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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 27, 2005)
news briefs UNCANDID CAMERAS Eugene Police Officer Roger Magaña was convicted last year of sexually assaulting, rap- ing and/or harassing a dozen women, often while in his patrol car. Would plans for a new patrol car video system have discouraged the police officer’s sex crime spree had it been in place? Apparently not, according to a draft video policy now under consideration by the Eugene Police Commission. Video technology has been available in convenience stores for decades to document robberies, and catch clerks raiding the till, but the EPD is just getting around to a plan to in- stall video cameras in patrol cars by next year. This is the police department’s second at- tempt. A decade ago the department installed VHS cameras in 23 patrol cars at a cost of thousands of dollars to taxpayers. But the video program collapsed amid suspicions that officers were intentionally destroying or dis- abling the equipment to avoid incriminating evidence against themselves. Now, with the police department embroiled in sex crime and racial profiling scandals, the EPD is again looking to install cameras in pa- trol cars. The new digital cameras would cost $7,000 a car to install in 41 patrol cars for a total of about $287,000 in taxpayer money. But • Why does the governor of Oregon appoint members of the LTD board? Shouldn’t they be elected? But because he appoints the board, should he weigh in on union-board disputes at some point when the public interest is at stake? Sounds like leadership, an old-fashioned concept. • As we go to press this week we hear Andy Warhol Museum Director Tom Sokolowski of Pittsburg will be coming to Eugene to give a free gallery talk and slide show at 2 pm Sunday, Jan. 29 at the UO’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. A rare treat. • EW’s Lois Wadsworth joined the crowd at the big art event Sunday at UO and had these obser- vations: The new Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art on campus is everything I expected and more. I was elated to walk through a world-class museum in my hometown. The 88 screenprints in Andy Warhol’s Dream America exhibit showed me Warhol’s genius at work. I stood before a wall of Maos, each print differing from the other by the lines the artist added, the colors he chose and the elements he selected to highlight. Several pieces in the 8 JANUARY 27, 2004 it’s unclear whether the expensive cameras will be useful in reigning in abusive cops or end up being destroyed by officers. A draft camera policy before the Eugene Police Commission does not explicitly forbid officers from destroying or disabling the equipment. Other apparent shortcomings in the policy include: • Not leaving the cameras continuously on as some departments do, but rather allowing officers to turn the cameras off and on, with few strict rules. • Not pointing the camera at the front seat, where Magaña abused many of his victims. • Not requiring supervisors and internal af- fairs officers to randomly check up on all offi- cers by reviewing tapes. • Not requiring discipline and charges against officers if tapes reviewed for prosecut- ing criminals also reveal officer misconduct. • Not including an available GPS system to allow supervisors and investigators to verify that officers such as Magaña aren’t lying about their whereabouts to conceal crimes or mis- conduct. Instead of focusing on protecting the pub- lic, the new video policy appears designed more to help police convict people they arrest and help police absolve themselves of miscon- duct allegations. The policy makes little men- tion of using the new cameras to prevent offi- cer misconduct by nabbing rogue officers and preventing officer misconduct in the first place by letting police know that they’re being watched. — Alan Pittman HEEERE’S JAN A TV-style talk show with a live studio au- dience is brewing in Eugene starting in February. The local seminar series “Global Trends — Local Choices” will take on a new 20th century art gallery stopped me in my tracks: a painting and small sculpture by contemporary Native American artist Rick Bartow; two of my favorite C.S. Price paint- ings, The Fisherman and Wolves; I loved Bill Viola’s video art; and I stood near a dreamy, color-block work by Richard Diebenkorn for a long time. Go. Find the art that makes you happy. Let it change the way you see the world. • The annual Lane County Economic Forecast conference is coming up from 2 to 5 pm Tuesday, Feb. 1 at the Eugene Hilton and we will be watch- ing to see if the dis- cussion is all theory and hopeful projec- tions based on statis- tical analysis of employment numbers, trade balances and tax incentives — or whether there will be serious talk about the economic realities of poverty, hunger and disenfranchisement in Oregon. We value the insights and perspec- tives of economists, but too often the human factors of destitution are missing in their academic models and formulas. More info on the conference is available at www.eugenechamber.com or call the Chamber of Commerce at 484-1314. format from 7 to 8 pm Tuesdays, Feb. 1, Feb. 15 and March 1 at Cozmic Pizza. The show is a collaboration between Jan Spencer and Cozmic Pizza, and will feature Spencer as host and commentator. Guests will address trends relating to the environment, civic issues, culture and much more. Following each show will be open discussion circles. Spencer’s first guest Feb. 1 will be Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy talking about how Eugene can evolve more towards the “green” ideals so many in this community would like to see. Enemy Combatants, a Eugene based duo who protested at the Bush inauguration, will also be on the bill. Feb. 15 guests will be fed- eral farm policy expert Kim Leval and LCC • Eugene’s Housing Policy Board (HPB) is likely to vote Feb. 7 to approve Metropolitan Affordable Housing’s proposal for a 94-unit apartment complex next to the WOW Hall. It’s a good plan, but taxpay- er money is involved so it deserves more scrutiny than it has gotten. Issues remain regarding the project’s potential impact on WOW Hall. What happened to the West Eighth Avenue Group’s plan? It wasn’t even considered by the HPB because it proposed no housing per se, but the plan does raise some valid issues about the mix of housing, business and performing arts downtown. Public input on the project can be made at the noon, Feb. 7 meeting of the HPB at the Atrium Building, and at council meetings leading up to the council’s scheduled vote March 7. All three proposals for the block can be seen at the Atrium Building. • We hear that starting in April, Kathryn Lucktenberg will join the Eugene Symphony as the new concertmaster. Lucktenberg competed against other candi- dates from across the country in the Jan. 15 auditions and was selected unanimously by the audition committee. Well-known in Eugene’s classical music scene, Lucktenberg is a fourth-generation violin- ist, a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, an associate professor of violin at UO, and a current member of the Oregon String Quartet. political science instructor Stan Taylor. March 1 guests will be UO Environmental Studies di- rector John H. Baldwin and permaculture ex- pert Jude Hobbs. For more information, call 686-6761. STUDENTS GO SOLAR The UO is going solar, again! The Student Recreaction Center is going “online” this month with its new array of solar modules ex- pected to produce about 40 kilowatt hours of electricity each day or about 14,500 kilowatt hours each year. A ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the • Remember Pamela Wible, the bicycling family physician who makes house calls? She left for a few years and is now back in town trying to create a model for an “ideal medical clinic” based on what people want in health care. She’s surveying folks asking about how they gain access to medical care, how they want to communicate with care providers, and their thoughts on patient education and alternative medicine. She’s also asking about technology, preven- tive care and even how a clinic should be designed and decorated. Anyone want to participate in her visionary process? We hear a national medical journal intends to publish a story about the project. Contact her at roxywible@comcast.net or 345-2437. • Heard about The RideShare Alliance? Turns out the website (www.rideshare.us) that helps people all over the country with transportation networking is the creation of a local guy, Jason Reynolds, who designed it as a university class project. Might come in handy if LTD goes on strike. The website is geared to helping people get to events, but Reynolds says it can also be used for carpooling. LCC reportedly uses it already. SLANT includes short opinion pieces, observations and rumor-chasing notes compiled by the EW staff. Heard any good rumors lately? Contact Ted Taylor at 484-0519, editor@eugeneweekly.com
