letters
Whose news?
Twice in two weeks, adver
tisements for the Marine's pilot
recruitment program have been
printed in the Emerald as news
storios. First the Emerald gave
us the urgent news that the
Marines would be showing a
free propoganda film (as if
anyone could have missed the
Marine’s quarter-page display
ad). Then we learn that the
Marines will give free plane
rides to male students.
In this same two week period,
several anti-war and anti
nuclear groups, both on and off
campus, have had meetings.
None of those meetings were
covered as news stories.
The Marine's primary pur
pose on campus is the recruit
ment and training of pilots for
combat planes. Apparently, the
plan of this program is to put a
relatively inexperienced . pilot
who is also an inexperienced
combat soldier into- an expen
sive plane and send him to
“provide air- support for ground
troops,” to send them into war. •
7'he program is only in-,
terested in the best of America's
educated-, young ijien. Young •
men.with very high CPA's, pro
ven leadership ability, proven
self-sufficiency, and stable per
sonal histories. When one of
these pilots die (and some will
die) the nation wilknot only suf
fer the tragic loss of a young
man but will also: loose the in
telligence and drive each of
these young men possess.
f guess I just don't understand
why the.Emerald is acting as if
the Marines were offering a new
educational program. The.
Marines are looking, for
soliders. The fact that the
Marines want to enlist young
men just doesn't strike me as
news. ,
Shasta Hatter
Psychology
“Smiling Ron”
I am frankly amazed at the
number of students on this cam
pus who believe that Ronald
Reagan is the best’ choice for
their future. Apparently these
young Republicans don’t
remember “smiling Ron” as
Governor of California in the
late Sixties, who ordered in the
National Guard detachments
that tear-gas bombed students
on the Berkeley campus and
shot and killed them in the Peo
ple’s Park massacre in May of
1969.
During this time he fought
student deferments from the
draft, denounced student draft
evaders, and crushed student
protestors who were terrified as
their classmates disappeared
one-by-one and came home
from a senseless war in body
bags.
Today, the Reagan ad
ministration is seriously con
sidering a military solution to
the Central American problem.
We have seen that the President
has few qualms about charging
in with the military at the twirl
of a Red cape. If you vote for
Reagan and become cannon fod
der in his war, you’ll have no
one but yourselves to blame.
Brent Rasmussen
Eugene
Shocking letter
I write this letter in outraged
response to Page McCallum’s
“letter to the editor”(ODE
Oct.22). 1 still can’t believe 1
read it.
McCallum would have us
Oregon Daily Emerald
THANK Adolf Hitler for the
Volkswagen? He would have us
THANK Hitler for our space
program? He would have us
THANK Hitler for anything?
I agree with him when he
writes, "When Adolf Hitler
came to power, there was 22
percent inflation in Germany,
closed factories, and astoun
ding unemployment." The
same kind of conditions in the
United States when Ronald
Reagan took office.
Hitler cured his nation's ills,
he opened factories, put people
hack to work, brought down in
flation, just like Ronald Reagan,
by building the single most hor
rifying and destructive war
machine in the history of the
world.
The end result was torture,
slavery or death to over 50
million human beings; and the .
almost successful attempt to an
nihilate an entire race of people.
I read an article recenty in
which an east coast university
sociology professor stated that
he thought today’s cpllege
students, because of their
mindless ^allegiante to strong
leaders such as President
Keagan:,.'were •‘''ripe' for
fascism."
When I first read the article, I.
thought the point nothing more
than interesting. But vyhen I
read Mr. , McCallum’s letter., I
thought the point nothing less
than frightening: '*. .. ...
Dan McCue
Journalism
Save the trees
On Nov. 6, Eugene citizens
will be able to vote on a city
wide, charter amendment pro
posal protecting historic street
trees. Ballot Measure 52 re:
quires a public vote before
50-year-old trees within the
city's 1915 boundaries can be
removed, for street widening
projects. Adoption of the
measure will help preserve the
historic character of Eugene’s
older residential areas and its
downtown.
Last summer sixty-seven
volunteers circulated the:
historic street tree charter
amendment petition to collect a
requisite 5.807 signatures to get
the measure on the ballot. This
effort was an outgrowth of
frustration felt over a decison by
the Eugene City Council to sup
port the proposed widening of
6th and 7th Ave. between High
and Washington St. The widen
ing would create two highways
through the heart of town, and
would necessitate removal of
stately street trees.
