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News | Shorts | Happenin' People | Editorials | Opinions | Letters news If you attend a protest rally in Eugene, you will be watched and photographed by police, city officials, a wide range of media, Cop Watch and media watch groups, security contractors, protesters, and a growing group of official observers. The last has yet to videotape. They just take notes. Identifying the media is difficult when so many people carry a camera or notepad. Eugene police, citing officer safety, media safety and the safety of people they arrest, kept camera crews and observers a half-block away from where they detained 30 people Saturday night. Many of those arrested were anarchists marking the anniversary of high-profile "riots" last year. Others just got caught in the "sweep." Police swept marchers against a wall on Fifth Avenue about 10:30 pm and held them there for more than an hour where they were blocked from public view for arrest. Later arrivals were herded behind a blockade of mostly men-in-black-body-armor with batons and bean-bag shotguns. Bicycle cops banged and broadsided their wheels to move watchers back. Unclear commands caused confusion. "We didn't know where to go," said Catherine Inocencio, an official observer and family mediator who praises police for being well trained but questions their techniques. "There was no dialogue and the main strategy was the bullhorn and overwhelming force." The blockade caused a "semi-blackout" that was unusually restrictive for the media, said Jim Godbold, executive editor of The Register-Guard. Such a response can "damage the credibility of the police," Godbold said. "What happened Saturday was pretty extreme." On Sunday night, another 37 people were arrested in an eight-block sweep that started near the courthouse and ended west of Washington-Jefferson Park. Most of the 67 cuffed were charged with disorderly conduct from unlawful assembly and released by Tuesday. Unlawful assembly requires five or more people being a public nuisance. Several people reported minor injuries from bean-bag bullets, or being thrown to the ground. An independent photographer said she was hit on the head with a flashlight as she was arrested. Little vandalism occurred. Human rights observers are concerned when the press is not allowed on scene, but they also risk arrest if they don't obey police, Greg Rikhoff, city coordinator of the new Community Observers Network, told the Human Rights Commission Tuesday. Commissioner Jason Thelan, a recent graduate of South Eugene High School, said 40-50 protesters rushed over to him on the sidewalk after police blocked off Fifth Avenue and ordered them off the street. "They backed us up to the wall. People shouted, 'Let us disperse,'" he said. After he was taken to jail, police videotapes finally cleared him of any charges. He had not stepped off the sidewalk until the sweep struck. Relying on video only available from the arresting agency worries others. "Safety is our first concern, no matter what. The other issue is to be able to identify the media from anyone else in the crowd," says Jan Power, Eugene Police spokeswoman. Any access is left up to each officer or commanding officer's discretion. "We need to set up an observer program where they're willing to be where the action is, to risk arrest to witness," urges Elliot Shuford, 24, a UO geology graduate and anarchist sympathizer. "For the police to disregard constitutional rights for a perceived threat to public safety is a very dangerous trend." Protesters and observers say officers cannot be as easily identified when encased in body armor and face shields, making it harder to report police brutality. Oregon State Police sent 30 troopers and six supervisors to assist the EPD at no cost yet to the city. "We are monitoring the costs," said OSP Lt. Greg Hastings. OSP's mobile response team had planned a joint training with EPD around the same time, and they continued several more days of training at the coast this week. Springfield police and Lane County deputies were also on scene. "It's really hard to gauge if anything is warranted if you're not allowed up close," said observer Carla Newbre, a crisis counselor at White Bird. A public airing of observers' comments and opportunity for others to speak will be held at 5:30 pm Tuesday, June 27, at a location to be announced. Call 682-4177. "There's a fair amount of confusion and a real need for people to speak their truth," Rikhoff said. Separately, the Independent Police Review Project is scheduled to meet at 5 pm Tuesday, June 27, at 458 Blair Blvd. to discuss a public outspeak on Bastille Day, July 14. news
