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TO THE EDITOR
get things done. She is the "pro-education"
candidate in this race, and we need her
continued efforts in our state Legislature
on behalf of Oregon's children.
Lane County voters overwhelmingly
voiced their trust in Walker when they
elected her to the Oregon State Senate in
2002, and she hasn't disappointed us. Her
dedication to Oregon's children is clear.
Please join me in sending Vicki Walker
back to the Senate this November.
Kristin Strommer
Eugene
RARE OPPORTUNITY
In an article (8/17) about Eugene’s
City Hall, “Doomed to Demo,” Alan
Pittman does a disservice to well-informed
public debate. He insinuates bad faith
where there is professionalism and good-
will. He pronounces a lack of public inter-
est in a process that is young and growing.
The City Council has insisted on trans-
parent decision-making and invested in
public involvement as an integral part of
the multi-year City Hall Complex Master
Planning. There are engaging questions
about what to do and how to do it to create
long term community-wide benefit. It is a
rare opportunity for a community to create
a public space that represents, welcomes
and functions for all of us.
To that end, design team staff attends
neighborhood association meetings, com-
munity events, civic meetings, holds pub-
lic forums, conducts interviews, works
with the media and maintains a comment
line and a website. This month, we are
holding focus groups for underrepresented
voices on the subjects of multiculturalism,
youth, and accessibility. We will also speak
with people at the Eugene Celebration and
at the American Institute of Architects
September chapter meeting.
Go to the website, www.eugenecity-
hall.com and let us know how to reach you
personally or work with us to sponsor edu-
cation and discussion at an organization in
which you participate. As Winston
Churchill said, “We shape our buildings,
and thereafter they shape us.”
Dana Ing Crawford
Eugene City Hall Master Planning
Design Team
‘ART FAG’ NOT RIGHT
Regarding John Dooley’s interview
(9/7) with Joe King of the (non-queer) The
Queers: Am I offended by the term “art
fag”? It’s been around forever, and it isn’t
mocking homosexuals per se, just preten-
tious artists. Yet “fag” wasn’t reclaimed
like “queer” was, and it just doesn’t sit
right. Should I lighten up? Regardless,
King’s list of hated subcultures is curious,
and it includes his own — punk rockers.
He hates himself, so I guess don’t have to.
Never mind.
Aaron Rosenberg
Eugene
l
lem
e ntary Schoo
Learn more at our website
dgschool.org
Fall Classes!
Aikido & Basic Self-defense
Classes in a Safe &
Supportive Environment
NOT VERY LIBERATING
Since 9/11 we have heard a lot of talk
about freedom from Bush, only to have our
freedoms diminished more in the past six
years than in America's entire history.
Freedom is a loose term. Freedom means
different things to different people. The
poor and rich perceive freedom differently,
as do the powerful and the powerless. Both
the landlord and tenant enjoy certain free-
doms. The landlord and the tenant also tol-
erate certain losses of freedom.
Bush and his immediate cronies are
no longer free. Bush, Cheney, Rove and
the like cannot go to the grocery store for a
bag of Doritos without armed escorts and
advanced planning. They cannot take their
spouses for a spontaneous drive in the car
along the open highway without a full on
motorcade of militia. Bush Co. can't even
take a simple stroll FIVE feet outside the
security perimeter of their roaming citadel.
Sound like freedom to you?
The Bush team lost the freedom to
speak impromptu. These mere mortals
spend half the time writing scripts and the
other half reading the scripts they wrote.
No real time processing. Reading their
scripts to hand-picked audiences, team
Bush lost the freedom to socialize in mixed
company. This is the social equivalent to
having only one TV station or one radio
station. Not very liberating.
Everything they say and do is record-
ed, analyzed and often condemned by the
majority both domestically and globally.
This must take a stressful toll on one's psy-
chosis. What does this punishing lifestyle
do to a person's value system?
The people in power who speak as
though they are the protectors of freedom
have none. For us common citizens to turn
to these caged prisoners to protect our free-
dom, we may as well take swimming les-
sons from the drowning.
Michael Grossman
Eugene
Tue & Thu: 6:30-8pm
Oct. 3rd - Nov. 30th
$50 for entire 8 weeks
Family discount available
Amazon Arts Center
2700 Hilyard St. • Eugene
Small School-Small Classes
grades K-5
class size: 12-15
♦ individual academic program
designed for each child
♦ Spanish, computers, drama
♦ global awareness, anti-bias
attitudes, peace education
♦ no bullies, no violence
♦
♦
2809 Shirley St, Eugene
Call for information:
(off River Road and Irving)
689-5255
935-8655
14TH ANNUAL SOROPTIMIST
WA L K F O R L I F E
SATURDAY,
OCT.7, 2006
10 A.M.
EWEB PLAZA
EUGENE,
OREGON
❤ Provides emergency cash grants to any one in Lane County
who is battling breast cancer or other cancers of the female
reproductive system
❤ A joint project of the Soroptimist International Clubs
of Eugene, Junction City and The Emerald Empire
ENDOWMENT PARTNERS:
SEPTEMBER 21, 2005 9