EDITORIAL
r... ....
Sour grapes make
a great shoofly pie
U S. News and World Heport has never been so cru
el.
In news releases sent out across the country Friday,
the magazine offered a list of cities which, it predicted,
would be among the nation’s top economic boom towns
of the 90s. Eugene was included on the list of eight
cities, which were to be highlighted in the magazine's
April 11 issue.
Turns out. however, that Eugene is not mentioned in
that issue after all. The magazino decided to publish
only the top seven; apparently. Eugene didn't make the
cut.
But this was not before the Associated Press and sev
eral newspapers, including the Portland Oregonian, ran
articles on the city's new honor — the honor that wasn't.
Heh heh. U S. News says. Just kidding.
.Eugene's boosters have so far reacted with disap
pointment upon hearing about U S. News' backtracking
That's understandable, but they shouldn’t let them
selves get carried away (a canceled subscription might
Imi overreacting). Granted, it can be disheartening to find
that your hometown checks in aftor Kenosha, YVis. and
Albuquerque. N.M. But only until you find out the sys
tem U S News was using to predict the top towns.
The system? Send reporters out to several dozen
cities, pic ket! by economic forecasting firms as likely
to see significant economic growth, and have those
reporters conduct interviews with key figures in each
town, newspaper editors, economic development offi
cials, and so on. The reporters' findings are then com
piled, quite unscientifically, and the magazine's editors
pick the top cities based on the reporters’ findings.
According to U S. News. Eugene just couldn't com
pote with the likes of Huntsville, Ala., which has great
large-mouth bass fishing, and Lancaster. Pa., which
boasts a restaurant called Miller’s Smorgasbord, billed
ns "a groat place for shoofly pie."
How can Eugene compote with shoofly pie?
Admittedly, no one would be questioning the maga
zine’s ranking system had Eugene made the final list.
Maybe that’s the problem.
This is another case of a meaningless study which is
cheered by the winners and jeered by the losers.
And besides, what difference would it have made if
Eugene hod been tapped as one of the nation's small
city "boom towns" anyway? Aside from a burgeoning
sense of civic pride, not much. People don’t make deci
sions on where to live based on surveys; they make
them based on where they can get a bettor job and/or
live a better life. And businesses have more reliable
sources than U S. News, which clearly choked on this
one.
Ami what else could it be called but a choke? The
magazine said it had a list of tho top seven cities, then
produced a list of eight. If it can’t even count, how could
it be trusted to predict the economic growth of each
small city in America?
Oregon Daily
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LETTERS
Gilroy for 44
I'd like lo take this opportuni
ty to recommend to all of my
friends, past, present and future,
the i andidncy of Jim Gilroy to
represent District 44 in the Ore
gon legislature.
We could do no batter. Jim is a
dedicated puhlii servant, having
given 14 years to the city, eight
as a i ity i ouncilman and six as
your and my mayor It is time for
him to take on a larger office and
what could lx* better than to have
him as state legislator
|im is honest and durable, a
family man who stands for fam
ily values, and has the ability to
fac.e the issues head on and with
a clear understanding He is there
for all of us. as he has proven in
his local offices
If you wont honest govern
ment. as I do. in Oregon, then
please join me in supporting Jim
Gilroy for the office of State leg
islator form District 44
Jack Dongle
Cottage Grove
Men pay too
I'd like to applaud Stephen
Crawford's commentary piece
[ODE. April 4) He expressed
many of the opinions that 1 hold
to lx* true hut heretofore reluctant
to express for fear of being lalxtled
sexist
The University of California at
Berkley operates a shuttle system
almost identical to our Saferide,
but with one distinction People
with penises are allowed to use
it. Maybe we should rethink our
policy governing this service that
we all pay for, regardless of our
gender.
1 liken the labeling of men as
potential rapists to the labeling
of black people as potential
thieves. Both lalxds an* the prod
ucts of irrational fear and igno
rance. We men have to learn to
adjust to a world when* we an* to
lx* sexually and emotionally ster
ilized; we have been forced to
accept not only the labal "poten
tial rapist." but also "potential
sexual harasser" and "potential
pedophile." Wo are taught that
our sexuality is somehow bestial,
our affections unwelcome.
Ms Salciccia's comments
reflect this attitude, and in lieu
of calling hero sexist and reduc
ing her to yet another label, I
must say that I emphatically dis
agree with her opinion.
C. Constantine Poulos
English, Philosophy
Release them
The editorial on Melvin Carter
(ODE. March 2‘1) made some
good suggestions. To those I
would like to add my own mod
est proposal: Instead of releasing
rapists like Carter, why doesn't
the prison system parole or par
don political prisoners like
Leonard Peltier?
Native American activists
Leonard Peltier has served 18
years and was rec ently "reward
ed for good behavior" by having
his application for parole denied
Peltier is no rapist, and there are
strong indications that the evi
dence for his murder conviction
was fabric ated by the Kill Even
the prosec ution has admitted that
they really don't know who ac tu
ally committed the murders for
which Peltier was convicted.
Jake Salolywody
Eugene
Won’t tote
In reference to the letter by
Stephan Crawford [ODE. April 4)
regarding the discrimination of
Saferide against men: As a
woman on campus and a staff
member with Saferide, 1 took
extreme offense to your argu
ments.
We have discussed this issue
at length at Saferide and have
consulted with men of color and
gay men on campus. The ques
tion they then asked of us, “Who
will drive the vehicles, men?" If
the purpose is to protect these
men from other men, how would
opening Saferide's services to
males accomplish that?
I also find it typical that once
again one of the only services on
campus exclusively for women
is being attacked. When was the
last time the football team was
attar.ked for not having women
players?
There was found to lie a need
for the services that Saferide pro
vides for women, so it was cre
ated. If it is felt by enough men
on campus that a similar service
is needed for men, then there is
nothing to prevent one from
being formed I do not feel that it
is Saferide's responsibility to pro
vide such services for men. We
are too busy providing for the
women on campus, women who
are protecting themselves, not
relying on someone olse's work
and commitment to tote them
around.
Angharad Jones
Psychology
Tasteless ad
Contrary to the conclusions
reached in the April 4 editorial
in the ODE. rarely has The Reg
ister-Guard done anything as
sleazy as Sunday's publication of
the National Rifle Association’s
full-page ad about Russel Obreni
skv.
While I don't like Obremsky
any better than the next guy, he
has not stood trial for the crime
with which he is <barged, and the
charges could he completely
bogus The ad also recommend
ed telephone harassment of a
public official, ex-parole board
head Danny Santos
Ibis piece of trash did not con
tribute anything positive, hut
rather was intended to generate
support for the "new NRA by
whipping up fear in this com
munity. Would the Guard also
publish a full-page swastika for
the neo-Nazi group?
As most informed people
know, "Three strikes and you're
out' will affect very few criminals
and will not have an overall sig
nificant effect on crime. It is a
feel good measure At $30,000
per year, to incarcerate a crimi
nal for the next 50 years is an
expensive undertaking. It would
l>e letter to spend this $1.5 mil
lion on education, rehabilitation,
and drug addiction treatment. By
blocking almost every rational
attempt at gun control, the NRA
is the major reason why this
country is awash with guns and
why Obremsky had no trouble
getting his. Needless to say, they
don't mention this
Jim Remington
Physics