YOU DON'T KNOW OPPRESSIVE
B. Eliot Minor's letter criticizing the Multnomah County DA's Office and endorsing Dave Peters' drug usage missed the mark. His sanctimonious rambling indicates not only that he does not understand the significance of an oath or know what a really oppressive society is, but he also fails to grasp the fundamental truth even Oscar Wilde knew: hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue. Greg Ferguson, Southeast Brooklyn Street
AGAINST PARANOIA
Usually I am sympathetic with your editorializing, but I must oppose the paranoia you are spreading in your article on the killing of a mental health worker ["One Fell Through the Cuckoo's Nest," WW, Sept. 3, 1997]. St. Andrew Catholic Church has a high percentage of mental health patients. This caused me a little discomfort at first, but I came to know that they are the gentlest people and are less dangerous than the mainstream of society. Your article is a great disservice to my community. Please conform to the high standards of journalistic truth. Publicly restate your editorial policy and emphasize the harmlessness and neediness of the mental health community in our midst. Jim Anderson, Northeast 12th Avenue Maureen O'Hagan responds: Mr. Anderson seems to be taking issue with WW's statement that people with mental illness are more likely than others to commit acts of violence. Mr. Anderson is correct in stating that most mentally people are not violent; however, arrests and conviction rates for violent crimes are greater for people with mental illnesses than for the general population in every study in which they were measured, according to Out of the Shadows by E. Fuller Torrey.
FOR THE RECORD...
Unfortunately, Josh Feit's blurb about former Nike designer Trip Allen's tripping out of Nike ["Swoosh Be Gone," News Buzz, WW, Sept. 17, 1997] failed to mention one important fact: Allen is working for a competitor. Allen now has every interest in promoting himself and damaging his former Nike family. To be fair to your readers, this should have been noted. Lee Weinstein, PR director, Nike Josh Feit responds: Willamette Week readers should have been told about Allen's plans to take a job with Fila. I knew it and should have reported it.
RIGHT ON, RENEGADES
In response to the "50-Foot Hefeweizen" [WW, Sept. 10, 1997]: More power to renegade artists! Oregonians are fortunate to have a constitution that recognizes the sacredness of free expression. Part of the excitement of a city is the constant barrage of sights and signals in a downtown commercial setting. With painted signs as an example, such stimuli are rarely inartistic or unattractive. These temporal images enliven city views and, thanks to financial backing that public murals lack, exhibit imagination and quality that can't be approached by the inoffensive, wholesome wall-crap of artistically oppressed small towns. I find it interesting that the artless stiffs running the city have no problem encouraging commercialized architectural slop such as the Rose Garden, or cardboard-and-staples condos of the kind populating RiverPlace and the Pearl District. Backward-thinking dinosaurs in city government feel justified in imposing their tasteless suburban mentalities in the name of beautification, even when faced with a complete lack of public complaint. Meanwhile, Portland strives to rezone long-established neighborhoods and wild areas to accommodate townhouses and tract apartments. Make way for the slums of the future. At least they won't be marred by signs. Dale C. Sullivan, Southwest Vermont Street |
