Home Opinion Letters Letters to the Editor for Dec. 23, 2009

Letters to the Editor for Dec. 23, 2009

Written by Baker City Herald Readers December 23, 2009 08:48 am

Protest the road closures

To the editor:

The 4,200 miles that the Forest Service is proposing to close in the Wallowa-Whitman forest is the distance to Washington, D.C., and approximately halfway back. How many billions of dollars do you suppose it cost to build this 4,200 miles of road in the forest? Which most have crushed gravel, etc. And now how many millions will it cost to close these roads? How many hundreds of miles has the Forest Service already closed, without any public input, illegally?

To build these roads, in most cases, the Forest Service gave away a big percentage of the price they should have got out of the timber to the timber industry for building these roads.

This is supposed to be public land instead of the Forest Service dictating to us. After all, they work for us, we pay their wages. We should be telling them instead of them telling us. What they are proposing cuts out access to these public lands to a big majority of people. Such as woodcutting, mining, berry picking, mushrooming or the enjoyment of a road in the forest.
Out of the three counties involved, I would like to get 10,000 to 15,000 people with signs to protest in front of the federal building in Baker City against these road closures. So all of you people with computers, get on them and try to get organized. Set a date for a demonstration against road closures.

Carl Myers
Baker City

Watch out for sharp-edged toys
To the editor:
Each year kids unwrap a toy that later may cause them serious eye injury. As you head out for last-minute Christmas shopping, I encourage you to buy eye-friendly toys that will help your child avoid serious eye injury. Avoid toys with sharp points or edges, and projectile abilities. Supervise younger kids so they don’t get hold of a toy meant for an older child. Instead, buy age-appropriate toys with rounded edges that stimulate visual development, improve hand-eye coordination and demonstrate spatial relationships.
This season, make sure your child is not one of the 11,000 kids’ eye injuries caused by toys or home playground equipment each year.

Dr. Todd Briscoe
Oregon Optometric Physicians Association
Portland

Stop the sleazy side deals in D.C.
To the editor:
There seems to be something not quite right in Washington, D.C. We take votes now in the middle of the night, we make deals with senators for the federal government to pay their states’ Medicaid bill forever (which means you and I in Oregon and every other state pay for Nebraska Medicaid) for a senator’s vote. It seems to me that there is more back door politics than normal.
Have any of you seen this Medical Insurance Reform Bill that they voted on in the middle of the night? I have not, because it is a secret, written behind closed doors, not for viewing. Whether you are a Republican, Democrat, or Independent this should upset you. That is not what our founding fathers intended and is not the way honest people do business.
As I think this bill is going affect us all we should be able to read it and the people that work for us should listen to what we think so let me see the bill, give my opinion and vote what the majority of people want not because of sleazy side deals being made.

Judy Radford
Baker City