LET TERS
change the conversation to something about
patriotism or the role politics in sports;
those are easier conversations to have. Let’s
not get distracted from the resolution.
Unarmed people of color are dispropor-
tionately being killed by police.
Racial injustice is staring at us in the
face. Let’s not allow this moment to pass
by getting distracted from the resolution.
Unarmed people of color are dispropor-
tionately being killed by police.
Brett Moser
Eugene
AXE THE TIMBER BARONS
The regional timber industry spin ma-
chine has kicked it into high gear lately,
and has been spewing it’s own kind of
noxious fumes at the Pacific Northwest, at-
tempting to gin up a blind momentum to
promote their specific interests.
“Forest management” in the timber in-
dustry context is defined by industry share-
holder interests, while management for
other, more diverse and scientifically based
objectives, have totally different praxis,
and cannot be conflated with the profit mo-
tives of the timber interests.
Despite the sweet sounding propaganda
dripping off the honeyed, forked tongues of
zombie lobbyists, the profit driven manage-
ment of private timberlands, and the planta-
tion mentality, create the worst of tinderbox
conditions, and so never again can we let
private timber barons monopolize public
forestland policies to their own ends.
They are the ones to blame for ignoring
decades of reality to chase their insatiable
greed, causing onward-rippling disruption
to ecological forces that they never under-
stood or seemed to care about. It will take
many decades hence to undo the slow-mo-
tion disaster they have inflicted.
They don’t get to muscle endless self-
ish bailouts from their self-induced crises;
they don’t get to boldface lie through their
teeth in hopes of swindling the taxpayers
for ever-more sweetheart subsidies.
Public lands are now being better man-
aged than private Wall Street profiteer lands,
and there will be no going backwards.
Mike McFadden
Eugene
LIGHTS OUT, TRUMP
Donald Trump’s slip-shod words harm
humanity. Trump’s critique of NFL ath-
letes taking a knee in protest of bigotry and
then calling it unpatriotic, especially when
Trump took a knee evading his patriotic
duty during Vietnam with bogus draft de-
ferments is …
My senior year, in 1970, the high school
football coach called me a “son-of-a-bitch.”
My mother had died the year before; she
was 42 years young. When I demanded an
apology, push came to shove and we ended
up inside the principal’s office.
After admonishments, I was dismissed
and waited until coach reappeared to hear
15% OFF thru Oct.
A brilliant selection –
15th!
!
e
im
t
s
g
in
v
a
s
t
h
g
li
e
ik
B
reflective
in daylight. Colorful
ur bike at night than
yo
choices.
on
0
ble
10
ea
er
tic
ov
no
ve
re
ha
Be mo
d flashers – we
an
ts
ves
,
hts
lig
t
gh
stickers and tape, bri
FREE! Eugene/Springfield bike maps
2705 Willamette St • 541.484.5410
Mon-Fri 11–7; Sat 10–6; Sun 12–5
his apology; whereupon push came to
shove and I was expelled from school for
three days.
I made all-state football, but chose to
play college basketball on a full-ride ath-
letic scholarship. The last military draft
via lottery according to birthdate was in
1971. My number was three, and since I
was a freshman ineligible for a deferment,
I postponed a college education and a sports
career, including the prospect to play in the
ABA for the Denver Rockets. I joined the
air force and honorably served four years.
Trump calling a person a “son-of-
a-bitch” is pathetic and stupid. What is
he implying about his mother, wife and
daughter, or women in general? If some-
one called me that name — face to face?
— I’d knock their lights out.
Michael Thessen
Eugene
TRUMP DON’T CARE
I take a knee to the flag of the Divided
States of America and to the Republicans
for which it stands, a divided Nation, under
a cloud of bigotry and racism, with liberty
and justice for rich white people and not
many others.
If you are angry about Trump, guess
what: He doesn’t care. Be as angry as you
want. He will continue to do and say as he
pleases.
You will eventually come to realize that
his only purpose is to make himself, the
Trump brand, his family and his “friends”
(in that order) better off than they were be-
fore a lot of naive people voted for him.
Hillary Clinton may have been all about
the status quo, but that is 1,000-percent
better than what we have now. Private
emails? What is going on in the Trump ad-
ministration is far worse than private emails.
And it’s not like he didn’t foreshadow
his agenda before the election. Sometimes
it’s hard to tell if something is a lie if it’s
what you want to hear. But you have to
learn to discriminate, to not just read be-
tween the lines but also to listen between
the sound bites.
Let’s do better in 2020.
Chuck West
Eugene
PRESIDENTIAL REMINDER
Dear Donald, here are a few things to
remember:
You cannot fire Kim Jong Un or North
Korea. You cannot fire the New York Times
or CNN. You cannot fire congressional in-
vestigation panels. You cannot fire the IRS
or the Supreme Court. You cannot fire the
NFL or Black Lives Matter. You cannot
fire the popular vote.
And, above all, you cannot repeal, re-
place or pardon your conscience — if you
even have one.
Sorry to deliver such bad news.
W.C. Crutchfield
Eugene
YOUR VOICE MATTERS!
What do you
seek in a new
Police Chief?
COMMUNITY FORUMS
Tuesday, Oct. 10
PETERSEN BARN
COMMUNITY CENTER
Wednesday, Oct. 11
CAMPBELL COMMUNITY CENTER
Thursday, Oct. 12
NORTH EUGENE HIGH SCHOOL
The City of Eugene is
recruiting a new Police
Chief and your input is
important!
Join us for a community forum to
tell us what you think and how we
can work together to get the right
Police Chief for Eugene. The City
Manager, Assistant City Manager
and/or the recruiting fi rm will be
present to hear your feedback.
Tuesday, Oct. 17
CHURCHILL HIGH SCHOOL
Wednesday, Oct. 18
SHELDON COMMUNITY CENTER
Thursday, Oct. 19
GILHAM COMMUNITY CHURCH
Tuesday, Oct. 24
SOUTH EUGENE HIGH SCHOOL
Thursday, Oct. 26
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON FORD
ALUMNI CENTER
Doors for all forums open at 5:45 p.m.
for a 6 p.m. start. Pizza provided.
Learn more about the recruitment process at
eugene-or.gov/policechiefrecruitment
6
October 5, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com