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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (June 30, 2005)
TO THE EDITOR Sheklow’s alternate-universe fable (Living Out, 6/16), but I read it through again to be sure. Leaving aside the question of whether a mostly homosexual human race is sustain- able without technological assistance (maybe their biology is different), none of the charac- ters seem to be male. Do gay men not exist in Sheklow’s universe? Kelly St. Clair Eugene HISTORY OF STRIFE Thanks to Francie Killian (6/16) for bringing our Whole Foods discussion to the topic of unions. I’d like to clear up her ro- manticized notion of Whole Foods, who she claims pays a living wage. Whole Foods, like [some of] our area grocery stores, is not a unionized store, and has a history of worker dissatisfaction. As with all businesses, it is up to the workers to unionize themselves, as documented at www.wholeworkersunite.org, a blog to help Whole Foods employees in this process fraught with stress and intimidation. Unions don’t just drop in your lap! I’d love to see Ms. Killian, or any disheartened Lane County grocery store worker, contact the Oregon AFL-CIO about an appropriate union to contact for their needs. When I read about Whole Foods past intimidation of indy media over unionizing coverage, I start to wonder if we have a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Jocelyn McAuley Eugene LUER’S IMPACT National SUV sales are down 13.5 per- cent in the first quarter of this year (according to research firm Ward’s Automotive Reports) and sales of the biggest models have plum- meted even further. The Ford Expedition down 25 percent and the Chevy Suburban, 28 percent. Meanwhile, hybrid car sales have doubled every year, and in 2004 jumped 81 percent (according to industry research firm, R.L. Polk & Co.), and carmakers plan to launch about a dozed new models during the next three years. In fact, the backorder wait on a new Toyota Prius can be up to 18 months. Lance Jacobs (6/16) doesn’t believe that Jeff Luers’ action affected SUV sales, but the groundswell of popular opinion about these ostentatious behemoths, the fuel they con- sume and the poison they spew shows that Americans are rethinking this hateful SUV fad. Jeff’s action, and the actions of many others, contribute to the legitimization of questioning our over-indulgent and wasteful lifestyles. By expanding the realm of debate, acts of planetary self-defense keep the conversation going, and for that, I am grate- ful. Jacobs does have one thing correct: The Measure 11 sentence for murder is in fact 25 years. However, attempted aggravated mur- der is just 10, manslaughter I is 10, and rape I, just eight years, four months. Jeff was con- victed of three arson I charges for a single crime. His sentence was inflated because of his political beliefs, therefore he is a political prisoner. I want to thank Mr. Jacobs for keeping the debate alive. Shelley Cater Eugene Under HB 3457, a person would not need to be arrested or even charged with a crime for property to be taken and sold. Juniper Painton Eugene PUNATIVE FORCE BURDEN OF PROOF In 2000, almost 70 percent of Oregon vot- ers passed Measure 3, which restricts Oregon law enforcement’s ability to gain proceeds through forfeiture cases by increasing the burden of proof. The Oregon House has passed H.B. 3457, which would effectively overturn the will of the people expressed in Measure 3. Under H.B. 3457, the burden of proof to seize property is “clear and convinc- ing” evidence, which is much less than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” burden needed to convict a person of a crime. This change directly contradicts the will of Oregonians who said by a two-to-one margin that forfeiture should meet the higher standard. Police forfeiture — where police are the beneficiaries of the proceeds — is inherently susceptible to abuse. Making it easier for po- lice to seize and keep citizen’s property only encourages this abuse. In 2000 Oregon adopted Measure 3 by a healthy margin. In doing so, Oregon’s citizens sent a clear mes- sage that unfettered police forfeitures are not favored. Under Measure 3, forfeitures could occur only after a person was convicted of a crime. Reading letters about how much punish- ment Jeff “Free” Luers deserves leaves me feeling frustrated and in great pain. Wanting to help create more freedom, jus- tice and safety I request that you read a chal- lenging book called Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn. The book is challenging in that it documents research showing that punish- ment and rewards don’t work. They may seem to work if we only ask the question “Can I make people behave as I wish?” When we ask a second question we see that punishment and rewards NEVER work. This second question is: “What are the rea- sons I want the other person to have for be- having as I wish?” Punitive use of force has created a real mess. What Marshall Rosenberg has called protective use of force is the alternative when safety and corrective action is necessary. The reasons I have for not wanting people to burn others’ property have nothing to do with them fearing capture and punishment. I want them to behave motivated by under- standing my needs for safety and respect — and I want to honesty hear the frustration and outrage, the values and goals that led them to their tactics. BY JERRY DIETHELM big problem. Returning the Millrace to the