shorts The case was settled out of court last week and Arkin says she will get $495,000, tenure, promotion and library privileges. She also says she has chosen to resign her reinstated position at the university, but will continue her academic research and publishing on dance history. University officials have declined to comment on the case until the judge's written order is received. Representing Arkin in the case were Eugene attorneys Martha Walters and Susan Chanti of Walters Romm Chanti & Dickens. Representing the state was Special Assistant Attorney General Jerry Casby. Arkin, who gave birth to two children during her eight-year tenure process, filed a federal suit in late 1996 against UO Provost John Moseley and Department of Dance head Jenifer Craig under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The suit charged that the defendants "denied plaintiff tenure because of her sex and pregnancies, because plaintiff requested and utilized maternity leave and leaves of absence without pay due to her pregnancies and because of medical conditions related to her pregnancies." Arkin's $1 million lawsuit also claimed that Craig and the UO did not follow established procedures during Arkin's tenure process, and that Arkin was subjected to personal animosity from within her department over the tenure issue. "I believe that when I filed my lawsuit and identified these problems, and then came forward with strong evidence in my case, that it will certainly send a message to this university and this state system that any kind of discrimination cannot be allowed," Arkin says. Reflecting on the significance of the settlement, Arkin says, "Issues of gender are not completely solved in our society, and are not completely solved in higher education, even though we associate universities as being places of open thinking and fair-minded people." Attorney Walters is known locally for taking on high-profile cases with social justice implications. She says this was her first tenure case and she's pleased with the outcome. "Lisa has a tremendous talent and I think this (case) recognizes that," she says. "She's an amazing person." Walters expects the case to "cause the university to look carefully at its tenure processes and think carefully about how women are treated at the UO." An EW cover story on the Arkin case ("Gender Matters," May 27, 1999) outlined the cumulative impact of subtle (and not-so-subtle) discrimination on the careers of women in higher education. - TJT
CTV Gets Whacked CTV is in the second year of a three-year contract to run the public television station. The contract originally started in November 1998 and the city gave it $7,500 in contingency funds to operate. Along with $7,500 from the county, which has agreed to keep CTV in its budget this year, CTV has been running 24 hours a day since Jan. 15, 1999. This year, however, CTV had to go through the normal budget process to obtain city funds. At a Budget Committee meeting in May, City Councilor Betty Taylor proposed renewing the $7,500 in funds for CTV, but didn't get enough votes to pass, possibly because not all of the councilors were there, she says. Taylor thinks public access television holds great importance to the community. "It's one more medium for discussing issues and expressing opinions, and that's always valuable," says Taylor. She cites as an example the program the League of Women Voters did where they interviewed political candidates. "There's no other way [the LWV] could afford hours of time on TV to ask candidates questions," she says. In addition, she points out, students gain valuable experience producing programs and learning to operate equipment. Channel 97 is run with all volunteers. Only the instructors who teach classes get paid, both from student fees and from the CTV budget. The $15,000 is also used to operate the station at Sheldon High, cover overhead costs, new equipment and maintaining equipment. "A 50 percent cutback would set us way back in serving the Eugene-Springfield community effectively," says CTV president Tom Cleveland. If the budget is slashed in half, says Cleveland, "We will have to do less of everything." For example, it will take longer to go digital, which the station is now researching and trying to do. There may also be fewer studio hours available to the public and the station may have to decrease programming. "We haven't been spending every dime we've got, says Cleveland. "We've been frugal." A similar station in Portland, with an equal number of subscribers, approximately 60,000, operates on a $500,000 budget, which is received from franchise fees. The system in Eugene, however, works differently, and the franchise fees are instead dumped into the general fund. As to the awkwardness of this happening in the second year of a three-year contract, Cleveland says, "If they up and unfund it, it would be like having a new car and you only get two tires to drive it the second year you own it." A public comment period for voicing support for CTV is during the City Council meeting at 7:30 pm June 26. Or, call the council coordinator at 682-5017, fax 682-5414, or write the council at 777 Pearl St. Room 105, Eugene 97401, to express your comments. - AS
