Opinion

Dear “Long, Long,”
It sounds from your letter that you have concerns about dogs on ski trails at Swampy Sno-park. I can understand that.

During his recent trip to Latin America, President Obama paid homage to the assassinated Archbishop Oscar Romero, an El Salvadoran hero famous for standing with the poor during the war-torn 1980s. Oscar Romero was assassinated while giving mass 31 years ago this week.

Can anyone tell me who that “IDIOT” is who's been on TV and going around the state telling everyone how wonderful Bend is and come on, move right in, we want more people here?
Well I got to tell you, I've been here since 1954 and I promise you another person moving into Bend will not, cannot, make this place a better city to live in. I sure as Hell don't want another neighbor crowding me. Bend used to be a great place until Mt. Bachelor and the Chamber of Horrors, ah, Commerce started advertising “Bend for Sale.” It's gone downhill since. If companies want to relocate here and bring jobs, I've got no problem. But Bend's already full up. We don't want any more people here. I guess I'll have to get elected to City Hall. Someone needs to kick a little “Johnny-come-lately ass!” around here.

Editor's note: This letter comes in response to a recent Guest Commentary, Dog Owners Deserve Equal Opportunities, 2-23, from DogPAC's Kreg Lindberg.

Nice letter. I share your desire to create a dog-friendly snow-play area larger than what exists at Wanoga. It's a shame that it's temporary and can't be expanded. You don't say why that is and who told you that. It's hard to believe, given that so much land exists that already allows dogs.
You refer to the only logical choice for a groomed track for dog-lovers as the Nordeen Plateau. Yes, it's surrounded by the Tangent Loop, but it's heavily used by cross country skiers on single track and snowshoers (on their own separate loop system), with both sharing the Nordeen Shelter. Did you forget that? How to plan to address that major conflict? You don't say that either. Do you plan to groom the existing trail system? Are you going to create an entirely new trail for dogs only?

While I appreciate Emilie Marlinghaus's excellent letter in defense of Planned Parenthood, unfortunately she is mistaken when she says, “we are rapidly exceeding Earth's carrying capacity.” Reputable scientists have suggested that earth's carrying capacity for humans that will allow all the other animals and plants a healthy existence, instead of going extinct, is about 2 billion. We therefore already have over three times as many humans on this planet as this planet can sustain. We can see this in the depletion of our resources such as oil, the emptying of the ocean's fisheries, the disappearance of our forests, the desertification of our croplands, and of course global warming.

Editor's note: The following letter was submitted to Wm. Steven Humphrey, the Portland-based author of the syndicated column, I Luv Television. To read Mr. Humphrey's reply, turn to his column on page 22, which he has dedicated to Ms. Drake-Lusby.
Dear Steve,
Perhaps if more people called you “Dear” you wouldn’t be so angry…do you need a hug? Your “Ten MORE Reasons to Dislike Miley Cyrus” was so hateful; now who is the ‘douche-thermos’? Also, are you so poor a writer that you must resort to gross out ass humour? Sad.