LET TERS
SPORTS VS. DECENCY
I want to know why the three basketball
players are not being prosecuted for rape. I
fi nd it unfathomable that their word would be
taken over the victim’s. Could it be because
they are men playing a sport at UO? Just as
Josh Huff, UO wide receiver who, despite
being clocked at 50 mph down 18th, and
having a urine sample that came up positive
was acquitted of all charges — and picked up
at the jail by a former UO chief of staff.
It looks like sport is more important
than the law or human decency. The players
think that they can do anything – that any
woman’s body is theirs for the taking. We
are all being given this message.
Why? So the UO can get more federal
funding? So they won’t be said to be
negligent (like taking player Brandon Austin
who was suspended by another university
and is being investigated for sexual assault)?
Our educational institutions should be
the fi rst to combat the insidious mind set
that perpetuate the war against women in
our society where women are underpaid,
objectifi ed, and brutalized on a regular
basis. But that’s not all. Eugene Weekly
publishes ads like American Apparels’
Valentine “gift” to Eugene, full page, so
every man, woman and child could see
it — and get the message that this young
woman was not a human being. She was a
sexual gift, free for the taking.
The Equal Rights Amendment is long
overdue. We should all be outraged.
Jean M. Denis
Eugene
BETTER URBAN SPACES
Jerry Diethelm’s “Design Matters”
column May 15 was the best written
comment on the proposed City Hall
DISPATCHES FROM AFGHANISTAN
and Farmers Market that I have read. I
was especially pleased that he proposed
opening the street in the northwest corner
of the Park Blocks. That would help
remind us of our connection to the original
layout of the city.
It would seem that the mayor and
the majority of the City Council want to
continue the policies of piecemeal urban
development with little regard to the historic
past or to the vision of better public spaces in
the future. I think it would be better to make
do with current make-shift arrangements
than to commit to a second-rate City Hall
and parking lots that will be with us well
into the future. If the government bodies —
city, county, state and federal — do not truly
concern themselves with the organization
of the urban spaces in downtown Eugene,
then who will? Every organization, whether
public or private, must consider the context
KINDNESS AND SUPPORT ARE CRITICAL FOR MILITARY FAMILIES
I
f I am honest, I will tell you that for a period of
my life Army Wives was my favorite TV show. I
would make great efforts to be home or wake up
at odd hours so that I could watch it on the Armed
Forces Network (AFN), a TV station provided
to American service members and their families
living overseas. AFN also showed wonderfully hokey
commercials about how not to stand out in your host
country and the important distinctions between general
and special powers of attorney for those deploying.
AFN was great and entertaining television.
As a newlywed in 2008, living overseas with a
4
May 22, 2014 • eugeneweekly.com
LOGEVALL’S OMISSION
Fredrik Logevall, author of the Pulitzer-
winning study of Vietnam, Embers of War,
spoke in Eugene May 14 as part of the
Wayne Morse Legacy Series. He stressed
how six U.S. presidents, beginning with
Truman, began our involvement. At length,
he enumerated how political considerations
played a major part.
Not once, however, did he mention the
BY K ATIE P OT TER
A Necessary Strength
EDITOR’S NOTE: Jake Klonoski, the usual author of this column, is now
back safety from Afghanistan and his wife, Katie Potter, is here offering
her perspectives.
of its building activity and not simply its
economic costs.
And when the city, with a planning staff,
ignores both the better physical elements of
its history and the future form, texture and
physical structure of downtown, Eugene
will continue to make “vision” statements
not backed by results on the ground.
Alvin Urquhart
Eugene
husband deployed to Afghanistan and no friends or
family nearby, enjoying those silly commercials and
watching Army Wives made me feel less alone. Even
back in the U.S., experiences and worries that did not
always translate well to those untouched by these long
confl icts could be isolating.
Fast-forward six years and I am now on active duty
myself, having become an Air Force judge advocate
general in 2010. My husband, Jake, has returned from
his second deployment to Afghanistan. We now have a
2-year-old and I have not watched Army Wives in a very
long time.
But I will never forget the feeling of fear and sadness
I had when Jake fi rst deployed, or the ways that the
kindness and support of others — and a little Army Wives
— helped me through. Military members and military
families (which now, it should be acknowledged, under
Oregon law includes same-sex couples) are strong, but
it is a strength born of necessity. They often draw their
strength from friends, family and community who reach
out to let them know they are not alone.
Spouses and children, siblings and parents, they all
serve and they all endure in their own way. And as recent
news reporting highlights (wkly.ws/1r7), sometimes
family members should be counted among the casualties
of these wars. After tireless advocacy by the National
Military Families Association and others, the Pentagon’s
Defense Suicide Prevention Offi ce proposed ways to
track such casualties in March (wkly.ws/f).
Thank you for your support to our family and all
families who serve. While Jake, our daughter and I
are fortunate to be reunited after this deployment to
Afghanistan, we know that many others are not so lucky.
We would like to take this opportunity in advance of
Memorial Day to recognize and honor those service
members and their families who have made the ultimate
sacrifi ce, as well as those carrying wounds from these 13
years of confl ict and confl icts past.
This Memorial Day please consider what you can do
to help support those who are currently deployed, their
families and loved ones, and all people who have bee n
impacted by war. Some of the wonderful organizations
helping military veterans in the Eugene area are the
following:
• Eugene Vets Center, 465-6918, for counseling and
referral services.
• Oregon Employment Department Veterans Services,
686-7601, press 3 for employment placement and
assistance.
• Lane County Veterans Service Offi ce, 682-4191, for
expert legal benefi t assistance.
• Supportive Services for Veteran Families, St. Vincent
de Paul, 743-7166, for housing assistance and family
support.
• Yellow Ribbon Family Reintegration, Oregon National
Guard, (503) 584-2245, for family support services.
Eugene is a progressive college town where one might
not think there are many around who wear a military
uniform, or many who have. But you may be surprised at
the number of veterans and service members and families
in your midst. An unexpected meeting of three Eugeneans
in Kabul in March certainly surprised my husband.
If I have learned nothing else from my time as a
military spouse and on active duty, it is that you cannot
pigeonhole or stereotype military members and their
families. We come from all walks of life and, ignoring
the guys’ haircuts, you might not even be able to pick us
out in a crowd.
Especially with more and more deployments coming
from the Reserve and National Guard, chances are that
we and our families could even be your neighbors. In
my experience, military members and their families have
little say in their assigned missions, but serve because we
love our country and our freedoms and we want to give
back. Of course, it is important to recognize that there
are many ways to serve and some of the most brave and
noble ways do not include wearing a uniform.
You may never know how grateful veterans, military
members and their families are for your kindness and
support. Stoicism becomes a way of life in a military
household. But please know that your efforts to reach
out make a difference. Thank you to Eugene Weekly for
publishing my husband’s “Dispatches from Afghanistan,”
and thank you to everyone who has supported the people
of Afghanistan, those who are serving and have served,
and their families and loved ones. We salute you.
Katie Potter is the chief of Military Justice at Los Angeles Air Force Base
where she also provides legal assistance to military members, their fami-
lies and retirees. She was one of the fi rst special victim’s counsel for the
Air Force’s pilot program addressing sexual assault that has since been
expanded throughout the Department of Defense.