Lets see: declining test scores, increasing dropout rates, crowded classrooms, teacher layoffs, etc. Im happy to see that the Oregon Department of Education can disregard these trifles and concentrate on the real, pressing issue: school mascot names.

I guess enlisting the aid of the University of Oregon and this edu-babble legitimizes it somehow.

When does this all end? Agencies, governmental and others, continue to erode our freedoms. Whats next? Will Astoria High School have to change their mascot to the Fisherpersons? After all, Fishermen smacks of sexism.

ED CHASE

Warrenton