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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (June 26, 2003)
• We hear the Rev. Chumleigh is starting his own after-hours supplement to the Oregon Country Fair next door at the Secret House Winery in July. Not a bad idea, espe- cially for all of us who get swept out the gates at 7 pm because we’re not part of the “in crowd.” Now there will be music, vaude- ville, dance and even booze just down the road. Some might choose the cool “Fringe Festival” over the hot, dusty, swoon-inducing daytime counterculture extravaganza. But, the big bucks to get into the for-profit Fringe (whoa, $25 for Saturday night) tends to make it just another exclusive party that poor folk and teens will try to crawl into through the poison oak. And OCF has spent years cultivating detente with neighbors and cops. Will wild revelers and stoned drivers from the Fringe trash a fragile truce? We shall see ... • Eugene city staffers have been drag- ging their feet for many years on completing the Natural Resource Study Draft Inventory, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of state money and asking for endless exten- sions. Development interests, traditionally closely allied with city planners, have resist- ed this state-mandated process for years, even though the inventory only provides lim- ited restrictions. The delay tactics have paid off as many of Eugene and Springfield’s urban natural areas have been bulldozed, clear-cut, paved and culverted since the process began. Finally the inventory went to the City Council this week and developers once again found sympathetic ears, this time among build-anything-you-want councilors. Councilor Gary Pape suggested it was better for the city to buy land it wants to protect rather than impose restrictions to “keep someone from doing what they want with their property.” That kind of thinking became obsolete in 1973 with the passage of our cel- ebrated land use legislation, Senate Bill 100. • It’s puzzling why President Bush main- tains a high approval rating despite policy atrocities at home and abroad. A big piece of the puzzle is the calculated misinformation campaign disseminated by the White House and GOP leaders, and continued by main- stream media. A May survey by the University of Maryland of 1,256 respondents concluded that a third of the American pub- lic believes U.S. forces found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and half of those polled believed Iraqis were among the 19 hijackers of 9/11. Pollsters and analysts figure many people are confused by conflicting reports and Bush administration allegations. The disconnect between fact and fiction shows the glaring need to relentlessly edu- cate people about government and public policy. Democracy is in trouble when infor- mation can be so easily manipulated. • Earlier this month the province of Ontario’s Court of Appeals ruled that same- sex marriages are, in fact, legal, and Canada has now joined Belgium and The Netherlands in liberalizing marriage laws. American gays can now travel to Canada and get hitched. But U.S. jurisdictions will still not honor same-sex marriages; and even in Canada, conservatives are calling for new legislation to overthrow the court ruling. On both sides of the border, conservatives are indignant and outraged that anyone would challenge their narrow ideas of who can join in civil and legal partnerships. Let’s celebrate Canada’s ruling and work to see that we fol- low suit. LEIKEN DISLIKIN’ In a recent listserve discussion on the Coalition for Health Options in Central Eugene-Springfield (CHOICES) website, Springfield Mayor Sid Leiken revealed more than a little irritation with the Board of County Commissioners’ involvement on the PeaceHealth appeal before the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA). CHOICES posted a May 23 e-mail from Leiken responding to a phone call made by Commissioner Tom Lininger regarding the LUBA appeal. Leiken writes, “You have me more confused than anything else concern- ing … why the commissioners would even have an interest in appealing or being in- volved in an appeal concerning a Springfield development … [w]hen rural res- idents start paying city taxes, and pay for ser- vices, then I will be more than happy to lis- ten. I guess I will look at decisions made in Oakridge, Creswell, Cottage Grove and other communities, and if I don’t like the outcome, then I will demand to be involved in the deci- sion making.” Leiken concludes by writing, “I would hope you could spend more time focusing on opening the courts back to five days a week, making sure the sheriff has enough money … and making sure the most vulnerable and needy within Lane County will have benefits available — not fo- cusing on a Springfield development.” In a June 6 posting, Lininger responds to Leiken: “The County’s letter to Springfield earlier this year set forth a number of con- cerns that we believe are worth reasserting before LUBA. The decision to join in the ap- peal was not any easy one for me, and that’s why I called you to share my preliminary thoughts and ask for your input …” — BW CORRECTIONS/CLARIFICATIONS In the June 12 news article “Union Support for Mother Kali’s,” last year’s situation with for- mer bookstore staff was described as a “refusal” to work during the height of the textbook rush. We’ve since been told that it was not a refusal. Rather, former employees simply chose not to work from the store — opting instead to work from home — for one day because of mounting frustration over unaddressed labor grievances. SLANT includes short opinion pieces and rumor-chas- ing notes compiled by the EW staff. Heard any good rumors lately? Contact Ted Taylor at 484-0519, or e-mail editor@eugeneweekly.com JUNE 26, 2003 9
