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PAINTED IMPACT In a recent letter (8/10), Wanda Ballentine rounded out a tribute to Charles Gray, my late husband, by describing one vivid tactic he used to give "a graphic picture of how lopsided and inhumane U.S. spending is." He did that many times in many ways but I believe the action Wanda tried to describe was even more savvy and effective than she'd heard. Although Charles sometimes did use long paper tapes to dramatize, for example, the income gap between the world's poorest and its multibillionaires, back around 1970 he enlisted the help of a half dozen volunteers. Then with permission from the UO, they PAINTED a graph of the U.S. budget that ran all the way from Kincaid to University Street on 13th Avenue. It showed clearly the disparity between spending for "defense" and for human needs like education, health and housing. The campus officials had stipulated that they use water based paint. Nonetheless, the graph remained for months, and when parents visited, students pointed it out to them. What a teaching tool! Yes, Wanda, it's high time another team of activists recreated it. Sylvia Hart, Eugene
PUBLIC LANDS NOT TOILETS Thank you for your cover story on contaminants in local swimming holes (8/3). I feel compelled to comment on Brice Creek Canyon in particular, one of the most beautiful waterways in the county, a place that should be held sacred and protected at all cost. Until recently, I assumed it was pristine. Recent Register-Guard articles on area mining and my own discoveries indicate otherwise. The Champion gold mine located in Bohemia Mountain routinely leaks acidic water and toxic metals into Champion Creek which empties into Brice Creek. There are plans to spend $1.4 million in taxpayer money over the next three years to clean up the mess. The DEQ person you quoted suggests that swimmers go farther up into the headwaters for higher water quality. Well, that's what I've been doing, but apparently so has everybody else. On a recent trip two friends and I drove as far into the Umpqua as we could while still hoping to find water that would not cause cardiac arrest. Surprise! Not only did we discover a smoking campfire someone had carelessly left behind, but in the middle of Brice Creek we found a half-full, open bottle of shampoo spilling itself over the rocks. Last year I witnessed a mother washing her child's soiled diaper in the water above one popular campground. Sometimes I think people are breathing too much benzene. Is it too much to respect what little we have left of our natural world? The delicate creatures that live in and around clear mountain streams cannot absorb products like sunscreen and dishwashing soap. Our public lands should not be used as a garbage dump or a personal toilet. Susan J. Swanson, Eugene
POOP EVERYWHERE In the Aug. 3 EW cover story on swimming holes, Fall Creek was mentioned. I quit going to Fall Creek Lake for a safe place to dive after snorkeling some backwater. I was disgusted to find used diapers had been thrown into the lake from campsites just on shore. The water was about 15 feet deep there with little movement. Currently I'm fighting ear infections from the water at Foster Reservoir in Sweet Home. Having just come from Alton Baker Park and seeing the devastation (pooping all over) the wild birds have done to make the park unusable, it is a crime, and the city won't pressure wash it clean. It stinks so bad you can't walk around near the pond. Is this Eugene's ground zero for a bird flu outbreak? Jeff Fuidotti, Albany
MOTORHEAD MENTALITY I am a year-round bicycle commuter, so I'm always interested to read about bike-related issues like those in last week's (8/10) EW. I am horrified by the impact of our car culture on the world. War, climate change, air and water pollution are among the many problems our children and generations to come must contend with because of our addiction to oil and the combustion engine. Communication about these issues is essential. So, I appreciate EW's choice of topics. I stopped participating in Mass rides because of the aggressive and erratic actions of the police toward cyclists. The number of citations during Critical Mass in Eugene compared to other cities speaks to this overzealous nature. Chief Lehners' comment in the article about Massers not filling out a parade permit shows how influenced he is by the motorhead mentality. The hot rodders don't fill out parade permits before they convoy up and down River Road in mass. I have reduced my reliance on cars thanks to the amazing bikes produced at the Center for Appropriate Transport (CAT). The CAT bikes allow me to safely and effectively transport my family — including my year-old daughter, who has been riding with us in a long-haul bike since she was two weeks old. Our food is also transported by a long-haul and trailer built at CAT. Sarah Mazze's description of CAT in the sidebar article "Funky Bikes" does not do justice to what the center has to offer or what CAT does for the community and the planet. Stacey Janssen, Eugene
BIKE IT OUT I am an avid cyclist. My children and I run errands almost daily on our bicycles. Before each bike ride I tell my children to ride as if the drivers of the cars can't see you. We put our safety first, wear helmets and lights and follow the rules of the road. We ride on the bike paths and take the streets with bike lanes as much as possible. On almost every ride we are harassed by motorists and usually have to endure obscenities being shouted at us from passing cars. Eugene was given a "Gold Medal" rating on the Bicycle Friendly Communities website, and it is great to have the many miles of bike lanes and wonderful bike paths. I would argue that the attitudes of the motorists of Eugene give a better indication of our bicycle friendliness, and my experiences have not been gold medal standard. It just doesn't seem friendly or safe to ride in Eugene when a 6-year-old child, riding on a Burley Piccolo behind her mother, and an 11-year-old riding carefully behind them must endure having obscenities screamed at them from passing motorists. We ride for fun and exercise, to get one more car off the road and to teach my children that they need to live their lives as free of dependence on a car as possible. We will continue to safely ride our bikes on our errands, and we will keep on laughing at the motorists who shout at us; they look and sound so stupid. And constipated. Maybe they just need some exercise; try riding a bike. Jill Giddens, Eugene
