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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (May 29, 2003)
low-income housing near the site. Local fam- ilies were unaware of the serious health risks and children played in and around the waste piles. Residents complained about health prob- lems and Chilean authorities moved the waste, but the original dump site was never reclaimed and residents continue to suffer. Laboratory tests on local children have found high levels of lead and arsenic in their bodies. WAR AND PEACE The Eugene Forum for Peace Education (EFPE) will have its first meeting Sunday, June 1 in the EWEB training room. The forum, called “America, War and Peace,” will discuss peace, terrorism and globaliza- tion and the impact of the Iraqi war. This meeting will be but one of many in the months to come, which will cover poli- tics, religion and spirituality, war, peace, the environment, economic and legal studies and social activism. EFPE is the brainchild of UO Prof. Oleg Kripkov, who developed it in response to a communitywide call for a source of alterna- tive information from the mainstream media. He hopes the institution’s forums will serve as a place for discussion and open dialogue, raising both awareness and the level of grass- roots democracy in the community. “I strongly believe was can only have as • If you watch “ER” on Thursday nights you will see blood squirt- ing and guts dangling as the trau- ma team flies into action to save lives. It’s only a little less gory in county Budget Committee meet- ings these days as line items for mental health and other social services, rural sheriff patrols, even animal control, translate into lives saved or lost. The impacts of some of the proposed cuts are not obvious. For exam- ple, eliminating the animal abuse much democracy as we are ready to defend and one of the major requirements for defend- ing our rights is to know what they are and what threatens them,” Kripkov says, “(We need) to understand the long and short term hazards to our well-being and then based on this information, to act accordingly.” The meeting, from 2 to 5 pm, will feature four speakers. Half of the event will be given to participant discussion. EWEB is located at 500 E. 4th St. For reservations or more information, contact Oleg Kripkov at (541)913-3982. — Nika Carlson EW WINNERS GREAT DECEPTION Several local peace groups and websites are sponsoring a film series at UO this week examining the Bush administration’s motiva- tions and secret actions surrounding our “war on terrorism.” The films will be shown begin- ning at 7 pm Thursday, May 29, at the UO Willamette Hall 100. “Aftermath: Unanswered Questions from 9-11,” by Guerilla News Network, has nine experts — attorneys, journalists and re- searchers — addressing key areas of inquiry, including the Bush administration’s prior knowledge of the attacks, the failure of the military to follow well-established response procedures, connections and the impact of the USA PATRIOT and Homeland Security acts on our civil liberties. For more informa- investigator position. Dangerous cut. People who torch pussy cats usually graduate to bigger vic- tims. Meanwhile, county staff is still pushing a $1.8 million bridge at Mount Pisgah to replace a quaint one-lane bridge that does- n’t appear to be a safety hazard. Let’s keep our county priorities straight, with blood, guts and smoldering fur in mind. • Eugene’s Natural Resource Study, mandated by state plan- ning goals, has never been com- pleted and adopted by the City Council. The idea is to identify and provide some measure of tion, visit www.gnn.tv/after_math “The Great Deception” by Vision TV of Canada, a national non-profit televison sta- tion, examines the apparent breakdown of American air defenses on Sept. 11, the long- standing ties between U.S. intelligence and Osama bin Laden, the actions of Bush in the midst of the crisis, and role U.S. oil interests may have played in these events. protection for areas that provide valuable habitat for plants and animals. Lack of funding and what appears to be purposeful stalling and obfuscation by city staff have kept this project on the back burner for 25 years — despite massive volunteer efforts. Meanwhile, every year that goes by leaves fewer urban creeks, marshes and tree stands left to inventory. Let’s get this project wrapped up and on the books. • EFN.org, our local non-profit ISP, seems to have figured out the spam game. Those of us with EFN home accounts get very few Eugene Weekly staff writers and free- lancers garnered several awards in the annual Greater Oregon Society of Professional Journalists newspaper awards for 2002. The awards were announced May 17. Staff writer Bobbie Willis took first place in the General Feature category for her May 16 cover story “Outer Limits,” examining life and business along Highway 99 North, an area of Eugene usually ignored by main- stream media. A second place in Environmental Reporting went to free-lancers Orna Izakson, Judy Yablonski and Patricia Marshall for their Earth Day 2002 (April 18) package of stories. Izakson wrote on the damage to the salmon gene pool by hatchery fish; Yablonski investigated continuing toxic spraying of county roadsides despite an auditor’s advice; Marshall wrote about west Eugene’s shrink- ing wetlands and the threat of further devel- opment. In the Business Feature category, an hon- orable mention went to Alan Pittman for his cover story “Oregon Omelete” (Jan. 31) about how state and local economic develop- ment policies favor the volatile high-tech in- dustries over more stable small businesses. All these stories are available by selecting their issue date in the archives at www.eugeneweekly.com unwanted messages. At work it’s a fiasco with 100-plus spams a day. We use spam filters on Outlook Express with some suc- cess. We filter out any subject or sender that includes the words penis, cock, blow job, Viagra, mortgage, teen girls, German shepherds, horses, confidential, free porn, assistance, debt, DVD, approved, refinance, etc. Spammers are getting tricky with deceptive subject lines, such as “Here is the attachment.” Some hints to get by our digital and mental filters? Put “letter to the editor” in the subject line, or “Eugene news.” • Traffic accidents kill four times as many people as wars, and far more people commit suicide than are murdered, the World Health Organization reported recently. So if we want to make our coun- try safer, our logical priorities would be to lower speed limits, discourage people from driving, encourage mass transit, and sup- port mental health services. Our Legislature and Congress tend to do just the opposite, and down we go. SLANT includes short opinion pieces and rumor-chasing notes compiled by the EW staff. Heard any good rumors lately? Contact Ted Taylor at 484-0519, MAY 29, 2003 9
