Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (March 15, 2007)
moved and voted against the resolution. Clark quoted from pro-war material call- ing the war a “neces- sary and just effort” to protect America. “Over 36,000 Americans died last year from the flu. Living has consequences; so does standing for your beliefs,” he said. The Iraq War has killed 3,195 U.S. sol- diers and wounded about 32,000. The war has killed an estimated 58,000 to 64,000 Iraqi civilians. There’s no comprehensive tracking of the number of civilians maimed. Michael Carrigan testified that the local war cost was enough money to pay for about 500 local school teachers for four years. We should “invest in the future of our children, not in the death of Iraqi children,” he said. Gordi Albi told the council it was impor- tant for citizens everywhere to stand up against the war. In Holland after WW II, Albi said she saw a Dutch man who’d had several fingers cut off because he refused to turn in Jews. He demanded why Germans didn’t stand up to Hitler. “We were frightened too, but we said no.” Bayla Ostrach read from a letter from a 26-year-old Marine she grew up with in Eugene who’s now in Anbar province and feeling suicidal due to combat stress. He wrote, “What a waste of life this has been.” Council opponents said city government shouldn’t waste its time with the na- tional war issue. But Mayor Piercy noted that more than 200 cities have passed similar anti-war resolutions. “This is a local issue.” The anti-war resolution passed by the council called for Congress to stop funding the war. Local Rep. Peter DeFazio voted against the war but has so far said he will not vote against continuing to fund it. — Alan Pittman SHOWING UP FOR HISTORY Why did 15 student members of North Eugene High School’s Gay-Straight Alliance head to Salem for the Basic Rights Oregon (BRO) Day of Action on Wednesday, March 9? “I think that on a basic level, everyone can understand love, and getting that understand- ing across is really important,” says senior Heather Spickard. And they, along with advisor Jane Robin, weren’t alone; about 500 people rallied in support of same-sex civil unions (House Bill 2007) and a statewide anti-discrimination law (Senate Bill 2) at noon on the steps of the Capitol after a morning filled with politician talk and planning for the lobbying that would happen later that afternoon. The North stu- dents spoke with Sen. Vicki Walker and with Rep. Chris Edwards; other Eugeneans spoke with Rep. Nancy Nathanson. One woman in the long line for registration wryly commented that she would not be meet- ing with her representative, Republican Karen Minnis (R-Wood Village) — who made sure she sank a civil unions bill when she was speaker of the House two years ago. (Minnis declined BRO meetings.) People agreed they would “love” to lobby Minnis, telling her sto- ries about discrimination or why a civil unions bill should pass. The morning lobby training and pump- up-the-troops session featured Senate Majority Leader Kate Brown and House Majority Leader Dave Hunt dropping in to applause and cheers; then came Christine Chavez, granddaughter of famed UFW or- ganizer Cesar Chavez and a staff member for California Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero. Chavez talked about how she had been working on freedom to marry issues for years and ended by saying, “I am going to stand with you until we all have the same rights that my husband Oscar and I got when we said ‘I do’ two years ago.” Finally, BRO volunteer Becky Flynn rallied the audience with a repeated call to “show up for our his- tory!” On the steps of the Capitol, where P- FLAG volunteers handed out peanut-butter- and-jelly sandwiches and apples, various pols paraded their support, but Gov. Ted Kulongoski won the crowd over with an en- ergetic speech in which he remembered bringing an anti-discrimination bill to the Oregon Legislature in 1973. “Our majesty is not just in our rivers, trees and coasts,” he said. “Our majesty is our values and our prin- cipals that we are all created equal in a nation governed by law.” To wild cheering in the in- termittent rain, he proclaimed, “I have the pen in my hand, and I am ready to sign!” The North students didn’t attend any of the afternoon workshops, but they did enjoy their meetings with Walker and Edwards. Sophomore Marina Larsen said, “It was a good experience. I was kind of nervous, but a lot of my friends were there,” and senior Alicia Thornley added, “I thought it was awe- some. It was great to see a bunch of people who took their time off work to help out other people.” Both Brown and Hunt said they ex- pected these bills to pass. Hearings for SB 2 were held on March 12, and hearings for HB 2007 are scheduled for mid-April. (See Sally Sheklow’s “Living Out” column on p. 6 for more details.) — Suzi Steffen HAPPENIN’ BiZ ANITA ROJAS OF SACRED WATERS COMMUNITY BIRTHING CENTER Growing up in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico, Anita Rojas lived with her paternal grandmother, whom she thought to be her mother. “Both of my grand- mothers were midwives,” she notes. When she learned at age 17 that her mother was in El Norte, Rojas and her brother took a bus to Tijuana and crossed the bor- der in the trunk of a car. “I went to high school, but I didn’t fit in,” she says. “I ran away by getting married.” After three miserable years in Alaska and the birth of twin boys (in a hospital), she fled and found sanctuary in Portland. There she met another man and had two more sons. “The first was a home birth,” she says. “A light went on. I told the midwife, ‘That’s what I want to do.’” Rojas joined a group of young women who wanted to be midwives. “I jumped into midwifery in 1986,” she says. “I haven’t stopped since.” Rojas and her sons moved to Eugene in 1990. Two years ago, she and two other midwives opened Sacred Waters. “We’re in a growing spurt,” she says. “It’s nice to maintain a space for families who choose natu- ral birth in a low-tech, relaxed atmosphere.” — Paul Neevel M AG IC A L D R E A MT IM E A F U N P L AC E T O S HO P P a r t y/ R a v e T oy s • Ne w A ge Bo o ks & G i ft s • Al e x Gr e y C lo t hi ng T - sh i r ts , V i s io n a r y A r t , Vi d e os , Mu si c , J e we l r y, E g y pt ia n S t a tu e s , D r a go ns , M e r ma i ds , F a ir i e s, G od s & G o dd e ss es , Cr y st al s, S a l t L am p s, C r ys ta l S in g i ng B o wl s N E W! D IS C O LI G HT U P FR I SB E E S 10 4 1 W il la m e tt e S t r ee t ( A cr os s fr o m t h e Mc D o n al d T he at r e) • 34 4- 03 51 MARCH 15, 2007 9
