HEMPFEST IN TURMOIL
AS WEEKEND NEARS
LOCAL PUNDIT CRITICAL
OF FAHRENHEIT 9/11
The fate of this coming weekend’s second
annual Emerald Empire Hempfest is in limbo at
this writing as letters go back and forth between
lawyers for the county and for the event.
At issue is whether the event orga-
nizers need to pay the county a
$2,800 “special use permit”
fee for the gathering since an
earlier event was held at the
rural private campground
near Blue River the week-
end of July 11. According
to county rules, only one
such event can be held every
90 days.
“We are concerned that all of
the turmoil over the site acquisition
has limited our main source of income, vendor
fees,” says organizer Dan Koozer. “We’ve had
one pre-paid vendor cancel so far. It really
hurts to have to give money back. To incur an
added expense like this hurts us very badly.”
“It seems like we have a tiger by the tail
here,” Koozer says. “We don’t want to let go,
but if we do(n’t) we’re looking at possible
peril. The county is threatening not only a
$10,000 fine but limiting the use of her (the
owner’s) property if she goes through with the
Hempfest.”
Attorneys for the Hempfest, David Moule
and Brian Michaels, sent a letter to the county
lawyers taking issue with the requirement for a
Hempfest permit “in order to exercise its consti-
tutional right to assemble and freely speak.”
Moule and Michaels say the earlier gathering
was not a commercial event, but just a gathering
of “40 or so motorcyclist friends and family.”
The Hempfest is seeking community fi-
nancial support to pay for the permit, but
Koozer says only a loan offer and a $5 gift
have come in so far.
Adding to the chaos, the Hempfest website
at www.emeraldempirehempfest.com is out of
order, but may be up and running by the week-
end. E-mail is working at emeraldempire-
hempfest@hotmail.com and the office phone
is 434-2377. — TJT
Conservatives across the land are calling
on theaters to not show Michael Moore’s doc-
umentary Fahrenheit 9/11, and are labeling
Moore as a “liar” and a “traitor” who
should be prosecuted. But one out-
spoken Eugene political ob-
server and website author
says Moore’s film is
“deeply flawed” because
it doesn’t go far enough
to expose President
Bush’s criminal behav-
ior in office.
Mark Robinowitz, in
his detailed analysis of the
film
on
his
website
(www.oilempire.us/michael-
moore.html#bittersweet), says the film was
in part “brilliant,” but Moore avoided talking
about one of the key issues of the terrorist at-
tacks, the wealth of evidence of government
complicity.
“The most basic dichotomy for under-
standing 9/11 is whether it was a surprise at-
tack or allowed to happen,” he writes.
“Fahrenheit 9/11 carefully steers clear of doc-
umenting the overwhelming evidence that at
the very least, 9/11 was deliberately allowed to
happen to enable long-planned efforts to seize
the Middle East oil fields and impose the
Homeland Security police state.”
The site also has links to like-minded arti-
cles and sources, and touts the work of noted
theologian David Ray Griffin, author of The
New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions
About the Bush Administration and 9/11, who
will be speaking at 7 pm Wednesday, July 28 at
the McDonald Theatre downtown. Tickets are
$5 and are available at TicketsWest and at the
door, if not sold out.
ORGANIZERS HOPE FOR
FIRST NIGHT REVIVAL
Last year, Eugene’s First Night celebration
on New Year’s Eve was canceled due to lack
of financial support. The alcohol-free family
event has drawn large crowds downtown in
BY PAUL NEEVEL
WILLIAM ‘CEDAR’ CAREDIO
Teacher and artist William “Cedar”
Caredio grew up in Morgan Hill, Calif.,
where his father taught school for 33
years. After schooling at Chico State,
Caredio has himself taught for 30 years,
26 of them at Pleasant Hill Elementary.
“I’m teaching and taking classes all the
time, especially art classes,” he says. “I
try to break down barriers that kids
have with art. We incorporate art into
projects.” In the mid-1980s, Caredio
apprenticed with noted woodcarver
Dudley Carter, then 99 years old, in
Redmond, Wash. “I stayed with my
brother and biked to his studio,” he
recounts. “I worked there, learned tech-
niques, and took pictures.” Back in
Eugene, Caredio began his first piece of
public art, the “Salmon Wall.” Over
years, he has carved a school of migrating salmon into a long wooden retaining wall in
front of his Laurel Hill neighborhood home. “It catches people’s attention,” he says. “I
believe in public art — available to everyone.” Working with native woods and hand
tools, he also crafts more portable pieces, such as the antlered mask pictured here.
