EW IS FULLY BACK!
Crosswords and Savage and scopes (EW, 6/20). Oh my!
Leo Muzzy
Eugene
YES, HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?
Hello, is this the Eugene complaints department? I’d like to file a claim on semi-trucks engine braking as they enter town on the Washington Jefferson Bridge. It’s a cacophony that echoes through the Whit at all hours. I can sleep through the many 150 dB train horns and people fighting at 3 am, but this sputtering is a nuisance too far. I suggest a prohibitively expensive physical traffic control to slow trucks north of the river. No? Then consider implementing a fine like you can see up and down the I5 in towns far less dense than here. You don’t even have to enforce it for it to help more than nothing.
Penelope Pascal
Eugene
BUTTS AND EW
Eugene Weekly’s Portland publisher sold out this week (6/20) with a full-page Camel ad. Was it a vintage edition? Advertising carcinogens like it was the 1950s? No, it was current. Sad.
History has shown that it is impossible to out-spend Big Tobacco. Is this a preview of coming attractions? We hope not.
We are readers. We also have been loyal EW supporters.
Jan Walker. Bill Winkley, Elaine Holcomb and Linda Gordon
Eugene
Editor’s Note: Please see Slant for our response to the Camel ad questions and concerns.
MORE ABOUT BUTTS
Really, Eugene Weekly? A full-page ad for cigarettes? Makes me rethink the donation I gave you.
Norma Sax
Eugene
SEE SILENT SKY AT VLT
Every feminist and every misogynist in our area should see the brilliant production of a play — Silent Sky — of a true story of three women astronomy pioneers who ultimately triumph over men who claim their vision backed by their research! Meticulously acted, flawlessly blocked and beautifully staged, this VLT play may well bring you to tears as it does the lead actress! (And me.)
One more weekend before closing.
Bill Winkley
Eugene
MESSAGE TO KAARIN KNUDSON
Housing! Enough and affordable for mid income.
All necessary support for low income housing.
It’s the heart of our city’s needs.
Simrat Kaur Annski Willliams
Eugene
LIST FOR A NEW MAYOR
Thank you for asking. Here’s my list of suggestions for Kaarin Knudson:
1. Place a stop sign at Potter and 29th in front of the new Camas Ridge School.
2. Mandate solar panels on all public buildings.
3. Issue stricter water conservation measures city-wide.
4. Regulate the sale and use of Round-up and other toxic chemicals for home use.
5. Introduce weekly car-free weekends downtown.
6. Change building codes to allow greywater use for toilets.
7. Build more safe bike lanes like those on Alder and 13th Avenue.
8. Make recycling of plastic easier for individual households.
9. Institute mandatory recycling of materials for all demolition projects.
10. Buy smaller buses that run more frequently.
11. Ban old diesel trucks from all public worksites.
12. Ask the trash companies to split up neighborhoods instead of working the same ones twice a week.
Jack Cooper
Eugene
A SMART METER RESISTER
Regarding your June 13 news story (“Meter War”), I am one of the smart meter resisters you implicitly ridiculed with your snarky reference to “tinfoil hats.” There are a lot of us, very different individuals who nonetheless have a common purpose: trying to stop EWEB’s irresponsible smart meter mandate and reprehensible enforcement actions.
In 2013 EWEB commissioners adopted a “Statement of Principles for the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Project” that included: “Customers should be able to refuse the installation of a smart meter…give customers choice, not mandates.” Were those commissioners wearing tinfoil hats? That principle is exactly what we are demanding EWEB return to!
Besides choosing now to ignore the numerous smart meter health, safety and privacy issues, EWEB has harassed its ratepayer-owners by sending threatening letters and emails, dispatching security guards to our homes, and even shutting off many people’s power. Because EWEB has reversed course and dismissed its customers’ valid concerns, and acted aggressively against us, we have had to resort to legal action.
People elsewhere in Oregon and in other states from California to Maine have been challenging the lock-step imposition of dangerous smart meters on our homes. Education matters. Our website, FamliesforSAFEtechnology.org, provides local information and useful resources. A comprehensive site I recommend is SmartMeterEducationNetwork.com.
I encourage your readers to learn the details of what this technology involves. You, too! Because the smart meter controversy deserves thorough, investigative and responsible reporting.
Dennis Hoerner
Eugene
IN RESPONSE
Since I’ve been referenced by Charles Dunaway’s letter to the editor (EW, 6/13), I feel compelled to address some of his inaccuracies. Dunaway leapt to an assumption of me that damages his credibility; I did not identify as religious. My perspective is driven by my deep concern for any nation or people that is targeted for annihilation by Hamas, or any other terrorist group. This concern extends to the Uighurs in China, Yemen and to Ukraine, too.
