Commentary

Don't Tread on Me

In a city where trees are held in higher regard than the American Flag, foolishness seems only inevitable.

Petty controversy has reared its mildly unattractive head in our fair city once again. This is nothing new to Eugenians. Those of us who are not the proprietors of this idiocy have learned to take it in stride. This time however, the nonsense has dipped into the realm of the absurd.

As you may or may not remember, last year's petty foolishness was all about the cross on Skinner's Butte. In 1934 the south side of the butte had been dedicated as a memorial to those who had served in our nation's armed forces. The 50 foot cross had been erected in 1964 by several area businessmen. This started an ongoing controversy that lasted for thirty years. It came to a head last year when the 9th Circuit Court declared the cross to be in violation of the separation of church and state. Last June, the cross was taken down, amidst a whole mess of hootin' and hollerin' by both sides, and moved to the Eugene Bible College, where it now resides. But wait, the foolishness did not end there, for there was much more still to come.

At a May 6 Eugene city council meeting, the issue of replacing the cross with a large American flag was brought before the council and a room full of folks from the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars. The flag was second on the agenda, and that's when the fireworks started. After a gleaming introduction of the issue by Ward 6 councilor Pat Farr, Ward 2 councilor Betty Taylor voiced her opposition to the placement of a flag on top of the hill.

Councilor Taylor said, "It would make the butte look like a military outpost," and cause "visual and light pollution."

This caused quite a ruckus, and councilor Farr responded by calling Taylor's remarks "repugnant" and asking how anyone who calls themselves an American can find the flag offensive, let alone visual pollution.

After the meeting, Taylor revealed that it was not her opinion she voiced, but those of her constituents (her ward is DEEP south Eugene, they of the broken-down Hippie Bus in the front yard.)

"People said they didn't want it," said Taylor, "People go up there to see trees, not a flag. [The butte] really belongs to the people."

When asked why she thinks people might find the flag offensive, she responded by saying, "People say we pay too much attention to the flag, other countries don't hold this much emphasis on their flag." After saying this, she went further and said, " To some people, it is a symbol of Vietnam."

STOP! NO! I can't take it anymore--I've lived here too long. This is just another example of what is wrong with this godforsaken little burg. Eugene is run by a vocal minority, a colony of wacked out fools who have no sense of reality or reason. This obnoxious bunch of yahoos run around and act as a cancer eating away at anything left that could have been good in Eugene. To use an example, think of Hyundai. Most people like Hyundai because it (uh-oh) helps the economy and gives people jobs. The yahoos don't care about this, because they don't have jobs, so they protest, and piss and moan about trees and wetlands and so on and so-forth. The Emerald quoted Ward 7 councilor Scott Miesner as saying "For every one or two e-mails and phone calls in support of the flag, I receive 30 to 40 threatening actions." Most decent Americans just assume that a flag would be sensible, and that's the end. However, the yahoos are automatically offended, and they all send in their opinion and scream and yell and threaten to climb up the flagpole until pepper sprayed. This, ladies and gentlemen, is Eugene. A place where the main traffic artery over the river can be blocked off to build a bike path, but an American flag can't be put on top of a hill to memorialize our American heroes.

One of the arguments Betty Taylor made against the flag was that it was a secular representation, not one representing all of nature (don't ask, I don't understand it either), like a tree. I spoke with the commander of Eugene's VFW post 293 on this, and she didn't seem to agree.

Elizabeth Hatfield, a veteran of the Gulf War, said "We would like to have a flag up there as a replacement for the cross. A flag to me is appropriate, it is not secular, it doesn't represent a political party, it is inclusive, it represents all Americans. We would like to have it up there to remind people what it stands for. It's hard to maintain a vision of what can be when you're caught up in the rat race. The flag is a reminder."

Mayor Jim Torrey agreed with Ms. Hatfield, saying, "I think we ought to have [a flag on the butte] because it's a responsible and respectable way to honor the veterans who served this country in the armed forces. It's important that kids know Memorial Day isn't just a day off from school, that it means something."

Don Bishoff, hack columnist and resident yahoo for the Red-- I mean, Register-Guard, feels differently about the flag. On May 8, two days after the hearing, he defended Betty Taylor in his sad and pathetic column. He claims large American flags are usually reserved for car dealerships and outlet malls. In response to this, Ms. Hatfield said, "If when you see a large American flag, and all you think about is a Dodge dealership, then I pity you." I certainly agree. Don Bishoff has been the voice for Eugene's vocal minority yahoos since I was a little kid, and he still doesn't make sense. In fact, one of the major problems with this city is its trash newspaper. The only reason anyone lends credibility to the yahoos is because a) they chain themselves to things and must be forcibly removed, and b) because the Red Guard (oops again) lends credibility to these yum-yucks.

There is a little saying that I think sums up everything about our sordid little burg. That saying is 'Only in Eugene.' Only in Eugene could things like this happen. Only in Eugene could a company like Hyundai, that offers thousands of jobs and a booster shot in the arm of the city's economy be treated as badly as they have been treated. Only in Eugene could people attack police, destroy public property, make complete asses out of themselves, and when the police defend themselves, one of the best police chiefs we've had in a long time gets fired. Not only did he get fired, but the incompetent who fired him got fired, too. Only in Eugene.

Only in Eugene could a controversy spring up over somebody wanting to use our nation's banner as a war memorial. Only in a city where the yahoos run everything and people try to recall our mayor, simply because his heart doesn't bleed down the front of his shirt. What I don't understand is how these people could possibly feel this way. Don't they understand that the ideals that this banner represents are the same ones that give them the right to make asses out of themselves? Apparently not, because we have this little wannabe controversy.

How can this be a controversy? It sincerely angers me that these people would DARE call the representation of everything that is right and good visual pollution. I find this insulting to the citizens of America, and downright absurd. This flag should go up to commemorate the people who died fighting for the yahoos' right to spit on our national pride. It is not a "symbol of Vietnam," as Betty Taylor's constituents would have you believe. It is the beautiful Star Spangled Banner which unites us all under common ideals and the thing which we all hold most sacred, freedom.

Why should we put a flag on the butte? For a great many reasons, but I think Ms. Hatfield puts it best. She simply said, "I think it's beautiful." And by God it certainly is. It certainly is.

Chris Aster, a freshman majoring in Political Science, is a staff writer for the Oregon Commentator