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NEGATIVE FORCE Developers have pulled out of their giant Yuppie Destruction Project for downtown Eugene. I call it good news. Some greedy developers call it bad news. If you want the center of Eugene to look like a yuppie conformist version of a downtown shopping mall, then maybe you call it bad news. The developers, who have let several buildings they own sit empty for many years, have been the biggest negative force downtown. Maybe they let the buildings sit idle to lower the value of other buildings they wanted to buy. Even if they didn't do that on purpose, the result has been to create a haven for heroin shooting galleries and homeless kids. If there is anything worse than a bunch of smack freaks, it's legions of self-satisfied yuppies feeding their faces and shoveling cubic yards of mass-market crap into their SUVs. So celebrate, Eugene! Now, we can determine the fate of our own city ourselves. Unless they come back and this was just a ruse to get tax dollars. Ralph Wombat, Eugene
A DAMN LIE There are lies and damn lies. Your reporting ("Magaña Ruling," 4/13) that I, a Eugene police sergeant, received a report that Officer Magaña had forced a woman into having oral sex was a damn lie. I would have considered it the crowning achievement of my career to derail Magaña and have him arrested. I am certainly not alone in wishing his cancer had not invaded our department. Accountability is a responsibility for us as it is for the media. I can only ask that you use a finer brush, Mr. Pittman, and paint a more accurate portrait rather than besmirch someone.
David Poppe, Eugene
EDITOR'S NOTE: The allegation regarding "Officer Poppy" is directly quoted from Judge Thomas Coffin's list of reported incidents.
NEW COMMISSIONERS Myself, I'm a one-issue voter, and that issue is herbicides. Today (4/25) I attended the county commissioners meeting where they voted 3-2 to approve the whole list of five poisons to be used on our roadsides, though none of these were approved by the Health Advisory Committee. I think we could use some new county commissioners. I urge votes for Ron Davis and Bill Fleenor. Lynn Bowers, Rural Eugene
HOSPITAL OUT OF LINE I attended the Cal Young Neighborhood meeting last week, and I left the meeting knowing more about the McKenzie-Willamette Hospital building at the North Delta proposed site: • $5 million dollars for road improvements (offered by McKenzie-Willamette) for an area that requires $100 million or more is a drop in the bucket and will require property taxpayers in all of Lane County, and even the state, to pitch in the rest. • If your loved one is in the ambulance and is in need of emergency attention, the only route available to said ambulance (to M-W) is down a congested highway system or through two school zones. • Eugene growth is west and south — why are 75 percent of the medical facilities available to only 10 percent of the city, by placing two major hospitals within four miles of each other, leaving a lot of Eugene without service? • The only people who seem to be in support of the hospital are the people who are financially involved with the project and due to make a profit. • McKenzie-Willamette/Triad is a for-profit corporation. Do these profits stay to help Eugene's growth or do they go home to Texas? • McKenzie-Willamette's Traffic Impact Report's 4 percent traffic increase is speaking of only the Belt Line. Traffic on Delta Highway, north of Green Acres, is expected to go up 50 percent. I have no ill will toward McKenzie-Willamette and I have no problem with them building a new facility, but I don't believe they have chosen an area that will be the "best" choice for Eugene. Please support us by discouraging rezoning this property for commercial use. Lyn Jost, Eugene
THAT ZELENKA FEELING We're in luck. We have a candidate willing to step into David Kelly's place on the city council. If you haven't noticed yet — look at the lineup of people who have endorsed him for this job. You have to ask yourself: how could one person get so many notable people to feel he was the best person for that task? Join us in sending in your ballot for Alan Zelenka. And then sit back and enjoy the good feeling. Bob Cassidy, Eugene
