Comfort on Earth
Follow Your Feet to Footwise for Slippers!
Downtown Eugene
Downtown Corvallis
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HOLIDAY COMFORT FOR YOUR FEET
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LET TERS
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
’Twas the weeks before Christmas,
when all through the land, parents were
wondering, how it got out of hand? Some
were sleepless and worrying, almost
sick with their scare, being homeless at
Christmas, ’twas too much to bear.
The children were sleeping in friends’
borrowed beds, while visions of their own
home danced in their heads. And mammas
and/or pappas were waiting to hear if they
would be one of the Chosen this year.
Chosen to receive help from St. Vincent de
Paul, to get their own home. “Please let us
get that call!”
With help from Ms. Piercy, a person
who cares, she wants folks in their own
homes, that is our mayor. The goal is quite
simple and one we can do, give $100 or
$20 or even a few. We all need a place we
can call our very own, if we each give a
little, 40 families can have a home.
I don’t know about you, but holidays can
make me ill, with the consumer mentality
and the resultant bill. I have no real needs
for more junk or more stuff; thanks for the
reminder that some have it rough!
Kids do best in this world when they
feel safe and secure, and not when asked to
simply endure. So join me and others and
make a difference this year, let’s help put
to rest many a parents’ fear.
Ensure 40 families a home — that is our
new goal, and get candy in your stocking
and not lumps of coal. Happy Holidays!
Phyllis D. Barkhurst
Eugene
EDITOR’S NOTE: Send checks to St. Vincent de Paul
with “A Home for the Holidays” at the bottom, PO Box
24608, Eugene 97402.
BUCK-PASSING
America needs to invest in jobs that
restore public lands replanting forests
and protecting them for wilderness, clean
water, wildlife habitat, environmentally
compatible recreation and limited,
sustainable timber.
4
December 13, 2012 • eugeneweekly.com
Global warming requires us to build
incentives, so that local governments
won’t push to damage the forests that
clean and cool our air. Federal lands do not
pay property taxes. So, in 2000 Congress
passed a law to compensate national forest
counties — regardless of the rate of timber
cutting — with the intent of reducing local
pressure to over-cut. That law has expired.
The problem now is that federal,
state and local taxes provided to county
governments have been reduced. Last year,
the overall Lane County budget fell from
$500 million to $400 million. In response,
the Republican majority controlling the
Board of Commissioners has decided to
release more and more inmates from the
jail. Commissioner Leiken’s comments
(R-G, 12/04) blame “lack of active
management of the federal forests.”
This position passes the buck. It’s not a
cohesive, long-term strategy.
I will be opposing Lane County
government’s plans for more budget cuts
to public safety and other key programs —
public health, children and families, job
development come to mind.
I applaud efforts in Congress to
strengthen national environmental laws
that protect and restore federal forests.
Responsible stewardship would include
continued payments to forested counties,
in lieu of taxes — thoroughly and
permanently decoupled from timber.
Pete Sorenson
Lane County Commissioner
Eugene
CLOSE THE JAIL
Seriously, Lane County should stop
teasing us with these trickle-out inmate
releases and simply go ahead and shut
down the jail. That way they could also do
away with the courts and police, freeing up
all kinds of funds for the next developer
who rolls into town promising wonderful
things. Let the “free market” deal with
public safety. Feel threatened or in trouble,
call a corporation!
By the way, has anyone noticed how