WW welcomes letters to the editor via mail, e-mail or fax. Letters must be signed by the author and include the author's street address and phone number for verification. Preference will be given to letters of 250 words or less. Continuing Drama I recently read your article on the censorship of Kristi McKenzie's play When You Finally See Us [Rogue of the Week, April 21, 1998]. I was so moved that I wrote a letter to Ms. Leonard. It appears that Pia Leonard is not interested in our opinion. The e-mail was returned "undeliverable." Maybe her mailbox is full or maybe she bailed out on that e-mail address after receiving all the letters of protest she must have got. I just wanted to thank you for bringing this matter of censorship to my (and everyone else's) attention. Thank God that Ms. Leonard doesn't work for your newspaper. David Weed Tualatin MAI-Free Portland In the last Top 10 Censored Stories issue [April 14, 1999], WW didn't mention that the Portland Fair Trade Coalition, a group of concerned citizens, has been campaigning against the secret international trade treaty for months now. We would welcome anyone in the community to become involved with our group. We are currently working to have Portland declared an MAI-free zone like Seattle and San Francisco and to educate the public about how these international agreements weaken environmental and labor protections, threaten national sovereignty and seriously affect ordinary people's lives. To find out about events, actions and meeting times, please call us or check out our Web page at http://odin.cc.pdx.edu/~psu23663/pftc/. Marian Grebanier Portland Fair Trade Coalition Loophole? Your article on gun lobbyists ["Under Fire", April 28, 1999] indicated several times that the ability of a private citizen to sell a firearm to another at a gun show was a "loophole" in the law. That activity is currently legal; it has never been against the law. Since when is doing something that is perfectly legal a "loophole" in the law? I suppose our ability to vote, to assemble or practice religion are just other "loopholes" that the more enlightened have just not gotten around to closing yet. Ric Chambers Southeast Caruthers Street National Rifle Amnesia In your piece "Under Fire" from April 28, Patty Wentz writes that NRA lobbyist Rod Harder's "heart belongs to the Second Amendment." And later in the piece she makes passing reference to "the notion of a well-armed militia" in a discussion of the Second Amendment, which is always part of the gun lobby's arguments. But for all the bloviating gun lobbyists do about the Second Amendment, you will never hear any of them recite it. You'll never see it in an NRA ad or Charlton Heston op-ed piece. It's only 27 words long, and it reads like this: "A well-regulated [not well-armed] militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Maybe the Founding Fathers were a little tired the day they did that one and didn't make their purpose clear enough, but it's obvious that they meant for the collective people of a state to have the right to maintain a state militia, not that every yahoo has a right to a personal arsenal. What did Eric Harris' Tec 9 have to do with a well-regulated militia? If the NRA and Oregon Gun Owners and others like them are going to hang their hat on the Second Amendment, let's at least challenge them to embrace the whole amendment, not just "the right to keep and bear arms." Bill Dunlap Lake Oswego We Suffer For Their Art While taggers thumb their noses at the Establishment with graffiti, it is working stiffs like me who have to clean it up ["Scrawl of the Wild," WW, April 21, 1999]. We suffer for their "art." I thought suffering was supposed to be the artist's job. I've never been very good at deciphering this scribbling, but in my mind it says, "We hate maintenance workers and janitors and we love to make their lives miserable." These vandals imagine they are on the cutting edge of some kind of movement, but the reality is they are no different than the self-absorbed, elitist suits I've been cleaning up after for years. Robert Howell Salem What Are We Scared Of? I'm surprised to read that some people in Portland are afraid to leave their homes because of graffiti ["Scrawl of the Wild," WW, April 21, 1999]. Seems rather conservative for such a liberal city. What is it we're afraid of? People playing instruments on street corners, those murals everywhere, poetry readings, art? Or are we afraid of each other? Maybe we need to interact in our community more; get to know people; learn about things we're unfamiliar with. Knowledge is empowering. Ignorance is the reason for fear. Graffiti is an artful expression. Some may see it as an eyesore--beauty's in the eye of the beholder. Be it a defiant act, I'm personally sure that the use of spray paint on walls doesn't mean that gang wars are about to break out. And this whole Sara Fisher ordeal... I realize she broke the law, got caught and should have to undo her wrongdoing. Her consequences: 30 days of electronic monitoring, 400 hours of community service, a $3,000 fine, a $5,000 fine to the city's anti-graffiti trust fund, one year probation, a psychological examination and possible disciplinary action from Reed College. Wow! What happens when you jaywalk around here? Couldn't the victims of Sara's heinous tagging crimes have asked her to paint trees or something on the sides of their buildings and called it even? While we're at it, what penalty are we giving to the schmucks who put up those electronic billboards? Oh yeah...those are legal! Maybe we could redirect Portland's taggers. Possibly, a few of our more open-minded, art-friendly businesses would donate walls to be painted. We should promote this art. I'm not condoning trashing people's properties, but don't we have room for creativity, be it defiant or not? It's an expression of the times. And who is this "neighbor of the Pearl District" who asked Sara Fisher if she thought the death penalty was an appropriate punishment for taggers. I want to know so I can steer clear of that lunatic! I'm not a graffiti artist, nor one who even writes on bathroom walls, but executing someone for spray painting? A tiny bit extreme? May Sara Fisher become a famous anti-establishment artist, and may Portland embrace its artistic diversity. Stephanie Groth Southeast 37th Avenue - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Willamette Week | originally published May 12, 1999