Opinion: Page 383

Slant 12-26-2013

Slant

• Dreaming about Eugene? For this issue we asked a couple dozen local folks with a mix of interests what they would like to see happen here in the next few years. We expected half to respond, but instead nearly all did, often with great enthusiasm. It appears we are a community of big ideas and big dreams. We didn’t have enough pages this week to run all the responses, so we plan to continue next week. Keep dreaming! And we welcome letters on this theme as we enter the New Year. Continue reading →

Letters to the Editor: 12-19-2013

Letters

POWER BILLS COMING Last week, we experienced the lowest temperatures in 40 years. We also used more electricity than anytime during the last decade. At one point, Eugene was consuming 557 megawatts to stay warm. Overall energy consumption was 30 percent to 50 percent above a typical December day as many residents hunkered down at home and kept the heat turned up. Continue reading →

Slant 12-19-2013

Slant

• Rumors of a homeless person freezing to death during the cold snap were false, says Doug Bales, director of the Egan Warming Center. The official cause of that death is a drug overdose. “Not many freeze to death since Egan, but over the past five years there have been some deaths of exposure on nights we were open,” Bales writes. Continue reading →

Letters to the Editor: 12-12-2013

Letters

CUCKOO’S NEST OPTION Eugene is a fine city. Many volunteer organizations take care of the homeless population in fair and foul weather. But too few citizens have direct contact. In spite of best intentions, I read that many volunteers cannot work with mentally disturbed people, especially when police presence is inadequate. If a substantial fraction of homeless people are mentally disturbed, this makes it difficult to accommodate all homeless in the same program. Continue reading →

Slant 12-12-2013

Slant

• Eugene’s mayor says Whoville is here to stay through the holidays — or, at least, the city has no plans to disperse the homeless camps before the City Council reconvenes Jan. 13. But the council’s refusal to officially approve four emergency rest stops before its monthlong vacation irked protesters, who say they’ve been harassed by police at the sites and want the council’s protection through the break. Continue reading →

Letters to the Editor: 12-5-2013

Letters

MORE BAD POLICY Chop. Chop. Tim-ber! Whether you hear it or not, that’s the sound of a tree being felled in the forest. And if Rep. Peter DeFazio’s and Sen. Ron Wyden’s proposed O&C timber lands legislation becomes law, you will definitely hear it loud and clear as 1.6 million acres of public forests are turned over to private industry for chopping. How bad is this legislation? After DeFazio’s bill passed in the majority Republican House, Democrat President Barack Obama vowed to veto it as bad environmental policy. Continue reading →

Slant 12-5-2013

Slant

• Eugene is a like a big family where the parents squabble but mostly get along, some of the kids are bright-eyed A students, some are rebellious, some are going through hard times and are homeless but will be OK in time. Benevolent in-laws are around to provide guiding hands, and there’s a crazy uncle running around without pants, scaring the kids and alarming the neighbors. The wild kids, crazy uncles and people temporarily without homes hanging out downtown are getting a lot of media attention lately. Continue reading →

Time to Resist

Global warming is the most serious crisis that humanity has ever faced

Viewpoint

Global warming is the most serious crisis that humanity has ever faced. The world is headed directly towards a cliff in the dark: We know the cliff is ahead of us, but we don’t know how soon we might reach it. Some people think that the countries of the world will not be able to do what is necessary to avoid millions of people suffering the death penalty as a result of global warming. When they express their defeatist attitude to others, they make things harder for those of us actively fighting global warming. Nobody can predict what the future will bring. Continue reading →