news
briefs
POLICE REVIEW
GETS A FORUM
have a website now at www.yeson20-106.org
A Voters Pamphlet is expected to arrive in
city residents’ mailboxes the week of Oct. 17.
Deadline for registering to vote is 21 days be-
fore the election, which is Oct. 18. — TJT
BENNIS TALKS
ON EMPIRE
Activist scholar and journalist Phyllis
Bennis will be speaking in Eugene Tuesday,
The upcoming Nov. 8 election in the city
Oct. 18. The title of her talk is Challenging
of Eugene has just one item on the ballot, the
External Police Review Board Measure 20-
Empire :Moving US Politics Toward A
Positive Solution.
106, and just one public forum planned so far.
Bennis is a senior analyst at the Institute
Ballots are mailed Oct. 21.
for Policy Studies and is active with the anti-
The forum is scheduled for 7 to 8:30 pm
war coalition United for Peace and
Wednesday, Oct. 19 at EWEB, 500 E. 4th
Justice. She’s a writer, an-
Ave. The event is sponsored by the ACLU of
Oregon, CALC, Communities United for
alyst and activist on
Middle East and
Better Policing, the League of Women
U.N.
issues.
Voters of Lane County and KOPT
Bennis appears
Radio. Bonny Bettman, Gary Papé,
frequently as a
Henry Luvert and Ken Tollenaar are
the scheduled panelists. Alan Siporin
commentator
and analyst on
will be moderator.
U.S. and interna-
The ballot language will ask voters:
tional television and
“Shall Eugene charter authorize city
radio, and has written
council to hire police auditor and appoint
civilian review board to review com-
about U.N. and Middle East
Phyllis Bennis
issues for almost 20 years.
plaints against police?”
Setting up an independent external review
Bennis is also involved with
requires a charter amendment since all pow-
the creative and theatrical peace and social jus-
ers to hire and fire city staff are currently held
tice movement CODEPINK (www.code-
exclusively by the city manager. The measure
pink4peace.org). On Sept. 26 she joined Cindy
is an outgrowth of a 15-month review by the
Sheehan, Medea Benjamin of Global
Eugene Police Commission. The commis-
Exchange and more than 30 other women at a
sion looked at current practices for handling
colorful direct action in front of the White
complaints against Eugene police, and ana-
House.
lyzed various models of oversight being used
Bennis will also be in Corvallis speaking
around the country.
about her recently published book,
A description of the ballot measure and its
Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli
background can be found at www.eugene-
Conflict, at 7 pm Monday, Oct.17 at the Odd
or.gov under “City Highlights.” Proponents
Fellows Hall downtown.
• Listening to KLCC’s semi-annual Radiothon last week we
heard about a caller promising to match the pledge of the
next fan of KRVM’s Jefferson Public Radio. What’s going
on here? Public radio generates strong loy-
alties and a sense of ownership, and in
this case, one listener loves both sta-
tions, and took this opportunity to
express it. What’s not to love? If
“Morning Edition” on KLCC-FM gets
boring, you can switch to Diane
Rehm on KRVM-AM. Weary of
Garrison Keillor on KRVM? Switch to
Brian Hebb and Claude Offenbacher on
KLCC. Our cover story this week looks
Alan Siporin
into a topic that’s not been explored
before — how KLCC picks its program-
ming, and how some members of the community and
staff have reacted in recent years. It’s a clash of values,
priorities and process familiar to every human collabora-
tion. Non-profits are particularly prone to such conflicts
because they have a public service mission, and are held
to higher standards. Organizations relying on broad com-
munity support and entrusted with the public airways
have an even bigger burden. We listen to the ever-chipper
KLCC Radiothon hosts telling us that they want feedback
and suggestions. Our cover story this week has an abun-
dance of both. On a final note, it’s great to hear Alan
8 OCTOBER 13, 2005
CRAPPY CREEK
Sections of Amazon Creek and the A2 di-
version canal in west Eugene exceed state
standards for fecal bacteria, city Water
Resources Manager Therese Walch told the
Eugene City Council this week.
To address the problem, the city plans to
spend $21,000 next year on a three-year
study of the source of the pollution. “We sim-
ply don’t know” where the fecal bacteria are
coming from, Walch told the council.
“Bacteria is a really challenging issue.”
After the council’s previous conservative
majority cut $1.8 million out of the city’s
stormwater protection program two years
ago, Eugene has now fallen behind other
cities in protecting water quality. Springfield,
Salem, and Portland now have stormwater
development standards requiring developers
Siporin’s voice back on the air. He’s a substitute host at
KOPT, two years after leaving KLCC.
• Mouths are flapping lately about whether urban sprawl
makes us fat. It’s a chicken-or-egg debate: Do people
become sedentary because they move into sprawl-
ing suburbs and drive their cars everywhere, or do
people move into sprawling suburbs because they
don’t like to exercise? Northwest Environment
Watch maintains that it’s the former, and that
sprawl is making Americans fatter. A recent OSU
study found that it’s the latter, and we can’t blame
sprawl for the rising obesity rate. We think both sides
are asking the wrong question. Rather than debate
the source of the sprawl-obesity connection, we need
to acknowledge that the link is there, and ask what
it’s doing to our kids.
• After Hurricane Katrina we suggested in this column
that Eugene residents are also vulnerable to disaster from
flooding if our dams fail. Several concerned readers have
asked us for more information, and City Club last week
featured three local experts on natural disasters. It seems
we are vulnerable to all sorts of catastrophes. The most
dramatic would be a major quake on the Cascadia Region
Subduction Zone along the Oregon Coast. We don’t like
scaring people (well, maybe sometimes), but federal agen-
to build natural swales and other improve-
ments to treat contaminated water on-site, but
Eugene has no such rules. Council conserva-
tives have also slashed a planned city pro-
gram to buy up stream corridors threatened
by development.
The new, more progressive City Council
appears to be looking to fix the damage in the
environmental program. The council this
week approved a $300,000 increase in water
protection funding and directed the staff to
bring back the stream corridor acquisition
program for reconsideration.
Councilor Bonny Bettman pointed to stud-
ies showing that acquiring and protecting
streams instead of piping and filling them can
increase water quality, be cheaper and provide
a natural amenity to neighborhoods. She called
the “green infrastructure approach” environ-
mentally “sustainable” and “forward looking.”
cies say the Big One could cause more than $12 billion in
damage and untold deaths in Oregon. What would happen
to the dams? OK, here’s the scary part: The National
Inventory of Dams lists 812 high potential hazard dams in
Oregon and 34 are in Lane County. All are upriver from
us, except Fern Ridge. The biggest in storage is Lookout
Point, followed by Hills Creek, Cougar and Fall Creek. It’s a
whole lot of water, varying with the time of year. Local
and regional disaster planning is impressive, and UO geol-
ogy prof Ray Weldon says the chances of a catastrophic
quake are only 3 to 5 percent in the foreseeable future.
But those of us who live on the valley floor are taking a
new look at those old life jackets piled up at St. Vinny’s.
• Got unexplained divots in your lawn? Could be a neigh-
bor golfing through at midnight with a 9 iron, or more
likely raccoons digging for night crawlers. Want to trap
those pesky critters and take them on a one-way ride?
Sorry. Against the law, unless you have a special wildlife
permit. We might think of raccoons as big rat bandits, but
they are actually small bears with an obsession for cat
food and backyard chickens. Ever hear raccoons or skunks
mating? Best description wins an EW/Ems T-shirt.
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