Letters to the Editor: Aug. 18, 2024

Getting it done

Having written so many letters asking that the city do something about what is generally called the homeless problem, I want to say thank you to the administration, council, police department, parks department, task force and associated quasi-governmental. They have made such an improvement in the city, in my neighborhood and in the ranks of those experiencing that way of life.

Maybe our motto should be, “The city that gets things done.”

Dean Klaus

McMinnville

Butts be gone

I had a doctor’s appointment the other day in McMinnville. As I was waiting to be seen, I was thinking about how it was going to the doctor’s back when I was a kid.

In 1962, doctors didn’t have offices in medical buildings. They’d buy a house in the neighborhood and convert it.

Going to our doctor cost $10 per visit. My mom would give me the money and I’d pay the receptionist.

Another big difference was the array of ashtrays.

Our doctor’s waiting room featured maybe half a dozen metal cylinders, about 2 1/2 feet tall. They had an ashtray on top with a button.

When enough cigarette butts piled up, you pushed the button, causing the butts to plunge down into the cylinder. As you might guess, the air in the waiting room was usually a light blue color from all the smoke.

The doctor had an office with a big wooden desk. You’d tell the doctor what the problem was, and during that talk, one or both of you might have a cigarette — even if you were there due to a cough.

I almost laughed out loud thinking about that scene taking place in a modern waiting room at the Willamette Valley Medical Center. Times change.

Fred Fawcett

Lafayette

Alarming decline

Mr. Trump has always been prone to jumbled sentences, non sequiturs, exaggerations, name-calling and outright lying.

But he is getting worse. After his Aug. 11 press conference, fact checkers identified — and corrected — 162 distortions and lies.

Is Mr. Trump pathological, demented or both? He makes Pinocchio look like an amateur.

How can we even consider electing someone for president who has such a tenuous grasp on reality that he seems unable to distinguish between fables and facts?

His most recent claim was that 15,000 people who attended a Harris rally in Detroit “didn’t exist” because he “couldn’t see their reflection on an airplane.” Really? Are these the observations of a sound mind?

His sentences are garbled, and he has strange fixations about crowds and sharks. He talks a lot about revenge and punishing people who won’t do his bidding.

His language has deteriorated to the point where it’s often completely meaningless, consisting primarily of inflammatory exaggerations or insults like “lyin’, cheatin’, crazy, sloppy, loser, crooked, low-energy,” and so forth. Such speech patterns are common in young children who lack the cognitive skills to conduct a reasoned discussion, but are alarming in a presidential candidate of such advanced age.

Mr. Trump’s behavior deserves serious attention, particularly given his age and family history of Alzheimer’s. He should be examined by independent, highly qualified and well-respected physicians, and their reports should be released to the public.

Fan or foe of Mr. Trump, voters deserve to know the state of both his physical and mental health. To ignore, dismiss, or condone this erratic behavior is irresponsible.

Margaret Cross

McMinnville