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
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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
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EUGENE WEEKLY MAY 21, 2009 5