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I am a third generation native-born resident of Lane County. I have attended its public schools, community college, and prestigious university. As a resident, I've had the opportunity to contribute to my community in many ways: as an elementary school volunteer, long-term-care ombudsman, and volunteer human rights advocate, most recently on county advisory committee. I recently completed training to become a paralegal, and intend to use these skills in furthering my human rights work. The impending construction of Lane County's new federal courthouse leaves me very leery of my newly chosen profession, and questioning of the intelligence and common sense utilized by those scholars who chose to specifically exclude a protected class of citizens from full access to a federal building. As a person who uses a wheelchair, I use elevators and ramps every day. I will be unable to conduct my business in a building that does not provide full access to me, and although elevator access may meet the absolute minimum standards of access according to the law, in reality, it is a joke. Ramps are respected and recognized as a disabled access, especially here in Eugene. People tend to only use them when they need to. Elevators, on the other hand, are notoriously full of people in a hurry, and in our county courthouse alone, I am often left waiting while the elevator both arrives and leaves full of people who are standing — waiting once for over 20 minutes (I timed it). Most people do not recognize that they may be the only access a person in a wheelchair has to a certain location. Elevators are given to breaking down, as evidenced by the three hours I once spent on the second floor of a builiding at UO while waiting for an elevator maintenance man. Is this adequate access? I think not. In both situations, the person with the disability is left behind, singled out, and excluded from normal activities of daily life — not due to the disability, but due to human behavior and the limitations of man-made mechanisms. Eugene has developed a reputation as a national symbol of inclusion and accessibility for people with disabilities. I, for one, will not sit by and allow such a tragic step backward in our advance toward full and equal access for all citizens. It is simply not acceptable. I served on a planning committee for UO when they were designing and building the Knight Law School, and would be more than pleased to offer my assistance to any effort to change this oversight that could soon become a travesty of justice. Heather R. Cranor
RECLAIM GOVERNMENT Carol Horne made several excellent points in her Viewpoint (Aug. 7, "Reclaim the Dream") regarding the nature of government today and the seeming loss of 1960s and '70s idealism. Unfortunately, her suggestion that something positive will be accomplished by not paying taxes or by engaging in civil disobedience explains why things are the way they are. Experience has taught me that, eventually, the IRS will come after you for the withheld taxes and that civil disobedience does not stop wars. Unless everyone stops paying taxes and takes to the streets, these actions are largely ignored by government policy makers. The only place change will take place is within the halls of government. If anyone is dissatisfied with the way things are, run for public office or support the candidacy of anyone who champions the causes you believe in. Not all politicians are on the take, so support those who stand up for what they believe is right, like U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, and work to defeat those who mainly serve their financial masters. Whining doesn't change anything. Michael Sullivan RISKY OCCUPATION I wonder if it's dawned on America's Orwellian public that many of the world's top microbiologists — 20 in the past two years — have died under mysterious circumstances. explanations from our "propaganda ministry" range from suicide to being blow off a bridge by an 18-wheeler. Here's a hypothetical scenario for your consideration: There's a cabal on the planet composed of wealthy and powerful men with incredible political and economic power (Skull and Bones Society?). This cabal makes and breaks governments according to their New World Order agenda, The Fourth Reich, if you will. These unconscionable fascists have allegiance to no country. The lesson is simple: This group has developed or will develop a genetically altered virus with an 80 percent kill ratio and no known antidote. An overpopulated world interferes with their agenda. These scientists and weapons experts posed a threat to the cabal and were consequently eliminated. They had rather colluded with the cabal — in which case they were being silenced as insurance — they would have been able to trace to genetic pattern revealing the perpetrators, or may have been able to develop a cure. We shall see in the days ahead. Question authority. Tom Clark
GIVE MEN A BREAK, TOO! I'll start by saying that, in general, I enjoy and appreciate your work at EW very much. I have to protest, however, your continued space given to pornography and I ask you to stop publishing ads that sell sex. Because I suspect you've received many good letters that express the hurt done to women, this letter focuses on the damage these ads, and the services they offer, do to men. Pornography basically functions to distract us. Men (and women) sometimes have feelings of loneliness. Men in particular have been conditioned to deny or ignore these and other feelings, and to use different kinds of distraction and/or suppression. A very common method of distraction is to engage in thoughts of sex, or in sexual activity itself. There's great value, however, in not running away from our feelings and experiences. We know ourselves better when we don't run. We can choose to spend some time with counseling around some of our feelings, to follow a spiritual path, or to engage in a training program of some kind. Eugene has a huge number of groups and organizations providing these resources. Sometimes feelings tell us we simply need to make changes in our lives. The instinct for sex is strong. Our animal friends don't need much brain complexity to know when to have sex. Humans are much more complex, with very advanced minds, and we've managed to do well for ourselves. We have time to think, design, express and create wonderful stuff. How about helping men to develop beyond their conditioning? The possibility for men's growth would be great, especially if EW published more articles on the ways that men stay stuck, and on ways that men can grow as human beings! Consider this an opportunity to do "investigative reporting on the global plan to condition men," instead of carrying out that plan. I'm sure you can find lots of willing reporters and authors. Your ad department will creatively go after other ads. Best of all, your staff will feel a lot better about your newspaper's relationship to men, and women! Steven Zorba Frankel
