Letters to the Editor

[February 4th, 2004] IN DEFENSE OF ANIMAL-KILLERS

Once again, WW has its head nestled snugly where the sun don't shine.

I don't care what motivation was behind the No. 1 Rogue of the Year's actions, but I applaud the ends. [See Rogues of the Year entry for Laurelhurst Park dog poisoner, Dec. 31, 2003.]

Here's why:

1) As one of 10 percent of the population with asthma triggered by allergies to c.anus [sic] domesticus and their arrogant owners who, even when away from the objects of their ultimate desire, carry with them the dander, fur, saliva, piss and shit that, for us, makes every breath a torture;

2) As someone who's been attacked and physically scarred by unleashed inherent pack animals whose owners think polysyllabic, convoluted sentence commands could be understood by creatures in attack mode and possessing the intelligence of used food;

3) As one who believes true, natural animals have far more right to exist than these domesticated fang-toters who turn feral at the drop of a leaf;

4) As one who is sick and tired of single-digit-AM barking and irresponsible owners who blithely and conveniently forget that other people's property is NOT a toilet for these quadruped crap machines they call pets; whose vehicle has been damaged by dogs owning the street; who's lost more than one friend riding two-wheel vehicles, motorized or human-powered....

I could go on, but you do have to sell advertising space.

So, Rogue No. 1, carry on with all speed. And while you're at it, see if you could do something about all the damn cats, also unnatural creatures--creatures the University of Wisconsin has claimed are singularly responsible for killing an estimated 2 billion indigenous songbirds in North America annually.

Joe Weideman
Vancouver, Wash.

LOVE HURTS

My husband, Colby, and I were recently featured in the "Hitched" column [WW, Dec. 31, 2003]. We thought it would be a fun, lighthearted way to tell our story. What was printed was very hurtful to many people. It was not our intention for this article to upset people and drag everyone back through the pain caused years earlier. Now we want to set the record straight.

First of all, yes, we admired each other from afar for a long time, though neither one of us interfered with the other's relationship. There were no late-night rendezvous on the dance floor while I "left my boyfriend at home." There was one fateful night when we were out dancing together in a group and my then-boyfriend could not come with us, which is when Colby told me of his attraction to me. I didn't know how to respond to this, so I didn't, and nothing happened.

A few days later, Colby revealed that he was in love with me while we were up at Mount Hood with friends. My ex-boyfriend is a wonderful person, and hurting him was the huge cost to beginning the rest of my life. Colby moved to Las Vegas two days later, and I broke up with my boyfriend. A month after that, two of our best friends surprised me for my birthday with tickets to Vegas, where Colby proposed. Two years later, we're the happiest either of us have ever been.

There's no way of doing justice to our amazing experience together in 250 words or less. Just know that when people say you'll know, it's true.

Trisha Highland
Southeast 35th Place

SELECTIVE CONCERN

The Jan. 28 article on alleged problems in the City of Portland's Bureau of Licenses ["License to Deal?"] quotes Commissioner Randy Leonard saying, "When we started getting more involved, we realized that a huge issue was lack of any enforcement of existing rules." This problem is pervasive in one of Commissioner Leonard's other bureaus, Development Services. In that bureau, the direction to inspection staff not to enforce the existing rules on commercial signs and on environmental protection is coming directly from Commissioner Leonard's own office.

If selective enforcement is a problem he's concerned about in one of his bureaus, why is he actively requiring it in another?

Amanda Fritz
Southwest Vacuna Street

BREWING DISCORD

I'd like to correct the notion that Portland Brewing developed Honu Beer not to help save sea turtles, but because we were "peeved" that Kona Brewing's production had been moved to Widmer and we wanted to "put the hurt" on Kona. The opportunity to develop Honu came last year when Kona changed distributors in Hawaii, leaving our distributor there with a large hole in its catalog. They asked us to brew a beer for the Hawaiian market. Our head brewer, Brett Porter, had fallen for the turtles after a personal close encounter and wanted to do something for them, and he had the idea that a beer benefiting the World Turtle Trust might appeal to Hawaiians as well. (As a point of interest, it's just not feasible to produce bottled beer in Hawaii because the cost of shipping empty bottles there is the same as shipping full ones.)

We did not come up with this beer to hurt Kona Brewing. We've always had a friendly relationship with the Kona folks and hope it continues. We brewed and bottled Kona beer under contract from March 1998 until March 1999, when they announced that they would give the contract to a California company. The reasons Kona gave for the move had to do with price, shipping economy (California was their biggest market outside of the islands), and a relationship with one of the owners of the California brewery. We were invited to bid for the Kona business again in July 2001, which we did. I assume the Widmer boys outbid us. We were not "peeved"--the prevailing emotion was disappointment.

Fred Bowman
President, Portland Brewing Company
Northwest 31st Avenue

DYING OF CONSUMPTION

Thanks for the "Urban Sprawl" piece ['The New Urban Sprawl," WW, Jan. 21, 2004]. You certainly listed a few plausible causes for the obesity epidemic. But I wonder if even WW might be too timid to admit that there's an elephant in the room.

Is it OK to talk about the obesity epidemic as a cultural problem, or would that be unpatriotic? Could it be that we are overly conditioned to spending money in our pursuit of happiness? For example, if you're feeling low and need to improve your self-esteem, there's Nordstrom, the beauty parlor and the car dealership (it's a guaranteed high!). If you want to travel, take a cruise, a guided tour, or buy a package deal. Want to experience nature? Well, you'll need to grab the gear and get maybe a snow machine or an ATV--and, of course, a new truck to haul it around in. If life no longer feels vivid, there's Las Vegas, video parlors or bungee jumping.

Does all of this make you feel empty? No problem, there's fast food just around the corner to fill the void.

Michael Harvey
Southwest 46th Avenue