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Email: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online Edition:
www.dailyemerald.com
Thursday, October 31,2002
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Commentary
Editor in Chief:
Michael J. Kleckner
Managing Editor
Jessica Richelderfer
Editorial Editors:
Salena De La Cruz, Pat Payne
Editorial
DeFazio shows
commitment to
students, trees
The Emerald heartily supports Peter DeFazio for the
U.S. House of Representatives.
DeFazio has had copious experience as a representa
tive supporting the interests of Eugene: For the past 16
years, DeFazio has been a member of the House of Rep
resentatives, and for four years before that, he was the
chairman of the Lane County Board of Commissioners.
He has averaged 94 percent participation in votes in the
House.
DeFazio is a perfect match to represent the University
area’s interests.
He is a committed environmentalist, and tried numer
ous times to block any drilling in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. He’s gotten bills pushed
through Congress to improve the quality of the Millraces
and Amazon Creek, as well as one that would help regu
late the temperature of the Willamette to protect endan
gered fish species.
DeFazio is a known friend of students. He has tried to
increase Pell Grants and has said that he favors federal
loans and scholarships over bank loans. He has even
helped students out of his own pocket. Years ago, he re
fused a pay raise, saying that he could not accept it in
good conscience while the budget wasn’t balanced. Ever
since, he has used that extra pay to fund nine scholar
ships annually. To date, he has paid out nearly #182,000
in scholarships.
His opponent, on the other hand, can only suggest
more logging to aid the tuition crunch.
It’s simple: Re-elect Peter DeFazio.
Lane measures
offer services
There are six Lane County measures on the ballot,
from park improvements to jail upgrading. We recom
mend passing almost all of them, as they provide much
needed infrastructure support for the county.
We are voting no on only the parks measure, as it is
the most expensive and mostly provides for adding RV
sites and horse trails rather than expanding undeveloped
areas.
If all six measures were adopted, property owners with
a home worth 8 125,000 would pay up to 846.83 annually
in higher property taxes.
Measure 20-59 would upgrade and expand the Jail In
take Center, improving the county’s ability to process se
rious offenders. Vote yes.
Measure 20-60 would upgrade emergency communi
cations equipment so officers in far-flung areas of the
county can respond safely to emergencies. Vote yes.
Measure 20-61 would give the courthouse more com
plete disabled access and allow longer operating hours
for records retrieval and handgun licensing.
Measure 20-62 is the parks measure. Vote no.
Measure 20-63 allows Public Health to replace their
decades-old converted tavern and safely continue their
much-needed public service work. Vote yes.
Measure 20-65 would build a new planetarium and of
fer kids science education that they can’t get at our un
derfunded schools. Vote yes.
One caveat: We might have made different endorse
ments if more students owned property.
Letters to the editor
and auest commentaries oolicv
Letters to the editor and guest commentaries
are encouraged. Letters are limited to 250
words and guest commentaries to 550 words.
Authors are limited to one submission per
calendar month. Submission must include
phone number and address for verification. The
Emerald reserves the right to edit for space,
grammar and style.
kK\ i\\\
The living dead
Peter Utsey Emerald
I see dead people. Once they were
flesh and bone, fiber and liquid. Now they
rest between the School of Music and
McArthur Court, in Pioneer Cemetery.
Established in 1872, the cemetery’s 16
acres are dotted with old headstones and
stately trees which
none can fail to see,
but many prefer to
ignore. On this hal
lowed night, perhaps
it is time to take an
other look at this
historic, silent town.
When humans
were still living as
hunters and gath
erers, they became
aware of their own
mortality. They be
gan to bury their dead with ceremony
and respect. As historian Lewis Mum
ford wrote, cities of the dead preceded
cities of the living. Some of the famous
monuments, from the Great Pyramids
to the Taj Mahal, were built to honor
the dead, and to ensure that the living
remembered.
Cemeteries have inspired some remark
able poems. "Spoon River Anthology" by
Edgar Lee Masters gave voice to the quiet
lives of small-town Americans. My person
al favorite is Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written
in a Country Churchyard," one of the most
quoted works in literature.
Recent times have witnessed a change
in attitudes toward death and the dead.
Modern cities saw cities of the dead as
Philip
Huang
A different light
obstacles to their progress. Useless bones
were taking up valuable real estate! A
century ago, San Francisco ordered the
removal of thousands of remains south to
Golma. No doubt this move caused many
49ers to roll over in their graves.
