Eugene Weekly : Letters : 09.28.06

SEGREGATION'S ALREADY HERE

EW's choice of a headline "Segregated Schools on the Horizon?" for the news brief (9/14) about George Russell's City Club presentation was rather behind the times.

Eugene 4J schools are already highly segregated. Based on district data, one of the reasons for this is clear. The district's school choice and alternative school program has resulted in aggregating wealth in some schools and poverty in others. This district's neighborhood schools in "at risk" regions would be significantly less segregated if the district did not continue to encourage middle class families to enroll their children in other schools. District policies that foster segregated schools also cause harm to the neighborhoods in which the high poverty schools are located.

Further, it is clear that the current approach to school choice will always have this impact. Families that are struggling to make ends meet simply do not have the luxury of participating in school choice. And most of the alternative schools are highly dependent on parent-raised funds to support their staffing and programs. They must raise hundreds of dollars per student every year. If these schools were to become integrated, they could not continue to function as they do.

There is a way to foster innovation and choice that can lead to more integrated schools and neighborhoods. To do so, the most innovative and attractive school programs must be located in the schools located in the most "at risk" regions — and only in those schools. These programs must be designed to serve all students — ranging from learning challenged to gifted.

These programs can provide valuable enrichment and opportunities for children from families in poverty. They can also help to retain the middle class students who currently live in the region and be attractive to middle class students from outside of the region. This approach can also contribute to residential housing integration by encouraging middle class families to reside in the "at risk" regions — because of the presence of high quality, attractive schools in those regions.

4J's last strategic planning effort, Schools of the Future, which released its final report in 2000, clearly outlined the problems associated with the district's school choice program. The district has failed to address these concerns. It is exceptionally difficult to change a system that is providing people of privilege with extra advantages that they think they deserve. Will Eugene 4J ever truly provide equal access and opportunity for all students?

Nancy Willard, MS, JD, Eugene

ECOTOPIA POSSIBLE HERE

In her article entitled "A Free Cascadia" (9/14), Kera Abraham is probably accurate in her amusing description of the concept of the Republic of Cascadia as "a progressive-libertarian's green, wet dream."

The painful reality, however, is that a Northern California-Oregon-Washington-British Columbia secessionist form of coitus interruptus would be far preferable to what we're getting from megacorporation-controlled Republocrat and Demican toadies.

The idea of Cascadia has, as she notes, been a Pacific Northwest secession vision for more than 200 years. It was energized by Ernest Callenbach's prescient, inspiring, and highly entertaining 1975 novel Ecotopia — and by the Ecotopian magazine Seriatim, which explored and expanded many of his ideas.

Callenbach, who spoke in Eugene on a number of occasions, participated in extensive correspondence with me and my students when I taught his book at LCC in several of my classes in the mid-to-late-'70s. As he said in a letter to me, "If something like Ecotopia does happen anywhere, this will be the place."

The novel, well worth reading, is available at locally owned used-book stores in the Eugene area.

Jerome Garger, Yachats

PERSISTENT PESTICIDES

The people of Eugene are so fortunate to have EWEB watching out for their drinking water quality. Not one other water district in the state is testing for forestry herbicides and other agricultural chemicals. Other agencies charged with maintaining water quality sample once, don't find anything, conclude there is no problem, and forget about it for 10 years.

Runoff is not the only way people and property are poisoned. We have identified five other mechanisms by which products are transmitted beyond their target areas:

• Drift is especially a concern with helicopter applications. Not only are droplets carried by wind, the rotor-wash volatilizes the sprayed product, spreading it further. Also, Oregon State University warns that even ground spray can cause crop damage at a distance of one mile.

• Evaporation of poison chemicals continues for days.

• Movement through soil is another concern for forestland dwellers who rely on springs and shallow wells.

• Burning by both forestry and agricultural operations creates dioxin and carries poisons for miles, often impacting large population centers.

• Pollen — pesticide molecules bond to pollen particles creating clouds of neurotoxins.

It's not just cancer, but ADD, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's-type diseases that result.

All monitoring systems have limitations, so while EWEB is doing the best it can with its pesticide monitoring program, it is measuring in parts per billion. Fetal damage can occur at exposure levels of parts per quadrillion.

Beyond human health concerns, how much sense does it make to be spending millions of dollars on salmon recovery, while timber companies are stripping the hillsides and actively poisoning the headwaters?

