DeFazio: Protect pensions

I am writing in response to a letter from Mike Downs (Oct. 26) challenging my record on trying to protect pensions for airline workers, specifically United Airlines employees.

Mr. Downs claimed to have not received any responses from me or Oregon's senators on this issue. I can't speak for Senators Wyden and Smith, but according to my records, I sent letters via standard U.S. mail to Mr. Downs regarding airline pensions on Nov. 13, 2003; March 25, 2005; Jan. 19, 2006, and March 6, 2006. And I sent him an e-mail response on April 21, 2006.

In all of these responses, I detailed my multiple efforts to protect the pensions of airline employees, including those at United. I supported an alternative to the pension legislation Mr. Downs mentioned, and I have cosponsored several other bills to protect airline employees' pensions and voted in favor of amendments to do the same.

The alternative I supported would have better protected airline workers' pensions and given airlines up to 20 years to meet their obligations. Unfortunately, Republican leaders at the insistence of the Bush White House would not even allow a vote on this alternative.

The final pension legislation did not treat all airlines the same. I don't think that disparity is appropriate, but I was not in the room when the bill was drafted and it was not amendable. I will support future efforts to equalize the treatment of the airlines to achieve the highest level of protection for workers.

It is scandalous what corporations are doing to their workers by canceling and scaling back pensions for rank and file workers while CEOs make off with multi-million-dollar golden parachutes (even those who drive their companies into the ground financially).

I understand Mr. Downs' frustration. I agree that he should vote against officials who don't take action to protect the pensions of workers. However, my record in fighting to protect the pensions of average workers is long-standing and strong.

Peter DeFazio, U.S. Representative, 4th District of Oregon

Alcohol on the school bus

This is in response to Kimberly Mull (Mailbag, Nov. 1):

First of all, if you were drinking on the bus, first thing in the morning, and you were "so close to death" as you stated, you should probably be in some type of in-

patient alcohol treatment program.

Not only have you caused yourself problems, your actions have also caused serious consequences for another student. Had you not brought alcohol on the bus, you would only be wrecking your own life and not that of others.

As for your education being taken away, brick walls being put up, and your goals and dreams being taken away - you are wrong. Because of your choice to take alcohol on the bus, you now have to find other ways to educate yourself and achieve your dreams, but you can do it. As for your parents, it seems they are only enabling your bad behavior by blaming the counselor, the school system, and allowing you to use the paper as your forum to whine and complain.

You've got a lot to learn about life, young lady. Good luck and God bless you.

Wendy Knofler Keesee, Scio

q

In response to Kimberly Mull's letter to the editor: Wow, I can't understand why you are so upset. Your actions led to you being expelled. The school is offering a basic education for you while you are expelled. As far as you a tutor for geometry, you should be responsible to get your own tutor.

You say you learned your lesson, but what is done is done. Face the music; you yourself are responsible for your own destiny, whether you were expelled or not. I think that is the life lesson you need to learn.

Kelly Becker, Albany

q

Am I supposed to feel badly for Kimberly Mull that the Lebanon School District is not providing more than the minimum the law expects in her situation?

Expulsion is a punishment for extreme circumstances where safety rules and expectations have been broken. We as taxpayers support the educational system, and fund schools that provide a safe learning environment. All we ask is that the students follow a few simple rules, one of which is that they refrain from consuming or possessing alcohol or drugs on school property. That to me seems like a fairly simple rule to follow.

Ms. Mull chose to break that rule, and in the process endangered not only herself but others as well. Her actions warranted a severe consequence, which was expulsion. And taken directly from the Lebanon Schools Web site is: "A principal, after reviewing available information, may recommend to the superintendent that a student be expelled. Expulsion of a student shall not extend beyond one calendar year."

So she should accept the punishment for her actions as part of her learning experience. After all, she can return to school next year, hopefully a little wiser.

Tina French, Tangent

The boy who intervened

I read the story about Sam Brewer's expulsion from Lebanon High School with great disappointment. Through the news media, I am constantly reading about the terrible choices that kids make these days and the great dangers that they are exposed to each day. Today, I read the story of a young man who, when faced with a difficult decision that probably would be judged as "uncool" among his peers, did the right thing.

As the old saying goes, "No good deed goes unpunished."