Eugene has not been immune to pro
moting development over dead bodies. In
fact, University officials tried to condemn
Pioneer Cemetery in 1956. In the 1960s,
they attempted to build classrooms over
the graveyard, with an open-air ground
floor to keep the grave sites intact.
The contemporary treatment of ceme
teries reflects our disdainful attitude to
ward death. Rather than accept death
and honor those who died, we choose to
ignore reminders of our own mortality.
From Botox and Viagra, to the Ted
Williams cryogenics saga, to the search
for the Methuselah gene, we attempt to
defy signs of our eventual fate.
Cemeteries also reflect how we lived. I
used to visit Mountain View Cemetery in
Oakland, Calif., where wealthy families
like the Crockers and Ghirardellis had
erected large obelisks and mausoleums
to mark their worldly status. In Colma,
Italians, Jews and Japanese were laid to
rest in separate grounds.
While neither vast nor famous like the
great urban landmarks, Pioneer Cemetery
has enduring virtues which reflect the lives
of its early setders. As Gray wrote:
"Far from the madding crowd's ignoble
strife,
Their sober wishes never learn'd to
stray;
Along the cool sequester'd vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their
way."
Is it unseemly today to have a grave
yard amidst the blissful bops of Beall
Concert Hall, the graceful glissades of
Gerlinger Annex and the monster jams of
McArthur Court? Even more incongru
ous to be among youthful students solv
ing proofs, debating the world or making
love. Yet the invisible dead and visible
headstones remind us that “the paths of
glory lead but to the grave.”
But where glory ends, legacy begins.
This insight seized me on Tuesday, as I
watched 20,000 people attend a memorial
to the late Senator Paul Wellstone on C
SPAN. His two sons spoke not of past vic
tories, but about his integrity, devotion to
family and passion for social justice. Well
stone retained the virtues of a decent man
while practicing big-time politics. Even in
death, his exemplary life continues to in
spire the people he served.
More than any obelisk, statute, or
mausoleum, our character and service
to others is what future generations
may remember.
Today we are flesh and bone, fiber and
liquid. What will we be a century from
now? A fond memory? An example to
others? Or just dust?
Happy Halloween.
Contact the columnist
at philiphuang@dailyemerald.com.
His opinions do not necessarily represent
those of the Emerald.
Letters to the Editor
Unborn is not un-human
I am responding to Salena De La
Cruz’s column (“Health care for ALL,”
ODE, Oct. 25).
I just wanted to thank you for speak
ing out for the unborn. Unborn does not
mean un-human. This is how I feel. This
issue is a bit personal to me because I
live with the guilt of my ex-girlfriend’s
abortion. With that said, I am 100 per
cent opposed to abortion.
I feel this way: A doctor’s number one
priority is to ensure the life of his pa
tients). That includes the unborn baby.
The doctor needs to do whatever is neces
sary to make sure that mother and child
both survive in the case of the pregnancy
endangering the mother’s life.
Whatever your view is on abortion,
that should be an agreeable stance,
right? If you don’t agree, that’s OK. I
won’t judge you. It’s just how I feel.
Phillip Watson
Texas
Measure 23 hurts
Oregon’s economy
The editorial (“Yes on Measure 23 give
health care basics to Oregon,” ODE, Oct.
28) endorsing Measure 23 is poorly ar
gued and reasoned. True, Measure 23 in
creases income tax by 8 percent, but the
bill also grants power to adjust income
taxes in the future in order to pay for the
health care system to the Oregon Com
prehensive Health Care Finance Board.
In addition to undermining the leg
islative power to tax, the 8 percent ini
tial increase in income tax will have a
large negative impact on the economy of
Oregon. For someone making only
$12,500 a year, the new tax rate of 17
percent (the old rate plus 8 percent) will
cost an additional $1,000 per year. In
many cases this is more than health
care premiums from a private insurer.
Furthermore, some state representa
tives estimate that Measure 23 would cost
$20 billion to implement and, as stated in
the voter's pamphlet, $1.7 billion per year.
This is a tremendous cost for a state al
ready in serious financial trouble. Cou
pled with the lower disposable income of
every resident because of increased taxa
tion, and the anti-business 11.5 percent
hike in payroll taxes, Measure 23 is the fi
nal blow to a moribund economy.
Passing this measure is one way to
ensure that Oregon’s economy never
gets better. Basic macroeconomics
principles demonstrate that increased
taxation will only drive us further into
recession and cause immeasurable dif
ficulties for Oregonians in the future. A
no vote on Measure 23 is the only fis
cally responsible choice.
Tim Dreier
junior, economics
managing editor
.-U~. ... .Oregon.Commen.ta!tor