Why worry how we vote?

What difference does it make to you (Viewpoint, Nov. 12) how the people of Oregon have chosen their method of voting ? What difference does it make to you how the people of other states choose their method of voting?

Senators, including ours, are supposed to make suggestions that may improve our country's progress. In this case, Senator Wyden is suggesting something that works that his constituents have chosen by voting at the polling places to become the law in Oregon.

Sure, I miss the days of the horse and buggy, the long walks to the feed and seed in the pouring rain, and packing the bags of grain back home. But the automobile works, and it works much better! Vote by mail has proven itself to work also.

Regarding your situations, how would voting by mail make it worse "in places where people can't seem to run an undisputed election"? Is that a big problem anywhere in America?

How would voting by mail make it worse "where thousands of voters are confused about how to vote"?

Election staffs confused about new technology? It comes in the mail, you check the signature and open the envelope and count the vote. That IS horse and buggy technology. If that causes confusion among election staffs, they may need to seek a simpler job.

Finally, the old style political machines. Both sides weighed in on this when the process was being debated.

We heard about family members coercing other family members how to vote, or churches holding ballot socials to make sure the flock was voting for the right candidate. None of these situations have been the downfall of Oregon politics or national elections.

If you want to complain about vote by mail, use the argument that my political science professor, Dr. William Lunch, brought up for discussion when this issue was being debated: Putting a stamp on the ballot envelope is a form of a poll tax.

Now that is illegal!

Charles Lee Crawford, Jr., Corvallis

Must have been a dream

Just read Doug Huntley's "Question your government", 11-12-06 response to my recent letter. To say that I am a little baffled is an understatement. I don't know what he was reading but I think he confused my letter with a dream he had.

When did I call for the death of humans with "different religious and ideological views?" Never!

Mr. Huntley, I said we needed to kill terrorists who want to kill us and I really don't care what religion they profess to rely on; they are murderers and need to die before they kill more innocent men, women and children. They need to die before they kill more Americans. Until then you can stay in your nice protected Korvallis and let the brave military ensure your freedom to rail against this country.

Also Mr. Huntley, America did not "illegally invade and occupy" Iraq. Investigate sir, go back a few years and read what your liberal politicians said about Saddam, politicians who did have all the facts. You can find them real easily. They are the ones who voted to go into Iraq before they decided to lie, plead dumb, plead insanity and swear on the Koran that they had their fingers crossed when they voted so it really didn't count.

Do some reading, Mr. Huntley, real history, real facts before you condemn this great Country and those who defended her.

In the meantime read this history: Who killed Bobby Kennedy? Who killed the athletes in Munich? Who blew up the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut? Who hijacked the Achille Lauro? Who hijacked TWA Flight 847 and murdered a U.S. Navy diver? Who bombed Pan Am flight 103? Who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993? Who bombed the U.S.S. Cole? Who bombed the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and who were the murderers on 9-11-01? Were any of these murderers Americans and what country, pray tell, did America "occupy" before these and several other atrocities by terrorists occurred?

It's all right to disagree with our leaders, but to hate America as some obviously do is beyond the pale.

Larry Crompton, Scio

Help offered to lesbian couple

Corvallis Lavender Womyn would like to reach out to the lesbian couple living in Albany who had a hate crime perpetrated against them. Our group, a chapter of a statewide organization, is made up of nearly 100 lesbian and bisexual women in Corvallis and surrounding towns.

We communicate through an e-mail listserv, hosted on Yahoo and organize a variety of social events. We would like to hear from the Albany couple about what sort of assistance they need, if any, in working with the police and their neighbors.

We encourage them and all other lesbian and bi women in the valley to join us for fun, business and political networking and support.

Ruth Fletcher, Philomath

We must react to harassment

Last week a story ran in both the Albany Democrat-Herald and the Corvallis Gazette-Times. The story was about the harassment of two women in Albany that has been occurring for the last several years. More recently, this harassment has escalated to the point that "lesbos" was written on their garage door.

