 |
  |
|
 |
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||||||
BRIDGE PORK In spite of increasing prices and decreasing supplies of fuel, politicians have authorized spending millions of tax dollars (and millions of gallons of fuel, including for production of steel and concrete) to build a temporary I-5 Willamette bridge, so they can spend many more millions to tear down the existing, functioning, probably repairable bridge and replace it with a new one, then tear down the temporary one. Now they want to build two more bridges, over the river and the railroad track, as part of an interchange for more convenience of people traveling between Eugene and the north (see cover story, 11/10). Bridges are costly and disruptive to the environment. They are not good places for the complications of interchanges. An improved Glenwood Boulevard interchange certainly makes more sense, but either location WOULD encourage "big-box development" in Glenwood, where there's room. As fuel prices continue to rise, traffic congestion will be relieved, and long-distance travel reduced, probably more quickly than the interchange would get built. I see most career professions usually being less concerned with furnishing needed products and services than with creating more jobs (make-work welfare), bringing federal and state money to the local area, with a lot going to those with already more than their fair share of money. Instead of creating more jobs to match the population, we should be looking at reducing the population to match the real work needed, such as maintaining and improving schools to create better communities. Dan Robinson , Eugene
TIME TOGETHER To David Constantin: I read your article, Pain is Relative, in the Nov. 17 EW. I'm sorry you are expecting your Christmas experience to be so painful. Let me tell you about mine. My family during the holidays is really two families who have been sharing Christmas and Thanksgiving together since 1955; four parents, and seven children then ranging in age from 16 to 1. Since that time the families have grown, and more or fewer of us have shared more or less every Thanksgiving and Christmas day together. Those of us who have not been present on any given occasion have always thought lovingly of the others in our absence. We make the effort to come from all over, to share a meal or a day or a weekend, because we love each other. My mother, the last of the four original parents, died in February. Those of the next generation (and we now range from 50 to — well, never mind), and of the next, and yes, now of the next, will once again meet to share our lives and our love for a brief time. We will remember George and Leta and Herb and Grace, and we hope that those to follow will remember us as we pass as well. No, we won't always agree. Yes, I will laugh at some of the things my sisters do. And they'll laugh at me. And we'll laugh at each other. And we'll eat too much, and some of us will drink too much. And some of us get along well, and some get along less well. Yes, there will be presents: fewer for the older folks, more for the younger. Some of the gifts won't see Dec. 26 intact. But it doesn't matter. It's the giving and the sharing that count. And we will be sitting together at table, sharing food, sharing history, and sharing the short time we have together. That is the torch that we were handed by our parents, that we have borne gratefully, and that we pass to the next generation with so much love it makes my eyes well up as I write this. And that is what Christmas is about to me. Would that it would extend to the world. I wish you and yours the very best for the holidays. Larry Moran, Eugene
TURKEY REVENGE This Thanksgiving, President Bush will pardon a turkey as a promotional gimmick for the turkey industry. This Thanksgiving, each of us has the same power to pardon a turkey, but as an act of kindness, compassion, and giving thanks for life, health, and happiness. The 300 million turkeys abused and slaughtered in the U.S. each year have nothing to give thanks for. They breathe toxic fumes in crowded sheds. Their beaks and toes are severed. At the slaughter-house, workers cut their throats, and dump them into boiling water, sometimes still conscious. The turkeys do get their revenge. Their flesh is laced with cholesterol and saturated fats that elevate the risk of heart disease, stroke, and cancer. Careful adherence to government warning labels is required to avoid food poisoning. Any day now, they will be bringing us bird flu. This Thanksgiving, I won't be reading the warning labels or calling the Poultry Hot Line. I won't be staying awake at night wondering how that turkey lived and died. I will be joining millions of other Americans in observing this joyful family holiday with nonviolent delicious products of the harvest: vegetables, fruits, and grains. My holiday meal may include a mock 'turkey' made from soy, lentil or nut roast, stuffed squash, corn chowder or chestnut soup, candied yams, cranberry sauce, pumpkin or pecan pie, and carrot cake. An Internet search for "vegetarian Thanksgiving" will provide more mail-order items and recipes than I'll ever need. Edward Newland, Eugene
