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A BIG THANKS Thank you, Eugene Weekly, for your endorsement and a huge thank you to all of you who worked so hard on the Kitty Piercy for Mayor campaign. I am so grateful and humbled by the outpouring of support for canvassing, phoning, volunteering, tabling, endorsing, planning, writing and all the pieces that made a great campaign. It was a nexus of so many different parts of Eugene and a very special moment in time. We did this together for all of us and for our community and we should all be proud. We have before us the opportunity to make this wonderful city even better through encouraging innovative and smart growth, supporting our educational institutions and social service infrastructure, continuing to revitalize our downtown, caring for our neighborhoods, and preserving the environment we love. We can do this in a way that capitalizes on our talents and respects our differences, where we really listen to each other. It is an exciting prospect. Kitty Piercy, Eugene
FOR THE BIRDS As difficult as it must be to present a balanced view of any given subject, the recent article denigrating wind power ("Blowing in the Wind," 4/22) fails to even consider other causes of bird deaths nor does it try to put wind power related bird deaths into perspective. Nearly any activity humans engage in results in an impact on nature and corresponding wildlife losses. Let's consider some of the more common forms of activities that result in millions of bird deaths per year. Electrical utility lines: 130-174 million; collisions with automobiles and trucks: 60-80 million; tall building and residential house windows: 100 million to 1 billion; lighted communication towers: 40-50 million; agricultural pesticides: 67 million; cats, both feral and domestic: 8 to 127 million; jet engines, smoke stacks, bridges and any number of other human structures and activities: 1 to 4 million per day. The National Wind Coordinating Committee (NWCC) completed a comparison of wind farm avian mortality with bird mortality caused by other man-made structures in the U.S and found that commercial wind turbines cause the direct deaths of only 0.01 percent to 0.02 percent of all those bird deaths. Next time EW tries to write a full-page article about something of which it has no understanding, I hope that the writer will take a few minutes to research the subject, rather than simply echo the press releases of wildlife activists. As well-meaning and important as the goal may be, sending an emotionally charged torpedo into the blades of commercial-scale wind facilities is the wrong tactic. Perhaps it would be better to dam up a few more rivers and grind salmon into paté to make electricity? R. Sparks Scott, Eugene
JWN'S VITAL VOICE I want to set the record straight regarding the Jefferson-Westside Neighborhood (JWN) in response to allegations by EWEB candidate Paul Conte in EW's endorsements (5/6). JWN is one of the oldest neighborhood groups in Eugene. While other neighborhoods have suffered from flagging attendance and support, JWN has remained a vital voice for neighborhood concerns. Just last month, Mayor Torrey publicly stated that JWN is one of the best neighborhoods in Eugene. Paul is quoted as saying that "the JWN has for some years been dysfunctional and poorly supported by area residents." Actually Jefferson Westside is one of four Eugene neighborhoods that meets all the city's criteria for full activity and has every year that the measurement has been in place. Paul also said, "Meetings are rarely attended by more than a handful of people." All neighborhoods strive to increase the involvement of their constituents but the reality is that in 2003 JWN held nine neighborhood meetings that were attended by 232 neighbors, an average of 26 per meeting. If the same percentage of Eugeneans attended City Council meetings, the average attendance would exceed 575. The elected Board is made up of experienced community volunteers including a teacher, two attorneys, retired union leader, legislative staffer, business owner, drug-dealer watchdog and former Neighborhood Leaders Council co-chair. In my opinion, as a board member for the last year and a half, and as past chair (1984-86), the JWN is fortunate to have committed and hard-working board members who bring a variety of perspectives that are representative of various neighborhood interests. Attend a meeting of your neighborhood organization and become involved in your community. Marilyn Odell, Board Member JWN
VOTE GEORGIE OUT I want my money back. I was promised entertainment with spectacular special effects while the "bad guys" were to receive "shock and awe." It was promoted as "Godzilla U.S. Meets Bambi THEM" inbred with "A Holier Than Thou High Noon." Instead, it's the bastard child of Platoon meets Pulp Fiction. Iraqi prisoners have been photographed being humiliated, abused and tortured. The American public is shocked and the entire debacle is God-awful. In the neo-con wet dream, greed, power and overweening ego-tripping were given full reign. George W., primed by messages from God, puppet-handed by Dick, and aided and abetted by Rummy, Ashy, Condi, Pearle and company, would flick the military equivalent of his silver spoon and the Middle East would come up hearts and flowers in two shakes of the proverbial lamb's tail. Turns out the flowers are on the graves of Americans brought home in government-enforced silence and the darkness of a government-enforced media blackout. Turns out the tail is attached to a tiger of frightening proportions. Now the misguided ideologues are doing their best to spin while dancing a backtracking Texas two-step, all the while counting on general attention deficit in the American populace to keep them in control after the coming election. Tell you what — keep my money. Just vote Georgie out of the White House where he does a dangerously lame job pretending to be president and send him back to Texas where he can pretend to be a rancher. Morgan Songi, Eugene
