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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 25, 2016)
LET TERS now has my vote. Smith will do his “right thing” and I’ll do mine. And I’ll have a lot of company. A final point: In the absence of fraud and electoral “irregularities,” when a can- didate loses, the voters are not to blame. The blame lies with the losing candidate for failing to convince enough voters to vote for him — or her. Barbara Shapiro Eugene PARK COMPLAINTS We live near the entrance to the Owen Rose Garden. I-105 is across the street. Someone has cut the fence and pitched a tent on highway property. The tent is par- tially obscured by rose bushes. There are bicycle parts and trash strewn on the em- bankment. A worker at the rose garden has complained to me about time spent clean- ing up feces. There is also a steady flow of people walking through the bushes and the hole in the fence. The other day two police of- ficers who patrol the area on bicycles were coming down the street and I stopped them to complain. They said they were aware. I said I thought drugs were being sold and that the bicycle parts were questionable. One of the officers acknowledged that there is drug activity but said it was on highway department property. He said he has asked his sergeant to contact the Or- egon Department of Transportation about the problem. I expressed shock that this blatant activity takes place with no conse- quences. This is not the first time. This has hap- pened repeatedly over the years until a few neighbors and I complain loudly enough. Then a hazmat team comes to clean up the mess at taxpayer expense, and we can breathe easy for a few months. I assume the problem gets pushed to another neigh- borhood. I have complained to the mayor, the city manager, the chief of police and my city councilor. I have sent pictures. We like living here and pay $3,800 a year in property taxes for the privilege. We shouldn’t have to put up with this. If the city is going to wink at heroin sales, then they should set up a clinic and provide it themselves. Robert W. James Eugene QUESTION TRUMP No one has questioned the mindset of Donald Trump. He is one of the most wealthy Americans and has an unusual mind that allows him to say the most bi- zarre and outlandish remarks about all types of people. Trump’s bid for the presidency is only one public arena! His vast real estate em- pire and large money-making schemes are another arena. His outlandish decrees seem to bolster his appeal! What has he got to lose? Stace Webb Eugene NEW OLD THEORIES I can actually help Frank Skipton [Let- ters, 8/11] adjust to the alleged new age science he feels lost to because of being born in 1939. Most of that stuff isn’t being used to anywhere near its potential, nor what it was made for. There are still areas here in Oregon where the new young are growing up just as he did or, to put it in practical terms, they are of no use so they are left alone — pre-labeled as military fodder. Most of the people around here don’t even know that their “new” com gear is wired with brand-new fabricated gold. The stuff they just bought is already “old” stuff someone thought they could safely let them use as long as limiting subprograms are in place and the tattletale functions are running. The real new stuff is “magic” and easy to use, just as all those light switches that he has taken for granted all the years he has been alive, but still is limited by the basic rule he has always used in his life: What Host an Exchange Student Today ! are you going to use it for? You use the light switch to get light. The rest of y’all know that “transgen- der” is old stuff now, right? It’s becoming trans-species for the new age of now. It’s what cosplay is all about. Ever pretend to be a horse? The book Headcrash by Bruce Bethke: Read it, view it, be told it, access it. It’s where “cyber punk” comes from. Aloha, dudes. Dan Moore Springfield WAR ON DRUGS The war on drugs has not failed to af- fect my personal experience as a drug user in America [response to EW 7/21, “Opiate Overdose”]. It is a common but erroneous claim that drugs like opiates and cocaine are all too readily obtainable in any city in the United States. My experience proves different. When 16 years ago I did my first shot of heroin, not too much after my first shot of coke, I found a class of compounds that would help me in my emotional rollercoaster and trauma-filled life. Heroin, which was the first opiate I en- countered, and cocaine, a stimulant, eased my pain and discomfort from an illness diagnosed as schizo-affective disorder, a type of bipolar schizophrenia. The delu- sional thinking that prevailed in my every- day thought process was ameliorated with these drugs into insignificance. I was still a manic-depressive psychotic, but the ups and downs and all-arounds failed to bother me in any meaningful way. This was the blessing of illegal narcotics (opiates) as well as stimulants like cocaine. The danger drugs pose to users will be diminished upon their legalization. Stan- dardized doses will be available. Also, the antidote to opiate overdose, which is now only available to first emergency respond- ers, will be on a necklace on every junky who values his/her own life. In this way “hard drugs” will play the role nature intended. Not everybody will benefit from them, but as adults we should be given the choice of didactic use rather than retributive justice by police. David Ivan Piccioni Eugene JOBS BILLS “I am going to bring the best of minds together and there will be a decent jobs bill.” We heard Hillary tell that to a crowd I suppose that was in Michigan, and the crowd cheers. Well, Mrs. Clinton, the president you want to replace has done that several times. Where are all the jobs? Now Clinton wants to do the same. Was it not Barack Obama who told us in 2008 “to keep doing the same thing expecting a dif- ferent outcome is insanity”? Here is a clue from history. A reduc- tion in taxes will bring untold wealth to the treasury. A higher tax reduces the wealth to the treasury. The facts are out there. Compare them. All you have to do is re- search. I would like to know how she is looking out for the middle class when she wants to raise taxes on the middle class. How does “I got your back” work? How about increasing your income tax sound? Oh yes, she wants more of your income. She wants it, and should she get it, she will take 28 percent of your itemized de- ductions. A hike in corporate tax, a hike in inheritance tax, and she wants to institute a tax on stock trade. That is a tax on the trading of stock, and the increase of capital gains tax. Sounds to me like “I got your back” is the same way the slave masters had the backs of their slaves. Trump wants to reduce them. Jim Selby Florence LETTERS POLICY: We welcome letters on all topics and will print as many as space allows, with priority given to timely local issues. Please limit length to 200 words and include your address and phone number for our files. Email to letters@eugeneweekly.com, fax to 484-4044 or mail to 1251 Lincoln, Eugene 97401. Get Ready for Boot Season! (for 3, 5 or 10 months) Make a lifelong friend from abroad. Enrich your family with another culture. Now you can host a high school exchange student (girl or boy) from France, Germany, Scandinavia, Spain, Australia, Japan, Brazil, Italy Victoria from Australia, 17 yrs. or other countries. Single Giorgio from Italy, 16 yrs. parents, as well as couples Loves to play baseball and spend Enjoys spending time with her family and younger siblings. with or without children, time with his dogs. Giorgio also Victoria plays volleyball and is may host. Contact us ASAP plays the guitar, and his dream excited to learn new sports for more information or to is to join a drama club at his while in America. American high school. select your student. Bonnie Amy at 541-514-4565 or Amy at 1-800-733-2773 at 1-800-733-2773 (Toll Free) host.asse.com or email info@asse.com Follow your feet to Footwise for Dansko boots. INTERNATIONAL STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAMS Founded in 1976 ASSE International Student Exchange Program is a Public Benefi t, Non-Profi t Organization. For privacy reasons, photos above are not photos of actual students 6 A ugust 25, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com Eugene • 181 E Broadway • 541.342.6107 Corvallis • 301 SW Madison Ave • 5541.757.0875
