Eugene weekly., February 21, 2013, Page 6, Image 6

LET TERS
Corvallis Woman Discovers “Living Large.”
Her life actually gets bigger.
Living Large
Weekdays, 12 - 3 p.m.
CONNECT TO
CULTURE
Green Neighbors Faire
First United Methodist Church, 1376 Olive St., Eugene
Saturday, February 23, 9:30 am (Doors Open) to 3 pm
Schedule:
10am-Mark Lakeman-Creating a Green Community Culture – Connecting
Neighborhood, Economy, Energy, Environment, & Climate
10:30 am - City of Eugene Climate Outreach Program
Free Workshops, Demonstrations & Information on:
C Gardening, Composting, Pruning, Edible Landscape
C Energy/Water Conservation, Permaculture, Carbon footprint
C Climate change information, Neighborhood action
C Cooking, Food preservation, and Tasting
C Youth Programs, Bicycle repair, & Greening Our Neighborhoods
C Urban farming and Front yard garden skill building
C Urban Design, Voluntary simplicity, Local food, and MORE . .
COME HAVE FUN AT THE FAIRE!
www.eugenesustainability.org
NO PERS COLA RAID
Gov. John Kitzhaber’s plan to raid the
PERS Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) to
fund education in Oregon is based on a solu-
tion that appears appealing on the outside but
is not sound reasoning on the inside.
The fi rst problem is that taking money
from one bucket and placing it in another
does not increase the total volume of
anything in either bucket. It is just as
likely that both buckets will suffer loss
as overhead costs consume the savings of
such a cash transfer.
Problem two is that PERS retirees use
the money they receive from their pensions
to pay the rent, purchase goods and services
and buy health insurance from the state. Re-
moving the cash from the retirees will in the
end remove the cash from the economy as
well. Local business and service providers
will suffer economic loss.
The third problem is that this raid on
the PERS COLA will be found unlawful
by the Oregon Supreme Court. The last
time the Legislature attempted to tamper
with the PERS COLA they were reversed
in the Court. By Kitzhaber’s reasoning,
if the state can set the PERS COLA rate,
then it could set it to zero, just as easily as
it could set it to some other number. The
court will not agree to this end run around
a contractual agreement entered into by the
state and PERS retirees.
There are other solutions available; the
problem with them is that it will take some
real political will to bring any of them to the
public notice, much less get them enacted
into law. On this issue I encourage Lane
County representatives to think again and
come up with a better solution to the real
problems facing the citizens of the state.
Gerry Merritt
Eugene
WHY NO CHILDCARE?
I want to respectfully recommend to
the organizers of the Social Justice, Real
Justice conference that childcare be taken
into consideration in the future.
The website for SJRJ lists the follow-
ing goals: Provide a space where students,
community organizations, marginalized
communities and allies can come together
to speak on issues underrepresented groups
are facing through current and global topics;
to solidify solidarity when trying to disman-
tle various internalized forms of oppression
both on an institutional as well as a personal
level; and to become actively engaged in the
movement and organize toward social jus-
tice by providing space for critical discus-
sion and to put the theories to practice.
By failing to provide childcare at a
conference addressing these issues, the
conference has already partially failed to
address the accessibility of social justice
movements to enormous segments of most
marginalized communities, both within
and outside of the student body.
Resources are likely limited and logis-
tics of hosting a large event are enormous-
ly complicated, and I congratulate you on
bringing together such a fantastic event,
full of high-quality speakers and perfor-
mances. However, I would encourage the
organizers to consider the repercussions
of failing to provide access to women and
families who are consistently unable to at-
6
February 21, 2013 • eugeneweekly.com
tend such activities due to fi nancial con-
straints. Being involved in various social
and environmental events with extremely
limited resources or none at all, I assure
you that when it comes to providing child-
care, the will to make it happen is all that is
necessary. Including parents and families
in our movements is mandatory, not op-
tional, if we wish to see change.
Jason Gonzales
Walton
POWER TO THE PEOPLE
When will people stand up to these out-
of-control county and city offi cials who
squander and manipulate our money while
cynically misusing the legal system to defend
their own government crimes? They are now
letting thieves, thugs, druggies, perverts and
killers back out on the streets in an attempt to
scare up some more bond money.
These professional crooks are imple-
menting blackmail by holding public safety
hostage, just as police fraternal order leader
Willy (“Fall on our Swords Over This”)
Edewaard said they would. Intentional gov-
ernment malfeasance is a serious crime.
The government is becoming a criminal
failure now actively assisting and encour-
aging criminal culture, letting offenses go
unpunished and dangerous persons go free.
This is felonious endangerment by our own
government! These “offi cials” and “admin-
istrators” deserve some prison time!
Abolish these fraudulent out-of-control
city manager and county administrator po-
sitions. Fire their wasteful retinues of obse-
quious fl unkies. Oust any activist judge and
prosecutor accomplices. Power must rest
with elected citizens who are completely
accountable to their oath to the community.
We cannot let carefully sequestered
bureaucrats remain well insulated from
consequences for their profi table crimes.
They make careers of abusing and
usurping our authority, eroding our society
and environment. They must be halted in
their tracks and brought to justice.
Mike McFadden
Eugene
EWEB’S AVATARS
A lot has been written in recent months
about how sensitive the EWEB board is to
its customers. While there may be good
and necessary reasons for rate increases, it
is the small things that reveal how in touch
the utility really is with its customer base.
Take, for example, the recent changes in
EWEB’s online billing system.
For security reasons, the payment site
requires the customer to select an avatar
from a selection of 64 cartoons of people
with indicators of their jobs. Of the 64
icons only four are female. None of the
females are accompanied by an obvious
indicator of a highly skilled profession,
Only two of the avatars are not Caucasian
and neither the dark-skinned male nor the
Asian avatar in the stereotypical coolie hat
is accompanied by an indicator of a job.
Fortunately, there is an avatar wearing
a clown costume that can be selected to
represent the buffoons who offer up this
culturally insensitive menu.
Marilyn Hedtke
Eugene