MORRISON'S BEHAVIOR I have never at a public meeting, before or since, seen such rude, disrespectful behavior as that of West Lane County Commissioner Anna Morrison at an afternoon hearing some years ago regarding the Bradford rock quarry expansion near Creswell. Home owners living near the quarry and others had rearranged their schedules or taken off work to object to the expansion. Morrison arrived late, then, repeatedly laughing, whispering to, talking with, and distracting Commissioner Bobby Green, largely ignored the public testimony. Had Morrison been a middle-school student she should have been cleaning blackboards after school. I should not, however, have been surprised by her rudeness as those speaking represented the values of ordinary citizens rather than the interests of wealthy land speculators, big-pocket developers and the extraction industry. Just a few examples indicate Morrison's extremist voting pattern: no funding for assistance to victims of domestic abuse, infant care and high-risk pregnancy programs, family planning, treatment of adult sex offenders, HIV prevention or animal control enforcement. Known for her flip-flops and back-door deals, Morrison parroted tobacco industry propaganda, opposed workers' rights to unionize, supported prime farmland destruction for marginal-value gravel mining, approved cost-ineffective toxic chemical spraying on public roadways, promoted development of 80 acres of pristine dunes across from Old Town in Florence, earned a zero rating by the Oregon League of Conservation voters, and even expressed her disdain for Eugene's Saturday Market. I could go on, but enough is enough: Bill Fleenor for West Lane County Commissioner. Jerome Garger, Yachats
SIMPLY THE BEST Voters of Lane County: Don't be tempted to skip the Circuit Court judge section of your ballot. When you figure out who's running, your choice will be easy. Alan Leiman is hands-down the most experienced candidate for judge. He's been a public defender, prosecutor, civil trial lawyer and a judge. No other candidate has his extensive range of experience. Leiman has sharpened his judicial skills in Eugene Municipal Court for nearly four years. He has already proven himself as an even-handed judge with an excellent judicial temperament. He's respectful, knowledgeable and decisive. Note that three of our best current judges, including Mary Ann Bearden, Jack Billings and Kip Leonard, started as judges in muni court. Each of them moved seamlessly into the Circuit Court. So will Leiman. I'm voting for Leiman. He's simply the best person for the job. Ilona Koleszar, Eugene
HERSTORY OF CONFLICT Thank you to Milton Takei (4/27) for his letter regarding the Mother Kali's article (3/23). As a member of the second staff forced out of Mother Kali's Books, I was outraged at the above-mentioned article's simplistic rendering of a very complicated and heart-breaking herstory that affected and dishonored so many in Eugene's feminist community. I saw the slogan on an advertisement from 4/27 proclaiming "SisterHood is Powerful." I thought ,"How dare they make this proclamation after ousting two sets of dedicated staff and management in a most disrespectful and unsisterly-like, unfeminist-like manner?" A member of the first staff had her final paycheck tauntingly dangled in front of her as if in a dare, and staff #2 was locked out. I just heard that Mother Kali's is offering classes in conflict resolution! Talk about irony. Yes, staff #2 unionized with the Industrial Workers of the World. But after all of our hard work and energy getting documentation, community awareness of the issue, and so forth, we were told by the National Labor Relations Board that the store did not make enough money to come under their jurisdiction and that we must go through this intense process all over again with a different board, but this time we must pay $250-$500 for the privilege. This is when our level of frustration and being low on resources got the best of us, and we could go no further. The face of feminism is ever-changing. A static and patriarchal-type feminism will never thrive. Cheryl RiversHailey, Former Mother Kali's Books staff
EXPENSIVE CHOICE I count on Ron Davis to oppose the Lane County income tax proposed by County Commissioner Faye Stewart. Unless we elect Davis, we can expect to pay $500 to $1,000 a year in the Stewart tax. Jim Weaver, Eugene
DELUSIONS OF ADEQUACY Recently it seems The Register-Guard has been experiencing delusions of adequacy. As it struggles to confront the challenges endemic to today's print media (falling subscription rates; increased costs), the R-G has apparently decided that the way to address the problems is to increase fees and decrease services. Instead of listening to readers, and more importantly, past readers who are tired of the simple regurgitation of AP and New York Times stories they read the day before on their cell phones or heard on their radios or watched on TV or the Internet; instead of listening to customers who want their comics printed where they can find them; instead of listening to those fed up with the unrelenting lock-step liberalism of the paper, the R-G has decided on following the bean-counter's advice: Cut costs regardless of the impact, and look for new streams of revenue. Would it be too hard for the R-G to take a look at what EW is doing right? I'm a right-wing nut who still enjoys the Weekly because it writes to what its readers want, and reflects our community. A few years ago I took part in Jim Godbold's well-intentioned focus group experiment. His idea was to, "gasp," actually listen to the Guard's readers. Sadly, his effort was ended after some six or eight weeks and five or six emails. Typical, I guess, for how the R-G treats its customers. If the R-G wants to continue to be "a member of the community," it might first want to listen to its community, and realize, as reporters were surely taught in J-school, a reporter's best attribute is an ability to listen. Kurt Young, Junction City
