TO THE EDITOR
EDITOR’S NOTE: EW has received an un-
usual amount of letters to the editor lately, so
we are adding letters to our website this
week. Visit www.eugeneweekly.com
UNDERWHELMED
Wow! Is there really a beer-guzzling guy
in this stodgy old cow town who organized
people to hold Howard Dean signs on a high-
way overpass? That’s incredible! How inno-
vative! Stop the Weekly presses and put this
story on your cover!
Fortunately, EW has letters to the editor
that are more comprehensive than some of
your “news” features. For example, from
Ann Tattersall’s letter (12/11) we learned that
Howard Dean is a downright Clinton-esque
neo-con clone who supports the death
penalty, NAFTA, WTO, corporate polluters
and a bloated military budget. Notions that
your cover story omitted entirely.
Can’t wait for the next exciting political
feature. What’s it gonna be? Crank addicts in
Albany who — get this — use bumperstick-
ers to promote Joe Lieberman?
Blair Bobier
Corvallis
LANE COUNTY FOR DEAN
Many thanks for the front-page photo and
cover story about the Corvallis Howard Dean
supporters (12/11). I am glad that you guys
felt covering them was important, consider-
ing how many of your readers are mondo
Kucinich fans.
I’m sure there’re a
few EW readers, how-
ever, who might be
curious about the
Dean volunteers in
the Eugene/Spring-
field area who are
doing what they can
to re-defeat Bush.
Around 150 locals
joined Lane County
for Dean at each of the
last two monthly
meet-ups. Speakers
have included former
Governor Barbara
Roberts, civil rights activist Terry Bean and
Secretary of State Bill Bradbury. We’ve
hosted letter-writing parties twice a month
and we even had a birthday party for Dean
last month.
Some of the volunteers and I were out on
the Harlow overpass on the Civil War day,
letting I-5 drivers know how energetically we
support Dean. It was cold, but that was noth-
ing compared to Iowa next month. I’m ship-
ping out there in two weeks, and I’ll jump
from there to one of the battleground states
like Ohio or Florida. Just doing my part.
Readers can get more information
about Lane County for Dean at
www.dean2004.lane.or.us. If you’re a sup-
porter or just curious, I encourage you to at-
tend the next Eugene meet-up at 7 pm. on
Wednesday, Jan. 7 at Monroe Middle School.
Dean’s recent success seems to be upset-
ting to many people, and there’s a lot of mis-
information flying around. I encourage
everyone to spend some time in researching
the candidates.
Steve Ransom
Eugene
LONELY ACTIVISM
I find myself in a very confusing place. I
4 DECEMBER 24, 2003
am disillusioned with the level of activism in
Eugene. How can that be? I have been in
Eugene for 19 years, and have never felt so
alone in my activism. I don’t want to be too
hard on you all because I know that it wasn’t
well publicized but there was an information
session about a new youth centered program
and there were only eight attendees. I went
into a deep funk. Is Eugene going to fail me
now? I want to believe that people didn’t see
the notice regarding the session, or maybe
everyone was too busy. I have sent outlandish
amounts of e-mails to individuals in the
schools systems, the city, etc. I have had very
little response.
In fact, I had to travel to Portland to even
partake in a discussion with other youth al-
lies. I am getting more support from a man in
Seattle than I am here, in my “hometown.”
Odd.
The Youth Centered Youth Development
Institute, and its sister program Soul of a
Child, will be based in Eugene for at least the
next six years. We will hopefully continue to
build our network and develop relationships
with other youth centered programs nation-
wide. I hope that, if there are individuals out
there who hold highly the idea of “youth lib-
eration,” you will indeed contact me, and vol-
unteer on the board, and even donate funds to
support the program. If you need more infor-
mation, go to the website or call or e-mail me
(www.ycydi.org, 342-2349, ycydi@hot-
mail.com).
I don’t want to compete for
resources with other social jus-
tice programs, ever. I don’t even
want to compete for “the most
oppressed group in society” des-
ignation. I want to see collabora-
tion; I want to see solidarity; I
want to see community building.
This is a challenge. I hope that
you all live up to it. My disillu-
sionment with Eugene may very
well continue.
Tonia Valadez
Executive Director
Youth Centered Youth
Development Institute
TASTELESS ’TOON
I agree with Dan Schmieding’s character-
izing of the “Viagra Cartoon” (11/26).
Tasteless, crude, vulgar. In a word: outra-
geous.
