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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 9, 2003)
BY BEN FOGELSON Oregon’s Daughters ‘Oh Girls’ calendar not licensed by UO office. I f you have a daughter attending the UO, you may want to flip through the new “Oh Girls” calendar; lucky you, she might be in it. Produced by Zach Patterson, a recent graduate of the UO Lundquist School of Business, the “Oh Girls” calendar fea- tures “Maxim style” images of young UO students in suggestive outfits, glazed in soap, relaxing on hay-bales and getting it on in hot tubs. Well, “getting it on” may be a little misleading, as the calendar contains no full nudity, but if “getting it on” means, “Look at me and mentally mastur- bate,” or “Here’s what women are good for,” then the “Oh Girls” calendar is definitely getting it on. Initially, said Patterson, the calendar was slated for a UO logo license. Patterson’s June concept pitch, more cutesy, less racy than the final “Oh Girls” product, to the UO Office of Trademark Management (OTM) included women in UO clothing, with UO props, with a UO title, to be sold, hopefully, at the UO Bookstore. Despite a rejection by the UO, “Oh Girls” did in fact make it onto UO Bookstore shelves, for approximately an hour and a half on Tuesday, Sept. 30. Then the bookstore got a call from the UO “requesting” the calendars be pulled. They were, immediately, and in an effort of good faith, Patterson bought them back. In an attempt to discover why the product had not been given the UO go-ahead, Anita Nickell, the assistant director of the OTM, told me, “The only thing I can tell you is that has not come through our office as a licensed product.” To further describe my scintillating phone conversation with Nickell, I should say she also added, “It has not been licensed by this office,” “I can only tell you that it hasn’t been licensed by this office” and, “That calendar did not come through as such, no.” In an attempt to dig a bit deeper, I spoke with the director himself, Matt Dyste, who cleared things up with, “That product was not licensed by the University of Oregon.” So “Oh Girls” didn’t get licensing. Therefore, Patterson altered the product. He told the models (some were friends and others were referred to him by word of mouth) that the cal- endar wasn’t going to be licensed but they were going to go ahead anyway, make it sexier and take out all the references that would lead one to believe it was a licensed product. And as before, payment to the women models would still be nothing, except, of course, the salute of an occasional frat-room grunt. Patterson has been selling “Oh Girls” on 13th Avenue, with what one reporter described as a humongous wad of cash in his pocket. While the calendar’s primary colors are yellow and green, and the students are from the university and the title of the calendar is the “Oh Girls,” Dyste gave Patterson a letter ask- ing him to voluntarily stop selling the calendar, as they were concerned the product design could possibly infringe on UO licensing and trademarks. Though Patterson had a lawyer respond with a letter of their own, saying, as Patterson put it, “Leave me alone,” Patterson hopes the UO Bookstore — which is very concerned with the opinions of the OTM — will still carry “Oh Girls” — and “Oh Guys” in 2004. So, if you’re at all worried that your little darling is hiding something from you but nothing from others, Zach Patterson, who said, “I wanted all the pictures to be something the girls would feel fine about showing to their families,” is selling the calendars on 13th Avenue on campus. ew Who knows what sales lurk in a Goodwill store? 25% OFF USED HALLOWEEN STOCK OCTOBER 28-30, 2002 It’s worth screaming about They do. 6 OCTOBER 9, 2003 TO THE EDITOR ARBITRARY JUSTICE POVERTY IS WEALTH The loss of ethics in our judicial system should be noted. Due process in our civil courts is long gone for the working classes. Common interest groups like insurance com- panies and large business have removed your civil rights to sue under the due process of law, by convincing lawmakers that arbitra- tion is the way to settle the working class claims against consumer fraud, auto acci- dents and civil liability claims. The arbitrator is a person selected to judge a dispute as in collective bargaining negotiations. Arbitration is based on one’s preference, no- tion or whim and not by due process of law. This is a dictatorial system set up by large business and insurance companies where conflict of interest laws do not apply; in fact, where no laws apply and judgment is done on the preference of those chosen to arbitrate. The arbitrating law firms have interest in these companies and volunteer their time and their insurance lawyers to be on the arbitrator list that is used to select a referee or umpire for settlement. They do not have to follow the laws set out by our courts and are only re- quired to use their own