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0 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 Guest Opinion: Forest Practices Act can (but doesn't) do the job ... Beer-hauling semi crashes, gridlocks traffic near Wolf Creek ... Ashland tests synthetic grass to save water ... Guest Opinion: Forest Practices Act can (but doesn't) do the job ... Beer-hauling semi crashes, gridlocks traffic near Wolf Creek ... Ashland tests synthetic grass to save water ... LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the Editor, Sept. 19 Comment MailTribune.com Writer Posted Sep. 19, 2014 at 12:01 AM Posted Sep. 19, 2014 at 12:01 AM » Social News Trauma center needed Your Sunday story about losing the Interstate-5 corridor during an earthquake didn't touch on one of the first concerns I have had about the many potential problems. When I-5 is destroyed in an earthquake, it is likely that all Medford underpasses and overpasses will be blocked by heavy debris. Assuming substantial injuries will occur as collateral damage, how do injured downtown and West Medford residents get to the two trauma centers at Rogue Regional and Providence hospitals? The time is now to build or rehab a building on the west side of I-5 to serve as a major emergency trauma center. It could be normally used for medical offices and other tenants, but be stocked with reserve emergency supplies and equipment, triage and trauma rooms, temporary beds for patients, ambulance entrances, etc. Advance planning would save lives. Having it near a seismically strengthened hotel/motel west of I-5 that could be converted to emergency hospital beds is also worth considering. Have there been detailed plans developed by the Metropolitan Planning Organization, in cooperation with all the emergency agencies including hospitals, civil defense and the American Red Cross? If not now, when? Claire W. Engle, Medford Don't buy rhetoric Anyone else tired of the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce's incessant bashing of Sen. Jeff Merkley on TV? Generally a "Chamber of Commerce" is a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further those local businesses. Freedom Partners is a collection of roughly 200 members with minimum yearly dues of $100,000. In 2012 they collected $256 million, an average of over a million dollars! They most famously include the Koch brothers. If you can afford your own health care, don't believe climate change is an issue (July 2014, hottest July on record for the Rogue Valley) and don't know anyone deserving of special assistance, by all means support the Freedom Partners. If you don't want out of the state multi-millionaires buying Oregon politics, let Jeff Merkley know you don't buy their rhetoric. Merry Harris, Medford Time for a change Well, the Democrats have given us here in Jackson County a poverty rate of 19.5 percent (16.9 percent statewide and decreasing), a 10 percent unemployment rate (8.10 percent statewide and declining), 25.9 percent on food stamps (20.9 percent statewide), and the likes of Kitzhaber, Buckley and Bates want us to re-elect them. No way! Clearly it's time for new leadership, which means electing Richardson, Card and Dotterrer as governor, representative and senator in November. Herbert Robb, Medford Manor millionaires? We are in Swaziland, Africa (the country with the world's highest rate of HIV/AIDS), just completing our annual six-week mission trip. We've been doing this for 10 years, helping at a children's home. Even at 81 years old, Jere builds trusses, makes cribs, beds, and screens, as well as trains Swazis in the workshop. This year I taught preschool, but have always helped in the baby house, and sorted/organized/labeled donations. In Medford, I volunteer at the ACCESS Food Share Garden where the harvest goes directly to the Mobile Food Pantry. If we were millionaires, we'd rather donate money instead of our valuable time and hard labor. We pay our way to Africa, for lodging, for food, for gasoline, and we bring donations. We could use someone like Carolyn Shaw in Africa, where her hands can do more than write a letter to the editor, like loving on crying babies. Janet Scott, Medford Another perspective I feel like I must reply to Ms. Shaw's vitriolic attack on the residents of the Rogue Valley Manor. Before one assumes that they are all rich, spoiled people, you must realize that this is a generation of people who worked and saved so that they could retire, and retire where they wished. The residents of the Manor are self-sufficient. Yes, the Manor is pretty and well kept, but they all planned and saved during their younger years so they could live in such a place. There are many lovely retirement facilities for our retired citizens to choose in our area. The Valley is lucky to have all of them. P.S. The re-skinning of the manor is not to make it prettier, it is to make it more energy efficient. Carol Nelson, Central Point MailTribune.com Writer Posted Sep. 19, 2014 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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