KEEP KUCINICH IN IT I am very excited about Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, having attended his recent appearance at the UO. I knew beforehand I agreed with him on issues, but I was pleasantly surprised and impressed with his presence, energy and passion. He was articulate, intelligent, thoughtful and he even answered questions without hesitation. Unfortunately the mainstream media has written off Kucinich and are not giving him any coverage, which prevents him from getting his message out — as witnessed here by the lack of coverage by The Register-Guard. Polls show him unable to get the Democratic nomination. Common sense tells me that if the media chooses to nominalize someone, silencing their message, the people in polls will obviously not be familiar with him. What seems sadly left out to me is the voice and the choice of the people! Polls have great power in our society. Yet I don't know what questions were asked, how they were worded, and who was called or who paid for the poll. What I do know is that poll questions can be biased to get a desired result. They — whoever "they" are — say Kucinich is too far left and liberal to be elected. Yet a far right wing conservative resides in the White House and is considered re-electable. Why is that? Sounds to me like it is time for a major shift to a more sustainable direction that represents we the people, not just we the rich people. They have had way too much say for way too long. Tim Boyden
REFUNDS FOR SCHOOLS I just received a tax-refund check from the IRS. I am giving 10 percent of it to my kids' school via the Eugene Education Fund (www.eef.lane.edu).If you got a check, please support me in helping our kids and their schools, which are sorely underfunded. Through EEF, you can choose which 4J school to support, and even what program. It's easy. Online, use the "designation" field to let EEF know the name of the 4J school and program you wish to support. Do you care about the arts in school, about science, about math, computers, or reading? Do you wish to support a music program? Or you can give without designation and let EEF fund specific education projects through their grants program. Donations can also be mailed to EEF, P.O. Box 1015, Eugene 97440. Again, if you would like to make a specific donation, include the name of the school and the program on the memo line. I am going to share this unexpected windfall by giving back to our kids' schools. If you got a check and don't feel that you can support our schools financially, can you give back in another way? You could help the environment, our hungry children, our desperate poor. But please, join me and give back10 percent of this refund to help those in need. Leisha Wharfield
HOLE IN JUSTICE On Friday, June 13, political prisoner Free (Jeffrey Luers) was transferred to disciplinary segregation, commonly known as "the Hole," at Oregon State Penitentiary (OSP). Free was sent to the Hole for an article he wrote that encouraged people who are involved in direct action to be more thoughtful in their actions. This would be the second time this year that authorities at OSP have responded to political expression with write-ups and time in the Hole. (Anarchist prisoners Rob "los Ricos" Thaxton and Brian McCarvill were both sent to the Hole for 120 days earlier this year, after allies on the outside sent them postcards as part of an anti-censorship campaign.) Free is widely considered a political prisoner due to the 23-year sentence he received for an act of sabotage that injured nobody. The same week as his transfer to the Hole, the Eugene Human Rights Commission released a letter in support of a reduced sentence for Free, and suggesting that the original may have been based on his political beliefs. Now, Free is again being punished for his politics. We encourage all individuals and groups to stand by Free during this time, and to demand his immediate reentry into general population at OSP. For more info, please visit www.freefreenow.org Steven Gider
STOLEN GOODS? The strategy of new bike shop owners Shane Ayrsman and Ben Leonard to sell refurbished, recycled, used bikes is a good one. Who can argue with lower prices and reuse? I cannot. But these innovative entrepreneurs must explain how their reuse strategy is not, and will not become a method to re-sell stolen bikes and especially stolen bike components. Bike theft in Eugene is a serious problem that makes the blood of anyone who is committed to alternative transportation absolutely boil with rage and frustration. Bike thieves deserve serious punishment and any business activity that intentionally or inadvertently supports the bicycle cycle of the theft and resale should not be supported. Dylan Bennett EDITOR'S NOTE: The owners of the shop say they go to great lengths to assure they are not dealing with stolen bikes, including waiting periods before paying for used bikes, and pawn broker paperwork with seller ID and bike descriptions sent to local police.
GRATEFUL? NO WAY I believe Marc Moscato (curator of My House) was way too polite in his response to what you consider promoting the local arts. You got the day wrong! I think aside from the title of the event (which was also listed incorrectly as "War on Boredom") the most important part of this article was the day of the event. You'd think, after we had sent you a press release with the date, plain as day (right at the top), that you might at least get that correct. Personally, I think your article did more damage than good! I feel that there were a large number of people looking forward to our event and were misled by your article! I feel that people were greatly disappointed Sunday afternoon (July 27), to see an empty park! Not only does this make us look bad, which will make it harder for people to come to future DIY events outside of MY HOUSE, but it also makes your paper look bad! I think if your ego is too big to send an apology out to Marc, that you should (at the very least) send out an apology to your readers. For those people in our community who actually trusted and relied upon your psuedo-article! This was a good thing for our community. We've worked hard to create an environment for independent performers, musicians, zine writers and filmmakers from all over the Northwest. In hopes to expose our community to the inspiring and beautiful world of DIY (Do It Yourself) entertainment! This event was free for everyone. Food Not Bombs even provided free food! We have worked hard to make something happen in Eugene, to showcase artists and performers who have been ignored in this town. And for the benefit of others, we have given up all our time in efforts to make Eugene a better place. We are not doing this to make money. We're doing this to build a community! To suggest that we should be grateful because you gave us a small line in your "community" paper, at no cost to us, could only come from a weak-minded soul. I use your paper for my birds' poop tray, and nothing more. Inga Markstrom
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