Watch where temperature is taken

George Taylor’s discussion of the weather data from the Hyslop site resulted from earlier history I saw developing.

One day the Gazette-Times told of a minimum temperature about 15 degrees Fahrenheit, whereas the radio station at the Marys River bridge into Avery Park reported much colder, a “minus” reading, which agreed with home thermometers of some readers. Inquiring about locations, I learned the the “official” minimum came from the shelter atop the steam-heated agricultural building on campus. Moreover, the professor moved the instruments to the greenhouses to the west in the summers when he worked there. What poor practice!

I appealed to the agricultural dean upon learning of the imminent retirement of the professor responsible. I suggested a site near the KOAC towers if possible. The compromise site at Hyslop got selected, and Wheeler Calhoun’s data got quoted daily in the Gazette-Times.

In a summer meeting at Pullman, Wash., a German professor from the University of Washington in Seattle told of his study of the records from the central Washington courthouse lawn, which appeared to reveal a cooling trend over many years. En route to the meeting he examined the site. He concluded his report by telling how the instrument shelter stood unmoved with a lone tree south of it having grown taller and wider, casting a mid-day shadow ever larger as the years passed. We all laughed as he smiled at his discovery of the cause for apparent “climate change.”

Fred W. Decker, Corvallis

Cannabis, medicine and privacy

Hasso Hering has penned an excellent editorial, “Medical pot law needs a fix” (Sunday, June 15). Throughout the years Hering has been a stable voice on an issue that too often gets lowered to the level of hysterics.

Oregon now has nearly 3,000 doctors who have signed recommendations for patients to legally utilize cannabis (marijuana) as medicine. Unfortunately pot’s critics too often have a voice more powerful than the message of criticism they spew. Kevin Mannix and many in Oregon’s law enforcement community condemn the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP), yet their criticism is based not on fact or science but on perpetuation of the Reefer Madness myth.

For instance, the U.S. government has known since 1974 that cannabis has anti-cancer properties, yet that study was buried. Continuing research (usually in foreign nations) shows pot effective for many medical conditions as an effective tool in reducing the need for (and physiologic harms from) pharmaceutical drugs. Pot is one of the oldest substances in humanity’s pharmacopoeia, with no known fatal dosage (or fatality).

Oregonians should continue to support patients’ access to cannabis and protect our most basic rights of privacy. There is nothing more personal than an individual’s health care and it should remain a private matter between them and their doctor.

Allan Erickson, Eugene

Marijuana laws based on fiction

It is amazing how ridiculous lies, propaganda and political opportunism still affect attitudes about marijuana. The pot laws were passed based on the most absurd racist fictions:

“Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men’s shadows and look at a white woman twice.” (Hearst newspapers nationwide, 1934.)

“There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana can cause white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.”

“Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality and death.”

“[Smoking] one [marihuana] cigarette might develop a homicidal mania, probably to kill his brother.” (See U.S. Government Propaganda To Outlaw Marijuana — http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/taxact/t3.htm.)

Not one of these claims meets the standards of modern science, medicine or social knowledge. Indeed these Reefer Madness claims are generally rejected by the public. People are denied medical care, jobs are lost and yes, people are being jailed because of these odious lies. Nevertheless, legislators refuse to set the record straight by repealing policies that harm the public far more than any amount of marijuana use could ever do.

The absurdity of employment policies is that the victim of a pot law does not need to be under the influence of the drug to be fired. Merely using the drug off work can be detected for days or weeks. No impairment of any kind is needed.

Ralph Givens, Daly City, Calif.

Why LNG is the wrong way to go

The Sunday paper published an editorial on June 1 titled “On gas, whom do you trust?” Hasso Hering, executive editor, began with this statement: “When it comes to predictions about the availability and price of natural gas, who is more believable, the Oregon Department of Energy and the governor’s office, where nobody is responsible for producing or selling a single watt or therm, or the gas company, which not only has to make sure there’s a supply but also has to keep its customers reasonably content?”

He proceeds to parrot NW Natural’s arguments, suggesting that it is unbiased since it “passes on the price of wholesale gas but does not profit from it under its regulated rates.”

NW Natural is hardly a disinterested observer, as Mr. Hering would have us believe. He fails to acknowledge that an LNG terminal along the Columbia River could boost the company’s lucrative gas storage business, and that it also has a substantial financial interest in the pipelines.

LNG would increase our dependency on foreign fossil fuels and undermine efforts to address global warming and promote conservation and renewable alternatives. While Oregon residents try to figure out how they can cut our carbon emissions and become more sustainable, the Feds are supporting proposals for more polluting, imported fossil fuels, locking us into these disastrous decisions for years to come.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), in approving an LNG proposal in the mouth of the Columbia, said that it would not address whether Oregon needs the gas, nor would it address the issue of safest siting locations. On the contrary, FERC stated that it would let the market determine both need and location, thus basing these decisions only on profitability and corporate greed.

