TO THE EDITOR
EUGENE’S
TREASURES
Dear residents of Eugene: I re-
cently spent four months in your city
visiting my sister. I ar-
rived in time to see
the fall colors
and said good-
bye just as
spring was
starting to warm
the air and flowers
were emerging.
I want to acknowledge some very
special places and people in your city
beginning with the staff of your won-
derful library. I’ve been living in
Thailand for three years where I can
only trade one book for another. You
have a truly fantastic library with a
helpful and informative and friendly
staff. A big thank you to the entire li-
brary staff.
Next, the staff of the FOOD for
Lane County 8th Avenue dining room.
I volunteered there for a few months
and cannot praise enough the other
volunteers and paid staff. Day after
day with care and love and fun they
put together hot meals for 80 to 120
people. Thanks, Tracy, for keeping it
all together.
I recently heard from my sister
that the bus drivers went on strike. I
hope they got what they wanted be-
cause they are a wonderful group of
drivers. I’ve been on buses through-
out Thailand, California, Oregon and
Arizona. The Eugene drivers are
among the most friendly and helpful
that I’ve encountered. Often a driver
would call a rider by name and in re-
turn many people would say “thank
you” when leaving the bus.
I volunteered with the Feral Cat
Coalition helping with their bi-
monthly spay/neuter program. I be-
lieve the entire organization is staffed
by volunteers. They do a fantastic job
and deserve a very big thank you!
Finally, I hope you all realize what
a treasure you have in the Fern Ridge
Wildlife viewing area. Many times I
went there to watch the birds, sit by a
pond and enjoy the quiet of the wet-
lands — although I do not think hunt-
ing should be allowed in this sanctu-
ary. I only hope that the voters of
Eugene reject any development-hug-
ging wannabe scum-bag politician
who would even hint at selling off this
precious jewel of an urban escape.
I’m living in Bangkok and would
give my last baht for a quiet walk in
nature. Thanks Eugene. I’m looking
forward to my next visit. In the mean-
time send me some coffee from Dutch
Brothers and a bottle of wine from
Sundance wine shop!
Linda Hall
Bangkok, Thailand
WORDS TO DIE BY
Live and let live, live and let die. Ah yes,
people often ask me here in Eugene, “What is
life? What is the nature of a life, of a human?
What is the purpose?” And I say that it is
many things. However, the most propitious
use of a human life is to serve other living
things that we happen to share life with on the
surface of this planet.
And they ask, “What is service? What
does it mean to serve?” And I say that service
is the act of, or life-long endeavor of offering
assistance, help, aid, accommodation, or sup-
port to another living thing. To serve is to as-
sist, supply, provide for, attend to, or be of use
to.
We, as a people are a team here on the sur-
face of the planet Earth. Therefore, to serve
only oneself throughout the duration of a life-
time is counterproductive to the “team” ef-
fort, and will only bring sadness, despair, and
failure in the end. Like it or not, we are not is-
lands; we are part of a singular organism, a
singular system.
I am not of any one particular religion.
However, down through history, every great
religion has had one top-shelf rule, one
prime-directive, and this is true — it varies
little from religion to religion. This precept,
in all, basically instructs a person to do things
to other people that this same person would
appreciate being done to himself or herself.
What this truth states is to serve other living
beings, and to be served by other living be-
ings, always in the most possible of positive
ways. The alternative is what creates a living
hell on Earth, ultimately, for both the giver
and the receiver.
Let me conclude with a 75-year-old quo-
tation from Charlotte Perkins Stetson
Gilman:
“Human life consists in mutual service.
No grief, pain, misfortune, or broken heart is
excuse for cutting off one’s life while any
power of service remains. But when all use-
fulness is over, when one is assured of an un-
avoidable and imminent death, it is the sim-
plest of human rights to choose a quick and
easy death in place of a slow and horrible
one.”
Terry Heintz
Eugene
DON’T D E LAY US
What a tragedy and abuse of political
power that Terry Schiavo’s case ended up in
federal courts (and the Supreme Court!).
Oregon’s Rep. Earl Blumenauer said it
best: “What people need to think about is
how they would feel if Tom DeLay or some
other politician decided to second-guess your
doctor, or your husband” (or your wife or par-
ents). The last person I’d want to decide
whether or not I live or die is someone with
the ethics of Tom DeLay!
Fortunately, I and many others in our
community have already done what we can
do to keep legislators, governors, congress-
men, and presidents out of our family’s pri-
vate, personal decisions at the end-of-life.