BAD COP, NO JOB Lao-tze wrote "Conduct your victory like a funeral." This seems appropriate advice in the wake of the passage of Eugene City Measure 20-106. When I came here, Eugene was a town: a college town, a timber town. It has doubled in population between then and now and taken on the complications of being a city. We are just the latest to undergo this change — decades of justice denied leading to citizen action to control police misconduct. Misconduct is way too mild a word to encompass the damage the likes of Magaña and Lara did. It remains to be seen if there is a flood of complaints when the new system is fully in place. One thing is clear though, the policy of omerta, a criminal code of silence, is over. An old friend summed it up with "Bad cop, no donut." I say "Bad cop, no job." Paul Prensky, Eugene
SARDINIA TOWN Now I know the real reason the city crammed the sewer system down our collective throats in Santa Clara. "It is to save the ground-water," we were told. Ha! How's this for a reason? Landowners are selling out to developers big time, some who don't even live in Oregon. Sardine-type housing is being jammed into our once-green neighborhoods without regard to existing lot sizes. Twenty-four homes crowded into an area that now accommodates 12. It's not just the disparity in lot sizes. The sardine-style housing, which utilizes almost every square inch of lot size, virtually eliminates yard space and is already straining the existing street system here in Santa Clara. Since the new sewer system went in, our once beautiful land has been converted to narrow asphalt streets winding through manufactured homes and tightly crowded tract housing. The Eugene Code 9.0020 purpose states these are key words only: Ensure an orderly planned use of land, provide adequate light, air, and open space, preserve aesthetic qualities of the community. Yeah, right! The code also allows the opposite to take place. Houses are being built at an alarming rate without regard to traffic and overpopulation problems. Madison Middle School is near capacity and Awbrey Park Elementary has been over crowded since Santa Clara Elementary closed. In short, our once beautiful community of Santa Clara is being legally raped right before our very eyes. Thank you very much, Metro Plan. Cliff Coles, Santa Clara
BETTER READING? It would be interesting to read EW columnist Sally Sheklow's insights about closeted gays in the Bush regime. The chair of the Republican National Committee is gay. The Bush White House had a male prostitute posing as a journalist (under the nom de guerre "Jeff Gannon"). U.S. torturers at Abu Ghraib engaged in sexually explicit sadistic torture. Cheney's chief of staff, the indicted "Scooter" Libby, wrote a 1996 novel titled The Apprentice with a pedophilia and bestiality theme (yuck!). These hypocrises in the ruling elite would be more interesting topics than Ms. Sheklow's domestic life. EW columnist Mary O'Brien could explain how she promoted a new, worse route for the West Eugene Parkway in September 2002. This option was developed by Crandall-Arambula, a Portland architecture firm which was also working for the PeaceHealth relocation project. Their proposal recommended 10 miles of new expressway construction (ODOT only wants six miles) and would have undermined nearly all legal objections to the WEP, should the project be challenged in federal court. This option threatened the Royal Blue Organics farm and would have clearcut more forest and paved more wetlands than ODOT's proposal. Details are at www.permatopia.com/wetlands/crandall.htmlAt the Nov. 10 Metropolitan Policy Committee meeting, State Rep. Robert Ackerman claimed that the environmentalists say a new expressway is needed, and the main promoters of this now withdrawn Crandall-Arambula option declined the opportunity to publicly refute this claim. Environmentalists and "progressives" need to discuss why we usually lose in order to move past failed paradigms so our shared visions will have a chance of implementation. Mark Robinowitz, Eugene
METH NIGHTMARE Yes Chris Pender, we do have an epidemic! You questioned this in the Nov. 10 issue of EW. There are now mothers giving birth to meth addicted babies, and have been for the last 20 or so years I've lived here. When my son was 14 he was slashed in the face several times with a broken glass bottle by a 19 year old on meth. He will carry these scars forever. The babies born addicted are now grown up and having a third generation of addicted infants. This really is a nightmare. If you don't believe me I challenge you to walk down Main Street in Springfield between 21st and Mill any time after dark (bring a dog, a camera and a cell phone and dress in black). Next morning go to a mini mart and see them buy their morning beer so they can sleep all day. They think nothing of stealing from parents, friends, strangers. And mostly they don't have the ability to parent after addiction sets in. The cost alone in human suffering is enough but the cost to uniformed citizens is the tax dollars spent on trying to fight the epidemic Dawn Curry , Springfield