RoseMarie Cassidy
Eugene
CRITTER GIFTING
The spending season is once again upon
us. We are inundated with ads trying to “help
us” find the perfect gift for everyone on our
list. Another option is available, one that will
help some of the less fortunate beings in our
community. We’re told that our economy is
improving (even Oregon’s!) but there are still
record numbers of hungry, homeless and in-
nocent that need your assistance.
I’m speaking of all the abused, lost, aban-
doned and unwanted animals our society rou-
tinely discards. Unlike our less fortunate fel-
low homo sapiens, the animals have no voice
and are simply euthanized when they become
too numerous. One easy way to simplify our
gift giving and share in addressing Lane
County’s animal welfare problem is to give a
gift to the animals. There are several non-
profit organizations in our community that
need your support and will be happy to ac-
knowledge your donation.
For example, a gift to Greenhill Humane
Society in honor of your favorite animal lover
will help in countless ways and be acknowl-
edged in their newsletter. The Lane County
Animal Control Authority also accepts dona-
tions and for those you on the coast, consider
the Florence Area Humane Society.
Whatever your preference, a charitable
contribution can leverage your investment:
You feel good, the person you’re giving for
will feel good, the animals will benefit, and
you’ll be able to add it to your list of tax de-
ductions. How can that martini maker you
were looking at even remotely compete?
Greta Utecht
Eugene
DIAMONDS FOR NEVER
Most of us remember that catchy De
Beers slogan, “Diamonds are Forever.” After
all, it was dubbed “Slogan of the Century” in
1999 by Advertising Age magazine. What is
more important to remember is how that rock
got to you.
To begin with, diamonds are ridiculously
overpriced. When we talk about gouging the
customer, we could say no one does it better
than De Beers. The average engagement ring
diamond costs De Beers approximately $10
to mine, transport, cut, and polish. How is
this possible? A little thing we call a monop-
oly.
De Beers thrives not only on consumer ig-
norance, but on cheap labor as well. The aver-
age weekly take home pay for one of their
“employees” in India is about $12. A corpora-
tion built on the backs of slaves knows how to
take advantage of uneducated, vulnerable hu-
mans.
One of the diamond industry’s latest trav-
esties is currently taking place in Botswana,
where the Bushmen of the Kalahari are being
expulsed from their land by the Botswana
government; the same land on which they
have lived for centuries.
It’s important to mention that the
Botswana Government owns half of
Debswana, a mining company. The other half
is owned by none other than De Beers. Of
course, the government and Debswana will
tell you that the eradication of the Bushmen,
the oldest civilization on the planet, has ab-
solutely nothing to do with the enormous
amount of precious gems that they are ex-
tracting from the very land from which the
Bushmen are being eradicated.
I urge skeptics to look into the long, secre-
tive and deplorable history of the diamond in-
dustry. The September issue of The Ecologist
investigates this history in a featured article
titled, “Dying for DeBeers.” Greg Campbell
also gives an accurate depiction of the atroci-
ties of the diamond industry in his book
Blood Diamonds, Tracing the Deadly Path of
the World’s Most Precious Stones.
This holiday season, give gifts of compas-
sion that last forever, and please remember,
diamonds are for-never.
Joshua Welch
Eugene
SECRET POWER
I’ve been enjoying the letters published
lately on the Democratic hopefuls, but has
anyone seen Dean lately? It’s scary stuff, and
I can’t believe Al Gore has decided to back
this man. I caught a speech on C-SPAN and
earlier last weekend opened my Newsweek to
find some Gov. Howard Dean publicity.
The speech I watched, with great interest
and eyes agog, included Dean chanting “You
Have the Power! YOU Have the Power!”
Let’s ignore the images of a football coach
that flash in my head. I think back to the
Newsweek that told me about Dean’s 10-year-
seal on many of his official papers — for “fu-
ture political considerations” and four years
longer than previous Vermont governors.
Sealed. You can’t see them. I can’t see them.
Neither can your representatives in Congress.
But if I have the power, I’d like to see
those records. Someone tell me where to get
the request forms. Wait, I’ve got the internet.
I’ll get the forms. You warm up the car. We’re
going to drive out to that remote state ware-
house in Middlesex and use our power to ob-
tain any information we might need to make
an educated decision about our nation’s
leader. Especially that juicy stuff, the corre-
spondence with advisers on Vermont’s “civil
unions” law and some stuff on alleged tax