river wasn’t just good downtown development, the city remember- ing itself, the undoing of past errors, green urban wa- tershed planning or aesthetic delight. It was to be a way to drain the city when the big need came. And this was before we began to experience some of the changing weather patterns of recent years. Emerald Canal Diary Still dreaming of a blue-green park strip D ear diary: People have been asking me of late if it isn’t time we thought again about building the Emerald Canal. I usually respond with a “Don’t hold your breath unless you can hold it for years,” or some such, but they are persisting. Isn’t the time ripe now for the renewal of the West University Neighborhood? Wouldn’t the canal be an excellent way to promote new higher density housing in the area along a blue/green park strip extending from the current end of the Millrace to Amazon Creek? Wouldn’t it be terrific to be able to connect up our riverfront bikeways and walkways south through town to the Amazon corridor and all the way to Fern Ridge? Must be something in the air. The prospect of downtown renewal has everybody giddy. And then they ask the usual questions and I trot out some of the old patter. It would be around 11 or 12 blocks long somewhere in the Oak-Pearl zone; yes, there have been a number of possible routes looked at, the idea being to minimize impact and promote de- sirable development; no, no final route was ever selected. Yes, it would require some up- to-date planning. Yes, there were two large, elaborate models built and shown around town, showing what it might be like that generated a lot of support. Did they know, I’ve had fun asking, that George Washington had proposed a 3,000- mile canal, linking both sides of our country? I show them my slide of his scheme. Ah, now that’s visionary! I’d say. I’m only talking 11 blocks! And how do you get water to run uphill? Actually, the end of the Millrace is higher than the Amazon at 17th by about 10 feet and so the water would run downhill. What did the Emerald Canal have to do with flood control? Wasn’t that an important way of paying for it? Yes, according to Corps of Engineers studies, the Amazon basin will back up with water under a 100-year flood, because the water can’t get out to the west fast enough. Today under the right conditions it would flood a large area of the central city, just like old times before the 1950s concrete ditch that Congressman Charlie Porter helped fund. Urbanization in the south hills has meant more and more runoff, and so the situation continues to get worse. Enter the reversible Emerald Canal to carry the excess water through the city to the river with its infinitely greater capacity to absorb runoff. Garrett Rosenthal, then with LCOG, did the original calculations and the corps confirmed them. The rising head of water in the Amazon could reverse the flow and send the floodwaters north to the Willamette, and it would be cheaper to make a canal than build upstream dams on Coyote Creek south of Fern Ridge. Getting the water from the end of the present Millrace to the river, however, was the 6 JUNE 30, 2005 B ut the Mama Gloria episode is still my favorite. How close we all came to start- ing renewal in the West University area just seven years ago! Diane and I had just come back from two months in Italy and my old co-con- spirator, Charlie Porter, told me he had someone he wanted me to meet, a wealthy widow just recently returned from years of living in Germany, who was looking for a local water-related project to invest in. Oh sure, I thought. But Gloria Teichert turned out to be real. Her German husband had made his fortune as an interior designer, some said working for the Chicago mob in earlier years, but I never believed that part of the story. She had been instrumental in convincing the German government to fund water projects on Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa that would bring some of the snow pack to villages on the plains below. The very grateful Africans named her Mama Gloria. So, I gave her the Emerald Waterways show in the house she’d moved into here in town, surrounded by all the valuable paintings and artifacts she’d brought back from her castle home. She was enthusiastic and had me take her on a tour of the West University neighborhood in her chauffeured Lincoln. The area needed a good makeover, she pro- nounced, and she could afford to buy a good piece of it. Next she picked out a storefront she wanted to rent on West Broadway (where DIVA is today) where we would build and show the new model of the Emerald Canal. Charlie, Jerry Rust and I took Gloria to meet with Paul Farmer, our then planning and develop- ment director, who was new in town and hadn’t yet heard the saga of the Emerald Canal. After another version of the show, he asked in all seriousness, “Why haven’t we done this?” Good question, I responded. Timing, the times, the cost, the cycles of the Oregon economy, the complexity of the project But both Gloria and her brother became ill, he quite seriously, and they decided to move to Canada, where she is no doubt still today applying her sharp mind, imagination and wealth to some vast project. I like to think of Mama Gloria up there in the north ar- ranging for the digging of an inland passage called The Maple Leaf Canal. Jerry Diethelm us a Eugene architect and landscape architect, planning and urban design consultant, and professor emeritus of landscape architecture at UO.
