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A PLACE TO SPEAK March 15 was the official unveiling and dedication of the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza, and Saturday, April 2 the people officially put the Plaza to its intended use. The first day of the Saturday Market was sunny, bustling with people of all ages and the Wayne Morse Youth Program had the honor of sponsoring the first of many free speech celebrations at the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza at the Lane County Courthouse during the Saturday Market, in the spirit of the late great Senator. We had a people's dedication of the Free Speech Plaza that Sen. Morse would have been proud of. Many people came to express themselves in a civil and truthful way. They came and spoke to issues that were important to them. They came to share the stage of community functionality and gave a multifaceted view of opinion on various issues. We invite you to join us in bringing new light to old and new issues. No matter who you are or what color, culture, creed, sexual or political persuasion, young and old, we want you to speak out. Between the hours of 10 am and 2 pm every Saturday, you will have the opportunity to use our PA system to address the issues closest to your heart. We ask that you join with us in exercising our most cherished constitutional right, freedom of speech. You don't have to speak, you can just come and enjoy the community of diverse opinions that grace the Plaza. Read the stones, as they are bursting with insightful quotes from many wise and respected citizens, past and present. View the bronze statue of Morse and learn more about this awesome statesman. Many thanks to the wonderful people who worked hard to bring the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza to fruition. The Wayne Morse Youth Program is a non-profit, non-partisan, non-denominational, education program advocating for local youth. Dave Woods, Wayne Morse Youth Program
SOME BASIC RIGHTS I am a 25-year-old mother of two beautiful and intelligent children. I am also a lesbian. My partner and I live in fear that if something happens to either one of us, our children will suffer. There are no guarantees that if one of us passes away our kids can stay with their other parent. We also know that because there are no laws protecting our family, in the event of a tragedy my partner and children will loose everything we've built "together." This is horrifying. We live our lives the same way as any straight couple would. All we want is some security, and to know my family will be taken care of if something were to happen to me. Is that too much to ask? We are all humans and we all deserve to have equal rights despite our race, sex, or sexual orientation. Society should not be able to pick and choose who should and shouldn't have rights. Is this not America I live in? The land of the free? Where liberty is supposed to be for all, not just for people whom society deems worthy? All we are asking is for civil unions to be recognized and some basic rights. Rachel Morales, Eugene
OFFENDED Was anyone else offended by Joules Graves performance at Cozmic Pizza on April 2? Never before have I been part of an audience that was "shushed" by the performing artist and told to "Shut up!" while also being told she was "spilling her guts" to us. This was a standing room only crowd with pizza and beer being sold and other vendors at tables selling their goods or promoting their services. Above all, this was a fund raiser for the Community Village at the Oregon Country Fair, with an entrance fee of $12 and open to all ages. Did Joules Graves not realize this was a family affair when she then told the crowd to "Shut the fuck up!" in another attempt to have all patrons and guests be completely silent during her performance? I was offended and decided to leave the show immediately, missing the other performances that I preferred and came to see. While her folksy music might have emotional lyrics and deep meaning to some, it is not welcome by all, especially when trying to force it upon an audience in a self-righteous way. Her emotions of anger were apparent, but did nothing to help the build the spirit of community.
Kimberly Howard, Eugene
EDITOR'S NOTE: For the record, we also received a letter (not intended for print) praising Joules Graves for her patience in dealing with a rude and noisy crowd that night.
EL NORTE INSIDE What a delight it was to open the (4/7) Weekly and discover El Norte instead of an advertising insert! I read the entire paper immediately! I hope increasing its circulation will help El Norte grow. I'd love to see more than four pages in the future! Once again, thank you, Eugene Weekly!
Sabrina McNamara, Eugene
EDITOR'S NOTE: Not every paper last week had the Spanish-language newspaper inserted. In an effort to support El Norte, EW provided for the printing and insertion of 8,000 copies that were delivered downtown, in west Eugene and Springfield. Another 2,000 copies of El Norte were distributed to the regular drop sites around town.