At heavily attended public
hearings held for discussion of
the 6th and 7th Ave. project, the
preponderance of public
testimony opposed the widen
ing. The Eugene Downtown
Commisson voted aganst the
project, as did the majority of
the Design Review Committee
appointed by City Council to
review the widening proposal.
The council maintains that
creation of a major transporta
tion corridor through the core of
Eugene is necessary to allow
heavy traffic to reach West
Eugene where sites are available
for industrial development. Pro
ponents of Measure 52 say that
heavy traffic should utilize
roadways on the periphery of
town, thereby minimizing air
and noise pollution in
downtown Eugene and nearby
neighborhoods.
With passage of Measure 52,
disregard of public sentiment
would be less likely to occur,
and citizens could influence the
evolution of Eugene’s urban
fabric. We urge you to vote yes
on Measure 52.
Ronald Lovinger
Eugene
Insane world
There are 50,000 nuclear
weapons in the world. With all
the shitbrains in power, is it any
wonder people are nervous?
China has four intercontinental
missiles at last count, just a lit
tle mistake on the part of some
underling there could destroy
us all. Comforting, isn’t it?
Nuclear weapons tests must
be nipped in the bud once and
for all. We can no longer allow
our leaders’ power trips and
sexual inadequacies to hang
over our heads. Once this very
initial step is accomplished, we
must negotiate the dismantling
of all the weapons we possess in
the world.
Naive, isn’t it? But that's the '
ideal we must strive for. It's bad
enough having the amount of
weaponry we had 25 years ago.
If we keep on raising the stakes „
-with- satellite weaponry (“Star
Wars’.’); there’s no hope. The
only' solution is for a world
wide conference presided over
by the American President and
Chernenko on the issue of disar
mament qnd a freeze on
technological research and
development: .
insanity has become an ac
cepted norm in the'world. The '
powerless sane ones don’t have
to stand for this. The gun has
been held over-our heads as.
long as we can remember, so as
to encourage paralysis and
apathy. “Let the buggers do
their own thing in Washington
— they must know what they’re
doing.”-W'ell they’re really not
that superhuman.
We’ve got to remove the
cloud over our heads so as to get
on with the really important
matters at hand such as human
rights and oppression. It’s pro
bably too late but it would feel a
lpt better trying to approach
these goals rather than sitting
around waiting for the mistake
of a very mortal man.
Paul Sturtz
Eugene
Any minute
Forget the economy, taxes and
abortion for a minute and con
sider this: We could have only
10 . minutes to live. There are
nuclear warheads aimed at
every city in the United States
with a minimum population of
10,000. Every person you know
— sons, daughters, parents, and
grandchildren could be dead or
dying in the next 10 minutes.
On top t)f this is a president
who has said 11 times in the last
several months that we are the
last generation. He believes in
Armageddon taking place in the
next 10 years. Consider that
every year there are at least 240
computer errors that signal that
the Soviet Union has fired at us.
That’s 2 out of 3 days a year we
are on the brink of a holocaust
greater than Hitler could ever
imagine.
President Reagan says we
need to spend $2.5 trillion more
on nuclear weapons to be
“strong.” There is already
enough fire power in the U.S.
alone to blow up the world
several times. A vote for Presi
dent Reagan will be sealing the
fate of the world. You will in ef
fect be condemning your own
family to death. When you vote
Nov. 6, remember you may have
only 10 minutes to live and
counting — 987654321.
Christine Beneda
Eugene
Armageddon
Mr. Ron Munion, Chair of
Students for Reagan, accuses
me of having “attacked the
messenger”, instead of the
“message”, in my letter to the
Emerald. After this promising
beginning he turns, unfor
tunately, to matters completely
unrelated to my statements,
leaving me to guess at what he
means.
1 thought long and hard.
Maybe this was a waste of time
because as a loyal follower of
the mental enigma in the White
House, Mr. Munion may regard
it as his duty to be confused.
However, believing him to be
an erudite person I think there
is a more positive explanation.
