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Did anyone notice this week that Eugene Mayor Jim Torrey completed his visit to all the communities in Oregon? He finally arrived back in Eugene and submitted a report to our governor and legislators containing explosive evidence of what everyone in the state already knew except for Mayor Torrey and his cohorts in the Republican party: Our public schools are underfunded! It took Torrey almost four months and thousands of miles of driving to come to this conclusion, and all he really needed to do was drive to Salem once and look at how poorly his party's leaders in the Legislature had funded education over the last several years. Since taking over as the party in power in the House, it has been Torrey's own party that has systematically gone about the process of placing our children's education on the back burner while giving away tax incentives and tax cuts to the rich and powerful in Oregon. The mayor's highly publicized trip across the state was nothing more than a political ploy to promote the mayor's star in the Republican party. This is the mayor who presided over Sacred Heart's exit from Eugene, multi-tax breaks for big companies who are now or have already laid off thousands of Eugene residents, and then his administration's failure to attract "living wage" jobs to the city. Isn't it time that we as citizens hold Torrey accountable for his actions? The city is far worse off then it was when Torrey took office. The Democrats in the Legislature have been crying out for the Republicans to do something about education funding only to be silenced by the speaker's gavel. In comes Torrey on his white horse and all of a sudden the Republicans are going to talk about education? Sounds like a set up to me. Let's get real education reform in Oregon this year and adopt the right plan, which is the Democrat's plan. Rich Cunningham
PRESIDENTIAL STAINS President Bill Clinton had sex with an intern, lied about it and was impeached. President George W. Bush willfully lied to the American people and took us into a war that cost the lives of over 170 American soldiers and thousands of Iraqis. Where is the outrage? Where is the screaming? Where are the investigative reporters who have the moral responsibility to protect our freedoms? The Bush White House has admitted that it exaggerated and even fabricated some of the evidence presented to the American people and the United Nations. What more evidence do we need? Where are our congressional representatives? Where is their commitment to the Constitution they vowed to uphold? I don't get it. Is the death of 170 American soldiers less important than a stained blue dress? Carol Horne
WORKS: COMPLETE A friend of mine heartily recommended Willamette Rep's production of The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged), saying it was laugh-out-loud fun. Fortunately, I bought my tickets before I read Brian Boone's review. After seeing the show myself on Saturday night, I wondered what show Boone had seen. The one I saw was hilarious, brilliant, well-acted and captured the essence of Shakespeare's works. Boone saw the audience participation bit in Hamlet as tiresome. For me, it was a graphic experience of Ophelia's madness. As for the present-day references, perhaps the reviewer doesn't realize that what makes a work classic is its continued relevance through time. Rather than an "aching desire to please," as Boone says, the modern references in the production I saw were not only appropriate, but right on. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. MaryJo Comins
NEW MEDIA APPROACH The only people more uneducated than our schoolchildren lately seem to be our lawmakers and our media. As Eugene continues to be a national leader in research into educational and social welfare issues, the findings are being ignored. We have growing evidence that raising class sizes, closing schools and eliminating social service needs are costly and damaging to a society. Where are these studies in our media and policymaking? As our institutions instead focus on unproven theories of security and well-being including tax cuts for the rich, military buildup and usurping retirement benefits, it's more than our conscience that's lost. Collective intellect is also missing. Our increasing knowledge of the benefits of drug treatment along with educating, stimulating and nourishing children is now futile. Newspapers and television underreport this information and lawmakers refuse to abide by it. So what's the use of proving the benefits of nutritious meals on learning or tobacco education? Let's instead make counterproductive policy with unethical, "neutral" reporting about it by leaving out the proven damage it will cause. Mike Meyer
MAD COW IRONY The current upset over a mad cow in Canada is ironic. Not to make light of the painful fate of the cow, nor the potential for widespread public health calamity due to mad cow disease, but the public health costs of the beef industry are already enormous. Virtually all medical and public health officials agree: The rate at which Americans eat beef (and other animal products from milk to poultry) is a public health disaster. Coronary diseases kill thousands each year and degrade the quality of life for many others in addition to those dead from eating too many burgers and steaks. Beyond the human consequence, the environment and habitat suffer from the millions of tons of fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides to raise the grain the animals eat while hormones, antibiotics, colorings and more that are standard ingredients in the production of conventional beef. Water pollution, loss of habitat (like cleared rainforest) and waste disposal are only a few of the companions to beef and related animal factory farming