letters
TOOTHLESS ORDINANCE
ity changing to a basic fee, and now the
Legislature has added fees for electric
and hybrid cars. Unbelievable!
Ruth Duemler
Eugene
Your Oct. 31 article “Perpetual Plas-
tics” made it sound like Eugene was
doing all it needs to do in regards to its
Single Use Serviceware ordinance by
sending out a letter “last week,” despite
the fact that the ordinance went into ef-
fect in June.
The article’s tone, with quotes from
a city official, makes it sound OK that
the city isn’t doing enforcement on their
own. It’s up to the public to report busi-
nesses that are not complying? Has the
public even been educated about the
ordinance so that they might know to
report bad businesses? No.
Are we to accept that it’s up to the
public to clean up our plastics prob-
lems? Sure, consumers are partially to
blame for buying so much crap, but how
about the companies producing the
waste, or the politicians/governments
allowing this trash into our city/county/
state?
The ordinance states:
“A retail food and beverage estab-
lishment may not provide single-use
serviceware to a customer unless the
customer explicitly requests the sin-
gle-use serviceware or the customer is
asked if the customer would like single-
use serviceware and the customer re-
sponds affirmatively.”
That means that all Eugene restau-
rants have to stop putting out straws,
stirrers, condiments and utensils. You
have to ask for them or be asked. Many
restaurants are still not complying with
this.
There is much work that needs to be
done cleaning up our environment. This
kind of foot-dragging will hardly keep
up with all the waste we are producing.
Jim Flynn
Springfield
We highly recommend seeing A
Thanksgiving Play at Oregon Contem-
porary Theatre. Larissa FastHorse has
written a witty and sly satire on a holiday
where white people have a lot of bag-
gage to unpack.
Native artists give us many enter-
taining ways to educate ourselves. View
movies such as Smoke Signals, Pow Wow
Highway and Wind River. Read books
by Louise Erdrich, Janet Campbell Hale
and N. Scott Momaday. Visit and attend
events at the Many Nations Longhouse
on the UO campus, which include story-
telling, dance, song and drumming.
As a parent you can educate your
children that the land in Eugene is the
homeland of the Kalapulya people. Read
picture books from the library about Pa-
cific Northwest traditional stories such
as Raven’s Light, Coyote in Love (Crater
Lake Legend) and The Salmon Princess.
Have your children follow or write to
Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland, who
recently became the first Native Ameri-
can women elected to Congress.
To learn about 21 things you can do to
be more respectful of Native American
cultures, search “21 things you can do to
be more respectful of Native American
cultures” at nonprofitaf.com.
Always gently and clearly address
stereotypes your children share about
Thanksgiving and Indigenous peoples:
“Actually, that’s not real. Let’s find out
what’s real together.”
Christopher and Deb Michaels
Eugene
IGNORING DISASTER
DEFAZIO ON THE TAKE
We first heard about climate warm-
ing and possible disasters more than
60 years ago. Have we recognized the
disasters taking place with droughts,
flooding, excess heat and difficult mi-
grations?
No! Instead we have our local util-
Why defend Rep. Peter DeFazio (Let-
ters, 11/7) when we can look at the re-
cord?
The Jordan Cove Energy export
project, which would become the larg-
est polluter in Oregon with its 230-mile
fracked gas pipeline, is one of a number
EDUCATE RESPECT
of fossil fuel corporations DeFazio takes
money from. DeFazio will not take the
“Fossil Free Pledge,” apparently so he
can continue to receive that money.
On Nov. 16 of 2018 DeFazio said that
“the idea that in five years or 10 years
we’re not going to consume any more
fossil fuels is technologically impos-
sible” doesn’t make him the strongest
Green New Deal advocate.
Business as usual is no longer an op-
tion. The politicians who brought us to
the brink of climate disaster are not the
bold change-makers we need. We need
new vision and younger minds who have
more years and more “skin in the game”
for solving climate breakdown.
Time to take a stand and put more
women in charge. Check out Doyle Can-
ning for Congress. We need brilliant,
compassionate, fearless politicians in
Congress who can lead. Doyle is all that
and more!
Deb McGee
Eugene
MAYBE RAKE INSTEAD?
Regarding the tragic shooting in
North Eugene, where “a leaf blower was
found in the street near the shooting”: I
really dislike leaf blowers and maybe the
neighbor did, too. They generate large
amounts of airborne dust, mold spores,
allergens, dried animal feces, pesticides
and fine particles that increase the
number and severity of asthma attacks,
cause or aggravate bronchitis or other
lung diseases, and reduce the body’s
ability to fight infection.
Stephen Cole
Eugene
LIFE IS UNKIND
I have been following the local
“Choose Kindness” campaign with in-
terest. Hard not to when you see yard
signs all over the place in Eugene. It
raises many unanswered questions for
me, such as: “Would the UO Ducks be
8-1 playing Division-1 football with this
campaign? How would they implement
it?”
Or cops in dealing with dangerous
armed criminals?
Order Your Turkey Today
Reserve a fresh range-grown turkey, direct
from the ranch for your holiday table!
Our Deli offers a wide range of Traditional
Side Dishes—delight vegans to carnivores.
Turkey pickups start Mon Nov 25
Side Dish pickups start Tu Nov 26
Holiday Hours
W 11.27 8am-10pm
Th 11.28 8am-2pm
Eugene’s World Class Neighborhood Grocer
8am-10pm • 2489 Willamette St • Eugene • 541.345.1014
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