Letters to the editor: Nicholas Kristof, the COVID-19 vaccine and a river rescue

Saved on the Siuslaw

On Dec. 31, 2021, I was thrown into a very cold Siuslaw River when my drift boat flipped over on me while attempting to land a steelhead.

The outpouring of kindness from people, many of whom I didn't know, has been overwhelming and humbling.

I would like to thank the young man who helped me onto shore and up the steep bank to the road. Unfortunately, I was unable to get his name, but won't forget what he did for me.

Also, I would like to thank the state trooper from Florence and the Veneta EMS for administering first aid to my injuries.

This experience has reinforced to me how lucky we are in this country to have so many caring and helpful people.

One last comment — wear your life jacket. It helped save me.

Steve Tenhaeff, Springfield

Something different

One hears over and over how unhappy Oregonians are with the economy, COVID-19 restrictions, forest fires, crime and issue after issue. And yet as an old adage goes, the definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Voters elected John Kitzhaber, then Kate Brown and then re-elected Brown. In 2022, it’s time to elect a governor again. Maybe it’s time to try something different. Just saying.

Stan Kluth, Eugene

Trump and Kristof?

Nick Kristof is barking up the wrong tree.

Since he feels rules don't apply to him, instead of trying to hoodwink Oregon folks he needs to apply for a job in the Trump organization. That way the two of them can deceive, fool, connive, pretend, promise but not deliver and in other ways carry on the tradition of Donald Trump. What a great team they would make.

Barry C. Smith, Eugene

Kristof won’t have my vote

The other night my husband and I watched the old movie “Silverado.” In it, when Danny Glover’s character is refused a drink in the saloon because he’s Black, he says, “It ain’t right.” All the white guys sit quietly and watch him get beat up and thrown out. It ain’t right, but it works for white people.

We know it ain’t right that an overwhelmingly white and male mob sought to take back by force what they could not accomplish in a peaceful and democratically conducted election.

We know it ain’t right to refuse to turn over records to a deadly riot.

We also know that when you cast a ballot in another state you are no longer a resident of Oregon.

Democrats in red states are fighting tooth and nail for the right to vote. Meanwhile, Democrats in Oregon live in a blue bubble. Bending the rules in Oregon muddies the water. You can’t claim to live in one state, then vote in another. Isn’t that voter fraud? If Nicholas Kristof wants to run for governor of Oregon, he won’t get my vote because it ain’t right. I won’t compromise the argument for voting rights elsewhere. Plain and simple.

Margaret Moore, Eugene

Based on fact and law: Put Kristof on the ballot

It’s ironic that in this era when Republicans are doing all they can to restrict voting access and transform elections to “selections,” Oregon’s Democratic secretary of state chose to deny voters the opportunity to vote for Oregon native Nick Kristof. Her decision, if allowed to stand, removes the biggest obstacle to electoral success for other career Democrats who work alongside her in the Capitol Building.

Kristof happens to be a political outsider, the kind that Oregon could really use now. Fortunately, the Oregon Supreme Court recognizes that determinations of ballot eligibility fall squarely within the domain of the judicial branch of government. \

Retired Supreme Court Justice William Riggs wrote a legal opinion two weeks ago on this topic and concluded that Kristof is indeed an Oregon resident, even though his job required him to live in other places around the world during his lengthy, brilliant career as an acclaimed journalist and humanitarian. Three former Oregon secretaries of state agree with Riggs.

I attended law school with current and former members of the Oregon Supreme Court, and unlike the U.S. Supreme Court (and our secretary of state), I know they will decide Kristof’s eligibility based on the facts and the law.

Dan Neal, Eugene

Go serve your false god

I watched the videos of the people attacking the U.S. Capitol as they shoved and stole and yelled. I know them. They are my neighbors, townspeople, sports fans. Many are my age — raised to revere democracy and freedom. I want to shout at them, "Knock it off!" If you want to be owned by Trump, be owned by Trump.

If you want to serve him and adore him, then serve him and adore him. Give up your freedom if you want. This is America. But don't try to force me to give up mine. I love my freedom from dictatorship. This is America for me, too. Go serve your false god, but leave me alone.

Candy Neville, Eugene

What’s the big deal?

I was in a local market today and there were three customers not wearing masks. I was shocked to see this as I believe that mask wearing indoors is a state mandate.

I asked an employee about it and was told they offer masks to customers, but if they refuse, the customers are allowed to shop unmasked. Apparently, we’ve entered a new phase where the people claiming their individual rights for going unmasked have acted in such threatening and violent ways that store owners have given up.