industries. Genetic engineering is another hazard. Not to mention the appalling conditions characteristic of high intensity factory farming. Crowding, filth, antibiotics (the same kind used for humans and losing their utility), the slaughter and more translate into a life of pain and suffering for animals raised in the mass production mode. Giant agribusiness and animal food retail companies have serious political influence on public policy that is contrary to public health. These same entities are responsible for the export of the fast food culture to other countries that are now beginning to see the same kind of deteriorating public health trends as in the U.S. So one cow is discovered with BSE. Certainly a cause for alarm. The best remedy is for individuals to choose to eat less beef (or any other animal products) if any at all, for the government to end subsidizing its production, distribution and consumption, and for pubic health agencies to far more openly identify beef for what it is – a killer of hundreds of thousands every year even when no mad cow threat exists. Jan Spencer
ACTING OUT I want to thank Claire Syrett for her advice that the acting community here in Eugene join Actor's Equity. What the hell have I been thinking all these years? Damn, I'm gonna run right down to Very Little Theatre and Actor's Cabaret and tell my non-union brothers and sisters they don't have to work for free anymore. And to think that I once regarded the $75 Lord Leebrick paid me as top dollar! Shucks, I feel like a community theater hayseed. There are people who live and work in this town and do theater. Bary Shaw, myself and many others have worked for free and will do so again. I got involved in this issue more than 20 years ago and the only thing I learned from that is justification alone is not a good enough reason for taking action. It is far more important to support our limited venues. The half salary Willamette Rep paid me for a small role was still over three times what I usually make. And working in the Hult Center sure as hell beats working in a restaurant or old garage. And isn't the essence of this whole story the fact that a local theater is in financial trouble but keeps the belief that the next show will turn things around? Boy, there's a scoop. So maybe sometime Ms. Syrett will let us all fawn over her Equity card. That will certainly do it for me. Until then, she should stick to calling cues. Of course, she'll only be able to do that in the one Equity house in town. Ken Hof
TINY TYPE Julie Rogers (5/15) could not be more right about the ridiculously miniscule size of so much of the print in EW. Her letter inspired me to call EW's office and share the same sentiment. I was told (by not the nicest person I've encountered in Eugene) that only five people have complained, and so it's not a problem. I'm writing with hopes of inspiring other readers who can't read the classifieds (for which people pay to have their ads read in a format that is unreadable), comic strips, crossword, movie clips, etc., due to the tiny print to call EW (484-0519) to let your voice be heard. I don't understand why EW is not interested in making their paper readable — what other point is there in a newspaper if people can't read it? David Gibbs
WHERE ARE UNIONS? In his "Post-PERS" column (5/15), Tony Corcoran tells us its "time to move on." I am sure Tony would like to leave this behind but for many of us directly affected by this travesty it's much harder. How can I move on Tony, when my monthly pension check was just cut by 28 percent for the rest of my life? How can we move on when one of the best pension systems in the country was just devastated by our friends in Salem? It's hard to move on when you, a longtime friend of the working people, side with Ted "Opportunist" Kulongoski. Would you have taken a lead on this for Kevin Mannix if he would have won last November, or would you have fought back like you always did for us? It's ironic that the week after our pensions were slashed, over one million public employees in France walked off their jobs to protest their "pension reform." French unions called for a general strike while Oregon teachers, firemen, policemen, etc., quietly acquiesced and others lined up to retire before "reforms" went into effect. Where are our unions? Where are our labor leaders leading a fight-back movement? I guess they are all up in Salem making deals, hoping for some judge to overturn this mess. And by the way, Tony, good luck in getting the Republicans in Salem to return a favor and support a real tax reform. If you believe that, you probably also believe in leprechauns. Pete Mandrapa
CASINO BENEFITS It's interesting that at a time when Oregon is in a financial crisis that some Oregonians do not want to see more economic development. The casino proposed by the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw will bring jobs and attract more tourism to Lane County and the Florence coast area. And, like all tribes in Oregon, the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw will form a compact with the governor to give the state of Oregon a good percentage of the profits, as much as 10 percent or more of the gross earnings from the casino to education and roads. To me it only seems sensible to allow this tribe to develop the casino to help the area recover from deficits in education and road repair monies and create jobs and increase tourism dollars to our county. Like many other people, I was against other casinos being built in Oregon because I thought there would be an impact on the moral fiber of the local people. However the casino at Grand Ronde, Spirit Mountain, annually gives away community development grants, funds local schools in a rural, depressed region and helps fix the rural highways from the coast to the valley. While a casino is not a cure-all, the increased development does help the area around Grand Ronde. I can see this happening for Lane County, as well. David Lewis
