Eugene weekly., July 10, 2014, Page 7, Image 7

GETTING FUNNIER
It used to be that “Red Meat” was the
funniest part of the Weekly. Then you
started printing people’s hissy-fi t letters
regarding your cover images and other
portions of your publication! Man, it’s
hilarious what some people get uppity
about.
Brandon Butchko
Eugene
COUNTY GETS IN THE WAY
Support Local Food Rights is working
to put the Local Food System Ordinance
before Lane County voters to protect our
rights to grow/distribute food free from
GMO contamination and to save seed free
from patents. Unfortunately, our own local
government is hampering our efforts at
direct democracy.
Last year, after our fi rst fi ling, Andy
Clark, assistant county counsel, said: “If
there’s a doubt (about whether a measure
meets the single-subject rule), it’s better to
err on the side of putting the measure in
front of the voters.” Support Local Food
Rights couldn’t agree more.
However, Clark has since departed from
his position. Following a ruling by Judge
Charles Carlson that our ordinance didn’t
comply with the pre-election requirements,
the county has now rejected three revisions
that specifi cally address the judge’s
objections and county concerns. Instead of
promoting a cooperative relationship, the
county has identifi ed a new objection with
each fi ling.
We believe this action demonstrates
that the county is unwilling to ensure the
right of the people to engage the initiative
process. It adds to the public’s growing
understanding that communities are
denied recourse when corporate interests
are at stake — in this case, protecting local
farmers and something as basic as the food
we eat.
We must exercise our right to pass
our own laws because the system that is
supposed to protect us does not. This is
not surprising in light of corporate political
donations and lobbying groups like ALEC
that drafted the seed preemption law (SB
863) passed by the Oregon Legislature last
fall.
We contend that the ordinance does
comply, especially given signifi cant
changes addressing the judge’s ruling,
and have fi led a challenge to the Clerk’s
determination. Support Local Food Rights
will continue to advocate for the right of
the community — not corporations — to
decide the future of our food system.
Michelle Holman
Deadwood
FACE THIN RESTORES THE
FOREST
I’m writing in response to Dick
Shearer’s June 19 letter regarding the Face
Thin Timber Sale near Westfi r, Ore. I’m a
retired Forest Service forester who helped
plan this project.
The only correct statement in Mr.
Shearer’s letter was that this project
was planned under the Healthy Forests
Restoration Act. Shearer states, “All the
60-100 year-old second-growth Douglas
fi r along the byway will be gone” and that
two casualties of this sale will be cool
shade and clean water. First of all, the
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byway stretches 60 miles and this project
only encompasses the fi rst 3 miles. Second
of all, as stated in its name, it is a thinning
operation and will leave 70 of the largest,
healthiest trees per acre. Thirdly, there is a
170-foot protection buffer along the North
Fork River. A large portion of this sale is
being yarded by helicopter, which reduces
soil erosion and the need for temporary
road construction.
The treatments under way will put
the area on a path toward restoration to
conditions that existed prior to the era of
intensive logging practices: a more fi re-
resilient forest with wider-spaced, larger
trees. This outcome is the intent of the
Healthy Forests Restoration Act.
Eric Ornberg
Westfi r
ene.com
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morningglor ye
541-687-0709 9
BOWL OF DICKS
Our community was divided when the
University of Oregon decided to enact its
own gun-toting police department to rough
up young college students and increase
the criminalization of youth by arresting
and charging students for what would
have previously been dealt with by the
university disciplinary process. The civil
rights organization I founded, the Civil
Liberties Defense Center, has defended
many UO students and has attempted to
ensure that police offi cers with the power
to legally kill humans remain accountable
to the law and our community.
And so when I recently read the court
documents fi led by a UO Police Department
whistleblower against former EPD offi cer
turned UOPD Chief Carolyn McDermed
and UO Offi cers Lebrecht, Kent Abbot,
Michael Drake, Adam Lillengreen, Eric
LeRoy and Sgt. Bechdolt, I was pretty
disgusted to fi nd that the UOPD has been
keeping a “Bowl of Dicks List.”
Apparently the graveyard shift
commander would regularly lead a
discussion and compile a list of people
and entities that the offi cers disliked and
thought should “eat a bowl of dicks.” I
was even more appalled to fi nd my own
name and organization listed on this sexist,
racist, pathological, unprofessional list —
even if I was in good company with the
likes of Oprah Winfrey, Judge Ann Aiken
and Mayor Kitty Piercy, to name just a few.
Are these sworn offi cers that
intimidated by empowered women that
their ultimate revenge would be to have
us eat a bowl of penises? (They obviously
don’t know I’m a vegan). The fact that
these cops actually wrote this list down
and repeatedly discussed it openly really
demonstrates that they believed they
could operate with impunity and abuse
the power that we the people place in our
law enforcement offi cers. As taxpayers,
doesn’t it make you feel good that our
public servants apparently have so much
free time while protecting and serving that
they can come up with a hate list of women
and people of color?
The UO Police Department must
immediately terminate these unethical
fools and the DPSST (Oregon police
licensing authority) should revoke their
ability to ever be police offi cers again.
Lauren Regan
Eugene
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