Opinion

I disagree with Peter M. Miller's reasoning for not allowing smoking in parks. Granted, they could and should be considered "healthy" places. However, a far more accurate label would be "public" - as in all-inclusive, everybody has a right to them!
Furthermore, using schools in comparison to public parks is a faulty analogy. Schools are for children. Of course there shouldn't be smoking allowed there (though I do personally believe that a place should be provided for the adults to smoke). Parks are for EVERYBODY. And as much as the anti-smoking fanatics would try to con us into believing that second-hand smoke is harmful, I would think that logic would prevail even to the dimmest of minds that in open-air places, smoke from cigarettes is of no harm at all.

Perhaps the solution to your "space limitation" problem is more obvious to readers than your staff.
I'd like to propose that you consider responding to reader requests.

Enough already about Bachelor. They finally got it right this year.

WOW!! The brave fisherman, that have launched their boats in the newly melted slush of the deep winter, are knockin' em dead. USFW for Suttle Lake has set a Kokanee limit of 25 to help reduce the amazing stocks of naturally breeding fish that inhabit our lake.

The latest on Marylin Shannon, former Republican state senator, is so repugnant and irresponsible that it's worth repeating. Here's what she said: "Two laws created in Salem have established a whole new era in re-verse discrimination, with a new and alien set of moral values that have now been foisted on the people of Oregon. … We're starting a new effort to gather signatures to repeal these two laws." That was followed by a statement from State Sen. Gary George to Basic Rights Oregon: "My ad-vice to the gay community is SHUT UP, just don't talk about it. If you walk around talking about what you do in the bedroom, you should be on the pervert channel."
Wow! My response to Shannon is that the entire state of Oregon knows that's a plea of desperation. I would ask Shannon if strip-ping someone of their basic human rights is part of her "set of moral values." Isn't that better defined as "immoral"? Measure 36 had nothing to do with domestic partnerships or anti-discrimination; it's a ruse. As for Sen. George, his comment sounds like what you might hear on an elemen-tary school playground - i.e., juvenile.

Hello Laurie J. Rice, I was excited to see an article on my new favorite place, the Brick House.

Though there are many things I don't like about Mt. Bachelor's spring schedule, there is one that bothers me the most. Having Sunrise and Summit as the only lifts for the last three weekends is unacceptable.
This is my sixth year to buy a season pass and I love spring skiing. However, I can't see driving over from Corvallis to ski those two lifts, and if I do, I will be upset that the skiing is so limited.
I am an advanced 49-year-old skier and have little interest in Sunrise lift. Summit is unpredictable, and even when it is good the window of time is limited. We need Pine Marten or at least Skyliner to make the day interesting and worth the trouble. In past spring seasons, we get most of our runs on Pine Marten groomers waiting for the top to soften up.
Why can't Skyliner be the weather back-up? (Who skis Rainbow?)