GREEDY INVESTORS Twice in Alan Pittman's May 22 article, "Ode to Node," real estate investors whined that democratically determined changes in land use regulations unfairly take away their property rights. This illogic is worthy of inclusion in Tom Tomorrow's (5/22) "The Republican Matrix" cartoon "where logic holds no sway … where up is down and black is white." I am sick of hearing greedy real estate investors demand to be compensated for land use changes that lower the value of their property. Investors take this risk because they often make huge profits by getting property rezoned for higher density development. Compensation for losses would only be fair if investors were also willing to pay taxpayers for land use changes that increase property values. The state Legislature almost passed a special bill, which was promoted by the opinionated Lars Larson radio show, to permit a 90-year-old woman to profit from developing her land. I am sorry that her long-term investment turned out poorly, but I don't see the state Legislature offering to bail out other types of losing investments made by widows and orphans. Hopefully, the nodal development concept will prove more durable than the 1970s downtown mall idea. Thomas Kraemer
DEAN IS NO BETTER Your Slant column about Gov. Howard Dean (4/24) is mistaken. Dean merely has tactical disagreements with Bush's war — there's not a fundamental disagreement on the reality of empire. Dean (as governor) presided over the entry of Wal-Mart into Vermont, arranged for the feds to "streamline" the proposed Burlington Outer Beltway (to exempt it from most environmental review despite major environmental damage) and has a record that epitomizes why so many have lost any faith in the Democratic Party. Several articles about him are archived at www.oilempire.us/2004.html(a guide to the next presidential selection). There are two anti-war candidates: the Rev. Al Sharpton and Congressional Rep. Dennis Kucinich. Of these two, only Kucinich has experience with the organizational nuts-and-bolts of elective office, and I plan to change my party registration next year to be able to vote for him in the primary. Kucinich's campaign can be contacted at www.kucinich.usHowever, if the country continues to adopt computerized ballot counting machines made by Republicans, there will not actually be an election next year, only a media spectacle called an "election" that lacks integrity or honesty. If trends continue, Oregon will be the only state next year that actually has ballots — since our "vote by mail" system will prevent adoption of this fraudulent technology. Mark Robinowitz
SURPLUS SCHOOLS Bailey Hill. Dunn. Laurel Hill. Santa Clara. Washington. Westmoreland. Whiteaker. Willakenzie. These eight schools are now or will soon be listed as "surplus" by School District 4J (Register-Guard, 4/30). 4J is consolidating fewer students into larger schools and intends to bus many students who can now walk to school. These eight properties offer an astonishing amount of
irreplaceable green space in the middle of our neighborhoods, along
with diverse publicly owned buildings. Much of this may disappear. For
example, at a community meeting on April 28 a 4J real estate consultant
recommended simply selling off Westmoreland School's nine acres to housing
development, to ease 4J's funding What about community values including playgrounds, sports fields, community gardens, ecovillages, small businesses, non-profit offices and meeting spaces? What about the City of Eugene's commitment to "nodal development" so that we can walk to services and shops (not to mention schools)? There is hope. 4J board policy states: "Surplus property is managed to maximize the financial return to the district while taking potential community benefit into consideration...Short-term lease preferences may be given to other public agencies or non-profits which further district's educational goals... Long-term lease or sale preferences may be given to other public agencies." Therefore, citizens and elected officials ought to clearly express our community's intent that democracy and not dollars will wisely steward these public resources and green spaces. Others who are concerned are welcome to e-mail me at oaks@mindfreedom.org to network. David Oaks
STUPIT IS AS STUPIT DOES Cain't imagine why that nasty Saddam bugger didn't use up his weapons of mass distruction. That's what I'd do if somebody was coming after me with the army of God's chosen. I'd use up ever' one a them weapons till they had to pry my fingers off the last jar of biologicals. George must be right. Saddam packed them weapons up in the back of a pickup and high-tailed it for Syria. We better jump on them quick as can be, because now they got Saddam's chemicals they're a threat to western civilizashun. We better give anuther tax break to the rich folks too,
because their probly even more scairt of the boogiemens than the rest
of us, what with all their riches and such. Hell, I'll go broke if I
have to, pertectin' their wealth. Where'd we be without rich folks George has been talkin' to God and most God-talkers is crazy, but not George. It's handy havin' God on our side. Now we know it's OK to step on that stupit Constitution thing we got. I'm gonna catch me a terorrist or two and turn 'em right over to Ashcroft. Maybe get a medal or somethin'. Be wary y'all. Saddam and Osama are still on the loose and we gotta give up our freedoms to pertect our freedoms. It's the only way to catch them boogiemens. Time to git over to Wal-Mart 'n pick up another flag fer my car. See y'all at the next war. Charlie Magee
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