I wonder how many of the self-righteous adults who have chosen to expel him would have had the courage and integrity to do the same thing that he did in high school. I am not sure that I would have. In fact, I'm sure that I didn't, because I was faced with both drugs and alcohol many times during high school and never once did I take it away from somebody.

I don't know Sam Brewer or his family, but with that kind of integrity and courage, I'm sure I'll be hearing about him in the future.

Shame on you, Superintendent Jim Robinson and the rest of the Lebanon school board. Zero-

tolerance for alcohol does not remove your responsibilities to practice common sense.

R. Edward Merrifield, Albany

Support local law enforcement

I would like to urge everyone in Linn County to support the Linn County Sheriff's Office by extending the levy. I have recently been attending the citizens academy and have been very impressed with the level of professionalism and dedication exhibited by the sheriff's staff.

Considering the cutbacks to the Oregon State Police, it is essential that we maintain our present level of funding for local law enforcement.

Dave Wagner, Sweet Home

Safer? Don't believe it

A little over a month ago, a National Intelligence Estimate was leaked to the press. In short, it suggests the threat to the United States from terrorism has increased due to the war, and fighting this terrorism is now more difficult.

Fortunately, the Bush administration is more optimistic. White House spokesman Peter Watkins said the administration "sharply disagrees" with the National Intelligence Estimate. Just this week, Bush stated he's "pleased with the progress" of the war.

But before I just accepted Bush's view on the war's effect as the most accurate, I decided to see just who compiles the National Intelligence Estimate. It turns out the 16 agencies who came to this consensus opinion (that the Iraq war has made America less secure) are all the members of the Intelligence Community. These include the intelligence organizations of the Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard. Also included is the CIA, the NSA and the FBI.

I can't find even one official intelligence agency who shares the Bush administration's view that this war has made us safer.

Now why would should I trust the Intelligence Community's opinion more than President Bush? I guess I just do.

Wesley Rogers, Albany

Now she's at peace

I have never listened to Rush Limbaugh and never will. My oldest sister was told at 45 years old she had Parkinson's. It took the doctors 10 years before they admitted it, because of her age. She died two years ago at the age of 76. She also had Alzheimer's the last couple of years.

She was never still - some less, some a lot more, day and night, day after day, year after year. She told me years ago, when the day came and she woke up and was not shaking, she would know she had died and gone to be with her Lord and she would not shake any more.

I went to see her for the last time two days before her death. She was not shaking, perfectly still. I hugged her and cried because it was the first time in 34 years. I knew where she was, with God and standing tall, talking and still.

Wanda Farley, Sweet Home

Growth can't go on forever

The editor was dead on in most of his editorial "Save freedom as U.S. grows " of Oct. 17. Our freedom has steadily been declining just in my lifetime and very likely the loss will accelerate as we head for 400 million.

And it's a whole lot more than freedom we are losing as we grow. Our quality of life suffers, our environment suffers, our cost of living goes up, our taxes go up and our standard of living must inevitably go down as more people compete for a limited amount of resources.

Where the editor is wrong is in his assumption, which most people seem to share, that there is nothing practical we can do about population growth. While we will never be able to "absolutely control" our population without further losses of personal freedom, there are many things we can do at the national and local level to attempt to stabilize our population at a sustainable level that will prevent further erosion of our freedoms, our quality of life, standard of living, our environment and ensure that future generations don't inherit a world of chaos and strife.

Space prohibits a full listing of things we could do, but first on the list is to re-evaluate the frequently espoused "grow or die" mentality that seems to come out of every candidate's mouth around election time. Unless you are holding out that your kids will be able to colonize Mars, a more realistic assessment of that mentality is "grow and self-destruct."

There are certain types of growth that we do need. We need to focus on growing our quality of life, reducing our environmental footprint, creating a more sustainable economy and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels.

Who among the proponents of growth is willing to step forward and state that it is sustainable to continue to grow our population and consumption forever? If they are not willing to go that far, then they at least should be willing to to tell us at what point they think we should stabilize our population in order to prevent total loss of personal freedom, destruction of our environment and continued deterioration of our quality of life.

Peter Kenagy, Albany

In support of a judge

I've been asked which candidate will get my vote to fill the open position for judge of the Oregon Supreme Court. After comparing and considering each candidate's experience and qualifications, I have decided to cast my vote for Judge Virginia Linder to sit on Oregon's highest court.