KANSAS ON MY MIND Some folks in Kansas are fighting against the theory of evolution. Perhaps they're right. Maybe there hasn't been any evolution in Kansas. David Mandelblatt, Eugene
WALDEN'S FOLLY Oregon Rep. Walden has introduced a bill into the House of Representatives, the "Forest Emergency and Recovery Act," that would allow aggressive old-growth logging on our public lands within 60 days of a natural disturbance (ie: fire, drought, floods, windstorms or insects), bypassing any public involvement. Let's set the record straight: fires do not "destroy" forests, fires rejuvenate forests. Certain tree species, such as the knobcone pine, actually require fire to burst its seed cones. Forest fires provide wildlife habitat in the form of dead standing trees, or snags, while downed trees eventually decompose to create fresh fertile soil. The Forest Service's own scientists claim the best thing to do after a fire is to allow the forest to recover on its own. New Mexico's Rep. Udall has introduced an alternative to Walden's bill, which many environmentalists are calling a "common sense approach" to forest management. The bill calls for a number of projects that would experiment with different approaches to managing the post-fire landscape. Compared to Walden's monstrosity, Udall's proposal seems almost reasonable (as would anything). But no matter how you look at it, Udall's bill still justifies the logging of old-growth on public lands! With 95 percent of our native forests already cut, why should environmentalists — whose responsibility it is to speak for our voiceless forests — be the ones doing the compromising? Please call Sens. Wyden (431-0229) and Smith (465-6750) and tell them to fight Walden's "Forest Emergency and Recovery Act," as well as any other proposal that advocates for post-fire salvage logging on our public lands. Josh Schlossberg, Eugene
TRANS ACTIVISM Bree McKenzie (11/17) asks, "what can we do?" (in response to my viewpoint 11/10). There's lots! It's always helpful simply to fight for human rights. Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says: "Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status." There are, after all, people whose situations are considerably more at-risk than many transpeople (think Darfur. Think Iraq. Think Katrina. Think Pakistan earthquake zone). There is plenty of work to be done! Meanwhile, some documents that will help individuals or groups in learning how to help secure rights and safety for transpeople follow: • Suggested Trans Activism Steps (http://pflag-es.org/steps.html). Campus-oriented but widely useful guide for allies and ally organizations. • Trans Activism Guide (http://pflag-es.org/guide.htm).Campus-oriented, heavy on theory. For GLBT organizations. • Discussion guide for the superb short documentary, Toilet Training, which organizations may borrow from the HRC (http://pflag-es.org/ttrain.html). • See also the City of Eugene Human Rights Commission site. Their document URLs are too long to reproduce, so I'll simply note that you can reach their excellent materials from either of these two sites: Lane County Transgender Yellow Pages: (http://epud.net/%7Ebears/resources.html)or PFLAG Eugene-Springfield's Transgender Information Page (http://pflag-es.org/trans.html).Risa Stephanie Bear, Eugene
CHANGE WITHIN When will we realize the non-renewable and limited nature of the fossil fuels we depend on so heavily? Will it be before or after our global society becomes ecologically literate enough to understand that we are part of the web of life? On Nov. 3, our Senate passed the Budget Reconciliation Bill, which included a provision to open America's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. I applaud Sen. Wyden's vote against the bill, and while Sen. Smith voted for an amendment to strip the drilling provision from the bill, he voted for the bill when that effort failed. Please get more information about this issue now and urge your representatives in government to do the same. We are at a critical juncture in our time when we have an opportunity to recognize the importance of balance over short-term maintenance of our addiction to oil for energy. There are alternatives — some of which are less convenient at the moment — that can be real solutions. Let's exercise our responsibility as citizens of a democratic society and demand representation in our government for change. More importantly, let's have the courage of our convictions and as Gandhi said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." Mike Janes, Eugene