Hamas, a recognized terrorist organization, does not recognize the right of Israel to exist. Hamas hides among Palestinian civilians, which results in civilian casualties. Pro-Palestine protesters are being played by Hamas propaganda as well as by Iranian and Russian propaganda.
Terms like Nakba, Zionism, Open-Air Prison and Occupation are promoted by Hamas to sensationalize their lies and describe their “version” of events. The Nakba was a result of a directive of the Pan-Arab League who told the Palestinians to flee prior to the Arab states’ upcoming invasion of the area. It’s hardly an open-air prison when Hamas can bring in rockets to fire at Israel and build hundreds of underground tunnels. Regarding the occupation — Israel hasn’t been in Gaza since 2005.
Zionism, at its essence, arose as a way for the Jewish people to save their lives following many centuries of anti-Semitism. It was to return to their original homeland. The Bible offers abundant evidence of the presence of Israelites and Jews in what is now Israel — their Hebrew language, kings, temples, artifacts, arts, music and their religion.
Zenia Liebman
Junction City
NO SILENCE ON ATROCITIES
Given 20 centuries of periodic, murderous pogroms against the world’s Jewish people, culminating in the industrial murder machine of the German Nazis, I’m a staunch supporter of a safe homeland for them. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you need to do your homework.
However, I’m also horrified by the appalling treatment of the Palestinians by Israel under the Netanyahu regime and the majority of Israelis who support him. I fully support the liberation of the Palestinian people. And I believe that both of those commitments are achievable, but that essay won’t fit here.
There is much in Charles Dunaway’s June 13 letter that I can appreciate but, there’s also a gaping hole: any acknowledgment of Hamas’ Oct. 7 murder of more than 1,200 young, innocent Israelis — many tortured to death in the cruelest, most gruesome of ways. Dunaway’s utter silence suggests that he accepts such atrocities as somehow justified.
Also, Dunaway refers to Israeli propaganda but is oblivious to the influence of Hamas’ propaganda on himself. Israel does not purposefully target innocent Palestinian hospital patients and schoolchildren in its legitimate response to Hamas’ atrocities; it’s Hamas who hides among and behind them, intentionally sacrificing them on the altar of video propaganda: the resulting carnage. That’s not just cowardice, it is evil of the deepest depth.
Until Dunaway and like-minded people also call out Hamas for their atrocities, and reject Hamas for its perpetrated evil, they will influence no one outside of their own ideological echo chamber.
Peter Straton
Eugene
ONLINE LETTERS
OFF TO WAR?
EW’s article “Meter War” (6/13) had me shaking my head. What war? There are people who have legitimate reasons to limit dirty electricity, EF/EMF in their home. The article did not address the many federal, state and local laws that prevent either a private business or public government body from discriminating against people who have medical reasons for not wanting to replace their fully functioning electro-mechanical analog meter.
It should be noted, EWEB customers east of Eugene are not having their analog meters replaced. Is EWEB at war with those customers, too? Would it matter that the fact that most of EWEB’s customers do not have a choice of utility service mean anything? EWEB is a monopoly in most of their service areas. In EWEB’s bylaws, Article 3 Section 1, “…shall comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws…” The Americans with Disability Act, Oregon’s Chapter 7 Fair Housing (Section 504) notes that “Individuals with handicaps/disabilities… prohibit any person from discriminating…in the provision of …services… courts have also applied the Act to state and local governments” and EWEB “is a political subdivision of the city of Eugene.”
The city of Eugene’s website says, “The Office of Equity and Community Engagement operates the Rights Assistance Program (RAP), which tracks hate or bias activity and provides support to survivors of hate or bias crimes, incidents, and discrimination.”
The FCC was sued in 2021 and lost. Their EF/EMF data is not current since 2000. All EWEB customers have a right to protect themselves and their property from harm.
Melinda Stone
Eugene
SUPPORT INTERNATIONAL AID
As our world becomes increasingly interconnected, it’s important that we consider all communities, especially the most vulnerable ones, when allocating resources and determining abroad priorities.
It can be daunting to address global concerns due to the amplitude of these issues. It can even be difficult to grasp the severity of the situation. However, making small steps towards change can be as easy as supporting and advocating for a budget. The International Affairs Budget supports diplomacy programs and critical development all around the world. This investment helps fight pandemics, provide emergency response after natural disasters, save millions of lives with HIV/AIDS medication and much more.
All in all, this budget will decrease world poverty, hunger, conflict and disease. In turn, it will foster a safer and more secure world where economic opportunities as well as the wellbeing of humans flourish.
I urge Sen. Ron Wyden and Sen. Jeff Merkley to support the International Affairs Budget.