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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (April 29, 2004)
staffers who wish to keep it will have to pay their own premiums. Frazier is adamant that EFN’s financial problems could have been avoided or man- aged better. “Financial mismanagement and lack of due diligence by the board of directors during the reign of Cohn set this up and inter- nally weakened EFN,” he says. “Rio’s prob- lems in September could have been weath- ered, but EFN was so badly mismanaged by the tag team of Cohn and Harrison that the Rio outage was a severe blow [resulting] in many high end subscribers leaving, which did dam- age the cash flow…” Whether EFN will continue to exist in any way, shape or form — even with the collabo- ration of EPUD — remains to be seen. — Bobbie Willis SECRET MEMO DEFIES WHITE HOUSE OPTIMISM An investigative report commissioned by the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN) notes that as the situation in Iraq grows ever more tenuous, the Bush adminis- tration continues to spin the ominous news with matter-of-fact optimism. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld says Iraqi upris- ings and the deaths of more than 100 soldiers in the month of April alone, is merely “a mo- ment in Iraq’s path towards a free and demo- cratic system.” But according to a closely held Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) memo written in early March, the reality isn’t so rosy. Iraq’s chances of seeing democracy succeed have been severely imperiled by a year’s worth of serious errors on the part of the Pentagon and the CPA. Far from facilitating democracy and security, the memo’s author fears, U.S. ef- forts have created an environment rife with corruption and sectarianism likely to result in civil war. The 3,000-word story “Fables of the Reconstruction” by Jason Vest for AAN is being published online by alternative papers nationwide and a link to it is now available at www.eugeneweekly.com WORKSHOP LINKS WORLD VIEW, POLITICS Linguist Deborah Tannen says our civic dialogue on politics has deteriorated into what she calls “the argument culture.” Whoever shouts the loudest wins. Linguist George Lakoff says at the subconcious level we have as our world view either the “strict father” or the “nurturant parent.” This “strict father” viewpoint looks at the world as a dangerous place, therefore you must arm yourself against danger, have self- reliant children who can succeed and win and pursue their own self interests, and the gov- ernment should support individuals to maxi- mize their wealth and not coddle through so- cial programs. This viewpoint is today con- sidered more along Republican Party lines of thought. In contrast to the “strict father,” the “nur- turant parent” will raise children to nurture others and teach them to be empathetic and responsible to themselves and others. Cooperation is valued over competition. This viewpoint is today considered more along Democratic Party lines of thought. Naturally, most people have a little of 2004 Austin Family Business Conference June 17-19, 2004 The Resort at the Mountain Bring the entire family for two-and-a-half days packed with intensive learning sessions, one-on-one meetings with family business experts, and family activities that will increase the power and effectiveness of your family business. No matter what generation your family or privately-held business is in, this con- ference will help you develop “best practices” in areas such as managing boundaries between home and business, succession, governance, estate planning, growing the business, investments, and philanthropy. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to work on your family business. Speakers include distinguished scholars and successful family business professionals: Al Gini, Loyola University Chicago Ken Moores, Australian Centre for Family Business Joe Paul, Aspen Family Business Group Sponsors: both in them; some fall more in one category than the other. “How to Speak American” is a workshop presented by WAND members Dianne Lobes and Susan Cundiff, both counselors and peace activists, that looks at the underpin- nings of our political beliefs using Tannen’s and Lakoff’s theories. The first part of the workshop will cover how our subconscious viewpoints affect our political beliefs. By understanding them, says Lobes, we can engage in more of a democra- tic process. “After all,” she says, “We all want to speak and be heard without shouting past each other.” The second part of the workshop is inter- active and will cover “how to engage in a substantive, civil, respectful manner with those with whom we don’t agree so that we can truly understand their point of view while still expressing fully our own,” she says. The workshop will be from 9 am to noon Saturday, May 1 at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church Parish Hall (upstairs), 13th and Pearl. $20-40 donation requested, includes lunch and workshop. Pre-register at 232-5560 or dlobes@qwest.net. — AS ACTIVIST ALERT • LandWatch Lane County’s annual meet- ing is at 7 pm Tuesday, May 4 at the Bascom/Tykeson Conference Room, Eugene Public Library. On the agenda will be wet- lands destruction in Veneta with Mona Linstromberg; the proposed gas-fired power plant in Coburg with law professor Tom Lininger; statewide Initiative 36 with Bob Stacey of 1000 Friends of Oregon; and CORRECTIONS/CLARIFICATIONS • In a letter from Boyd Wilcox (4/8), two errors were made by a typist. The words “long age” were intended by Wilcox to be one word. And a sentence near the end should have read “Each district originally had 30,000 constituents; now they contain over 600,000.” • Regarding our “Blowing in the Wind” story (4/22), Andrew J. Orahoske tells us he did not reprimand a law student for “suggest- ing during the course of a question that the speakers hadn’t presented all sides of the de- bate,” but rather “my discomfort with Mr. Lessman’s question did not stem from the content. Rather, it was the way in which he phrased his statement that was derogatory. The tone and word choice was the focus.” “The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms ” Author Amy Stewart 1 p.m. Saturday, May 1 • FREE Down to Earth Home & Garden on 5th & Olive Author reading and worm composting demonstration with local experts from “Worm Digest” and Down to Earth. Visit UOBookstore.com for more information. Register now and take advantage of early-bird rates. Visit: www.familybusinessonline.org/programs/afbc/ or call: (800)859-7609, (541)737-3326 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON BOOKSTORE 8 APRIL29, 2004 “Mapping the Future of the Willamette Basin” with David Hulse, UO professor of landscape architecture. For more information call 741-3625 or e-mail: info@landwatch.net • The Eugene-based Oregon Toxics Alliance (OTA) will be holding a meeting concerning the Coburg power plant at 7 pm Wednesday, May 5 at Harris Hall in the County Courthouse Building, 125 East 8th Ave. For more information, visit www.saveourvalley.com • Community TV (CTV cable channels 22/29) is running dozens of Eugene council and mayor election interviews and each will be broadcast multiple times over the next few weeks. The schedule can be found online at http://members.efn.org/~accesvid/sched- ule.html or call 341-4671.
