A DOG'S LIFE
While "Rogue of the Week," being clearly editorial, requires no balance, the reader can at least hope for some enlightenment. Your comments on the Hillsboro dog shooting offer neither balance nor enlightenment [Rogue of the Week, WW, Sept. 24, 1997]. Your comment about the officer involved that the "...evidence already strongly suggests that he had no business jogging with a loaded .38" shows little understanding of the requirements of being a police officer. Many jurisdictions require that their off-duty officers carry their loaded weapons. You do not show that you even understand this issue let alone that you asked the Hillsboro police department if they follow that practice. When you say that "witnesses, however, tell a different story" with regard to the dog threatening the officer, you appear to have no knowledge of the witness that appeared on the KOIN television news broadcast. This witness says that the officer was about to be bitten. It is of no significance that the owners know that the dog is friendly. What is a poor jogger unfamiliar with a dog to do? Wait to be bitten? I have had enough dog owners tell me how friendly their growling dog is as I job by not to put much faith in what they say. This is why we have leash laws. They protect the jogger and they protect the dog. Steven Greenberg, Southwest Hargis Road, Beaverton Editor's note: The officer referred to in the Rogue of the Week works for the Portland Police Bureau, which does not require off-duty officers to carry their guns.
PIN A ROSE ON HIM
In reading the item in WW of Sept. 24 of possible future Rose Garden memorials ["I Beg Your Pardon...," News Buzz], I was surprised that your urbane staff failed to mention a man whose exploits in Portland thrilled and outraged a generation of spectators, whose feuds and reconciliations were developed and carried out on regional television, whose use of the peroxide bottle was unsurpassed in the history of this city.
He went on the a measure of national fame before returning to this area, where he still makes his home. I refer, of course, to Playboy Buddy Rose, who plied his trade on countless nights in a converted North Portland bowling alley. Certainly, he must mean more to this city than any foreign-born princess who never set foot here. James P. Hays, Vancouver, Wash. LET'S ALL WORK TOGETHER While I appreciate your vote of confidence that I am doing "the right thing" in drug policy, I appreciate even more the recognition that the struggle against illegal drugs is not a simple one ["Soft on Drugs," WW, Oct. 1, 1997]. My experience has been that neither the legalization nor the lock-everyone-up alternatives are effective. What has worked, to a degree, is prevention, treatment with close supervision for those with an addiction, a vigorous combination of hard time for people who make a living selling drugs, forfeiture of the fruits of drug dealing, and zoning strategies to help our neighborhoods. Working together we can make our community a safer, healthier place for all of us. Attention such as your article brings can, hopefully, press us toward deeper thought and better solutions. P.S. Great restaurant guide! Michael D. Schrunk, District Attorney THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE RED
You rightly slam Nike for choosing red-baiting ("Seeing Reds," WW, Oct. 1, 1997) instead of offering a constructive response to Global Exchange's report criticizing the shoe peddler's production practices in China. Yet, four pages later ("Taking the Initiative"), you tag environmental leader Lloyd Marbet a "veteran rabble-rouser" and label Marbet and attorney Greg Kafoury "left-wing activists." An activist cited in the article claimed that Kafoury has "a picture of Lenin on his wall." What you are doing to Marbet and Kafoury is also red-baiting. All my dictionaries define "rabble-rouser" as "a demagogue," one who gains power by appealing to people's prejudices. I have known and worked with Lloyd Marbet for 20 years and I have never seen him engage in demagoguery. In using the word rabble-rouser, you are trying to inflame the reader and thus engaging in demagoguery yourself. And you are dead wrong about Marbet. Your article concerned Secretary of State Phil Keisling's (along with legislators' and other entrenched politicians') attempts to hog tie Oregon's initiative process. You note the fact that the opposition has collected strange bedfellows. In this context, Kafoury's leftism may be incidentally relevant, but his office decor is irrelevant. Bringing Lenin into the picture makes it red-baiting. I am an independent voter, with populist/progressive inclinations. I have been red-baited most of my adult life. I became an adult in an age when anyone dissenting in any way from the stifling conservatism of the '50s was labeled a pinko. My father (a local Democratic Party leader) was called a communist in public by a wealthy land owner, a member of his church, because he favored rational planning instead of the chaotic growth that threatened their upscale suburban community. I was called a communist and threatened with a gun by my landlady's bigoted son because I worked to eliminate racially segregated housing. Liberal Democrats and conservatives alike saw red because I have questioned America's anti-Castro hysteria. My father-in-law, a liberal Democrat university official, red-baited me for my opposition to the American government's anti-China hysteria and for advising his young son to follow his conscientious objection regarding the draft. During the last decade, I was smeared by a prominent local liberaDemocrat politician and a moderate police chief for my efforts to force the Housing Authority and Police Bureau to stop the subsidized drug houses from destroying my neighborhood. Red-baiting has no place in responsible journalism. Even a hint is misleading. Marbet's and Kafoury's political inclinations are more vertical than horizontal; more aimed against the power abusers at the top, than they are expressions of the left vs. right political cliché. Marbet and Kafoury have worked diligently, responsibly and effectively to stop the nuclear madness, bring toxic dumps under control and protect the initiative process from anti-democratic attack. I am grateful for their efforts. Whether your red-baiting is intentional or careless, it betrays the history of your paper. Ironically, Lloyd Marbet was cited by Willamette Week a few years ago as an honored Oregon citizen activist. And you should see what he has on his office walls! David Hupp, Northeast Mason Street
BAFFLED BY THE RESTAURANT GUIDE
Re: 100 Best Restaurants in Portland In my Northeast Portland neighborhood is located the finest seafood restaurant, Winterborne, as evidenced as recently as October 1997 and October 1996 in Gourmet magazine, Portland's Top 20 listings. Please explain how Winterborne can also appear in your "Dining on a Whim" listing of top restaurants "for last-minute reservations" on page 47 yet not warrant a mention in the Top 100 listing. Please tell me this was an oversight. Also note that the page 6 discussion of L'Etoile/Trio and Alameda Brewhouse restaurants are located on Northeast Fremont Street, not on Glisan as you suggest. Finally, although I cannot speak to the accuracy of your BJ's Brazilian review, I am confused as to the rationale for the totally negative "pan" of a restaurant in your own Top 100! Tim Lehman, Northeast Wistaria Drive Editor's note:Mr. Lehman is correct regarding the address of L'Etoile (now Trio) and Alameda Brewhouse; they are on Northeast Fremont Street. YOU GO, GIRL!
Someone has got to do something about the rude, obnoxious Wieden & Kennedy virus that is hitting our city. They claim to be so hip and creative, but can't stand a little joke when it hits home ["Coffee Clash," News Buzz, WW, Oct. 8, 1997]. The article regarding the Morning Star coffee shop really portrayed W&K to be classless idiots. BOYCOTTING a little coffee shop!!! What Bullies. Someone should ask Phil Knight what he thinks of himself as a cartoon in a coffee shop. He would probably think it was funny. Don't be so paranoid and stuffy, W&K. This one looked bad. Right ON, Morning Star! Hey anyone getting any Nazi tattoos at W&K lately????? Stephanie Evans, Southwest Ardenwood Street |
