Food stamps: So what?

In response to people buying junk food with food stamps: So what if they do? Everyone buys candy, chips and pop from time to time.

I personally do not have food stamps. It really is no one's business what they buy. I have more important things to worry about than what other people buy with food stamps or cash. Most of these people don't choose to be in that situation. But if you want Kool-Aid, then you buy it.

Jackie Giles, Albany

Four DTV problems

Several Corvallis and Albany analog TV viewers asked me why they are not receiving some digital TV channels. Most gave up and subscribed to limited basic cable for various reasons.

There are too many DTV problems to list here, but the following are four common problems I had to solve:

1. DTV stations moving from UHF to VHF, such as KEZI-DT, required adding a VHF antenna and doing a DTV tuner rescan Feb. 20.

2. A multipath reception problem required upgrading to a more directional antenna.

3. A directional antenna angle being off by five degrees caused the DTV picture to freeze or break up into unwatchable squares.

4. A signal strength problem, especially with the UHF channels, caused a sudden loss of the DTV picture. A mast amplifier was required.

Democrat-Herald and Gazette-Times news stories (Feb. 6 and 17) were helpful, but missing essential information for viewers. Surprisingly, the three major Eugene TV newscasts did not lead with this information, which was also missing or hard to find on their web homepages.

Thomas Kraemer, Corvallis

What about us?

I have been searching through all of the economic stimuli and bailout plans and can't seem to find anything for the most ignored, forgotten parts of our great country. I am referring, of course, to those that haven't gotten in over our heads. The ones that didn't max out their plastic and didn't get in upside down on their homes. Didn't take on mortgages we couldn't afford, then buy lots of new, spendy toys, etc. If by chance we did do something like that, we either lost everything or we bailed ourselves out.

No one seems to look at us or give us a second thought. At least that's what I thought until I really looked into the fine print and came to realize that our new president and the Congress behind him did think of us after all. We get to pay for the whole thing.

How could I have been so stupid as to not see what was right in front of me. I still haven't found the change I can believe in, but I'm still looking.

Louie White, Lebanon

Liquor stores' commission

The liquor stores are sure cryin' - shades of the lottery operators when the state cut their commissions. The liquor store mess seems has been cast as aid to the operators rather then a commission fight. What is it? If it's aid to the operators call it what it is and curtail the state involvement. If it's a commission fight, don't trade on our sympathies and say so ! Things are tough everywhere and liquor stores shouldn't be excluded.

Ron Burkholder, Lebanon