MORE RADIO CRAP Over the past several years, there's been a lot of talk about how corporate ownership of TV networks has negatively affected the objectivity of television journalism. The reasoning goes: GE owns NBC; Disney owns ABC; and Viacom owns CBS — how can we therefore expect the affected news programs to report fairly and accurately on issues that concern those corporations specifically, and big business in general? Fair question. A similar one might be asked, right here in the southern Willamette Valley, only in this case the culprit is radio. I don't mean KPNW or KUGN; their doctrinaire rightist pap is well-established and expected. No, as I see it, the problem is with the much-applauded new Air America affiliate KOPT, which sadly seems to be headed in a similar direction. There was plenty of hoopla when Eugene/Springfield's "own progressive" station began broadcasting local programming a few months ago; but almost immediately it shifted right into "standard radio crap," i.e. giggly morning show hosts going on and on about their kids and dogs while lobbing softball questions to area leaders. Trite, timid and tepid; not, I think, the hard-hitting "red meat" so many of us had hoped for. But, it's hard to expect otherwise, given that the owner of KOPT is Suzanne Musumeci, wife of notorious hyper-developer and chief of the Gang of 9, John Musumeci (R-G, 11/9/04). And the claims of a "firewall" between ownership and content (ibid) are no more believable in this case than in the above. Bill Smee , Springfield
FOOL ME ONCE … At a recent townhall meeting (open to everyone, by the way — blue, red, or rainbow), Congressman Peter DeFazio described how President Lyndon Johnson used Social Security to hide the costs of the Vietnam War by funding it with the system's tax surpluses. It struck me that President George Bush is again using Social Security to hide the costs of war, this time by diverting attention from a real financial crisis to an artificial one. There is no Social Security crisis. Any potential financial problem down the road can be easily solved — as Congressman DeFazio suggests —by eliminating the arbitrary ceiling on taxable wages over $90,000 which unfairly allows the "Haves" to pay a lower rate of taxes than the "Have Nots." There is a real financial crisis, however: unchecked spending by the Department of War. We spend more on our military than all of the armies in all of the countries in all of the world — combined! While Bush keeps us busy shopping in the malls and fighting artificial crises, his administration keeps busy starving the beast of social spending while emptying our country's checkbook for the military. The traveling exhibit honoring fallen U.S. military personnel and Iraqi civilians reminds us to keep our "Eyes Wide Open." Bush also once admonished (or tried to), "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice ..." Benton Elliott, Eugene
MEDIA OBSESSION It seems strange to me how the U.S. major media obsesses so about how the nearly dead die as in the cases of Terri Schiavo and the pope. There seems to be a disconnect between the realities of how the brain/body work together to sustain the thoughtful interactions of people, and what the controlled media has to say on the subject. Heather Ladd's (3/31) letter partially explains this situation: When the rich and famous control the major media, really weird propaganda smothers the facts of our lives with the blubber of their fatuous mind-controlling statements. Only believe big U.S. media when it makes common sense. Bob Saxton, Eugene
UNRISEN A friend of mine (a Jewish gentleman and quite the wag) told me that, in response to recent Easter lawn sign sightings, he's thinking of placing a sign next spring on the lawn of his home in Eugene. Its message: "Passover: Unleavened Bread Not Risen." Jerome Garger, Yachats
TIGHTWAD GAZETTE Thank you so much for the "Swizzle" section in your 3/10 edition. Your timing was ironic as I was just trying to gather the same information and was going to send it to you soon. I was going to call it the "Tightwad Gazette" and list all the deals and regular entertainment at local pubs and clubs. It's like you read my mind! As far as your normal Clubs listing, I and many others still prefer the old way where you categorized events by the day instead of by the club. It's a much more reader friendly format when you want to quickly scan What's Happening on a certain night. I love the Weekly. It's alternative and positive and essential to our town. Could probably do without the cheesy sex ads on the last page. I don't think Weekly readers are the type to call those ads. Maybe I'm wrong but it seems to me that space could be better put to use. Anyway, thank you again and for all your effort. Lisa Ann Woodie, Eugene
NOT WORTH IT According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), there is a 95 percent certainty that 5.7 billion barrels of oil can be technically extracted from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This includes all federal lands, native-owned private lands and state-regulated waters of the refuge. The U.S. Dept. of Energy reports that the U.S. consumes 7.31 billion barrels of oil each year, and world consumption is estimated at 29.2 billion barrels of oil per year. Therefore, at current rates of consumption, the U.S. would burn through the entire estimated capacity of oil in the refuge in nine months. At what cost? The original "Arctic National Wildlife Range" was created in 1960 by Public Land Order 2214 "for the purpose of preserving unique wildlife, wilderness and recreational values." Further goals are: to conserve fish and wildlife populations and habitats in their natural diversity; to fulfill the international fish and wildlife treaty obligations; to provide the opportunity for continued subsistence uses by local residents; and to ensure water quality and necessary water quantity within the refuge. Would drilling for oil in the wildlife refuge serve any of these goals? There are many plausible alternatives to drilling in the refuge. For example, by increasing overall fuel efficiency by only one quarter of 1 percent each year, the U.S. would save 5.98 billion barrels of oil in just 11 years. Alternatively, if we increased overall fuel efficiency by 1 percent every five years, we would conserve 6.3 billion barrels of oil in those same 11 years. Is it really worth drilling in ANWR? John Day, Eugene
NOT HER PASSION? Regarding Eli VanCamp's reply (3/31) to Mark Frisbee's commentary (3/17):. While obviously not her intention, her remarks ironically back up Mr. Frisbee's statement: "Animal rights may not be your cup o'tea, and I don't blame you. It takes a lot to think about someone other than yourself." Ms. VanCamp, annoyed by his comment, states she is well aware of the despicable practices of much of the U.S. food industry, yet continues to eat meat; she disagrees with those practices and hopes to see them reformed and properly regulated; and she does not take action because the issue is not her "own personal passion." She acknowledges that blatant cruelty runs rampant throughout
animal agribusiness, yet she actively promotes and personally participates
in this cruelty by consuming meat — and, most likely, dairy and
She supposedly disagrees with the brutal practices, but apparently not enough to take a stand towards ending them. How is Ms. VanCamp able to ignore the suffering and cruelty forced upon living, feeling beings, claiming it is not her "own personal passion?" Quite simply, she chooses to think only of herself, turning a blind eye to the perpetual cycle of violence and deprivation perpetrated against defenseless animals in order to satisfy her palate preference. It's never too late to start thinking of someone other than oneself when it comes to making food choices, particularly in Eugene, where animal-friendly options abound. Barb Lomow, Eugene
QUIET, PLEASE I went to see a foreign film last week that got great reviews in EW. I think I liked it, but it was hard to concentrate — people in the audience were talking the entire time! Saying "shhh" many times didn't work — neither did changing seats twice. These weren't young kids, who might not know any better; they were adults ages 35-70 who should know better! I love the magic of going to the movies and losing myself in the film and forgetting about the world outside. It's impossible to do that when your attention is broken every few minutes by things like "What's that?" "He's eating an onion." "There's Louisiana!" Please remember that going to the movies is not the same as being alone in your living room — and keep your comments to yourself until after the show! Loren Asrael, Eugene
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