Eugene weekly., July 28, 2011, Page 5, Image 5

letters
TO THE EDITOR
wasting more than $12,000 every month
— on the police auditor.
I also see a couple of other problems.
Mr. Gissiner could be facing civil lawsuits
for confl ict of interest and even criminal
fraud, for taking a paycheck under false
pretenses (saying he will do the job and
he doesn’t — failure to do one’s job is
extremely easy to document).
City of Eugene elected offi cials could
be facing civil lawsuits for breach of
fi duciary duty. When it comes to the police,
elected offi cials have a much higher duty
to protect the public. Waste of money by a
bureaucrat is one thing; failure to provide
the public safety is quite another.
They all could end up as named
defendants in U.S. District Court for
violation of civil rights and perhaps they
all would lose their pensions. In U.S.
District Court anything is possible.
In addition to fi nancial audits, the
Yellow Book standards cover performance
audits, which evaluate the performance
of a program or project against defi ned
objectives, such as objectives for effi ciency
and effectiveness. See http://wkly.ws/133
Frank Skipton, CPA (ret.)
Springfi eld
GOOD START
Many thanks for uncovering some of
the real story behind the righteous — and
malicious — county open meeting law
accusations (“Shifty Politics” cover story,
7/14). It was right on the money.
The politically and ideologically
motivated scheme to bring down
Commissioners Handy and Sorenson
began in earnest with a mass attack in
2009 on their frugal and far-thinking
positions on the funding of 84 jail beds.
Now the sheriff’s predictable need to
defund those beds has been met with
resounding silence by the present board
majority, the rightwing zealots that they
represent and The Register-Guard.
The Weekly’s cover story was a good
introduction. I look forward to the next shift.
Robert Emmons
Fall Creek
PEDESTRIANS, TOO
Alan Pittman’s “Bike Plan Wobbles”
(7/21) on the draft Pedestrian Bicycle
Master Plan was articulate and insightful
about the plan’s lack of teeth, but it misses
an important point: It’s not a “Bike Plan”!
This Master Plan focuses on both biking
and walking. Bicyclists AND pedestrians!
It’s a plan to increase biking and walking
in Eugene!
Pittman writes passionately on the
bicycle aspects of the Pedestrian Bicycle
Master Plan yet says nothing about
pedestrians! At the same BPAC meeting
where biking was discussed, comments
were made about the master plan’s lack
of targets for sidewalk infi ll funding or
increasing transit use, and why walking
has to be not only safe but desirable. How
do only bike issues and quotes make into
the Weekly?
Over 80 percent of the people can walk
and use transit today, while we hope for
22 percent by bike trips by 2031. While
I love to ride my bike and don’t own a
car, walking is still the simplest form
of transportation. It requires no special
equipment and is part of every trip even
those that are made by bike, bus, or private
car. Those who want to be part of the
solution include people with disabilities,
many in our aging population and people
who can’t afford or simply don’t want to
take the risks of riding a bicycle.
Remember when 50 percent of us
walked to school?
Tom Schneider
Bike and Pedestrian
Advisory Committee Member
BACK-DOOR CHAMPS?
Could Oregon still be the national grid
champion? That elusive national football
title may come to Oregon — through the
back door. That’s what I learned after I
checked with the NCAA on the continuing
investigation about a major illegality
involving the Auburn team that beat the
Ducks in the BCS title game. I verifi ed the
earlier published account about charges
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