Judge Linder has nine years of experience as a judge of the Oregon Court of Appeals. In this position, she has earned my respect and the respect of some of Oregon's finest former Supreme Court Justices. Her decisions are thoughtful, fair and impartial. I invite you to join me in voting for Judge Virginia Linder for judge of the Oregon Supreme Court.

If you are short on time and would like more information, I suggest you review the Voter's Pamphlet. It provides a good side by side list of the qualifications and experience of each candidate.

Carol Bispham, Albany

Stop the 'dictatorship'

Some of my friends and I have been so busy concentrating on the relative values of the candidates that we failed to see the forest for the trees. Currently, the Republican Party controls both houses of Congress, the presidency and many of our judges in the Supreme Court. Since almost all of the Republicans vote strictly along party lines, what we have then, essentially, is a dictatorship!

To counter this development we need to concentrate on electing as many Democrats as possible to turn our country back to a Republic of the People. I say, forget the personalities, return the Democrats and equalize the field.

Incidentally, it is interesting to note that most of those individuals who criticized Kerry's remark have never seen service in the armed forces nor been on the battlefield.

Allan Jay Silver, Albany

Why such grand amount?

I just recently opened my property tax statement. Inside I found an increase of almost 10 percent in my taxes. Interestingly, the largest part of my property taxes go to the Greater Albany Public Schools, just as with yours. So their "take" increased 10 percent as well. Now, I am being asked to impose an additional tax on myself by voting for the measure which would increase my property taxes on the order of 15 percent.

A $55 million bond measure is being requested to pay in part for new classrooms and a school, and in part for maintenance items that should have been addressed out of the yearly budget. Why is such a grand amount required? Mismanagement.

Today, GAPS receives more money per pupil, inflation-adjusted, than it did during the nirvana that were the days before the evil Measure 5.

I come back to mismanagement. Salaries and benefits have increased out of line with inflation and what the public sector has seen. Less and less has been available to fix plumbing and to patch roofs. More and more nonteaching positions are created and filled, to the point that we now have more non-teaching positions in the system than we do teachers, and that is just counting the certified folk!

I don't denigrate the hard working teachers. They have the hardest job in all this. But the system is not going to be fixed with infusions of more money - unless that money is managed well. It hasn't been and I don't see signs that it will be.

I plan to vote no on the school measure, and yes on Measure 48 - Measure 48 would at least slow the spending, even though an increase is allowed each and every year.

David Harvey, Albany

Support the library

If you're a Sweet Home resident who hasn't yet voted, we urge you to mark your ballot in support of your public library.

The Sweet Home Public Library is one of the things that make Sweet Home a good place to live and to raise children.

This library is entirely funded by a levy that must be renewed by the voters every few years. If voters don't pass the levy, the library will close, as it did for several months just three years ago.

Do you know that nearly 300 children participated in this year's summer reading program at the Sweet Home Public Library? This library is a precious resource. You don't want to lose it.

Linda Ziedrich & May Garland, Co-coordinators Linn Library League, Scio

He meant the president

To everyone who is now up in arms regarding Senator John Kerry's comment - "You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq" - Kerry was referring to one person and one person only: our pampered, not too smart, had others take tests for him while in college, and doesn't seem to have learned critical thinking skills; our current president, George W. Bush.

Kerry would never malign the troops. He knows we have the best and the brightest volunteer soldiers, sailors, Marines and Air Force personnel in the history of our country, serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Don't allow Bush supporters to turn the statement about Bush into a statement about our troops.

By the way, if Kerry had been more direct in his comments and not have attempted subtlety, Bush and his supporters would not have been able to take the words and attempt to use them against Kerry and the Democrats. It's hard to argue with the truth!

Valerie Gill, Lebanon

Three issues, all bad

Three things:

Wow! Now that North Korea has a nuclear bomb, Japan is considering developing one to show N. Korea their muscle. Hey, Bush has his first-strike war, so that lets the rest of the world know they can attack a country without being attacked first.

I read that Republicans pushed through legislation recently requiring poor people without driver's licenses to purchase an I.D. card before they can vote. This smacks of old-time poll taxes to keep blacks from voting before the 60's civil rights riots. Poll taxes probably outlasted those riots in some states. We in Oregon are naive when it comes to civil rights' goings-on.

The absolute topper is CNN (8-25-06) reported a big company's manual for "fired" workers (CNN used the term "fired") said, in "tips on getting along without a paycheck," to not be embarrassed to pull something they can use out of a "dumpster." I kid you not!

