Eugene weekly., March 08, 2012, Page 4, Image 4

letters
TO THE EDITOR
PROGRESSIVE TRADITION
For decades, Pete Sorenson has been a
courageous and highly principled servant
of South Eugeneans. Since the timber-
industry’s underwritten and orchestrated
lawsuit of 2010, he has been the target of
a sustained politics of personal destruction.
This has been cold, angry and ugly —
dripping with sarcasm and half-truths.
Citizens should reject it.
As a South Eugenean since 1965 and as
a loyal and dedicated friend and campaign
aid/advisor to the late former senator Wayne
L. Morse and local former congressman
Charles O. Porter (both South Eugene
residents), I view Sorenson’s career to be in
that great tradition of public service.
As immediate past chair of the Lane
County Budget Committee and a seasoned
county volunteer, I know that Sorenson has
been unsurpassed in his independence and
professional courtesy. He has, without peer,
championed the environment, education,
UO, civil and privacy rights, seniors,
veterans, peace and fair board process. He
has a perfect board meeting attendance
record and consistently has the most
professional service delivery to constituents.
No other board member or candidate
comes close to his breadth of knowledge
and service — congressional and White
House appointee assistant, LCC board
chair, state senator, small business owner,
and four-term board veteran.
His voice and experience are needed to
balance a right-wing board majority.
Character assassination should have no
place in public life. In the face of political
efforts to destroy him both fi nancially
and politically, Sorenson has displayed a
kindness and dignity we should admire.
W. Scott Bartlett
Eugene
NAVIGATING THE MAZE
While manufactured legal gamesman-
ship and contrived political attacks garner
their intended diversions and distractions,
we should never overlook the ever constant
and vitally important day-to-day responsi-
bilities of being a county commissioner.
One such role is the level of care and assis-
tance dedicated commissioners give their
constituents.
During my four-year term as commis-
sioner, I provided much needed constitu-
ent outreach to the people of my district
(which is roughly the size of the entire state
of Rhode Island) by holding 196 town hall-
style meetings and forums. Helping people
navigate through the maze of local govern-
ment is perhaps the single most important
function a commissioner can provide.
I was continually inspired by the untir-
ing constituent service work my colleagues
Rob Handy and Pete Sorenson daily gave,
and continue to give, their districts’ citi-
zens. They are the two hardest working
commissioners currently on the board with
respect to instant and persistent constituent
service, response and holding public meet-
ings and meeting with citizen groups.
Both Handy and Sorenson obviously
care deeply about keeping in touch and
rendering service to their districts — re-
fl ecting and giving courageous voice to
their neighbors’ most noble views and ide-
als. Although they have been subjected to
4
MARCH 8, 2012
EUGENE WEEKLY
caregivers provide the support needed for
OP residents to maintain an independent
lifestyle. Does this sound like a match for a
complex of 1,200 students? We think not!
We are concerned about such a huge
infl ux of people in such a concentrated area
and the impact it would have on our quality
of life. Such a project is not welcome in
the UO area, as an R-G editorial points out,
“the infl ux of students, with the associated
parties and demands for parking, has led
to complaints from long-term residents.”
Neither is it welcome here! There is a lot
more at stake than the wished for infl ux of
cash for downtown businesses. We urge
reconsideration of this project.
Phyllis Linn
Eugene
MENACE TO SOCIETY
an ongoing smear campaign funded by nar-
row special interests, they continue to stand
tall and hold their heads high in the face of
these vicious personal and politically in-
spired attacks and specious investigations.
Fair-minded citizens will vote to reject
hateful and counterproductive political
warfare and will re-elect these deserving
humble public servants.
William A. “Bill” Fleenor
Former West Lane
County Commissioner
BONANZA REVISITED
I’ve found recent articles in EW and the
R-G on Greg Demers and his companies’
high-risk exploits interesting, informative
and surprising. Demers is a speculator in log-
ging, real estate, the water business (bought
the small Willamette Water Co.) and most
visibly the gravel mining at the controversial
Parvin Butte mine above Dexter.
I’m stunned that a speculator with such
a questionable business history, including
lawsuits, at least $4 million in unpaid taxes,
bankruptcies, murky ownerships, question-
able grant applications and a terrible envi-
ronmental record could get the approval of
a majority of Lane County commissioners
to give him rights to lock up millions of gal-
lons of McKenzie River water.
