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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 2023)
letters OPEN WEEKENDS FOR WALK INS EPPS WRITES NOVELS, TOO EUGENE NEEDS A NEW MAYOR I was pleased to read Garrett Epps’s commentary (“Insurrection Election”) in the Sept. 14 Eugene Weekly, and hope that there is more to come. But I won- der how many EW readers realize that, before he became a law professor, Epps wrote two excellent novels? They are The Shad Treatment, about Virginia politics when conservative Democrats still ruled, and The Floating Island, a Swift-inspired peek at political shenanigans in the post- Watergate era. I urge all fi ction lovers to seek them out; they appear to be readily available through Amazon. Mike Kopf Eugene The two buddies, Kitty Piercy and Lucy Vinis, have been the worst mayors Lane County has had to endure. Neither one did anything positive for our com- munity. We have had no City Hall for years, the homeless numbers continue to increase to over 3,000 people liv- ing on the streets. And even worse are the 400-plus teens on the streets. And there are never any concrete solutions. There is no direction to agencies such as highways and streets being cleaned, downtown parking structures falling apart, etc. We need a mayor that is from the 21st century! Marlene Pearson Eugene HOLVEY PETITION CAMPAIGN WAS DECEPTIVE Sit With Me Intuitive Practitioner Assisting with release of negative life experiences. Guiding you on a journey of self empowerment. www.sitwithme.info Call/text Rich 541-600-0784 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 • 2014 • 2015 • 2016 • 2017 • 2018 BEST HANGOVER BREAKFAST 15 STRAIGHT YEARS! BREAKFAST ALL DAY 1689 Willamette | 541-343-1542 8am - 2pm Daily featuring SECOND LOCATION! 395 W 5th Ave 97401 see our full menu online: brailseugene.com 2 S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 2 3 Since 1949 The crazy eff ort to recall state Rep. Paul Holvey should have been legally stopped a long time ago, since many of the signatures were gathered deceptively. I’m afraid I signed the petition early on, when a nice young signature gatherer in front of the library asked if I support unions in Or- egon — I said, “Sure I do,” then she briefl y described the petition, never mentioning Holvey. I should’ve read it, but I went by what she said. Shortly thereafter, I real- ized I had been duped. A week later a diff erent signature gatherer appeared at my front door and asked the same question. I immediately asked if this was the recall Holvey peti- tion, and she sheepishly admitted that it was. I accused her of being deceptive and unethical — but I tried not to be too harsh, since she was just trying to make her money. I imagine that many of the signature gatherers realized that honesty about the petition would not work well, so they resorted to this deception. I also imag- ine that many of the signatures they gathered were based on this deception, and are thus invalid. The recall eff ort should therefore never have become a ballot issue, costing time, money and energy that we all could be putting else- where. Jeff Harrison Eugene HOSPITAL CLOSING IS AN OPPORTUNITY This is a golden opportunity to cre- ate a better hospital, one where doctors, nurses and support staff love to work because they are respected and em- powered to give their very best. That is the goal of democracy, but PeaceHealth uses the autocratic model, not the dem- ocratic model. Ever since PeaceHealth was sold and modern practices that are far from democratic took control of our hospital, things have gotten worse for those who work in the hospital for profi t. Peace- Health showed its wrong values from the beginning of RiverBend, built more like a high-scale hotel for the very rich than a modest hospital where good re- lationships and good health care are the priority. We need a locally owned hospital that is about community and our well-being, not profi t and exploiting people. Carol Seaton Eugene TRUMP WENT AWOL ON JAN. 6 Regarding “Insurrection Election,” Sept. 14: For 187 minutes on Jan. 6, 2021, the then-president, Donald Trump, did nothing while four humans died at the site (more died later), our Capitol build- ing was defi led and our elected offi cials E U G E N E W E E K LY . C O M
