LET TERS
FAREWELL ED COLEMAN
SOUTH
EUGENE
DAILY DELIVERY 4:30-8:45PM
Mon-Fri 11AM-9:30PM • Sat & Sun 9:30AM-9:30PM
BREAKFAST SAT ‘TIL 11:00 SUN. ‘TIL 1:00
80 E. 29Th & Willamette 541-302-6444
BUBBLE TEA • GLUTEN FREE ENTREES
DELIVERY AVAILABLE 4:30-8:45PM
Open Daily: 11AM-9:30PM
1308 Hilyard • 541-343-0165
Another magnificent, tall fir has been
reclaimed by the forest with the passing of
University of Oregon Emeritus Professor
Edwin Leon Coleman. The University of
Oregon and the Eugene community have
been enriched by this kind, courageous and
remarkable man’s life, service, friendship
and example to all people of good will.
Thousands of people, colleagues, stu-
dents and townspeople alike have been
touched by the warmth of this superb Afri-
can-American scholar, musician, humani-
tarian, and devoted husband and father. As
a couple, Ed and Charmaine Coleman just
radiated a love for people and an apprecia-
tion for each person’s dignity.
Ed Coleman loved justice and intel-
lectual honesty. He was deeply passionate
about civil rights and the need for racial
harmony and reconciliation.
It is almost unbearable to think of a Eu-
gene without Dr. Coleman’s kind advice
and outspoken wisdom. If there was ever
a glaring injustice at the university or in
the community, we could count on Ed’s
insightful and independent voice of reason.
How much richer are the thousands of
us whose lives he touched, whose intel-
lects he stirred and to whose sense of jus-
tice and fairness he appealed.
Ed Coleman epitomized the wonderful
tradition of University of Oregon faculty
scholarship and civic leadership. He was
a thousand-percent UO and Duck loyalist
over the decades — always at the games
cheering, a timekeeper at Hayward Field
Track meets, participating in meetings and
events.
How we will miss him now.
Scott Bartlett
Eugene
they need to know about economics, sci-
ence, nutrition, history, philosophy, litera-
ture, how to play well with others, etc.
When you get down to it, they need to
learn two things: critical thinking and how
to learn. The former will allow them to
understand the ramifications of their deci-
sions and the latter will allow them to learn
new skills when the skills they already
know have become obsolete.
Testing takes your eye off the ball.
Gregg Ferry
Corvallis
TAKING STEPS
APOCALYPSE NOW
EVERGREEN
NUTRITION
15% OFF
CBD OIL
PRODUCTS
IN JANUARY
Studies show that CBD oil can
be helpful for anxiety & stress.
The most affordable CBD on
the market, CV Sciences’ CBD
oil is non-psychoactive.
• Chemical-free CO2 Extracted
• Non-GMO • Gluten free
SEVERAL NEW OPTIONS
ARE NOW AVAILABLE
1653 Willamette Street
M-F 9-6 • Sat 10-5 • Sun 11-5
FREE OFF-STREET PARKING
541-485-5100
www.evergreennutrition.com
4
The last time a fascist held this much
power, it took most of the world to defeat
him and decades to recover from the re-
sults of his thuggery.
One can’t help but wonder, then, when
the modern American Left (sic) will come
to realize that marches, stern telephone
calls to elected representatives, endless
Facebook polemics and angry letters (such
as this) will likely not bring down this na-
scent totalitarian regime.
Is it possible? Yes, to the extent that
anything is possible. But likely?
Bill Smee
Springfield
TEACH THEM TO THINK
I question that testing is a real indicator
of how well a student will do in real life
[Dear CAPE 1/19]. I would suggest there
is a better metric.
Let us take a different number to deter-
mine which schools need to improve. Let’s
look at taxes paid five years after gradu-
ation. After all, we are educating children
to be good members of society, and good
members pay taxes.
Yes, some will still be at university,
some will be in the military and maybe five
years is not the sweet spot, but that’s not
the point. We need to educate our children
to be able to cope in an ever-complex envi-
ronment, not how to take tests. They need
to know how to reconcile a credit card bill,
January 26, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com
Thanks to Eugene Weekly for reporting
on how people are feeling about the next
four years and what to do [“Kicking the
Trump Funk,” Jan. 19]. This helps answer
one of the suggestions, showing us that we
are not alone.
Of course, there is a step we can all
take: Get involved to make sure important
safety net programs are not cut back. Alone
or together we can call and write our rep-
resentatives and senators to fund these pro-
grams like SNAP, formerly food stamps,
that battles hunger.
I volunteer with RESULTS (results.org)
and we write letters together at our meet-
ings to protect and introduce programs that
make a difference. The talk by Prof. Sara
Jayaraman, “Food First: Justice, Security
and Sovereignty,” was an opportunity to
learn more about our economy [“Food
Fight: Forked Author Discusses Food In-
dustry Labor Issues,” Jan. 19]. Then use
this knowledge to inform your elected rep-
resentatives.
So thanks again to EW for keeping us
informed of opportunities to learn and
make a difference.
Willie Dickerson
Snohomish, Wash.
GOVERNMENT WAGES
We have requested of the Eugene City
Council that they provide a minimum wage
of $15 an hour for city employees. Today
the staff report to the council gave them
much detail about how the city was pay-
ing to the category of employees they call
“temporary,” some of whom have been
working for the city more than 20 years.
Of these 730 employees, some qualify for
federal aid in the form of food stamps be-
cause of their low wage.
The presentation to the city council
was about “raising the current rate” and its
financial implications. Concern was indi-
cated that other wages of staff with more
responsibility would have to be raised,
with additional costs.
The massive problem of inequality in
the country often focuses on those few
who have way too much money. And that
is probably a problem. But I think the
bigger problem is about the many people
who have too little. We can help solve that
problem by raising the wages of the low-
income people.
We should be promoting “good jobs”
in the city by paying our own employees a
decent living wage, at least enough so that
they can get off the food stamp rolls. That
would be good government policy. City
budget committee meetings are coming up
soon.
Bob Cassidy
Eugene
TRACKING TOXINS
The Department of Environmental
Quality is requiring Union Pacific to clean
20 acres of contaminated soil at their Ash-
land rail yard of petroleum, arsenic and
other chemicals before sale.
A 1994 DEQ investigation and subse-
quent public health assessment of the Eu-
gene UP rail yard by the Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry in 2007
revealed groundwater and crawlspace con-
tamination in homes in the Bethel, Train-
song and South River Road areas near the
rail yard. Volatile organic compounds were
found in home crawlspaces; tetrachloroeth-
ylene, trichloroethylene, dichloroethylene
and vinyl chloride contaminated residen-
tial water wells; and creosote, polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons, heavy metals, pe-