letters
TO THE EDITOR
THE TIME HAS COME
awfully, no introduction, no support from
those who invited me to be there. Every
negative stereotype about the movement
was proven true.
I’m not angry, mostly just amused. You
want to make a change in the way things
work in your world? Perhaps focus more
on how you conduct business with people
in your everyday life. How’s that for a
realistic fi rst step?
Chris Castles
Eugene
The Bijou’s presentation of Revenge
of the Electric Car is a welcome sequel
to Who Killed the Electric Car? a decade
ago. The opposition has become an
advocate. Ten years ago there was only
one struggling EV maker in Eugene, today
there are several Oregon-based companies
involved in EVs and a network of charging
infrastructure is growing. Yet most of us
drive locally by ourselves on a daily basis.
Smaller, affordable EVs such as the
BugE (www.BugEv.net) and Arcimo-
to (www.Arcimoto.com) offer us an alterna-
tive to expensive EVs and reduce conges-
tion as well. I would hope someone could
fi nd a way to stimulate production of these
lighter, locally made vehicles for our envi-
ronmental and economic benefi t. Jobs in
our community making electric vehicles is
an idea whose time has come.
Mark Murphy
Creswell
LEGITMATE TARGETS
I have not owned a car for more than 40
years, but I still help to produce greenhouse
gas emissions. Members of the Eugene
City Council and other elected offi cials
have a much heavier responsibility: They
formulate government policies which can
encourage driving by supporting highways
while not improving public transit.
Lane County bus service has actually
become worse even though the global
warming crisis has grown more acute.
Elected offi cials could play a signifi cant
role in causing the deaths of millions of
people in global warming disasters. They
are thus legitimate targets for political
protests, at their homes or elsewhere.
Milton Takei
Eugene
VOTE FOR VETS
Among our local leaders involved in
veterans’ issues, there is one leader who
stands out: Commissioner Pete Sorenson.
As a longtime veteran advocate, a Vietnam
Era veteran, a former Oregon president of
the Vietnam Veterans of America and com-
mander of the American Legion Post 3, I
worked with Commissioner Sorenson to
energize the services provided by the Lane
County Veteran Services Offi ce (VSO). I
can say, without a doubt, that had if it not
been for Sorenson’s leadership we would not
have the VSO as it is today. With him there
on the job, Lane County’s veterans are bet-
ter served. Not only are Lane County’s more
than 27,000 veterans better served, but their
spouses, children and other dependents.
I am in strong support of Sorenson’s
re-election.
Judi Greig Lawson
Dexter
EWEB MICRO-MATH
Recently in letters (12/29) Lance
Robertson from EWEB claims to “set
the record straight” about “smart meters”
planned for customers and coming soon.
His arguments are all about costs and he
claims the microwave-emitting meters on
homes will “only” cost $352 each.
The trouble with this micro-math is that
not all true costs are counted. The dollars
wasted are bad enough, but it is uncounted
4
JANUARY 19, 2012
EUGENE WEEKLY
GRUESOME OMSI EXHIBIT
costs that are of the most concern. One of
these uncounted costs is cancer — brain
cancer.
Trained researchers in this area are the
fi rst to admit not all the answers are in. It
is true that all sources of electromagnetic
radiation are increasing. At the same time
rare brain cancers are on the increase,
especially for the elderly and the very
young. What is unclear is the causality.
Given this situation, any good public
utility would seek to reduce all sources
of dangers and potential dangers for their
customers (owners). But this is not what
is happening here in Eugene. EWEB is
justifying and pushing smart meters that
will increase radio frequency emissions
throughout the area, with unknown
consequences.
EWEB money comes from ratepayers
and I resent paying for unneeded meters
that increase the electromagnetic fi elds
we are all exposed to. Rather than taking
a conservative approach like many
other cities, EWEB is rushing headlong
into deploying a potentially dangerous
technology with few, if any, benefi ts to
ratepayers.
We can only hope that enough people
just say no, examine the issue and stop this
unwise, dangerous and expensive project.
Michael Lee
Eugene
MAKING IT HERE
To my beloved EW: I want to thank
you for a great year. You all should have
followed up on the sex traffi cking in this
state more heavily. That was a great story.
You all have done a good job illuminating
the homeless situation, especially for
youth, and there is a great more to be
spelled out for people here until we all
decide to really do something about the
fact that this community can’t feed and
house its offspring — yeah, I said it.
