letters
TO THE EDITOR
TEARS OF PRIDE
I read the cover story “The Value of
Vets” (6/9) and would like to give kudos to
the Weekly for bringing this very serious
issue to the forefront, especially during
wartime. It needed to be said and those
women need to be heard and valued and
cared for with love and compassion.
I also wanted to say that I am a female vet
who joined the Navy during Desert Storm
at age 21 and my four year experience was
the single best decision I ever made. I was
stationed for three years after “A” school
in Guam on a base that was comprised of
120 personnel, only seven of them female.
I was consistently, even as an E-3 and E-4,
treated with the utmost love and respect by
my fellow shipmates and by the offi cers on
base. I am pretty sure the other females I
shared that time with would say the same as
I never once recall hearing about this sort
of treatment while there.
And, since I have been in Oregon I
have had a major surgery at the Portland
VA and was treated far better there than
any time I had been in the private sector
and continue to receive good service, even
during a time that I needed the help of a
therapist to work out non-military related
issues. My primary care physician, Ann
Towers, has been the single best doctor I
have ever had in my entire life.
I am not telling this story to discount
what has happened to these women, no.
I just want to contribute and juxtapose
that story with another reality about the
military, or the Navy at least because
it’s what I know. The Navy taught me
to pay attention to detail, to be proud of
who I am, to stand up for myself,
to
speak in public, to be a leader, to take care
of my body, to take pride in my space,
my appearance and comrades. The Navy
taught me how to be a better woman, a
better human being. That was something I
never learned in school, and rarely at home
for that matter.
I am so very sorry that these women
experienced these horrible offenses and
my heart goes out to them. But for me,
the Navy and my experience there fi lls me
in P ise of
Women
Requiem
» june 26
BRAHMS
We are Women
» july 5
PUT VA DOWNTOWN
In Praise of St. Cecilia
» july 7
50 total events
june 23 » july 10
4 JUNE 16, 2011
EUGENE WEEKLY
Eugene Councilor Mike Clark plans to
propose that members of the City Council
recite the Pledge of Allegiance at its biweekly
council sessions. It is always important
to appreciate the historical context within
which such iconic cultural statements arise
and the intentions of their authors.
The author of the Pledge of Allegiance
was Francis Bellamy, who initially wrote the
Pledge in 1892 for school children. Bellamy
has been described as a Christian socialist
who, according to a recent book by Jeffrey
Owen Jones and Peter Meyer, The Pledge:
A History of the Pledge of Allegiance (2010),
championed “the rights of working people
and the equal distribution of economic
resources, which he believed was inherent
in the teachings of Jesus.”
Bellamy had originally wanted the
wording of the Pledge to include the term
“equality,” as in “with liberty, justice, and
equality for all.” But he is said to have
dropped the term “equality” out of fear that
the Pledge would be popularly rejected by
those who believed that men and women,
and whites and people of color, were not
equal. If the City Council wishes to recite
the Pledge at its meetings, I would urge it
to respect the author’s original intent and
include “equality” in the Pledge’s wording.
Ken Neubeck
Eugene
I have an idea. Why can’t Seneca Jones
Timber Company offer to pay off the $20,000
fi nes unfairly exacted against two Lane
County commissioners in the public meet-
ings lawsuit? It would go a long way toward
fairness and might even be tax deductible.
Ramona McCall
Eugene
Joan of Arc
» july 2
oregonbachfestival .com
541.682.5000
EQUALITY FOR ALL
PAY THOSE BILLS
Dido and Aeneas
» june 30
Scan with your smartphone
for ticket savings
with so much pride that it can still bring
me to tears. Happy tears.
Michele Walter
Eugene
According to EW News Briefs (6/2)
there is a federal Executive Order 12072
which requires that “the process for
meeting federal space needs in urban
areas shall give fi rst consideration to a
centralized community business area.”
This was in relationship to a proposal to
build a VA clinic with 685 parking spaces
on 13 acres at the edge of town.
Why not put the proposed VA clinic/
hospital into the centrally located Sacred
Heart hospital in downtown Eugene near
the university? It already has parking,
surgery rooms and an ER. It was a 400-
plus bed hospital and PeaceHealth had
plans to make it into a 100 bed hospital.
They had to get a state certifi cate of need to
remodel this facility so as not to adversely
affect our local health care costs. It was
approved at $23 million. When I last saw
an estimate it was going to cost over $100
million. Much of the hospital was paid for
with federal funds, and being a not-for-
profi t, property taxes were not paid for
more than 60 years on this property.
PeaceHealth has a mission statement
that says it wants to “promote personal and
community health.” ODOT is looking for
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