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!)
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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
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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