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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (June 28, 2007)
TO THE EDITOR of the police auditor and citizen review board under the oversight of the City Council. Perhaps Humphrey is worried that without the protection that a city manager can provide to the police, citizens will be emboldened to come forward and report the extrajudicial beatings, drug use and other crimes commit- ted by cops that occur in every community. Randy Gicker Eugene FIRE DOWN BELOW I am writing in response to Jason Torres- Morrow’s letter (6/14) regarding the lack of good burrito joints in town and his fantastic idea for the “America Wrap.” I completely agree with Mr. Torres-Morrow’s thoughts on the quality of local burritos with just one ex- ception: Burrito Girl! I work on West 11th on the very west end of town. Burrito Girl is not just the best burrito in Eugene but the only decent food to be had at this end of town. I think the Weekly should do a story on the lady from El Salvador and her incredible burritos. She also provides her customers with home- made salsa so hot they’ll be breathing fire from both ends. Dave Dixon Walton SOME SURPRISE On Wednesday, June 13, a Eugene police officer was a surprise guest at preschool story time at the library. The preschoolers were shown police tools: pepper spray, handcuffs, a club and a gun. The children were told how police use these tools for bad guys. Are pep- per spray, clubs and guns tools? Do police use hammers and nail guns? My 3-year-old asked me. Does pepper spray help people who are lost? Do we want children to think of weapons as tools? Do we want our children to believe in the shallow dichotomy of good guy/bad guy? My son came home and demonstrated how someone is put in handcuffs. The day be- fore, he didn’t know what handcuffs or guns were. Why does a 3-year-old need to know them and how they are used? Why is it con- sidered appropriate for an officer to bring his or her weapons into a public library in the first place? I am outraged at the developmen- tally inappropriate content of the presenta- tion. I am disturbed at the lack of announce- ment and parental consent on the part of the EPD and the library. Furthermore, this police program is to be presented in area schools and other public events. If any of this concerns you, I hope you will let your library, schools and local public officials know. Marie Anderson Eugene INVITING DERISION Another caricature has upset another de- fender of one of the world’s “great” organized religions. Cameron Hubbe (“Poking Fun At Nuns,” 6/14) feels we should simply ignore the negative aspects of “Catholic culture” and “put our attention on what is positive.” Until billionaire CEO Benedictus XVI, his upper management team of Vatican cardi- nals and his minions of bishops, priests and nuns move their policies and attire into the 21st century, they will continue to be derided. Most of us would not tolerate the following statements coming from any other group. So why should we tolerate these dogmas coming from those who claim a direct line to a “kind and loving” god? On June 13, 2007, Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, accused Amnesty International of turning its back on its mission. He proposed that Catholics stop donating to this human rights group because of its new policy advocating abortion rights for women if they had been raped, a victim of incest or faced health risks (The Guardian, 6/14). In opening the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean (5/13/07), the “infallible” Benedictus XVI completely ignored the death and destruction caused by European missionaries, slave traders and gold-seekers by saying “Christ is the Saviour for whom they were silently longing.” And “the procla- mation of Jesus and of his Gospel did not at any point involve an alienation of the pre- Columbian cultures, nor was it the imposition of a foreign culture.” “In the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthana- sia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of such a law or vote for it.” (Cardinal Ratzinger, now CEO Benedictus XVI, to U.S. Catholic bishops in Denver, June 2004). “There are areas in which it is not unjust discrimination to take sexual orientation into account, for example, in the consignment of children to adoption or foster care, in em- ployment of teachers or coaches, and in mili- tary recruitment.” (Cardinal Ratzinger in a letter to Catholic bishops, July 1992.) “To see a solution to the problem of [AIDS] infection by promoting the use of prophylactics would be to embark on a way not only insufficiently reliable from the tech- nical point of view, but also and above all, un- acceptable from the moral aspect.” (Cardinal Ratzinger in a 1988 interview). “Anyone who tries to preach the faith amid people involved in modern life and thought can really feel like a clown.” (Ratzinger in Introduction to Christianity, 1969). Exactly. Robert Simms Corvallis The Shedd - Tickets 434-7000 - www.theshedd.org The Shedd Institute Oregon Festival of American Music 2007 Rodgers & Hart’s 1937 DETROIT CALLING I became aware of a worrisome gardening problem on my place. The massive gasoline clouds on River Road, from tons of cars every day, are killing all my trees, bushes and shrubbery. If you have a place on River Road and wonder why your lawns, trees, bushes and flowers are dying or acting strangely, you should sue the city of Eugene for killing all your greenery. They pour tons of car gasoline fumes into your place every day, making every single growing thing sick. The pollu- tion is so thick you can see it on leaves. Just imagine what the insides of your lungs are like. Incidentally, this is exactly what happened to the city of Detroit — huge traffic congestion killed the whole business region. Great planning on River Road, city plan- ners!! You really managed to fuck up the daily commute, kill the air and bring conges- tion to a standstill, all because of the mess. Detroit is calling. D.H. Bucher Eugene Oregon Festival of American Music 2007 Richard Rodgers The Sweetest Sounds August 4, 9 & 11 Hult Center’s Silva Concert Hall Tickets: 541-682-5000 The John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts August 1 - 11 Eugene, Oregon Oregon Festival of American Music 2007 Registrar: 687-6526 Summer Music Camps ‘07 Guitar Camps Electric Guitar & Electric Bass Jul 9-13. Ages 8-17. $225. Acoustic Guitar Jul 16-20. Ages 8-17. $225. Camps at OFAM 2007 Richard Rodgers Jazz Academy, Jul 29-Aug 11 Song & Dance Camp, Jul 29-Aug 11 OFAM SongFest, Jul 30-Aug 11 Ages 7-12, 14-19. Tuition: $450 Shedd Institute Presenting Sponsor Rodgers & Hammerstein’s 1949 South Pacifi c August 3, 5, 8 & 10 Hult Center - Tickets: 541-682-5000 JUNE 28, 2007 5