I also want to thank the mods, punks,
skinheads, soulies, fi ghters, bartenders,
doormen and folks that have made being a
soul, ska and reggae DJ boss. Yeah, that’s
John Henry’s, Diablo’s, Luckey’s, Cowfi sh
— thanks for being fi ne mates! This year
we got Miss Sharon Jones, Budos Band,
The Aggrolites, The Slackers, The Beat,
Afro-Cuban All Stars and most importantly
to African-American musical traditions,
the Skatalites. That took not just door
money but love, and I know how hard all
my neighbors try to make every day here
in the wet Northwest tight, right and boss.
And someone appreciates your smiles,
your money, your showing-the-fuck-up to
the shows, your goofy dancing and most of
all that love, to love your music and your
people. There is nothing like home.
I love you, Eugene, because in the cold
of winter you warm my scarred heart. Take
care. Peace.
Donovan Worland
Eugene
TAKE THE BUTTE
After reading your recent articles (and
other news reports) about the Occupy
encampment and its dismantling by
Scrooge-like cops just before Christmas,
and then Parvin Butte and its dismantling
by illegal mining. I’ve got a simple, three-
word suggestion: Occupy Parvin Butte!
AmyCat =^.^=
aka Amy Carpenter
Eugene
LITTLE THINGS COUNT
I was asked to host a fundraiser for
Occupy. The event was set to take place at
Sam Bonds on Jan. 5 and the “organizers”
told me that we would get together and go
over the itinerary.
They contacted me on New Year’s
Eve around 5 pm, wanting to see if I
was available that night. Seemed like a
ridiculous time to have a meeting, but I
agreed to meet them. Nobody ever showed.
Three days later they want to meet
again, no apology or mention of the botched
meeting. I am told that I have been replaced
as host due to some miscommunication
amongst the organizers, but since my
name was printed in the Weekly, I can still
perform. A text would have suffi ced.
The night of the show, the bar is fully
occupied. The host wants me to go over my
set with him to make sure I’m not going
to say anything offensive. In my fi ve years
as a comic, this is a fi rst. I’m just going
to tell jokes, and if anybody is offended,
I would be surprised. The show went
I thought it would be more educational.
I didn’t expect to be as appalled as I was
by the array of human bodies so deformed,
under the guise of science (see www.omsi.
edu/bodyworlds). It was a pornographic
and offensive display of defi led cadavers
and strategically maneuvered body parts.
Nipples, penises and vulvas left intact,
bodies displayed in sexualized positions,
skulls split open, organs removed and
rearranged beside their host, parts shuffl ed
about for the artistic effect, not for
educational value.
I felt mentally assaulted by this exhibit.
I went there to learn about anatomy, but
I left feeling disturbed, with unwanted
images of unnatural and horrifi c corpses.
And the educational blurbs beside each
abomination won’t add to the knowledge
of anyone who has taken basic anatomy
classes. I didn’t appreciate being fooled
into witnessing a madman’s morally
objectionable manipulation of bodies.
The ad representing this exhibit shows
the muscles of the human form, without
changing the form itself. The original
Body Worlds exhibit was tamer. The
former people within the Body Worlds
and the Brain exhibit are monstrous,
gruesomely chopped up and rearranged. A
psychopath’s wet dream.
I was sad to see a toddler in there. I hope
the little boy doesn’t have nightmares.
There should’ve been a warning for parents
who think they are taking their children to
learn about anatomy. There should have
been an age limit. I don’t understand how
this is legal. After leaving OMSI, I was
very relieved that we chose not to take our
children.
Brandy Gordon, R.N.
Eugene
ABSURD NUMBERS
Bob Cassidy (letters, 12/22) quotes
economist David Cay Johnston as saying
that for every dollar that someone in the
99 percent earns, someone in the top 1
percent earned $7,500. Let’s subject that
to some simple plausibility testing. Let’s
take the 99 percent to represent about 200
million working age adults. Let’s suppose
they each earn around $25,000. That’s
$5 trillion annually. At 7,500:1, the top
1 percent would earn almost 75 times as
much as everyone else, or $375 trillion.
That’s more than 25 times the GDP of
the entire nation. I haven’t bothered to refi ne
these numbers. The fi gure $7,500 is not just
wrong, it’s absurdly wrong when subjected
to the simplest test of reasonableness. Why
did it deserve to be published?
Rob Spooner
Florence
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