letters
TO THE EDITOR
controlled, minority candidate
would best represent their
interests as president.
Maybe they should take
a break from politics. A
working vacation might be
in order. I hear there’s plenty
of job openings in British
Columbia. The multi-billion
dollar, corporate-sponsored
Winter Olympics will be held
in Vancouver and Whistler
in 2010. Huge facilities for
the games, resort/condo
construction and highway
projects are paving the way
toward sustainable games.
An American could go up
there and work as an illegal
alien and see how it feels. At least they
speak English.
The native peoples of the area —
Coast Salish, St’at’imc and Squamish
— are complaining about the extensive
destruction of their traditional homelands,
but the only people listening to their
protests are police in riot gear.
During a recent visit to Vancouver,
International Olympic Committee chief
Jacques Rogge declared “Sport can act as
an agent of change. Hosting the Olympics
is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to showcase
the celebration of environmental and social
legacies that can change a community and its
citizens forever.” Mr. Rogge is trilingual —
speaking French, English and Orwellian.
Robert Simms
Corvallis
gg
r Bi
u
O
est Sale of the Sea
son
!
&
Home
Garden SALE
20%
25%
OFF
• All Bareroot Fruit Trees, Straw-
berries, Caneberries & Asparagus
• Heavy Duty Stainless Steel
Measuring Spoons (set of 5)
• Grace Note Chimes
• All Kid’s Rainboots
• All Recycled Glass
Vases …& more!
Community
Partnership
BeneÄt
OFF
Floral Watering Cans
Blue, Green or Terracotta
(3 liter)
15%
OFF
Simple Pleasure®
Summer Blooming Bulbs
• Biosta Sprouting Kit
• Seagrass Floor Mats
Through
March 23
All 4" Perennials & Herbs........$2.19
Bio-Live 8-3-5 25lb. Bag.........$24.99
Bio-Turf 8-3-5 6lb. Box..............$7.19
Vegan Mix 3-2-2 50 lb. Bag....$31.99
Shop with us Sunday, March 16
10am-5pm at either store.
5% of our total sales will go to:
NCAP
Nothwest Coalition for
Alternatives to Pesticides
NCAP protects the health of people and the environment
by advancing alternatives to pesticides.
www.pesticide.org
532 Olive St.
342-6820
2498 Willamette
349-0556
8 MARCH 13, 2008 EUGENE WEEKLY
THE REAL EASTSIDE
I am a 9-year-old fourth grade Eastside
student, and I disagree with Katelyn Best’s
judgment about Eastside students being
elitist (2/28). My experience here (having
been here for four years) has been very,
very good. And I get the free-and-reduced
lunch sometimes, because it is hard for my
parents to afford school lunches. I’d like
to know the Parker kids more and would
like to be friends with them — everybody
at Eastside would — but I don’t have the
chance. I have seen Parker students only
four times during school.
One of my best friends goes to Fox
Hollow, and I got really mad when you
called her a “Frenchie.” I hate it when
people call other people names, especially
for no good reason. I also have lots of
friends at other schools, too.
At least once every month at Eastside
we have a discussion about bullying just to
see if anyone has seen bullying. Only one
person has seen something even close to
bullying this year. Sometimes school is my
favorite part of the day because Eastside is
a very fun kid-friendly school. Sometimes
the parents even come in just to tell stories
or to sing! Anyway, I was very confused
when I read your message.
Sadie Willow Palatnick
Eugene
CONSIDER MERKLEY
Mon-Sat - 10-6
Sun - 10-5
I was puzzled that EW found it appropriate
to include in its Feb. 14 “News” section
an article about Pete Sorenson’s recent
endorsement of an U.S. Senate candidate and
not mention any of Democratic candidate
Jeff Merkley’s endorsements. The many
local leaders endorsing Jeff include Phil
Barnhart, Paul Holvey, Floyd Prozanski and
Kitty Piercy. A healthy and growing list of
labor unions also back Merkley, including
the Oregon AFL-CIO, Oregon Nurses
Association & the American Federation of
Teachers-Oregon.
Like his endorsers, progressives have
many reasons to support Merkley. As
speaker of the Oregon House of
Representatives, Merkley used his
leadership this past year to help
pass legislation legalizing domestic
partnerships, investing in alternative
energy, and expanding funding for Head
Start and education. He did so with a razor-
thin majority while representing West
Linn, requiring skill, guts and consensus
building. Merkley also brings a wealth
of community, federal and international
experience to the table.
My guess is that Merkley might not
have had a lot of time to meet people for
beer this past month because he was busy
serving Oregonians in Salem during the
legislative session. I hope that voters won’t
hold this against him and support Jeff
because he offers us the opportunity to
elect someone with progressive values and
who has the experience and background to
defeat Gordon Smith.
Jennifer Geller
Eugene
NO INDUSTRIAL SOLUTIONS
I’d like to thank John Zerzan (1/31) for
his input regarding a light rail system and
how any industrial solution is not good for
Eugene. In the coming months I encourage
John to host a symposium demonstrating
how he has converted his home to harness
wind and solar power, his gray water and
rain collection system as well as his ability
to grow all his food and harvest all of life’s
essentials from the natural environment.
I hope the symposium will include
information on how to be a profi table writer
without using a computer and how these
ideas can be implemented in cities such as
Oakland, Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia
and New York City. Keep up the good
work, and thank you for your input.
Peter Griffi n
Eugene
TOBACCO AD OFFENSIVE
Did I really see a full page color
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