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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (June 26, 2003)
buy sell trade BY TOM LININGER MajQa! fashion that pays to be me. That’s Klingon for “well done!” M ultnomah County made the headlines twice last month: once for passing a county income tax to support schools, and once for considering whether to hire an interpreter for mental patients who only speak Klingon (one of the imagi- nary languages from the TV series Star Trek). The story about the Klingon interpreter was unfair. In fact, the Multnomah County commissioners quickly dismissed the idea of hiring a Klingon intepreter, and they never spent a nickel for this purpose. Here in Oregon, our scarce fund- ing for mental health barely allows us to treat all the deserving human patients, let alone the Klingons. While the Multnomah commissioners’ refusal to pay for a Klingon interpreter may have set back interplanetary diplomacy, I agree with their decision. What’s amazing to me is that the Klingon controversy hit the newspapers just days before Multnomah County voted on a proposed county income tax. Talk about bad timing! As one Multnomah official recalled, some voters were holding a ballot in one hand and the newspaper story about the Klingon inter- preter in the other hand. Yet the Multnomah County income tax passed by a margin of 56 to 44 percent. Good thing Klingons can’t vote! The Lane County Board of Commissioners wanted to hear more about the experience of our counterparts in Multnomah County, so we invited some of them down to visit with us at a public meeting last Tuesday. The officials who stopped by were an impressive group: John Ball, the chief operating officer for Multnomah County, is a former Lane County commissioner and a great guy; Diane Linn, chair of the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, is a charismatic and energetic progressive (Lars Larson gave her the nickname “Diane Downs,” so she must be doing something right!) 131 E. 5th Ave (between Oak & Pearl) BUFFALOEXCHANGE . COM I Spy a PIECE of the PIE! ★ New HEMP clothing from Sweetgrass ★ Huge selection of PREMIUM used clothing is in! ★ More men’s shorts, pants, shirts, caps & tees ❤ Get YO-SELF a PIECE ! ❤ T he Multnomah officials explained why they proposed a county income tax. They had seen Measure 28 pass in Multnomah County last January, only to fail statewide. They had heard the outcry from the local community about the budget cuts that Measure 28 would have averted. They saw that Portland’s schools were ridiculed in “Doonesbury” and in The New York Times. They ultimately decided that Multnomah voters deserved a chance to choose their own funding level for schools and human services, even if the rest of the state might be content with drastic cuts. While a county income tax was unprece- dented, the Multnomah officials weren’t afraid “to boldly go where no one has gone before” (actually, they didn’t say that last part). After this meeting, several people asked me whether Lane County should try to pass a local income tax. I can see both the pros and cons. On the one hand, our schools and human services are woefully underfunded, and our coun- ty’s approval of Measure 28 suggests the possibility that a local income tax measure might also pass. On the other hand, only 50.4 percent of Lane County voters approved Measure 28. Last fall, county voters rejected all six of the rev- enue measures that the county proposed. We’ll need to be extremely cautious as we consider whether to emulate the Multnomah strategy. Meanwhile, Benton County, the only other county to approve Measure 28, has just placed a local revenue measure on the ballot. We’re GRATEFUL for your support. Mon-Sat 10-8/ Sun 12-5 Corner of 11th & Willamette in the ❤ of Downtown Eugene I want to close this column with a suitable tribute to our friends from Multnomah County who were so kind to visit us last Tuesday. Let me say, with deepest gratitude, Heghlu’ meH QaQ jajvam. (Oops, I misread my Klingon dic- tionary. I just wrote, “Today is a good day to die.”) Let me try again: Hhab SoSlT’ Quch. (No, wait, that means, “Your mother has a smooth forehead.”) I can’t seem to find a Klingon word for “thanks.” Oh well, what does Multnomah County care? If they’re too cheap to pay for a Klingon interpreter, they’ll have to settle for a salutation translated from the Vulcan language: “Live long and prosper.” Tom Lininger, an inveterate Trekkie, finds time between reruns to serve as the county commissioner for the East Lane District. Despite these facts, this common femi- nist viewpoint completely ignores the mil- lions of girls annually who are denied ac- cess to any rights and all choices. If all humans are valuable because we possess rights that are intrinsic to humanity regardless of sex, race, ability or depend- ency, then none of these attributes give one human more rights than another. If they do, then we are all in danger of exploitation by anyone older, smarter or manlier. The same outrage that accompanies femicide makes “menicide” wrong also. It is someone stronger, bigger, and more powerful denying another the basic human rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap- piness because they’re in the way. “No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed.” — Susan B. Anthony Faith Adair Springfield LETTERS POLICY: We welcome letters on all topics and will print as many as space allows. Please limit length to 250 words, keep submissions to once a month, and include your address and phone number for our files. E-mail to editor@eugeneweekly.com (please put “letters” in the subject line), fax to 484-4044, or mail to 1251 Lincoln, Eugene 97401. What you can do ■ Never, ever buy a puppy, or any animal, from a pet store. Tempting as it may be to “save” pathetic pet shop puppies, the money you spend just perpetuates the cycle of suffering. ■ Urge pet stores to sell only supplies, not living animals. Ask them to team up with the local shelter and display shelter animals who are up for adoption. Until they do, let them know you will purchase supplies ONLY from stores that don’t sell animals. ■ Save a life. If you have the time and resources to care for a dog or cat, adopt a homeless animal from the shelter. Millions of healthy, friendly animals are killed in shelters every year for lack of good homes. If you buy, a pound puppy will die. PEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS 501 FRONT ST. , NORFOLK, VA 23510 ■ 757-622-PETA WWW.HELPPUPPIES.COM JUNE 26, 2003 7
