Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 13, 2020)
letters THE DRIVE-IN BOYS CLUB This story (“Movie Nights,” EW 7-30) lists Smokey and the Bandit starring Burt Reynolds. The photo for the article is of the late Mr. Reynolds and two-time Academy Award winner Sally Field, the co-star of the movie. How hard is it to include women in the credits? Nyla L. Jebousek Newport NO NEWS ISN’T GOOD NEWS As a sports fan growing up in the Chi- cago suburbs, I was accustomed to roll- ing out of bed and dialing WH 3-3080 to get all the recorded sports scores from the day before. The West Coast games that were designated “late” in the local papers (four of them when I was growing up: the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago American) or games that extended past the newspapers’ dead- line (usually after midnight). Living on the West Coast for the past 40 years that hasn’t been an issue until now. The USA Today’s Register-Guard should be named the Late Register- Guard, and while the disappearance of box scores is an irritant, we’re going way beyond sports in much more substan- tive matters. In short, I can’t think of a reason to read this piss-poor excuse for what once was a credible local paper. I could easily drop 250 words listing the many egregious editorial decisions and mind- numbing deadlines this new non-local paper is adhering too. Instead, I’ll pose this question to fel- low readers. Other than the obituaries, why would I subscribe to the RG? Seri- ously, I can’t think of a reason. Virtu- ally everything they’re printing I can get elsewhere (including full, updated box scores). Eugene Weekly — any chance you can expand to a daily — or twice weekly? There is a huge hole where local journalism used to live in our town. AM Traisman Eugene PORTLAND HAS SET THINGS BACK Before all the national focus shifted from Black communities — whose lives depend on intelligent nuanced activism, and who have been putting in hard, un- glamorous work into coalition building for some 200 years — to Portland and a bunch of spoiled white kids with no skin in the game (no pun intended) or informed knowledge of the issues, there was a national conversation on police models and the history of policing. For a second there I thought we were on the verge of real important change. Then Portland, the whitest city in America, stole all the focus from those conversations and seriously set things back. Of course, once Portland’s spoiled E U G E N E W E E K LY . C O M white college kids get bored, the actual work will continue because for Black communities this is a real issue, a fuck- ing life or death issue and not a chance to look cool on Facebook. Still, it's super sad and makes me really ashamed: Once again white privilege has fucked things up. Ian Blumberg Eugene VOTE OUT EVERY GOP SENATOR I am writing to express my dismay at the pattern and script President Donald Trump is running about elections. It is alarming! I can't stand to listen to him anymore! He is trying to discredit an election that has not happened yet and justify staying in office! I hold every Re- publican senator who helped keep him in office responsible for this ridiculous situation. It is clear that while Ameri- cans suffer and die, the Republicans hem and haw about what to do. It is clear they care more about the economy and their own pockets than the American people. I would urge every family mem- ber who lost a loved one due to Trump's failed handling of COVID-19 and every American who has lost their jobs, homes or business to vote every Republican senator out of office! I have just one voice and one vote! I fear for the United States for the first time in my life. I am angry and feel helpless; to quote a famous phrase, “Who ya gonna call” when you are afraid of the president? I am retired and feel my joy and freedoms are being taken away by a pandemic and a president, while billionaires profit and support him. Thanks for letting me share. Julie Thibedeau Cottage Grove DEMOCRATS ARE BLIND As Portland burned, Democrats stood by and looked the other way. Gov. Kate Brown wouldn’t call in the Nation- al Guard for help because (her words) “That’s exactly what Donald Trump wants.” Portland Democrat Mayor Ted Wheeler announced to the mob that he will “stand with you no matter what.” The Legislature, ruled by Demo- crats, and Brown further hamstrung the police through bills stuffed with “emer- gency” clauses. As crime explodes in America’s ma- jor cities, Democrat mayors and city councils defund the police. In a Senate hearing on the violence, not a single Democrat on the committee would con- demn the perpetrators. New York Dem- ocrat Congressman Jerry Nadler called the reports of violence “a myth.” Leftist media shills repeatedly claim the dem- onstrations have been “peaceful.” Consumed with hatred for Trump, Democrats apparently feel that the un- HEROES NEEDED MASKS PROVIDED BE A HERO! Eugene Family YMCA Youth Development positions are now open. APPLY TODAY! eugeneymca.org/JOBS Must be 18+ to apply. A U G U S T 1 3 , 2 0 2 0 3
