Eugene Weekly : Letters : 8.27.09

LIFE IN DOG CITY

I’m responding to the “Dog Gone It” (8/13) letter. I agree 110 percent with you. Here in Springtucky, within one block of my place, we have a lady who lets her dog shit in other people’s yards. I guess she is either too lazy to walk the dog or too lazy to clean up after her dog in her own yard. We also have someone with three dogs who, until Animal Control came out and warned them, let the dogs stay out late and bark all night long.

Another family has their dogs tied up and constantly barking all day. These same people let one of their dogs roam freely when they were away, chasing kids riding their bikes and pedestrians. Another let their pit bull escape only to viciously attack a child riding his bicycle. Furthermore, we have a house that has a rooster, which is illegal and wakes up everyone at 6 am. These same people decided to burn their trash and yard debris —  plastics included — last month, filling the neighborhood with toxic smoke. The fire department came and had them put the fire out.

We have our redneck hillbillies out here in Springfield; you have your redneck hillbillies with college degrees in Eugene. Now that’s an oxymoron!

How about instead of spaying or neutering our pets, we spay and neuter the general human population? We are a fucked up bunch of life forms and an extreme danger to life on Earth.

Chris Williamson, Springfield

HEALTH FEAR SYSTEM

With all this talk of health care swirling about everywhere one looks, I thought I would throw out my two cents worth. The one thought that I believe to be the key word is FEAR. Fear of change from the status quo, fear of government-run programs, fear of death panels, fear of someone else getting something I don’t have, fear of others period, fear of the unknown, certainly fear of death itself, even fear of living life fully, fear of losing your job and subsequently losing your health insurance, fear of developing a catastrophic disease and losing one’s house and ending up homeless, etc, etc. 

Perhaps we should call it the health fear system instead, because care seems to be almost an afterthought here. Is there some way to base our decisions and thought process on taking care of ourselves, our loved ones, our neighbors and greater community members physically and mentally, from a loving, caring direction instead of fear, anxiety and greed? I know in my personal life I certainly don’t make the best of decisions when I approach them from a place of panic and fear.

Most everyone seems to agree change is needed. Costs are out of control, many are not covered, many stay in unfulfilling jobs just to keep health insurance coverage (almost guaranteeing stress, anxiety and health problems). Ironic, wouldn’t you say, and surely a sign that the current system does not work. Perhaps as things crash about us it is time to reevaluate our priorities, ask ourselves what it means to really live, instead of focusing on our constant fears.

Tim Boyden, Eugene

TOWN HALL YELLERS

There is not as much confusion about the health care issue as we are led to believe. Much of the resistance is all about not wanting President Obama to succeed. The town hall haters, gun-toting radical right wingers, have been steaming since our President was elected. It has taken them this long to finally have the nerve to tell America how much they hate the fact that a black man won the election. It is all about being racist.

While the sane people in America try to get health care reform, the minority is trying to mislead and ruin any attempt for this bill to pass. This includes the whole Republican party, who are still stinging from the loss in November. They will keep losing elections since becoming the party of no. Their loyalties are only to themselves. The majority of people elected this president, so they need to get used to it.

Legislators, stop spinning your wheels. They don’t want to hear and will not be swayed by all the attempts to show them this is a good plan. It’s a waste of your time and energy. The majority of Americans want health care reform, so the Democrats should just do it, any way they can. You cannot ever appease the yellers. 

I am tired of hearing the town hall yellers and screamers. Everyone in the room should yell back for them to be silent and let the discussion continue.  

Diane DeVillers, Eugene

GET UP, STAND UP

The Aug. 20 issue of EW was of special interest to me because the group I co-founded, The Pitchfork Rebellion, had a full page in that issue advertising our upcoming Rally to Save the Forest. I began thumbing through the issue and read an article so important that we are going to make it a featured element of our Mock Trial on Monsanto at our rally. 

That article appeared in the Aug. 20 issue (see www.eugeneweekly.com). “Franken-food” by Ken Roseboro shockingly documents how Monsanto has poisoned our local and national food production. What they have done with beets in our area they have also done with other crops all over the world to the detriment of our collective well being.

The time has come to do as Bob Marley advised and “Get up, stand up” stand up to Monsanto. To hear more about their evil antics locally and around the world, attend the Mock Trial of Monsanto at our Aug. 29 rally. As an enticement, I will reveal one of the penalties Monsanto will suffer in the street theater skit that I just completed composing.