Lynn Bowers, Eugene

FIXING AMNESIA

Like a broken record, Hiroshima and Nagasaki atrocity apologists (Warren Walsh, letters 9/7) always trot out "a million American lives (and many more Japanese lives) were saved by the A-bombs." In fact, this "evidence" was magically created by McGeorge Bundy in a 1947 Harper's essay to cover Truman's ass.

For Mr. Walsh, "a disproportionate response" is the appropriate response when an enemy country commits war crimes. Not so for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and every other high military official, as well as all Truman's key advisers, except one, who were against the use of the A-bombs against the Japanese. They knew Japan was beaten, and they were deeply concerned about using a savage bomb that would erode America's moral prominence.

General Eisenhower argued for alternatives: "[I]t wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing." General Curtis LeMay, hardly dovish, said that the atomic bomb had nothing to do with Japan's surrender and that the war would have been over in two weeks. President Truman's friend and chief of staff, five-star Admiral William D. Leahy said: "[The] use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan…. [I]n being the first to use it, we … adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages." Even J. Robert Oppenheimer said that the bomb was dropped on "an essentially defeated enemy."

If "[m]emory is of value to establish why we fight," it appears Mr. Walsh has contracted selective amnesia.

Lawrence A. Birch, Eugene

NO GROWTH

I see no evidence of spiritual growth in our world. Today's wars have as much to do with religious conflicts as they do about controlling the earth's oil supply. Not a day goes by without hearing that Christians, Jews and Muslims are attacking one another over a particular piece of land or over a particular brand of god.

How many more centuries will have to pass before people wise up and toss out their poorly written, flat-world texts filled with ancient words of hate?

When will we allow our own experiences and feelings to determine our spiritual alignment — instead of basing our faith on the often edited translations of "holy" books by war-mongering men?

Why can't we apply our intellectual and scientific growth to our spiritual growth? How much longer will we tolerate religious/oil wars that are dictated by presidents, prime ministers and popes? When will we refuse to sign on the dotted line when propositioned by religious salespeople who are stuck in the past?

Let's learn to think for ourselves by taking a bite out of the forbidden fruit.

Robert Simms, Corvallis

FOOTBALL TRAFFIC

Yesterday (9/16), just at the end of the UO vs. OU game, I was stuck in traffic on Coburg Road. There was one motorcycle cop monitoring the merging lanes just over the bridge, and farther down the line, as we got closer to Autzen Stadium, there were three or four more. One of these cops was actually on his feet. The other two were sitting on their motorcycles doing absolutely nothing. The one on his feet high-fived some rowdy Duck fans in a passing car, did a little dance and made a karate move in his enthusiasm for the Ducks' win over Oklahoma.

It seems that if the Eugene police are so poor as to need to push through an income tax that only taxes non-public retirees, then those in charge of budgets and staffing should probably staff less officers to prevent traffic from moving efficiently on game days. If Eugene is such an unsafe city, shouldn't the two officers sitting on their motionless bikes be better used fighting identity theft or domestic violence somewhere else in this town?

I'm not a football fan, so it seems to me that the inherent militarism in this country ties right into this Saturday, Sunday or Monday night tradition. Fans of teams root for their enemies to be killed. Our void of a popular culture cultivates this kind of rampant nationalism in kids on up to their parents by perpetuating the importance of intercollege rivalries and civil wars. We will never be a peaceful nation. Not as long as we root to have the other team destroyed and demoralized. There are more important issues than football, just as there is more to life than football. But when a society as a whole places so much in a game while devoting city resources to keeping the "peace," it seems that our values and priorities are out of balance. Should we continue on this course or should we send a clear message to city hall to get their, our, priorities in order first?

J. D. Seraphim, Eugene

YES TO WALKER

I have been following the contest in District #7 closely despite the fact that I can't vote for either candidate because I am fortunate enough to have Sen. Morrisette represent me in Salem.

I know and respect both of the candidates. I know former Mayor Jim Torrey because we were both on the board of the Lane Council of Governments (LCOG) for four years. Jim also attended every LCOG meeting and made known the accomplishments of the city of Eugene and his interest in education issues. Since I was there as a board member of Lane Community College, I was pleased to hear him voice support for education, even if it was largely support for K-12 in the 4J School District and not much support for LCC.

I have known Sen. Vicki Walker since she ran for the House seat where I live. I support her then and I support her now. As a board member of LCC, I, along with my fellow board members, made regular trips to Salem to lobby our Lane County senators and representatives. I always found Walker and her staff to be supportive of LCC and to be very knowledgeable of LCC's programs and fiscal needs.