preference to make judgment on the working classes. These arbi- trators have and continue to act in favor of large companies, ignoring the laws set out by the state and federal government to favor their own common interest. You have no civil right to sue in a fair and balanced court system anymore because it was taken away from the working class long ago by large companies and insurance giants. Patrick Norton Florence On Sept 27, The Register-Guard reported that the number of people living in poverty in the U.S. has increased by 1.7 million. Earlier, when the liberal media reported the dropping value of the dollar, it was neces- sary for the White House to clarify that this is a good thing because it reduces the cost of U.S. goods for our remaining international customers. Now the liberal media will be using the increase in poverty to claim mis- management of the economy. It is therefore crucial to explain why the increase in poverty is, in fact, also a good thing. First, the poor pay little or no income taxes. As our president has patiently ex- plained, reducing federal tax revenues is al- ways good, regardless of current economic conditions. Second, poverty is good for industry. Ask any CEO what the greatest cost to his busi- ness is and he will tell you: workers‚ salaries and benefits. The poor and unemployed are willing to work for less, which reduces costs and in turn increases corporate profits. Third, the poor are far more willing to work in unpleasant or hazardous conditions, and having someone working these jobs is es- sential for the comfortable lifestyles of the rest of us. Also, having a large of pool of des- perate Americans decreases the need to hire immigrant labor, which in turn reduces the desire of foreigners to sneak into our country. Fourth, the poor spend almost all their in- come in day-to-day expenses. That is, the poor channel their modest incomes back into the local economy and credit firms. While the wealthy obviously spend more money, much of their income is locked up in savings. When adjusted for their net worth, the poor contribute proportionally more to the econ- omy. In short, the growing poverty in our coun- try is another sign that our president is doing a fine job with the economy. To claim other- wise is unpatriotic. Eric Pederson Eugene TWO WRONGS, NO RIGHT I’d like to add further contemplation to the letter of Jeffrey Stout (9/18) regarding field burning. It appears to me that he’s willing to accept field burning as harmless in light of the fact that Americans are emitting more harmful pollutants via the automobile. Do we have to accept more pollution because we are already encumbered with auto exhaust? Why can’t we address both issues as something re- quiring change? Admittedly, the car is deeply ingrained in our lifestyles, but by raising public awareness and working towards alternative fuels, we can hopefully reduce these emissions over time. I’d also like to challenge Jeffrey’s view of field burning as benign. He states that “farm- ers produce something through their field burning.” I’m curious if he realizes that grass seed is distributed via trucks and planes, or that grass is usually mowed by lawn mowers (which are not clean burning engines). There is also the fact that the grass fields as well as their product (lawns) are often sprayed with commercial fertilizers and herbicides which usually contain lead and mercury as well as other harmful chemicals. I was curious about the airborne particu- lates from fields that are sprayed with these products and then burned. LRAPA said that we no longer tested the air for lead and never have for mercury. To add insult to injury, a majority of these “farms” are owned by multinational Dutch companies. My European friends tell me that Europe doesn’t allow field burning. Welcome to the third world, Oregon! Sondra Arrache Eugene BUSHWHACKED BUILDING? Rumor has it that the Eugene federal building was secretly delayed to help pay for Bush’s warmongering. The Bush administra- tion is hiding the diversion of money from Oregon to Iraq by blaming Eugene for not supporting the project. Other nonessential pork-barrel projects have been delayed. For example, it was pub- licly announced that money designated after 9/11 for airport security research would be cut to reduce Bush’s record budget deficit. In effect, Bush is diverting research dollars from universities, such as OSU and UO, to pay for war. Bush doesn’t want to fund them [sic] in- tellectual elitist “terrorists” anyway. Bush, in addition to reducing his deficit, is probably using these delays to extort votes from congressmen such as DeFazio. Our local “fair and balanced” (trademark of Fox News Corporation) media has failed to inves- tigate how Bush’s trickery is hurting Oregon. Thomas Kraemer Corvallis THE REPUBLICRITES I recently found out that there is a candi- date for office who has a history of smoking pot (and inhaling!), using steroids to enhance
