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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (April 5, 2007)
TO THE EDITOR NOT A TOY, A TOOL I enjoyed Max Schwanekamp’s letter (3/15) about the BugE. He partly gets it: The BugE is for grocery getting and other errands and short trips around town, but it’s not to drive the kids to school or “serious shop- ping” (that’s what four wheel drive SUVs seem to be used for), and if Max’s $400 bike is working for him, pedal on, dude! I disagree with his claim that the BugE is an irrelevant toy; rather, it is like a new tool for the vehicular toolbox. The BugE isn’t for everyone; all we suggest is that you use the most efficient vehicle for your task. The BugE is just a new option between the bicy- cle and the Buick. And for two people, you can’t beat Max Shepanek’s smart car although in a few months you will be able to save about $15,000 off his gray market price and get a brand new 2008 smart car from a factory authorized dealer. Use the money you save to buy three BugE kits for you and your friends to play with. Mark Murphy Creswell ART GOES WITH POOL When a bowling poster of Richard Nixon gets better press than EW’s voted “Best Local Artist” Scott Boyes’ Adams Family, it makes you wonder why Chuck Adams (“Art Barhopping” 3/22) gives Diablo’s Downtown Lounge such a bad rap. After all, Diablo’s is not a “newer hybrid” of art bar, booze and visual stimuli; Diablo’s started monthly art shows seven years ago, perhaps the first nightclub in Eugene to do so. Diablo’s features 12 local artists a year in conjunction with the Eugene Art Walk. Dan Hitchcock, another EW “Best Local Artist,” is featured once a year. Yeah, he’s the guy who painted the mural on the back wall of the EW’s office. Granted, Diablo’s art choic- es can be edgy at times. That’s what you’d expect from this venue. Diablo’s is delicious- ly different. That’s one of the reasons Diablo’s Downtown Lounge was selected as an “Elite 2007 Top 100” bar by the editors of Nightclub and Bar Magazine (Oregon’s only venue given this honor). Hey, it’s downtown. Eugene should be proud. Art in a pool room? Ridiculous? Mockery? A threat? Art and pool go hand in hand. Show me a rich guy with a pool room and I’ll show you some nice art hanging in there. Incidentally, the Adams Family piece was the first one sold this month. Scott will be happy. Chuck should give Diablo’s art gallery a second chance next month. Hell, we’ll even provide him some safety glasses and a helmet. Troy Slavkovsky aka Diablo Eugene SPREAD EAGLE In response to Dan Owen’s letter (3/29): Dan, it seems you have a major misconcep- tion on pornography. First, the American Apparel “centerfolds” in the recent editions of the Weekly are nothing like the “center- folds” in Hustler magazine and would hard- ly make any XXX star blush. You see, Dan, in Hustler the women are naked, usually spread eagle beagle and some sort of phallus stuffed in every orifice. If they’re not blush- ing at that, then women posing in thermals isn’t going to faze them. Second, Dan, if you’re uncomfortable with a picture of the human body posed in jammies, then throw out all your mirrors and stay at home. That should keep you relative- ly safe from the evil nakedness that runs abound this planet daily. Think cooties! Finally, you should thank “GOD” for the stork that brought you here cause the rest of us came from vaginas. Cheers, buddy. Jamie Hartley Eugene EW GETS AN F For 20 years I have supported What’s Happening (now EW) by advertising in their paper because of their community values and weekly calendar of events. As time went by WH lost some of its moral values by demean- ing woman’s bodies by allowing ads show- ing sexual suggestiveness to sell products. About three years ago when WH had allowed smuttier pictures in the back section of the paper, in my sales contract with WH I added “Do not place my ads on the same back pages.” Today I refused to sign my new contract with WH because of the Dan Savage trunk show 4HAIª3ILVERª Original Designs by Niki Passenier Great Prices Quantity Discounts Friday & Saturday April 6 & 7 /PENª,ATE First Friday, April 6 ,IVEª-USIC 4 APRIL 5, 2007 articles they choose to print. I am for equal rights and open to other people’s opinion. I feel these articles are not appropriate in a community paper. Star Gate Awareness Resources has sur- vived for 20 years as an independent and locally owned book and resource lending library store. I take great pride in our com- munity and try to promote a higher potential of human awakening. What’s wrong with sacred sex? Our world is on the edge of a total col- lapse because of our obsession with power, money and sex. Staying in business can be difficult because you are always being tested for your accountability, integrity and staying true to your heart’s vision. I give WH an “F” grade because they allow controversial articles to generate income over much needed examples of com- munity moral values. Alan Stein Eugene BEST THEY CAN DO? The House of Representatives just voted to give President Bush the billions he’s asked for to fund an escalation of the war in Iraq on condition that troop withdrawal begin by October 2008. House Democrats say this is the best they can do, but bringing the troops home in 18 months isn’t good enough — by then hundreds more of them will have been killed and thousands more wounded or men- tally maimed (not to mention the toll on Iraqis) — all for no reason but to realize Bush and his corporate cronies’ imperial designs. I agree with Judi Ivy, who wrote (3/22) saying that if Congress can’t deliver on the mandate they were given in the 2006 election to bring the troops home now, a million or more of us should peacefully occupy the halls of the Capitol, telling most of our so- called representatives — as well as the pres- ident and his cabinet — that they’re fired. We can also support Congressman Dennis Kucinich’s second campaign for the
