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Letters to the Editor, June 30 Friday Jun 30, 2017 at 12:01 AM Does this make sense? Recently, my wife and I went to an open house. This beautiful home sits on a knoll overlooking Medford. It has a six-car garage with a garage for a motor home. It is a three-story home with six bedrooms and six baths. It has a gorgeous infinity swimming pool and spa. This beauty comes with two cooking areas, one overlooks the infinity pool. You cannot begin to imagine what this 8,000-square-foot, high-ceiling home with its many amenities looks like. I finally got around to asking what the taxes would be on this beautiful home. The realtor said it would be about $20,000 a year. Which brings me to the reason for writing this letter. Taxes go up 3 percent a year and are compounded every year. We are paying taxes upon taxes for our homes. Originally, the 3 percent tax was enacted so that taxes could not exceed that amount but the powers that be seem to think automatically raising them 3 percent each year is the way to go. Does this make sense to you? Gordon DeVos Medford Some sanity left About little are climate scientists more confident than that global warming is happening at an alarming rate and that human-induced emissions of climate pollution are responsible. This phenomenon poses an existential threat to humanity because climate projections suggest greenhouse gas emissions may dramatically compromise not only global natural systems and biodiversity, but also agriculture, fisheries, and forestry across the planet. There are very few, if any, concepts that are endorsed by as high a percentage of the scientists practicing the discipline (97 percent), by every professional scientific society and academy of science expressing an opinion, and by every nation on the planet besides Nicaragua, Syria, and now — thanks to this callous, indifferent, and self-centered president — the United States. Fortunately, there is still some sanity left. Within hours of the president’s announcement, 10 governors (including Oregon’s Kate Brown) and 61 mayors across the country indicated they would commit to upholding the goals of the Paris Agreement. Simultaneously, CEOs of many major multinational and U.S. corporations expressed disappointment in the president’s decision. Our Legislature can assure Oregon stays on track with Paris targets by passing HB 2135, the Clean Energy Jobs Bill. Encourage your representatives to support this bill. Kathy Conway Jacksonville Democrats are in control Through several administrations, I have observed that regardless of the majority party, the Democrats were pretty much in control. This is maintained by a large majority of bureaucrats doing their will, and not much subject to Congress or the president. Now, for the first time, Democrat bureaucracy is threatened, and they are reacting like trapped animals. I think some of President Trump's actions are misdirected, and I don't have much confidence that he can accomplish those that are right. But his program is far better than those who are screaming and scheming to maintain bureaucratic power. An example is the EPA, so power-hungry that they schemed to get control of every drop of water in the country. Trump is right to choose administrators who will not do the will of the bureaucracy. Ira Edwards Medford