news
briefs
Eugene Metro Rotary members get muddy.
AMAZON
APPRECIATION
DAY SATURDAY
Eugene’s Stream Team is pulling together
its annual Amazon Appreciation Day
Saturday, Oct. 23, and this year’s event falls
right in the middle of a time when a lot of
folks who normally participate are caught up
in last-minute election activities.
“We’re urging people to take a break from
politics and come out and play in the stream,”
says Lorna Baldwin, Stream Team environ-
mental volunteer coordinator. “This is a fun
family affair. Now that the event has been re-
located to the fall, we can not only clean up
the creek but create healthier habitat by plant-
ing native plants.”
Baldwin says three sites will be set up for
volunteers to gather this year: Amazon Park,
Chavez School and the stretch of Amazon
Creek between Oak Patch and Acorn Park
that was widened two years ago. Bird walks
begin at 7:30 am, work parties run from 9 to
noon, followed by a gathering at the Hilyard
Center for lunch and door prizes. The Stream
Team will provide tools, gloves and instruc-
• Last week we encouraged Eugene vot-
ers to be sure to mark Kitty Piercy for
mayor and other uncontested city races
because those numbers do get counted
and will be quoted in future races. We did-
n’t mention all the uncontested candi-
dates so, yes, mark your ballots for Betty
Taylor, Bonny Bettman and Pete Sorenson
as well. How about Doug Harcleroad for
district attorney? That’s a different story.
Not only does our DA have a record of
outrageously poor judgement over his
career (selective law enforcement, politi-
cal intimidation, etc.), he resigned after
winning the uncontested primary, citing
exhaustion and burnout. He’s taking a six-
month vacation before beginning his new
term in January. What can we do about
it? Short of a recall election, we can fol-
low the advice of Bernard Nickerson, one
of our astute readers, and write in Charles
O. Porter for Lane County DA. Porter is
our former congressman and a man of
great courage and integrity who in his
twilight years has been spearheading a
national effort to impeach the members
10 OCTOBER 21, 2004
tion. Eugene Weekly will have a booth and
offer refreshments.
The work parties will be cleaning debris
from the creek, removing invasive species,
and planting native vegetation along the
creek and on the Chavez School grounds.
Students and parents from schools near
Amazon Creek are expected to show up,
along with volunteers from neighborhood
groups, local restoration groups, government
agencies and non-profit organizations in-
volved in environmental work.
More than 21 square miles of land within
Eugene city limits drain into Amazon Creek
as it flows northwest from the Spencer Butte
area to Fern Ridge Reservoir and the Long
Tom River.
One of the leading sources of volunteers
for Amazon restoration through the Stream
Team is the Rachel Carson program at
Churchill High School. For the past six years,
about 30 students in the program have been
doing water quality monitoring and hands-on
restoration work year-round.
Students from the Village School have
planted willows along the creek banks and
collected camas seeds to cultivate for replant-
ing. Students from Eastside School planted a
butterfly garden near the footbridge at 34th
Avenue and will be weeding the garden and
doing more plantings on Amazon
Appreciation Day.
Numerous local neighborhood groups and
businesses have adopted sections of the creek
over the years, says Baldwin. The Eugene
Metro Rotary and the Miracle on 33rd neigh-
borhood group are currently among those in-
volved in the creek adoption program.
More information on the Stream Team
can be found at www.ci.eugene.or.us — TJT
JOURNALIST
EYES TAX
INJUSTICE
David Cay Johnston, New York Times
columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner, will share
his insights into the gross injustices of the
of the Supreme Court who appointed
Bush president in 2000. Nickerson says
Porter is not a candidate and would not
likely serve if elected, “but
there are important rea-
sons to write in that
name — to honor a
great man, and to
suggest a lesson
to another man.”
Nickerson com-
plains of
Harcleroad’s
“manipulation of
the political
process with a sur-
prise sabbatical and
expedient executive appoint-
ment of a chosen successor to the elected
office he just semi-abdicated, which must
be considered in the context of the many
misjudgments of his tenure.” Well said.
• Election time always generates squab-
bles surrounding lawn signs and political
ads. We’re hearing rumors of conservative
landlords threatening to evict tenants if
American tax system in a lecture at 2 pm
Saturday, Oct 23, at the Knight Law Center,
UO. The lecture is free to the public, and light
refreshments will be provided by the Wayne
Morse Chair for Law and Politics.
The New York Times hired Johnston in
1995 to conduct running investigations of how
this country’s tax system actually operates, as
opposed to what politicians say about it. His
work has shut down tax dodges and loopholes
valued by Congress at $258 billion. In 2001 he
won the Pulitzer Prize and he has been a final-
ist for that award three other times since 2000,
a record unmatched by any other journalist.
Johnston’s recent book, Perfectly Legal, ex-
poses the ways the American tax system has
been rigged to benefit the super-rich.
Johnston broke the story that corporations
were using Bermuda mailboxes to escape cor-
porate income taxes. He wrote the stories that
caused General Electric CEO Jack Welch to
give up his retirement perks. He exposed the
huge untaxed fortunes that CEOs have built up
— and how the way those fortunes are created
forces companies to cut health insurance and
they don’t take down their Kerry/Edwards
signs; churches putting up “Yes on 36”
signs in apparent violation of their
501(c)(3) status; obnoxious phone
polling; hate mail sent to business-
es with political signs outside.
Got any stories to tell us for
next week’s issue? Send a
note to editor@eugene-
weekly.com or call Ted or
Melissa at 484-0519.
• Why defeat Bush? We’ve
offered dozens of reasons
in recent months and here’s
one more: Our friends in
other countries recognize that
Bush was not the people’s choice in
2000 and high-level political corruption
landed him in the White House. But if we
actually elect Bush this time, after all the
damage he’s done, the image of who we
are as an American people will be severe-
ly damaged.
• Looking to do some real muck-raking?
Join us at Amazon Appreciation Day
Saturday (see story above).
pension benefits for employees. His expose of
President Bush’s $252 billion tax cut for the
super-rich stopped it from becoming law.
“We know that Oregon’s state tax system
has many of the same hidden loopholes that
Johnston was able to find in the federal sys-
tem,” said Lucy Lahr, a state caseworker and
co-chair of the Eugene-Springfield Solidarity
Network. “Is it really a priority for our state to
offer tax breaks for yacht owners, when our
schools are forced to cut days off the academic
year because of lack of funds? The unfairness
in the tax system that Johnston demonstrates
so clearly is the cause for the cuts in public ser-
vices that we are all facing.”
JOHN EDWARDS
ENERGIZES UO
An estimated 5,000 people attended a
rally featuring vice presidential candidate
John Edwards at the UO on Oct. 13. The
event followed recent visits from other high-
Ba ll ot P a rt y ,
Ba nd s A ga in s t B u sh
• Bring Your Ballot Party happening at
9 pm Friday, Oct. 22 at Cozmic Pizza. A
benefit for the Democratic Party.
Contact DeLynn Anderson at 928-2609
or e-mail eventsbydelynn@comcast.net
• Bands Against Bush benefit concerts
Friday night at John Henry’s, and
Saturday night, Oct. 23, at Cozmic
Pizza. Evan Marshall’s event features
Cap Gun Suicide, PB Army and
Busholini. Guest speakers and raffle.
Visit www.bandsagainstbush.com