Another reason I am closely watching the District #7 Senate race is that I serve as a member of an advocacy committee for seniors and the disabled in our community. I was informed by the woman who lobbies on behalf of my fellow seniors that Walker is a strong supporter of programs for seniors and the disabled in our community and that her opponent has no record in this area.

While I respect both of these candidates and know them both, I think the interest of higher education and the interests of seniors and the disabled in Oregon would be better served by re-electing Sen. Vicki Walker.

G. Dennis Shine , Springfield

IT'S A MORAL ISSUE

Did you see The Register-Guard editorial alleging a lack of ideological "balance" in the Eugene Celebration Parade? More interest from a wider spectrum of participants would be welcome, and it is worthwhile to talk about how to achieve this. But the R-G had to turn its gaze away in order to bolster its point because our winning Peace Train entry was making a moral statement, not a political one.

The Peace Train was composed of 13 separate groups who worked together to create our procession of rail cars. Several of these groups were madeup of Republicans, Greens and independents, as well as Democrats. The only rules for participating in the Peace Train were to keep messages positive and not to include politics.

We all wanted to present peace as a practice of thinking and acting — here in Lane County as well as overseas. What has the use of violence ever really solved? To create peace in our community and in the world we need to model it in every aspect of our daily lives: In the home, at work and in school.

My thanks to all 80 people who walked with us and to everyone who helped construct and decorate our train. We have started a journey and need help from everyone to reach our destination. All aboard the Peace Train.

Betsy Steffensen, Eugene

NONSENSE

This is in response to Lynn Porter's letter (9/7) criticizing Rep. DeFazio for voting to fund the troops in Iraq.

During the Vietnam War, President Johnson met with a group of Democratic senators who thought things weren't going well in Vietnam and wanted the U.S. to get out. LBJ told them that if they didn't like the war, they should rescind the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which authorized U.S. troops to go to war. That's the process for Congress to express its opposition to a war.

In this case, DeFazio voted against going to war in Iraq, he introduced legislation to repeal the congressional authorization to go to war and is a cosponsor of the Murtha resolution which would bring our troops home within six months to a year.

But DeFazio's efforts aren't enough for Ms. Porter, so she says she's going to vote for his opponent — who recently said he thinks things in Iraq are going "fantastic." This doesn't make any sense.

Tim Cullen , Eugene

HELP FIND MURDERER

When did a total disregard for life become acceptable? On Aug. 19, my husband of 33 years was killed while riding his motorcycle with sidecar by a hit-and-run driver. He never made it to the hospital. The driver of a light-colored newer model mini-van stopped long enough to assess the situation and sped off leaving him lying in the street: long enough to see the extent of what they had done, but hoping not long enough to be noticed. A newer minivan, the car of a more affluent person, your neighbor, the person no one would think could do something like this. Someone called 911 and tried to reverse the actions of the moment while the person responsible sped away.

My husband was to pick me up from the airport the next afternoon. I never saw him alive again. Instead the next week, I picked up his blood-stained wallet, the change in his pocket and the glasses he carried in his jacket. There are no words for what was lost in that moment, what my children and I have lost on the other side of that moment.

If you know someone with damage to the right front of their minivan or damage to the right rear wheel well (the right rear wheel cover should be damaged or missing), please contact the Springfield Police Department. There should also be red paint transfer from my husband's sidecar.

Have you been wondering about a van someone was driving everyday but is now not being driven? It has been a month; that would raise some suspicions. Please contact Sgt. Jones at the SPD, 726-3714. The police will investigate any tip. Please help with any information of like damage to a minivan or one that has been parked and not driven since that time. Our family would deeply appreciate your help in closure.

Melissa Johnson, Eugene

KICK 'EM TO THE CURB

It appears to me that the U.S. military has come more and more to resemble the old French Foreign Legion, an employer of last resort. They've lately changed the recruitment rules to allow some with a criminal past in. Misfit for the society at large, they are shipped abroad, to Afghanistan, Iraq, Uzbekistan, etc., to serve in an army of occupation, for the "nation-building" project of the U.S. empire envisioned by the Bush gang.

The French eventually abandoned their imperial aspirations, as have all others with the sole exception of the U.S. The war on Iraq alone has cost Lane County taxpayers over $2,000 each, and counting. Those whose domestic dream is a police state (the National Security Society) have sowed the wind. They will reap the hurricane.

While individuals may act heroically in the heat of battle, the presence of the U.S. military increases local resentment and terrorist recruitment. It's a damn shame that they are dragging the rest of us along with them. We need to put a stop to the extreme and irrational foreign policy we've been saddled with for five years. Throw the bums out!

