Eugene weekly., June 30, 2016, Page 6, Image 6

LET TERS
some of the responsibility. Our economic
engine is partially fueled by the production
and sales of weapons. Who do you think
made that fucker’s assault rifle? You
know, good old Bernie describes himself
as a socialist-democrat, and it would serve
humanity well if the big three religions
could describe themselves as Buddhist-
Christian, Buddhist-Jewish or Buddhist-
Muslim.
John Wilson
Eugene
UNSAFE VACCINE
I saw Vaxxed twice during its run in
Ashland, and I encourage all Eugene
parents to see this important documentary
telling how fraud and corruption has
permitted an unsafe vaccine to remain on
the market and cause great harm to tens of
thousands of children.
In February 2004, Dr. Thompson (CDC
whistleblower) expressed concerns about
the MMR study’s findings in an urgent
letter to Director Dr. Julie Gerberding
about the upcoming Institute of Medicine
(IOM) meeting on immunizations and
autism. He wrote, “I will have to present
several problematic results relating to
statistical associations between the receipt
of the MMR vaccine and autism.”
Dr. Thompson was removed from the
IOM speaker schedule just days before the
meeting, and the subsequent IOM report,
which omitted his findings, was cited in
the Omnibus Autism decision that denied
more than 5,000 families compensation for
vaccine injury claims. This report, based
on fraudulent data, continues to be widely
cited to exonerate vaccines’ role in causing
autism. Dr. Gerberding left the CDC in
2008 and became president of Merck’s
multi-billion dollar vaccine division, a
position she still holds today.
Vaxxed is not anti-vaccine — it
advocates safe vaccines. See for yourself at
the David Minor Theater through June 30.
Liz Schmidt
Ashland
POLICE BRUTALITY
In his comments concerning the
conviction of John Sharlow in the assault
of a handcuffed prisoner, Police Chief Pete
Kerns said, “Abusive and criminal behavior
by an employee of this department is not
tolerated.”
This gives little comfort to those who
have been assaulted by members of his
force without cameras present to record the
crimes or to those black, brown and poor
people yet to be attacked.
Whether it is a lie or an indication that
Kerns has lost control of his force, his
statement indicates that he is not qualified
to be police chief.
I will be surprised if Sharlow, after being
rewarded for his crime with 16 months of
paid vacation — “paid administrative leave”
— will receive any jail time. It is likely he
can convince a judge to grant probation if
he expresses his fear of being thrown in
with the general prison population along
with other criminals and innocent victims
of police brutality, who have been charged
with resisting arrest for being beat up.
Steve Hiatt
Eugene
GOOD PEOPLE
My husband and I would like to show
our appreciation for all who, even though
it was not legal, have given a gift to all who
travel past the I-5 bridge, to show them we
really are good people.
Individuals walking by seem to
have stereotyped us as the typical homeless
camper. I know that most don’t like the
campers around here because they leave
trash. We are homeless, but not by choice.
Our bishop has agreed to help us out
with move-in costs, only we have to find the
apartment to move into.
My husband is on SSI/SSD for mental
disabilities and is needing a hernia repair
by his belly button. I am in the process
of getting my ID which, after five-and-a-
half months and requesting my marriage
license, I finally was able to get my Social
Security card and, if necessary, can finally
work to help out. We have applied to all
wait lists and are waiting, which puts us on
the street. Our case manager with options
is in the process of helping out with placing
us on all the lists, and we are on the CWL
list with Catholic Community Services
for the chronically homeless of a year or
greater. We have now been homeless one
year and one month.
To show our appreciation, we adopted
the I-5 bridge, set up our tent for the night
and cleaned its garden area from some
menacing weeds smothering the plants that
were planted there.
One day a heavy-set gentleman
with two dogs, one white and the other
black, was purposely messing up the area
and throwing trash over to the river area to
make it look like we were doing it.
Other patrons of the North Bank path
had witnessed it with my husband, but
we were getting blamed, stating that we
camped there and threw trash everywhere.
When we broke down our tent every
morning, out of respect, we cleaned up our
mess and other trash that was there.
This is our gift to all who tolerated our
presence there. Thank you!
Sky and LuAnn Davini
Eugene
MINIMUM WAGE
Senator Bernie Sanders has stated that
a $15 minimum wage would affect 53
million workers. The approximate increase
in wages would be more than $60 billion
yearly. It will be spent on food, rent, etc.
That would stimulate the economy. All this
new money would be taxed (FICA), and
that tax money would go directly to fund
Social Security and Medicare. The effect
of the increased wages would reduce the
expenses of the federal and state budgets
by lowering the cost of Earned Income Tax
Credit (EITC), Food Stamps and Medicaid.
So what are the downsides of all these
good benefits? Employers — such as
Walmart — will have an increase in taxes.
They pay half of the FICA taxes. Some
people think that some people may lose
their job or that some businesses may have
to close. They do not have good research
on that opinion, but if it does happen, that
would be a downside.
So what we need is a national minimum
wage of $15 now, not phased in over
Insoles
20%
off!
Men’s
New Balance 860
D Width (8.5–13, 14, 15)
4E Width (9–13)
Gray
Sale $79.97
Reg. $130
Show your Olympic trials
ticket stub or hotel room key
and get a free pair of socks
valued at $11.
Sale ends
July 10.
Women’s
New Balance Fresh Foam Zante
v2
B Width (5–11, 12)
D Width (8–10, 11)
Azalea/Black
Sale $79.97
Reg. $110
Custom orthotics
on sale!
Sale $199
Reg. $260
e
l
a
S
s
l
a
i
r
T
c
i
p
Olym
Men’s
New Balance 690RG4
D Width (8–13)
4E Width (8.5–12, 13)
Black
Sale $59.97
Reg. $85
6
June 30, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com
Women’s
New Balance 720LP3
B Width (5.5–10, 11)
D Width (6–10, 11)
Gray/Pink
Sale $59.97
Reg. $90