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. For The Record Regarding your Feb. 3 Rogue of the Week, KBOO has sustained losses of approximately $12,500 due to unsuspected employee theft and deliberate falsification of the books. The KBOO board of directors has completed an emergency audit by an outside CPA to determine the full extent of the damage. As soon as we discovered the theft, we took direct and immediate action to respond, including dismissing the employee and filing criminal charges and a civil case. Fortunately, between these efforts and our insurance overage, we expect all of these losses to be replaced. When our business manager resigned last year, we hired as our interim business manager a trusted KBOO colleague who had served as a volunteer, board treasurer and programmer. Her résumé supported her qualifications for this job. Unfortunately, she violated this trust. We are currently reviewing all of our financial systems in consultation with outside advisors and instituting additional safeguards to insure that this will never happen again. We are also allocating funds to rebuild and upgrade our accounting system. We are in the process of hiring a new business manager. Now, our job is to focus on KBOO's future. We look forward to continuing our efforts to build a stronger community and better radio. As always, we invite the community to join us in this effort. Alan Baily KBOO Station Manager Freedom of Choice Kudos to Nigel Jaquiss for a well-researched and balanced article ["Readin', Writin' and Ritalin," WW, Feb. 17, 1999]. It's a complex issue. I'm a 56-year-old woman on Ritalin for severe ADHD. Just four years ago I discovered how having undiagnosed ADHD explained why I was unable to dislodge chronic failure from my life. Dr. Russell Barkley now wants to rename this problem Impulse Control Disorder (ICD). He has written a new book: ADHD, Self-Control and Time (in press). He believes it all hinges on impulsivity: being unable to inhibit a response or manage time/delay. This accurately describes my experience. I lack the choice-making ability most people take for granted. In a nanosecond, new stimuli take my attention away from my previous focus, which is then immediately forgotten or added to an overwhelming mass of alternatives. Just saying no to a new stimulus really is impossible, and trying harder compounds failure, making life miserably frustrating--impossible for some. Behavior modification doesn't work very well for people with ADHD, Barkley suggests. The environment must be engineered for success say Drs. Hallowell and Ratey in their now-classic book Driven to Distraction. Stimulant medications give back choice-making ability. They (somehow) stimulate the "say no" center of the brain. Ritalin is giving me some choices. I'm back in college training for a new career. For a change, change looks possible. Perhaps I can find success with the rest of the working world. Contact behkster@aol.com for information about a wonderful e-group for adults with ADHD. Becky Heath Vancouver, Wash. Taking Civil Liberties Sheriff Dan Noelle's job is to enforce laws, which are drafted by the Legislature and signed into law by the executive branch, or decreed by direct vote of the citizenry. He is therefore overstepping the boundaries of his position by using his official title and resources to amend the medical-marijuana law ["Dope Meddlers," WW, March 17, 1999] His efforts offend basic U.S. political philosophy in three ways. First, his intent is to alter the legal will of the people. Because of past citizen activism, the Oregon political system provides for direct citizen input into the creation of laws. This is a unique franchise, and we must aggressively protect it. Dan Noelle should be rebuked for attempting to undermine this democratic ideal. Second, the motivation behind his efforts is tainted with conflict of interest. His organization benefits financially from drug prohibition through federal, state and local funding and seizure laws. Third, his organization benefits also by extending its police powers since increases in police authority provide tautological justification for increases in police authority and, therefore, police budgets. Police departments securely entrench themselves within the fear they help to manufacture. How many cops did Clinton put on the streets this decade? And didn't Portland add over 80 just this year? Take a look at his proposal to have three annual searches of legal growers. This is Draconian. It violates the due-process rights of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, as extended to the states by the 14th Amendment, Section 1. Also, it necessitates a greater police presence (even where there is no threat) and increased police budget. What next, random searches of book dealers to make absolutely sure they don't have a stolen copy of the first edition of The Great Gatsby? We can never be too certain.... Right, Dan. After all, liberties and the Constitution just get in the way of your efforts to subjugate us naughty citizens. Whether Sheriff Noelle is motivated by philosophical opposition to democracy, a desire to increase police funding, a desire to suppress Constitutional liberties and create a police state, or even personal moral attitudes, we should not allow him to play out his intentions, especially when his strategy is to curb the freedoms of innocent citizens. M. Casey Condon Northeast Glisan Street A Modest Proposal I read your article regarding State Rep. Mannix and Sheriff Noelle's proposal to monitor medical-marijuana users ["Dope Meddlers," WW, March 17, 1999]. I would like to tweak the bill just a bit. I propose an addendum denoting that Mannix and Noelle be the people who do the random snooping of ill citizens who are certified to grow and smoke marijuana for medicinal purposes. If they propose such invasive and offensive laws, they should carry them out themselves--if the Oregon Legislature proves to have