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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (June 5, 2008)
news briefs and friends with the disease, persons with Alzheimer’s, community health profes- sionals and people and clergy working in Alzheimer’s care. The keynote speaker at 8:45 am is Michael Villanueva, a neuropsychologist from Medford and co-president elect of the Oregon Geriatric Association. Other speakers and panelists include Frank Hales; Donna Peterson; Lani Gilbert; Joan Ward; June Boles; Chuck Jackson; Paula May, RN; Connie Adams, LCSW; Bette Dedrick; Marie Iverson; Joseph Riley; Alex Vonderhaar; John Urness; Sylvia Sycamore and Barbara Passarelli. Registration is $55 and includes lunch. Call 345-8392, visit alz.or.org/Oregon or stop by the Alzheimer’s Association, 1238 Lincoln St. in Eugene. EW TAKES 12 AWARDS Journalism award season has rolled around, and once again Eugene Weekly took home accolades from the Society of Professional Journalism (SPJ) state and regional contests. Reporter Alan Pittman came away with several prizes, and the EW took a prize in the Oregon and Southwest Washington nondaily category for Camilla Mortensen’s environmental reporting. Chuck Adams got a nod for everyone’s favorite category: “Consumer, Food, Lifestyle, Home Reporting.” Finally, freelancer Aaron Ragan-Fore won an award for his education writing. In the “Alternative Weekly” category for Pacific Northwest papers (including Idaho and Alaska), Suzi Steffen and Jason Blair took awards in criticism, and honors were given in page design for Kevin Dougherty. Both editorial and production were awarded for the special sections Swizzle and Weddings. Awards were announced at the SPJ annual banquet May 31 at the Oregon Zoo in Portland. happening people ACTIVIST ALERT • The Cascadia Wildlands Project hosts FSEEE executive director Andy Stahl for a multimedia presentation enti- tled “Wassen Creek: Owls, Old-growth and the Western Oregon Plan Revisions.” at 6:30 pm Wednesday, June 11 at the Eugene Public Library’s Tykeson Room. Stahl will show photography of the largest and most remote roadless area in the Coast Range, describe the ecology of coastal streams and old growth systems and dis- cuss the critical role that Oregon’s coastal rainforest plays in endangered species conservation and global carbon cycling. Free and open to the public. Call 434-1463 or visit www.cascwild.org for more info. • The Really Really Free Market comes to Lane County this weekend. The RRFM, a collectively organized event, will be from 11 am to 3 pm Saturday, June 7, at Island Park in Springfield. Attendees are encouraged to bring games, clothing, art, skills, music, furniture and anything else they want to give away. All goods and services at the market will be free, not paid for, bartered or exchanged. Lauren Regan of Eugene’s Civil Liberties Defense Center will give a “know your rights” training at noon. Email reallyreallyfreemarketeu- gene@gmail.com for more information. CORRECTIONS/ CLARIFICATIONS In last week’s news story about Alder Fuller and the Euglena Academy, a signifi- cant typo was printed. Fuller was talking about British scientist James Lovelock and his prediction that Earth’s population could “drop to less than one billion by 2010.” The correct date is 2100. Fuller’s detailed response to the story can be found at www. euglena-edu.net along with information on future classes. BY PAUL NEEVEL KIRSTEN GRAM After one term of engineering school at OSU, Portland native Kirsten Gram decided to become a dietician. “I went into home economics because I like to cook,” says Gram, who graduated in 1984, then served an internship in diabe- tes education in a children’s hospital at Indiana University. Returning to Oregon, she found work in the dietary depart- ment at McKenzie-Willamette Hospital. “I’ve been here 22 years,” she says, though “here” is now Cascade Health Solutions, a nonprofit group of health- care programs that seceded when the hospital was sold. When she started, Gram ran a weight-management pro- gram. Today, in her 10th year as manager of CHS’s Center for Healthy Living, her main focus is diabetes education. “One in 10 Americans over 20 has diabe- tes,” she notes. “A third of them don’t know they have it.” Gram and three other certified educators meet with 60 to 90 diabetes patients a month in individual and group sessions. At the annual meeting of the Oregon Diabetes Educators in April, Gram was named Oregon Diabetes Educator of the year. WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • When is the firing of a Taser justified? Eugene police officers are given exces- sive discretion in using the electric weapon, and now Tasers are being used on pro- testers. We use the plural “protesters” because even though only one demonstra- tor was hit downtown last week, the threat of Taser use is now something every peaceful demonstrator has to fear. Is that why the Taser was fired instead of some nonviolent intervention? Intimidation is the only reason we can think of for this police