Eugene weekly., March 31, 2005, Page 9, Image 9

team of cadaver dogs in February to search a
north Eugene property for human remains.
The search, based on a tip from a confidential
informant, turned up nothing. — Alan Pittman
LTD ELECTION
COMPROMISE
In the face of stiff opposition from LTD
and local business interest lobbyists, a bill to
democratize the LTD board with direct elec-
tions appears headed for political compromise.
Eugene Sen. Floyd Prozanski said he backs
the effort to democratize LTD but is crafting a
“compromise” that would require election of
four of the seven board members with the re-
maining three appointed by the governor.
“This kind of goes down the middle,” he said.
Prozanski said Sen. Bill Morrisette (D-
Springfield) and Rep. Paul Holvey (D-
Eugene), key sponsors of Senate Bill 558,
have expressed support for the compromise
and election opponents have said they will
consider it.
In a hearing last week, LTD used its tax-
payer-paid staff to attack the democratic elec-
tion measure. Business interests, including the
Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce and Jack
Roberts of the Lane Metropolitan Partnership,
a taxpayer financed business recruitment
group, also testified against the measure.
Business interests argue that they should
control LTD because they pay the local em-
ployer payroll tax to support it. But that’s not
the model used by most other democratic bod-
ies. The half of people in Eugene who rent, for
example, don’t directly pay property taxes to
support state and local government but they
still do pay the tax indirectly through higher
rents, and still get to vote. Also, a big chunk of
LTD’s budget comes from federal taxes and
not the local payroll tax.
— Alan Pittman
REGISTRY FOR
WAR OBJECTORS
A Eugene-based group has creating a new
non-profit organization to help draft-age peo-
ple across the country prepare for what they
predict will be a military draft happening as
early as this summer.
The
group,
Point
of
Clarity
(www.pointofclarity.org), says the on-going
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have depleted
our nation’s active and reserve military per-
sonnel and military recruiting goals are not
being met.
“We are deeply concerned about the possi-
bility that on March 31, the U.S. Selective
Service will report to President Bush that it is
ready to implement a U.S. military draft within
75 days, and that a draft could be in operation
as early as June 15,” reads a statement from the
group, citing a government website,
www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html
The organization is operating a nationally
accessible online registry, educational and in-
formational resource, and organizing tool for
conscientious objectors (COs) and their fam-
ilies and friends. On the site are forms for
COs to document their personal history as a
CO, updates on congressional action, and ad-
vice on how to deal with local military re-
cruiting.
Point of Clarity’s inaugural event and fund-
raiser is planned for 5:30 pm April 10 at
Cozmic Pizza at 8th and Charnelton in
Eugene, and will feature performances by
Enemy Combatants, EDGEBREAKERS,
Urgent Carnival, Fly by Night, and Civil
Union.
For more information, call 345-1633 or
e-mail amy@informproductions.com
HOMELAND
‘IN’SECURITY’
A conference at the UO this week will ex-
plore how the war on terrorism has generated
new policies affecting immigration, security
and guest labor in North America.
“Homeland
‘In’Security:
Race,
Immigration and Labor in Post-Sept. 11 North
America” will be held Thursday, March 31,
and Friday, April 1, in Room 175 of the UO’s
Knight Law Center, 1515 Agate St.
Roberto Lovato, the Independent Press
Association’s 2003 George Washington
Williams Fellow, will deliver the keynote
speech at 7:30 pm on Thursday. Lovato’s es-
says on issues of race, immigration, foreign
policy and American politics have appeared in
numerous national and international media.
Roundtable discussions and panels featur-
ing a dozen American and Canadian scholars
will focus on issues and experiences across the
national boundaries of the U.S., Canada and
Mexico. Topics to be discussed include: im-
pacts of the war on terrorism on immigration,
national security and guest labor; constructing
borders and communities of color inside and
outside the U.S.; legal systems and the recon-
structions of race and ethnicity after the terror-
ist attacks of 9/11 in the U.S.; and immigrant,
refugee and of color community responses to
law and policy shifts in North America.
For a complete schedule, visit
http://codac.uoregon.edu/HomelandInSecurity.shtml
DAISY WINS …
The winner of the “I am Vegetarian, Here
Me Roar” contest in the March 17 EW is Daisy
Monticelli of Eugene who answered nine of
the 10 questions correctly. She wins a white-
water rafting trip with High Country
Expeditions. Below are the answers (in italics)
to the fill-in-the-blank questions.
In the U.S. three million animals are killed
per hour for food. On factory farms, chickens
have their beaks sliced off with a hot blade,
pigs have their tails chopped off and their teeth
pulled with pliers, and bulls and pigs are cas-
trated — all without anesthesia.
Tropical rainforests are being decimated to
create grazing land for cattle. The space equiv-
alent to seven football fields is destroyed every
minute. In one year an estimated 13.5 million
dogs and cats will be euthanized in animal
shelters across the county.
Animals raised for food produce 130 times
the excrement of the entire human population
— 87,000 pounds per second! In the U.S., an-
imals raised for food are fed 70 percent of the
corn, wheat and other grains we grow. The
world’s cattle alone consume a quantity of
food equal to the caloric needs of more than
the entire human population. The animal wel-
fare act does not apply to animals raised for
food. True
Four famous people who never eat ani-
mals: Pamela Anderson, Moby, Natalie
Portman, Alec Baldwin, Shania Twain. Meat-
eaters have nearly 10 times the incident of high
blood pressure that vegetarians do. Milk that
supposedly “does our bodies good” has been
linked to common health problems, is laced
with foreign allergy-inciting bovine protein,
and often contains hydrocarbon pesticides and
other chemical contaminants.
Stay tuned in the weeks to come for other
vegetarian-based contests and more prizes.
— Mark Frisbee
SO SPAM ME
Our favorite spam this week is from A&W
Restaurants offering a year of free fried cheese
curds to some lucky contest winner. Second
prize? Probably TWO years of greasy floaters
for your root beer.
CORRECTIONS/
CLARIFICATIONS
In response to last week’s cover story on
the Eugene railyard, Susan Posner of Lane
Forest Products says her company did not
lease a 20-acre plot of land from the Union
Pacific railyard.
MARCH 31, 2005 9