coverage, no car horn blasts or shouts and
chants. At one point two men identifying
themselves as Eugene police officers video-
taped the event from across the street. The
scene was eerily quiet, as drivers slowed to
stare at the crumpled, twisted, bloody bodies
lying in the rain, and then moved on.
— Steve McQuiddy
PHAEDRA FILLÉ
PISGAH STILL FREE
WAR’S BLOODY FACE
As American television screens showed
Baghdad blowing up in colorful explosions
last Friday morning, March 21, a group of in-
dividuals lay in the damp and cold of the Park
Blocks in downtown Eugene for a “die-in”
during morning commute hours.
More than 20 people lay for two hours in
blood-red heaps, or crumpled against tele-
phone poles and sprawled along curbs, with
the biodegradable dye they used running into
puddles in the rain. Others held enlarged pho-
tographs of Iraqi children born with birth de-
fects from their parents’ exposure to spent
uranium shell casings used in the 1991 Gulf
War, and signs that read “This is what war
looks like.”
They said they were simply a group of
concerned citizens who felt compelled to do
something more than attend a rally. “We
wanted to counter the sanitized version of
war being shown by the media,” said partici-
pant Janine Sepulveda. “If people find this
disturbing, they should be much more dis-
turbed that this war is happening.”
Unlike the rallies held at the courthouse in
recent weeks, this display brought no TV
Discussion is still happening around the
parking fee at Mt. Pisgah/Howard Buford
recreational area, but county commissioners
have recommended that the Lane County
Parks Department develop alternatives to that
fee. This means, for now, that the public can
continue to enjoy the recreational area with-
out paying to park.
Commission chair Peter Sorensen says,
“There was a fair amount of unanimity that
Lane Parks’ financial problems are severe,
with a $60,000 deficit for maintenance at Mt.
Pisgah.” But, the board recommended that
the Parks Department consider increasing the
car rental tax (the main source of county
parks’ financial support) or increasing the
percentage of the car rental tax that goes to
county parks, rather than charging the public
for parking.
While there was no formal vote on the park-
ing fee, discussion indicated Commissioners
Dwyer and Green in favor of the fee and
Commissioners Morrison, Lininger and
Sorensen against. — Bobbie Willis
BRIDGE BROUHAHA
Lane County commissioners recently
voted 3-0 to postpone awarding bids on a
$1.7 million renovation to the one-lane Frank
Parrish bridge and gravel entrance at Howard
Buford/Mt. Pisgah recreational area. The
postponement allows the county to open the
project for public evaluation, first through a
public meeting from 6:30 to 8:30 pm
Thursday, March 27, at the EWEB Training
BY PAUL NEEVEL
Center (500 E. 4th Ave.) and then in an April
2 public hearing.
Although the renovation has been in plan-
ning for years now, current economic circum-
stances have forced the county to reevaluate
spending money on the project.
“As we consider all of our other pressing
needs, both county and city,” says East County
Commisisoner Tom Lininger, “we must look
closely at how the money is getting spent.”
Commission chair Peter Sorensen echoes
this sentiment, saying, “In a time of very dif-
ficult financial constraints, we have to be ex-
tremely careful about making sure that this is
a reasonable expenditure of funds, rather than
moving ahead just because it’s the next pro-
ject in line …” Sorensen is interested in alter-
natives to building a new bridge, such as an
engineering fix that might improve traffic
flow without the high cost.
Thursday night’s meeting will be an infor-
mational session through Lane County
Public Works. It will present the proposed
construction and provide time for questions
from the public. Community members will
then be able to directly address or submit
written testimony to the commissioners dur-
ing the April 2 hearing. — BW
BLUES FOR HUES
More than 6,500 households in Lane
County are on waiting lists this month for the
Low Income Energy Assistance Program
(LIEP) and among them are more than 1,000
seniors and disabled people who are unable
to pay for their basic utilities.
“The situation is grim,” says County
Commissioner Peter Sorenson. “The need is
really huge.” The problem is exacerbated by
high energy prices, Lane County’s (and
Oregon’s) exceptionally high unemployment
rate, our nation’s economic woes and war
with Iraq.
Sorenson and other county and city offi-
cials are supporting a fund-raising concert
and other events to raise money for Heat Up
Eugene/Springfield (HUES). The main
events of Blues for HUES begin with a silent
auction from 5 to 7 pm Friday, March 28 at
the Eugene Hilton, followed by an evening of
music (see Friday Calendar).
Organizers Paul Biondi and Lynda Duffy
say they hope the event will “give the people
hope and keep the children warm,” and that
“this will be an annual event as long as it’s
needed.” They also hope the success of the
event will inspire other cities and counties
across the country to organize similar com-
munity-building events.
Concerned that Oregon leads the nation in
unemployment and hunger, the two musicians
say they would like to see Oregon become
“number one in people helping people.”
“I’d like to have $150,000 in the pot for
these people,” says Biondi, who admits the
Alice Endo Aikens Volunteer manager Alice Aikens oversees 45 plots in the Amazon
Community Garden. “We have very low turnover,” she observes. “This year we had four
openings — they were snapped up in 10 minutes.” (Other community gardens still have
space — inquire at 682-4800.) In 1942, as a three-year-old Sansai (third-generation
Japanese-American), Alice Endo moved with her family from California to Utah on a two-
week deadline to avoid being sent to a concentration camp. “It was a hardship,” she
recounts. “We lived in a warehouse, in a chicken coop, in back of a dry-cleaning shop for
years.” After high school and college in Salt Lake City, she taught junior high before she
married Mel Aikens, who joined the UO anthropology faculty in 1970. “We have so many
trees at home,” Aikens says. “I signed up for a plot in ‘91 so I could grow vegetables and
flowers that need sun.” Two years later, she was asked to manage the site. “I said, “I
guess so, then,’” she relates. “And here I am!” The output of one communal plot plus
excess produce from other gardeners is hauled off weekly in season to FOOD for Lane
County. “Last year we donated over 2,000 pounds,” Aikens notes.
MARCH 27, 2003 7