A critical debate over states’ rights has been set off by the LNG proposals, which pits the clean energy, global warming and land use policies of Oregon against the federal government. Senator Wyden recently introduced legislation that would modify the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to give the states rather than the federal government the right to site LNG terminals. Obama, Clinton and Smith are among the cosponsors of this legislation.

I encourage everyone who cares about global warming and the energy future of our state to join Secretary of State Bill Bradbury in a forum on LNG at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2945 N.W. Circle Blvd., in Corvallis on July 8 at 6:30 p.m. The impacts of LNG on Oregon’s climate, environment, economy, and quality of life, as well how the state can develop clean energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions will be addressed.

Tara Puckett, Corvallis

Medical marijuana makes me mad

I just go blind with rage whenever I hear the term “medical marijuana.”

(Someone I know) has been smoking pot since he was 16 and a student at Albany Union High School. He graduated to pills and cocaine. He finally was able to get himself somewhat clean. I say somewhat, because he started drinking to replace the drugs. Eventually, he and his girlfriend shopped around and found a doctor who would give them a so-called “medical marijuana” card.

Now they cultivate, and grow the most potent plants they can, and smoke dope all day long, when home. He claims he needs this for his so called “back pain.”

I’m sorry, but I have been suffering back pain since 1967, and have had two surgeries that left me with nerve damage to my legs and now severe arthritis to my low back. I am in constant pain, and I do not need the use of pain pills or “medical marijuana” to function.

I strongly feel that there are many people abusing this law just to be able to get legal drugs.

Doug Wulf, Matlock, Wash.

For oil price, blame administration

I agree with John Brenan’s June 15 letter, “Oil, the environment and Democrats,” that oil price increases cannot be completely blamed on the Democrats being environmentally conscious. However, his fallacious reasoning wrongly exonerates the Republicans from any culpability.

It has been the war in Iraq (which was all about oil in the first place), its concomitant devaluation of the dollar, and multiple other failed policies of the Bush administration and the Republican-controlled Congress prior to 2007, as well as world economic conditions, that have had the largest impact on the price of oil.

The true cost of oil must factor in these elements as well as the loss of life engendered by the misbegotten and poorly executed Iraq war. These causative agents can only be laid at the administration’s doorstep. The short-term memory loss Republicans exhibit in this regard is incredible.

Let us hope that few voters, future administrations, or Congresses share this affliction

Martin R. Mulford, Corvallis

Let’s guard against any impairment

It is good to see folks looking for alternatives to random drug testing for employment and the right to fire employees, or deny employment to otherwise qualified employees/applicants simply because they are legally consuming cannabis to mitigate symptoms which would otherwise prevent them from working at all.

In which case taxpayers would be paying the bills rather than the cannabis patients paying their own way.

Many cannabis patients prefer to pay their own way. Just like everyone else.

The idea of limiting testing to cause-

related instances rather than random testing sounds good. Do you mean that it would no longer be required pre-employment or randomly after being hired, and would only be required if there were an accident or an incident to cause suspicion of impairment? By law?

How would this work with the federal drug-free workplace requirements with which many companies are forced to comply? How would this prevent accidents?

Better, in my opinion, would be to recognize that there are all kinds of reasons people make mistakes and have accidents on the job. Is medical cannabis in the top 10? The USAF has impairment testing for pilots. They have to pass every time before they are allowed fly.

No matter what the cause, sleep deprived parents, too much caffeine, a hangover, worry about your kid in a war, we need to know there is a way to be sure we are all safe, especially on the job and on the road.

We all need our family members to come home safe at the end of each day.

Let’s work together to address and prevent any form of impairment from compromising workplace safety.

Kristen Gustafson, Portland

Make pot a regular prescription

The real answer to this issue is to reschedule medical marijuana so that a doctor can properly prescribe it. This would then allow for the control and supply of MMJ rather than dealing in these grey areas.

As for the employer, the current marijuana testing methods need to be reviewed. Current testing can show traces of the drug for up to six months after exposure. The effect of the drug only lasts for 1 to 4 hours depending on strength and dosage. In short there is no current test used generally by private employers that can detect if a person is “under the influence” of marijuana. This should be a primary concern that is addressed by the private business sector and most certainly those big testing companies that make all the money from them (but have little interest in this area of development).

Perhaps the private sector can adopt what our military has learned about the value of “impairment testing” over a simple chemical analysis of the last six months of life to quantify if a person is under the influence of marijuana or in fact “impaired.”

Mike Mullins, Disability Access Consultants,Happy Valley

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