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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (April 3, 2014)
LET TERS LNG HAZARD Exporting liquefi ed natural gas (LNG) will lead to more drilling [see news story last week]. And more drilling means more fracking, more air and water pollution and more climate-fueled weather disasters like last year’s record fi res, droughts and superstorms. The proposed Jordan Cove Coos Bay LNG is an environmental disaster of hazardous proportions. Converting our economy to a non- fossil-fueled base economy is immediate and absolutely essential if we want our children and future generations to have a healthy world. Harm is happening now. Please contact the four commissioners of the Oregon DEQ at (503) 229-5301 or (800) 452-4011 and voice your concerns. The state of Oregon has fi nal say in this matter. Planet Glassberg Eugene We can all use our voices to raise public awareness about sexual violence and support survivors; to challenge unhealthy messages and stereotypes in our culture and the media that excuse violence; and to promote respectful relationships and healthy sexuality. SAAM is the perfect time for each of us to think about how we can work toward this vision of a healthy future, and then take action to make it happen. One way to get involved and make a difference right here in our community is to volunteer with Sexual Assault Support Services (SASS). The next SASS volunteer training begins April 28. To learn more, visit sass-lane.org or email volunteer@sass-lane.org or call 484-9791. It’s time … to talk about it! Susan Lax SASS board member Eugene MAMMOGRAMS AND MONEY CHANGE OUR CULTURE April is National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month (SAAM). It is estimated that over half of women and almost one in fi ve men in Oregon have experienced some form of sexual violence; however, sexual violence touches all of our lives. We all have a role in supporting survivors and changing our culture so that sexual violence is no longer allowed and excused. VIEWPOINT I feel compelled to make women aware of the fear-based money scam I believe imaging centers are perpetrating. I was convinced by my doctor, again, to have the once-a-year mammogram. My insurance covered it. I went in and had the compression of my breasts and received a call a week later. I needed to be retested for one of my breasts. They told me I would need to go to the Riverbend location in Springfi eld and I would be scheduled for an ultrasound three hours later. A WOMAN’S DECISION Forcing a victim of sexual assault to report said assault to the police, as now required by UO, is a very bad idea. Rape is already the most unreported crime in the world, and for good reason. Victims of sexual assault are often re-victimized by the system. Uneducated or uncaring police offi cers ask what the woman was wearing, if she had been drinking and so on. Victims of sexual assault already blame themselves and have already gone through every “what if I had, or had not done this or that” in their own minds. Self- blame and self-recrimination are already a persistent and oppressive and degrading result of sexual assault, even though it does not matter if a victim was drinking, was wearing something revealing or even if she was at fi rst attracted to the assailant. At any time a woman or girl says no, she has every right to not be sexually assaulted. Rape is also the most diffi cult crime to prove, so a woman may go through years of trauma in a court case, only to lose the case, and then have her feelings of self- recrimination and self-hate embedded into her heart and mind forever. I have only known one victim of sexual assault whose assailant was convicted, and he had not even succeeded in completing his assault. She chose to fi ght and managed to get some of his skin under her fi ngernails, and this was the only reason he was convicted. Rape is a horrible crime that has lasting BY N A NCIE PE ACOCK E FA DEL E Y A Remarkable Woman REMEMBERING THE GIFTED JANET WENTWORTH F riends of the late Janet Wentworth will gather from noon until 2 pm Sunday, April 6, at the Eugene Family YMCA, 2055 Patterson Street. All are welcome to that time of remembering Janet who died on March 6, 2014, a month shy of the 69th anniversary of her birth. That gathering will be at the Y because every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon, in rain or shine, except when surgeries forced her to stay abed, Janet wheeled her way to U-Can-Gym, the Y’s exercise program for persons with disabilities. Exercise was important to her, as were those who exercised with her. She moved to Eugene from Los Angeles with her mother, Edna, in 1988 to work in the Offi ce of Affi rmative Action and Equal Opportunity at the University of Oregon. Later Janet served as the UO’s ombuds offi cer. And always, she was a champion for those with disabilities. While in Los Angeles, she worked in Mayor Tom Bradley’s offi ce on disability issues; attended UCLA; was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis; and became the contestant from California in the Miss Wheelchair America Pageant. At the gathering at the Y, there is certain to be much talk about Janet’s gifts as a gardener, and stories about her many dogs and cats. A number of those pets had disabilities, and might be categorized by others as unadoptable. Having been adopted herself, Janet was sensitive to the difference adoption can make in a life. Also important to her was the Oregon State Library’s Books on Tape program which enabled her, despite her vision limitations, to be a “well-read” conversationalist. 4 I went in, no co-pay was taken and no one asked me how I was going to pay, nor whether my insurance was going to cover it. No other people lined up in their gowns to have this procedure and I thought that was odd. In the changing room I got into my gown, waited only about two or three minutes and was lead into the screening room. The clinician told me I had no cancer: “It is probably a fi broid.” The compression of that one breast was taken, and soon I was told I needed an ultrasound and was led across the hall. During the ultrasound the clinician said, "I don’t know why you are here. I see nothing!” I was told everything was fi ne and could get dressed and leave. A bill arrived a week or so later for over $300. This, to me, is a scam. I am reading more and more about mammograms. I see they could be dangerous for all women. I felt, after observing all the employed people in this imaging center standing around, I could be paying for them and the unused equipment. Women may write me (susanluvseugene@yahoo.com) for information about mammograms and how dangerous they are for women. One of many articles out there: wkly.ws/1ps. I have bought into the fear-based lines given to me by practitioners for over 20 years (I am 63). I see it is about the money. Susan Klein Eugene A pril 3, 2014 • eugeneweekly.com Nor did her poor eyesight JANET WENTWORTH deny her the joy of being a painter. Many of her paintings appear to have been inspired by Monet. She was proud of them and talked often about one that hangs in Congressman Peter DeFazio’s offi ce. She hoped that that painting would promote interest in art shows featuring works of artists with disabilities. Anyone who has a Janet painting who wishes to show it to others is encouraged to bring it to the gathering at the Y. Also important and absolutely essential to Janet were her caregivers. After her mother’s death, a number of caregivers provided sensitive and round- the-clock attention. Among them was Michelle Kalcich, who cared for Janet for about six years. During the last years of her life, Adrienne Platt was Janet’s caregiver. She was extremely thankful for their help. There will be an announcement at that gathering of the establishment of a scholarship in Janet’s name for those who want to participate in the Y’s U-Can-Gym program but are of low income. The Janet Wentworth Scholarship was not Janet’s idea, but close friends say it would be a fi tting memorial and are absolutely certain she would approve. Nancie Peacocke Fadeley of Eugene served in the Oregon Legislature in the 1970s and ’80s and chaired the House Environment and Land Use Committee during the formation of Oregon’s pioneering land use legislation. She also served as assistant vice provost at UO. She now writes about Oregon history and environmental issues.