Geesh! If this world makes it through two more years of George W. Bush's regime, I'll be pleasantly surprised!

Mary Brock, Albany

Ted has improved Oregon

I will vote for Ted Kulongoski for governor because at the beginning of his first term in office we were in a recession and now we are least looking at a little more positive economically.

When Ted Kulongoski was elected the Oregon House and Senate were DOA. But halfway through his term the Democrats took control of the Senate and the loggerhead started to break up.

In the last legislative mini session work got done quickly. Karen Minnis, House majority leader, was quick to take credit. But I think it resulted from a quiet man who has difficulty talking grandly about himself getting involved and providing leadership.

I went to the governor's office one day this last spring and the governor walked in while I was there. He stopped, listened and gave direction to one of his staff to get back with me. Which happened. Worked for me.

The most important thing to me as a veteran is that our governor takes the time to go to every funeral service for every young veteran returning from Iraq or Afghanistan in a military casket. I can't think how difficult it must be to pull out of his routine to go and face these veterans, families at a time of such grief.

If our ex-Marine governor had done nothing else this ex-Navy Vietnam veteran would admire him for this action alone. He has had other achievements though, and he deserves a second term.

Pat Ryan, Albany

Report from a hunt

I killed him dead with a single shell. I thought I did, for I aimed so well. When I got there, no deer did I find - just a crimson trail - that's the way of his kind.

George Andrus, Albany

Learn about traffic circles

Since moving to this area in June, my wife and I have had numerous near-misses at the North Albany-Gibson Hill traffic circle.

We aren't sure how long it took the city of Albany to connect North Albany Road to the circle, but most people coming from the west (Gibson Hill) seldom slow or look to their left for traffic in the circle (as if the North Albany connection did not exist).

We have seen drivers come to a complete stop in the circle, yielding to cross traffic. These types of incidents leave me wondering if drivers really understand the rules of the road when it comes to traffic circles.

Yesterday a woman in a minivan nearly took our front end off. She never looked, nor slowed down (despite the yield sign with flags).

We believe it is only a matter of time until someone is seriously injured or killed at that circle. For all of you living west of the North Albany/Gibson traffic circle who use it, please review and understand the rules and laws regarding traffic circles.

Dale Holland, Albany

Allow social gambling

Social bingo and card playing tournaments at the fraternal clubs is more entertainment than gambling. Our city fathers should be more concerned with the local taverns, which have state-owned slot machines, where you can lose your last dollar. Tournaments of cards have a small entry fee, which hurts no one, and if a portion goes to charity, fine they do a lot of good to the community.

Fraternal clubs should have the same rights as the Indian casinos and be able to govern themselves as they see fit as long as they keep law and order. The city should work with them to benefit all.

Ed Slinger, Sweet Home

License problem solved

In his Oct. 31 column, "A license idea," Hasso Hering rightfully takes Governor Kulongoski to task for not letting his stance be known on giving driver's licenses to illegal aliens. Mr. Hering then gives his solution to the problem of bringing the Oregon driver's license up to snuff with federal guidelines for identification, which would rule out giving a legitimate license to illegal aliens. Part of this entails giving them a pseudo license so they can obtain insurance.

Here's a thought. Drivers from foreign countries are allowed to operate a vehicle with the driver's license of their home country in just about every state in this country. Therefore, if someone illegally crosses the border from, say, Sweden, they can use their Swedish driver's license. They can also obtain insurance from either a Swedish or an American insurance carrier, as long as the protection meets state requirements. This will protect anyone that gets in the way if the Swede drinks too much Absolut and gets behind the wheel. Problem solved.

If you're going to sneak into the United States, make sure you bring your driver's license and proof of insurance.

David Vrooman, Albany

These would hurt schools

As a non-native who has called Oregon my home for 11 years now, I have been saddened and upset to see how our education system has had to scrape an existence in the aftermath of Measure 5's tax restructuring. Now, some rich hot shots who don't call Oregon their home are trying to mess things up some more. This time, by the way of Measure 41 and Measure 48. Both look good on the outside, but they will only cause more shortcomings to our schools as well as compromise our safety, our health and the lives of seniors in the community. I urge each and every one of you reading this to vote no on Measure 41 and Measure 48. A ballot is a terrible thing to waste. And remember, if you don't vote, don't complain.

Michelle Wilkinson, Lebanon