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