Schanberg Protests Schanberg, author of The Killing Fields, wrote a "courtesy blurb" praising the book before learning about the controversy surrounding the book's authorship. Register-Guard feature writer Kimber Williams claims to have crafted much of the book, but was not given credit for co-authorship. In Schanberg's letter to Norton, he writes, "I was recently shown compelling documentation that a journalist from Oregon, Kimber Williams, played a significant role in the writing of When Broken Glass Floats. I have gone over the documents with care, done my own reporting and concluded that Williams' claim is valid. "Throughout my career, I've been an advocate of giving proper attribution and credit for the source of material. I have learned that despite months of appeals by Williams for acknowledgment of her work, W.W. Norton has refused to do the right thing." Schanberg went on to ask Norton to remove his comments from "every place where they now appear - whether it be the book jacket/cover, publicity materials or any other site." Him's attorney, Michael Ratoza of Portland, was quoted in a June 15 Willamette Week story by Debra Gwartney saying, "Kimber Williams hasn't written a book in her life but would like to, so she's riding on Chanrithy Him's coattails... Williams merely assisted my client in editing portions of an already-existing manuscript... She did some tinkering on a few chapters, that's all." An earlier story on the controversy is in the May 11 issue of EW.- TJT Corrections/Clarifications Happenin'
Person Happenin' People Archives editorial Sunday night as police in riot gear and gas masks charged down tree-lined residential streets chasing a crowd that had become more neighbors than anarchists. Children awoke and looked out apartment windows as angry citizens screamed at the police, "Get the hell out of my street" and other words to that effect. It was a weekend of strident speeches, pepper spray, screams, taunts, clubs, bean-bag blasts, bruises, smashed cameras and arrests. But what did it accomplish? Brute force and intimidation by police might be effective short-term tools for getting protesters off the street, but the tactics are counterproductive in the long haul. The persistent over-reaction of the Eugene police in dealing with political activists has contributed to mistrust and even voter denial of new facilities. Blocking media from access to arrests at protests is downright illegal and makes media and observers even more suspicious. Beating and arresting journalists and confiscating their equipment is outrageous. These policy blunders must be rectified. As a city known for its political and social activism, we demand a police force that is tolerant of civil disobedience, free speech and assembly. Meanwhile, more and more citizens are learning to hate and fear the police - unhealthy and dangerous attitudes that are hard to shake. Anarchists and other protesters want to get people thinking about what's wrong with the social and economic order - a cause we support - but most people already have plenty of chaos in their lives, and do not welcome the idea of adding to it. Anarchists are good at dividing up people into categories. Who's a participant? Who's an observer? Who owns a car? Who doesn't? They lump 99 percent of the population into the enemy "establishment," and alienate many potential supporters. Attacking progressive media, such as Eugene Weekly, is a distinctly absurd strategy if anarchists want to be truly effective in their activism. EW has 77,000 regular readers, including most of the people in town already working for social and economic reform. A couple of weeks ago, a picture of a bomb with a lit fuse was painted on our sidewalk. This weekend we were vandalized again, with blood-red paint poured on our door. A scrawled letter shoved under the door reads, "You are over educated and you think you are superior. Over education destroys. It creats [sic] technology. Under anarchy there will be no over educated people. They will not exists [sic]." How do we defend ourselves from people advocating ignorance? Who sends these people out in the middle of the night, propagating their own brand of fear and hate? Property damage as a strategy for social change is counterproductive and a form of violence, just as yelling at children is a form of violence. We all take personally any attacks on our possessions and our places of employment. Smash the windows of a store front and you are violating not the corporate owners, but the people who work there. All things considered, this past weekend of chaos, pain and suffering was a failure to accomplish anything of value, and a distraction from the real work that needs to be done. The energy and resources spent on all sides of the conflict would have been much better invested in domestic violence programs, support for community television, services and facilities for the homeless, and other pressing needs. The cost of overtime for police officers alone could have fed hundreds of hungry children in our community for months. Let's find more effective ways to make Eugene a better place to live and raise our families. - TJT opinion The May 4th edition of Eugene Weekly featured Project Censored, the