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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 27, 2012)
or FAIR made from organic quinoa in France. Vodka is still the fi rst in spirit sales in this country and helps many bars keep their doors open. Shaming people for what they drink rather than engaging and further educating them is unprincipled and to perpetuate this practice in front of younger bartenders is in bad taste. As for Hendricks being the best gin? Aviation Gin from PDX and I will just have to disagree with that. Jake Bliven Eugene A BRILLIANT IDEA Newspapers are a necessity, not a luxury, the same as electricity and water. Perhaps it’s time to make all local newspapers the same as all other public utilities. Put the ownership in a nonprofi t and have all citizens work at the paper on a rotating basis with the bill for the paper showing up on your utility bill. Frank Skipton Springfi eld EUGENE’S GOOD SON For those who have casually walked past my son, sitting on the sidewalk in front of the old Eugene City Hall; for those who screamed “Get a f--ing job”; and for police offi cers who fi nd it necessary to harass him, I would like to introduce to you one of Eugene’s heroes. I may be prejudiced since I gave birth to Conrad Kendal Barney, but he is Eugene’s son, too, and he shouldn’t be thrown away so easily. Conrad, at 13, wrote to every daily newspaper in America asking for help for children who lose parents to AIDS. He didn’t so much worry for himself, even though he lost his father when he was 9, then suffered horrible bullying from his peers, being beaten up and called a fag just because it was his father who died from AIDS. No, my son worried about other kids fi rst. After many other heroic deeds my son graduated high school with a 4.0 GPA, went on to Glide Job Corps where he acquired many awards, then became a “hotshot” fi refi ghter. He fought fi res in your forests to protect you and your resources, but he also went to the Southern states after Katrina and helped there. When I had cancer twice he gave up his life to come and help care for his autistic little brother while I recovered. Conrad has rallied with the Occupy movement in a couple of states, but in Eugene he noticed that policies have changed regarding Eugene’s hungry and homeless policies that hurt Eugene’s sons and daughters who are less fortunate and underrepresented. Once again my son has chosen to give of himself and Dec. 17 was his seventh day of not eating food, starting a “Hunger Strike for Shelter.” At the old City Hall he was accosted by a man who stole his sign, then by police who made him move or be arrested; so now he sits in front of the old Federal Building in a hunger strike for better treatment and shelter for people unable to get shelter in Eugene. Conrad was raised in a Native American belief that no one in a commons should go without, that everyone should be taken care of, especially our elders and ill. Maybe if you walk past him as he sits on the sidewalk in front of the old Federal Building you might thank him for being a good son to Eugene instead of looking down your nose at him. Valerie Goodness Amherst, N.Y. GETTING WED STONED The Shedd Institute www.theshedd.org - 541-434-7000 Give Music Shedd Institute Gift Certificates for the holidays 541-434-7000 | www.theshedd.org/gift Jenny Scheinman with Bill Frisell & Brian Blade It all makes sense now. Marijauana and same-sex marriage, legalized on the same day. Leviticus 20:13 states, “If a man lays with another man he should be stoned.” We were just interpreting it wrong. David Perham Eugene GUN LOONIES On the same day 20 innocents were murdered by a “well-armed” lunatic in a school in Connecticut, 22 school children were slashed by a knife-wielding lunatic in China. Those poor families in Connecticut who lost a child will have a gaping hole in their lives that can never be fi lled. The families of those wounded in China still have their beloveds and will be forever thankful that the man who attacked their children didn’t have a gun and are thanking their lucky stars that they weren’t living in the U.S. Both attackers were mentally unstable and despicable cowards, well worthy of where they are going to spend eternity, but their very irrationality makes their behavior an aberration. Thus, they lack the calculated heartlessness of the supposedly “well-balanced” people who keep valuing their guns above the lives of other people’s children. We all know that Fox and hate radio have already started their all-too-familiar “Now is not the time to talk about gun-control” rant and that the real nut-jobs are shouting “Arm the teachers!” But isn’t it time to for the rest of us to fi nally stop the NRA loonies from being the face of America? Why don’t you gun loonies all move to a place where your dreams of a gun in every hand is a reality — perhaps Somalia or the paradise of the eastern Congo. It’s a win-win solution. Jamie Selko Eugene Friday 01.04 Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour Dee Dee Bridgewater Christian McBride Benny Green Lewis Nash Chris Potter Ambrose Akinmusire Friday 01.11 Hult Center - Tickets: 541-682-5000 Coming up at The Shedd (see www.theshedd.org for full listing) 1.4 Jenny Scheinman - Blade & Frisell 1.11 Monterey Jazz on Tour 55 (Hult) 1.12 Robin Willaims (Hult) 1.16 Loudon Wainwright/Dar Williams 1.19 Moombah! Rumbles & the Wild Sky 1.24 Solas: Shamrock City Tour 2.01 Black Prairie 2.15 Victor Wooten 2.16 Afro-Cuban All Stars 2.20 Led Kaapana 2.21 Woideck: Jazz/Mancini 3.2 Ken Peplowski 3.6-17 Siri Vik. My Funny Valentine 3.8 Blues at the Crossroads II (Hult) 3.10 B. B. King (Hult) 4.12 Molly Ringwald 4.24 Taj Mahal-Shemekia Copeland (Hult) 4.25 John Pizzarelli Quartet 5.1 Hapa eugeneweekly.com • December 27, 2012 5