Paul Prensky, Eugene

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		SEGREGATION'S ALREADY HERE EW's choice of a headline "Segregated Schools on the Horizon?" for the news brief (9/14) about George Russell's City Club presentation was rather behind the times. Eugene 4J schools are already highly segregated. Based on district data, one of the reasons for this is clear. The district's school choice and alternative school program has resulted in aggregating wealth in some schools and poverty in others. This district's neighborhood schools in "at risk" regions would be significantly less segregated if the district did not continue to encourage middle class families to enroll their children in other schools. District policies that foster segregated schools also cause harm to the neighborhoods in which the high poverty schools are located. Further, it is clear that the current approach to school choice will always have this impact. Families that are struggling to make ends meet simply do not have the luxury of participating in school choice. And most of the alternative schools are highly dependent on parent-raised funds to support their staffing and programs. They must raise hundreds of dollars per student every year. If these schools were to become integrated, they could not continue to function as they do. There is a way to foster innovation and choice that can lead to more integrated schools and neighborhoods. To do so, the most innovative and attractive school programs must be located in the schools located in the most "at risk" regions — and only in those schools. These programs must be designed to serve all students — ranging from learning challenged to gifted. These programs can provide valuable enrichment and opportunities for children from families in poverty. They can also help to retain the middle class students who currently live in the region and be attractive to middle class students from outside of the region. This approach can also contribute to residential housing integration by encouraging middle class families to reside in the "at risk" regions — because of the presence of high quality, attractive schools in those regions. 4J's last strategic planning effort, Schools of the Future, which released its final report in 2000, clearly outlined the problems associated with the district's school choice program. The district has failed to address these concerns. It is exceptionally difficult to change a system that is providing people of privilege with extra advantages that they think they deserve. Will Eugene 4J ever truly provide equal access and opportunity for all students? Nancy Willard, MS, JD, Eugene ECOTOPIA POSSIBLE HERE In her article entitled "A Free Cascadia" (9/14), Kera Abraham is probably accurate in her amusing description of the concept of the Republic of Cascadia as "a progressive-libertarian's green, wet dream." The painful reality, however, is that a Northern California-Oregon-Washington-British Columbia secessionist form of coitus interruptus would be far preferable to what we're getting from megacorporation-controlled Republocrat and Demican toadies. The idea of Cascadia has, as she notes, been a Pacific Northwest secession vision for more than 200 years. It was energized by Ernest Callenbach's prescient, inspiring, and highly entertaining 1975 novel Ecotopia — and by the Ecotopian magazine Seriatim, which explored and expanded many of his ideas. Callenbach, who spoke in Eugene on a number of occasions, participated in extensive correspondence with me and my students when I taught his book at LCC in several of my classes in the mid-to-late-'70s. As he said in a letter to me, "If something like Ecotopia does happen anywhere, this will be the place." The novel, well worth reading, is available at locally owned used-book stores in the Eugene area. Jerome Garger, Yachats PERSISTENT PESTICIDES The people of Eugene are so fortunate to have EWEB watching out for their drinking water quality. Not one other water district in the state is testing for forestry herbicides and other agricultural chemicals. Other agencies charged with maintaining water quality sample once, don't find anything, conclude there is no problem, and forget about it for 10 years. Runoff is not the only way people and property are poisoned. We have identified five other mechanisms by which products are transmitted beyond their target areas: • Drift is especially a concern with helicopter applications. Not only are droplets carried by wind, the rotor-wash volatilizes the sprayed product, spreading it further. Also, Oregon State University warns that even ground spray can cause crop damage at a distance of one mile. • Evaporation of poison chemicals continues for days. • Movement through soil is another concern for forestland dwellers who rely on springs and shallow wells. • Burning by both forestry and agricultural operations creates dioxin and carries poisons for miles, often impacting large population centers. • Pollen — pesticide molecules bond to pollen particles creating clouds of neurotoxins. It's not just cancer, but ADD, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's-type diseases that result. All monitoring systems have limitations, so while EWEB is doing the best it can with its pesticide monitoring program, it is measuring in parts per billion. Fetal damage can occur at exposure levels of parts per quadrillion. Beyond human health concerns, how much sense does it make to be spending millions of dollars on salmon recovery, while timber companies are stripping the hillsides and actively poisoning the headwaters? Lynn Bowers, Eugene FIXING AMNESIA Like a broken record, Hiroshima and Nagasaki atrocity