bookstore’s four employees and two co-
managers were given letters of termination.
According to co-manager Cheryl
RiversHailey, the letters said it was neces-
sary to let the current staff go in order for
Mother Kali’s to “implement a new man-
agement staff model.” No word at this writ-
ing as to what the new model might be, but
Rivers Hailey did note that about three
weeks ago Mother Kali’s board informed
staff that they would be advertising soon for
a new full-time manager. Staff were also in-
formed around that time that their medical
benefits would be terminated.
“Things have been very tenuous the last
couple of months,” says RiversHailey.
“We’ve just been waiting to see if we were
going to be able to stay open or not. But now,
to stay open without the employees — I’m
not sure what that could mean” for the future
of Mother Kali’s. “I love this store,” she says
with measured emotion. “It’s been here so
long.” She cites “patriarchal and hierarchical
systems” as the interference in Mother Kali’s
• The election deadline for Measure 30 is upon us. We
have until 8 pm Tuesday, Feb. 3 to get in our ballots.
For every reason to vote no on this measure, we can
think of a dozen reasons to vote yes. If you or some-
one you know is on the Oregon Health Plan, a yes
vote will keep OHP from cutting up to 85,000 people
from health insurance. Unpaid ER visits raise hospital
costs for all of us, and as Rep. Barnhart says, “for
every dollar Oregon spends on health care for the
poor, the federal government pays $1.71. These federal
taxes will be spent somewhere else and will not help
boost the Oregon economy as they do now.” If you
have children or grandkids in public schools, a yes
vote supports smaller class sizes, keeping 8,000
teachers and maintaining the full school year. If you
are worried about crime and violence, yes means
more police, judges and parole officers on the job. If
you care about people who are disabled, mentally ill
and homeless, Measure 30 funs more than $6 million
in Lane County services for the truly needy. If you
care about fiscal responsibility, a yes vote translates
to better bond ratings, a responsibly balanced budget
and more federal revenue sharing. If you care about
fairness in taxation, Measure 30 puts the biggest tax
burden on those who can most afford to pay.
Oregonians made a big mistake in voting down
Measure 28 last year. We slashed services and bor-
rowed $450 million to keep basic government func-
tions afloat. Let’s not do it again. Vote yes on
Measure 30.
• Kitty Piercy filled two conference rooms at the
library with several hundred supporters when she
cooperative mission.
After receiving the termination letters,
staff contacted their union representative to
discuss their options. “We faxed in an unfair
practices claim with NLRB and asked for an
injunction” against the terminations because
Mother Kali’s board failed to go through the
collective bargaining process with employ-
ees.
At the time of this writing, staff had a
demonstration planned to coincide with the
board’s executive session on the evening of
announced this week that she’s running for mayor.
This is great news for Eugene in that we finally have a
candidate who has not only a strong environmental
record, but also proven leadership in education, social
services and business. Her five years in the state
Legislature and her time on numerous state and
national boards make her a formidable candidate.
Let’s not forget how important this position is, partic-
ularly with a split and polarized council. The mayor
can do a lot of good or a lot of damage with tie-
breaking votes, agenda setting, committee appoint-
ments and working with county and state agencies.
The mayor sets the tone for city government and it’s
time to crank it up an octave or two.
• Mitzi Colbath’s decision to seek the District 8 House
seat instead of a City Council seat means Ward 8 is
up for grabs. So far only Chris Pryor has filed, but
we’re likely to see some late entries in the race. In
Ward 7, Scott Meisner has filed for re-election and his
only opponent so far is Andrea Ortiz, who has a solid
record on human rights and social issues, but she’s
been silent on land use and the environment — by far
the biggest issues facing the council. We expect this
to be at least a three-way race in this weirdly drawn
ward that includes the Whiteaker and areas north
around River Road.
• Does anybody out there still believe that Iraq was
bristling with weapons of mass destruction when
George Bush decided to take them out? Oregon’s
largest daily is not sure. This week The Oregonian
editorialized that “the search for them (WMDs) needs
to continue in earnest until fair-minded people can be
satisfied that it is complete.” We suggest that “fair-
minded people” and Oregonian editorial writers take
Jan. 27. If the firings go through as planned,
some staff could be out as early as Feb. 6,
with others following by Feb. 13.
Mother Kali’s has experienced more
than it’s fair share of labor conflicts since
the late 1990s. This blanket firing will rep-
resent the second time in two years that
Mother Kali’s has undergone a complete
staff change. For more info see “Union
Maid” (EW 8/14/03) or visit www.eugene-
weekly.com/archive/08_14_03/views.html
— Bobbie Willis
a look at Uncovered: the Whole Truth about the Iraq
War, the video produced by MoveOn.com. It will be
shown at 7 pm Wednesday, Feb. 4 at the EWEB train-
ing room, 500 E. 4th ; at 7:30 pm Sunday., Feb. 8, in
Room 100, Willamette Hall, UO; and at 7 pm
Thursday., Feb. 19, at the Church of the Brethren, 1072
Main St. in Springfield. Mary O’Brien will talk at the
Feb. 4 showing. Progressive Responses, a program of
CALC, is organizing all three showings.
• The city’s Charter Review Committee back in 2002
recommended some excellent revisions to the way we
do business in city government, including hiring a
performance auditor to systematically examine each
of the city’s departments — independent of the city
manager. Two city managers in a row, Jim Johnson
and Jim Carlson, fought the proposal and it never
made it on the ballot. Citizens never got a chance to
hear how performance auditors have saved cities mil-
lions through boosting efficiencies and avoiding law-
suits. But now we can see what we’re missing.
Portland performance auditor Gary Blackmer, who
spoke eloquently before the Charter Review
Committee in 2002, is returning to speak at noon Feb.
20 at City Club at the Hilton. This presentation will
hopefully revive discussion of how we can add
accountability, transparency and efficiency to our city
government.
• Plan on watching the Super Bowl this Sunday? You’ll
see beer ads, tobacco ads and even a Bush White
House ad, but CBS has refused to run the winning ad
in MoveOn.org’s “Bush in 30 Seconds” ad contest,
even though the ad simply shows children working in
labor-intensive jobs to pay off Bush’s $1 trillion deficit.
The ad can be seen at www.moveon.org/cbs/ad/
JANUARY 29, 2004 9