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2 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Medford councilors irked by leaks from closed meetings ... Police shootings weigh on Rogue Valley officers ... Wyden pushes for study of gun violence ... Medford councilors irked by leaks from closed meetings ... Police shootings weigh on Rogue Valley officers ... Wyden pushes for study of gun violence ... LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the Editor, June 30 Comment MailTribune.com Writer Posted Jun. 30, 2016 at 12:01 AM Posted Jun. 30, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Social News Dam, hatchery to blame I note there is again controversy over the decline of the Rogue River anadromous fish runs. The migratory fish (salmon, steelhead and cutthroat trout) have been here for millions of years until the recent precipitous decline in numbers and the increasing problems with moss in the river. Recently the reasons for this have now been attributed to "drought and ocean conditions"; sorry, but those conditions have also been present for millennia. So what has caused these problems? The answer, as usual, is man and his ignorance and interference with the natural order of things! Look no further: The cause of these problems, I submit, is the dam and hatchery, since the fish have survived the other conditions over those millennia. Cause and effect! In the '70s and early '80s we had runs of 40,000-50,000 wild fish until the boondoggle propagated by the Corps in bed with the Rogue Basin Association with their self-interests in mind (The Corps to spend their budget, the association equals real estate and tourism, equals money)! A group of us predicted this and fought the battle to no avail; this is what the people wanted after being deluged with unsubstantiated propaganda by said parties. Yale Sacks Central Point Do guns kill people? Hypothesis: "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." Here's a relevant thought experiment: If there were no guns, would just as many people be fatally stabbed, beaten, choked, poisoned or accidentally killed? Would people intent on murder, suicide or being accident prone just as frequently find other ways to kill or be killed? Answer: No, obviously! Only the ideologically deluded would believe otherwise. Guns do kill people. I say that as one who spent his youth as a gun owner/enthusiast and NRA member (before it changed its mission to promoting radical Second Amendment ideology) who could regularly hit a dime-size target at 50 feet and who still appreciates the elegant look and feel of a well-designed firearm. Guns do kill people, and no one other than active military and law enforcement (and the latter only because they would otherwise be currently outgunned) needs to have access to weapons that are for all intents and purposes effectively high-capacity machine guns; certainly not just because they're fun to shoot or because the NRA and the gun lobby finally convinced the Supreme Court to ignore longstanding judicial precedent and dismiss the relevance of the operative opening phrase of the Second Amendment. Ted Gibbs Ashland Brown silent on LNG For years, 700 landowners in Southern Oregon have faced the threat of a foreign energy corporation using eminent domain to take away their land for the company's 232-mile gas pipeline to Coos Bay. And for years, many landowners, as well as local nonprofits, have asked our state government to stand up for Oregon's environment, our land-based heritage. And for as long as Kate Brown has been governor, many of us have pressed her to oppose this LNG project, which will become the largest source of carbon emissions in the state. Her icy silence suggests that she simply doesn't know what to do. Now Kate Brown is coming to town, but not to talk to us. She's coming to ask us for money by attending a pricey reception to help fund her first gubernatorial campaign. Before she gets our votes, much less our money, Kate Brown needs to demonstrate to us that she actually knows what it means to exercise courageous political leadership. Otherwise, she's just wasting our time. Catherine Keys Medford MailTribune.com Writer Posted Jun. 30, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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