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.