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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (May 21, 2009)
letters TO THE EDITOR justice will be served. It seems the Eugene police are bullies, and the "good ol’ boy" system continues on. Thanks, Ian, for speaking out against poisons in our environment. Pamela Driscoll Dexter IT’S ABOUT LIFE The title for David Wagner’s article "It's About Time" (5/7) is so apropos. As I start in reading, I settle in for the duration, prepared for a leisurely woodland tour. The part about the headless elk carcass was like a disrupt in an idyllic dream that suddenly turns bad. And yet that is life, too, isn't it? When I lived in Arkansas awhile back, the wiser back-hills folk would consume bits of whatever they were allergic to in the early spring. Some even took tinctures of venoms. My sister collected dandelion blossoms and made remedy-wine for the allergy season. One year, one of the family's heavy imbibers found the season's wine and polished it off in one sitting. And she didn't even have allergies in the fi rst place! Thanks for the lovely springtime treat. Shadra Lewis Eugene THE PUBLIC’S RIGHT A response to Robert Walker's letter (4/30) criticizing the release of public information: In a free society all power comes from the people, and the public's right to know trumps all constitutions, all statutory and court-made law, all the politicians, all the bureaucrats and all the lawyers. The statutes pale into insignifi cance when compared with the public's rights. Nothing is more powerful or more important than the people's right to timely and complete information. If the laws — or anything else — confl ict with this, then the laws must stand aside. This is a principle I think we all should stand up for — and not hide behind a statute. Frank Skipton Springfi eld and discharged into the Willamette. Biogas makes hundreds of times more power than solar panels and, unlike solar panels, provides the fertilizer needed to grow plants to make the gas the following year. The UO is better at building sports arenas than preparing students for the future. There’s not a single Ph.D. on the entire campus that knows how to make a gas that people in China and India with no education make every day. Warren Weisman Eugene 1136 HWY 99, EUGENE | 2445 HILYARD ST., EUGENE 1239 ALDER ST., EUGENE | 1333 W. 6TH ST., EUGENE 1600-2 COBURG RD., EUGENE | 201 42ND ST., SPRINGFIELD GATEWAY MALL FOOD COURT, SPRINGFIELD FOOD KIOSKS INFRONT OF BOTH JERRY’S HOME IMPROVEMENT CENTERS IN EUGENE & SPRINGFIELD ALSO VISIT US ONLINE @ WWW.BURRITOAMIGOS.COM M AY SPECIAL POISONED FOR PROFIT Choosing the most pristine summer days to send toxic plumes of smoke into the skies above the Willamette valley — who’s in charge here? The air belongs to everyone, not just the grass seed industry. Field burning is a serious health threat to Oregonians. This is an outdated practice done by just a handful of stubborn farmers whose arguments to justify this practice defy the truth. Growing grass seed requires much more pesticides than alternative crops, and the last thing you want to do is burn that residue in a valley where a lot of people happen to live and breathe every day. The debate is over; agriculture is vital to the state’s economy, but the people of Oregon are being hurt more by fi eld burning smoke than they gain from grass seed industry jobs and tax revenues. Our governor refl ects this basic fact by supporting an end to fi eld burning. But the lobbyists for the Oregon Seed Council don’t care about us. This is another typical case of the people versus the powerful, and it’s about time we took a stand for the right to breathe every day. Contact your legislators, join the campaign to end fi eld burning! This summer let’s enjoy all those late August afternoons in good health. Willamette Valley citizens should not be poisoned for profi t any longer. Senators, ban fi eld burning, and breathe deep while you sleep, breathe deep. David H. Gerber Eugene BIOGAS ANYONE? I can appreciate that I’m too dumb to warrant a response from Gov. Kulongoski, Sen. Wyden, Rep. DeFazio, State Rep. Walker, the Lane County Board of Commissioners, Eugene City Council and mayor, Sustainability Commission or the UO. After all, I don’t have a Ph.D. behind my name, I suffer from a disorder that predisposes me to logic and reason and, worst of all, common sense, and each of them has profi t-motivated bioenergy experts leading them up an endless series of blind alleys while the planet runs out of time. For the past two years I’ve attempted to tell anyone who would listen about a much simpler carbon-neutral energy and vehicle fuel called biogas, which is methane gas made from organic waste that is being used by millions of people in other countries around the world. Biogas makes two to fi ve times more fuel per acre than ethanol or biodiesel. Converting the LTD transit bus fl eet to biogas would create hundred of jobs and make the county $20-30 million in fertilizer sales that is now being destroyed Stop in and visit us today at one of our 9 convenient locations in the Eugene and Springfield area!! MY ROLE MODEL Sally Sheklow hates men? This is the fi rst I’ve heard of it. Steve Downey has obviously never met her and is just making assumptions. Stereotypes are usually in the eye of the beholder. Perhaps some Visine would get not only the red out but his stereotypical views as well. As a man who has actually known Sally for 20 years, it has been my experience that she’s fun to hang around with, work on projects with and very intelligent. As to whether she makes a good role model for women, be they lesbians or not, as a man Mr. Downey doesn’t get to make that decision. Sally has a heart the size of Nevada and really cares about the community we live in. She works hard on social justice so that Eugene is a better place to live. She’s MY role model! Alan Brown Eugene Read more letters online at: www.eugeneweekly.com WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM Cheese Quesadilla w/ Chips & Salsa Opening remarks by this year’s judge, KENNY MOORE, followed by contest winners reading their essays: FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. $ 5 . 75 Oregon Quarterly magazine with additional Duck Store YOU ARE INVITED TO THE 10TH ANNUAL NORTHWEST PERSPECTIVES ESSAY CONTEST READING WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 7:00 P.M. ALUMNI LOUNGE GERLINGER HALL 1468 UNIVERSITY STREET UNIVERSITY OF OREGON !Nô%/!!ôINSTITUTIONôCOMMITTEDôTOôCULTURALôDIVERSITY EUGENE WEEKLY MAY 21, 2009 5
