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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 15, 2007)
Lane County Herbicide Spray Schedule Spring forestry and roadside spraying will begin soon. • Twin Oaks Elementary School: Presentation of maps of forestry her- bicide spraying around the school (1990-2006) are available at: www.forestlanddwellers.org/schools/ TwinOaks/ • Upcoming town hall meetings re- garding forestry herbicide spraying around schools: Mapleton School is from 7 to 8:30 pm Feb. 22 at the Deadwood Community Center. Call Forestland Dwellers (342-8332) or Oregon Toxics Alliance (465-8860). See: forestlanddwellers.org/ TownHallMeetings/ how important a lasting peace in the region is to American security. Weir is regarded as an authority on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has spoken on Capitol Hill, to business leaders, at think tanks, and at many universities. Her hour- long speech on the subject was broadcast sev- eral times on C-Span. SWIFT GETS TRANSFER Recently demoted Army Pvt. Suzanne Swift from Eugene is heading for retraining at Fort Lee in Virginia this week. Swift was stationed at Fort Lewis in Washington where she was court-martialed in 2006 for refusing to return to Iraq. Swift’s case drew national attention due to the sexual abuse and harass- ment she experienced from her fellow sol- diers in Iraq. “Let’s hope the folks there (in Virginia) Compiled by Jan Wroncy, Forestland Dwellers: 342-8332, www.forestlanddwellers.org are more humane and helpful,” said her mother, Sarah Rich, this week. “It is the Neanderthal mentality of people in uniform at Fort Lewis that perpetuates and supports military sexual violence. The command there allowed this to happen to Suzanne and then made it worse for her by putting her in prison and stripping her of all her rank.” Rich said her daughter has been photographed for a story coming out in the next few weeks in the The Pacifica Forum is sponsor- New York Times Magazine. ing a talk by Alison Weir, execu- “Fort Lewis command threat- tive director of If Americans ened Suzanne with another Knew. She will speak on “Israel court martial if she went and Palestine: Media Distortion,” through with it, and then took at 7:30 pm Friday, Feb. 16 at 129 away her off-base privileges. McKenzie Hall, 12th and Kincaid, Finally, after having to fight with on the UO campus. The program is If Americans Knew them again, they agreed to allow free and open to the public. Director Alison Weir her off base for the photogra- Weir is a reporter who has pher, as long as she was escorted!” spent time in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, areas rarely visited by American journalists. Her organization, If Americans Knew, has conducted numerous studies of American news coverage of the conflict, including analyses of the New York Times, the Associated Press and prime time network news programs. This week, the UO Climate Leadership Weir will discuss her experiences, show Initiative (CLI) published a summary of the slides, give a history of the conflict, discuss Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change press distortions of the conflict and explain (IPCC) findings on climate change. The U.N.-sponsored IPCC stated conclusively that greenhouse gases are heating the planet and that humans are playing a role in the emission of those gases. The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report in- corporates the work of 1,200 scientists and 2,500 expert reviewers from 130 countries. The CLI summary provides a background on the report along with implications for Oregon and Washington. Some of the effects we are likely to see in the region include average temperature increases of .5 degrees Fahrenheit per decade for the next 50 years; gradual sea level rise and reductions in winter snowfall. What can people in Lane County do? As part of CLI’s Neighborhood Climate Council research project, the organization is holding a train-the-trainer program modeled after the Master Gardener and Master Recycler pro- grams. The new Climate Master program will provide 30 hours of training on climate change science and personal action strate- gies. Participants will then work with house- holds in the Jefferson-Westside and Fairmount neighborhoods to help them cut their emissions by 20 percent in 2007. The free Climate Master program will take place from March 6 to May 8 on Tuesdays from 6 to 8:30 pm, with one Saturday session. Applications are available online at www.climateleadership.org and are due by Feb. 20. Contact the CLI at 346-0786 or climlead@uoregon.edu BY PAUL NEEVEL MEDIA’S VIEW OF PALESTINE BE A MASTER OF CLIMATE CAROL MELIA Born into a musical and politically active Quaker family in Ogden, Utah, Carol Melia took her first political stand in second grade, when she wouldn’t pledge allegiance to the flag. “They had to drag me to the principal’s office,” she says, adding, “I did it with a joyful heart.” A music major at the University of Colorado, Melia has worked in psychiatric rehab at the Laurel Hill Center since 1981. She has also raised three kids and made a lot of music, ranging from string quartets to vocal groups like the Church of the Naked Truth at the Oregon Country Fair. Still an active Quaker, she has expressed her outrage over Iraq by shouting, “Stop the war!” at public occasions, including W’s second inaugural, where she managed to get close-up tickets. When she heard about the Iraq Body Count Exhibit at her alma mater, Melia arranged to have it shipped to Eugene and sponsored by UO student groups. The lawn area surrounding her in the photo was filled in for two weeks with 120,000 white flags, each representing six to seven Iraqi deaths, and 3,000 red flags, one each for U.S. servicemen and women killed in Iraq. Fashion As Art Dale McDonald, Sara Zagarino, Mitra Chester and Brittany Catter are involved in a fashion show Saturday Passion for fashion! A local fashion fanfare is happening Saturday, Feb, 16 at the Vet’s Club Ballroom on Willamette. The show is called Deluxe District Mode and is created by Deluxe, Women’s and Men’s Fashion Shop on Willamette. Deluxe’s new owners are Mitra and Aaron Chester, and they are getting help with the show from Dagua Nelson (Lady Dove) and Nelson’s mother, Carol Hartley (ClothesHorse). More than 35 different designers have worked overtime to show their creations. They will have booths with their designs for sale. One hundred local models will be strutting down the cat- walk as well. No stranger to underground fashion, Mitra Chester managed a Buffalo Exchange in Austin, Texas, for years. She started designing and revamping and went as far as to redesign by hand all of the wedding ensembles that she found in second-hand shops. She describes her own unique designs as “post modernism,” taking different elements to make a new context. For instance, she can do something cute with that ugly turtleneck you got from your aunt. “The goal here is to look at fashion as an art with the support from the community,” she says. “Eugene is so supportive to the arts; let’s include clothing and accessories,” she adds. The de- signers can’t afford to design full time, so this show gives them an opportunity to display their creations and get their names out there. For those who want to learn sewing, Mitra’s mother Debrah DeMirza teaches beginning and advanced sewing Wednesdays at 7:30 pm at Deluxe. For the show, doors open at 6 pm, and the show starts at 8 pm. All ages are welcome, and there will be a bar for cocktails. Tickets are $5 in advance and $6 at the door; call 686-0205 for more information. — Aspen River Rosen FEBRUARY 15, 2007 9
