letters
TO THE EDITOR
and I thought that this was one of the most
entertaining I’ve seen, with a talented cast
and perfect pacing. True, it’s not subtle
or philosophic, and it’s not meant to be.
The plot is both warmhearted and absurd,
with quirkily funny lines that came in
rapid-fi re succession and kept me laughing
throughout. Excellent work, LCC students.
Paulette Thompson
Eugene
MATH PROBLEMS
Contrary to what Jonathan Seraphim
(letters, 2/2) may think, David Cay
Johnston, the original author, did not
exaggerate his numbers. He was referring
to the top 100th of a percent, not the top 1
percent. Bob Cassidy made a factor-of-100
mistake when analyzing those numbers. I
did not generalize. Pointing out a factor-
of-100 mistake is not a spin.
In the same issue, writers argue that
public education should be a top community
goal. But an enormous amount of the time
kids spend in school is learning arithmetic
and research skills. So we have Cassidy
botching his research and writing a letter
with absurd numbers, the editors of the
EW publishing the error without comment,
Seraphim writing in defense of Cassidy
with a letter incorporating two more errors
(Romney gets $300,000 per year, not
per speech, and Seraphim’s 12.5 percent
effective tax rate is less than his), which the
editors again publish without comment.
If the skills that we attempt to instill in
school are important, why do letters that
consist of essentially nothing except gross
errors in arithmetic and research getting
into print?
Rob Spooner
Oregon Coast Magazine
Florence
LUNCH is
DEMOCRACY AND EMX
Where is the support for the West
Eugene EmX Extension? There have been
two major public hearings on the WEEE,
one at the Hilton Hotel on Feb. 8, 2011, and
another at the Wheeler Pavilion on April 5,
2011. More project opponents testifi ed at
each hearing than did supporters.
The Lindholm Company is conducting
an ongoing poll by making 200 telephone
contacts every quarter. So far Lindholm
has collected data for the last fi ve quarters,
starting in November 2010. The resulting
graph shows project support from
November 2010 to April 2011. However,
from May 2011 to December 2011, the
majority now opposes the project, with an
increasing trend. See http://wkly.ws/16v
There are a total of 25 EmX decision
makers on three bodies, the City Council,
LTD board, and the Metropolitan Policy
Committee. Nine of the 25 do not represent
the public because they are appointed,
rather than elected. These non-elected
people are the LTD board members and
three MPC positions.
Six out of the 25 EmX decision makers
represented the opposition, and voted NO
when action was taken. Considering the
hearings and Lindholm poll, who are the re-
maining 19 decision makers representing?
The non-elected LTD board has the
power to raise taxes and to use imminent
domain. Do these non-elected powers con-
stitute “taxation without representation?”
Brian Weaver
West Eugene
MEASURING ENERGY
I am amazed that Eric Briggs (letters,
1/26) concludes that older, mechanical meter
technology actually allowed for power to be
distributed gratis “due to its limited ability
to record fractions of a kilowatt.” Perhaps
Briggs failed to consider that any such
alleged fractional consumption would have
continued to accrue and be rolled over into
the following month’s bill.
As a Lane County homeowner whose
vintage, American-made mechanical meter
functioned perfectly well, but which was
nonetheless removed and replaced with
the so-called “smart” (made in China)
meter without cause or warning by EWEB
several years ago, I decry the move toward
less secure, less verifi able, less sustainable
and more disposable technology.
It is understood that EWEB seeks to
eliminate the valuable (costly) jobs of meter
readers, as well as enabling more detailed
and intrusive (government) monitoring
of its customers. Indeed, the larger threat
posed by these so-called smart meters may
be to our domestic workforce and privacy.
Not that increases in the already dense
EMF load are a healthy idea, mind you.
“Terror mongers?” Really, Mr. Briggs?
Why no uproar about NW Natural’s use
of smart meters, indeed? The proven
superiority of mechanical meters in
served!
applications demanding the utmost
reliability has a long track record —
keeping electrical equipment well removed
from natural gas lines is only common
sense safety. What is your agenda?
Klaus Pressler
Eugene
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PROJECT GLENWOOD
I am a secret admirer of Glenwood,
the section of town between Eugene and
Springfi eld. Glenwood is generally known
for being the ugliest, most industrial part of
town and for being the location for the city
dump. If you take a closer look, though, and
walk into the neighborhoods, past the main
drag, you’ll notice big old trees, farm ani-
mals in backyards, and when it’s foggy the
smell of freshly baked bread everywhere.
I’m convinced that Glenwood has
tremendous potential because of its
location between the two city centers, but
developers are turned off by its unappealing
face. There has been talk of urban renewal
for at least fi ve years now, without any
action. Now we should learn a bit from
downtown Eugene and take it into our own
hands and make small incremental changes
instead of letting the city do a big overhaul.
So I am calling on small business
owners and hopefuls, guerilla gardeners,
litter-picker-uppers, and anyone who
cares to invest a little time and energy into
Glenwood. We should all work a little each
day to try to make where we live a better
place and for now I think Glenwood would
be a great project.
Olivia LeClaire
Eugene
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EUGENE WEEKLY FEBRUARY 16, 2012
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