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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 30, 2004)
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR NOT TO WORRY I have noticed a lot of letters from folks including Dorothy Karstrom (12/16) who are afraid that if gay people are per- mitted to marry that this will result in peo- ple marrying animals, pizzas or mattress- es. I want to report some of my experi- ences in order to clarify the situation. When my cat Achilles had his fifth birthday; I went to register him for kinder- garten. The school board told me that I could not enroll him in school because he is not a human. I hired a lawyer and pushed the issue as far as I could, but unfortunately I could not convince anyone to let him attend school. In a separate incident, after my hus- band passed away, I fell in love with a can of Westbrae soybeans and we went to apply for a marriage license. When we were turned down, on the grounds that my beloved can is not a human, I contacted the ACLU and spent a lot of money and made a lot of ruckus, but we were never allowed to marry legally. So I want to reassure people like Dorothy Karstrom that the government seems to be quite relentless in distinguish- ing a human from a non-human, and your fears that marriage between two gay humans will lead to marriage between a human and a food snack do not appear to be grounded in reality. Susan Rogers Eugene PERSONAL AUDIT After having read about the internal police audit on the Jordan Cortez com- plaint, I decided to conduct one of my own. I invited a black co-worker to coffee for her perspective. The black community is small and close-knit, and it turns out she varies. We all have a natural tendency to seek out those sources that validate our own views. It is comforting. But I believe in my heart that if we had open, honest dis- cussions about the issues of the day, we would find that we actually have much more in common than we are told! As long as we are spoken to by the media and the two political parties in simplistic sound bites, half-truths taken out of context, incomplete pictures and twisted facts and figures, it should come as no surprise that we are split. The problems we face together are not black and white, good or evil, right or left, conservative or liberal. They cross all boundaries. These labels oversimplify and also lead us to dead ends. In my opinion, until we open our minds and actually listen to view from all directions and have honest, complete discussions, we will appear false- ly split. I personally refuse to accept this simplistic analysis and honestly believe all Americans have many things in common and hope for many of the same things. Tim Boyden Eugene REAL TRASH is related to Mr. Cortez. She vouched for his character. Later I had lunch with a friend and mentioned the audit. This per- son again voiced her trust in Mr. Cortez, recalling his good-natured ways with kids at a day care center. Case closed. I believe in Mr. Cortez. Do I expect you to agree with my inter- nal audit? No. Do you expect me to believe the one done by the police? Their internal bungling of the complaints against ex-officer Juan Lara alone justifies an external police review board. It’s long overdue. Jerry Kendall Eugene MUCH IN COMMON I have been trying to figure out how this country can be so divided 50/50 on issues, as the media keeps telling us or as the election appears to indicate once again. One recurring thought is to consider the source of our information, which surely While Stephen M. Roberts’ letter (12/9) made some good points, it started out poorly by labeling paper as “trash” which is co-mingled with plastic, cardboard and other recyclables in Eugene and most other cities. Paper is definitely a prime recyclable mixed with other recyclables by command of Sanipac and is not real trash which is not allowed in the recycle carts. Roberts is right about defects in the current system of recycling which has a long way to go to get the recycles proper- ly sorted and not have so much of them land-filled. One, Two, Three, Four! Thanks for Supporting our Sweet PIE Store! THANKS & PRAISES to all PIE friends for another SWEET year! We’re GRATEFUL for your continued support ❣ STOREWIDE SALE ENDS JAN. 5th! ★ 10-75% OFF EVERYTHING ★ ❤ Mon-Sat 10-8/ Sun 12-6 ❤ Corner of 11th & Willamette ❤ 4 DECEMBER 30, 2004
