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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (July 26, 2007)
TO THE EDITOR will make it even harder on them. California, with its dense population, hasn’t allowed cougar hunting since 1972. It’s time Oregon enters the 21st century and follows suit. Eileen Stark Portland GOD AND ORGANS In response to Lon Miller’s letter (7/19), I just have to say that I feel sorry for his wife if he has to ask “what organ (artificial or other- wise) Ms. Sheklow uses during lovemaking.” He obviously isn’t too familiar with the female body. The rest of his letter really doesn’t warrant a response. His comments, masked in the form of questions, makes it extremely clear that “hate and disgust in the name of God” is still the popular response to anyone who is different from Lon and others like him. I still don’t understand how anyone can believe in a God who preaches hate and intol- erance. Julie Weismann Eugene EDITORS NOTE: Miller’s actual statement was “Who wears the ‘organ’ (artificial or otherwise) during lovemaking?” KIDS AND COPS WHO YOU GONNA BLAME? The two letters to the editor in the July 12 issue pointed out some potential fallacies in the viewpoint I had written on Eugene Police educational outreach (EW, 6/28). One writer suggests that fewer than 10 people left the room as a police officer de- scribed her weapons and their usage to preschoolers. Yes, some people left before she even spoke. But other caregivers and their children, like myself, stayed for the presentation, only to leave as it progressed. In the viewpoint I wrote, I counted adults and children as “people.” I did not assert that Officer Barrong took her gun out of its holster. That two witnesses can have a differing opinion about the same event underscores how our perspectives shape our experiences: My daughter was probably disturbed by this presentation because as a 5-year-old, she walked in with an innocence to the concepts of pepper spray, handcuffs, nightsticks and “bad people.” (If not preparing her for the world by in- troducing these concepts earlier brands me a naïf, well, that’s OK with me.) As for my supposed “anger” and “vehe- mence,” my “anti-cop bias” and the insinua- tion that my daughter’s reaction was merely a projection of my own fears, I would say this: My daughter was excited to see the police of- ficer, and I was hoping that in addition to in- troducing herself as “a person in my neigh- borhood,” that Officer Barrong might rein- EDITORIAL Editor Ted Taylor News Editor Alan Pittman Reporter Camilla Mortensen Arts & Music Editor Molly Templeton Performing & Visual Arts/Copy Editor Suzi Steffen Calendar Editor Chuck Adams Contributing Editor Anita Johnson Contributing Writers Bryan Andersen, Sara Brickner, Jason Blair, Joshua Blanchard, Amanda Burhop, Jes Burns, Brett Campbell, Rachael Carnes, Michael Cockram, David Constantin, John Dooley, Nicole Fancher, Rachel Foster, Phillip Getty, James Johnston, Zach Klassen, Sarah Mazze, Sharleen Nelson, Mary O’Brien, Aaron Ragan-Fore, Vanessa Salvia, Steven Sawada, Sally Sheklow, Lance Sparks, Eva Sylwester, Adrienne van der Valk Interns Katie Cornell, Erin Rokita, Deanna Uutela ART DEPARTMENT Art Director/Production Manager Kevin Dougherty Graphic Artist/Webmaster James Bateman Graphic Artists Shannon Browning, Barbara Cooper, Todd Cooper Baby Samara Cooper Contributing Photographers Kurt Jensen, Paul Neevel ADVERTISING National Sales Manager Mark Frisbee Display Marketing Consultant John Allen, Jennifer Donohue, Rob Weiss Classified Manager Geneva “the Goddess” Miller Classified Marketing Consultant/Reception Jayme Fuller Oregon Festival of American Music 2007 force the messages I’ve been sending as a parent. (“Wear your bike helmet! Stay close to your caregiver in a crowded place! Wear your lifejacket! Know your phone number! Be careful around cars!”) Both writers dismiss my concerns, saying that I had the free will to leave the room. I sure did. But I wrote this viewpoint so that parents whose children attend school or daycare without them might have the opportunity to ask questions about this curriculum that their children may receive. Rachael Carnes Eugene Rodgers & Hart’s 1937 COUGARS MENACE FARMS Please keep in mind that a moratorium on predator control can be inconsistent with sus- tainable agriculture, global warming policy and a healthy environment (“Cougar Kill,” 7/19). I can already imagine the conversations at the Market of Choice about those evil cougar hunters as your readers peruse the shelf for their locally grown, antibiotic-free lamb and free-range chicken. All the while, shoppers are clueless of the connection between our local hunters and what they consider their guilt-free sustainable meat choices. However, our food supply is all about balance and sacrifice. On our farm we balance killing raccoons with protecting a flock of 70 flavorful free- range chickens (no, chicken doesn’t really taste like chicken), turkeys and ducks that are free from antibiotics, inhumane quarters and clipped beaks. We balance killing skunks with protecting hundreds of thousands of our nation’s biggest pollinator and with our desire for a healthy, unprocessed sweetener without a huge car- bon footprint from shipping. We balance killing cougars and coyotes with protecting our beef calf, herd of Boer meat goats and our three little piglets. Alternatively, I suppose we could buy gro- cery store meat shipped via an enormous car- bon footprint and fed grain through chemi- cally dependent corporate farming tech- niques. Being omnivores isn’t pretty. As much as I don’t enjoy killing predators and harvesting our livestock, I prefer that vastly over assum- ing that meat magically appears in the gro- cer’s freezer. Consequently, the tools of our farm will continue to include the hoe for re- moving garden threats and firearms for re- moving pasture threats. C. Michael Arnold Creswell August 4, 9 & 11 Hult Center Tickets: 682-5000 Tickets are also available at The Shedd: 434-7000 Oregon Festival of American Music 2007 TRAIN NIGHTMARE I’m penning this at 4 o’clock in the morn- BUSINESS Director of Sales and Marketing Bill Shreve Circulation Manager Danica Stiles Baby Persaeus Eilah Zapata Stiles Controller Paula Hoemann Distributors Bob Becker, Kolia Guinsbourg, Pedalers Express, Tobin Herrera, Susan and David Lawson, Katy Tucker, Tim Risch, Quickdraw Printing Signature Graphics HOW TO REACH US BY E-MAIL: (letters): editor@eugeneweekly.com (advertising): ads@eugeneweekly.com (classifieds): classy@eugeneweekly.com (personals): personals@eugeneweekly.com (calendar): cal@eugeneweekly.com (music/clubs/special shows): music@eugeneweekly.com (art/openings/galleries): visualarts@eugeneweekly.com (performance/theater): performance@eugeneweekly.com (literary arts/readings): books@eugeneweekly.com (movies/film screenings): movies@eugeneweekly.com (circulation): distribution@eugeneweekly.com South Pacifi c August 3, 5, 8 & 10 Hult Center - Tickets: 541-682-5000 Eugene Weekly • 1251 Lincoln Street • Eugene, OR 97401 • 541.484.0519 • fax 541-484-4044 JULY 26, 2007 5
