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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (March 27, 2014)
LET TERS JUST PASSING THROUGH Thank you, Kevin Sullivan, for writing the article (“Increase in Cougar Killing is Preventable,” 3/20) and for your compassion. Mountain lions who fi nd their way into urban or residential areas such as Hendricks Park are typically just passing through. If left alone and given time, they will leave town on their own. Many wildlife-human encounters are preventable — if food is not available, they will stay away! In addition to what was suggested in the article regarding livestock protection, residents should contain food/ trash (use bungee cords on lids or store trash inside garages/sheds until pickup), keep cars free of food, install car covers if needed, feed companion animals indoors only and never feed wildlife. Install fences and use pepper-based repellents to keep wildlife out of unwanted areas. Animals can be evicted from dens using ammonia- soaked rags, and the area should be sealed once all animals have left. Offi cials should also implement and enforce an ordinance prohibiting wildlife feeding. For more information about how to live in harmony with wildlife, please visit goo. gl/ti71uW. Curtis Taylor Eugene COLD WAR REDUX It seems that the Cold War has had a comeback. Some on the American political right wing, and a few on the left, actually favor more confrontation, not less, with Russia. I’m one of those who remember the duck ‛n’ cover drills, the fear-inducing air raid sirens, the B-52 bombers fl ying to their fail-safe points and what the acronym MAD actually means. Lest anyone forget, this is 2014 and not 1938. Putin isn’t Hitler, and Obama isn’t Churchill. War in this modern age is no more controllable than it ever was. As many generals have said, the fi rst casuality of a battle plan is the plan. The people in charge on our side need to think rationally and calmly, even if those in charge elsewhere appear not to be doing so. I’m sure the Ukrainians, the Russians and all the Europeans have a belief in “fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women.” The divide that separates us may not be so large after all. Gerry Merritt Eugene BEES GET SOME HELP Kudos to the Eugene City Council for banning the use of neonicotinoid insecticides on city lands in Eugene last month. Give a hand to the European Union for placing a moratorium on use of neonicotinoids on crops attractive to bees in Europe. Thank Jerry’s Home Improvement for taking the neonicotinoids out of promotional displays, relegating them to a rear aisle and providing shelf information warning of the hazards. Way to go Netherlands for being the fi rst country, just this week, to completely ban these insecticides. Others haven’t done as well. The Oregon Department of Agriculture’s response to last year’s bumblebee kills was to restrict application of the offending neonicotinoids only to linden trees!? All the EPA would do is relabel some neonicotinoids, now warning beekeepers to move bees before application, yet these toxins remain active in plants for years. Recently, Italian researchers presented damning evidence that neonicotinoids are a major contributor to colony collapse disorder (CCD). They showed that a common honeybee virus, which normally is controlled by the adult honeybee immune system, instead replicates dramatically when the bees are exposed to minute quantities of neonicotinoids, hundreds of times less than a lethal dose. Almost undetectable levels of these potent chemicals appear to have the ability to destroy the immune systems of our bees, making all manner of bee diseases lethal. Bees, sick with multiple viruses and pathogens, are the clearest indicator of colonies on the verge of imminent collapse. Now we know why. The bees won’t recover until these toxins are completely gone from the land. Gary Rondeau Eugene letters to the editor: one about the extreme pollution generated by leaf blowers (fecal dust, noise, etc.) and another about purposely trying to distract drivers (high- defi nition, mega-pixeled, colorful, moving billboards and roadside advertisers like the Statue of Liberty guy on 7th, the guy across the street selling smokes, et al.). I’m guessing that my letters weren’t printed because they were deemed anti- business, which is why I canceled, plus I had noticed a defi nitive turn to the further right in the cartoons, letters and editorials recently. A few weeks ago there was a letter to the R-G about “fi nally, a few cartoons that are critical of Obama!” So I know the R-G has swung more toward the further right, Tea-Partyish even. I’m just saying I’m glad there is an alternative paper in Eugene, and it’s free. Thank you. Stephen Cole Eugene GOING TO THE SOURCE Does anyone wonder how the medical marijuana dispensaries were able to stock their shelves immediately after the regulations were enacted? Vince Loving Eugene VOTES, NOT MONEY Ever since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, there has much wailing and gnashing of teeth “Public Citizen on Citizens United” March 20). TURNING TO THE RIGHT I just canceled my subscription to The Register-Guard. 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