.

While the debt may be a problem, it is not “largely due to the aging of the baby boomers and the rising health care costs.” Retirement and medical care the people will pay for as they need them, because they need them. The current debt is almost entirely due to the rising cost of funding the defense department without raising the taxes to pay for it.

I heard Walker talk in Portland. His talk was not the talk of reason, but the talk of scare. And Peterson is the godfather of the great Social Security scare story.

For anyone who can read numbers, who takes the time to really read the Trustees Report, the cost of balancing the books on Social Security amounts to a dollar a week raise in the payroll tax each year, during the same time the average wage will be rising ten dollars per week each year. The reason for the raise will be that we will be living longer, spending a larger percentage of our lives in retirement than we do now.

In the meanwhile, Social Security has nothing to do with the debt. Social Security has been lending money to the government. Social Security is not “government spending.” It is you saving your own money for your own retirement, guaranteed by the government against inflation and other losses by the magic of pay as you go with wage indexing.

The same will be true of Medicare. If we want the medical care that will give us longer lives, we will need to pay for it. Whether we pay through Medicare taxes or through private insurance, it will be we who pay for it, not “the government.” And we who get the benefit, not “the government.” There is good reason to believe that Medicare will be a lot cheaper than private insurance.

Walker and Peterson want to get their hands on that money, your money, to help them make billions on Wall Street, and to pay for Bush’s endless war.

For more, Google Angry Bear Coberly Social Security.

Dale Coberly, Corvallis

State’s charges are reasonable

Regarding the article about the cost of getting information related to a police incident (March 16):

Within the last three weeks I requested and received of the state of Oregon archivist a copy of the legislative committee minutes of a 1989 House bill, including exhibits, totaling 99 pages.

I received these within three to four business days for total sum of $79.50, which included postage. Why should we expect to pay more here in Benton County for information that relates to us personally?

Patty Barker, Corvallis

Don’t blame just a single cause

In your Viewpoint for March 23, “Put the blame on ‘small’ users,” you say that “He is the cause of the entire mess.”

I agree that we are all responsible for our actions and we should all face the consequence, and I put the emphasis on all. It is all too convenient to select one group and pin the final blame on them.

When we separate ourselves from our fellow citizens and blame a select group, it becomes all too easy to walk away and not address the real root cause.

Business is just a small microcosm of society. Having been a quality system auditor for a big company, I can tell you that solving problems is not as easy as blaming the obvious cause. If you have a failure on a production line you just don’t fire the person who made the mistake; you find out why. It could be bad training, procedures, equipment, inspection, hiring practices, discipline, misinterpreted instructions, management, resources, team leadership, etc.

Finding the root cause of problems is critical to any successful enterprise. Society is no different, it is just more complex, and that is why we pay all those taxes and have all those large government organizations, universities and think tanks to find the root causes to our common problems and tell us how to fix them. As soon as we isolate a small group and blame them for our problems, we revert to something like primitive tribal thinking.

Blaming the victims for the cause is all too easy, and not fitting for a fine newspaper.

David Anderer, Albany

Goodbye, American dream

In reference to the March 23 article on Charlie Fischer’s denial by the Benton County Planning Commission, after reading about Charlie’s plight, anyone considering buying land in Benton County will realize they are taking a huge risk.

Charlie bought “his” acreage in good faith many years ago — faith in the American dream of home ownership with the resulting rights and privileges; faith in his ability to some day subdivide and sell part or all of his property if he wished; faith in the local government to govern land use in a responsible, reasonable manner. Land in Benton County was considered a good investment. No more, it seems.

Although Charlie has sunk $67,000 into preparing his land for subdividing, the Benton County Planning Department says this is not enough. Does that mean that only very wealthy landowners can afford to convince the local government officials that they are vested adequately in “their” property? Is it only those who jump through enough bureaucratic hoops?

We have to question the basis for the department’s decision. The county planners base their required vesting on the median house price for each of the lots, but Charlie never planned to build houses. Why would he? He’s neither a building contractor nor a property developer.

Surely the Planning Department will use some common sense to reconsider this appeal. If not, many landowners may kiss the American dream of home ownership goodbye.

Carolyn Johnson, Corvallis

The case for a new skating rink

Rene Chatneuf (Letters, March 23) has a point in her plea to “Please replace Lebanon rink.” Perhaps skate rinks should come under the heading of a county park or city-owned parks like our community pools and soccer fields.

We’ve traveled to Lebanon for the past two years for our son to play roller hockey at the Lebanon rink because the Corvallis Sports Park here in town closed their doors to hockey.

Teams from Dallas, Albany, Salem and Eugene would come here for hockey, but no longer. I suggest a covered rink — could be open-air; — for skating, hockey and walking laps in those rainy winter months.

Recreation — isn’t that what our mayor mentioned in his campaign?

Nanette Armstrong, Corvallis

Would Tibet be worth a boycott?

When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, President Jimmy Carter lead the boycott of the Moscow Olympics. As China cracks down on the Tibetan independence movement, does George Bush have the courage to lead the boycott of the Beijing Olympics?

Apparently independence is good enough for Kosovo but not for Tibet.

James Emanuel, Corvallis

Be wary of youthful promises

My first experience with elections and the political process that goes with them was in 1962. It was my candidacy for student body president at Albany Union High School. I was a farm kid, typical middle- class student from the rural area running against a city candidate, and a person who was much more experienced in the social experiences of politics. I knew I had the farm vote, and the votes of those considered outside the social elite of the greater Albany schools.

My opponent recruited another student, one out of the “mainstream” to run, making it a three way race. This move split the vote block that I had. It was a smart move.

There were no debates, just a short speech before the assembled student body. My speech was about being proud of who we were (Bulldogs), and a pride in our accomplishments, academically, and as a part of the future of not only the school, but our community.

My opponent made promises, and the one I recall most specifically was that he would work to ensure that the Albany Union High School would have a smoking lounge for the students.

He split the voting block, made promises that were pie in the sky and never came to fruition, but he was elected just the same.

It taught me to be wary of those who talk of change and make promises that they do not have the power or authority to deliver. It taught me that the promises, if delivered, would be paid for not by the candidate, but the hard-working people of the community who could not afford all the amenities, especially those of impetuous youth.

Randy Martinak, Albany