Credit: Zach Johnsen

“NOT REGULAR READERS” INDEED!

RE: “The Sanest Arguments Against Fluoride… and Why They’re Still Wrong” [Feature, way back on May 1, 2013].

DEAR MERCURY—Thank you SOOOO much for the lovely article about fluoride. We are a Portland-area general dentist, and we thoroughly enjoyed the TRUE facts you printed for all to read. We are not regular readers of your paper but we have all decided to give your paper more read time.

Dr. J.T. Eilers, D.M.D., and staff

AT THE WATER TABLE

RE: “Once More into the Fray” [News, April 16], interviewing a former city commissioner who is suing over utility spending.

DEAR MERCURY—Thank you for running the interview with Lloyd Anderson. I had the privilege of meeting Mr. Anderson at a recent event, where we were seated at the same table. I was impressed with Anderson’s acumen and breadth of knowledge. And I agree with him that a new corporate-friendly water district would not be in the public interest. What we need to do going forward is help reform the bureau, not replace it altogether.

Alan P. Scott

DIAPERS IN A KNOT

RE: “Doggy Dog World” [I, Anonymous, April 16], in which an anonymous author expresses frustration over the perceived ubiquity of dog poop in the city’s parks.

DEAR MERCURY—I don’t want to tell [anyone] whom they can or cannot hate, but hating all dogs because they poop is almost equal to hating yourself, because you also poop. This hate might be forwarded to the people responsible for the dogs, just as the supposed hatred for babies/kids in this town might be directed to the lazy parents who use disposable diapers. Although I have never stepped in a dirty diaper, I have seen a used disposable diaper after it had been ripped apart by a coyote. This diaper looked like a jellyfish from a planet far worse than ours, and it made me question how many disposable diapers are used in Portland a day? The country? The world? At least dog poop is biodegradable. Disposable diapers will probably be around until dinosaurs walk the Earth again. 

Mr. Lirpa

PROTECTION FROM OUR PROTECTORS

RE: “Arrested at Age Nine” [News, April 16], regarding the April 2013 arrest and handcuffing of a child after a scuffle with other children.

We need review boards with actual teeth, and we need to be able to fire cops for real, and blacklist cops fired for sufficient cause from EVER working in law enforcement again. The current [Citizen Review Committee] doesn’t have near the power we need, as Portland citizens are subject to roving bands of armed police with a federally documented problem that involves killing people.

posted by taiganaut

WHA HAPPEN?

RE: “Marijuana Advice from Washington to Oregon” [The Mercury Marijuana Guide, April 16], in which a Washington reporter who covers the rollout to the north dispenses advice based on what’s been learned thus far.

DEAR MERCURY—I don’t know how this happened, but in Washington now it is illegal to grow any personal marijuana including medical. What they’ve managed to do is funnel acquisition of marijuana through the state-managed dispensaries and cut out any personal growing of marijuana. Any person who can’t afford acquiring medical marijuana through the state is out of luck. Who wants to pay their exorbitant fees for a gram, anyway? So the people of Washington have [fewer] choices for acquiring their marijuana than before it was legalized. Make sure any petition you sign allows personal growth of marijuana.

Greg Judkins

EDGING THE WEEDS

RE: “A Strain for Every Brain” [The Mercury Marijuana Guide, April 16], in which staff members who don’t smoke marijuana attempt to do so without having a freakout.

I actually like that edgy, paranoid high; I love it when my little homunculus stares at the monitors and controls inside my head, shaking his head at the readouts and periodically barks into the PA system, “Settle down, damn it! You’re just high.”

posted by wolkenkaiser

CONGRATULATIONS to wolkenkaiser for being able to handle his weed! Shouldn’t have any problem taking two tickets to the Laurelhurst Theater for winning this week’s Mercury Letter of the Week right up to the counter and asking for what he wants!

5 replies on “Letters to the Editor”

  2. Why does the Mercury continue to antagonize a significant percentage of its readership by trying to discredit our views on 1) fluoride and 2) vaccines? I am guessing 50% + or – of your readers are AGAINST putting these things in our bodies or our children’s bodies. We may have different views than you but we are not dumb. We can cite experts and medical studies of our own. How about we call a truce and leave it alone? You’re not going to convince us and we are not going to convince you.

  3. And for Mr. Lirpa,
    When was the last time you stepped on a diaper and got poo all over your shoes and tracked it around and got it in your car or on your carpet or had to spend 15 minutes scuffing your feet in the grass trying to get it off? Nobody is denying that all animals poo. We just don’t want to step in it. Is that too much to ask? Clean up after your dogs, you selfish pricks.

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