Registering to vote
empowers students
Everybody plays, everybody wins. Is it pinball I’m talking about? Good guess, but try voter registration. Although it may sound like a stretch, it’s the truth.
Through registering to vote, we empower and validate ourselves as students and citizens. Sometimes it may seem as though the student voice is all but sought after, but registering to vote forces those with political power to pay attention to the needs of students.
The mobilization of students across the state just last year is a great example of student power. Within the Oregon Legislature, student power has grown immensely. By registering over 27,000 students statewide and over 5,500 students just at the University of Oregon, we were the determining factor in several races last November, and as a voting group, we demanded attention.
In the upcoming election this November as well as the governor’s race in the spring, we must turn out to vote in the same record numbers to prove the student vote is a consistent power and worth political attention. However, the only way students will be able to demand such attention is by registering to vote.
Sandra Newton
sophomore
political science
Yearning for a chance to vote
In my first two weeks as a freshman, I have learned two things; pillowcases can double as laundry bags and everyone has an opinion. The number of students not willing to vote surprised me.
Ever since my 18th birthday, I have been yearning for my chance to cast a vote in an election. When I vote, I imagine I will simultaneously preserve the aspects I treasure in my community and show distaste for what I do not. Failing to do so would undermine the most basic aspect of democracy, something I assumed was important to my fellow Ducks.
I have found many things to be relevant to the way I live my life as a citizen of this campus, ranging from tuition increases to war. I, for one, cannot wait to take advantage of voting as a venue to express my opinion.
Adam Petkun
freshman
political science
U.S. has double standard
for terrorists
Now that President George W. Bush has declared a “war on terrorism,” I know of some terrorists he won’t be pursuing and who are a lot easier to catch than Osama bin Laden.
What about Emanuel Constant, the leader of the Haitian death squad known as FRAPH, who is now living in New York City and would be very easy to apprehend? Then there are right-wing Cuban exiles Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, who bombed a Cubana Airlines plane in 1976, killing all 73 people, including all of the Cuban fencing team.
How about Felix Rodriguez, a Cuban exile and CIA agent, who operated the Illopango air base in El Salvador where arms were smuggled to the Contras and drugs back to the United States?
If the United States didn’t have a double standard on terrorists, why couldn’t the Chilean intelligence agents and Cuban exiles who assassinated Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt in Washington, D.C., be captured with little trouble?
It’s obvious there are two kinds of terrorists — “ours” and “theirs.” Those evil people called leftists, who want things like unions, better wages, universal health care, and land reform, can be killed in extremely large numbers with no retribution from the United States. The people who murder them will not even be called terrorists. However, anyone who attacks U.S. military or economic interests will be pursued to the ends of the Earth.
Gary Sudborough
Bellflower, Calif.
Springfield portrayal
was hateful
I was terribly startled and saddened to read the editorial (“Eugene healing needs to begin,” ODE, 10/1) about Sacred Heart’s new facility to be located in Springfield. The level of venom and reproach was shocking.
No one I know is concerned that their children will be born at a Springfield address. Nor does anyone I know think of Springfield as the redneck haven you have portrayed. My friends and colleagues are interested in our Eugene-Springfield community continuing to have a state-of-the-art medical center. My friends choose Sacred Heart as the place to have their children because of its Newborn Intensive Care Unit, not its address.
It is irresponsible of you to perpetuate the idea that ambulances originate from hospitals. Ambulance response time, as stated publicly by emergency services personnel, will not be affected by the hospital’s location. Ambulances leave from neighborhood fire stations. The additional few minutes travel time (for some residents) to the Gateway site isn’t a problem for the patient once in the EMT’s care. Sacred Heart staff have also stated that a 24-hour urgent care facility will be at the downtown campus. At Eugene Mayor Jim Torrey’s request, they are considering an emergency department. Downtown dwellers will not be left stranded.
You have done a disservice in alarming readers of the Emerald by printing misinformation. You owe your readers an apology. You also owe the citizens of Springfield an apology for your inaccurate and hateful portrayal of their community.
Elizabeth Walsh
Eugene