MEMO BLOG Memo Calendar Memo Pad Business Memos Meals on Wheels Letters Home
FEATURE ARTICLES
The 411 on 211info
End of the road for Parkrose bus drivers?
100 years of good, clean living
Parkrose Middle School construction update
Beloved coach and P.E. teacher dies

About the MEMO
MEMO Archives
MEMO Advertising
MEMO Country (Map)
MEMO Web Neighbors
MEMO Staff
MEMO BLOG

© 2013 Mid-county MEMO
Terms & Conditions
Letters to the Editor..

The Mid-county Memo is your newspaper. We want to hear from you. Discuss an important issue or address a concern you want to call to the attention of the community. We prefer e-mailed letters to the editor sent to Darlene Vinson at editor@midcountymemo.com. Please put “Letter to the editor” in the subject line. You may also mail your letter to 3510 N.E. 134th Ave., Portland, OR 97230 or fax it to 503-249-7672. Deadline for the December issue is Friday, Nov. 15.

Put the brandy down
To the Editor:
I wish to take umbrage with Robert Dunagan's letter for Mark Gardner. Quote: “We do not have to join you in all your FAKE causes and activities as you suggest, before our collective voices have value.”

Mr. Gardner is a member of the Parkrose Lions Club. My husband was also very active in the Parkrose Lions Club and held office at the district and the state level. The local Lions Clubs support the Oregon Lions Sight and Hearing Foundation. The Lions have done much to help persons with their vision. The mobile screening unit has made persons aware if they have diabetes or other health issues.

Oregon Lions Sight and Hearing has some very dedicated doctors, one being the highly qualified Dr. Chenoweth, who saved my husband's vision in his left eye.

Please Mr. Dunagan, put your glass of brandy down and visit the Oregon Lions Sight and Hearing Foundations, or if you see one of the Lions mobile screening units, please avail yourself of its service. You will be very surprised.

Gladys Green

___________________


Don't break up the family
To the Editor:

I was disappointed to hear that the Parkrose School District is considering contracting out our transportation department. It's depressing to think the yellow buses that safely transport our children to and from school may no longer say Parkrose School District on the side.

Our school board has had to make some very tough decisions to balance our budget over the past few years, but Parkrose can't solve its financial issues by contracting out employees to the lowest bidder. Studies by the University of Oregon's Labor Education and Research Center prove that privatization won't save dollars and just doesn't make sense. Visit dontcontractout.org and see for yourself. The math doesn't add up.

But there's an even more important reason why the district should not do this: It is wrong. The drivers are essential members of the Parkrose School District family and a part of the community. They are proud of their schools and care about the children. If their jobs are contracted out, the drivers could lose their jobs and benefits. Is this what we want to do to our own?

We can stop this from happening by contacting our elected school board members. We voted them in, believing they would make decisions that best suit the district. It's time for us to let them know what we really think. Our bus drivers need us now. Let's jump in and offer them a helping hand.

Contracting out means losing local control of our student transportation to a for-profit-possibly foreign-owned-company whose primary concern is the bottom line. Not our kids. Not our community.

Let's keep our school busing local.

Gail Volk
Parkrose resident

___________________


Do yourself and your pet a favor-microchip
To the Editor:

My family and I moved to the Russell neighborhood recently. In September, our sweet cat Olivia went missing from our home. My search for her over the past weeks has led to my meeting countless neighbors, and to encountering so much kindness. It has also led to me learning important information about how to care for both one's own pets and stray or found pets, and I wanted to share it with Memo readers.

I thought I had Olivia covered because she was wearing two cat collars. I figured if she ever got lost people would be able to contact me, or would at least know she was someone's kitty, but at some point the plastic tag with my phone number on it broke, and I had not replaced it. When we moved to our new home I did not get a tag with our new address on it for her. Still, it was not a priority for me because Olivia is not a wanderer. I did not consider that she could easily get disoriented if something chased her, or if a loud noise spooked her out of the familiar confines of our yard. I really did not consider that her collars might come off, but that is what happened.

A kind neighbor saw one of the missing kitty posters I put up and called me. She had found Olivia's two collars in her backyard. They were intact. The only thing I noticed was what looked like an indentation from a claw on Olivia's plastic collar. Then I remembered how I have seen an animal back out of their collar when it was caught on something. Perhaps something grabbed her collar and Olivia was able to get away but lost her collars in the process.

I cannot express the depth of my regret that I did not microchip Olivia. I did not think there was any need to. I was so wrong! The week Olivia disappeared I took my other cat in to the vet and got her micro-chipped for under $50. When I think about the grief my family has been experiencing missing Olivia, the hours I have spent walking and biking around looking for her, the gas bill driving out to search for her at various shelters, and the bill for the photocopies of missing kitty posters and copies of cat photos, the resources spent far outweigh the cost of a microchip. Please consider micro-chipping your animal companions.

One evening I got a call from a neighbor who thought he might have found Olivia. I went over right away, and met more awesome neighbors, and an awesome cat. The cat wasn't Olivia, but she's clearly someone's beloved. My neighbors have been feeding her and going above and beyond trying to find a home for her and are clearly animal lovers. A trip to Argay Cat Clinic revealed a microchip. This cat is now back in its home.

My kind neighbors weren't aware of some of the resources out there to reunite lost pets with their people, and I realized I probably have many neighbors who might care for Olivia if they found her but not know how to get her back home. So I wanted to share some things they can do if they find a lost or stray cat.

If you find a cat or other pet:

* Please take the animal to a vet's office or animal shelter to have it scanned for a microchip.

* Please file a found animal report online, with a photo of the animal if at all possible, with Multnomah County Animal Services at multcopets.org/found-pet; Dove Lewis Animal Hospital at dovelewis.org/lost-and-found-pets/, Animal Aid at animalaidpdx.org/bboard/bbdisplay.php, and under Lost and Found in the Community heading on Portland Craigslist (portland.craigslist.org/).

* Please do the above even if the animal appears to be a stray. An employee at the Multnomah County Animal Shelter told me many cats are missing for six months, and after that long on the streets the most handsome pet would likely look like a stray.

* You can also file a report for a deceased animal at Multnomah County Animal Services and post on Portland Craigslist. This can help pet owners to get closure.

As for Olivia, she is a silvery dark and light gray striped tabby cat with a pink nose, white whiskers, and a lighter color tummy. She's a domestic short hair with a skinny tail. She has an extremely high-pitched mew, like a kitten. She is typically shy and skittish, but will likely come for canned tuna. She was very plump when she went missing on Sept. 11, but many have lost a lot of weight by now.

Please, would you be willing to check your shed or other infrequently used storage areas for Olivia and other people's missing cats. According to Portland Animal Aid, “This is the season when chilly, disoriented cats seek shelter and accidentally get shut in, sometimes for weeks.”

If you have any news of Olivia, please call or text me at 503-290-8255, or post a found pet report at the places listed above. I promise to microchip her as soon as she comes home.

Thanks so much,
Michele Pearce
Russell resident
Memo Calendar | Memo Pad | Business Memos | Meals on Wheels | Letters | About the MEMO
MEMO Advertising | MEMO Archives | MEMO Web Neighbors | MEMO Staff | Home