the same kind of forward thinking as the good sheriff and his political pal. I would think that Mannix and Noelle would be more than happy to heed this special calling, given that they are both politicians with a true love for meeting the people firsthand. This opportunity should not go unmet. Both righteous gentlemen can bring their political campaigns directly to the people who they wish would elect them for a next term. My guess is that either of these happy campers could safely amass a large statewide following and may seriously make a run for the next governorship with all of the grassroots followers that they're likely to accrue. Skipping merrily from house to house, they would almost certainly attract a large groundswell of worshipers applauding their every visit. Onward, gentlemen! You're ahead of the curve! Jim McDonald Monmouth Off The Mark The opening comments in the article describing the Boise neighborhood are blown out of proportion ["The Battle of Boise," WW, March 17, 1999]. You described Boise as a "pretty tough neighborhood" where "battered shops and businesses huddle behind iron grilles and barbed-wire fences, and the window blinds are drawn" and "drug activity around the Betty Campbell Building has become so intense." I live one block from the Betty Campbell building, and I don't know what neighborhood you were describing, but it sure is not mine. There are a few businesses with iron grilles on their doors, but you see this throughout Portland, not just Boise. The only barbed-wire fences are around the city's street maintenance yard and a shipping warehouse, which you find in any area of Portland, not just Boise. There are window blinds drawn in every neighborhood, not just Boise. There is drug activity all over Portland (Sellwood, Hawthorne, Milwaukie, etc.), not just Boise. I am in no way supportive of any kind of drug activity, but your description of it being "intense" is inaccurate. My neighbors and I feel safe when we go for walks and when their children are outside playing. The Boise neighborhood IS on the rise. I sure wish you would have gotten your facts straight, and I invite your readers to drive up Mississippi Avenue to take a look and see how your description was blown out of proportion. Ken Lembcke North Michigan Avenue On The Money Thanks for the March 17 article "The Battle of Boise." My husband and I have grown up in the inner city and have just recently bought a house on North Missouri and Fremont. Within two months of moving in we were burglarized, and I know it has a lot to do with the drug problems rampant in the area. We drive by the Campbell building daily and see drug activity frequently. Thank you for making people aware of what's going on. I hope a lot of people read your article and take steps in improving the area. Carrie Spears North Missouri Avenue One Size Doesn't Fit All I am writing to express a voice unheard in the article "Unlocking Doors" [WW, March 24, 1999]. I have been civilly committed in the Oregon State hospital system. 14 years ago, after my first discharge while living in a group home, the psychiatrist said I was severely mentally ill and would need to be in supervised living the rest of my life. Today, I have the diagnosis of manic depression. I watch my sleep and exercise daily but don't take medication. I live independently and work full-time helping other mental-health consumers in their process of recovery. I am sorry that this and other firsthand experiences of civil commitment were not represented at the attorney general's task force. We don't need more restrictive laws--we need an examination of why many individuals labeled with mental illness resist current treatment. Many individuals diagnosed with mental illness do not take medications because they believe medications are neuro-toxic. Medication damaged my immune system and liver and left me with chronic sinusitis. Restrictive civil commitment laws that force individuals into the one-size-fits-all, pharmaceutical model of treatment are very costly and don't work in the long run. We need to offer more to individuals in emotional crisis. I was terribly saddened by Mary's death. The demonstrated love that Carol has for her daughter will forever touch me. Mary Boos turned away from the mental-health system as many individuals with mental illness in Oregon do today. Let us learn from Mary's death. More treatment alternatives, not more forced treatment. Kevin Fitts Southeast Ankeny Street Careful What You Wish For Your article on loosening the commitment standards for "mentally ill" people is yet another attack on a group that has been continually attacked lately ["Unlocking Doors," WW, March 24, 1999]. At least one out of 10 Americans has been in a psychiatric facility, and there are several patients' rights groups in Oregon led by former patients, but your story failed to give that point of view. Thus, you portray mental patients as non-persons, unable to speak for themselves. I find this really frightening. Media portrayals of people with psychiatric labels as dangerous and subhuman prepare the public to accept stripping away their legal rights. This is reminiscent of the propaganda campaign against the German Jews in the 1930s. Please realize that making forced treatment easier won't affect just a tiny group of weirdos. In their own journals, psychiatrists claim that most people are crazy. A 1993 study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health claims that over a lifetime, over half the population is mentally ill, yet only 4 percent who "need" it receive treatment. Think about that before advocating that people should be forced to take psychiatric drugs, which cause serious brain damage and turn people into bloated and numbed-out near- zombies. The rights the attorney general wants to take away may be your own. Ted Chabasinski Berkeley, Calif.   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Willamette Week | originally published April 7, 1999