Several totemic carvings appeared in the garden art area at the recent Art and the
Vineyard festival. — Paul Neevel
8 JULY 15, 2004
previous years. There is talk this year of reviv-
ing the event.
A five-member planning committee is re-
cruiting members, ideas and inspiration and is
planning an organizational meeting at 7 pm
Monday, July 19 at Cozmic Pizza downtown.
“We are hoping to fund-raise $20,000 and
are looking for sponsors, co-sponsors and in-
dividual donations,” says Christine L.
Hutchinson of the committee in an e-mail to
possible supporters. “We will have a much
more scaled down version of First Night, but I
guarantee it will (still) be a fun and safe event
for children of all ages to attend to help bring
in the New Year.”
Hutchinson can be contacted at hutch-
haven@aol.com
OREGON WILD LANDS
GET SOME ATTENTION
Throughout the week of July 17-25 the
Oregon Wild Forest Coalition is sponsoring
the fourth Annual Wilderness Week to cele-
brate Oregon’s spectacular, unprotected forest
wilderness. Included in the celebration will be
free guided hikes to endangered Eugene area
wild areas.
Two local six-mile hikes are among the
many wilderness adventures being offered. A
Brice Creek hike is planned for Saturday, July
24, carpooling at 9 am from LCC Lot N; a
South Pyramid hike leaves at 10 am Sunday,
July 25, from Growers Market. Both are led by
local members of the Oregon Natural
Resources Council.
For
more
information
visit
www.oregonwild.org/wweek2004.html
NEIGHBORHOOD GROUPS
PLAN SUMMER PICNICS
Over the next 10 years neighborhood asso-
ciations “will be on the front line in determin-
ing whether Eugene will retain its unique char-
acter and quality of life or become simply an-
other bland urban center,” says James
Cunningham, former co-chair of the Friendly
Area Neighbors association. And to assist in
that vision, Cunningham is helping coordinate
a series of picnics around Eugene the week of
July 18-25.
At least four out of Eugene’s 21 recognized
neighborhood associations are planning com-
munity picnics, says Cunningham, beginning
with the Friendly Area gathering from 1 to 5
pm Sunday, July 18 at Adams Elementary
School on West 22nd Avenue. Churchill Area
Neighbors will follow with a picnic Tuesday,
July 20. Trainsong Neighbors will meet
Wednesday, July 21 and South University
Neighborhood Association will have its picnic
Sunday, July 25.
To contact neighborhood leaders for more
times, locations and other information, visit
www.ci.eugene.or.us and click on the
“Neighborhoods” link.
JOB GROWTH IMPROVES,
BUT STILL ‘NOT ENOUGH’
Analysis of the monthly employment fig-
ures for Oregon released July 8 confirms that
jobs are finally returning to Oregon’s econ-
omy, but the number of jobs created lags far
behind the growth in Oregon’s expanding
working age population since the economic
downturn began, and falls short of the growth
predicted by the Bush administration when it
pushed tax cuts, according to the Oregon
Center for Public Policy (OCPP).
The latest Oregon Employment Department
new jobs figure noted that Oregon added 6,100
jobs
beyond
seasonal
expectations in June, the fifth straight month of
seasonally adjusted gains, leaving Oregon
nearly 23,000 jobs short of the state’s pre-reces-
sion peak, which occurred in November 2000.
The non-profit OCPP reviewed the new jobs
numbers and noted that not only are the jobs
falling short of the pre-recession peak, but
Oregon’s working-age population has continued
to expand, making the “job gap” even greater.
“There are substantially more Oregonians
of working age today than before the down-
turn began,” says Michael Leachman, policy
analyst at OCPP. “Today’s jobs numbers make
clear that there are not enough jobs being cre-
ated to meet the increased demand.”
Leachman says it has now been 43 months
since the economic downturn began, “and still
jobs have not recovered to their pre-recession
levels. That makes the recent jobs downturn
more than twice as long as the early 1990s
downturn.”
CORRECTIONS/CLARIFICATIONS
In last week’s Calendar listings, the name
of the SZWELK Dance Cartel was misspelled,
and one member of the group was omitted.
Leala Sears performs with SZWELK in The
Ladder & La Lune July 15-17 at the Lord
Leebrick Theatre.