letters
TO THE EDITOR
NO-PASS ZONE
War against the poor: LTD creates a
no-pass zone to the school yard. Imagine
families living below the poverty line
whose liquid assets do not meet the criteria
needed to invest in transportation. How
are they supposed to get their children to
school on time? For any family on food
stamps the pass should be free. Fund it
from the top executives’ salaries so as not
to be a burden on the taxing public.
Vince Loving
Eugene
THE EUGENE WAY
Once again the city of Eugene is
attempting to solve a simple problem
with the most complicated and expensive
proposal possible. All we small dog
owners want is a safe place to allow our
little buddies to run free.
Last year in one of the city dog parks
a tiny dog on a leash was scooped up and
shaken to death by a huge dog while the
offender’s owner looked on. The tiny one
was killed in front of its child companion.
The bereaved owner asked the city to
provide a place where little dogs could
visit without the threat of intimidation. I
understand this fear. Last year my own
leashed 15-pounder was picked up by a
loose 60-pounder and shaken and bitten
until I jumped onto the big dog to save her.
We dare not go two blocks from my house
to the dog park at Morse Ranch for fear
that an inattentive owner of a monster will
allow a repeat of this scene.
One would think that the city would
fence off a small part of the large dog
parks at Morse Ranch or Alton Baker
Park to allow small dogs to be free of
intimidation. But that solution would be
too inexpensive and sensible. The city
proposes to use the middle of an open
fi eld in Amazon Park for such a facility,
but only if the funds to develop this can
be raised privately. They propose to
create yet another dog park, to destroy a
vast green area and to assure failure by
expecting private funding for this overly
expensive project.
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oregonbachfestival .com
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GOOD BOYS
I disagree with Rick Levin’s review
(6/16) of the play at The Cottage
Theater. We have been attending plays
in Lane County for about 20 years. We
have been season ticket holders at a wide
variety of local theater companies.
I thought The Boys Next Door was one
of the most entertaining and well acted
plays we have seen in all that time. I agree
that the play doesn’t have much of a plot
and isn’t trying to solve the problems of
the world. It doesn’t pretend to.
It does allow us to see ourselves, our
own problems and foibles, expanded a
number of times over. It seems to me that
if you can’t see some aspect of yourself in
this play, you aren’t looking. It allows us
to laugh at ourselves and maybe even life
itself.
I hope Levin’s view of the play wasn’t
infl uenced by the rude people behind him.
I highly recommend this play to anyone
who would like to have an enjoyable
evening’s diversion from the daily grind,
the evening news and the economy.
John Culver
Springfi eld
in P! ise of
Women
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I wholeheartedly agree that the project
should be privately funded. I’ll put my
money into it so I have a safe place for my
little girls. But make it inexpensive and
practical. Let us have a small portion of a
couple of existing dog parks to use.
The city is approaching this problem
the same way they approached the city
school tax — make it appear as though the
city is sympathetic, but make the solution
so complicated and expensive that the
entire enterprise is sure to fail. It’s the
Eugene way.
Michael Miller
Eugene
I’m deeply offended and disappointed
in the Weekly for giving space to Rick
Levin’s crude and pointless remarks, in
the guise of a review (6/16) of The Boys
Next Door. While claiming to critique the
stereotype of people with developmental
disabilities as angelic and emotionally
uncomplicated, Levin assumes his right to
use the R-word to refer to them. But it isn’t
cool or hip to use language that not only
insults but hurts and deeply offends other
people, except perhaps confessionally at a
meeting of Neo-Nazis Anonymous. Doing
so as part of a juvenile attempt to sound
knowledgeable about the reality that
underlies a stereotype doesn’t make it any
less offensive or childish.
The editorial staff shares responsibility
for this outrage. It isn’t OK to casually
publish the N-word, the R-word, or
others that historically have been used to
denigrate, insult and dehumanize people.
And this isn’t about “correctness” of
language; these words offend not mere
etiquette, but morality.
Robert Roth
Eugene
CHANGES STILL NEEDED
Thank you so much for publishing
“The Value of Vets” by Alexandra
Notman in the June 9 issue. It was a well-
written article with a message that needs
4 JUNE 23, 2011
EUGENE WEEKLY
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