LET TERS
Perhaps he would have the left-lean-
ing, latte-drinking, NPR-listening elites
boycott the OSF until it agrees to section
off some seats for homeless people of
color, with a nice Chardonnay waiting for
them at intermission. Money thus saved
could be used to fund more locally ap-
propriate entertainments such as monster
truck rallies and country music concerts
for the indigent.
Better yet, we neoliberals in Ashland,
Eugene and Corvallis could vote against
our own interests, as so many of those liv-
ing in Rumpistan have already done. We
should certainly not tolerate progressive
enclaves to persist in “Walden’s Wonder-
land.”
Unfortunately, Levin himself is silent
on solutions for the unfolding tragedy at
OSF. He infers that the wealthy white glit-
terati should feel ashamed for even visit-
ing a place like Ashland. What would he
propose for us po’ folk who cannot afford
$108 seats at the Elizabethan Theatre? I
suggest that rather than eating at Denny’s,
he could cleanse his (and all of our) sins
by attending a screening of “Fate of the
Furious” at Gateway Mall.
Until then, I decline to accept any guilt
for supporting quality theatre at OSF.
Jeff Freeman
Corvallis
ON THE POLE
ON SALE 7/21!
Hult Center
November 26 at 7:30PM
For tickets and more information visit hultcenter.org
mannheimsteamroller.com
6
July 20, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com
In the Slant section of Eugene Week-
ly’s pre-Oregon Country Fair issue (July
6), you wrote that “as the dust settles,
we hope we will hear about efforts OCF
makes to work with the native community
to restore trust and build new bridges.”
In response to your request, here is an
example:
During the Saturday Standing Rock
Indigenous Unity Panel, the owner of the
Ritz Sauna and Showers was invited to
speak at the end of the panel, which he
did. Panel members were also invited to
visit the Ritz and many accepted the in-
vitation.
Creating awareness and a deeper level
of understanding requires the willingness
of all involved to actively listen to all
voices.
Throughout the Fair the Ritz provided
a public space for anyone to come and ei-
ther write down her comments, concerns
and ideas for the future or the opportunity
to share her thoughts with a Ritz crew
member directly.
Speaking for myself as a 30-plus year
Ritz crew member, I do not think of the
Story Pole as a “debacle.” It is a piece of
art that evokes different reactions from
each person. One of the functions of art
is to be a catalyst for conversations, and
the Story Pole has succeeded in doing just
that.
Alice C. Wheeler
Eugene
Brown, one of the most intelligent and
conscientious of councilors, complained
bitterly that he could not control the city
manager. Yet in the public record he joined
the rest of the council in giving a unani-
mous favorable evaluation of the city man-
ager in his employment review.
I have reviewed information on city-
accountability.org and it seems to me the
evidence of fault is pretty thin. There is
no smoking gun. I discovered the city of
Portland has no city manager. It has a city
council that manages the city, and city au-
ditor replaces the function of city manager.
Thus comparison between Eugene and
Portland is apples and oranges. It is a bit
too clever for the proponents of change to
omit this fact.
The city of Eugene has an outstanding
city management. It is better to improve
what you know than to replace it with what
you don’t know. Please be careful of what
you ask for.
John C Helmer
Eugene
PAY UP OR DIE
There are only three ways to provide
health care: socialized healthcare, a free-
market insurance-based system or a highly
regulated hybrid of the two.
No one has ever had a successful free
market system because the insurance in-
dustry doesn’t make money by providing
healthcare. They make money by with-
holding healthcare. They are motivated
by profits and if people can’t pay or have
a medical condition that will cost them
money, they will drop them and simply let
them die.
Most societies have compassion for
their poor and sick and provide universal
coverage. They will either have a single-
payer system or they will force the insur-
ance companies to care for them with sub-
sidies and regulation.
In an insurance-based system, the
young and healthy must be coerced in
some way to pay for those who are sick and
old. Socialized medicine is always cheaper
because it eliminates the profit motive and
the care is often better because the caregiv-
ers are generally motivated by compassion
rather than greed.
About 90 percent of the people in Medi-
care and other government run health sys-
tems like their care, and only about 3 per-
cent is spent on administration. The rest of
the cost goes for care.
In an unregulated insurance system,
profits and administration eat up 30 to 40
percent of costs. Any good regulated sys-
tem would look a lot like the ACA, which
has mandates, limits profits and adminis-
tration to 20 percent, and prohibits drop-
ping people with pre-existing conditions.
Jesus recommends compassion over
greed.
Jerry Brule
Eugene
APPLES AND AUDITORS
Since at least 2002, Eugene govern-
ment has been under attack by Bonny
Bettman and associates in an effort to re-
place Eugene’s council-manager form of
government with an alternative that cir-
cumvents the city manager.
In recorded council meetings, George
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