How dare these self-centered individuals put others in peril not just by threatening someone who asks them to follow the rules but also by subjecting every stranger they come in contact with? Then I thought about how my individual rights are curtailed by other laws protecting our community. For instance, sometimes I’m in a hurry but have to stop for a stop sign. That silly law infringes on my right to drive down the road unimpeded. Why should I have to inconvenience myself for the safety of others?

Wearing a mask to protect yourself and others is so easy to do why make such a big deal out of it?

Teresa Dobles, Eugene

SCOTUS right on vax mandates

Steve Mozena is right. We must demand return to normal life, as urged back in October 2020 in the Great Barrington Declaration by three distinguished Harvard, Stanford and Oxford epidemiologists, signed by 61,678 health professionals and scientists worldwide.

Yet seemingly entranced, media-terrorized citizens mask themselves in open air and their own cars, oblivious to COVID-19 case recovery rates over 99% for age groups under 55, with almost all fatalities involving serious co-morbidities making cause-of-death uncertain. The Nuremberg Code requires informed consent for all medical procedures, including risk-benefit comparison. With little fatality risk there is little benefit and no legal justification under FDA regulations for experimental lipid-mRNA injections with “adverse events” documented in CDC’s Open VAERS* including 21,382 deaths, 36,758 permanent disabilities and 39,678 heart and vascular emergencies through December 2021 that haven’t spared the young.

Moreover, “case” identifications are highly questionable and effective early treatments have been suppressed by public health bureaucrats, causing thousands of needless deaths among co-morbid elderly. Lockdown measures have caused appalling destruction of Main Street economies and public wealth transfer to billionaires and multi-national corporations. Preventing normal human interactions causes severe social, psychological and health impacts. SCOTUS has rightly stayed vaccine mandates.

This begs criminal investigation.

Jack Dresser, Springfield

*Editor's note: Should you visit openvaers.com/covid-data, read the CDC Disclaimer.

Kindness and compassion with EPD

It looks to me the Eugene Police Department is learning from past fatal mistakes when responding to the mentally ill.

I recently called 911 when a friend threatened suicide with a knife. Instead of sending CAHOOTS, EPD sent about a half-dozen armed policemen, so I feared the worst. However, EPD also sent a negotiator, who was able to talk my friend into dropping the knife and letting them take him to the hospital.

I was impressed with the kindness and compassion shown by the whole group. Kudos to the EPD.

Joella Ewing, Eugene

Overcome our fears

How can we move forward with such division in our country and government? What do we all have in common?

We all love this country and worry about the future. Some fear oppressed minorities will win control and treat white Americans as badly as they have been treated. Others fear a future in which armed, ultra-right extremists, like those that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, will overturn our democracy and terrorize any who oppose them. But we all worry about the future of this wonderful country.

Rage at the other side might feel good, but we must stop fearing, hating and loathing each other. We must turn off Fox and Friends, put away our guns and listen to and respect each other. There is no path back to the America made great by the shared suffering and sacrifice of our parents and grandparents. Anyone who tells you so is lying and trying to make a fool out of you.

We can only make America great by overcoming fear. We must listen to and work with those different than ourselves regardless of income level, race, religion, creed, gender identification, sexual orientation or place of national origin.

Donald M. Brasted-Maki, Eugene

Stop driving us away

I read with sadness The Register-Guard's decision to stop publication of its print newspaper on Saturday beginning on March 24. I don't know if this is just the beginning of an overall halt in delivery services.

First, newspaper size was reduced, then delivery was halted on important holidays, and now once a week there will be no print newspaper. As we all know, print publications have been facing a multitude of challenges, including higher operating costs, competition from online media and decreased readership.

Even though The Register-Guard claims to have ample online offerings, not everyone, including myself, wants the eye strain or sleep disruption that comes from constant exposure to bright screens and prefer tangible print instead. This is not to mention potentially alienating a large customer base for print publications, the elderly, some of whom may struggle with accessing the online version. The R-G needs to focus on retaining its existing customer base, not further driving them away in what already appears to be a downward death -spiral.

Erica Lyon, Eugene

Trusting the stories

Somebody sent me a free sample copy of The Epoch Times. After paging through it, I noticed that there are no advertisers, except for ads for other reading materials produced by The Epoch Times. It made me wonder how it can afford to pay its workers without advertising revenue. The stories sound like they were written my brother in Ohio or my brother-in-law in Nevada.

Does it actually hire reporters who go into the field, or do its writers just read what other newspapers report, then make up their own stories?

I would have written to The Epoch Times, but there is no letters-to-the-editor section in The Epoch Times.

Thank you, Register-Guard, for your quality journalism. I don’t always agree with the opinions, but at least I can trust the stories.

Margaret Moore, Eugene

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Letters: Nicholas Kristof, the COVID-19 vaccine and a river rescue