I have looked and looked for a response from community members from either community, but to no avail. It would appear that the fate of the Whiteside Theater is of more import in Corvallis and that the Democrats won the election seems to be on the minds of folks in Albany. The fact that ongoing harassment is occurring in our collective neighborhoods seems to be of little interest and this has left me dumbfounded.

Where is the outrage? Why doesn't the police chief in Albany say something like "We will find who is responsible." And what about the churches? Even if they don't believe in gay rights, what happened to "hate the sin, love the sinner"? Where's the love in ignoring the pain these people are going through?

When two women are systematically harassed year after year for being gay and nobody stands up to say, "This is not right," it becomes a silent endorsement of the harassment.

I realize that Albany is considered a conservative community, but has the concept of the compassionate conservative completely gone out the window? These women could be your mother, daughter or sister! Stand up and be heard! Write a letter, call the chief of police, tell your congressman (where is Frank Morse anyway?). Your silence is speaking volumes.

Tom Johnston, Corvallis

Slow down for farm equipment

The seven days between Nov. 17 and Nov. 23 are Farm-City week, an annual event created to renew the ties between urban and rural citizens during the week before Thanksgiving.

This year, Benton County Farm Bureau would like to talk about a literal "crash" of cultures and remind all of our citizens about an important safety issue.

As many frustrated motorists have realized, farm equipment sometimes has to share the road with regular traffic. Usually farmers try to avoid rush hour to move their equipment. Even so, farm equipment does slow traffic. It is always a good idea for drivers on rural roads to keep watching ahead and be on the look out for farm equipment.

Consider that if you are driving at 55 mph and come upon a tractor moving at 15 mph, it will only take five seconds to close a gap the size of a football field.

Farmers understand that they are slowing traffic and will often attempt to pull over at the nearest safe place to allow traffic to pass. However, motorists should realize that modern farm equipment is often very wide and small places to pull over are sometimes inadequate to allow safe passing.

Also, please be aware that sometimes farm equipment will have to make very wide turns so don't immediately assume that a tractor that pulls to the right is letting you pass. The driver may be making a wide left-hand turn so watch for turn lights or the farmers hand signals to understand his intentions before you go around.

Benton County Farm Bureau and Oregon Farm Bureau are very concerned with transportation safety and have come up with informational brochures and displays to promote safety on the road. Please be sure to stop by at the 2007 Benton County fair to see our display or call Oregon Farm Bureau at (503) 399-1701 for a safety pamphlet.

Paul Kovash, president, Benton County Farm Bureau

School money: A response

Letter writers who supported the Corvallis school levy insisted schools need more money, in spite of evidence that U.S. per student funding increased dramatically the past 50 years without improving academic scores. Also, the U.S. spent more than developed nations tracked by the U.S. Department of Education, but ranked in the bottom 15 percent for academic scores. Complete information is at www.reform509J.com.

Letter writers who advocated greater school funding were silent about this evidence. They offered no contrary evidence showing a positive relation between funding and academics. They advocated more funding only because of small perceived funding differences between 509J and Oregon, or the U.S.

Writer Gary Corgan (11/7/06) found Oregon funding lagging the U.S., but considered only recent recession years. Oregon exceeds the U.S. average all other years. Gary cited 509J funding per student trailing Oregon but failed to recognize this was caused by state weighting factors that fund districts according to students' socio-economic-status, requirements for ESL, special education, etc. Corvallis receives less weighting than Oregon, hence, slightly less funding.

Writer Scot Zeigler (11/12/06) finessed embarrassingly high U.S. funding per student by obfuscating with UNESCO data expressing funding as a percentage of government spending. This lowered the U.S. ranking since we shoulder unique worldwide responsibilities, examples being defense and foreign aid.

Scot also finessed U.S. deplorable high school academic scores compared to developed nations. He considered eighth-graders instead, ignoring that the longer students remain in K-12 schools, the farther behind they fall.

Dan Ziegler, Corvallis

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