FOREST TWEAKERS I felt angry after reading Chris Pender's letter (11/10) about drug hype. Whether it's an epidemic or only a problem, drug use is self-centered and antisocial. The people who do it don't think about how their habit affects their community or the places where the drug is manufactured. Now drugs are showing up on the public lands, which is sacred space to me. A few weeks ago, someone destroyed my windshield at a trailhead — probably a tweaker. Please get off your beer-, pot-, cocaine-, and meth-coated pacifiers, and keep your beer cans and toxic labs out of our forests. Joanne Vinton, Eugene
SPEAK UP Do you hike, bike, raft, canoe, kayak, bird watch, cross-country ski, fish, or hunt? If so, chances are you use and benefit from Oregon's public lands, rivers and streams. As an outdoor enthusiast, you have a vested interest in keeping those forests and waterways in prime condition. What is the dominant threat to Oregon's wild areas? The greedy and short-sighted logging of our remaining forests. What person in his right mind would choose to hike through the nasty scar of a clearcut, or fish in a silted stream? If it is important to you to maintain the high quality of your outdoor experience, it is in your best interest to oppose all subsidized logging on your public lands. You might not be able do everything, but you can do SOMETHING! It's easy to get involved — just find your role: Write a letter, attend a rally, comment on a timber sale, lead a hike, send an e-mail, speak up in church, put on a benefit, volunteer for a local environmental organization, get creative. Wait a second, you may say: "I never use public lands! I don't owe the forests anything!" Well, do you need fresh AIR to breathe, clean water to drink, rich topsoil to grow your food?! It's not just for the forests' sake, but humanity's sake as well. Don't you think it's time we give back a little of what we've taken (for granted)? Ben Castle, Eugene
MORALE BOOST Kudos to the readers of EW for their choice of Jeffrey Luers as "Best Activist"! I whole-heartedly disagree with Vip Short (11/17). Peg Morton is an incredible activist and fully deserves our support, but Jeff is also an incredible activist, and he's still sitting in prison with 17 years left on his sentence — if nothing else, he could probably use the morale boost more than Peg. As for the commonly held notion that changing the world takes "multiple lifetimes," and the corresponding opinion that anyone in more of a hurry is therefore "immature," I have some bad news: The climate isn't going to wait for us to make up our minds! Even with regard to social problems, it's all too easy for "gradual change" to become functionally equivalent to "no change at all." However, Jeff Luers didn't go to prison over a social problem, he went to prison over an environmental problem, one which is rapidly accelerating in its effects even as we watch. The ice sheets at the North Pole are not just thinking about melting, they are breaking off in huge chunks. The hurricanes that hit Louisiana and Texas this summer were directly related to rising sea temperatures. This crisis isn't going to "just get better" on its own, and pretending it isn't happening is not going to prepare us to deal with the inevitable catastrophe we've created. Jeff Luers sacrificed 23 years of his life to get this message out to people who don't want to hear it. Even from behind bars, and despite constant harassment and interference from the authorities, he's still making every effort to spread his message. If you want to support him in a more substantial way, find out how at: www.freefreenow.org Chris Calef, Eugene
THE GREAT SHIFT God has given us this beautiful planet Earth, with more than enough for everyone. There is truly no excuse for starving people. It has to go back into balance. The planet is doing just that. It is clear as a bell, how the Earth is reacting now, with all the natural disasters. Taking people off the planet, shaking us up and bringing us together. I will never forget how I felt when 9/11 happened in New York. I knew I would never be the same. I knew the human race would never be quite the same. As those buildings fell to the ground, I felt a shift in my spirit. Now I call it The Great Shift of human consciousness. The world stopped on that unbelievable morning in New York. I refuse to buy into the fear. We will face and love each other. I believe this is why God put us here. I believe the next time the world is brought to a halt, it will be in the hands of love. Paul Casey, Eugene
BUSH FAILURE Now that the Bush administration has succeeded in proving itself to be a failure and Dick Cheney/Karl Rove have emerged as the prime architects of that failure, we can start planning our way out of the pickle of being thought of as bestial torturers and mass murderers by the rest of the world. After the wrecking ball of Fitzgerald's justice has finalized the Bushes' demise we will need to show that America can pick up the pieces and build something better than Humpty-Dumpty with a heart of terror and a fragile shell of lies. Healing and reconstruction are the important tasks ahead for the thought and action of all decent Americans. Bob Saxton, Eugene
|
|
|||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