top 10 stories that did not make the headlines in the mainstream media. I followed up on it and looked up the rest of the 25 ignored stories. What struck me was that five of the stories had to do with NATO's illegal war on Yugoslavia. Besides the two featured in EW, "NATO defends private economic interests in the Balkans," and "U.S. and NATO deliberately started the war with Yugoslavia," three other stories made the Project Censored's top 25 censored list. They included stories on the role of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in creating economic conditions that led to the wars in the Balkans, U.S./Kosovo Liberation Army plot to create disinformation and how the CIA and German intelligence agency trained and developed the KLA. To many of us who followed the Yugoslav story closely, this was not news. It followed the same pattern of illegal U.S. interventions in other countries. Through media manipulation (sophisticated propaganda), selfish economic interest wrapped in a humanitarian package, and covert CIA involvement, the U.S. government has once again been able to fool most of the people most of the time. As the big lie has unraveled since last June, media in Europe and Asia have uncovered and featured many of these stories prominently while the U.S. media continue to ignore them. The biggest surprise for many of the critics of the war (including Noam Chomsky, Michael Parenti, Alexander Cockburn, Ramsey Clark etc.), has been the number of "progressives" who swallowed the government line. Many on the left have attacked NATO critics and have labeled opponents of the war as apologists for Milosevic and Serbian nationalists. The truth is that many of us oppose NATO expansion as well as U.S. militarists, while at the same time condemning both the Serbian and Albanian extremists. There is no contradiction there. The U.S. and Western "neo liberals" (Clinton, Blair, Shroeder etc.) continue to push for military and economic domination of the Balkan region and other parts of the globe. Through international bodies such as IMF, the World Bank, WTO and NATO, they are using "legal" means of controlling other nations and international markets. The old system of creating colonies for the purpose of exploitation and pillage is passé. The new imperialists have devised much more sophisticated and effective ways of robbing the poor, developing nations. It's all done in the name of bringing the "rule of law" to the unfortunate and "undemocratic" world. By creating rogue states and labeling leaders who don't play by their rules modern day "Hitlers," the U.S. and its Western allies have been able to justify horrific actions as necessary and in the interest of the "international community." Kosovo was an important test case for this "new world order." The local media, including EW, has followed the national trend by refusing to cover the stories on the war in the Balkans. EW has turned down time and again letters to the editor as well as op-ed pieces submitted on the issues brought out by Project Censored. The reason given for not publishing them was that the focus of the paper is local. However, the misuse of local taxpayers' dollars by the Pentagon is the ultimate local story that affects each Eugene taxpayer. As an alternative to the mainstream Register-Guard, the EW should provide its readers with information not found on the pages of the R-G. I hope that by publishing Project Censored's list of ignored stories, EW will begin to transform itself from a local news and entertainment guide into a more open forum on issues ignored by the corporate media. EDITOR'S NOTE: Pete Mandrapa is a long-time resident of Eugene and has been active in variety of peace and justice issues in the community. This is his second commentary in EW on Yugoslavia. For the record, EW does occasionally devote space to national and international issues, but our primary mission is to cover local issues that are ignored by local media. living
out Before I knew that a crush was anything other than an orange soda, I had one on Elise Siegel. We shared a combined fifth and sixth grade classroom. She was a year older and gorgeous: clear skin, long dark hair, and eyelashes that formed little peaks when she'd emerge from the swimming pool. I loved being with her. Her drawings of people and horses were the best in our school. She knew all about horses. I adored the way her easy laugh tumbled out like a whinny. Elise's hair was shiny and bounced when she brushed it. "Body" they called it in the shampoo ads. Sometimes, in the girls' bathroom, she'd let me brush her hair. "Sleek, silky and tangle free," I'd comment. Once, standing behind her in line after recess, I said, "Your hair looks like it's always wet." How was I to know this could be taken the wrong way? I'd never worried about the oily look. Hair like mine, all frizzy and bushy and wild, only even came close to looking like "Breck Girl" hair when it was soaking wet. I used to play in the pool for hours, making smooth, glamorous styles that would quickly