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1 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 Top tax delinquents in Oregon include four from Jackson County ... Wet March expected for southwest Oregon ... Emergency Services ... Top tax delinquents in Oregon include four from Jackson County ... Wet March expected for southwest Oregon ... Emergency Services ... LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the Editor, Feb. 27 Comment MailTribune.com Writer Posted Feb. 27, 2016 at 12:01 AM Posted Feb. 27, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Social News A citizen's lament How does a country allow its own citizens to leave? Has it no pride in its own people? Perhaps, it has no pride in itself! Has it done anything to encourage the people to stay? Or, has it maintained the "status quo?" Mexico is the country that comes to mind immediately. Corruption, drugs and the cartel, and a huge facade of "macho" are all I hear about Mexico. And much talk about immigration. Also, other countries have established factories to assemble products as a place of employment. But what industry has the government initiated on its own? Have their sanitation and transportation problems been solved? Are they going to let the country be known as the drug capital of the world? When have they sent equipment, medical supplies or other necessities of life to a country that has had a disaster? Where else can their people be assisted, and often encouraged, and many times "scammed" into heading for the United States? Finally, why is our justice system, along with the incarcerated population, being increased by Mexican nationals? This citizen's lament was written on Jan. 6, but never mailed. Then, on Feb. 14, the Catholic Pope asked basically the very thing I am asking! Tom Ehrhart Talent Protect our water The grotesque spectacle of 104,000 Flint residents — including 9,000 tots under 6 — being poisoned must never be repeated anywhere. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder took the city off pure lake water and declined to spend a paltry $15,000 to treat the polluted river water so it would not leach toxic metals. But he was willing to find $440,000 in state funds so that GM could wash cars in non-corrosive water. It is hard to imagine such evil. Meanwhile, Nestle was bottling thousands of gallons of pure lake water at no cost to itself! Oregonians should act now to protect our own state's waters. We desperately need a constitutional amendment to prevent any government entity from selling off water rights. It is one thing to sell water to a shady international corporation like Nestle, which will resell it at a huge markup in disposable bottles that fill up landfills. That's just bad policy. It is another thing entirely to sell the water rights in perpetuity. We should never allow short-sighted elected officials, easily subject to corporate influence, to sell off Oregonians' water rights for a "mess of potage," as the biblical figure Esau was willing to do with his birthright. Alberto Enriquez Medford Solving the parking puzzle The parking situation rests solely on the Medford Planning Commission and Medford City Council themselves, because they failed to follow the rules and guidelines regarding off-street parking. When the SOU/RCC education complex was reviewed for permitting, the lack of parking was ignored. The same can be said for the Lithia building. One could argue that the city leaders put a higher value on both of these projects at the expense of the downtown businesses. These projects were promoted as a way to revitalize downtown. Yet business owners have yet to see the economic boost the city leaders espoused. As a result , we now have the city leaders building a patchwork of additional parking areas on the east side of Riverside from 10th Street to Lark’s across from the Lithia building along Bear Creek. It would have been wiser to build a parking facility where the city built the Commons Park and build the Commons Park where the parking lot was built. Having the park built along Bear Creek would offer a more family-friendly environment that offer views of wild life, nature, and Bear Creek, instead of the concrete jungle we have. Gordon Challstrom Medford Good for Trump I'm not even a Trump supporter, but I admire him for telling the mainstream media to take a hike. Ever since I watched the talking heads butcher Richard Nixon and Barry Goldwater, I've wanted to see a Republican front-runner abandon his executioners. Will Trump's walkout inspire the media to be nonpartisan? Nope. NBC and others were hardwired long ago to think that throwing rocks at Republicans and powder puffs at Democrats is balanced reporting. If we have more walkouts, maybe the "moderators" will turn pro and put their hatchets away. Ron Smith Medford Oil crash hurts I just read the following: "Crude oil plunges to nearly $30 a barrel and causes worries that it could financially sink a third of the oil producers." Our nation alone uses almost 20 million barrels a day. Multiply this times 365 days in a year and you understand why these companies can't afford to lose $40 on every barrel they pump. It's not just hurting our nation, all the oil producing nations in the world are at the brink, especially Russia and South America. Texas has a lot of small well owners and more than 30 who owe more than $13 billion have already filed for bankruptcy protection, according to law firm Haynes and Boone. The next time we fill our tanks up with gas, we need to remember that we did so at the great expense of someone else. This can't go on much longer, and if it does, it is going to get very ugly! Gordon DeVos Medford MailTribune.com Writer Posted Feb. 27, 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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