Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 25, 2016)
LET TERS DIG THAT HOLE John Zerzan is pointing out that voting for Clinton is a vote for “no change.” Yup, we’ve got a world of problems that won’t be addressed. “When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you do is stop digging.” Trump will bring change, no doubt, like setting off dynamite in that hole you dug while fixing your leach field. Gregg Ferry Corvallis WILEY GRIFFON In an interesting Aug. 11 “History Hap- penings” column discussing Wiley Grif- fon, his home — first one owned by an African-American in Eugene — was de- scribed as being “in the vicinity of 3rd and High.” In fact it was down the hill at 4th and Mill next to the Millrace, in the area now occupied by the EWEB employee parking lot. The 3rd and High location may have been in reference to the Mims House, the next home to be owned by a black family some 40 years later. Beside this first ownership, Griffon was also the first African-American employee at the Uni- versity of Oregon. Thanks for publishing this column on HOT AIR one of the most remarkable persons in Eu- gene history. Doug Card Eugene EDITOR’S NOTE: Card declined to have a discussion with the Lane County Historical Society about the differ- ence in address information, but column author Heather Kliever of LCHS points to a newspaper notice placed by Griffon's estate administrators after his death describing the house as in the "vicinity" of 3rd and High. The de- bate and conflicting information in historical documents highlight how this area has failed to do justice to telling the story of the African-American community, something columns like “History Happenings” hope to help rectify. with what havoc is being wreaked on the wild environment and its web of life, I am also concerned about the effect of people having to deal with such tragedies. We need to do what we can in our per- sonal lives to absolutely minimize our own negative impacts on the problem and also make stopping climate change the priority in our voting and political organizing. Stephen Amy Eugene CHEMTRAILS CLIMATE FLOODING In the United States, mostly in southern states, there have been eight “500-year” precipitation events in the past 15 months! The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirms this — that since May of last year, eight events in the United States had the amount of rainfall in an area in a specified window of time exceed NOAA predictions for an amount of precipitation that will occur once every 500 years. The tragedy in the area around Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is the latest in a series. Climate change is destroying the lives of people right here in our country. Along The Perseid meteor showers were great this year, but if anyone was stargazing last Saturday the 13th, they unfortunately would not have seen any due to hazy skies from aerial spraying. We had some strange weather this past Saturday, with the help of some jet liners. What started in the morn- ing and lasted throughout the day and well on into the evening, seemed to be strange jet contrails (chemtrails?), lamentably lin- ing the skies of lovely Lane County. These chemtrails, I mean contrails, did not dissipate from the back to front and eventually disappear like normal. Rather, they slowly and ominously expanded lat- erally, subsequently blanketing the skies. I was visiting with family and we’ve en- joyed the great weather we’ve had for the past three weeks, especially the clear blue skies, but we were amazed and disappoint- ed to see the constant aerial spraying last Saturday. Did anyone else notice? Does anyone else care to know? There may be chemtrail conspiracy theories (regarding government geoengineering projects, or heavy metals or the testing of biological weapons) but no one can deny the fact that these chem- trails/contrails, whatever they may in fact be, now exist and were sprayed rampantly over Lane County’s citizens. Lane County commissioners, admin- istrators, Health and Human Services and Oregon government: What was aerially sprayed on Saturday the 13th of August, 2016? We have the right to know what is in the air we are breathing and what is even- tually falling on the food we eat. We look forward to hearing your reply. Nicholas S. Anderson Eugene CROSSING TRAFFIC As a professional driver in Eugene, I see a lot of crazy things on the streets. Today BY TON Y CORCOR A N Welcome to the Silly Season THE ELECTION IS DRAWING NEAR “T ruth is stranger than Fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibili- ties; Truth isn’t.” — Mark Twain This issue of EW comes out 10 days before Labor Day and 10 weeks before Election Day. This period marks the bell lap in a presidential race that has been mindboggling. For example, some of the elderly in our Hot Air Society appear seriously confused about Donald Trump’s recent hiring of Paul Manafort (who resigned Aug. 19), crackpot Stephen Bannon and former Fox News creep Roger Ailes. They don’t know whether to cheer or boo. Ultimately, they all agreed that moves like this make Vladimir Putin look statesmanlike — even atop a horse without a shirt. Hopefully Hillbillary will keep a low profile. Here in Oregon, we can only hope that Trump’s patterned bumptiousness will dampen Republican and conservative turnout. We can only hope that Republican women, Latinos and Muslims will reject his rhetoric. On the other hand, the NRA and Chris- tian conservatives hate Hillary Clinton enough to motivate their base. That the religious right continues to abide with Trump is baffling and comical. Who woulda thunk these sanctimonious self-righteous 4 A ugust 25, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com types would support a guy who describes his biggest success during the Vietnam era as not contracting ve- nereal disease? In Oregon, the outcomes of our so-called “down ticket” races and ballot measures are going to set the ta- ble for the next biennium. Putting aside the U.S. Senate race between Ron Wyden and Faye Stewart as a fore- gone conclusion, I truly believe the governor and secre- tary of state races could turn based on turnout. The same is true in state legislative races and the ballot measures. Oregon faces serious financial challenges in the 2017-2019 biennium. To maintain state government at its current level requires an additional $2.7 billion, and projected revenue only will have grown by half that amount. Oh, and did I mention that PERS (Pub- lic Employees Retirement System) rates just increased dramatically for the next biennium? The result: tuition increases, cuts to K-12, social program cuts for seniors and the disabled; you know the drill. Absent a 6 percent supermajority in the House and Senate, there will be no tax measures put forward to fill the gap. How about Ballot Measure 97? Previously known as Initiative Petition 28, it would charge certain C corpora- tions a 2.5 percent tax on gross annual sales of $25 mil- lion or more in Oregon. It’s a gross receipts tax. Instead of relying on volatile personal income tax revenues to fund schools, Oregon could follow Washington’s ex- ample for more stable school funding. There’s plenty of money being spent on this mea- sure. The No on 97 campaign had raised $5.5 million by the end of July. The Yes on 97, mostly public sector unions, had raised less than half that. It’s anticipated that $30 million will be spent by the time this is all over. Welcome Koch brothers! We all know moving a tax increase is an uphill climb in Oregon. I spent 10 years in the Oregon Legislature without a gross receipts tax proposal being given a vote. So, you can either pass a ballot measure or elect a leg- islature with 36 votes in the House and 18 in the Senate to pass a gross receipts tax. And a governor who’d sign it into law. Kate Brown has endorsed Measure 97; her opponent opposes it. The R-G recently asked: How can we fix Eugene? Being your humble county mouse, I would offer a mod- est proposal. Keep in mind, mice have no respect for rules with which they disagree, and they abhor spine- less politicians. I’m not sure if you human beings can actually use my proposals because they may violate some of your current laws. You should recall or just fire the Lane County Com- missioners and the Eugene City Council, or at least ask them to resign. For two years these clowns have dem- onstrated a level of incompetence that drives common- sense voters up the wall … if one ever gets built to drive up. Both bodies lack the capacity to integrate their sepa- rate schemes into one logical plan and move forward. I don’t think you could construct a full spine out of the entire bunch! Two years? Meanwhile the price doubles on their bids! The public is aghast. And this ain’t no Podunk East Jesus backwater county in Mississippi … this is Lane County — hub of the hip — a model of good public policy and management and translucency and logic. Not so much. This is the bullshit that drives white male geezer Demo- crats up the wall to cynicism. Stay tuned. Tony Corcoran is a former state senator and retired state employee.