contract into an electrified mop in the hot desert air. To me, looking wet was a huge compliment, but it insulted Elise. She spun around. "Thanks a lot," she snapped, then turned her back, swirling her full skirt and lustrous pony tail. My cheeks burned hot as playground blacktop. I didn't know how to undo the insult. Recess was over and I wouldn't be able to talk to her again until lunch. I prayed she'd forget it and make some new drawings today. My prayer was answered during arithmetic. Elise sketched portraits of some classmates and passed them across the aisle to me. At lunch I would show her the special touches I'd added: hairy warts, crooked glasses, buck teeth, devil horns, goatees and bedspring hair. I lived to make her laugh. She sat down next to me at the shaded picnic bench outside the cafeteria. I waited for her to finish her watercress and cream cheese on whole wheat sandwich. She sure was sophisticated. She was sipping iced mint tea from her plaid Thermos when I laid out the re-touched portraits. I took a swig from my milk carton and waited for her response. Elise's face contorted and she barely managed to turn her head in time to spew her mouthful of mint tea away from the table. The easy laugh was back. We held hands and galloped out to the playground for a raucous game of "wild horses." Elise was in love with my older brother. What did she know, she didn't have to share a bathroom with him like I did. I don't know if my parents knew about his aim problem, but thank God they never let him have a BB gun. Elise and my brother were going steady and that was the way things were. I would invite her to spend the night with me so our parents wouldn't suspect anything. We could play and talk and goof around until bedtime. Then she'd sneak into his room to make out. In the morning she let me brush her hair. It seemed like a fair trade. The next year my brother and Elise went to junior high and she stopped spending the night at our house. Now they had plenty of opportunities to be alone. They also had plenty of opportunities to meet other people and without much fanfare they went their separate ways. So did I. I've always preferred the company of girls. Having girlfriends is second nature and an essential connection for me. As a kid I got the message that loving girls was immature, that it was normal to switch over to the opposite sex for a "real" relationship and leave your girlfriends behind. But not everyone makes that shift. Some of us try but it doesn't take. I'm grateful that I've been lucky enough to fall in love and partner with someone of the same sex, and also have deep connections with my girlfriends. One night in sixth grade, months after Elise was out of the picture, I was at the movies with my two best friends. Karen and Laura were getting us Jujubes and Cokes while I went to fix my hair. Elise Siegel happened to be in the women's bathroom. She told me about her problems with her new boyfriend while we ratted our hair in the mirror. My coarse curls teased up easily into a big bubble, the bigger the better that year. I smoothed a few strands over the top, pulled a can of Aquanet out of my purse and sprayed until the sticky mist anchored it all into place. Elise was having trouble getting her glossy hair to rat up very high. I might have stayed and helped her, but I had to get back to my girlfriends. Sally Sheklow has been a part of the Eugene community since 1972 and is a member of the WYMPROV! comedy troupe. Her column, which began here at EW, is gaining national attention and was recently picked up by The Desert Post of Palm Springs and The Citizen of Cincinnati. letters Yes, we pay for our national forests. I guess that is why we can leave trash and vandalize the paths and trailheads, and burn down the hot tubs at Bagby. I do object to increase in fees if no additional services are forthcoming. I do not object to having the trash picked up, the trails well kept and safe. And our disconnect with other people shows up in continuing to bash Nike, Phil Knight and the people who are afraid that we just sold the university down the river. As the PBS ad asks, if they don't do it who will? Meaning who is going to hire the thousands of underpaid workers, and pay them more money? And to do what? I think it is good to hold people's feet to the fire when they need it. And Nike probably could use some heat. But why is no one doing something about the unemployment here? There are thousands of people out of jobs in Oregon. How many of you have been to the Philippines? It is an up and coming country. I remember, from 15 years ago, how prevalent prostitution was for the U.S. servicemen. There was not much else. What will happen if Nike leaves foreign nations, what are they going to do next? I recently bought Nike stuff. What good would a boycott do for the Indonesian workers? They are not the problem! Jay VanOrman Re-cycle Eugene Eugene' s bicycle program started in the 1970s by building a network of bike paths and bike lanes throughout the city. This major accomplishment