letters
TO THE EDITOR
DISGUST VS. LOVE
In response to Julie Bonaduce (letters,
8/18) who has lived here a month and is
disappointed in the Whit: Coming to live
in the Whiteaker and complaining about
the free spirits here is like going to a nudist
colony and complaining about naked
people. The Whiteaker Block Party was
just that, a party. And that’s what people
do at events like that. Would you move
across from a stadium and complain about
the traffi c, parking and bright lights?
We are artists, and we are not from L.A.,
we’re from Tennessee, and we left there
because of all the uptight folks. The Whit is
like the Island of Misfi t Toys — if you don’t
like it, fi ne, there are plenty of other places
for “nice” folks like you to go, but for the
viewpoint
rest of us, it is one place where we can belong
(why shouldn’t we be able to have that?).
Here we take the good with the bad, and
some of us even believe in treating “junkies
and alcoholics” with love instead of disgust.
A. W. Bradley
Eugene
Most calves are torn away from their
mothers shortly after birth, and the milk
meant for them is instead stolen for human
consumption. It is a pitiful scene as mothers
and calves — who long to bond with each
other — are forcibly separated. Male
calves, considered economically “useless”
to the dairy industry, are typically raised
for veal and killed at approximately four
months of age, or confi ned to feedlots and
slaughtered for “beef” at about 14 months.
Some are slaughtered at only a few days
old, becoming “bob veal.”
The female calves are either killed for meat,
or destined to replace the worn-out cows no
longer worth keeping alive economically after
ceasing milk production following endless
cycles of impregnation, giving birth and
relentless milkings. The slaughtered bodies of
these “spent” cows are typically churned into
lower grade forms of meat such as hamburger
and processed meats.
The bodily fl uids of cows are designed
to nourish their own babies, not human
beings. With so many tasty, healthy
alternative
non-animal-derived
milk
products on the market, there is no need
or excuse to support the cruelty inherent
within the dairy industry.
Barb Lomow
Eugene
CRUEL INDUSTRY
The warm and fuzzy “Milky Way” cover
story Aug. 18 ignored the deepest, darkest
secrets of milk production. Whether raised
organically or not, all “dairy cows” must
give birth in order to produce milk, so are
artifi cially impregnated every year while
still lactating from their previous birthing
session. This is physically taxing on their
bodies, and there is a huge emotional toll.
THE OTHER TSA
I’ve spent the past year or two quietly
advocating food, water, human and
environmental rights in my city, state and
country — but soon I’ll take my activism
to the next level.
Next week, I will join, risking arrest,
with more than 2,000 people at the
White House in a massive act of civil
EPUD’s record of exceptional service
R
eaders of Eugene
Weekly have every
right to shake their
heads at the contentious
issues reported by Nils
Holst (8/11 and 8/18)
regarding the Emerald
People’s
Utility
District
(EPUD) Board of Directors,
the general manager and
unfounded allegations made by
disgruntled former employees. I
found his article incomplete however, as
it omitted any recognition of the exceptional work
being done by current EPUD employees on behalf of
EPUD’s customer-owners.
While I don’t have the room to address every
accusation leveled against the utility, I can relate that
amidst the challenges facing the board and general
manager, EPUD’s hard-working employees continue
to earn high marks, and continue to improve quality
and reliability of service to customers.
In a 2011 Customer Satisfaction survey, 93
percent of customer-owners rate EPUD’s overall
performance as good or excellent. In 2011, average
EPUD residential rates were 22.4 percent lower
than those of Pacifi c Power; 2010 yields at EPUD-
operated Short Mountain Methane Power Plant were
23 percent higher than 2009 and are on track to
beat that in 2011; Customer Service now answers 80
AUGUST 25, 2011
ANIMAL-FREE CIRCUSES
In June 2011, British lawmakers from
all the major parties in Britain voted
unanimously for a complete ban on the
use of wild animals in circuses. Peru
and Bolivia have also ended the abusive
practice. Entire countries are banning the
use of circus animals, yet Eugene will
BY BILL TANNER
The Untold Story
4
disobedience, dubbed the Tar Sands
Action, opposing the proposed Keystone
XL Pipeline that’ll fl ow from Canada
to the Gulf of Mexico. TSA is aimed at
President Obama, who has the fi nal say on
the pipeline’s approval.
Canada’s mining operation has already
destroyed large swaths of boreal forest,
destroyed local ecosystems and poisoned
community waterways; additionally, the
full exploitation of this diffi cult-to-extract
oil source would be “essentially game over
for the climate,” says renowned NASA
climatologist Jim Hansen. A “leak” in
the pipeline would spill up to 6.9 million
gallons of crude oil into the Missouri
and Mississippi rivers, as well as the
surrounding water tables.
Environmental author and activist Bill
McKibben — who’s leading the charge, by
the way — says TSA “will be the largest
collective act of civil disobedience in the
history of the climate movement.” I’m
proud to be joining him, and thousands of
other concerned citizens, in this action —
and I hope you will follow our journey and
spread the word. For though not everyone
can travel to D.C., everyone can play a
part, however small or large, in protecting
our environment and all who inhabit it.
Monica Christoffels
Eugene
EUGENE WEEKLY
percent of all calls within 30 seconds. EPUD awarded
$55,000 in Energy Assistance funds in 2011 to help
low-income customers.
In 2010, the Operations Department improved
2,000 span of line; EPUD clears all 1,920 miles of line
in the district every three years with in-house tree
crews; EPUD substations are now protected by anti-
theft fencing and all substations have redundant
feeds for reliability. We have also added loop feeds
between substations for additional back-up during
outages. This has all happened within the past 12
years.
It’s also important to note that through all the
various confl icts, we members of the board share the
unwavering commitment to service by performing
our roles as responsible fi scal managers. In the
past 10 years, EPUD has increased available cash
by $4.7 million and decreased long-term debt by
$12.4 million. EPUD’s green power program ranks
consistently as one of the most affordable in the
nation and our energy conservation programs have
helped customers conserve more than 50 million
kilowatt hours since 1985.
These are just a few examples of the good things
EPUD employees and the board do every day to serve
the district. In the mire of “he said, she said” and
newspaper reporting, it’s easy for readers, customer-
owners, and the public to lose site of what the entire
EPUD organization does, and how well it does it.
That’s not to say there is no room for improvement.
Relationships are key. As a group, the board has
worked with various consultants to help bridge the
communications issues between all parties. I know I
speak for the entire board when I say we will continue
to work hard to cooperate in the best interest of our
customer-owners.
Since EPUD was founded 28 years ago, many
wonderful people have come to work for the utility.
Our average length of current employee tenure
is 14 years of service. Many of the employees who
have been with the district since the beginning have
retired or will soon retire.
In regard to the allegations of low employee
morale and toxic work environment, I simply do
not see that. Employee survey results are mostly
positive with some areas for improvement. While it’s
impossible to make everyone happy, EPUD makes
every effort to support its team in support of our
customer-owners.
As with any business, employees retire, move on to
other jobs, or are terminated for a variety of reasons
as a last resort. While we cannot discuss why one
individual has left employment with the district, it is
important to know that during the current general
manager’s tenure, EPUD has never been sued for
wrongful termination or been accused of violating
hiring policies set by the board of directors.
I hope this “other” snapshot of EPUD provides
some balance to EW’s and other media stories
about controversies in the district. Day-to-day, EPUD
employees and board members are successfully
working together to fulfi ll our mission to provide
affordable power to our customer-owners. That,
in and of itself, should have EW readers and others
nodding their heads as well.
Bill Tanner has served on the EPUD board for the past 12 years,
representing Subdistrict 3.
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