apologists (Warren Walsh, letters 9/7) always trot out "a million American lives (and many more Japanese lives) were saved by the A-bombs." In fact, this "evidence" was magically created by McGeorge Bundy in a 1947 Harper's essay to cover Truman's ass. For Mr. Walsh, "a disproportionate response" is the appropriate response when an enemy country commits war crimes. Not so for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and every other high military official, as well as all Truman's key advisers, except one, who were against the use of the A-bombs against the Japanese. They knew Japan was beaten, and they were deeply concerned about using a savage bomb that would erode America's moral prominence. General Eisenhower argued for alternatives: "[I]t wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing." General Curtis LeMay, hardly dovish, said that the atomic bomb had nothing to do with Japan's surrender and that the war would have been over in two weeks. President Truman's friend and chief of staff, five-star Admiral William D. Leahy said: "[The] use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan…. [I]n being the first to use it, we … adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages." Even J. Robert Oppenheimer said that the bomb was dropped on "an essentially defeated enemy." If "[m]emory is of value to establish why we fight," it appears Mr. Walsh has contracted selective amnesia. Lawrence A. Birch, Eugene NO GROWTH I see no evidence of spiritual growth in our world. Today's wars have as much to do with religious conflicts as they do about controlling the earth's oil supply. Not a day goes by without hearing that Christians, Jews and Muslims are attacking one another over a particular piece of land or over a particular brand of god. How many more centuries will have to pass before people wise up and toss out their poorly written, flat-world texts filled with ancient words of hate? When will we allow our own experiences and feelings to determine our spiritual alignment — instead of basing our faith on the often edited translations of "holy" books by war-mongering men? Why can't we apply our intellectual and scientific growth to our spiritual growth? How much longer will we tolerate religious/oil wars that are dictated by presidents, prime ministers and popes? When will we refuse to sign on the dotted line when propositioned by religious salespeople who are stuck in the past? Let's learn to think for ourselves by taking a bite out of the forbidden fruit. Robert Simms, Corvallis FOOTBALL TRAFFIC Yesterday (9/16), just at the end of the UO vs. OU game, I was stuck in traffic on Coburg Road. There was one motorcycle cop monitoring the merging lanes just over the bridge, and farther down the line, as we got closer to Autzen Stadium, there were three or four more. One of these cops was actually on his feet. The other two were sitting on their motorcycles doing absolutely nothing. The one on his feet high-fived some rowdy Duck fans in a passing car, did a little dance and made a karate move in his enthusiasm for the Ducks' win over Oklahoma. It seems that if the Eugene police are so poor as to need to push through an income tax that only taxes non-public retirees, then those in charge of budgets and staffing should probably staff less officers to prevent traffic from moving efficiently on game days. If Eugene is such an unsafe city, shouldn't the two officers sitting on their motionless bikes be better used fighting identity theft or domestic violence somewhere else in this town? I'm not a football fan, so it seems to me that the inherent militarism in this country ties right into this Saturday, Sunday or Monday night tradition. Fans of teams root for their enemies to be killed. Our void of a popular culture cultivates this kind of rampant nationalism in kids on up to their parents by perpetuating the importance of intercollege rivalries and civil wars. We will never be a peaceful nation. Not as long as we root to have the other team destroyed and demoralized. There are more important issues than football, just as there is more to life than football. But when a society as a whole places so much in a game while devoting city resources to keeping the "peace," it seems that our values and priorities are out of balance. Should we continue on this course or should we send a clear message to city hall to get their, our, priorities in order first? J. D. Seraphim, Eugene YES TO WALKER I have been following the contest in District #7 closely despite the fact that I can't vote for either candidate because I am fortunate enough to have Sen. Morrisette represent me in Salem. I know and respect both of the candidates. I know former Mayor Jim Torrey because we were both on the board of the Lane Council of Governments (LCOG) for four years. Jim also attended every LCOG meeting and made known the accomplishments of the city of Eugene and his interest in education issues. Since I was there as a board member of Lane Community College, I was pleased to hear him voice support for education, even if it was largely support for K-12 in the 4J School District and not much support for LCC. I have known Sen. Vicki Walker since she ran for the House seat where I live. I support her then and I support her now. As a board member of LCC, I, along with my fellow board members, made regular trips to Salem to lobby our Lane County senators and representatives. I always found Walker and her staff to be supportive of LCC and to be very knowledgeable of LCC's programs and fiscal needs. Another reason I am closely watching the District #7 Senate race is that I serve as a member of an advocacy committee for seniors and