Logo
Jeff Merkley
ISSUE #34.18 • NEWS • FEEDBACK
Letters to the Editor

Inbox

Social bookmarking | Permalink
Email | Print | Rate It! | 1 comment
Recently in "Letters to the Editor"

May 14th, 2008
Inbox0 comments

May 7th, 2008
Inbox0 comments

April 30th, 2008
Inbox7 comments

April 23rd, 2008
Inbox10 comments

April 16th, 2008
Inbox7 comments

April 9th, 2008
Inbox3 comments

April 2nd, 2008
Inbox4 comments

March 26th, 2008
Inbox1 comment

March 19th, 2008
Inbox2 comments

March 5th, 2008
Inbox4 comments

BY WWS BELOVED READERS | 503-243-2122

[March 12th, 2008]

Tell me you were just kidding


Regarding Amy McCullough’s review of Girls Rock! [“Self-Rockualization,” WW, March 5, 2008], she seems to have confused her role as a film critic with somehow feeling responsible for criticizing the girls who appear in the film.  She completely missed the point of the film, and worse, she misused her power and responsibility as a journalist to personally and publicly attack an 8-year-old girl who has no effective way to defend herself. 

Does she really think that it’s OK to publicly humiliate an already fragile little girl with petty and hurtful name-calling? Is that her job as a film critic? These girls are not actors; they are just being themselves, and maybe for the first time being allowed to be themselves. For an adult to personally and publicly attack a child who appears in a documentary is just plain cruel —cruelty of the worst sort, to paraphrase the mean-spirited characterization used in her review.

Amy McCullough should admit that she got this wrong. She and WW owe Amelia a personal and public apology. This kind of journalism is shameful.

Ray Horton
Northeast 9th Avenue

A Sign of the times


Not even the OEA can fault Rep. Merkley for wanting the best for his children [“Charter Fuel,” WW, Feb. 27, 2008]. The question is, if Portland Public Schools were doing their job and putting out a decent product, why are they concerned? After all, Portland’s army of highly educated unionized workers should be able to mop up the floor with the uneducated cretins that charter schools hire, shouldn’t they?  If there was no need for charter schools, they wouldn’t exist.

Let’s face it, Portland schools are a joke. The only students glad for the education the OEA provides are illegal aliens. How can Johnny prepare for life in the real world when he can’t read without the help of books on tape, can’t write without MS Word spellcheck,  and can’t count without  a calculator. The sooner we shift to a voucher system for all students, the sooner we will democratize the education system, and graduate students that are at least as good as the best the Third World has to offer.















icon Story continues below

advertisement

advertisement

“Mark Kay”
Northwest 12th Avenue

Making a difference


Mark Noack’s story about prison work [“Trade Off,” WW, March 5, 2008] reminds me why we put Measure 17 in the Oregon Constitution:  special interest groups will work to undermine its effectiveness, and many political leaders and bureaucrats lack the will and imagination to put prisoners into useful work.

Businesses and labor unions who want to get a bigger share of taxpayers’ money have engaged in political interference to prevent inmate labor from being used effectively.

We wrote Measure 17 to give the Director of Corrections full discretion to implement work programs.  We deliberately left out any opportunity for people to sue to enforce Measure 17 because we didn’t want to create a new litigation circus.

The best kind of job training is to teach people how to show up on time, get a job done and take pride in their work.  The kinds of criminals who will be put in the custody of the Department of Corrections by Initiative Petition 40 are less violent and can more easily be put on work crews in our communities.  These work crews can engage in reforestation, building parks and even helping programs such as Habitat for Humanity build homes.

Initiative Petition 40 specifically refers to the use of work camps.  We are trying to pry open the imagination of corrections officials who do not seem to “get it.” 

Inmate work is not just about sophisticated industry.  It is about rolling up your sleeves and making a difference.  We can put thousands of inmates to work improving our forests and building parks, or even cleaning up graffiti and trash—if the governor and his Corrections officials simply demonstrate the courage and imagination to do so.

Kevin L. Mannix
GOP congressional candidate

CORRECTION:


Last week’s story “Hostile Takeover” incorrectly reported Mayor Tom Potter’s stance on a 2007 ballot measure that gave City Hall greater control over the Portland Development Commission. Potter supported the measure. WW regrets the error.





Rate This Story
Be the first to rate this story.

Comment on this article

Katy  writes on Mar 12th, 2008 8:29am

While the idea behind Measure 17 might be valid, the core feasibility of it and subsequent results are highly questionable. Most inmates do not work anywhere near a 40 hour work week; there aren't enough jobs available. The extra and often unnecessary jobs that are created in an attempt to fulfill the measure's requirements cost taxpayers an exorbitant amount of money to ensure proper supervision called for by DOC. This is money that could perhaps be better spent on much needed re-entry services for the 97% of incarcerated individuals that will be returning to our communities regardless of how many measures we pass to lock up more and more people. Or how about we focus on methods proven to reduce recidivism rates such as education, particularly higher education? www.bard.edu/bpi/pdfs/crime_report....

Now that over 1 in 100 people in the U.S. are incarcerated, it might be time to look at what we are doing wrong and to realize that locking more people up is not the answer.

With that said, as someone who is committed to issues of incarceration and prison reform, I am optimistic about Oregon's potential for positive change in this arena. We just need to train a more critical eye on what we really want to see as far as outcomes go and if our system isn't working, it's time to try something different.

Comment on the "Inbox" article


Best of Portland poll Jeff Merkley
Ad
New Phoenix Casino
Ad
Charles Lewis

Ad

Sponsored Links: WW Personals
Musician's Market
Snowboard Jackets


Recently in Willamette Week
May 17th 2008Higher Ed | Reed College is exceptional for more than academics. It’s one of America’s most permissive colleges for experimenting with drugs.
May 17th 2008Best New Band 2008 | Portland music insiders take our local scene to the chopping block—and come out with 10 new faves.
May 17th 2008For The Love of Politics | WW’s endorsement page-turner has all the candidates worth falling for this election.
May 17th 2008Say Amen, Somebody | African-American ministers struggle to make their voices heard in America’s whitest city.
May 17th 2008Green With Envy | Seven things Portland should do if we’re serious about being green.
May 17th 2008Kvetch Fest | 27 things we hate about the city we love.
May 17th 2008Bitter Pill | A Portland doc flips on big pharma and reveals its “dirty little secret.”
May 17th 2008Gunfight at the OR Corral | A crusader who fought the Mob or a long-established Oregonian? Inside the shootout to become the next attorney general.
May 17th 2008Lean Cuisine | Has Portland lost its insatiable appetite for its restaurant scene?
May 17th 2008Barack In The Day | Long before Obama ran for president, he was a state senator in Illinois. Here’s what he did.