LET TERS
The Shedd Institute
www.theshedd.org - 541.434.7000
ht!
Free Jazz Tickets
for Students
ig
Ton
Tierney Sutton Thu, Jan 12
The Sting Variations
The Magical Moombah!
RENAME SKINNER’S BUTTE
I live next to Skinner’s Butte and propose
that we restore its name to what it was called
by the Native Americans who lived here be-
fore us: Ya-Po-Ah, meaning “the high point”
in their Kalapuya language. We’d be follow-
ing Alaska’s example in its name change of
Mount McKinley to Denali, the mountain’s
Native American name meaning “big” for
the highest mountain in the country.
As local history tells us, Eugene Skin-
ner was one of the first white settlers here,
arriving in the summer of 1846. Soon after
his arrival he began to build a cabin near the
river when the water was low, until local
Kalapuyas advised him to build his cabin on
higher ground above the winter flood plain
— hence the name Skinner’s Butte.
How sad that, five years later, all the
friendly Kalapuyas were wiped out by dis-
eases brought by white settlers.
I’m pleased to live next to the butte at
Ya-Po-Ah Terrace, 18 stories tall. As our
name suggests, we are certainly the high
point among buildings in Eugene. Through
our name we also keep one word of the Ka-
lalpuyas’ language in current use, honoring
the Native Americans whose land this used
to be.
Would the city of Eugene be willing to
honor them as well by restoring their love-
ly descriptive name for the butte?
Mariette Wickes
Eugene
DECRIMINALIZE SEX WORK
Regarding “Rapistitution” [Letters,
12/22]: No, sex work is not rape. Unco-
erced sex work is consensual and transac-
tional; rape is neither.
Even if you feel sex work is exploit-
ative and degrading, uncoerced sex work
is still a personal choice, made for personal
or economic reasons; rape is not. Attempt-
ing to elicit a purely emotional response by
using the shocking nomenclature “rapisti-
tution” is transparent in its intent to arouse
all the repulsive and criminal associations
inherent in its root. But it’s inaccurate.
Sex workers erect boundaries; rapists
don’t. Yes, those boundaries can be crossed
and, yes, sex workers can be raped. That’s
the perilous reality. A sex worker who is
raped will hesitate to report the crime, be-
cause if she or he explains the context of
the assault truthfully, she self-incriminates
due to present laws.
Decriminalize. Then you can follow the
example of no-means-no laws, which Germa-
ny recently passed to protect sex workers from
the inherent risk of disease, abuse and rape.
Erin Davis
Eugene
Saturday, Jan 21
Asunder 10 am Down
Under!
& 1 pm at The Shedd!
Your ticket includes a special Music Box playshop at 11:15 am!
featuring
Corky Seigel
Duke Robillard
Jason Ricci
Son of Dave
Howard Levy
Mark Hummel &
GOOD KITTY
I have never agreed with outgoing Eu-
gene Mayor Kitty Piercy on much of any-
thing in the political arena. But there was
one memorable occasion when she was
serving in the Oregon House of Represen-
tatives back in the 1999 session. As she
leaves office, I recall that incident fondly.
A two-term representative, who will
remain unnamed, became a champion for
the Oregon Building Industry Association
(now the Oregon Homebuilders Asso-
ciation). He sponsored their bill to revoke
long-held annexation voting rights in more
than 30 Oregon communities. It was some-
thing the Homebuilders had been trying
to do for several years. They did not want
those pesky citizens interfering with devel-
opment plans.
I found myself sitting next to then-
Rep. Piercy at an evening function where
land use issues were being discussed. The
Homebuilders’ bill and its sponsor came
up. She leaned over and whispered in my
ear, “I’d like to wring his little neck!” Our
minds had melded.
Piercy then helped us kill the bill. We’ve
had to do the same with its clones in subse-
quent sessions. Unfortunately, the latest re-
incarnation of the legislation, Senator Lee
Beyer’s Senate Bill 1573 in the 2016 ses-
sion, succeeded in granting the developers’
wishes. That issue is now in court.
Thank you, Mayor Piercy, for making my
day that evening and for your many years of
public service — live long and prosper!
Jerry Ritter
Springfield
The Blues Survivors
Mark Hummel’s
Wednesday, Jan 25
Ultimate Harmonica Blowout
Herb
Alpert
Lani Hall
Fri Jan 27
Coming up next at The Shedd
2.1
Chico Schwall: The
American String Band
2.9-12 Jazz Kings:
Clarinet Marmalade
2.17 Tony Glausi Sextet
2.22
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.9
Bill Mays
Villalobos Brothers
Tommy Casto & The Painkillers
Jake Shimabukuro
Chuck Redd
eugeneweekly.com • January 12, 2017
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