The Mid-county Memo is your newspaper. We want to hear from you. Discuss an important issue, respond to a request for comment or address a concern you want to call to the attention of the community. Letters to the editor are edited for space, style, grammar and issues of clarity. Please include your full name and identify your neighborhood. We prefer emailed letters to the editor sent to editor@midcountymemo.com. Put “Letter to the editor” in the subject line. You may also mail your letter to 3510 N.E. 134th Ave., Portland, OR 97230. Deadline for the November issue is Thursday, Oct. 15.

 

Take down that sign

To the Editor:

A Parkrose Heights resident says the Pacific Pawn & Cash sign hawking guns on Northeast Halsey Street at 114th Avenue is inappropriate. STAFF/2015

A Parkrose Heights resident says the Pacific Pawn & Cash sign hawking guns on Northeast Halsey Street at 114th Avenue is inappropriate.
STAFF/2015

Pacific Pawn & Cash is located at 11146 N. E. Halsey St. and daily displays a large A-board sign which says GUNS and which is exposed to the heavy traffic driving east on Halsey Street.

I find this offensive for several reasons:

First, most people know pawnshops buy and sell guns. Therefore, it should not be necessary to display a large A-Board sign—saying GUNS in bold red letters—near the street. Instead, a sign in the street-side window could be an alternative.

Second, the Portland Development Commission has been working with a committee to make the Halsey/Weidler corridor between 102nd and 112th Avenues more attractive, to get traffic to slow down and enhance the business community. A grant for trash bins and benches has been obtained as part of the improvement. New crosswalks will be put in. To have a store displaying GUNS (for sale) is certainly not the look PDC is striving for. In addition, the GUNS signage will be in close proximity to the new public plaza being designed for the triangle at Northeast 112th.

Third, a store advertising GUNS (for sale) does not seem appropriate, considering the number of drive-by shootings that have occurred in the area.

It would seem that if Pacific Pawn and Cash would like to be a good neighbor and enhance the “improved corridor” look, it should not put out the GUNS sign, but instead trade it in for one of the new benches or a trashcan. Possibly the Halsey/Weidler work group and PDC can work toward that end and enhance the livability of our area.

Concerned citizen, 

Velda Altig

Parkrose Heights resident

 

McDonald’s egg pledge is a small step

To the Editor:

McDonald’s recent pledge to start using cage-free eggs is only a small step in preventing staggering suffering endured by millions of birds.

Hatcheries that annually supply 200 million female hens for U.S. egg production, including cage-free, also kill the same number of male chicks at birth by grinding them up alive in industrial macerators or suffocating them slowly in plastic garbage bags. The female laying hens endure a lifetime of misery, crammed with five to six other hens in small wire-mesh cages that cut into their feet and tear out their feathers.

Eggs are common carriers of food-borne bacteria, including salmonella, campylobacter, listeria, and staphylococcus. USDA estimates that salmonella alone accounts for 1.3 million U.S. illnesses and 500 deaths annually.

Eggs contain saturated fat and cholesterol, key factors in incidences of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes. They are a common cause of allergies in children.

Waste from millions of egg-laying hens ends up in waterways, rendering vast areas unsuited for recreation or water supply.

The good news for compassionate, health-conscious, eco-friendly consumers is that our local supermarket offers a number of delicious egg substitutes and egg-free food products. Entering “egg-free” in a search engine returns tons of recipes.

Sincerely,

Peter Orwell

Hazelwood resident