“A Great Place To Eat”
My wonderment began with your repub-
lication of [Garrett] Hongo’s racist mono-
logue a couple years ago. I wondered why
you would do such a thing. I thought that pos-
sibly you were motivated by a kind of “white
guilt,” similar to that which must have kept
Bobby Green locally elected. Or maybe it is
just a sense of mischief? But with your pub-
lication of Lon Miller’s ugly attack (7/19) on
Sally Sheklow, I am finally baffled.
Do you really think it somehow produc-
tive to publish hate mail? Do you consider
it somehow part of a “dialogue”? These are
genuinely questions I don’t understand.
Clearly you don’t just publish any and
everything? And come to think of it, Ms.
Sheklow’s seeming insistence that every
last thing in life and on Earth be seen
through a lens of sexual preference can
come off as carping or confrontational, too.
Perhaps you could make some sort of state-
ment of editorial policy or philosophy?
Especially in regard to the opinion columns
and letters desk. Please and thank you.
Kyle Christopher-Courier
Eugene
EDITOR’S NOTE: What gets printed is always a
judgement call. We certainly don’t print all letters, but
occasionally we’ll print a provocative letter or story to
remind our readers of the attitudes and perspectives that
persist in our community.
SLOW DOWN FAST
Oh so many letters lately about who has
a right to use the roads, trails, sidewalks and
open spaces. Cell phone talking SUV driv-
ers, lawbreaking bicyclists, jaywalkers,
e
Fre livery
De
Make your pregame reservation or order a lunch to go.
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Man by His Treatment of Animals .
-Immanuel Kant
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BROADWAY BOONDOGGLE
It was sad to see EW editorialize against
democratic decisions regarding plans to
bulldoze part of downtown and subsidize
new chain stores and condos (Slant, 8/16).
EW condemned plans for a ballot initiative
(i.e. democracy) to ask the taxpayers if they
want to give this boondoggle $50 million
— almost $400 from each citizen. The
unfolding real estate crash shows it is nuts
to promise more corporate welfare for
development speculators — we could build
a covered Farmers’ Market, new parks,
improve bus service and restore school
services for less money.
It was nice to see EW’s cover story
that college football is not really academ-
ics. Watching mass events involving
extreme competition for territory teaches
passive acceptance of automated warfare.
Perhaps the UO football department
could be spun off as a separate corpora-
tion, keeping academics and industrial
pseudo-sports separate.
Football is such a state religion in this
country that it’s even used as an indicator of
presidential selections. From 1936 to 2000,
when the Washington Redskins team won
the game before the “election,” the presi-
dent or his successor was re-elected. When
the Redskins lost the game before the “elec-
tion,” then the president or his successor
e
i bl
red ing
Inc Cater
WHY PRINT HATE MAIL?
unleashed dogs, bird-eating cats, sheep-
munching cougars, slugs sliming, worms
wiggling, nutrias scampering and raccoons
romping. Lions, tigers and bears vs. planes,
trains and automobiles, Oh my!
Personally I bike, drive and walk, have a
dog, ride Amtrak and the EmX bus and four
cats allow me to live in their home along with
my lovely wife. I don’t own an SUV, cell
phone or any sheep, for full disclosure’s sake.
For me it is all about sharing, peacefully
coexisting, being respectful of those around
me (animals included) and trying to slow
down a bit. Simplifying my life and slow-
ing down always seems to make life much
more pleasant. It allows me to reconnect to
nature, greet my neighbors, be in the
moment and even lower my blood pressure.
I am amazed at just how much more I can
see, hear, smell and feel when I choose to
bike instead of drive or even better to walk
instead of bike. On the other hand, all hur-
rying seems to get me is frustration, having
to redo mistakes, speeding tickets and gen-
erally not enjoying the journey.
So I am attempting to slow my pace, try-
ing to joyfully share my surroundings and
trying to have compassion and understand-
ing when others around me seem to be hav-
ing one of those days because I know I have
some myself.
Tim Boyden
Eugene
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kfa
rea u
ll B en
Fu M
Tasers in response to non-deadly force.
Instead, they often use a Taser when they
should be using deadly force to counter
deadly force. Using a Taser often effective-
ly ends resistance to arrest with minimal
injury to the suspect. It’s certainly less per-
manent than a gunshot wound, and it’s also
less likely to cause injury than a nightstick
and is more specific than pepper spray.
Do Tasers kill people? Indisputably! All
forms of force can cause death. Taser
deaths are extremely infrequent, however.
Do police misuse Tasers? Of course!
Humans all make mistakes. Use of force
policies matter, and the proposed guidelines
could use some work. It was not correct to
say that nothing prohibits the use of Tasers
to interrogate suspects. The mere threat
would constitute felony coercion.
There’s a wrongheaded sense that
Tasers are somehow “unsporting.” Cops
have the right to be safe in their workplace.
They should use non-deadly force when the
alternative is to risk injury to themselves,
injury to third parties or greater injury to the
suspect. There is no “right to resist arrest.”
Marty Wilde
Albany
Gr Es
eat pr
Sa esso
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TO THE EDITOR
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AUGUST 23, 2007 5