Letters to the editor: Roe v. Wade, Eugene middle housing, and dogs off leash
Christianity has nothing to do with abortions
I am a Christian and no one can convince me that I am not. I have been touched by the Holy Spirit, go to church on Sunday and attend a prayer group and Bible study. However, shaming the desperate women who seek abortions, denying them the legal option to get one and criminalizing the doctors who perform them has nothing to do with being Christian. It will not stop abortions; it will only make them more difficult and dangerous to perform.
If anything, Jesus might have taught us to support and provide better options to those who seek abortions so the abortion itself would be unnecessary. No one thinks abortion is a good thing, but Jesus taught us to help those in need and to love and have compassion for our neighbors not hate, despise and punish them.
If you choose to believe that being a Christian means denying women choice and control over what happens in their own bodies, shaming them when they get an abortion and punishing the doctors who perform them, I will continue to love you as I have been taught by Jesus, but I will be unsure what you mean if you call yourself a Christian.
Donald M. Brasted- Maki, Eugene
Say no to a religious standard
Since Roe v. Wade was handed down, it has been accepted that a fetus becomes viable once it reaches the 24th week of pregnancy. The National Health Service’s policy supports this:
“By the time you're 24 weeks pregnant, the baby has a chance of survival if they are born. Most babies born before this time cannot live because their lungs and other vital organs are not developed enough.”
Whatever your beliefs, Roe should be upheld. To do otherwise would be the first of many efforts to impose a national religious standard on us; that effort should not prevail.
Michael Charlton, Eugene
Eugene will be a shantytown
The City Council has shared comments and feedback on HB 2001 with one glaring omission: the planning department and its capability. This regulation will add extensive workload on the department. My own personal experience questions the city's abilities. In 2018, I moved into my newly built home by Stonewood Construction. In 2021, I discovered that my contractor did not vent my shed-style roof, resulting in extensive damage. The planning department did not find this huge code violation on inspection and approved the home. I filed a formal complaint. I paid a lot of money to the department to review and inspect the property but they refused to take responsibility. Who then provides safety to the homeowner for irresponsible contractors? I assumed that the city was my safety net to protect me and my build. HB 2001 will add layers of work that the department must follow. Are we going to rely on them to oversee the middle-housing construction? If they cannot find a major code violation and offer no restorative steps for the homeowner, I fear Eugene becoming a shantytown! With the planning department not doing their job, this could destroy this once beautiful city. Deborah Killian, Eugene
To those who don’t leash their dogs ...
I can’t tell you how scary it is to have your super friendly yellow lab run freely all over the park because I am doing my best to get away. You see, I can’t approach you or your dog (that is wagging its tail and wanting desperately to get in my dog’s face) because my dog is not friendly. Not friendly and unpredictable. There aren’t many places where I can comfortably walk my dog without worrying about someone or some other dog wandering into his space.
You may be wondering, “What’s wrong with your dog?” I wondered that, too. I even considered having him euthanized. I’ve spent four years and a lot money training and I have worked tirelessly to manage his behavior. It’s not his fault. It’s in his DNA. He was bred to be fierce. He’s very protective, prey driven and has to have a job. He does not trust strangers. I don’t know why. I got him as a rescue from Texas. He’s a dog that is meant to be on a ranch, not in the city.
I know you must feel it is your right to let your dog run freely, but, please, have some empathy. It is your responsibility to train your dog polite manners. It just might save you some expensive vet bills.
Margaret Moore, Eugene
Maybe think of some continuing education?
I was curious about the Replacement Theory and then learned that it dealt with Black and brown individuals trying to take my place. Are these Black and brown Martians brought in from Mars or other countries?
I am a freelance writer. Will they take away my computer and write where I left off? Will white office workers go to work to empty chairs quickly filled with imported Black and brown individuals?
That’s the theory? That white people are so inadequate, incapable, inept and lousy at their jobs that anybody could just pluck them from their positions and replace them? As a white person, I am insulted. I am not perfect but I am certainly capable of doing my assigned tasks. I do not need to eliminate others to survive.
For those white people who fear being replaced, may I suggest taking some job training or new courses or going back to school? I believe in you.
Instead of believing you are being ejected from your job and replaced, how about you work together to create jobs and harmony and inclusivity — you know — the American dream of being one nation under God where all people are created equal.
Candy Neville, Eugene
Stop US complicity in Israel
On May11 Palestinian-American Al-Jazzera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who had covered the Israeli occupation for 25 years, was assassinated during an Israeli raid in Jenin. This was followed by grotesque Israeli police violence with batons against the funeral procession, even knocking down casket bearers, filmed and broadcast worldwide by Al-Jazeera.
This occurred shortly before Nakba Day, when Palestinians mourn their 1948 ethnic cleansing and land seizure by Zionist terrorism, so-designated by the UN in 1948 and well-documented in Israel’s own archives. The terrorism has never stopped. As a high-profile journalist, Shireen’s murder gained international attention but it is hardly unusual. Israel has killed dozens of Palestinian journalists since 1972 exposing Israeli abuses.
Israeli soldiers and illegal settlers kill, politically imprison and steal Palestinian lands and homes at will with virtually no civil rights protecting them under Israel’s military occupation regime and its martial law, in continuous violation of the 4th Geneva Convention obligations of an occupying power. Designated a “belligerent occupation” by the United Nations, these atrocities are routinely committed with impunity since the U.S. under Israel lobby influence vetoes all U.N. Security Council resolutions (45 to date) to sanction Israel.
U.S. complicity must stop.
Jack Dresser, Springfield
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Letters to the editor about Roe v. Wade, dogs off leash, middle housing
