LET TERS
SOUR GRAPES
LESSONS OF HOUSTON
Kendra Lady, in her Aug. 31 letter, made
a very heartfelt and passionate point about
the University of Oregon and its fans' “cult
like” adoration of its Ducks sports pro-
gram. It seems that the main point of her
letter was not with the UO but with Eugene
and our racist and bigoted past.
Unfortunately, the entire country has a
racist and bigoted past, present and, unfor-
tunately, future as well. It also seems as if
Lady is airing her “sour grapes” regarding
her dance funding being suspended. I could
argue that her letter would be moot had un-
cle Phil built her a fancy dance studio and
funded her program with donations.
Indeed, hypocrisy, like racism, is noth-
ing new.
John Carlson
Eugene
President Trump avoided many mis-
takes that G.W. Bush made, but that is
mainly because President Obama rebuilt
FEMA after Bush’s disaster. The emer-
gency responders were wonderful. This is
what the alt-right calls the “deep state” at
work.
Trump wanted to reduce FEMA by
25 percent. Hurricane Harvey disproved
many Republican myths. Government is
good and actually helps people in need.
Climate Science is good and accurate and
saved thousands of lives. The “liberal me-
dia” is accurate and its dedicated reporters
put themselves in harm’s way to warn ev-
eryone of the danger.
This may be the most expensive disaster
we have experienced. How Houston recov-
ers will illustrate the basic philosophical
difference between the parties. Republi-
cans deny climate science and think that
tax cuts for the rich are more important
than helping the common people. They
think any emergency spending should be
offset with spending cuts.
Democrats know that disasters like
these will become more extreme and com-
mon. They think the rich should help pay
for the recovery with higher taxes and that
climate science should be used to plan for
and avoid future climate disasters.
Houston showed how great the com-
mon people are who responded to this di-
saster. Congress should not shut down the
government. They should work in a bipar-
tisan manner to help the common people,
not the rich. They should enact disaster re-
lief and rebuild infrastructure, they should
save health care and they should tax the
hedge fund managers so the rest of us can
get a break.
Jerry Brule
Eugene
$41.2 MILLION COMMA
I have taught English for 22 years and
teach writing for Stanford University on-
line. I have never seen as reprehensible a
manipulation of language as in the “Ballot:
Bonds to Fix Streets, Fund Bicycle and Pe-
destrian Projects” to meet Eugene voters in
the special election of Nov. 7.
In the title, the comma suggests paral-
lelism. Items in a series suggest ascension.
The colloquial “Fix Streets” is diminutive
to the grandiloquent “Fund Projects.” Each
of these misleads voters to believe that
“Fund Bicycle and Pedestrian Projects” is
equal or paramount to “Fix Streets.”
Spoiler alert: It ain’t even close.
In “Question,” we’re asked: Shall the
city raise $51.2 million? Omitted is the un-
equal disbursement of funds. Obfuscated
is, who pays? In the “Summary,” the topic
sentence reinforces the false equivalency of
the title: “fix approximately 88 lane miles of
roads and fund bicycle and pedestrian proj-
ects” [my emphasis]. Halfway through that
paragraph we learn: “$1 Million for bicycle
and pedestrian projects” per year. “The re-
mainder would be used to fix streets, as well
as pay bond issuance costs.”
The remainder?
That “remainder” is $46.2 million, at
plus or minus $41.2 Million.
Criminally misleading and vague, no-
where do you state the clear math. This
ballot measure proposes $46.2 to “fix
streets” and pay costs, $500,000 per mile
for 88 miles. Bicycle and Pedestrian Proj-
ects are thrown $5 million for a “Yes” vote.
The ballot speciously garners votes
from advocates of environmental infra-
structure.
I believe this ballot, should it pass, is
actionable.
Otis Haschemeyer
Eugene
SHORTSIGHTED EWEB
Drawdown is the reduction of green-
house gases (GHG) to achieve the goal of
reversing global warming and is the name
of the book by Paul Hawken that lists com-
prehensive solutions to reduce carbon in
the atmosphere. Renewable onshore and
offshore wind generation rank #2 and #22
respectively, and combined are the best
means to naturally reduce carbon dioxide.
