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.
At our preschool and kindergarten, children are
so actively engaged they don’t even know they’re
learning. And that’s just fine with us. Come see
how the imagination of childhood forms a
foundation for lifetime learning.
Now accepting applications for 2019-2020!
541.683.6951 • 1350 McLean Blvd. • EugeneWaldorf.org
2 0 1 9
E U G E N E W E E K LY . C O M