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Happy Sunday,
During my time as a reporter at The Register-Guard from 2014 to 2019, I covered three general elections. Each time, in the weeks leading up to the election, I would read through all the endorsement letters to the editor — all of them earnest, some of them witty, a few downright mean.
Maybe my perspective is warped now, because now it’s my job to read and edit all the letters sent to Lookout. But this campaign season often felt downright nasty. I’m not talking about the races for governor or Congress, where we all kind of expect decency to take a backseat. But local contests like the Springfield City Council race often left me wondering how to balance letter-writers’ right to express themselves with the broader impact of their words.
If you read any Community Voices submissions over the past month, and thought to yourself, “What were they thinking publishing that?” I’d like to hear from you. Send a letter to the editor to lte@lookoutlocal.com, or email me directly at elon@lookoutlocal.com.
On a semi-related note, our letter to the editor cupboard is looking a bit bare. Got anything on your mind that’s not election-related? Let us know.
What Lookout got wrong
Speaking of “how did we do?” a few letter-writers offered rebuttals to the Lookout Editorial Board’s election endorsements.
Jessica Chinitz-Mital, a 17-year-old Eugene letter-writer who isn’t old enough to vote yet, took issue with Lookout’s “unconventional endorsement” of the Eugene Clean Energy Fund ballot measure, which she called “shocking and frustrating. It may as well have been against the measure; it undermined the entire intent.”
Marjorie Enseki of Eugene also responded to the editorial board’s call to divert half of the clean energy fund revenue to housing and other social services. “Would the City Council consider having all of the estimated $15 million annual fund go to the original intent of the measure, then allot half of any amount above the $15 million to other more immediate needs?” Enseki wrote.
Erica Lyon of Eugene agreed with most of the editorial board’s endorsements, with one major exception: its endorsement of Eugene City Councilor Mike Clark over challenger Athena Aguiar.
And Joshua Purvis, a frequent guest columnist, wrote in a letter to the editor that the recent controversy over Lane County’s CleanLane recycling project may call into question the editorial board’s endorsement of county commissioner Heather Buch, a CleanLane supporter, over challenger Jake Pelroy, who has staked much of his campaign on opposition to the project.
Night of the living Elves
How about we end with something completely different?
That’s what guest columnist Tom Derungs gifted us last week. I’ve never met Tom, but I’m comfortable declaring him something of a historian on Lane County’s radical environmental movement of the 1990s.
His latest dispatch recounted the recent 30th anniversary of the Oakridge Ranger station arson, set by two members of the Earth Liberation Front who met and fell in love during the Warner Creek blockade earlier that year, as well as the Earth First! Journal publication that encouraged their acts of arson and vandalism.
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OTHER Letters TO THE EDITOR
Heather Buch has failed rural property owners. It’s time for a change. | Letter to the editor
On the Eugene Clean Energy Fund, don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good | Letter to the editor
Val Hoyle is our defense against Trump’s worst impulses | Letter to the editor
Springfield voters should support Callee Ackland because she’s informed and engaged | Letter to the editor
Young Eugeneans are looking to adults for climate solutions. We can’t let them down. | Letter to the editor
A vote for Athena Aguiar is a vote for Eugene’s future | Letter to the editor
Lookout’s reporting on CleanLane raises uncomfortable questions for Heather Buch | Letter to the editor
I’m not old enough to vote for Eugene Clean Energy Fund. I hope you will. | Letter to the editor
Eugene values a healthy climate. Let’s vote like it. | Letter to the editor
Lookout’s editorial board missed the mark on Eugene city councilor endorsement | Letter to the editor
Eugene Clean Energy Fund is a chance to take power back from corporations | Letter to the editor
Bend school shooting raises questions about politicians’ views on gun laws | Letter to the editor
Column tried to frame Christine Drazan as moderate. She’s anything but. | Letter to the editor
Support the Springfield council candidate who has new ideas | Letter to the editor
Here’s a better idea than the Lookout Editorial Board’s on clean energy funding | Letter to the editor
Drazan campaign’s anti-Kotek billboards are demeaning | Letter to the editor
Our climate emergency is also a health emergency. Vote like it. | Letter to the editor
Springfield needs leaders who support common people | Letter to the editor
Val Hoyle will keep up the fight for women’s healthcare rights in Congress | Letter to the editor
Let’s make Eugene a leader in the new green economy | Letter to the editor
This week’s guest opinions
The loudest voices against the Eugene Clean Energy Fund have it wrong. Here’s why I’m voting no.
Night of the living Elves: The dark side of green Eugene
When Eugene neighborhoods fight needed housing, my generation suffers
I’m a Eugene teacher hoping voters deliver a clean energy future for our students
Send us your Letter to the Editor — lte@lookoutlocal.com
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