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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (May 15, 2003)
TO THE EDITOR T HE T RAVEL C LINIC medical advice for global travelers 1200 Hilyard St., Ste S-560 343-6028 Begin traveling healthy today at www.TravelClinicOregon.com NOW ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS Oregon Family Dental, PC John J. Park, DDS “Providing quality care with a gentle touch.” 344-7900 • 11th & Chambers • Eugene PERMANENT COSMETICS NW •Eyeliner •Eyebrows •Lip color •Camouflage 15 years EXPERIENCE & EXPERTISE SWiCH Skin Rejuvenation The secret to younger looking skin A TTENDING TO SOUL Tools and Rituals for Resiliency and Regeneration • Sustainable relationship to one’s work • Self care Strategies for “Busy Women” • A personal resource to prevent burnout Upcoming Retreats May 17th- The Mother-Daughter Retreat May 24th- The “Busy Women’s” Retreat June 7th- The “Busy Woman’s” Retreat for Healing Arts Professionals The Avalon (541) 344-7789 Lodge & Retreat Center 2371 Oakmont Way, Eugene Conveniently located in South Eugene permanentcosmeticsnw.com Teressa@campavalon.org • 541-345-0756 HOOP-JUMPING It was a real hoot reading the quotes from the Axis of Fantasy regarding the Eugene business climate. I laughed so hard I sprayed my Pabst all over the page. Soliciting Kelly- Bettman-Taylor’s views on this matter is like asking Anita Bryant what the happ’s are in the San Francisco bathhouse scene. The outfit I’m involved with spent a cou- ple hundred grand last year doing a little infill remodeling to put two businesses downtown so we could get our diverse work crew back in action. I would characterize our dealings with the city as schizophrenic. Some of the officials bent over backwards to help us while others threw up one roadblock after another. Man, by the time I completed the process I felt like an otter carcass being bashed around by the waves in Devil’s Churn. In fairness, a lot of the hoops are a result of federal and state regulations. And once you manage to get the doors open, the departments providing essential services, such as police and fire, are very reasonable to deal with. The danger lies in fringe areas of bureaucracy. The new city manager might want to look at dele- tions there at budget-cutting time. Tom Tracey Eugene YOU TRY IT To Dub Taylor (Letters, 5/1): Instead of bashing, why don’t you write a film review, submit it to the letters section, and show the world what you are capable of creating — week after week? Lois Wadsworth’s film re- views reflect very accurately the general feel of the films, be it good or bad. I would have never watched movies such as Vertical Ray of the Sun and Black Hawk Down were it not for her compelling reviews, and I have thank- fully avoided wasting my money on the vapid tripe Hollywood tries to force feed its apa- thetic viewing audience. Lois is a highly respected voice in Eugene (I still read her reviews and I’m 2,000 miles away), and she has been saving film audi- ences from wasting their money for years. I, for one, wish Lois many, many more years of happy reviewing at EW. Luke Galvin Milwaukee, WI. GIMME MEAT I just read a letter in the recent issue (5/8) attacking the comic strip “Red Meat.” I want everyone at EW to know that I absolutely love it! It is my favorite feature, the first thing I flip to when the new issue comes out. The humor is dark, cynical and sarcastic. Anyone who doesn’t appreciate it probably shouldn’t read it. I don’t find anything funny about “Peanuts” or “Zits” or “Family Circus” or any of the other asinine, watered-down strips that flood the comics pages of the R-G. So, I don’t read them. Ignore any criticism concerning “Red Meat.” My friends and I think it’s brilliant. Clippings adorn my fridge. Thank you for continuing to print “Red Meat” and the other fine comics in your publication. Sabrina McNamara Eugene BUCKING UP In contrast to the typical “gripe du jour,” I want to share some “old-fashioned power tools” we can dust off and use for today’s is- sues. Folks who lived through the Great 6 MAY 15, 2003 Depression following the stock market crash of 1929 had it much harder than we do. They seem to have been strengthened by it. They developed unknown gifts, talents and inner stamina. Working from noble hearts, they dove from job to job and household to house- hold to survive. They are justifiably pretty damned proud of themselves for accomplish- ing it. Granted, Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath is not cheerful, but the characters are ingen- ious and innovative. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie was first printed in 1936. Through its charmingly dated prose, the essence of the survivors of those times is captured, despite the seemingly ma- nipulation-encouraging title. On a personal note, I’m married and only slightly employed at 41 years old. I’m finding many places to which I’ve applied shutting down, and one night I panicked and called my father. He was nine years old when the market crashed. Though things were tight in those days, it could have been worse. His par- ents owned a small bakery; everybody needed to eat, so they did pretty well. My mother and her parents needed to move in with relatives while my grandfather, a phar- macist, worked miles away in another town and could only visit on weekends. Instead of Thanksgiving turkey they had opossum. They lived through it. We can learn from them. All we need to do is ask them either in person or in print. G.B. Koerner Eugene EYE EXAM Did anyone else fail the recent version of EW’s eye exam? I can now no longer read the teeny-tiny print of the “Movie Clips” without bright light and a magnifying glass. The new format on the movie page instituting the miniscule print presumably will create one or two new inches that can be run as an ad. I guess someone thinks that’s progress Julie Rogers Eugene BIG BAD COMMITTEE Recently the Fish and Game Commission decided to convene a 14-member advisory committee to develop a wolf management plan for Oregon. It’s hoped that such a plan will work to help restore the wolf to Oregon and to maintain viable populations of this na- tive species. However, given the makeup of the pro- posed committee, such a positive outcome is unlikely. Out of the 14 “slots” on the commit- tee, only two to four can be reasonably be as- sured of being advocates for the wolf. Most of the committee will consist of groups or in- dividuals who have in the past displayed an- tagonistic or even outright hostility to wolf restoration. These include the proposed in- clusion of a livestock producer, a hunter, trap- per, eastern Oregon county commissioner, range/forest land conservationists, resident of rural Oregon, public land manager and two at-large public representatives. Polls have shown the more than 70 per- cent of Oregonians support wolf restoration. Too bad it appears the Oregon Fish and Game Commission seems unlikely to put together an advisory committee that truly represents the views of most Oregonians. Failure to do so will only ensure years of contentious de- bate and perhaps litigation. Brooks Fahey Predator Defense Institute
