LET TERS
REMEMBERING THE RIV
This is about “The Hammered Lamb”
cover story May 14. It may or may not be true
that it is the fi rst-ever gay/gay-owned bar. In
the 1970s, there was a gay bar/disco here
— the Riviera Room — on 10th between
Willamette and Olive, just down from what
was then Seymour’s Cafe (where the Cabaret
Theatre is now). This was a seriously gay
bar, but I have no idea if the owner was gay
or not; the employees certainly were.
In the ’70s there was a large gay
population in Eugene. Everyone went to
the Riv Room, as we called it. It had the
ambiance of a 1940s nightclub, replete
with large, plush booths, a sizable dance
fl oor, strobe lights and great dance music.
Sadly, in the late 1970s, there was a huge
exodus in Eugene of gay men to the San
Francisco Bay area. I say sadly because the
timing couldn’t have been worse. A large
number of them contracted AIDS and died,
including one of my best friends.
My point: No story about gay nightlife
in Eugene is complete without mentioning
the Riviera Room and the bustling gay
scene that was happening here in the ’70s.
Karen Fierman
Eugene
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Hammered Lamb is a self-pro-
claimed queer bar, not a gay bar.
TRICKLE-DOWN WATER
It is an unjust system that allows
environmental need to be subservient to
HOT AIR SOCIETY
corporate interest. With one hand, the Lane
County commissioners asked Gov. Kate
Brown to declare our county in a state
of “drought emergency.” Then, with the
other, they propose to help two Eugene
companies — Delta Sand & Gravel Co.
and Knife River Corp. — to secure extra
Willamette River water for their concrete
mixing operations.
“It’s really important that we manage
the water coming off the main stem of the
Willamette to the benefi t of the community,”
County Commissioner Pat Farr said.
Farr’s comment indicates that he
believes that what benefi ts business will
ultimately benefi t the community. We have
seen time and time again that this “trickle-
down” economic mindset more often results
in untold damage. It’s well past time that
the environment’s interests are prioritized
above those of corporate business.
Zachary Stark-MacMillan
Eugene
THE NEXT MAYOR
The election is now over and it’s time
to look forward to the next election. The
community will have an opportunity to elect
a new mayor. It is an open seat; Kitty Piercy
will not be available for the next election.
At the present time I am the only com-
mitted candidate for that position. Others are
reported to be “thinking about it,” but they
are currently reluctant to commit themselves
to being a candidate. This time should be an
LEGISLATIVE SESSION GOES
UP IN SMOKE!
o, unfortunately for you, dear readers, it’s
not “Last Writes.” Yes, sports fans, the
geezer moment has come. If you open
your May 28 EW and read this after 5
pm, I will offi cially be free at last!
No more state employee subtlety: Every one of
my previous 100 or so EW columns were written by
a fearful, nervous, cautious, sensitive, puppet-like,
obsequious puddle of professionalism. Hah! No more,
baby! I vow to tell it like it is! Goodbye, State of Oregon
Employment Appeals Board. Hello, retirement. Hello
beekeeping, deck building and feeding my birds.
Also, I understand from my recently retired friends,
Hoss and Don Key, that 9 am “happy hours” are
perfectly normal and appropriate now, for example.
And you don’t have to know what day it is, either.
Which is good news because, in a recent practice
session for geezerosity, I turned on KLCC last Saturday
morning precisely at 9:40 am to listen to puzzle master
Will Shortz! Then I forgot to listen on Sunday!
Oh well, back to Salem. As we approach June, the
last month of the session, I’m struck by how quiet
things are. There’s no energy. There’s some talk of
Gov. Kate Brown trying to get some traction on an
“infrastructure” agreement to create some statewide
jobs, or some variation on a transportation plan. But it
would require possibly messing with some budgets and
4
MAY 28, 2015 • EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
TO THE PATRIARCHY
We met Friday night around 1 am. I was
sobering up from a night out with friends.
You were on the prowl and made a lewd
comment about my appearance. I stood up
for myself. You became engaged.
We tried pushing you away, but it didn’t
work. After a bit of pushing, we came to
blows. You struck me in the eye, split my
partner’s lip and kicked my friend in the
kidney. Because we aren’t fi ghters, you
walked away unscathed. All six of you. We
ended up in the emergency room.
You were also able to convince all of the
30-plus people around us to simply watch.
You’ll probably say I should have walked
away, should have kept my head down and
my thoughts to myself. Maybe I should have.
You managed to say those things through my
partner. What I said to him and what I’ll tell
you is this: I am a person. I deserve respect.
And I am willing to fi ght for my beliefs.
