Ode to Orange Cat
For the past three summers, I had a four-legged visitor at my house, and my neighbors had the same visitor at theirs. Orange Cat, as I called him, was a community cat who lived around the 12th and Ferry neighborhood. After seeing him live outside for two years, after him being so sweet, social and loving, I didn’t see him for the entire winter of 2023-2024.
At long last, in March, I saw him again, and I brought him inside to live with me. He was the sweetest cat — he loved to cuddle, he loved letting me know when he wanted to eat, and he loved finding little spots to hide in my apartment.
To all of the neighbors in that area who knew him and were visited by him, Orange Cat passed away on August 28. He declined in the last few months of his life, and his FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus), which he likely acquired while living on the streets, advanced into cancer. He passed peacefully.
His last day we hung out outside and he got to soak up the sun one last time. He ate rotisserie chicken (the first time I saw him after this past winter he was ravenously eating a rotisserie chicken someone left outside on the corner of 12th and Ferry Alley), fresh salmon and shrimp. On behalf of him, I would like to thank everyone who has loved and cared for him throughout his life. Thank you.
Olivia Kuehl
Eugene
Feed the Poor
Susan Groszkiewicz (EW letters, 8/29) complains about a man stealing her husband’s food at a food cart downtown. Yes, that will keep happening. If the poor have no rights, then neither do the middle classes.
Lynn Porter
Eugene
Ironies Abound
Bentley Freeman’s opinion piece ironically entitled “Bullshit” (EW, 8/22) has the facts wrong. My submission to the commissioners was not “a legal petition” or the “proposal of a private law firm.” I made essentially the same suggestions years ago. The proposal the commissioners sent to the ballot is actually based on the prior work of many reform minded citizens.
Mostly because I am well past 80 years old, I asked my attorney and friend Bill Gary to present the updated proposal to the Lane County commissioners. I practiced government law myself for many years and today Gary is the foremost expert in local government law in Oregon. His involvement ensures the proposal would pass legal muster.
The need for reform is obvious from the recommendations made by the county’s charter review committee. Continuing to allow elections to be influenced by existing voting districts would be a perversion of democracy.
Reform efforts elsewhere show that impartial redistricting standards and procedures produce more fair, by any definition, results for voters. On the other hand, calls for delaying reform means to knowingly conduct more elections by way of gerrymandered districts. How is that in the public interest?
Stan Long
Eugene
Editor’s Note: It’s still news, even if you didn’t like the article.
On a Limb, a Vote for Change
I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict that EW will endorse District 4 Congresswoman Val Hoyle for re-election.
I won’t be abiding by any such endorsement. I expect my congressional representatives to, first and foremost, represent U.S. citizens and to respect the law. Hoyle has let us down repeatedly.
Hoyle has routinely prioritized illegal immigrants over American citizens. She voted against HR 7511 (Laken Riley Act) that would have required Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest criminal migrants. She voted against HR 8211 (SAVE Act) that would have required proof of citizenship to vote.
Hoyle also voted against HR 8580 to stop the raiding of Veterans’ Administration funds to pay for free health care for illegals. She voted against holding Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas accountable for his ongoing violation of U.S. immigration law and his repeated lying to Congress under oath that “the border is secure.”
Hoyle has supported the Biden/Harris disastrous open borders policy that has brought as many as 15 million more illegal migrants into the U.S, including thousands of military aged men from Russia and China and which is overwhelming our major cities.
She explains that “We need to have movement through the border,” but please tell me how this migrant tsunami is helping America.
If we want change we have to vote for change, and we have an excellent opportunity in Congressional District 4 to do so. Monique DeSpain deserves and will get my vote.
Jerry Ritter
Springfield
Help the Teachers
School bonds. Why vote “for” when the money does not get to the classrooms? I understand maintenance and new schools, but I don’t accept that the teachers have to spend their own money or find ways to get donations to have the “supplies” to teach. Has anyone told school districts that teachers are underpaid?
Give teachers a tax break — I heard $300. What a joke. One out of three parents cannot afford school supplies, so be thankful that this community steps up to address this need.
Passing the yearly school bond and not addressing the needs of the underpaid teachers, is a waste of taxpayers’ money.
The school bonds need to not stop at the administration level. It needs to bypass this level and get to the classrooms. Underpaid teachers cannot afford to supply their classrooms.
It is time that the voters stop passing school bonds until the money goes to the classrooms and helps the underpaid teachers to do their job.
Steven Hunnicutt
Eugene
No to PVC Pipes
We discovered that the city of Eugene is supplying fresh potable water to the Amazon dog parks through PVC pipes. They are affecting all animals and possibly humans with PFAS. Why would they do this?
