Courtesy
Eugene political activist Jeff “Free" Luers is currently serving his fourth year in prison. He
was sentenced to 22 years and eight months for setting fire to three SUVs in protest of
the excessive emission of carbon dioxide from automobiles. WOW Hall will host a show on
June 12 featuring performers who support Luers.
Fight to free activist
to convene at WOW
on Day of Solidarity
Environmental activist Jeff
‘Free’ Luers is doing time
for setting fire to three SUVs
By Natasha Chilingerian
Pulse Reporter
Four years ago, political activist Jeff
"Free" Luers, fed up with the excessive
carbon dioxide spit into the air by
poor gas-mileage sport utility vehicles,
set fire to three of them at a Eugene
Chevrolet dealership.
Luers was sentenced to 22 years
and eight months in prison — a
length of time Luers' supporters find
unfair, considering that some murder
ers and rapists are sent to jail for much
shorter periods.
This month marks the fourth an
niversary of Luers' arrest, and on June
12 WOW Hall will feature a show of
music and speeches for the "Day of
Solidarity for Eugene Political Prison
er Jeff'Free' Luers."
Speakers Kevin Price and Ramona
Africa from the MOVE organization
and Claude Marks of the Freedom
Archives will discuss Luers and other
activists who were punished for their
actions. Both Africa and Marks have
been imprisoned for political actions.
The band Blackfire will perform
Native American-influenced punk
tunes at the event.
Break the Chains, an organization
that supports prisoners convicted for
their political activism, will host the
event along with Free's Support Net
work. Break the Chains volunteer
Brendan Avakian said the event will
show how appalled many people
were by the length of Luers' sentence.
"If people come to the event, they
will understand why we are against
his imprisonment" he said.
Luers began fighting for change in
issues such as animal rights, anti-fas
cism and eco-defense in 1996. His
primary concerns have been environ
mental — he strove to stop global
warming and air, soil and water pol
lution. When he burned three of
what he believed were prominent
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Graduation marks time of year
when we enter Age of The Fear
"Is this really a new year? Are we bot
toming out? Or are we into The Age of
The Fear?"
—Hunter S. Thompson
For the normals out there — you
know, those not in college — this is
simply the middle of the year. For
the rest of us, especially the gradu
ating folks, this is a new year. We
will be heading out into the belly of
the beast. Some of us will fail mis
erably, some of us will get rich, fat
and ugly. Some of us might do
something brilliant.
Personally, I've still got a little time
left, but in all honesty, school is com
ing to a screeching halt. I'll be wav
ing my $30,000 diploma like a gold
en flag, hoping for a chance to go big
time. But one thing that has become
terribly clear is that my ideas before
school about my hopes and future
have all melted into one sad truth: 1
need a job. And I'll most likely strug
gle to get into something I would call
a dream job, but most likely, I will
take whatever I can get. Don't forget,
dreams are mirages, kids. They look
a lot better further away. The closer
you get to the damned things, the
more you realize it's just more sand.
So in that, realize the range of your
weapons, your skills, and don't try to
hit something that you can't reach.
Don't take that stupid age-old advice
that says aim for the stars. No one is
going to make it to the stars without
some serious engineering, cash and
a firm grounding in reality.
But on the brighter side, I've
done well with my time here in
university land. I've paid attention
to the facts, the details and the er
rors of my missions. I've sharpened
the blade. I must give props to the
people who have helped, in what
ever way they did.
The Emerald was gracious enough
to give me 15 or so inches every two
weeks to basically say whatever the
hell 1 want. It's been fun, for the
most part. Some people were really
cool, some people 1 would say hon
estly hated me. But that could have
been deadline stress talking.
Much love to KWVA, the beacon
of hope for the future of radio. Keep
pumping out the jams and thanks
for giving me the chance to squirrel
with the sound.
Carl Sundberg
Reasoning with madness
The professors — the good ones 1
mean — I thank you for your insight.
For the rest of you pompous jerks
with favoritism hidden under liber
alism: Go to hell. I won't name
names, but you know who you are.
For my parents, for giving me sup
port in the millions of ways you
have, I thank you. For your criticism
on my future plans, however, please
stop. It's hard enough.
And finally, for my friends who
put up with my ranting and, most
importantly, for giving a man a drink
when he's down.
So now that that is out of the way,
the only thing in front of me is die
horizon.
We have a summer of terrorist
threats, forest fires, festivals, the
Olympics and one of the most dead
ly presidential races in America's his
tory looming in the fall. I'm not tak
ing sides here, as I don't favor either
of the competitors, but if you vote
for Bush this year, you are a miser
able beast. Oops. Did I say that? As
Janeane Garofalo said, a vote for
Bush is a character flaw.
But I'm diverging again. Where
was I?
Oh yes, the horizon. This world, as
I see it now, is in terrible stress. We
have made a horrific mess of things
on so many levels I can't even begin.
But what that means, for all you cap
italists, is that there is much work out
there for all of us! And that means a
job! But "What job?" is a question
that plagues generations of college
students every single year.
I guess I could suck up and get
some mediocre job at some horren
dous corporation, start wearing a tie
and chugging triple mochas four
times a day, just to make the guys
above me in the bigger, shinier of
fices just a little more money. I
could do that.
But those are the cannibals who
are eating us. And I don't think
feeding them is the way to make
this world better.
No, I will move on, my friends.
But to where, 1 don't know. Some
place real, someplace important, to
somewhere that will make the
world — not the corporate bottom
line — a better place. I'm not sure
what that means, but there is a gut
feeling that guides me, and thus far,
it has not failed me.
There is no question that we have
entered The Age of The Fear. And
many of you, myself included, are
going to be attacked by it forever.
But the trick is to look Fear into the
eyes, grit your teeth, and say to it,
"I'm bigger than you and you can't
do a damn thing to me."
Then calm down, because we still
have a long, long way to go. This is
just the beginning. Cheers.
Now, where IS that rum...
Contact the Pulse columnist
at carisundberg@daiiyemerald.com.
His opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
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