Albania and Thailand Rated `Partly Free'

I would like to correct some apparent errors in the opinion-page article ``Fledgling Democracies Perishing at West's Peril,'' Feb. 9.

The author states that Freedom House rates Thailand and Albania as ``unfree,'' by which he presumably means our category of Not Free. Actually, our latest freedom survey classifies both countries as Partly Free.

He refers to Albania as ``a Stalinist police state.'' Although Albania is a messy democracy with a bad case of totalitarian hangover, the term ``Stalinist police state'' does not apply to post-Enver Hoxha Albania. Like many other Partly Free countries, Albania and Thailand contain mixtures of democratic and authoritarian elements. That is why they are both in that category. Joesph E. Ryan, New York Freedom House Resident Scholar

Standing up for Oregon

I am disappointed and surprised by the article written as a letter from Ashland, Ore., ``Oregonians Shrug Off Image as `The Last Weird Place,' '' Jan. 31.

The writer missed an opportunity to find good in the events occurring. Oregonians certainly are not weird, different, strange, and above all boring. The little town of ``Boring'' was named after a pioneer.

Oregonians are warm, civic-minded, cultural people; we have the finest symphony in the United States. Barbara Pennington, Milwaukie, Ore.