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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (July 20, 2006)
governor of Oregon, who balk at the idea of logging in previously protected designated roadless areas in national forests. But Gov. Ted Kulongoski takes some credit for the delay. He had filed a request for a temporary restraining order on July 6, in an attempt to compel the court to hear the case before Silver Creek started logging. The court immediately sched- uled a hearing for the morning of July 7. Silver Creek then Municipal Court Judge Alan agreed to delay logging, and the Leiman denied a motion to dismiss the trespassing charge against anti-war ac- Peter Chabarek governor withdrew the TRO re- quest. tivist Peter Chabarek, who was arrested after he refused to stop handing out anti-war “I am pleased that our legal strategy has leaflets in the Eugene Hilton during Sen. led to an agreement by the Silver Creek Gordon Smith’s speech to the Rotary Club on Timber Company to stop — for now — this Feb. 21. The ruling hinged on the question of unwise and unnecessary timber sale in Mike’s whether the public had been invited to use the Gulch,” Kulongoski stated in a press release. Hilton lobby for non-commercial purposes The states of Oregon, Washington, during the political event. California and New Mexico, along with a Chabarek’s attorney, Brian Michaels, filed half-dozen conservation groups, are challeng- a motion to dismiss the charge on May 12, ing the Bush administration’s decision to suggesting that the arrest had violated scrap the Clinton-era roadless rule, which was Chabarek’s free speech rights. Michaels ar- crafted with input from about two million gued that Smith’s presence had made the Americans, and replace it with a much more lobby a public forum, and Chabarek’s leaflet- industry-friendly policy. They argue that new ting was protected free speech under the policy was illegally adopted without involv- Oregon Constitution. In early July the Hilton ing the public, as required under the National manager agreed to drop the charge against Environmental Policy Act. Chabarek, but the city refused, Michaels said. Clinton’s rule made roadless areas in na- Assistant City Prosecutor C. Michael tional forests off-limits to logging. Bush’s Arnold, in a written response, argued that the rule essentially gives the Forest Service carte Hilton lobby was not, in fact, serving as a blanche to log in roadless areas, which com- public forum during Sen. Smith’s event be- prise about 60 million acres in national cause the Rotary had leased the adjoining forests. — Kera Abraham ballroom. Judge Leiman agreed with Arnold’s ruling on July 13 that neither the Hilton nor the Rotary Club invited the general public to use the hotel lobby during the senator’s visit. The case will advance to trial, and the outcome will Looking for a simple way to help the envi- likely set a precedent for future scenarios in ronment? Recycle your old Dex phone book which protesters show up at political functions between 1 and 4 pm Saturday, July 22 at the held on private property. — Kera Abraham Valley River Center, in Gottschalks Court near Euphoria Chocolate. Dex, KKNU radio and BRING Recycling have partnered to recycle outdated phone books and raise money for BRING. Dex will donate $1 per phone book, up to a maximum of $1,000, to fund BRING Recycling’s new Much to the relief of plaintiffs in a lawsuit Planet Improvement Center. against the U.S. Forest Service, the timber Those unable to attend Saturday’s recy- company that bought the rights to clearcut a cling event can still recycle outdated phone roadless forest burned in the 2002 Biscuit Fire books. The simplest way is to put outdated di- has agreed to hold off on logging for a few rectories into curbside recycling bins. more weeks. That will give a federal judge in San Francisco time to consider a multi-state case challenging the Bush administration’s re- peal of the Clinton-era Roadless Area Conservation Rule. In a letter to the Oregon Attorney General’s Office and a federal attorney, a lawyer for Silver Creek Timber Co. agreed to delay logging in the Mike’s Gulch roadless area until Aug. 4. The company had previ- Weyerhaeuser (744-4600) aerial spraying ously indicated that it would start cutting as of 2,4-D LV6; Garlon 4 and 3A; Accord; early as July 4, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Arsenal; Escort; Transline; Oust XP and Elizabeth Laporte hears arguments challeng- Extra, and Chopper herbicides around the S. ing the Bush administration’s new roadless Fork of the Alsea and Congdon Creek near Horton-Triangle Lake area, and Lake Creek policy on Aug. 1. tributary near Low Pass. Ground spraying “We’re certainly happy to have that on 608 acres with 2,4-D LV6; Garlon 4 and respite, and we’re glad that Judge Laporte will 3A; Arsenal; Accord; Chopper; and Escort be able to more fully hear this challenge on herbicides near Triangle Lake, Blachly, Horton and Low Pass starting Aug. 1. For Aug. 1,” said Rolf Skar of the Siskiyou more information, contact the Oregon Project, one of the plaintiffs in the case. “We Department of Forestry’s West Lane office eagerly await the outcome of that.” at 