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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 2003)
TO THE EDITOR POLLUTING CITIZENS In a news brief last week (7/24) you pointed out that Eugene’s air quality has worsened. Above the short blurb was a pic- ture of a factory pumping smoke into the air. This juxtaposition is misleading, though, be- cause most air pollution doesn’t come from point sources (e.g. factories), but rather from so called “mobile sources” (e.g. cars, trucks, motorcycles, lawn mowers, planes, etc). According to the EPA, mobile sources ac- counted for 77, 82, and 78 percent of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon, and nitrous oxide emissions respectively. These airborne toxins can stay in the air for a long time, traveling miles from their origins, and can lead to breathing problems, lung damage, cardiovas- cular problems, decreased work capacity, as well as cancer. It’s easy to pass the blame of pollution onto an obvious (albeit lesser) source like industry, we as citizens must take responsibility for the impact we have on air quality. Perhaps when you address pollution in future issues you could include information regarding the causes of the pollution, and possible solutions. Kevin Torr Selker Eugene IN BIG BIZ’S NAME Bush lied about the weapons of mass de- struction in Iraq. There’s evidence that he and his cohorts even planned a war on Iraq before the terrorist attack of 9/11. As a result of these Bush actions, more than 200 of our young soldiers have died and continue to die and many more have been wounded. (Nowhere, however, do we have an accounting of how many Iraqi men, women and children we have killed or wounded. Their hardships don’t seem to count for the sanctimonious Bush administration.) This is abhorrent enough. Yet, the American people pay $4 billion a day to continue this war! The U.S. spends, according to the current issue of Newsweek, $369 billion on its military each year. That’s more than the combined military expenditure of the next 20 countries in the world, including Russia and China. This repre- sents Bush’s social and economic values. I would like to know who’s profiting from this war and the billions expended daily? How much of this war is big business for Bush, Cheney and friends at Haliburton and Bechtel? How many lives will their big busi- ness ventures cost? Do we investigate this — or turn our backs to the lives lost and the tax money spent? Bob Rubinstein Eugene EDITOR’S NOTE: Estimates of Iraqi civilian deaths can be found at www.pigstye.net/iraq/ SMORGASBORD OF EVIL The question of whether Bush knowingly lied about WMDs in Iraq distracts us from the bigger question of what justification we have in accusing others of having them when we have more than anyone else, or of terrorism, when we have the School of the Americas. We know where to find evil if we dare to look. In the spirit of “follow the money,” we should be asking who, and whose friends, profit from war, and therefore from lies about reasons to go to war. In the spirit of “I love my country, but I fear my government,” I have more respect (though not love) for those who attack know- ing they’ll be among the first to die (no matter what propaganda may have convinced them), and many of their friends and relatives will die not long after, than those who would profit by others dying, while telling us it’s in our best interest. Dan Robinson Eugene OFAM 2003 August 7-16 TRUCKLOADS OF CASH The Oregon Legislature, in its infinite wis- dom, has doubled auto fees to raise $2.5 billion over the next 10 years. $1.5 billion of that is to replace or repair highway bridges that have been damaged by large trucks exclusively. The powerful trucking lobby pushed this and also persuaded AAA to betray the club’s members and not to object to this rip-off. There is a simple and much less costly way to buy time for the bridge work: • Immediately lower truck loads to a 5,000 lb. maximum — without exceptions. Rein in ODOT and cancel all overload permits. Put heavier loads on rails. • Lower maximum truck speed on bridges to 35 mph, require 300 feet between trucks, restrict them to one lane in each direction and prohibit passing on bridges. These bridges should be serviceable for a good many years with this responsible usage, and it will give the trucking industry plenty of time to raise the $1.5 billion to repair the damage that they alone have caused. David Blain Eugene OFAM 2003 Title Sponsor BUSH IN A CAGE I will vote for and give my total support to the first Democratic candidate to pledge to have Bush tried for treason and war crimes, and be given the maximum penalty for those crimes; and to use the so-called Patriot Act to name the rest of his gang as “unlawful com- batants” and throw them into cages in Guantanamo, forever. Wayne Ford Eugene MARGINAL COVERAGE Thank you for your feature (7/24) on My House’s “ASUPERHAPPYFUDAYINTHE PARK” event last week. Unfortunately, the ill-informed article promoted the event as taking place on Sunday, when in actuality the event has always been scheduled for Saturday. It is too bad the facts of the story were not well researched, nor was the piece insightful or well written. The larger and more important issue how- ever is EW’s continued marginalization of community and contemporary arts in Eugene. The scant coverage found in the pages of EW isn’t for lack of effort. After programming over 45 events at My House in the last 15 months with artists who have had exhibits at the Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of Art, and The Wexner Center (as well as many who are local or not as well-recognized), it has been a constantly frustrating experience trying to get the EW to cover these artists. One certainly gets the feeling that your staff has no interest in promoting community or contemporary art, as we received a constant run-around /avoidance when doing publicity with your paper. Of 45 events, we have received two previews in your paper. I believe it is irresponsible for your paper not to cover local arts and culture. I believe it is irresponsible for staff writers who deal with arts and culture to not be familiar with the local venues. People read EW to find out about what there is to do. Even though My House has The John Pizzarelli Trio OFAM 2003 Opening Gala Concert - Hult Center Thursday, August 7, 7:30 pm - Tickets: 682-5000 OFAM 2003 August 7-16 Presenting Festival Sponsor Rita Moreno OFAM 2003 Grand Finale Concert & The Dick Hyman Jazz Orchestra Cuthbert Sat, August 16, 7:30 pm OFAM at Th e - Shedd The Hult Ticket Office: 682-5000 868 High Street - 285 Broadway 541-687-6526 - www.ofam.org AUGUST 7, 2003 5