SORENSON MEANS IT Most politicians will pay lip service to the idea that campaign spending is out of hand, that fundraising is the seamy side of politics and that some sort of reform is in order. However, inevitably, once elected to where they could effect meaningful legislation — nothing happens. Oregon is one of only five states with no limits on campaign contributions to political candidates. Help is on the way in the form of two citizens' initiatives that are close to getting the signatures required to be placed on the November ballot. Measures 8 and 37 would eliminate direct corporate and union funding of political campaigns in Oregon and limit individual contributions to a few hundred dollars for state races. Help us ensure that these initiatives make the ballot by signing the petitions the next chance you get. Politics changes when big money sits on the sidelines. It looks more like Pete Sorenson's primary campaign for governor. Pete continues to be a supporter of meaningful campaign reform. His campaign receives numerous contributions from small donors, and he gets those contributions by being out there and talking with voters. Give him your vote in the May primary. When it comes to campaign finance reform, Sorenson walks the talk. Gary Rondeau, Eugene
RUSH LACKS EMPATHY Now that he has been arrested, you would think that the "harmless little fuzz ball" Rush Limbaugh would have some compassion for the hundreds of suspects who have just been released from military prison in Guantanamo, Cuba. These suspects have been held without any charges or trials. Like Rush, these illegally detained suspects had proclaimed their innocence but have had their lives in limbo for more than four years, imprisoned without rights while a military tribunal determined their fate, booked on a felony charge that carries a five year prison sentence. Rush's lawyer cut a deal that freed him on $3,000 bail and an 18 month drug free probation. Rush sells "Club Gitmo" shirts and hats to his fans, mocking the treatment that the hundreds of released detainees received from the U.S. military. If Rush did show some compassion, he might risk losing support from his conservative, compassionate Republican fans and their financial support, and money will trump compassion for "ditto heads" every time. Michael T. Hinojosa, Drain
CLUNKS AND CLINKS In the Democrat governor's primary we have Gov. Kulongoski (a sell-out), Jim Hill (a good man) and Pete Sorenson (the most liberal and progressive candidate). My choice is Pete Sorenson, who is consistent in his vision for a better state and nation for all of us without war, without tax breaks for the super wealthy and their corporations and without a president who has been coached, primped, fed lies and brainwashed by neo-con kill-and-spend-and-torture warmongers. Sorenson knows how great our state and nation can be if we are nudged forward into decency and prosperity instead of being led into catastrophe piled upon catastrophe. Incidentally, my spell checker gives clonks, clangs, clunks and clinks as alternative spellings for Kulongoski. Bob Saxton, Eugene
WHO'S ILLEGAL? I am afraid I must admit to Mr. Marsico ("We have the laws," 4/27) that my ancestors were illegal immigrants. They didn't bother to get visas, didn't even pretend to learn the language, and, frankly, their presence was totally unwanted by native-born Americans. The first of these ancestors to arrive was a guy named Resolved White, and he came on a little ship called "The Mayflower." Immigrants continue to come to this country for a multitude of reasons. Some, like many Colombians, come fleeing war (supported and funded by the U.S.) and human rights abuses (ignored or covertly supported by the U.S.) in their home country. Some immigrants, like many Mexicans, come to escape desperate cycles of poverty that are upheld by US-imposed economic policies like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). For the vast majority of immigrants, getting a legitimate visa is nigh-on impossible. Every single undocumented immigrant in the U.S. would love to be able to get papers allowing them to be here and work legally. Higher walls, surveillance equipment and armed patrols aren't going to do a bit of good to deter immigration. They'll simply kill more immigrants by vigilante-group lynchings and exposure in the desert. So I'll make a deal with Mr. Marsico. If he can get everyone in his family to learn an indigenous American language — Kalipuya, Micmac, Onondaga, Lakota, Chinook Jargon, Dineh, Aleut, Nahuatl, Tupi, Ruma Suni, or any of hundreds of others — I'll agree with him that today's immigrants ought to learn English. Ben Martin Horst, Eugene
