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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 2019)
letters IT’S MURDER OUT THERE Earlier this year I had a vehicle is- sue and decided to walk home with my disabled son, starting out toward Crow from Veneta. It was dark and drizzling. I was amazed at the aggressiveness of ve- hicles as they flew by us on Territorial Highway, many showing no courtesy whatsoever. At first I attributed this to post-happy-hour behavior, but then it made no sense. I ended up facing the traffic with my son behind me, literally angling into the road facing the headlights coming at me at 55 mph. This unequal game of chick- en seemed to work; the drivers would move over to the opposite lane. Clearly the driver did not want an insurance in- cident on his record. It seems to me things have gotten way too tribal now. Perhaps my son and I were perceived as homeless or [gasp] undocumented immigrants not worthy of consideration walking down the highway? We had no curbs to work with. Whenever I drive the back roads of Lane County and I encounter creatures in sight (human or otherwise), I back off the accelerator and move to the oppo- site lane as soon as safe. During these aggressive driving in- cidents, there was no oncoming traffic. Maybe we need to recalibrate and re- member the “old days” when the first tribal thought was perhaps these peo- ple need help (which I was not asking for), or at a minimum they are deserving of being treated with dignity out there walking along the road. Mark Story Eugene THE HOUSING SYMPTOM The Oregon Legislature and local ju- risdictions are scrambling for solutions to what they’re calling a housing crisis. House Speaker Tina Kotek claims, “The reality is we’re just not building enough housing… and if we’re going to grow as a state we need to change that.” Even if, for example, changing that “reality” results in the aesthetic and cul- tural degradation of historical single- family neighborhoods. But the housing problem is only a symptom of the larger population prob- lem, political turf most fear to tread. Politicians and administrators con- sider it their charge to promote and ac- commodate growth, but, as air, water and ground pollution increase and the planet continues to heat up, growth has shown it will not be accommodated, nor, for those increasingly feeling its pinch, tolerated. Despite a common refrain to the con- trary, overpopulation and the growth it spurs are not inevitable; they’re a mat- ter of choice, a matter of policy. Overuse and abuse has led to quotas in popular hiking and boating areas. To meet the goals of our land use protec- tion system legislators would do well to forego accommodation for restraint. Tom McCall, where are you when we need you the most? Robert Emmons Fall Creek took place on my property. I could only watch, with concern, how this self-de- struction took place. As much as I can appreciate your effort to shed light on the situation of missing women, and sex workers in par- ticular, there was no need to drag past shady criminal activities into the history of a reputable business. I would appreciate if a correction is printed. Dieter Boehm High Pass Winery NOT GUILTY BY PROXIMITY FOSSIL FUEL FOOLISHNESS Yesterday, one of our employees brought to my attention that in one of your recent articles in Eugene Weekly, you mention High Pass Winery as one of the places were the body of a missing women was buried (“Out from the Void,” Feb. 7). I find it highly irresponsible to make statements like this based on in- formation received from anonymous sources that was not verified. I acquired the property High Pass Winery is located on in 1984 and added another piece in 1990. During all my ear- ly years working and living on the prop- erty, I was well aware of drug-related activities going on in the neighboring property. However close-by the High Pass Winery property was, none of that Climate scientists have made it abun- dantly clear that in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change, Earth’s inhabitants must rapidly reduce green- house gas emissions. Cities, and by ex- tension citizens, need to step up and make the changes necessary to secure a future for generations to come. Transportation choices are impor- tant contributors to our individual and collective carbon emissions. In fact, the largest source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions is the transportation sec- tor. To find out how your personal trans- portation choices measure up, Google “sightline carbon emissions by trans- portation mode.” There you will learn that a single-occupancy non-electric 1 n pe e d O ous 2n oon H rch - N a M 0 am Educating Children for Life Parent-child through grade 8 4 F E B R U A R Y 2 1 , Explore. Play. Create. 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