Opinion: Page 370

Letters to the Editor: 2-12-2015

Letters

HARMFUL TESTING Recently I wrote a letter to the 4J School District concerning my decision to opt my children out of the Smarter Balanced state tests. My reasons are that I think the potential harm that taking tests in which over 60 percent of students are likely to fail surpasses any possible benefit that my children will derive from participating. I reserve my right as a parent to make the decision to withhold my children from participating in these tests. Continue reading →

Slant 2-12-2015

Slant

• A $35 annual vehicle registration fee is heading for the May ballot as Lane County struggles to provide basic services. We’re not fond of flat taxes since they exacerbate the gap between rich and poor, but this fee is a bit more progressive than some we’ve seen. Very poor (or green) households don’t even own a car, low-income households might have one car and wealthier households are likely to have several vehicles plus boats and trailers. Continue reading →

Institutional Failure

An open letter to UO Interim President Scott Coltrane

Viewpoint

In your Jan. 8 email to the UO community, “A message from Interim President Coltrane on sexual assault lawsuit” [see http://wkly.ws/1xk], you indicated that you welcome feedback from the campus on your progress. I agree with the open letter provided here by OASA [see http://wkly.ws/1xj]. I would like to express my additional concerns.  The purported shared goal of UO and its constituents is two-fold: 1) to prevent the experience of sexual violence and 2) to respond appropriately when such violence does occur.  Continue reading →

Growing Better Choices

Viewpoint

At its core, the West Eugene EmX project is about growing. On the heels of a long recession, we now see our economy ticking up with new businesses and redevelopment in downtown Eugene, downtown Springfield and across our metro area. We want to keep our economy vibrant. We want to retain the natural beauty around us with clean, fresh air. And we want to have more — and better — choices in how we live, travel and recreate. Continue reading →

Joint Smoke & Mirrors?

Having fun eyeballing Oregon politics

Viewpoint

As Oregon Democrats sadly watch federal politics in our country slide to the right in most states with little to say — Oregon being only 1 percent of the country’s population — it will at least be fun to watch President Obama wield the veto pen as he enters his last term facing a Republican majority in both chambers of Congress. In just three weeks John Boehner and Mitch McConnell have already stumbled on abortion and immigration. Who knows what’s next, another government shutdown? Continue reading →

I Can’t Breathe

Some proposals for police reform

Viewpoint

We have come to a historical moment, when in the course of a few months the issue of racist police violence has fired the imaginations of people all over America, and the world. It represents not so much a reaction to the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, but the overflowing of a cup that has been filled to the brim with the blood of Americans, mostly young, unarmed African-American males. It has become evident that there are very few cases where police officers who have killed an unarmed person have suffered any consequences for doing so whatsoever.  Continue reading →

Letters to the Editor: 1-29-2015

Letters

KEEPING IT UNIQUE Like many of my high school friends in 1980s Eugene, I couldn’t wait to explore the world. So I did. I’ve lived everywhere from Israel to Guatemala to New York City. Recently, my dad moved back to town, so I visited for the first time in ages. We flew into Portland. On the drive down I felt the hills closing in, that familiar feeling of being trapped. Then we started coming down 30th into South Eugene. Continue reading →