Because of these issues, PVC piping is not generally approved for use in houses for potable (drinkable) water. When PVC (and other plastics) are heated the processes of outgassing and the migration of chemical compounds from plastic into tissues occurs. Heat recently caused the 90 degree elbow to fail resulting in flooding of the small dog park entrance.
Workers replaced it with a new PVC elbow so there will be a new source of PFAS in the water.
Please contact the Eugene Parks and Recreation department to complain, then request they repipe with copper for the health of everyone using the parks.
Raymond Dowd
Eugene
Do Better, EPD
I find the lack of response and progress regarding the multiple broad-daylight rapes in public spaces in Eugene to be extremely inadequate. How has EPD not only failed to identify but to stop such a terrifying assault three separate times?
Instead, they have suggested the use of the buddy system and self-awareness. The suggestion of using a “buddy system” is an inadequate response that shifts the burden onto potential victims rather than addressing the issue at its core. The idea that we should modify their behavior to avoid assault, especially during the day in public spaces, shifts responsibility away from where it should be — on the attackers and the institutions responsible for preventing such crimes.
How is it possible that these attacks have occurred multiple times without intervention? EPD should be held accountable for these lapses and explain what measures, if any, are being implemented to prevent further incidents. We as a community must put pressure on EPD and city officials to ensure these attacks are being taken seriously. Our sisters, daughters and mothers are at risk.
Vanessa Rogers
Eugene
Seed the Vote
I strongly resonated with the points made by Zach Klonoski (“Join Together,” EW 8/29) regarding the importance of the upcoming presidential election. Although it’s tempting to restate his many thoughtful comments here, I’ll just second his call to step forward to “commit to strategic, impactful action,” whatever that might be for you.
It especially pleased me to read that Klonoski will be canvassing with Seed the Vote, an organization I’m supporting in this election cycle. Seed the Vote (SeedTheVote.org) is partnering with local organizations in key states like Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania to send canvassers out to knock on doors to initiate conversations with voters about the importance of preserving democracy and building a better future together. Besides Klonoski, several other Eugene-Springfield residents are participating in this research-based, community-centered initiative. Those who can’t travel themselves are invited to participate in phone-banking and/or fund-raising to support the effort.
History has its eyes on us!
Patricia Bryan
Eugene
Eugene, Unfiltered and Uncurated
Regarding Susan Groszkiewicz’s letter (EW, 8/29), I read your letter and I was very upset by it. In Eugene, our people are starving, struggling and surviving. I’m sorry that you were stolen from. That honestly and truly sucks, but our people are desperate. I find myself upset, maybe unfairly, that you come here from Bend, a wealthy and gated community, on a trip and are shocked by reality unfiltered and uncurated.
I have visited Bend before and my first thought was, “Where are their homeless?” The terrifying reality is you have criminalized it, forcing the downtrodden out of your city’s borders.
I hope you visit again, and if you are still surprised by our reality, please treat someone desperate to a meal. Talk to them, ask them honestly “How are you?” I promise you they will be grateful.
Otherwise, I hope you enjoy life floating down your river. I hope you savor your beautifully maintained trails and your skiing trips. Because we’re better off without your attitude. Enjoy your gilded cage.
Zohar Wacks
Eugene
There is a Harris Street
Eugene, like many other towns, has a collection of streets named after Presidents: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Monroe, Taylor, Tyler Polk, even Nixon, etc.
Let’s hope that our Harris Street will, in 2025, be added to that collection !
Baz Freedman
Eugene
ONLINE EXTRA LETTERS
It’s the Greed
A friend from Africa recently shared with me this saying: “If you refuse to share your riches with the poor, you force the poor to share their poverty with you.” This is as true on the streets of Eugene as it is on our border with Mexico and on borders all across Western Europe. And as a famous guru (Osho) pointed out, poverty is not the problem. Greed is the problem. Inequality, poverty and desperation are the result, but greed is the problem. Centuries of it, in fact!
Rick Moser
Eugene
A Third Choice, Jill Stein
Democrats tell you that voting for Harris is necessary to avoid the potential evil of a Donald Trump administration.
What Democrats avoid telling you is that by your vote, you will be backing Kamala Harris’ policy of fully supporting the apartheid state of Israel in its genocide against the Palestinians.
What Democrats also won’t tell you is that by your vote for Harris you will become personally accountable for the horrific genocide being quite openly conducted with U.S. support, which support now includes you.
Hiding behind “but Trump is evil” to justify voting for Harris can never remove the stain of your assimilation of the evil of supporting genocide from any personal moral compass or conscience to which you might have previously laid claim.
The good news is that on the Oregon ballot in November you have a choice. Either you can severely degrade yourself by voting for either Harris or Trump — who both fully support genocide — or you can protect your moral compass and conscience by voting for Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein.
Choose wisely and with empathy.