TO THE EDITOR
FREE
HEALTH BENEFIT FAIRS
held in Eugene
the detriment of his constituents. Examples:
The Oregon League of Conservation Voters
gave Meisner a dismal 10 percent rating —
an “F” for Failure by any measure! That, by
itself, should give pause to constituents con-
sidering a vote for him, but there’s more. A
recent EW review of city councilor votes
gave Meisner low marks as well: He only
voted to support Eugene’s livability a mere
20 percent of the time and, even worse, voted
only 14 percent of the time in the interest of
Ward 7’s poor.
By contrast, Andrea Ortiz has been en-
dorsed by the Oregon League of
Conservation Voters, Oregon Natural
Resources Council Action PAC, Educacion y
Justicia Para La Raza and Local 1724 of the
American Federation of State, County &
Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Andrea
has the support of a wide variety of commu-
nity activists working tirelessly for the public
good. The voters of Eugene’s Ward 7 deserve
better: new leadership in the person of
Andrea Ortiz.
John Jordan-Cascade
Eugene
IRRESPONSIBLE RULING
PeaceHealth is offering FREE Health Benefits Fairs in
conjunction with national Cover the Uninsured Week to help
relieve fears of Lane County residents who may avoid seeking
medical care because they can’t pay for it.
Trained financial counselors, including Spanish-speaking
counselors, will meet individually with those interested at the
Fairs, and help them apply for the Oregon Health Plan (OHP),
Children’s Health Insurance Plan (CHIP) through OHP,
PeaceHealth’s Bridge Assistance Program, and other
state and private assistance programs.
The Fairs are scheduled:
Tuesday, May 11, 2004, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
PeaceHealth Medical Group’s
Downtown Clinic, 1162 Willamette Street
Friday, May 14, 2004, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
PeaceHealth Medical Group’s
Barger Medical Building, 4010 Aerial Way
Saturday, May 22, 2004, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Sacred Heart Medical Center’s
Auditorium, 1255 Hilyard Street
Eugene’s HEALTH BENEFITS FAIRS
are sponsored by PeaceHealth
in conjunction with the
Human Services Network.
6 MAY 6, 2004
Thank you Alan Pittman for the candidate
voting records of April 8. It demonstrates a
true picture of what we can expect from
Nancy Nathanson and Scott Meisner. They
do not recognize the relationship between a
healthy environment and a healthy economy
with their votes for a road through our West
Eugene Wetlands, against improving storm
water collection, against funding Toxics
Right to Know and against protecting our
streams and beautiful trees in Eugene. I’m
also concerned with their support of another
developer slush fund for the Riverfront
Urban Renewal Park. Where is fiscal and en-
vironmental responsibility?
Ruth Duemler
Eugene
HEROIC DEFENSE?
Like most people I know, I’m a little hazy
on many details of U.S. history. The passage
of time, together with subjective accounts of
motives and events, makes it difficult to re-
ally know what happened and why. When a
movie such as The Alamo comes along, we
gain strong impressions of our history, im-
pressions made more vivid by the persuasive
power of Hollywood filmmaking and the
simplification inherent in all storytelling.
It is important to recognize who is telling
the story, however, and Lois Wadsworth
might consider how a movie made by a
Mexican (or any foreign) film studio might
differ from the one she gushes over in her re-
view of April 15.
The ragtag embattled underdog is guaran-
teed to gain the (U.S.) viewers’ sympathy,
particularly when history is turned on its
head, and the Manifest Destiny of U.S. ex-
pansionism and aggression against a weaker
nation is portrayed as heroic defense against a
well-equipped, armed occupation force.
The occupation, siege and battle of the
Alamo was but one chapter in decades of
provocative U.S. maneuvering into Mexico.
Our government made no secret of the fact
that it wanted territory that didn’t belong to it.
Many Americans wanted to annex the entire
country. That which they couldn’t acquire by
peaceful means, they took by warfare. Before
hostilities ended, the U.S. had gained over
500,000 square miles of Mexican territory.
Henry David Thoreau was tossed in jail for
his peaceful protest and later wrote Civil
Disobedience in response.
If current events weren’t similarly rife
with provocation, illegal occupations, and
U.S. public acceptance of rhetoric that
sounds much like the Manifest Destiny of an
earlier era, then a positive recommendation
in EW for a propaganda film might pass with-
out notice. But a movie can be more than sim-
ple entertainment, and in times like these,
even an arts editor at EW needs to be some-
what informed.
As they say, those not familiar with his-
tory are destined to sit through some dreary
reruns.
John Morris
Florence
MARKETING VIOLENCE
The UO is marketing a leading cause of
college student dropouts, violence against
women, and student death by subcontracting
its broadcast message formation to ESPN.
The university receives money to sell the uni-
versity’s image to sports networks which
leads to commercial broadcasts of university
events becoming 100 percent supportive of
alcohol use. Furthermore, the exclusive deal
terms that the university representatives bro-
kers with Anheuser-Busch are kept secret
from the students and public that supports the
institution at the request of the beer company.
As a student and member of the Eugene
community, I feel that the result of this lack of
responsible regulation by the UO is the polar
opposite of the university mission statement.
The college states it supports diversity, car-
ing, civic responsibilities, learning and anti-
discrimination. Yet no other messages in-
volving alcohol are supported by the UO on
its commercial broadcasts other than the sup-
port of use of the product. The result of UO
contracts clearly discriminates, thwarts learn-
ing and stifles diversity.
Until the UO invests 50 percent of its
name to commercial broadcasts that question
the use of alcohol or eliminates the ads, it is in
gross violation of its mission statement. A
learning institution has no business validat-
ing its most disruptive influence, especially
without investing in a diversity of ideas about
it from a dime of the beer ad profits. Please
contact Student Life to add your voice to this
issue.
Mike Meyer
Eugene
U.S. DICTATOR
Journalist Bob Woodward has just given
us two new stunning pieces of information:
1) President Bush has made a secret deal with
the Saudis to influence the November elec-
tions by manipulating gas prices, and 2)
President Bush revealed Iraq war plans to
Saudi Prince Bandar before he showed them
to his own Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Can we trust a president who uses his in-
fluence to manipulate world events without
consulting even his own cabinet? When will
we stop believing we could never have dicta-
torship in our own country?
Ingrid Wendt
Eugene
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