LET TERS
food system looks like, over self-serving
decisions made by corporate executives
who don’t even live here.
For
more
information,
visit
LocalFoodRights.com.
Michelle Holman
Deadwood
bring the businesses down to the “buskers
and panhandlers” level, Valkyrie should
try to bring the buskers and panhandlers
up out of the rut they have dug themselves
into and to help them become productive
members of society like the rest of us.
Beau Johnson
Springfield
HELPING VULGAR BULLIES
While there is no doubt Alley Valkyrie’s
heart is in the right place [Viewpoint,
10/23], I find that it has been mislead
and fooled. She has been an outspoken
advocate of the homeless, who need a
leader, but she is not leading them to any
sort of long-term solution. Instead of
finding a permanent solution (real jobs,
real homes and useful help for the mentally
ill), she chooses to demand that taxpayers
provide public property so that they can
live in tents. The only thing created was a
large, dangerous and unsanitary camp that
attracted more homeless people to the area,
spread communicable disease, violence,
drug use and was less attractive than a
refugee camp.
Now she wants to allow aggressive,
vulgar bullies to loiter around businesses,
driving customers away. I have given up on
trying to take my family downtown. I have
gotten in several near confrontations with
these bullies because I stand up to them
and call them on their low-class behavior.
The so-called poetry reader Valkyrie
refers to was not harmless, but like the rest
of the Broadway loiterers, was very rude,
interruptive and confrontational. Anyone
who goes downtown with his or her
family to have a nice afternoon or evening
knows better. The businesses and police
are only doing what needs to be done to
save the businesses downtown and to keep
the bullies in check. These folks are not
the poor, downtrodden, weak victims of
society.
If Eugene wants to protect and
encourage the cool downtown vibe, then
it needs to encourage the folks to become
productive members of society or to keep
moving along. Maybe instead of trying to
CELL TOWER INVASION
The city of Eugene has legal footing
but does it have the political will to protect
neighborhoods from intrusive cell phone
towers? Eugene’s telecommunications
ordinance needs a major overhaul, and
the city needs help. Eugeneans must let
the City Council know that not one more
residential neighborhood will be sacrificed.
Neighborhoods have one at a time
fought the siting of towers near their
homes. It can be an expensive proposition
— just ask the neighbors near the Oakway
Golf Course AT&T site. There needs to be
a comprehensive solution.
Until this is done, Eugene should at least
be utilizing its one protective provision —
mandatory independent peer review of
technical information at the expense of
the applicant. This is not a comprehensive
solution, but complying with its own code
would be a good start.
If I were a neighbor in the Oakway
area or near the AT&T Rest Haven site on
Willamette, I would be seeking restitution
from the city for legal fees and wondering
why my own attorneys didn’t raise this
non-compliance issue for appeal purposes.
City Council has tentatively set a work
session on this issue. Radio frequency
radiation is nobody’s friend and afflicts
some, especially children, more than
others.
Mona Linstromberg
Tidewater
PEOPLE OVER PROFITS
I was shocked when my co-worker told
me he thought he was going to have to sell
his house last summer to finance weekly
chemotherapy for the life-threatening auto-
Individuals Nourishing Community
Since 1971
This Saturday,
November 8th,
12pm to 4pm
immune condition his son contracted as a
grad student in Chile. Nearing retirement
after 30-plus years as a project manager
and IT professional, this would change his
plans significantly.
Turns out the 2010 Patient Protection
and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)
covers his son’s expensive treatment.
Now that’s good news! But it’s still not
enough. We need a health care system that
supports people when they are faced with
catastrophic, expensive or chronic illness,
not a system that forces people to lose their
financial independence after a lifetime of
public service.
We need universal publicly funded
health care that prioritizes people over
profit. Every other industrialized country
in the world has a form of health care
that everyone pays into and provides for
a healthier, stable society. What are we
waiting for? Some say our health care
system is number one, but studies show
it costs more per person than in any other
country, and is 37th in medical outcomes.
We can do better. You shouldn’t have to
sell your house to pay for health care!
Patty Hine
Eugene
RAILROADS GETTING WORSE
Several recent letters complaining
about noise from railroads — I agree.
Some 150 years ago, every city wanted
the railroad to go through town. Now a lot
people just want the railroads to go away.
All complaints fall on deaf ears.
The railroads spend most of their time,
money and energy “hiding” behind federal
statutes. And they have no interest in being
a good citizen, contributing to society or
doing any long-term planning to make this
a great nation and a better place to live.
Every other source of noise in society
has done just the opposite — and for the
most part is improving every year. While
the railroads get worse and worse. What
could the railroads do if they “came out
of the closet” and stopped relying on the
federal government? We would welcome
them as member of society along with the
airlines, trucking, shipping, etc. This is
where the railroads belong. They do not
belong inside of a bureaucracy.
With modern technology and
the cooperation of local citizens and
authorities — the federal statutes and the
federal bureaucrats could be done away
with. I have been debating this subject with
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio since 2006. Pete’s
position is that the railroads are a national
resource — I agree — but they are also a
national disaster by increase in medical
costs by the noise and lack of sleep. It’s
time for Pete and the RRs to wise up.
Frank Skipton
Springfield
A FAILED SYSTEM
I’m continually amazed at how our
medical system fails to serve the people
who need it the most. I’m very concerned
about how we treat individuals with mental
health disorders like schizophrenia, bipolar
issues, psychosis, autism, depression,
dementia, personality disorders — the list
goes on and on. Unfortunately, many of
these folks are homeless, live in poverty or
just can’t get it together or afford the co-
pays and high deductibles that come along
with the cheaper insurance plans. Without
proof of insurance, no hospital will take
them except on an emergency basis.
Emergency room visits are the most
expensive way to provide care. Who pays?
We all do through taxes and higher and
higher insurance premiums. Think how
much better care these folks would get and
how much cheaper it would be for us if
we all backed an “improved Medicare for
all” health care program — there’d be far
fewer ER visits, fewer 911 calls and, most
importantly, these patients would be able to
access quality referrals to the mental health
services they need. Please call your state
legislators and let them know we need to
implement an “improved Medicare for all”
program. Do this — now!
Vicki Anderson
Springfield
Fall Tasting!
40 organic apple & pear varieties
sundance kitchen indian spiced butternut squash soup & carrot flax muffins
local & regional cheeses from fraga farms, cada dia, & vtopian
tea from locally owned j-tea & regional metolius
local cider & beer from 2 towns & oakshire
elixirs from locally owned terra firma
local ice cream from red wagon
local chocolate confection from premrose
locally roasted organic coffee from cafe mam
local organic gourmet flavored nuts from nuts around the world
24th & Hilyard • 541-343-9142 • open daily 7am-11pm
Local merchants, the heart of our community
eugeneweekly.com • November 6, 2014
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