Last modified: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 10:13 AM PDT Letters to the editor Help hard to find at Ontario City Hall Editor, Trust me ... do not ever try to get something done at city hall on a Friday. Our family had a family reunion in conjunction with the Owyhee Dam 75th Anniversary Celebration. The number coming continued to increase meaning additional picnic space would be needed. We decided to meet at Lions Park after returning from the dam festivities. It was suggested we contact the city to reserve space. I looked in the phone directory trying to figure out just who to call. No receptionist listed. This was about 10 a.m. (Friday, July 13, 2007). Call No. 1 to Parks (and Cemetery), a human being answered. I was encouraged that if we would like the shelter contact the front desk at city hall. Call No. 2 to city recorder — message machine, not available. Call No. 3 to public works secretary — message machine — not available; this time I listened to the entire message and heard, 889-7684. Call No. 4 to number given me — another message machine told me with someone or blah, blah, blah. Leave your name and number, which I did. Call No. 5 to Argus (to get number for front desk as I was not sure which number it was), was given both Kathy Daly, Recreation Department, and the front desk number. Call No. 6 to Aquatic Center, recreation — was told Kathy Daly would not be back until Tuesday. At 11:20 a.m. Suzanne from the city returned my call. Gave me information to reserve the parks, you need to make application 14 days in advance and there is a small fee. If reservations are not made, we just take a chance. At least the police department gives you 911 in case this is an emergency. I was told you can get a listing off the Web site. Without Internet, how do you find out? It seems strange, as large a business as the city is, someone would be in the various offices to take care of Friday calls. Your front desk help is overworked attempting to take care of the entire city business on Friday. Do you think there may be some multi-million-dollar inquiry that might get a wrong impression of Ontario’s efficiency? Marilyn Goul Ontario Thanks to Obon advertisers Editor, To our advertisers, members and friends: On behalf of the Idaho-Oregon Buddhist Temple we would like to thank you for your advertisement in the special “OBON” issue in the Argus Observer. This was our 61st Annual Japan Nite Obon Festival! We want to thank people like you for your continued support of our annual event. Thank you again. In appreciation, Idaho-Oregon Buddhist Temple Publicity Committee Ontario A confused citizen of Ontario Editor, What does the city manager do? I assumed he was like “CEO” and knew what was going on in his empire, such as know how to collect money owed to the city (Wal-mart?) and the city water fiasco. Also does he not get out and around town and see trucks, trailers and cars parked on the street, not to mention the weeds that grow all over town. Also I find it hard to believe my power bill is less than my water bill. I have talked to many people and why is one person’s water bill high than two, three, four or more in one house? Doris Egan Ontario Judge’s ruling should be overturned Editor, Our judiciary continues to discover hidden sociological riches in the Oregon Constitution as revealed by the recent Multnomah Circuit Court decision of Judge Eric Bloch. Among the few certainties left to mankind has been the fact that the earth is populated by men and women: mothers and fathers. While this has been true from the beginning of time, it has now fallen under question. Apparently Judge Bloch has discovered that our constitution guarantees that a female can now be a father under Oregon’s Domestic Partnership law. “Our family is no different than any other family,” was the response of K.D. Parman, the putative female father of that average family, whose name had been scratched out on the birth certificate issued to them four years ago. Among the values of birth certificates through the ages was that of maintaining a genetic paper trail on human births. Aside from the asinine assertion that “our family is no different ...” made by Ms. Parman, her fatherhood certified on a birth certificate would be nothing more than an official lie. Surely this judgment will not stand!? Harry Neuwirth Salem School bell shouldn’t have been given away Editor, To patrons, alumni of New Plymouth School system, re: School bell: The old New Plymouth school bell was recently given to Mr. Arlo Decker for his retirement gift from the school district Superintendent Ryan Kerby and with consent from the school district school board in May 2007. This school bell was donated, or left, to the junior-senior high from the old elementary school for special events and victorious athletic events clear back to the 1950s. The bell survived the fire of the old junior-senior high school in the 1980s, was repainted and structure stained with rollers. The previous plan was to have it mounted at the new building site, but plans and place were never finalized, but discussed periodically. This bell should have stayed with the school or have been situated with the historical museum as a reminder of the past buildings and structures of the New Plymouth School District and community. Mr. Arlo Decker needed to be rewarded for his years of service as a teacher, coach and principal, but not given the historic school bell (which I’m sure the value was less than $500, but not the historic value). This is also a slap in the face for all the other dedicated personnel, such as Moyle Brown, Don Carpenter, Joseph Hopper, Lois Moss, Dick Dillon, Jim Pinson, Lawrence Duclos and many other great teachers, coaches and principals. Please let your concerns be noted by contacting Mr. Ryan Kerby, superintendent (as it was his idea to give the bell away), and the school district board consented. “This was not theirs to give away.” Dan Pero Middleton Ontario dog ordinance should be rewritten Editor, All Ontario dog owners beware As some of you may know, there is a new dog ordinance in Ontario. I understand the need for an ordinance due to the attacks that have happened in recent years. Soon, though, most of the dogs in Ontario will be considered vicious because of the wording of this ordinance. If you are walking down the street with your dog on a leash, or even in your yard, and your dog approaches someone that is on the sidewalk and barks or growls, your dog can be deemed vicious. All that person has to do is say they felt the dog approached them in a vicious manner or that they felt the dog might attack them and your dog will be deemed vicious. The dog just has to act like a dog does when it feels threatened and it will be considered vicious. Especially if the person happens to be a police officer. Our dog was out, barked and growled at an officer and then ran away when he pepper sprayed in her direction (she never got close enough for him to actually spray her). This took place next door to our house, and she was deemed vicious. We had a professional dog trainer test our dog, and she did not find any vicious behavior, just a dog that will bark and growl if she feels scared. There is a long list of items they can make you do if your dog is deemed vicious, plus there is an extra fee for licensing of vicious dogs. This makes it a financial bonus to deem your dog vicious, more money for the city means more money for the police force. The officers give the complaint to the ordinance officer who is not going to investigate the complaint; he is going to take the word of the officer. Also, I might point out, none of the officers, including the ordinance officer, have any special training in handling dogs. They do not care if your dog is scared or aggressive. To them there is no difference. Therefore, untrained people are able to decide if your dog is vicious even if a professional does not agree. Whether your dog is a poodle or a mastiff, this ordinance affects you. We need to unite to change the wording of the ordinance and to require that the police officer have training that actually makes them able to make these decisions based on knowledge, and not their personal feelings toward dogs. Lastly, do not expect to get a copy of the police reports until you get a lawyer involved. We tried to get a copy so we knew what we were up against and could not get one until a few days before our hearing, almost three weeks after the incident. We also did not get a copy of the ordinance until we were at the hearing, as it is not available on the city’s Web site. Try to defend yourself against those odds. Lester and Gwendolyn Springer Ontario