The ongoing destruction of Parvin
Butte, a beautiful and iconic landmark
1,500 feet from the Dexter Post Offi ce,
is explicitly tied to Demers’ application
for state money to build a railroad hub to
transport rock from the butte to the coast.
In no way should Oregon commit taxpayer
grant money to this endeavor.
What century is this?
I’m reminded of episodes from the old
TV show Bonanza where a smooth talkin’
businessman comes to town promising jobs
and riches. Nearly everyone in town is in his
thrall, except Ben Cartright, who sounds the
alarm. Ben and his boys, including Hoss,
usually save the day.
County Commissioner Pete Sorenson
voted against Demers’ water scheme.
I guess we should call him County
Commissioner “Ben” Sorenson. Having
a watchdog at the courthouse is valuable.
Let’s keep Sorenson our commissioner.
Leslie Weinstein
Eugene
WHERE’S THE TEETH?
The issues that we are seeing with
regards to Mr. Demers and the McDougal
brothers in Dexter and now on the
McKenzie River are just the latest examples
of how our government, on all levels, no
longer represents the best interests of all
citizens.
How is bowing to the pressures and
infl uence of corporations and the wealthy,
allowing them to violate county codes and
regulations for personal profi t and at the
expense of the environment, in the best
interest of the local community? And to add
insult to injury, all this is being perpetrated
by a man that owes millions of dollars in
back taxes.
Demers and the McDougal brothers
have shown blatant disregard of the process
required by the county and state regulators.
They lied on applications for mining and
forestry permits and the application for a
bridge to be constructed in a fragile salmon
stream. Are they paying a penalty for their
dishonesty? On the contrary! They are
rewarded by being allowed to proceed
without needing to take into account the
concerns of the many citizens that surround
their property.
Citizens whose health, property values
and quality of life are going to be negatively
affected. Citizens who went through the
proper channels to stand up for themselves,
and who also don’t owe millions of dollars
in back taxes. If you have natural resources
in your back yard, as so many of us in
Oregon do, you may be the next victim of
this greed. Don’t look to local government
to stop it. They have no teeth.
Dan Orleck
Dexter
RESIDENTS OBJECT
The proposed downtown student
housing project at 13th and Olive seriously
threatens to inundate those who would
be its closest neighbors, the residents of
Olive Plaza. OP is the 12-story apartment
building at 11th and Olive designated for
extremely low to very low-income elderly
and disabled persons, some of whom
have resided there for the 30 years of its
existence. The average age of its 150
residents is about 82; many use canes,
walkers and wheelchairs to get around, and
A few nights ago I went to the local Dari
Mart. As I was waiting my turn another
customer was making a purchase of beer.
The man behind the counter said “Hey Ted.
What are you gonna do this weekend?”
The customer replied, “Well I’m gonna
drink this beer, smoke some pot, do a little
meth, start all over again and go to work
on Monday.” The man behind the counter
said, “Oh, same old, same old, huh?”
As I looked around the store and all of
the other people standing in line waiting to
make their purchases, I was amazed that
not one person looked shocked or even
surprised. Myself, my jaw dropped. Is
drug use so prevalent in Springfi eld that
it is normal to speak of it so openly? I’m
beginning to think so. I see it everywhere
in Springfi eld. On the bus. At the bus stop.
Hard drugs are a menace to society.
I really don’t care what it does to the
individual who ruins his or her life with
them. It’s the despicable things they do
to obtain the drugs that I despise. It’s the
disgusting behavior that they display under
the infl uence of drugs like meth and heroin.
I understand the city of Springfi eld can’t
afford to take these losers off of the street.
That is the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.
Maureen Jenkins
Springfi eld
SHARE THE STREETS
Walking
from
the
Whiteaker
neighborhood, where I live and work ,
through the park between Washington
and Jefferson streets and on to downtown
Eugene, what I notice is a town on the
brink of becoming a city — and cities are
diverse, complicated and bustling. In my
fortunate travels to various places around
the U.S. and to other parts of the world, I
can report that people who live in cities do
their working, shopping and living among
all sorts of other people doing likewise.
It is time, Eugene, to move beyond the
idea that only some people are allowed to
be some places some of the time. Under
what is currently known as the exclusion
zone, or offi cially, the Downtown Public
Safety Zone, we have given police the
power to decide who gets to stay and who
gets hassled, ticketed or arrested. There
is this idea that we can’t go to dinner or
do our shopping if three young people are
standing on the street corner with a dog.
My excitement at seeing the John Lennon
Memorial in Central Park (New York) was
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