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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2004)
TO THE EDITOR ing to let voters consider it. Instead, she ignored the importance of an independent auditor and made a motion in the Budget Committee to hire a contractor for a one-time audit under the supervision of the city man- ager. Many citizens suspect this odd motion was made simply to avoid consideration of truly independent oversight. This tactic is typical of Nathanson’s equivocation — speaking for something, then voting against it or voting for a partial action that is often worse than no action. Do we want a mayor who says one thing and does another? Beth Kamhi Eugene LINE OF FIRE I’d just like to remind everyone that police officers are people, too. And strong ones. I’m sick of citizens treating them like ignorant donut-scarfing losers, when police officers are patrolling the streets every night keeping everyone safe, without anyone stopping to thank them. They don’t get holidays off. They barely get paid enough to support a family — sometimes, they can’t even do that. And just maybe if you were to be stuck in the line of fire trying to talk a homicidal ex-con out of a house, you’d like to be able to go out for a few beers after work without getting spit on, sworn at or have things thrown at your head. My father’s an officer of the law, and I just hope everyone reading appreciates the job he does while the rest of the city sleeps. He protects, he serves, he gives his life for other people on a shoestring budget — and he gets slandered in the media. Hanna Olsen Eugene WHAT WAR? Thursday morning (3/18) I rushed eager- ly to the nearest EW box. The day before the first anniversary of a war that a year ago the entire world marched in protest against, I knew the EW would have a bitingly clever, artistically poignant cover, drawing the pub- lic’s attention to the anniversary and all the protest activities our many peace, anti-war, anti-Bush, anti-global multinational organi- zations had scheduled. Barney Fife? What did a TV character have to do with stopping Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfield? Maybe a play on the mentality of those who still thought they lived in the white bread world of the 1950s. I didn’t get it, so I went to the contents page. Surely there I’d find where began the many pages of anti-war articles and the schedule of the weekend’s protests activities. Nothing. I went through the entire paper. Not a sin- gle article about the war. How as that possi- ble? I looked again. There it was. The last item of News Briefs. Justice Not War and Kucinich’s friends (et al.) were going to mobilize the voter registration on Saturday. I applaud them for their practical approach. Very peaceful. Eight months away from the election, eight months to mobilize voter reg- istration, and, apparently, the only form of protest Eugene could come up with to mark a year of a war that has killed tens of thou- sands and will keep killing during the next eight months and every year for years to come. I couldn’t accept this. So at noon on Friday, anniversary day, I walked to both the county and federal courthouses to join the hardcore protesters I knew would be assem- bled there. There weren’t any. I returned again at 5 pm. Still no one. What must Wayne Morse be thinking of his beloved town today? I guess Bush was right. Mission accom- plished. Michael Clarke Eugene BLUSTERY BOYCOTT Lars Larson’s recent refusal to participate with other invited talk-radio hosts at Southern Oregon University’s First Amendment Forum is revealing. He said that he would not attend the forum if he was not allowed to carry a concealed weapon onto the campus. Oregon administrative rules prohib- it concealed weapons on state campuses. SOU administrators refused to give in to Larson’s demand and violate Oregon Law, thus, no Larson showing. Larson went on to gratuitously compare his boycott activism to the actions of histori- cal civil rights giant Rosa Parks. Nice try, but a more accurate comparison might be Chicken Little. We know personal safety is not the issue because Larson was offered the services of an armed security guard, which he refused. Perhaps Larson’s blustery boycott is a con- venient distraction, masking his fear of hav- ing to debate ideas in an environment where he can’t talk over, bully, ride the volume fader, break to commercial or simply hang up on callers whose views differ from his. Outside the domain of his own radio show he would be ceding the dynamic of wielding absolute control. Larson would have had a wonderful opportunity to discuss and debate his con- cerns about concealed weapons and public access issues relating to them if he would ADVERTISING 1251 Lincoln St Eugene, OR 97401 541.484.0519 • fax 541.484.4044 EDITORIAL Editor Ted Taylor Executive/Arts Editor Lois Wadsworth News Editor Aria Seligmann Contributing Editor Anita Johnson Staff Writers Alan Pittman, Bobbie Willis Calendar Editor Jacquelyn Lewis Contributing Writers Brett Campbell, Rachel Foster, Kate Rogers Gessert, Jerry Harris, James Johnston, Mary O’Brien, Sylvie Pederson, Vanessa Salvia, Sally Sheklow, Lance Sparks, Martha Ulman West Interns Koki Smith, Kate Storm y ART DEPARTMENT Art Director/Production Manager Kevin Dougherty Graphic Artist/Webmaster James Bateman Graphic Artists Todd Cooper Intern Carlie Morgenstein Contributing Photographer Paul Neevel Director of Sales & Marketing Bill Shreve National Sales Manager Mark Frisbee Display Marketing Consultant Jennifer D’Angelo, Rob Weiss Advertising Traffic Coordinator Geneva Miller Classified Sales Manager Jeffrey Stout Classified Sales Marah Busey Receptionist Greg Burkhead BUSINESS Circulation Manager Deena Miller Controller Paula Hoemann Distributors Jared Edeh, Maggie Garrison, Pedalers Express, Yona C. Riel, Tim Risch, Jackson Stephens, Carrie Wedmore Printing Signature Graphics HOW TO REACH US BY E-MAIL: (letters): editor@eugeneweekly.com (advertising): ads@eugeneweekly.com (classifieds): classy@eugeneweekly.com (personals): personals@eugeneweekly.com (calendar): cal@eugeneweekly.com (music/clubs/special shows): music@eugeneweekly.com (art/openings/galleries): visualarts@eugeneweekly.com (performance/theater): performance@eugeneweekly.com (literary arts/readings): books@eugeneweekly.com (movies/film screenings): movies@eugeneweekly.com (circulation): distribution@eugeneweekly.com APRIL 1, 2004 5
