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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 2007)
TO THE EDITOR vidual complaints. Yet Eugene/Veneta had 10 serious slash or thinning smoke incur- sions of carcinogenic burned plastic since 2000! Class action suits by asthma, bronchitis, emphysema and pneumonia victims and their families are nothing to sneeze at. Lawmakers should hold burners culpable and require a reasonable minimum insur- ance liability (say $20 million!) covering documented seasonal burning smoke ill- nesses from incursions. Hefty mandatory liability insurance premiums would give farmers the freedom to burn or consider smarter options. Timber interests and other agencies risking management with fire also must assume responsibility and adequately insure pre- scribed burning. The LRAPA board risked being moth- balled for courageously advocating a field- burning ban. Will Oregon’s Environmental Protection Agency and Forestry Department cave in to timber interests wanting freedom to burn more slash close to large towns, immunity from responding to individual rural complaints and the reg- ulation of slash burns to become local po- litical issues in Florence and other smaller cities? Are LRAPA or Oregon legislators our best hope for relief? Ethen Perkins Eugene INGRAINED MISOGYNY Are male threats and violence against women considered hate crimes by the city of Eugene and related human rights task forces? There are anti-woman graffiti, gen- dered hate language, violence and sexual- ized violence, and murder that are specifi- cally male-supremacist. Although it may be difficult to look at such an ingrained and widespread prejudice as woman-hating, to do so can help us understand how intercon- nected we are in our various struggles for an egalitarian society and harmony with nature. Kari Johnson Eugene SLOW LEARNERS I remember Vietnam, my friends died in Vietnam, some were wounded there, some were broken there, some were never to re- cover. To many of us, Vietnam is not some- thing in a history book. We lived it! Never did I think that this nation was so stupid to repeat Vietnam, never! Only a virtuoso of stupidity could lead us into this nightmare, an unquestioned virtuoso! Did we learn nothing? The an- swer is obvious. Make no mistake: 70 per- cent of Americans supported this war. Those who forget the past? Those who ar- rogantly ignore the past deserve to repeat it, and we are and will, to our great pain, embarrassment and shame. Unfortunately this will not end soon, as this nation is slow to learn. Joe Mogus Corvallis HAVE WE COME SO FAR? How fortunate for Eugeneans. The Rev. Walter Fauntroy is taking time off from his crusade to deny the civil and humane right to marry for millions of Americans to come preach to us about “How Far We Have Come?” It appears the Rev. Fauntroy has come full circle. Tommy Lane Eugene LEGITIMATE RESISTANCE I’m writing in response to Randy Kolb’s letter (12/28). As an incarcerated radical environmentalist, convicted of arson, I have been labeled a terrorist by both the state and the media. I am accus- tomed to such condemnations. However, I find it extremely offensive to be compared to a right-wing pro-life arsonist. I will readily agree that property de- struction, especially arson, can be per- ceived as violent. In some cases that is the most appropriate label. Just as in some cases it is the most appropriate tactic. Yet, there are extreme differences in how vio- lence is directed and when it is deemed jus- tifiable by the public. Pro-lifers who use violence do so in order to subjugate women and force their moral beliefs on them, taking away not only a woman’s right to choose, but her right to be safe. Eco-saboteurs use violence to attack an economic structure that has lent to global and mass extinction. This isn’t a self-righteous struggle: It is a legiti- mate resistance based on scientific evi- dence. It is also a struggle supported by millions and millions of people worldwide. I’m not interested in saving you, Mr. Kolb. This struggle is bigger than you or me. My concern rests with keeping corpo- rate money-grubbing hands and their gov- ernment yes men from destroying the eco- logical and biological diversity of this planet. If more Americans took an interest in American foreign policy or took steps to curb out-of-control corporations, maybe concerned youths wouldn’t feel like the only hope lies in their resistance. Jeffrey Luers Salem SIX RESOLUTIONS A news broadcast reported Dick Cheney as saying that, “I hear no viable plan coming from anyone who opposes the surge,” and the story ended saying that the administration “will not be swayed by con- JANUARY 25, 2007 5