935-2283; reference #50833 (aerial) and Silver Creek’s attorney maintains that the #50832 (ground). delay was in no way a concession to oppo- Compiled by Jan Wroncy, Forestland Dwellers nents of the logging — from tree-sitting pro- 342-8332 testers to a dozen environmental groups to the the UO to promote affordable education for every Oregonian. “A great way to do that would be to stop the sale of Westmoreland,” Zupan said. “You couldn’t ask for a better ex- ample of diversity and affordability.” — Kera Abraham CHABAREK TO TRIAL RECYCLING PHONE BOOKS LOGGING DELAYED Lane County Herbicide Spray Schedule • Oregon community journalism lost one of its stalwarts recently with the death of Anne Thomas of Creswell. Her career spanned 50 years of writing, editing, teaching, and mentoring of young journalists. She died July 6 at the age of 73 from complications of lung cancer, and her memorial gathering last week in Cottage Grove packed the First Presbyterian Church with friends, family, congregation members and former co-workers. The “small but mighty” scribe wrote for daily papers in California and Oregon earli- er in her career but was best known locally as staff writer and editor of the Cottage Grove Sentinel and Springfield Anne Thomas News (a story on her life and career can be found at www.cgsentinel.com). She earned a master’s in journalism from UO and wrote award- winning stories about the arts, entertainment, politics, crime and the environment. She will be missed by all of us who knew her, not only for her dedication, knowledge and professionalism, but also for her kind and playful nature. She was a seeker of truth and beauty who found it wherever she looked, whether it was in local politics, live theater and galleries, the music of Pink Floyd, her pet cats, or the wit of Jon Stewart. • County Commissioner Bobby Green is grumbling that the West Eugene Parkway should be a regional transportation decision, and not just a Eugene decision. Let’s get real. Residents of Springfield, Glenwood, Coburg and Creswell who drive to Veneta or the coast can just catch Belt Line at I-5 and zip right over to West 11th, bypassing most of the congestion. It’s Eugene’s baby for the most part. And ODOT appears open to highway improvement projects that will ease the traffic trouble spots in west Eugene, along with David Cox of the FHA, according to the R-G. Everyone wins when the WEP dies. Let's give credit to Mayor Piercy and the city councilors and ODOT staffers who recognized that the WEP is an expensive, destructive, unnecessary and explicitly illegal boondoggle that should have been scrapped from transportation planning 30 years ago. The voters were not given the whole story either time they voted on the WEP. And the most important votes of recent years have been those for council and mayoral can- didates who stated loud and often that they opposed the proposed freeway through the wetlands. Most recently was Alan Zelenka, overwhelmingly elected in May to suc- ceed David Kelly. Both he and Kelly told the voters they opposed the WEP, as did Betty Taylor, Bonny Bettman, Andrea Ortiz and Kitty Piercy. Now community leaders on both sides of this issue finally can move past the flawed WEP to real solutions for trans- portation • Good of the Lane County commissioners to finally agree to turn on the power at Morse Plaza, where members of the Wayne Morse Youth Program have been valiantly trying to make their voices heard on Saturdays. But the commishes ought to be ashamed that, following the advice of County Management Services Director David Suchart, they had cut it off for more than three months — under the ridiculous assump- tion that young adults reciting poetry was somehow responsible for people selling drugs, peeing and littering in the plaza. Especially ironic that this happened under the statuesque watch of Morse himself, a passionate protector of free speech. Now, the county wants to charge the youth $10 per use and a $100 deposit, which they’ll lose if people deal drugs or litter while the kids are free-speakin’. What twisted logic. BY PAUL NEEVEL ROSE WILDE She was born in Cottage Grove, but after her parents split up, Rose Wilde lived with her mother and went to school in Maryland. She returned to Oregon for summers on her father’s garlic farm in Horton. Wilde studied anthropology at Rice and spent a year with Americorps in Washington, D.C. “I was providing support for fam- ilies where a parent had HIV,” she notes. She moved to Eugene in 1999 and worked for four years at Womenspace. “My job was education, working with youth around domestic violence,” she says. “I went to every high school, every year.” Wilde returned to school in 2004, commut- ing to OSU for a masters in the Public Health program. There she taught a class on HIV and also became an activist in the statewide union for graduate student employees. At her graduation in June, Wilde was honored with an Award for Excellence in Service. She’ll be looking for work at a non-profit or a research operation following an August wedding. “Rose is extra bright, she can execute, and she is really fun,” says Margo Schaefer of Womenspace. “Whoever gets her is one lucky organization.” JULY 20, 2006 9
