Take the lane!
LET TERS
society that local community colleges en-
courage students to be ethical and think
critically.
Elimination of philosophy courses will
make the local population more ignorant
and the local community less safe in the
long run, which is the last thing a commu-
nity college should do.
Educational institutions have a moral
obligation to fight against anti-intellectu-
alism.
Naoto Iwashita, Student President of
National Society of Leadership and
Success LCC Chapter
READING VERSUS WEED
Word on the street is that the Tsunami
bookstore is destined to become a dispen-
sary of mellow. Well, it’s about time the
Southland got a weed store of its very own
— I mean, there are only around 40 mari-
juana shops in our fair metropolitan statis-
tical area!
Do you realize that that’s only around
one for every 6,000 people! I mean, we
might as well be living in Iowa!
But wait, reader-dudes, it’s way worse
than that: Did you know that there are only
two doobie supply depots south of South
Eugene High School! Talk about living in a
desert man! Oooo, I just noticed my hands
typing. Cool!
Uh, where was I … Oh yeah, I mean
… talk about wasting gas! Don’t you folks
realize that we would have to drive ten
blocks to feed our need for weed if we for-
get to stock up? Support the environment,
people!
Besides, there’s like, what, ten pizza
places down here … shouldn’t we be sup-
porting local enterprises by giving them
our munchies money?
Mmmm … pizza. Hold on, I’ll be right
back …
So, what were we talking about? Oh
yeah, pizza … No, no, not pizza … Umm
… Tsunami Books? Yeah, that was it. So,
look, our presidunce has proven that ya
don’t need no book learnin’ to achieve
great heights. (Ha! Great heights!) So it’s
up to the owner to decide: Do we want a
“book” store where the warm southern
breezes blow, or should we heed the “need
for weed?”
The ball’s in your court, Mr. Landlord
sir.
Jamie Selko
Eugene
NO NUCLEAR OREGON
On April 26, the Oregon State Senate
passed by a vote of 26-3-1 SB 990, which
“exempts small modular reactors from cer-
tain siting restrictions that apply to nucle-
ar-fueled thermal power plants.”
I could find no notice of this in any Or-
egon newspaper or TV news. This is a very
important and dangerous moment. This bill
would bypass mandatory Oregon voter ap-
proval of nuclear reactors smaller that 300
megawatts and allow placement within
any city or county that has adopted an ordi-
nance so allowing.
Apparently SMRs (small modular [nu-
clear] reactors) are to resuscitate the nu-
clear power industry. NuScale Power, the
OSU-housed company R&D effort funded
by a DOE grant of $226 million, and like-
ly benefactor of this legislation, declares
in their documentation that the “nuclear
waste problem” is a political stalemate, not
a technical issue.
Oh, really... like Three Mile Island,
Chernobyl and Fukushima? SMR mini-
nukes can be transported on city streets by
flatbed. SMR’s little clusters “subdivid-
ing” “capacity” and “hazard” “into smaller
units” minimizing “severe event’s like
“Fukushima.”
The Sierra Club, Taxpayers for Com-
mon Sense, UCR, Bernie and most others
outside the nuclear industry are opposed.
Big Energy has blocked doable, free, clean
solar energy.
Contact your State Senator and House
Member and tell ‘em no SMRs!
Sandy Sanders
Mapleton
Bicyclist
Occupy more of the travel lane when it is narrow or when in slow moving traffic.
M–F
11-7pm
Sundays
It’s the safe and
lawful
thing to do.
Sat.
in Dec.
When there is no shoulder or bike
lane, and 12–4pm
the travel lane is narrow, ride closer
10–6pm
to the center of the lane. This will prevent motorists from attempting to pass you
when there isn’t room to do so safely. Also take the lane when you’re moving at
the same speed as traffic which will keep you out of motorists’ blind spots and re-
duce right turn conflicts. Examples? Willamette St., Olive and Broadway downtown
plus Crest Dr. in South Hills. Need life-biking gear, advice or service? Visit us.
380 city, touring & kids’ bikes in stock!
Save at May Daze sale May 19th to 29th
2705 Willamette St • 541.484.5410
Mon–Fri 11–7, Sat 10–6, Sun 12–5
• Pick up the Oregon Bicyclist Manual (ODOT) at our store. Also Eugene/Springfield and Lane County bike maps! •
WHILE ROME BURNS
I recently started playing co-ed vol-
leyball for Eugene City League. My team
will probably not win a single game. We do
have a great time however.
One thing that has come to my attention
is the city’s “gender equality” rule. This is
where, if there are more than two strikes in
a volley, one female must hit the ball for
each volley before the ball goes over, oth-
erwise it counts as a fault.
Men have been making rules to pro-
tect women since the beginning of time as
a means to oppress them. As a feminist, I
cannot stand for this.
Some examples are:
Can’t go outside at night because it’s
not safe.
Can’t go on birth control without your
husbands consent because we don’t want
you to be a “loose” woman.
Can’t wear a shirt that shows your
shoulders because boys can’t control them-
selves.
The list goes on and on. I love Eugene
because it stands for liberalism and equal-
ity. I feel as though changing this rule
would greatly benefit women so that they
will be respected as equals.
Chad Anderson
Eugene
TEENAGE WASTELAND
It really is a crying shame that the
homeless in Eugene are lumped right in
with the burnout teenage wasteland that is
the LTD station.
People with legitimate mental issues
barring them from employment or house
application, people who got screwed by
the legal system and are now left out to rot,
and teens who spend every waking second
dropping acid and who call themselves
homeless when their oft-not-abusive par-
ents haven’t seen them in weeks after they
up and left, are not the same social groups.
Calling these deadbeats homeless is not
only a misnomer but also a scapegoat to
enable abuse of the legitimate homeless.
Gene Smith-James
Springfield
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eugeneweekly.com • May 11, 2017
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