resulted in the highest level of bicycle commuting the city has ever known. Over the past decade, the city' s bicycle program has focused primarily on adding striped bike lanes on major streets - yet bike ridership has decreased. Meanwhile, the rest of the transportation budget has gone largely to paving more land to ensure that driving remains as easy and inexpensive as possible. As long as the city and county willingly absorb the economic and environmental cost of assuring that gas is cheap, traffic is light, and parking is free, Eugene's outstanding bikeway system will remain a solution in search of a problem. Only when public policy allows individuals to experience directly the high cost of our over-reliance on automobiles will motorists begin to look for alternatives to driving - and find that bicycling offers an excellent option. Eugene' s bikeway system already serves cyclists well. The new challenge is to ensure that it also serves those who are not yet cyclists, especially children. While continuing to add bike lanes as needed, the city should shift its primary focus to fixing the gaps and troublesome places in the system. For example, we need safe bicycle/pedestrian connections to all schools, and safe, low-traffic routes linking the major off-street bike paths to one another and to major destinations. When our bikeways serve children well, they will serve everyone well. Eugene' s groundbreaking bicycle program has lost ground in recent years, but we can re-cycle Eugene by demanding new priorities in our overall transportation system and by focusing on bikeways that work for everyone. Sue Wolling Critical Mess They ride like five-year-olds pretending not to know simple basic cycling rules while riding in traffic, like how not to get arrested. Are they really this stupid? If they are, they should be walking instead of riding. Of all the hundreds of riders in Eugene every day, they are an embarassment to me. They ride under the guise of wanting to "raise awareness of bicycles and encourage auto drivers to get onto bicycles." Why is it that every time Critical Mass happens, these so called bike riders manage to be the cause of so much trouble? Do these riders really expect to make bicycling more attractive by being issued traffic tickets and being arrested? Why don't they just tell the truth? Are they just too cowardly to be honest about their real agenda? Do they have an agenda other than being the cause of their own problems and taking up valuable police time? They don't represent or speak for me and I am a daily commuter. Jan Gardner Decriminalize Biking In a cross town trip I break the law 30-40 times as I roll through stop signs. Police have given me expensive tickets for going through red lights on deserted streets late at night. Police have stopped me for giving rides to friends on my bike. Suddenly bicycling (and skateboarding) are illegal on sidewalks downtown. Says who? When was the vote? It's an issue of profit and control. Cars are part of a huge cancerous industry. They make people into dependent sheep who must follow the dotted line and work to drive to work. My bike was made in '47 and I've put about 50 bucks into it in 10 years. It's beautifully, totally quiet and doesn't burn oxygen or gas. On a bicycle, one's senses are unimpeded. One can see, hear, smell, 360 degrees. The laws that are made for steering enclosed, heavy, loud, metal vehicles at high speeds are not appropriate for bicyclists. My friend was given a DWI on his bike on the sidewalk, $1,200 and six months of classes for being responsible and not driving. Bicyclists fill the streets in China, with few accidents. Let's decriminalize biking. Kari Johnson Supporting Prejudice While Ms. Behm's comment may be viewed by some as quite tame, her attitude and the publication of such comments support ignorant stereotypes and prejudice which are already too prevalent in society. Joan Quaempts Glass House How galling that EW presents itself as a paragon of liberal integrity while its owners blatantly pass bucks around in local elections. Do y'all think your readers just got off the bus from California and don't recognize Anita Johnson's name on the $500 checks she made out to EW's selected line-up of candidates? (Note to newly arrived Californians: Anita and her megabucks trial lawyer husband, Art Johnson, own [part of] EW.) Never a word about that in Pittman's attacks. EW's profoundly biased coverage and aggressive promotion of the Johnsons' candidates eliminates any rock throwing at the R-G from Pittman as being worthy of consideration. Glass houses, dude. Callie M. Bernstein Nervous Cops It is not helpful for people to be vocally venting their rage at police officers. This only entices and encourages them to increase their use of force. Taunting and brinkmanship serves to break down any possible communication between Eugene residents and the police. The police are human beings who have feelings we all share. I know it sounds silly, but when people randomly scream out with vulgarities and impetulance, it