Mr. Munion, 1 believe,
regards Ronald Reagan as a
messenger. This isn’t exactly
novel, since many people have
done so for a long time. The lat
ter think he is the messenger of
the greediest part of the “elite”,
the arrogance of which is so im
pressively displayed by George
Bush,'as well as of the Fun
damentalists who expect
everybody else to go to hell. Mr.
Munion! however, sees a dif
ferent message giver. Inasmuch
as Ronald Reagan apparently
regards himself as. God’s tool in
bringing about Armageddon,
surely it isn’t too bold an
assumption that Ron Munion
sees God as the giver of the
message. On my part I wonder
when theologians will advise
Mr. Reagan that Armageddon
will come about as the culmina
tion of western man's perma
nent devil-inspired revolt
against God, but not as the
result of God’s whim.
A. Brettauer
Eugene
Stop Reagan!
An excerpt from “Reagan for
Beginners,” by David Smith
and Melinda Gebbie:
Joblessness, spiralling prices,
taxes, and global conflict make
voters insecure. They tend to
feel that if the welfare state is
not the answer, it may be the
problem. Skillful politicians,
Reagan in particular, offer an
ingenious equation:
He promises more — more
prosperity, security, and
freedom — by means of less —
less government. The irony is
that, in the name of prosperity
and security, Reagan has been
able to lead the public into
higher joblessness, fewer
unemployment benefits, and
fewer services for the truly
insecure.
Meanwhile, taxes have not
fallen for ordinary taxpayers,
budgets are less balanced than
ever. The state grows wildly.
Wars have not become less
likely.”
“Wars have not become less
likely” is an understatement. A
nuclear confrontation with the
Soviet Union seems much more
likely. Do you feel safer know
ing that arms control talks broke
down last December? President
Reagan has yet to even meet the
Soviet Premier, and the Soviets
have more submarines bearing
nuclear weapons deployed near
our coast than ever before! Has
Reagan’s massive increase in
military spending and his “evil
empire” rhetoric against the
Soviet Union produced results?
1 think not. The Soviets con
tinue to build more nuclear
weapons, kill innocent people
in Afghanistan, and imprison
dissidents.
Reagan’s domestic policies
are brutal and unfair; his
military and foreign policies are
dangerous and ineffective. His
administration has served no
one but big business and the
wealthy, and has brought
humanity to the edge of
extinction.
John Jordan
Mass Communications
Vote for Rust
I’m not easily impressed by
most politicians. As a matter of
fact, I’m easily depressed by
most of them. But I was mighty
impressed with Jerry Rust when
I first met him in 1973, and I
still am.
He was a treeplanter then —
big-boned, fresh spirited, and
with a wit as sharp as a saw
chain. But it was the quality of
his mind that impressed me the
most. He had the ability to size
up a situation, to dig deeper
than most people, and to come
up with an innovative approach
to all sorts of problems.
Jerry was a founder and the
first president of the Hoedads, a
worker-owned reforestation
company thafv has employed
thousands of people and
brought in over $14 million to
oUr local economy. Jerry didn’t
just talk about economic
development, he did it, and in a
way that involved and excited
many people.
Outside of the Hoedads. there
were ho women working in
reforestation. No one would
give them a job. Women made
up 35 percent of the Hoedad
workforce by 1974, and Jerry’s
consistent support was in
strumental. He did more than
just talk about opportunity.
Jerry Rust has been a Lane
County Commissioner since his
upset victory over two conser
vative opponents in 1976. He
has proven to be a popular,
capable, and innovative ad
ministrator. Along with Marge
Hendriksen and Jim Weaver,
Jerry has served as a beacon of
progressive leadership in this
community.
Jerry is worthy of your vote on
election day. He won’t depress
you.
Roscoe Carson
Eugene
Lights please!
The complex from 13th and
Kincaid St. to 13th and Univer
sity St. has been without lights
since Sept. 8. The areas affected
are PLC, Condon, Chapman, Art
Museum, Gilbert, Fenton, and
Friendly. One of the officers in
the security department stated
that the problem is a broken
cable for which parts are
unavailable. Measures need to
be taken immediately to insure
the safety of those who are on
campus after dark.
The University has been ex
tremely negligent in providing
a safe environment. Are they
waiting for an assault to happen
before the situation is
remedied?
We urge all concerned people
to contact Campus Security and
express their feelings about this
matter. A safe campus is our
right!
Woman’s Referal
and Resource Service
Room 336, EMU
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