Due to a glut of surplus energy, EWEB
4
is proposing to sell its ownership of two
wind farms the utility says it doesn’t need
(Register-Guard, Aug. 5). However, in Or-
egon, when utilities install a megawatt of
renewable energy, they also are granted a
megawatt of credit they can save or sell.
EWEB pays three times the normal
megawatt-per-hour rate to Seneca biomass
until 2025. Biomass is only 20 percent ef-
ficient when it generates electricity and, as
a result, is not considered renewable.
EWEB also gets “dirty energy” until
2020 from the Boardman coal plant. With
two major producers of GHG emissions
supplying EWEB energy, EWEB should
reconsider their future energy sources.
The city of Eugene adopted the Climate
Recovery Ordinance and is committed to
50 percent community-wide reduction of
carbon dioxide below 2010 levels by 2030.
This requires EWEB to be a large partner
in this endeavor by sourcing energy from
hydroelectric, wind and solar, and for its
customers to shift to all electric and phase
out natural gas usage.
EWEB is aware of this upcoming tran-
sition to reduce community-wide carbon
emissions and the forecast of 30,000 more
customers by 2030. Selling proprietary re-
newable energy sources is shortsighted and
headed in the wrong direction.
Jim Neu
350.EUG
TOTAL ECLIPSE
As a recent attendee of the Oregon
Eclipse Gathering that took place on Big
Summit Prairie, I have an enraged mes-
sage for the festival regarding its pervasive
hypocrisy: You are a group of visionaries
that creates wildly impressive events at the
expense of the environment and oppressed
humans while claiming to care deeply
about both.
At some level in your event planning,
there is an awareness of this, and you
choose to ignore it because you would
rather feel the high that putting on such an
event provides for you and the thousands of
attendees. You are deeply entrenched in the
September 7, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com
very paradigm that your people so fervently
claim to be evolving beyond, and until you
make the difficult sacrifice that is required
to end this hypocrisy (i.e. stop holding these
events), you will remain there.
I will give you one thing though: I’ve
been to many, many festivals, and none has
managed to present me with this level of
clarity. None has put me in a place where
I could no longer hide from my own con-
tributions to the very things I claim to be
opposed to.
I thank you for providing me with a
painfully honest view of the countercul-
ture that I have identified myself with for
so long now, and it is my sincere hope and
intention that this letter returns the favor
by providing you with a more authentic
view of yourself.
Shelda Lee
Eugene
OBF BLUNDER
The abrupt firing of Matthews Halls as
artistic director of the Oregon Bach Festi-
val is a stunning blow to the musical com-
munity in Eugene and to me personally
This last summer I enjoyed rehearsals
and performances of Bach's music under
Halls' direction. Since no reason has been
given to the public for the termination of
Halls' contract, since the festival board of
directors was not consulted, and since an
unnamed representative of the University
of Oregon has been said to have carried out
the firing by telephone, I am left with the
feeling that a great injustice has been done
to a fine musician.
OBF spokesperson Josh Gren tried to
pass off the extraordinary action as a "stra-
tegic decision" to keep the OBF relevant,
while a badly written Aug. 27 press release
proposed a murky plan to hire "guest cura-
tors" of music for next year's season. Can
the OBF survive? I fear that under the new
leadership — whoever they are — the an-
swer is "probably not."
Dina Wills
Eugene
GOT A LIGHT?
Listen up, Eugeneans: It’s time to close
your goddamned cell phones, dig your
heads out of your asses and clean up your
addiction to cigarettes. Call up a hypnotist,
schedule an appointment and find freedom
from these dark spirits.
These cigarettes, especially the filters
on the ends of them, are full of the most
vile, sickening, vicious, nasty, evil, dark
spirits that will suck your soul — to death.
You have been warned.
Please pick up your filters, pick up your
butts and live. Or die. It’s up to you. But
if you drop your butts on the ground in a
moment of pure self-aggrandizing selfish-
ness, you will be condemned to death by
the Lord.
The dark spirit of Death will wrap its
leathery wings around your face and con-
sume your spirit entirely — on the spot.
Because the lives of our children are at
stake, and the Dark Goddess will call forth
a terrible vengeance upon you for think-
ing only of yourself. Your life is worthless
compared to the needs of children.
Pick up your butts or die. The choice is
up to you. Do it.
You narcissistic pieces of filth!
Jason Benjamin Gamble
Eugene