TO THE EDITOR
garbage anyway.”
I was shocked, and told her there are sev-
eral companies who would be more than
glad to pick up their refuse with little or no
effort on their part. Her response was, “Oh,
we don’t do anything like that.”
I am chagrined that an establishment
right here in our own community could be
that non-caring, even glib about ignoring
the fact that we need to care for our precious
environment! I may just be spending a little
more time in my own kitchen in the coming
days and months for my burritos.
Norma McKenzie
Eugene
racy.
These include making the clerk, who in-
terprets the House rules, a partisan office;
changing the rules so that changes to House
rules could be approved by a simple major-
ity rather than by a two-thirds majority; and
stopped allowing motions to bring a bill bot-
tled in committee to the House floor. All of
these withstood through 150 years of poli-
tics in Oregon. Minnis changed that.
She also pulled the House out of the joint
Ways and Means Committee, which meant
the two branches would no longer work to-
gether on the budget.
To me, a leader is someone who works
with others, who compromises, who does
things for the good of all, not the few.
Minnis did not act as a leader this session.
Instead, she acted the part of a monarch. A
monarch doesn’t compromise, does not lis-
ten to others, and makes decisions based on
what is good for close supporters — not the
greater population. This description of a
monarch fits Minnis to a “T” this session.
Oregon is steadily slipping to the bottom
of the nation on all fronts — education,
health care, hunger, and more. Minnis
hasn’t done anything to help stop that slip
— it’s only gotten worse.
Jenni Simonis
Gresham
SOME OF THE PEOPLE …
Here is a headline I’ve been waiting for:
A Texas grand jury on Wednesday (9/28)
charged Rep. Tom DeLay and two political
associates with conspiracy in a campaign fi-
nance scheme, an indictment that will force
him to step down as House majority leader.
This does indeed prove the adage from
Abraham Lincoln: You can fool all the peo-
ple some of the time, and some of the people
all the time, but you cannot fool all of the
people all of the time.
Once again, one of the extreme right
wing neo-cons who has been spreading vile
rumors aplenty about anyone who opposes
his nut-case ideas and behavior is now being
TAX THE POOR
George Beres (9/15 Viewpoint) pro-
posed some heavy taxes on the rich to fi-
nance the county. While we both can agree
that the county has an insatiable appetite for
income, there is a flaw in his plan. A 10-20
percent additional tax on a few dozen peo-
ple would lead to their exit from our county
and perhaps the state. Worse yet, this same
group likely provide huge support for our
arts and causes. Like all the tax the rich
schemes, it is envy-based and often results
in lower overall taxes. Here is an unusual al-
ternative: Tax the poor and the PERS re-
tirees.
First, there are far more poor and PERS
retirees here than you can shake a stick at, so
there are ample targets. Second, they are
less likely to move away and if they did,
they would miss the unique Eugene am-
biance and would come back. Third, there
are an awful lot of PERS people knocking
down $4,000 plus per month for life, better
than twice what the top earners will ever get
from Social Security, so they can afford an
extra contribution to our community.
I guess the point here is this: It isn’t right
to single out a group for punishment, espe-
cially if they are doing nothing to deserve it.
There is nothing progressive or liberal in
punishing the innocent, and all clear think-
ing people should stop the divisive and de-
structive tactics. Beres and others should
focus their attention instead on our govern-
ment. This county and the state have ample
money, they just need to spend it differently.
David Z. Pokvitis
Springfield
GAME PLAYING
Gov. Kulongoski calling for the con-
struction of new oil refineries is like the fox
calling for the building of more hen houses,
after all the hens have been eaten by the
fox’s political friends.
Next, Kulongoski will be calling for the
construction of more nuclear plants. Will
the flip-flopping of the governor never
cease? Could it have anything to do with his
decision to run for a second term and desire
to ride the new guilty conscience wave of
the PC crowd in trying to make up for their
past intransigence on the matter?
Tony Valeri
Eugene
MINNIS THE MENACE
The biggest reason why I want to defeat
Minnis is because she has been a roadblock
to democracy in this state. The state Senate
passed numerous bills with bi-partisan sup-
port on which Minnis refused a vote. She
broke with long standing tradition numer-
ous times to set up roadblocks to democ-
OCTOBER 6, 2005 7