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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 2005)
• Last Sunday The R-G published a front- page feature story lauding the high- priced consulting work of Jim Johnson, the former city manager of Eugene. The story, headlined “Guru of government,” contained 2,300 words, but did not men- tion that Johnson presided over one of the biggest scandals in city history. While Johnson was at the helm, Eugene police officers Roger Magaña and Juan Lara were out raping and sexually abusing women. The city is now being sued for its lack of supervision, hiring controls and discipline regarding the two officers. Under Eugene’s form of government, the city manager is responsible for all such personnel issues. news awards of the evening for Best Poet, Best Northwest Food and Best Public Figure. Other presenter pairs included Evin Marshall and Ted Taylor, Slug Queens Frank Slugsnotra and Scarlett O’Slimera, Steve Sawada and Laura Kemp, Emily Freeman and Maribeth Zanone, Giancarlo Guerrero and Mason Williams, Betty Snowden and Kim Still, Kirk Boyd and Kera Abraham, Melissa Bearns and Ted “Papa” Lee, Sally Sheklow and Rebecca Urhausen, Jim and Ginevra Ralph, Patti Chappel and Shelley Kurtz, Paul Holvey and David Kelly, Jeffrey Stout and Matt Hastings, Mark Zolun and Kenne Glenn. In typical Eugene fashion, It was wild. It was chaotic. It was brilliant. people showed up in everything from formal It was idiotic. Throw a bunch of creative wear to blue jeans. types together with a loose script and any- Music ranged from a jazz/classical Frank thing can happen. But in the end, Eugene Zappa piece performed by the Oregon Weekly’s first Best of Eugene Awards Show Percussion Ensemble to country to rock to filled the McDonald Theatre Oct. 15 and punk — and music and dancing continued on raised nearly $6,000 for FOOD for Lane until midnight. The house band, Oonie County. Egghen and His Bag O’ Tricks, was led by The evening, billed as an “Oscar night- Paul Biondi in collaboration with Bill like extravaganza,” was a mix of music, com- Shreve, EW’s director of sales and marketing. edy, celebrity hosts and awards to winners in Shreve also produced the show. multiple categories (see Best of Eugene list- Financial backers of the show included ings in this issue). Denny Guehler was the CD World, KEZI, QSL Printing, Dutch Bros. MC and Jessica Chanay and Scott Morgan of Coffee, The Kiva, McKenzie River FOOD for Lane County presented the first Broadcasting, Black Forest, Giancarlo Guerrero and Mason Williams came out Diablo’s Downtown to party with the Best of Eugene on Saturday. Lounge, Brails Coffee PHOTO BY JAMES BATEMAN Shop, Midtown Pipe & Tobacco, McKenzie River Music, E&D Services, Western Beverage and the UO Cultural Forum. All proceeds after expenses go to support FOOD for Lane County’s local hunger pro- grams. Will EW do it again next year? “We’ve never at- tempted this insanity be- fore,” Shreve says, “but we had such a good time, and it’s for such a good cause, that we just might do it again.” — TJT briefs TED TAYLOR AWARDS SHOW RAISES BUCKS • Who would win the Dem primary for Oregon guv if the election were held today? An unofficial straw poll at the state’s Democratic conference in Sun River showed former Gov. Kitzhaber leading with 23 percent of the vote. State Sen. Ben Westlund, a maverick Republican considering a run as an independent, came in second with 14 percent. Jim Hill took third at 10 percent, and Kulongoski ranked only fourth with 8 percent. Pete Sorenson and Vicki Walker were just two points behind. The straw Kitzhaber poll was conducted Oct. 8 by Oregon Political Staffer LLC (www.politicalstaffer.com). The politicos who hang out at Dem con- vention parties are not typical voters, but statewide polling for Kulongoski looks bad as well. Kulongoski could still get the nod in the May primary, depending on who files. And as critical as Sorenson is of his opponent, he says he’ll rally behind whoever’s on the Democratic ticket. • We can’t help but celebrate news that Measure 37 last week got a thumbs down from Marion County Circuit Court Judge Mary James. The new law goes to the Oregon Supreme Court, leaving thousands of land-use decisions in limbo. The proponents of M37 are fuming, of course, complaining that the vot- ers have been run over, but we don’t think voters knew that they were approv- ing an unfair, confusing, contradictory sack of trash wrapped in pretty paper. Plus, our initiative system allows anybody with enough signatures to put any- thing on the ballot, even something illegal and discriminating. It’s up to the courts to determine legality. Should the Legislature reconvene to try to clean up the mess? There’s been no consensus on this issue in Salem, and Kulongoski’s attempted “solution” during the legislative session only would have made Measure 37 more destructive. Let M37 die quickly in the courts to settle the pending decisions. And let’s support broad-based new efforts to clarify and strengthen Oregon’s land use planning. The rest of the nation is watching our grand experiment. • Backers of the External Police Review Measure 20- 106 on the Nov. 8 ballot are concerned about low voter turnout. The city measure is the only item on the ballot (see Viewpoint this week), but not every- one in town is up to speed on the issues. We hear one group is doing something about it. The Lane County Bus Project will be canvassing west Eugene Saturday, Oct. 22, following an ori- entation and training at 10 am. Contact adampetkun@hotmail.com or 513-4195 for location and to RSVP. Councilors Bonny Bettman and Andrea Ortiz will be there. o So how are we doing, folks? • Oregon motor vehicle rules say a car has to have windshield wipers, but apparently nowhere is it written that a car has to have a windshield. Goggles, anyone? 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 OCTOBER 20, 2005 9
