RE: "Gimme Shelter" [News, Feb 23], regarding a lawsuit against the State of Oregon over its lack of funding of integrated employment opportunities for people with disabilities rather than "sheltered," segregated programs.
DEAR MERCURY—Thank you for your coverage. Last week's article not only continued this conversation started by the lawsuit about segregation, sub-minimum wage, and a rather confusing and confused system, but it also highlighted a very local model that has been advocating for a cultural shift in the way that adults with disabilities are treated. Project Grow at Port City has been changing the system from within the system. Absolutely no one is paid below minimum wage. In this inclusive space, there are no labels separating people. No, Project Grow at Port City is not a sheltered workshop, yet its funding is threatened and it poses a significant potential harm to the progress that has been made. Let's not let this conversation die, let's change the system together.
-Emese Ilyes of Project Grow
RE: "Culture Change" [News, Feb 23], regarding the employee protest against New Seasons Market sparked by the firing of Ryan Gaughan.
DEAR MERCURY—Thanks for providing coverage for our campaign to bring a democratic voice to workers at New Seasons Market. It's important to note that our campaign is more than griping. We want to meet with management to negotiate changes to the disciplinary practices in the company, and we're not afraid to stand up for each other when they use those practices to selectively terminate employees.
-New Seasons Market Workers' Voice
The problem with New Seasons sifting through old security footage to find a way to fire Ryan is that it's illegal. Oregon law forbids employers to selectively enforce rules in order to get rid of employees who are trying to organize, and that's exactly what happened here.
-posted by Karen Carr
Ryan Gaughan ≠ César Chávez, sorry. Spin it all you want, he stole from the company. Is it "fair"? No. Should you be able to violate company policy and not expect to have to account for your behavior eventually? No. If Ryan really wanted to change things for the better he should have started with his personal work ethic first.
-posted by disastronaut
RE: "Headlines" [I, Anonymous, Feb 23], authored by a neighbor of the couple arrested for disorderly conduct after numerous witnesses saw one of them naked and bound in the backseat of her boyfriend's car ["Driving Around with a Tied-Up Naked Woman Is Apparently a Crime Even if She Agrees to Do It," Blogtown, Feb 14], lodging further complaints of loud and outlandish behavior.
As misrepresented neighbors of the Valentine's Day kinksters targeted in last week's I, Anonymous, we just wanted to publicly disagree with the aforementioned slander. We are actually big fans of explosions. To quote another ill-represented neighbor, "You pay to live there, you do whatever the @#$% you want." And if you ever feel like coming over with a pound of bacon again, we accept. Let's blow some glitter.
-F.G.
WE CAN'T COMPETE with your impending bacon 'n' glitter party (pix plz), but we would like to offer you two tickets to the Laurelhurst Theater in exchange for your peacekeeping efforts in our community.
The article "Gimme Shelter" [News, Feb 23] misidentified the programs of nonprofit Project Grow—they run an art studio and farm, while their nonprofit umbrella, Port City Development, runs a woodshop and sheltered workshop on the same site.
