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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 27, 2009)
The Sale Room is on SALE new markdowns $10 $30 SUMMER CLEARANCE SALE $20 $40 Zona Clothes are made right here in Eugene 1416 Willamette St 687-9175 New Tencel crop pant styles New summer skirts and tanks beautiful fabrics and colors www.zonaclothes.com VOTE ONLINE! www.bestofeugene.com check in letters heartwood hotel TO THE EDITOR LIFE IN DOG CITY 7:30 p tu I’m responding to the “Dog Gone It” (8/13) letter. I agree 110 percent with you. Here in Springtucky, within one block of my place, we have a lady who lets her dog shit in other people’s yards. I guess she is either too lazy to walk the dog or too lazy to clean up after her dog in her own yard. We also have someone with three dogs who, until Animal Control came out and warned them, let the dogs stay out late and bark all night long. Another family has their dogs tied up and constantly barking all day. These same people let one of their dogs roam freely when they were away, chasing kids riding their bikes and pedestrians. Another let their pit bull escape only to viciously attack a child riding his bicycle. Furthermore, we have a house that has a rooster, which is illegal and wakes up everyone at 6 am. These same people decided to burn their trash and yard debris — plastics included — last month, fi lling the neighborhood with toxic smoke. The fi re department came and had them put the fi re out. We have our redneck hillbillies out here in Springfi eld; you have your redneck hillbillies with college degrees in Eugene. Now that’s an oxymoron! How about instead of spaying or neutering our pets, we spay and neuter the general human population? We are a fucked up bunch of life forms and an extreme danger to life on Earth. Chris Williamson Springfi eld HEALTH FEAR SYSTEM With all this talk of health care swirling about everywhere one looks, I thought I would throw out my two cents worth. The one thought that I believe to be the key word is FEAR. Fear of change from the status quo, fear of government-run programs, fear of death panels, fear of someone else getting something I don’t have, fear of others period, fear of the unknown, certainly fear of death itself, even fear of living life fully, fear of losing your job and subsequently losing your health insurance, 4 AUGUST 27, 2009 EUGENE WEEKLY fear of developing a catastrophic disease and losing one’s house and ending up homeless, etc, etc. Perhaps we should call it the health fear system instead, because care seems to be almost an afterthought here. Is there some way to base our decisions and thought process on taking care of ourselves, our loved ones, our neighbors and greater community members physically and mentally, from a loving, caring direction instead of fear, anxiety and greed? I know in my personal life I certainly don’t make the best of decisions when I approach them from a place of panic and fear. Most everyone seems to agree change is needed. Costs are out of control, many are not covered, many stay in unfulfi lling jobs just to keep health insurance coverage (almost guaranteeing stress, anxiety and health problems). Ironic, wouldn’t you say, and surely a sign that the current system does not work. Perhaps as things crash about us it is time to reevaluate our priorities, ask ourselves what it means to really live, instead of focusing on our constant fears. Tim Boyden Eugene TOWN HALL YELLERS There is not as much confusion about the health care issue as we are led to believe. Much of the resistance is all about not wanting President Obama to succeed. The town hall haters, gun-toting radical right wingers, have been steaming since our President was elected. It has taken them this long to fi nally have the nerve to tell America how much they hate the fact that a black man won the election. It is all about being racist. While the sane people in America try to get health care reform, the minority is trying to mislead and ruin any attempt for this bill to pass. This includes the whole Republican party, who are still stinging from the loss in November. They will keep losing elections since becoming the party of no. Their loyalties are only to themselves. The majority of people elected this president, so they need to get used to it. WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
