LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

[May 31st, 2006] GET YOUR CELT ON

Your recent guide to local outdoor sports ["Bull's-Eye" special section, May 17, 2006] glaringly omitted the ultimate sport of hurling, which has now arrived in Portland. No, not the fraternity drinking game, but the 2,000-year-old Celtic game that combines elements of field hockey, soccer, lacrosse and baseball into the fastest game on grass.

Now in its fourth season, the Columbia Red Branch Gaelic Athletic Club is actively recruiting men and women to play in the City League, which comprises three teams. The next game will be the Sparkly White Snow Angels vs. Black Death (Red Tide will sit this one out). Additional games are planned with Seattle and other West Coast teams, leading up to the national playoffs.

The Columbia Red Branch also offers the equally fun sport of Gaelic football. Both hurling and Gaelic football are regulated by the Gaelic Athletic Association with strict rules for fair play.

So, for a new sport, try one that's been around for a couple of millennia, and savor the satisfaction of batting the ball for a goal from 50 yards while on the run. The season runs from April to October. For more information, see columbiaredbranch.com.

Kevin O'Sullivan
North Kellogg Street

THE PRIMARY TEST

Yes, 38 percent voter turnout in the May 16 primary was pathetic. But vote by mail (VBM) "continues to fail its most basic test" ["Politics 101," WW, May 24, 2006]?

Huh? In November 2004, our 85 percent turnout of registered voters was No. 1 in the United States. (Oregon was No. 5 in terms of potential voters; we have a disproportionate 30 percent of voting-age citizens not registered in the first place). As for primary-election voter turnout, compare our three previous VBM primaries—2004 (46 percent), 2002 (51 percent) and 2000 (47 percent)—with the last three polling-place primaries: 1998 (35 percent), 1996 (38 percent) and 1994 (38 percent).

Indeed primary-election turnout clearly was trending downward before vote by mail—which arguably reversed this slide, at least temporarily.

The May 16 election revealed virtually nothing insightful about vote by mail. But it did reveal how badly Oregon politics is broken—and why it's time to change the rules.

Under our closed primary system, 25 percent of voters who aren't registered Democrats or Republicans can't vote for major offices like governor or U.S. senator. ("Yes, but those judicial races were sure exciting!") And closed primaries—where the median age of those casting ballots is nearly 60—increasingly reward candidates who cater to vocal, polarized constituencies within each party, who often force second-, even third-tier issues to center stage.

Any surprise that the 2006 primary was one of the dullest, meanest, emptiest primary elections in recent memory? Lots of hearty discussion about education funding, tax reform, fixing land use, and the healthcare crisis, wasn't there? What might voter turnout have been without vote by mail—28 percent?

That's exactly why we need an open primary. This initiative now circulating would put every candidate, for every office, on the May ballot—and let every voter choose from among them, regardless of anyone's party registration or lack thereof. (To learn more, go to www.oneballot.com.)

Phil Keisling
Former Oregon Secretary of Sate

Editor's Note: Keisling and another former secretary of state, Norma Paulus, are the chief petitioners for the Oregon Open Primary initiative.

THE OTHER ROSWELL: WE HEART ART, TOO

I know Art [Alexakis] to be a very kind person, and a wonderful father ["Starving Art," WW, May 17]. [Daughter] Anna is his pride and joy, and he has always made that very clear to his friends and fans alike. The tragedy here is that his ex-wife Stephanie—clearly an opportunist—believes that she's due a single penny in alimony.

Why should Art have to defend himself against a bitter little girl whose only noteworthy claim to fame comes from her ex-husband? She should be ashamed of herself for expecting Art to prop her up financially.

Fauve Yandel
Roswell, Ga.