TAKE DOWNTOWN BACK If you were born and raised here in Eugene like I was (since 1966), then you can recall the first downtown renaissance that took place in the late '60s and early '70s. It was a walking mall that included two fountains and Saturday Market at one end and a children's park at the other end. Restaurants with outdoor seating and many strolling shoppers dotted the length of Broadway. This is what I recall. It dawned on me shortly after Conner and Woolley announced that they would not be doing a monstrous development downtown that there is hope for an artistic and vibrantly flourishing new renaissance to occur in our downtown. So, being the lifelong citizen that I am, I decided that if I want to see the flourish, I must do my part. I encourage everyone to come downtown and make it happen! Let's take back Eugene's downtown together! I'll be playing my guitar and singing from 11 am to 1 pm Monday through Friday at the Kesey statue. Join me. Elizabeth Cable, Eugene
WHY ISN'T EUGENE? As a purchaser of and firm believer in renewable energy, I was pleased to learn that Corvallis was recently named an EPA Green Power Community. Simply put this means Corvallis exceeds an EPA-set benchmark for the amount of "green" power purchased. Corvallis is the only city in Oregon and the entire West Coast to be named a Green Power Community. A relative newcomer to Oregon, I had always thought Eugene to be the more progressive city. Is this not the case with respect to the consumption of clean energy? A quick perusal of the EPA Green Power Partnership website (http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/partners/gpp_partners.htm) reveals that neither the city of Eugene nor a single business or organization based in Eugene is a member, the sole exception being the UO. On the contrary, I was able to find numerous businesses and organizations in Corvallis that are members of the Green Power Partnership besides the city itself: CORE Communications, Harrison House B&B, Hewlett Packard, Robnett's Hardware, Sibling Revelry and The Toy Factory. The arrival of Whole Foods will change that statistic as they purchase 100 percent renewable energy, but surely Eugene has room for improvement and should encourage additional consumption of clean power. Matt Thompson, Corvallis
REALITY CREEPING IN You might be surprised that I appreciate the concerns of conservatives over immigration. They should remember that this situation was predicted. We progressives who opposed NAFTA, GAT and other WTO initiatives warned of an economic race to the bottom. Many conservatives said we were opposed to free trade. We replied that we were for fair trade. We were called fuzzy-headed liberals and communists. Well, reality has crept across the border along with several million Latinos. For example, we flooded Mexico with our subsidized genetically modified corn and destroyed the local corn market. That has driven million of rural Mexicans to the United States. It makes more sense to risk their lives getting here than starving where they were. The question is, will you connect the dots and work to change the way we do business or will you try to exile and or kill several million Latinos to protect your denial of reality? Remember how hard it was just to send one illegal alien child, Elian Gonzalez, back to Cuba? Would you rather have fair trade or would you rather pay more taxes to support violence against the poor? That violence would prop up our laissez-faire capitalist system and ultimately depress your own income. The choice is yours. Charles Dalton, Eugene
WISH IT WERE FICTION I was quite impressed with your "Battle of the Biscuit" article (4/13). It read like a political thriller. It makes me wish it were fiction when I see yet another story of corporate influence corrupting public servants. Daniel Donato certainly seems brave for a graduate student. As a grad student myself, I'm glad I don't to deal with an oppressive department interfering with my research. Thank you for covering this important local environmental issue. I have been hearing a lot about it in fragments, but I hadn't really sat down and concentrated on finding out a cohesive story until I read Kera Abraham's article. Great job! Carrie Packwood Freeman, UO Ph.D. student & GTF
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