overreaction. Control through fear, rather than skillful conflict resolution, appears to dominate local police culture. Is there a pattern of intimidation here? The police union in 2000 threatened to sue City Councilor David Kelly to try shut him up when he suggested investigating complaints about police behavior. Bad EPD cops intimidated vulnerable women to perform sex acts, sometimes under threat of death, costing taxpayers millions in lawsuit settlements. More recently, the police tried to intimidate the police auditor by filing criminal charges against her. The union tried to intimidate Councilor Bonny Bettman with a threatening and ugly website. Now Tasers are threatening peaceful protesters. What’s next from those sworn to protect and serve? There are long-term solutions to EPD’s chronic problems, and they require a whole new level of disclosure, accountability and transparency. Bully cops on the force need to be fired, conflict resolution training and community policing need to become high priority and union members need to replace their leadership. It’s time for good, conscientious officers to break ranks and speak out against the destruc- tive actions of a few misguided individuals. • Isn’t “smart growth” an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms? After all, even at 1 percent growth, population will double in one lifetime (72 years) and quadruple in two lifetimes, and how can that be sustainable? So when we heard about the “Moving Forward Together” conference on “smart growth” coming up Wednesday, June 11, at the Hilton downtown, we were skeptical. A few years ago we would have expected the same old line of thinking from a gathering of real estate brokers, local officials and state transportation “experts.” But today’s realities of climate change, peak oil, pollution and changing traffic patterns are gradually altering conventional attitudes. This conference will still hear advocates for unfettered growth and sprawl, but it will also give a voice to people like economist Joe Cortright, who makes the connec- tion between stringent land-use laws and a healthy economy. Oregon planning con- sultant John Fregonese is a leading voice for public input into innovative regional planning. We will hear about property values going down on the outskirts and up in city centers. Old attitudes die hard in the real estate, transportation and construction industries, but change is afoot, and this conference offers a glimpse into the future. Information on the all-day event is available at movingforwardtogether.net • One of Eugene’s gems is the Wayne Morse Ranch Historical Park on Crest Drive in the rolling south hills, but it turns out the scenic 27-acre meadow and woods with its 1936 home has never been a ranch. The property was known as Edgewood Farm in earlier times, but the label “ranch” was somehow attached to paperwork for federal and state grants when the property became a city park in the 1970s, and the label stuck. Now we hear the Morse family is seeking to call it a farm again. A name change to Wayne Morse Family Farm is expected to go to the Eugene City Council later this year “to rectify a historical mistake,” according to Alison Voss, co- president of the Morse Historical Park Corporation Board. Speaking of Wayne Morse, an event that got little media attention was the unveiling of a plaque in honor of the late senator April 21 at the Wayne Lyman Morse U.S. Courthouse. The new federal building was dedicated in late 2006, but Morse’s name is barely visible on the glass and steel front and was nowhere to be found in the building. Photos from the plaque dedication, including surviving Morse family members, can be seen at waynemorsecenter.uoregon.edu • Goodnight Bush? Making the rounds in print and on the web is a brilliant parody of Goodnight Moon, the classic children’s book first published in 1947 and a report- ed favorite in the Bush family library. Anyone in the Bush family today caught in possession of Goodnight Bush would likely be summoned to the woodshed, but the rest of us can enjoy a twisted and exceptionally funny look at the bizarre world of Bush & Cheney. The book is deliciously timely. Soon we can finally say goodnight to this eight-year disaster. • The tragic death of a cyclist struck by a car at 13th and Willamette this week should prompt the city of Eugene to make real improvements in bicycle safety downtown. For decades the city has dismissed downtown bike lanes in favor of convenient car parking. Human life is more important. Lane Area Herbicide Spray Schedule • The Lane County Board of Commissions will consider proposals for herbicide use on Lane County rights-of-way at 9 am Wednesday, June 11. Sign up before meeting to testify. Check agenda and documents at: www.lanecounty.org/BCC/AgendaHome.htm Call Lane County Commissioners at 682-4203 and/or Orin Schumacher, Integrated Vegetation Management Coordinator at 682-6908. See details at forestlanddwellers. org. Compiled by Jan Wroncy, Forestland Dwellers: 342-8332, forestlanddwellers.org EUGENE WEEKLY JUNE 5, 2008 9
