JAIME GUADAGNI
CORVALLIS GETS ITS
OWN GRAFFITI WALL
Graffiti writers from Eugene, San
Francisco and even Sweden and Germany
have been making their way to Corvallis to
take advantage of what they might call a dia-
mond in the rough, a 60-foot-long “free wall”
located along the Willamette River in the
downtown area.
“Overall, the public supports it,” says
Catherine Mater of Mater Engineering, the
company that sponsors the wall. “We have
been able to develop a wonderful rapport
with the artists, and the police think that the
wall has impacted the amount of illegal graf-
fiti around town,” she says.
For some, this wall can be considered
Corvallis’ best kept secret, for it provides a
huge area where artists can spend several
hours working on a piece without interrup-
tion from local authorities.
During the summer, several graffiti writ-
ers from Eugene carpooled up I-5 to paint on
the free wall because all of the walls here in
the Emerald City have been closed down due
to vandalism on surrounding businesses.
“All of the artists have been very respect-
ful of each other’s work and of the area
around the wall,” Mater says, “and there have
only been a few instances in which some-
thing needed to be painted over right away.”
“Most of the credit for this should go to
my husband, Scott, who died of cancer last
Christmas,” she says. The two first conceived
of the idea when they noticed an increase in
the amount of graffiti around Corvallis. The
couple thought the graffiti was interesting
and attractive, and decided to dedicate part of
their riverfront property to this unique art
form.
The wall fits in nicely with the rest of the
Corvallis riverfront improvement project and
throws some much needed color into the
downtown area. Rumors in Eugene suggest
that the Corvallis wall might be closing, but
Mater says she is sure that the project will
continue for a long time. — Karman Ratliff
COUNTY SPRAYS AT
BLUE MOUNTAIN PARK
A local environmental group says Lane
County sprayed herbicides at Blue Mountain
Park near Cottage Grove Nov. 13 without
giving proper notice.
• At City Club of Eugene last week, EW’s Ted Taylor
shared the podium with the R-G’s Paul Neville on the
topic of letters to the editor. Ted talked about (among
other things) the preponderance of male voices in the
letters sections of the R-G, The Oregonian and even EW.
Each paper runs about 70 percent letters from men,
which reflects what comes in the door. What’s behind
this phenomenon? Some women fear harassing phone
calls or other confrontations if they express strong
opinions. But more than that, women’s views on many
topics have been traditionally marginalized in our
society, and this history of oppression manifests in many
gender imbalances. But this is Eugene. We have the
power to change. We encourage women to take over the
op-ed and letters pages of local newspapers and voice
their concerns. And we at EW will do our part.
• How much attention should we give to the “Decline to
Sign” campaign? Shouldn’t we just assume conservatives
will buy their 50,000 signatures and get a measure on
the ballot to stop HB 2152, the Legislature’s three-year
tax package? Shouldn’t we save our time, energy and
money for the campaign against the measure in
February? No way. Let’s fight it now, and if necessary,
fight it later. Educating people now about this
reactionary anti-government initiative will go a long way
to building votes against it later. Here’s one point that
needs to be drilled into the public consciousness:
Conservatives are screaming about the “largest tax hike
“They notified Blue Mountain School on
the night before the application, when staff
were away, which was not enough advance
time for parents to be notified,” says Megan
Kemple of Northwest Coalition for
Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP). “They
did not follow the county’s requirements for
advance notification. They should have
posted yellow signs one week prior to the ap-
plication, but instead posted these signs on
the day of the application.”
Todd Winter, county parks superinten-
dent, says county commissioners authorized
the spraying in June and Lane County Parks
gave notice to the Oregon Department of
Forestry (ODF) in October of their plan to
spray between Oct. 17 and Nov. 17.
Winter says the backpack hand-spraying
of blackberries and scotch broom was done to
protect tree seedlings far from developed
parts of the park. He says the “nominal”
amount of spraying was done according to
guidelines of the Forest Practices Act rather
than by county roadside spraying rules since
it was “well away from the county right-of-
way.”
But a mixup within county government also
fueled the angry response to the spraying.
“Several mistakes were made,” says
Commissioner Bill Dwyer. “Roadside spray
policy was not intended to apply to manage-
ment of our forest resources … however, the
board order that authorized this spraying not
only referenced complying with state and fed-
eral law, it referenced the notifications require-
ments of our roadside spray policy. This policy
requires posting and seven day prior notifica-
tion. We did not do this. We screwed up.”
in Oregon history,” but considering the federal tax cut,
Oregonians will actually pay less in overall taxes next
year if HB 2152 survives.
• Holly Near as usual fused strong music and strong
politics in her concert with Cris Williamson at the
McDonald Theatre Nov. 8. Holly said Bush’s
environmental and military policies affect the entire
planet, so in 2004 we will be voting not only for
ourselves but also on behalf of all people around the
world. That should be motivating.
• The UO workgroup Concerned Faculty is drafting a
resolution to present to the administration on how to
handle USA PATRIOT Act legislation being adopted on
campus by the administration. So far, a consensus has not
been reached on the resolution’s wording, but members
have met and will continue to do so. Stay tuned.
• In media news and rumors, we hear R-G Executive
Editor Jim Godbold got a fortune cookie this week saying
he can expect a new job description soon. Don Kahle of
Comic News premiered his redesigned and renamed
<wink> last week. Dinah’s now on page 2 and the
premiere issue has Alan Siporin reminiscing on Kesey.
KMTR-TV ran a short feature on EW last week. The Clear
Channel NBC affiliate interviewed EW management on its
growth in revenues and circulation in light of the R-G’s
announcement of another round of layoffs .
• Congrats to BRING Recycling for landing a $60,000
matching grant from the Meyer Memorial Trust for
development of its new three-acre facility in Glenwood.
The grant, the largest in BRING’s history, follows an
earlier $50,000 grant from the trust. The non-profit
BRING is developing a “Planet Improvement Center” that
will include not only recycling but also educational
programs and buildings that demonstrate “green”
design. Find out more at www.bringrecycling.org
SLANT includes short opinion pieces, observations and rumor-chasing notes
compiled by the EW staff. Heard any good rumors lately? Contact Ted Taylor
at 484-0519, editor@eugeneweekly.com
NOVEMBER 20, 2003 9