makes the police officers more nervous. The more intimidated they begin to feel, the greater the chance they will react destructively. The more this happens, the better the excuse officials will have for giving greater powers and resources to the police. Remember that most police officers, despite their actions, do have empathy for others. Let us then encourage empathy, not division. I'm sure only a handful of hot-headed individuals on both sides want the situation to break down into chaos. If we want to ensure freedom and democracy, we must work with everyone, including the police, in a way that sets an example. If peace is the ultimate goal, then we must become examples of peace. Engaging in ego battles and taunting police officers is counter-productive. I would like to see, in the future, greater organization of these important acts of resistance and autonomy. Let's turn them into constructive events that lead to progress - not further division and breakdown. David Caruso Is HIV Harmless? Demeo indicated that AIDS in the U.S. remains in the same "high-risk" groups where it has always been - highly promiscuous gay men and intravenous drug users, but in Africa (which he has visited 13 times since 1994) the disease is reportedly decimating the heterosexual population. Mainstream AIDS authorities attribute this difference to a "culture of heterosexual promiscuity" in Africa, but Demeo, citing his own anthropological studies, says that Africa is sexually and culturally conservative (with a substantial Islamic population), and that Africa's real problem is war, poverty, malnutrition, bad water, malaria and tuberculosis. African AIDS statistics are reported without benefit of HIV tests, and Demeo says they are deliberately inflated by African governments, to secure financial grants from the World Health Organization. Demeo was joined by Kathleen and David Tyson, a local couple who faced legal challenges (widely reported in the local media) regarding custody of their newborn son, after Kathleen tested HIV positive while pregnant. The gathering was co-sponsored by Eugene Alive & Well, and Eugene Active Resistance. Gordon David Kaswell Lori's Plight Four years ago she was doing research on human rights issues for several publications and was arrested, tortured, tried by a hooded tribunal and thrown in an isolated, unheated cell for life in the Peruvian highlands. She needs everyone to write letters to President Clinton, to our congressman and senators and to the Peruvian authorities asking for her release. www.freelori.org is an excellent website that guides you through the steps of letter writing. Kristen Gardener and Gail Taylor, women on the organizing committee to free Lori, will be speaking in Eugene the weekend of Aug. 5-6. More information on meeting times and places will be forthcoming. I keep thinking about Lori while I garden in the Oregon sunshine. She is sitting, sleeping 22 hours a day in a dark, unheated cell. Two hours a day she spends time with two other prisoners. She is losing sight in one eye. This is a brilliant, energetic American woman sitting in a cell in a foreign country, dying. The president is required by law to do everything in his power, short of going to war, to secure the release of a U.S. citizen wrongfully incarcerated abroad. We have to barrage him with letters so that he does this. The UN High Commission on Human Rights has declared Lori to be arbitrarily detained. There are more than 2,000 prisoners of conscience in Peru, imprisoned for their political beliefs that are contrary to the Fujimori dictatorship. Our tax dollars continue to support his system. In 1999, the U.S. provided $110 million of aid to Peru. Joanie Levine Legacy of a Scrooge I believe if one does business in Vietnam, Indonesia, or China - countries with dire human rights records - it is moral and logical as well to pay workers a far greater standard than that of the price of doing business with totalitarian regimes. Mr. Knight should really have a more humble attitude with university officials, for in the long term his legacy will be that of a Scrooge with empty slogans and bearing overpriced goods, if he doesn't have a change of heart. Bill O'Brien Shoot the Boy Dear Sirs, 1) The exiled Cuban-American community will have the martyr they so desperately desire; 2) Castro will further rally his people with the injustice of a wrongful death; 3) the U.S. Immigration Department can return to their appointed business of deporting non-Cuban Hispanics; 4) gun control advocates can call for mandatory trigger locks; 5) the NRA can complain of lawlessness and Elian's tragic inability to defend himself with counter-fire; 6) the rest of the country can feel smug for not living in Miami. Your humble servant, Jonathan Swift LETTERS POLICY: We welcome letters on all topics and will print as many as space allows. Please limit length to 250 words. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. E-mail to editor@eugeneweekly.com, fax to 484-4044, or mail to 1251 Lincoln, Eugene 97401. |