To anyone who doesn’t think feminism
is needed, or is a joke, please hear my
words. The concept was so alarming to you
that my partner has a black eye and fi ve
stitches in his lip, and I have a black eye.
Just because I told a man that I deserve
respect. Patriarchy, you are strong, but I
am still going to fi ght back.
Jasmyn Hinton
Eugene
STOPPING ABUSE OF POWER
Ann Kneeland (Letters, May 21) writes
that “state preemption is a manufactured
corporate tool to keep local communities
from deciding for themselves what’s best.”
While that argument certainly has merit, it’s
not universally true. There are times when
state preemption is necessary to prevent
“communities” from abusing political power.
The problem is that too often commu-
nity decisions are made by appointed bu-
reaucrats with no direct accountability to
the public and who could care less what the
public thinks. A classic example was the
city of Eugene deliberately annexing streets
to create “islands.” Islands could then be
forcibly annexed with no vote of those tar-
geted. Annexation requires planning which
can mean job security for planners.
BY TON Y CORCOR A N
Last Rites
N
opportunity for citizens to talk to those who
are planning to be on the ballot and ask them
what they have in mind for that position. I
hate to think that the reason they do not com-
mit is that they are afraid they might not win
the race. But I feel they owe it to the citizens
to express their views, and not leave it up to
the last-minute mailings and advertising to
put them in that position.
We have a great opportunity now to make
a considered refl ection on who will be our
next mayor. Candidates are really committing
an awful lot of time to give the necessary
leadership for this task. It is not something that
should be decided in the last few hours.
Bob Cassidy
Eugene
a gas tax; and because a lot of the substantive issues
have already moved, there’s not much else to negotiate.
Also, Republicans are determined to sidetrack any
plan this session — bluntly, any success for Kate —
because of next year’s governor’s race. Their leaders,
Sen. Ted Ferrioli and Rep. Mike McLane, continue
to relentlessly blame the Democratic leadership for
shoving the carbon fuel standards bill down their
throats, therefore making kumbaya impossible. They
don’t know the words.
Ironically, the R’s are all over the board in terms of
creating a message they want their next gubernatorial
candidate to carry, other than: “No jobs, no gas tax, no
progress, no business, no economic development, (no
shit!).” Not to mention, they don’t have a clue who will
run against Kate.
The only advice I continue to give any Democrat
who would have the bad judgment to listen to me is:
Do what you’re supposed to do as a Democrat, advance
good citizen bills, even if they don’t stand a prayer in the
super-majority environment, and get the Republicans
on some bad votes. Like kicker money, for example.
So what do you do for shits and giggles when you’re
in Salem watching this bad drama slog through it’s fi nal
act, feeling roughly like you’re sitting on your thumbs
waiting for a colonoscopy? You go to the marijuana
hearings, silly!
Sen. Floyd Prozanski and Rep. Val Hoyle let me in
on the hilarity that accompanies red-eyed testimony. If
weedophiles had trouble keeping up with the schedule
of the former Joint Committee on Marijuana Reality
prior to last week, then they must’ve been devastated
when the “Joint” disappeared, and budding new
committees arose in the House and the Senate.
Excise tax, sales tax, local preemption — too big
a dilemma for Sen. Ginny Burdick and Rep. Ann
Lininger’s committee — they split. Now the House and
Senate Dems will lob bills separately to each other in
the waning days of the session.
Meanwhile, hempheads are left wondering if they’re
present at committee meetings to discuss medical or
recreational marijuana? And if so, why? Apparently,
droves of activists signed up to speak at these public
hearings, waited in interminably long lines, got herded
up to the microphones, then, late in one House hearing,
as Val reported recently, one citizen/witness blurted out
one sentence of testimony: “I didn’t read the bill, so
I have nothing to say.” Thank you for that input, sir.
(Who said sometimes it is better to remain silent and
appear a fool, than to speak
p ak and remove all doubt?)
pe
Speaking of fools, retirement
etirement is a time of
retrospection. As I refl
ect on my work
flect
history, my 30 years in the labor
movement and 10 in the
he Legisla-
ture, I feel like a very lucky guy. I
want to thank EW’s co-owner
owner Anita
Johnson and Editor Ted Taylor for let-
ting this fool write “Insider
sider Baseball”
and “Hot Air Society” for you. I
was stupid enough to run
n for of-
fi ce, and lucky enough to get
elected. And because of
that I got to serve with
h
the best, the brightest,
the richest, the poorest,
the Buddhas and the
badasses. It’s been an
absolute hoot. ■
ve
Tony Corcoran of Cottage Grove
is a freshly retired state worker r and
former state senator.