Letters to the Editor: Nov. 16, 2016

Biggest losers

Oklahoma taxpayers are the biggest losers of this election. The referendum does nothing to remedy the deep and persistent problems with the death penalty in our state and may cause even more dysfunction. Now we all must foot the bill to defend SQ 776 when it is challenged in court and then thrown out.

SQ 776 was expected to pass with at least 72 percent of the vote, so this result signals a significant shift in attitudes on the death penalty in our state, echoing a trend we are seeing across this country, and indicates just how out of touch the Oklahoma Legislature is on this issue. The Sooner Poll found that more Oklahomans prefer the alternative of death by incarceration — true life without the possibility of parole — over capital punishment when given that option. We look forward to the findings of the Henry Commission so that we can all have a discussion on the merits of the death penalty itself. Oklahoma should have that discussion, because we know that support for the death penalty drops when people understand the real facts about how the death penalty operates in practice.

Connie Johnson, chairperson of the Say No to SQ776 Committee Oklahoma City

Greenie weenies?

Well, I see that some progress is being made. Nathaniel Batchelder’s letter in the Oct. 19 issue of Oklahoma Gazette (Opinion, Letters, “Warming to reality”) states that “95 out of 100 scientists agree” that humanity is well on its way to seriously damaging the living systems that sustain life on earth.

The greenie weenies used to state that 99 percent of the scientists were in agreement with this. I made frequent sales calls on some of the leading research and development laboratories in the world during my 50-year chemical sales career. A large number of the people I called on were PhD chemists, physicists, microbiologists, etc. I never encountered a single one of them that professed to believe in manmade global warming. Many scoffed at the notion.

I well remember when scientists used to say that the atom was the smallest particle of matter and could not be split. The Japanese might beg to differ.

With regard to the 195 nations at the Paris Climate Summit agreeing to plans to reduce CO2 and methane gas emissions, just how many of them are willing to seriously damage their economies and reduce their standard of living to comply with stringent controls? Just how many of them are truly qualified climate scientists with no political agendas?

The Industrial Revolution was fueled by fossil fuels, and our quality of life was greatly enhanced due to this. The advent of fossil fuel lamp oil is credited with helping to greatly reduce the number of whales being slaughtered for lamp oil.

People who promote this theory apparently have no idea or appreciation of what effect the sun has on our temperature or knowledge of past geologic climate events.

Mickey McVay Oklahoma City

Corrections

>> Food brief “Wine Walk” (Food, briefs, Greg Elwell, Nov. 2, Oklahoma Gazette) ?incorrec?t?ly reported? ?the date of Oklahoma Wine Walk. The event was Nov. 5. We apologize for the error.

>> In the July 28 story “Questionable changes,” by reporter Greg Elwell, Gazette incorrectly reported ABLE permitting requirements if State Question 792 passed. In and out-of-state wineries must purchase an annual $150-$300 direct wine shipper’s permit from Oklahoma’s ABLE commission to ship up to six 9-liter cases of wine to Oklahoma residents. Law restricts the shipments to varieties not already available in Oklahoma stores. Additionally, consumers over age 21 may order shipments of up to 30 9-liter cases per year. Consumers are required to obtain a “direct wine consumer” permit. The bill language does not establish the cost of the direct wine consumer permit.

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