Who picks your cover stories, and by what definition of "newsworthy" do they qualify for the treatment? Of the current cover story and the 10 listed in the "Recently..." list on wweek.com, only two ("Pants on Fire" [Nov. 30, 2005] and "Oregon's Next Governor" [Nov. 16]) were really important, with only two others ("Slavery in Portland" [Dec. 7] and "Leif's Auto Body Experience" [Nov. 2]) being local stories interesting to a wide cross-section of Portlanders. Even giving "Censored" [Jan. 4, 2006] a pass (it's not local, but I bet your Indymedia readers loved it), a con man? Cyclocross? Pubic hair?

Are you serious? These get cover treatment?

Do these stories reflect what's important to Portlanders or the quality of weed circulating around the South Park Blocks? Is this really the same paper that used to savage Downtowner for being lightweight and a waste of increasingly expensive paper? You did a cover story on PUBIC HAIR!

If you can't find news that's really news, you need to cultivate some stringers and maybe shuffle some reporters loose to a Web version of something Maggi White would appreciate until they regain some perspective.

I'm not going to waste much time on it, but I'm solidly in the "David Walker needs to go" category. But you must like having the bitch everyone loves to hate, so consider getting new movie reviewers and giving him a regular op-ed column. That would be less of each issue to deliberately not read.

I've been reading Willamette Week faithfully ever since I started spending any amount of time downtown, which is about 12 years, a little under half my life so far. Like any active reader I've had beefs with your publication from time to time, but the possibility that I would ever stop reading WW never crossed my mind.

That possibility is undergoing serious consideration right now. For several months I've been ditching each week's copy on the bus or some similar public area instead of bringing them home. For a few weeks, I haven't even been finishing them, just reading ones already cast away by someone else.

Your paper is turning into something I wouldn't even line a litterbox with. Nothing more than a Reedie version of the Trib, and when I cast that rag from my life I can assure you I didn't take the time to write the editor.

Doug Ricketts
Southeast Holgate Boulevard

BETTER GET THIS PARTY STARTED

About time someone talked about a third party ["Laboring to Birth a New Party," WW, Jan. 4, 2006]. We need a third party more than we need Kerry or Gore or Mrs. KKKlinton. The two-party system is the problem.

Curtis E. Bryant
North Crawford Street