We’ve completed our Advance Directive
for Health Care — the legally enforceable
document that spells out the type of care we
desire when we are near death and cannot
speak for ourselves.
Save your family from the agony of
having to decide when to remove a feeding
tube or “pull the plug.” Get a free Advance
Directive form from the hospital, your
doctor, or on the web from: www.seriousill-
ness.org/lane. Then complete it (no lawyers
required), copy it, and distribute it to your
family members, your doctor, and both local
hospitals. Don’t risk having a politician or
judge decide the end-of-life care you receive.
Todd Peterson
Springfield
GET ON THE BUS
For years they told me there was no regu-
lar bus service to get from Eugene to the
coast. Now I discover there’s been one for
years!
Porter Stage Lines (344-6265) in Eugene,
with offices in Bend and Coos Bay. Departs
every day except Thanksgiving and
Christmas, 7.30 am and 1.15 pm Coos Bay,
then goes Reedsport, Florence, Eugene (ar-
rives 3.50 and 9.50 pm), Sisters, Bend,
Burns, Vale and Ontario, where it departs
9.15 am and returns.
WHO YOU GONNA BLAME?
EDITORIAL Editor Ted Taylor
Associate Editor Melissa Bearns
Executive/Arts Editor Lois Wadsworth
Contributing Editor Anita Johnson
Staff Writers Alan Pittman, Kera Abraham
Calendar Editor Molly Templeton Contributing Writers Brett Campbell,
Rachel Foster, Jerry Harris, Kate Rogers Gessert, James Johnston, Sharleen
Nelson, Mary O’Brien, Sylvie Pederson, Vanessa Salvia, Steven Sawada, Sally
Sheklow, Lance Sparks, Kate Storm, Martha Ulman West
Interns Sara Brickner, Ursula Evans-Heritage
ART DEPARTMENT
Art Director/Production Manager Kevin Dougherty
Graphic Artist/Webmaster James Bateman
Graphic Artists Todd Cooper
Contributing Photographers Kurt Jensen, Paul Neevel
ADVERTISING
National Sales Manager Mark Frisbee
Display Marketing Consultant Jennifer D’Angelo, Rob Weiss
Advertising Traffic Coordinator Geneva Miller
Classified Manager Jeffrey Stout
Classified Marketing Consultant Danica Zapata
BUSINESS Director of Sales and Marketing Bill Shreve
Circulation Manager Garet Frana Controller Paula Hoemann
Distributors Bob Becker, Alex Bibicoff, Roc Dosland, Kevin Greene, Tim Risch,
Ethan Simpson, Pedalers Express
Printing Signature Graphics
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Eugene Weekly • 1251 Lincoln Street • Eugene, OR 97401 • 541.484.0519 • fax 541-484-4044
4 APRIL 7, 2005
Nice chunky little white buses and mini
vans with quirky old fashioned uniformed
drivers. What does this mean? Leave the car
at home!
Take your bike on the bus to Bend and
ride! (easier if it’s a Eugene’s own folding
Bike Friday of course). Go to the coast when
you’re getting cabin fever! Save fossil fuel!
The journey is $23-$25 one way, ($25 if you
buy it via Amtrak).
The company is so small they rarely ad-
vertise. They say if they get more traffic they
can make prices more reasonable. I hope you
publish this in the name of support mass tran-
sit and the sense of community it fosters.
The car has done enough damage to this
society — on all fronts.
Lynette Chiang
Eugene
BUY DISTILLERS
Do you know anyone who drinks water
straight from the tap? I don’t, and I see bot-
tled water everywhere I look. For me, fluo-
ride will just be another one of those nasty
things left in the bottom of my distiller after I
clean the local tap water. John Proctor (3/31)
suggested EWEB buy fluoride treatments for
the poor instead of dumping it in the water
supply. I suggest they buy water distillers for
the poor.
Greg Daugherty
Eugene
TAKING CHANCES
Privatizing Social Security would remove
the safety net to keep future generations from
possibly becoming destitute. Today millions
of seniors, two thirds of older Americans, de-
pend on their Social Security payments for
basic living expenses. It has been a successful
retirement program with a minimum admin-
istrative cost. How can we trade this for a
“chance system” that demands high adminis-
trative fees — 10 to 30 percent higher?
Private accounts are expensive and chancy,
just ask my friends and relatives.
Changes can be made to ensure
Americans that our Social Security system
continues for future generations. It can be
strengthened with adjustments such as re-
moving the cap on the amount of wages taxed
to support Social Security and including all