the disabled in our community. I was informed by the woman who lobbies on behalf of my fellow seniors that Walker is a strong supporter of programs for seniors and the disabled in our community and that her opponent has no record in this area. While I respect both of these candidates and know them both, I think the interest of higher education and the interests of seniors and the disabled in Oregon would be better served by re-electing Sen. Vicki Walker. G. Dennis Shine , Springfield IT'S A MORAL ISSUE Did you see The Register-Guard editorial alleging a lack of ideological "balance" in the Eugene Celebration Parade? More interest from a wider spectrum of participants would be welcome, and it is worthwhile to talk about how to achieve this. But the R-G had to turn its gaze away in order to bolster its point because our winning Peace Train entry was making a moral statement, not a political one. The Peace Train was composed of 13 separate groups who worked together to create our procession of rail cars. Several of these groups were madeup of Republicans, Greens and independents, as well as Democrats. The only rules for participating in the Peace Train were to keep messages positive and not to include politics. We all wanted to present peace as a practice of thinking and acting — here in Lane County as well as overseas. What has the use of violence ever really solved? To create peace in our community and in the world we need to model it in every aspect of our daily lives: In the home, at work and in school. My thanks to all 80 people who walked with us and to everyone who helped construct and decorate our train. We have started a journey and need help from everyone to reach our destination. All aboard the Peace Train. Betsy Steffensen, Eugene NONSENSE This is in response to Lynn Porter's letter (9/7) criticizing Rep. DeFazio for voting to fund the troops in Iraq. During the Vietnam War, President Johnson met with a group of Democratic senators who thought things weren't going well in Vietnam and wanted the U.S. to get out. LBJ told them that if they didn't like the war, they should rescind the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which authorized U.S. troops to go to war. That's the process for Congress to express its opposition to a war. In this case, DeFazio voted against going to war in Iraq, he introduced legislation to repeal the congressional authorization to go to war and is a cosponsor of the Murtha resolution which would bring our troops home within six months to a year. But DeFazio's efforts aren't enough for Ms. Porter, so she says she's going to vote for his opponent — who recently said he thinks things in Iraq are going "fantastic." This doesn't make any sense. Tim Cullen , Eugene HELP FIND MURDERER When did a total disregard for life become acceptable? On Aug. 19, my husband of 33 years was killed while riding his motorcycle with sidecar by a hit-and-run driver. He never made it to the hospital. The driver of a light-colored newer model mini-van stopped long enough to assess the situation and sped off leaving him lying in the street: long enough to see the extent of what they had done, but hoping not long enough to be noticed. A newer minivan, the car of a more affluent person, your neighbor, the person no one would think could do something like this. Someone called 911 and tried to reverse the actions of the moment while the person responsible sped away. My husband was to pick me up from the airport the next afternoon. I never saw him alive again. Instead the next week, I picked up his blood-stained wallet, the change in his pocket and the glasses he carried in his jacket. There are no words for what was lost in that moment, what my children and I have lost on the other side of that moment. If you know someone with damage to the right front of their minivan or damage to the right rear wheel well (the right rear wheel cover should be damaged or missing), please contact the Springfield Police Department. There should also be red paint transfer from my husband's sidecar. Have you been wondering about a van someone was driving everyday but is now not being driven? It has been a month; that would raise some suspicions. Please contact Sgt. Jones at the SPD, 726-3714. The police will investigate any tip. Please help with any information of like damage to a minivan or one that has been parked and not driven since that time. Our family would deeply appreciate your help in closure. Melissa Johnson, Eugene KICK 'EM TO THE CURB It appears to me that the U.S. military has come more and more to resemble the old French Foreign Legion, an employer of last resort. They've lately changed the recruitment rules to allow some with a criminal past in. Misfit for the society at large, they are shipped abroad, to Afghanistan, Iraq, Uzbekistan, etc., to serve in an army of occupation, for the "nation-building" project of the U.S. empire envisioned by the Bush gang. The French eventually abandoned their imperial aspirations, as have all others with the sole exception of the U.S. The war on Iraq alone has cost Lane County taxpayers over $2,000 each, and counting. Those whose domestic dream is a police state (the National Security Society) have sowed the wind. They will reap the hurricane. While individuals may act heroically in the heat of battle, the presence of the U.S. military increases local resentment and terrorist recruitment. It's a damn shame that they are dragging the rest of us along with them. We need to put a stop to the extreme and irrational foreign policy we've been saddled with for five years. Throw the bums out! Paul Prensky, Eugene






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