That penalty? We will invite the attendees of the rally to endorse a proposal that we, here and now, begin a boycott and nonviolent war against produce grown in Oregon or imported into Oregon that has been grown with Round-Up Ready seed, starting with the Round-up Ready beets that were the subject of the “Frankenfood” article. I beg each of you reading these words to read that important article and support the cause of Philomath organic farmer Frank Morton. 

 Day Owen, Triangle Lake

THE BAND RESPONDS

This is in response to the letter (7/30) from Corona Hats, “Louder Not Better,” detailing her disappointment in the Riverbank Path Promenade July 19. Her letter named our band, Common Ground, singling us out at several points for specific criticism. Unfortunately, Hats misstates the events of that afternoon. We are sorry that she came away from the Promenade disappointed, but we also wish to clear up several factual errors in her letter. 

According to the Promenade event manager, Hats first approached him during one of our sets and asked if she could come up on stage and play some of her own songs. The event manager said “no,” but told her that she was welcome to perform anywhere she chose along the entire length of the Promenade path. She then approached our band and asked the same question. We declined, because it was not our call to make last-minute changes to the Promenade performance schedule. Common Ground made a commitment to perform for the Promenade event that afternoon; it was our professional responsibility to follow through, and we did.

Hats said Common Ground was “A loud band that was there because of ego and money,” which wholly misrepresents both our band and the Promenade event: Common Ground agreed to play the Promenade for free to show our support for this community, as we have done at other benefit concerts in the past.

It’s great that she wants to share some of her own music with the community! We suggest that she consider attending some of the open mike nights at local music venues, or applying for a spot at events such as the Saturday Market, Folk Festival or Eugene Celebration.

Lorin Hawley, Member of Common Ground

OBSTRUCTING PROGRESS

When I read in Josh Schlossberg’s (7/16) Viewpoint, “Pale Green Eugene: a forest activist leaves his chosen city,” it felt like a punch in the gut. Schlossberg is a tireless advocate for the greater good. Not surprisingly, he used his wisdom and editorial space to discuss some of our major challenges/problems like clean air, climate change, sustainability and police corruption to hopefully inspire, educate and motivate. The East Coast’s gain is surely our loss.

However, a letter writer in the same edition whose departure would most certainly benefit Oregonians is Republican State Senator and Minority Leader Ted Ferrioli. In contrast to Schlossberg, a dedicated conservationist and patriot, Ferrioli is a conservative, committed to protecting plunderers and polluters.

With all the serious issues facing Oregonians from health care to unemployment, how did the Republican minority leader use his opportunity to communicate to the public? He whined about a handful of non-violent activists protesting environmental destruction. The anti-environment, anti-choice, anti-family, anti-science, anti-government, anti-regulation, greed-based, pro-corporate Republican philosophy has and continues to hurt Oregon and the rest of life on Earth. It is unfortunate, but the truth is, Ferrioli and the Republican Party have become complete pathetic and embarrassing obstructions to progress. 

Joshua Welch, Eugene

TOTAL SOCIALISM

Over my lifetime, I have watched personal liberty and freedom slowly ebb away by what appeared to be reasonable explanations about what was “for the public good” from our federal government.

But I am horrified to see how quickly, in the last few months, the federal government has encroached on so many of our individual rights and freedoms — to the point of total socialism. Perhaps the former Soviet leader, Khrushchev, was right when he said that America “won’t accept communism outright, but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you’ll finally wake up and find you already have communism.” 

Our own government now wants to force me to have health care, pay even more taxes, limit the amount of money I can make, limit the size of car I drive and not allow me to choose the school my child attends. What on Earth has happened to the Land of the Free?

I am exasperated that so many people seem to swallow this without thought. I encourage others to call, email, fax and personally visit their state and federal senators and representatives to express their opposition to anything that expands government.

I don’t consider myself an activist, but I will gladly join the ranks from 11 am to 12:30 pm Sept. 12 at the Capitol Steps in Salem in a show of numbers supporting the March on Washington, D.C., on that same day to protest taxes, the socialization of our nation and violations of our Constitution. See www.marchonsalem.com

Dane Smith, Springfield

EDITOR’S NOTE: The quote from Nikita Khrushchev is a fake, according to the book They Never Said It by Paul Boller and John George.