MORE SECURE? I do not feel as safe from the threat of terrorism because of actions that President Bush has taken since September 2002. Saddam Hussein was contained by the U.N. arms inspectors, the sanctions, and the military air patrols. Another problem in Iraq for us is that it is an artificial country created by the British. Democracy may not be possible where the majority Shiites have been denied their rights in the recent past, where the Sunnis are afraid of losing their control and power, and where the Kurds have been left alone and relish it. Maybe there are three countries. With patience we would have avoided many deaths and injuries to U.S. soldiers and the problems in Iraqi prisons. Are we pursuing the right policy? Do you feel any safer? Michael Mooser, Eugene
COUNTING ON KERRY I attended the rally for presidential candidate John Kerry in downtown Portland on Monday. It was one of the best political rallies I've ever seen. The speakers were enthusiastic, on message and stimulating. I was moved when Senator Kerry took to the stage and the crowd of 20,000 cheered incessantly. People in this country are so hungry for real leadership and Kerry's off-the-cuff remarks filled a void in the current political discourse and he won me over. Most of us have never seek Kerry in person, and he is indeed impressive — a great speaker with a message that it's time to get this country back on track. I agree with Kerry on the need for healthcare for every American; that we have taken the wrong direction in Iraq and with foreign policy in general; on the need for more research and development of alternative fuels and on needed improvements in the education system. I look forward to sending George Bush the 2,200 miles from DC to Crawford, Texas this Fall. Albert Kaufman, Portland
WHO'S TO BLAME? First we train our children to use deadly weapons of all sorts, be it automatic rifles, hand grenades, cluster bombs, bombs laced with depleted uranium, etc. Next we fill their heads full of fear and hatred and tell them they are fighting evil and that we are good. Then we ship them off to war in a far-off land. We give such adventures stirring names like "enduring freedom" or "shock and awe." But a rose by any other name is still a rose and even with a reassuring, inspiring name, war is still war. It is death, killing and destruction. It is organized legalized violence. These youngsters can't tell friend from foe. They are placed in an impossible position. To mentally handle the task, they need to somehow separate themselves from the so called enemies; make them out to be something less than human, in order to take their lives. Now we see inhumane treatment, brutality and torture in photographs and this we find unacceptable. We now label these kids bad apples and not acceptable. We don't put blame on those higher up who gave us this war, fought to have this war; those same people who trained these youth in the ways of killing and hatred, and shipped them off to kill or be killed. I definitely feel the blame lies a lot higher up in the chain of command, but I also feel the blame also falls on a society that condones such acts as this war. Tim Boyden, Eugene
SERVING COMMUNITY We here at Tsunami Books would like to commend EW for its excellent coverage of the recent Eugene city elections. Though one could possibly question the ground rules by which the paper determined the propriety of the individual candidates' voting records, EW's views were clearly stated and fairly held throughout the long, worrisome campaign season. It cannot be overstated how important it is for a newspaper
like EW to openly back a change of order at this time. Such a
change in our community is obviously desired by the overwhelming majority
of EW's staff (unlike choices made by Eugene's "other" paper),
as well as its readers and advertisers. A local newspaper's worth is
equal to the commitment it shows the community it serves. By the wealth
of small friendly business advertisers currently in EW, it's
easy to tell that business and Though we read EW somewhat religiously, Tsunami Books has refrained from advertising in it for some time now, due to past placement of certain ads. It appears to us EW's eye for layout has improved considerably. It's impossible to please everyone, especially within our diverse local progressive crowd, but EW really does try. Thank you EW. Our next advertising dollars are headed yer' way. Scott Landfield, David Rhodes, Eugene
LETTERS POLICY: We print as many letters as space allows. Please limit length to 250 words and submissions to once a month. All letters are subject to editing for length and clarity, and must include address and phone number. E-mail to editor@eugeneweekly.com, fax to 484-4044, or mail to 1251 Lincoln, Eugene 97401.
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