Olsen excellent candidate
I’m excited to tell the citizens of Eugene about Ward 3’s candidate for City Council, Tracy Olsen. Olsen will be a sure asset not only to Ward 3 residents, but to the city as a whole.
Running his family business has given Olsen an inside perspective on the interests and concerns of local businessmen. Olsen knows how to balance budgets, meet deadlines and work amicably with others to solve problems.
However, although Olsen is indeed a business owner himself, this does not mean that he serves those interests exclusively. Olsen is also a concerned citizen, community volunteer, college graduate, son and husband-to-be. Olsen balances these roles in his personal life and will also balance constituents’ needs in his public service life.
As a University graduate who now employs and serves University students at Doc’s Pad Sports Grill & Lounge, Olsen is truly in touch with the student population. As a downtown resident and community volunteer, Olsen has personally witnessed the changes in our downtown landscape and its effect on our community’s young people. His active volunteerism for groups such as Birth to Three, The Child Center and Pearl Buck Center has further cemented his commitment to nurture our most precious and vulnerable commodity — our children.
Olsen is fair, open-minded and astute. If you want a councilor who will respect your opinion, who will hear all sides of an issue, who will carefully and thoughtfully analyze the facts before acting, who will give voice to your concerns, then vote for Olsen!

Kay Koffler

Ward 3 resident

Olsen responsible
As a resident of Ward 3, I am writing to encourage all other Ward 3 residents to vote for Tracy Olsen for the Eugene City Council.
Besides being a Eugene native who is actively involved in community service and children’s charities, Olsen is a responsible citizen who knows what it’s like to run a business and make an honest living. He truly understands the issues that affect downtown residents and businesses and is ready to continue his work to make Eugene a stronger and more viable city for our future.
If reasonable government and fiscal responsibility are important to you, then Olsen is your candidate. He knows what it’s like to make payroll week after week, as more than three dozen citizens rely on Olsen for their livelihood. He makes important business decisions on a daily basis. And he has the respect of his vendors, suppliers, customers, and city officials.
Don’t be sold on costly ideas or special interest pipe dreams. Eugene can’t afford it! Now’s the time to put some real, everyday experience and common sense on the City Council.
The choice is clear. Vote for Olsen.

J. Mike Mercer

Eugene resident

Graphic misleading
In the “Men’s health” article (ODE April 10), there was a graph of statistics gathered from a University Health Center survey, the data from which I believe may have been misrepresented in your column graph.
The text at the top of the graph reads, “Percentage of people at the University of Oregon,” and then the graph proceeds to suggest that although 30 percent of men at the University have ever smoked, 63 percent currently smoke, and 53 percent smoke more than a half of a pack a day. Similarly, 45 percent of University men have had sexual intercourse; 1 percent more have had sex under the influence.
I believe that some clarification should be presented to your readers, lest you present an incorrect portrayal of life at the University (more than half of the men smoke more than half a pack a day? No wonder men are having health problems.)

Joseph A. Ross

biochemistry major

WRC ineffective and a waste
I wish to correct the Emerald concerning a misrepresentation of the Worker Rights Consortium. In the April 12 edition of the Emerald, it was stated that the WRC “monitors working conditions in factories that manufacture University products made by licensees such as Nike.” This characterization is in fact incorrect. According to the WRC’s Web site, www.workersrights.org, sweatshop monitoring is done by organizations such as COVERCO (the Commission for the Verification of Corporate Codes of Conduct), CODEMUH (Collective of Honduran Women), and LARIC (Labor Rights in China), not the WRC itself.
So, what do we get for the low, low price of $50,000 a year? We get the right to write our own code of conduct based on tautological guidelines like compliance with local laws. Additionally we get the duty to enforce the code ourselves.
I am not convinced that the WRC is not a scam; I am convinced it is useless. I am in favor of improving the conditions in sweatshops, but if we are going to give $50,000, lets give it to organizations such as COVERCO, CODEMUH or LARIC, not some vague, unaccountable, bureaucratic, useless, managerial layer like the WRC.

Dustin Preuitt

computer and information science

Losing integrity
A university cannot maintain its integrity if it acts under a sense of obligation to its donors. Otherwise it is no better than the federal congress or state legislature or city council. This being self-evident, my only question is when does the contest to rename the Knight Library and the Knight law center begin?

Bryan Wilson

alumnus

Protest for the right reasons
Although I agree with some of the points made in the “A lackluster cause” column (ODE, April 11), Mason West has no right to criticize the actions of present-day students protesting for the rights of workers. War is brought about by the tolerance level that civilians have for corrupt powers that be, and the fact that some found corruption on a local level and decided they were not going to tolerate it is a sign of progression, not regression. If an injustice is comparably small to the travesties of war, should we ignore it? Is the issue of worker exploitation a small injustice? Maybe people are cool with making a few dollars a month.
Believe me, I have seen my share of dreads wearing Nike tennis shoes, and I also find the idea of people suggesting that a protest is “going to be a party” abominable. I too would like to see people more interested in the future and regard it as a promise, not a treat. In point, if you need to wear a tie-dye to get in the mood for a protest, listen up to our man Mason. On the flip-side, some issues are age-old (unlike fashion) and will pop up again without regard to hipness. We should not kick back and enjoy (or passively criticize) this life during peace-time. Maintaining peace is a struggle just as much as trying to create it is. The issue of worker rights may not seem “new” enough for you, but it is still very valid and very essential to the esteem of a society.

Cassie Turner

fine and applied arts

Empty seats a waste
Seeing as how I have been to most every home football game since 1988, I feel qualified to remark upon allowing tickets to be sold to the general public instead of to students only.
To see people standing along the bowl rim and have entire sections devoid of people as school is out of session seems a pity and a waste.
When attendance is only around 36,000 during the preseason, and nearly 46,000 in the regular season. It seems fine by me to allow the stadium to be filled up by any means available. It sure beats a fee increase to replace revenues lost to em
pty seats.

Jay VanOrman

facilities services