ALIEN INVADERS In the Aug.10 News Shorts, a correspondent complains that the UO is trapping and killing nutria, and that this is "inhumane." In fact, nutria are a non-native species — originally imported from South America in the 1930s for fur farming — which are devastating our region's waterways, eroding streams, pushing native muskrats from their habitat and spreading non-native plant seeds. If anything, people who care about the environment and animal welfare should support the removal of nutria from local waterways. What's truly "inhumane" is letting an imported species destroy a natural habitat that has historically supported dozens of species. Sara E. P. Gillies, Eugene
NEGOTIATION NEEDED Like most Americans, I am watching the escalation of violence in Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon with empathy and concern for the ordinary Israelis, Palestinians and Lebanese civilians being harmed. Responsibility for their suffering rests with the current administration, whose actions and inactions have combined to give us the current unfolding perfect storm. The American friendship with Israel should have resulted in a strengthening of Israel's inclination for peace, compromise and respect for human rights. Instead, we have supported and funded a failed political and military strategy. Together, our two nations have sowed misery throughout the region over the years, and we are now reaping the whirlwind. It is no defense of Palestinian and Lebanese terrorists to point out they both thrive in the absence of real prospects for peace. Our country's influence should be used to moderate Israel's reaction. The best course of action would include negotiation and mutual exchanges of prisoners. April and David Dumas, Florence
DUMB PRIMATES This letter is about smart primates as detailed by Mary O'Brien's Natural Resistance column (8/3) and dumb primates as detailed by Karen Stingle's same-page letter. O'Brien's smart primates are smart enough to collaborate on solutions, and Stingle's primates are dumb humans like the Bushies and Israelis who are engaged in perpetual mass murder using bombs and guns. Instead of working internationally to have those guilty of a minor incursion into Israel (Hezbollah) brought to justice and fairly tried, the Bushies/Israelis chose to address their problem with mass bombing/mass murder of mostly civilian Lebanese. That these episodes of mass murder will result in a solution based on decency is a leap of faith into impossible realms. The Bushie path of perpetual war, unlikely conquest and excessive arms shipments to Israel is a terrible example of just how dumb and misguided human leadership can be and must be ended soon else the whole human race — and our primate cousins as well — could easily be exterminated. Bob Saxton, Eugene
A SANER PATH? As the smart pig works its way through Alaska's corroded and leaking Prudhoe Bay pipeline, corporate porkers, fattened by congressional slop, are chomping their way through our pristine environment as well as our pocketbooks. BP screwed up, the Department of Transportation failed to catch it, but — never mind — all is well. We gotta feed that fossil fuel need! We have opened our wallets, and oil companies are posting record profits. Exxon Mobil made $10.4 billion last quarter. That's $1,318 a second, if you're counting. And with BP's latest supply "glitch," a barrel of oil will bring even more. At the pump, it's $3 a gallon — do I hear $4? Our senators have just voted to open 8.3 million acres for oil and gas drilling off the Gulf of Mexico. But our representatives are pissed — they want to open 350 million acres more! And, of course, the congressional squabble to develop the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge continues. Instead of making tough political decisions about how to reduce America's insatiable demand for oil, Congress just goes along and gets along. The corporate porkers continue to drill and let their belts out. Meanwhile, our environment suffers. And we are all poorer for the process. Well, almost all ... Maybe smart people need to start working through the crud to find a better way. Conservation and alternative energy sources and new legislators come to mind. Benton Elliott, Eugene
SOLUTIONS UP TO US I'm writing in response to Josh Schlossberg's letter (8/3) concerning the film An Inconvenient Truth. I agree the film doesn't offer a lot of honest solutions, but waiting for Al Gore or anyone else to come up with a snappy all-purpose solution that doesn't change our current lifestyle isn't going to happen. Those solutions need to be found by you, me and everyone on this planet. It happens with advocacy, research and a radical change in energy consumption. The U.S. comprises 12 percent of the planet's population but uses 40 percent of its resources. The timber, automobile and manufacturing industries are the major culprits we need to address. There are solutions out there. Alternative forms of energy (solar, wind power), transportation (mass transit, electric cars, bicycles) and building techniques are available. Organizations from the Slow Food Movement to Critical Mass are changing how we live and affect the world. Aesop said "An act of kindness, no matter how small, is never wasted." Let's be kind to the Earth. Alisa McLaughlin, Eugene
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