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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 2009)
NEWS BRIEFS WAR DEAD Wednesday and Friday, and from 9 am to 7 pm Saturday and, Sunday. Interviews are conducted between two people who know and care about each other. A trained facilitator guides the participants through the interview process and at the end of a 40-minute session, the participants walk away with a CD of their interview. With their permission, a second copy becomes part of an archive at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. For reservations, call (800) 850-4406 or visit www.klcc.org at 10 am on April 23 and May 8. A tour of the booth and a short talk will be at 11:30 am Thursday, May 7. Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq began on March 20, 2003 (last week’s numbers in parentheses): In Iraq • 4,284 U.S. troops killed* (4,278) • 31,230 U.S. troops injured* (31,215) • 181 U.S. military suicides* (181) • 1,123 U.S. contractors killed (accurate updates NA) • 100,112 to 1.2 million civilians killed*** (99,774) • $665.9 billion cost of war ($663.8 billion) • $189.4 million cost to Eugene taxpayers ($188.8 million) In Afganistan • 682 U.S. troops killed* (679) ACTIVIST ALERT • 2,807 U.S. troops injured* (2,792) • $187.2 billion cost of war ($186.8 million) • The West Eugene Collaboration is holding public presentations reporting on the WEC’s “New Vision for West Eugene.” The first will be at 6:30 pm Thursday, May 7, at the Fern Ridge Public Library in Veneta. The next will be at 6:30 pm Tuesday, May 12, at the Eugene Public Library in Eugene. Presenters will include Mayor Kitty Piercy, Councilor Chris Pryor and Jan Wostmann of the Neighborhood Leaders Council. • The Global Oneness Project will be in Eugene Thursday, May 7, hosting a free film event showing “creative and cou- rageous people who are working in the fields of sustainability, conflict resolution, spirituality, art, economics, indigenous cul- ture and social justice from every conti- nent.” Speakers include filmmaker Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee and community organizer Orland Bishop. The gathering begins at 5:30 pm and films and conversa- • $53.2 million cost to Eugene taxpayers ($53.1 million) * through May 4, 2009; source: icasualties.org; some figures only updated monthly ** sources: icasualties.org, defenselink.mil *** highest estimate; source: iraqbodycount.org; based on confirmed media reports; other groups calculate civilian deaths as high as 655,000 (Lancet survey, 2006) to 1.1 million (Opinion Research Business survey, 2008) tion will run from 6:30 to 9:30 pm at Cozmic Pizza, 199 W. 8th. For more infor- mation, visit events@globalonenessproject. org • The UNESCO Chairs Conference is at the UO May 8-12 (see News Briefs last week). Public presentations will be from 10:30 am to 5 pm Friday. Yale professor Mary Evelyn Tucker will talk on “The Emerging Alliance of Religion and Ecology” at 7:30 pm Saturday. See http://unesco.uore- gon.edu or email ktotten@uoregon.edu IT’S ABOUT TIME By David Wagner H ooray for May! when wildfl ower blooming reaches its peak in the Willamette Valley. The annual wildfl ower show at the Mount Pisgah Arboretum in Buford Park celebrates this fl ush on the Sunday after Mother's Day. A couple of hot days in April caused a surge in blooming, but things are still behind schedule. Cool weather in May will keep things coming out gradually. Calypso orchids will stay lovely longer than usual. The cloudy, drippy days are good for planting vegetables out in the garden. Their roots will be well established for productive growth when the weather warms up in July and August. A sunny day makes the air warm. Moist fragrances arise when tramping on yerba buena in the woods. Nice fragrances. But then I notice the headless elk carcass that's been thrown over the edge of the road, only 25 yards past Calypso orchid (aka lady slipper), the "No Dumping" sign. Bad fragrances. Curse the SOBs who did that. I have to turn my attention to birds busily making nests Calypso bulbosa and feeding nestlings; it brings back the pleasure of being outdoors. Oak woodlands have an array of fl owers that are not seen anywhere else. Getting out into the oak woods means watching out for poison oak. Its leaves are just unfurling so they are barely noticeable but as virulent now as any time of the year. An alert is also needed for those allergic to grass pollen. The count starts to climb toward the end of this month, peaking in June. David Wagner is a botanist who has lived in Eugene for more than 30 years. He teaches mosses and is president of the Eugene Natural History Society. He may be reached at fernzenmosses@me.com WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM slant • Ballots arrived this week for the May 19 elections. On the Eugene ballot will be contested races for 4J School Board Positions 2 and 3, and one contested Zone 4 LCC position. River Road residents will also find a five-year property tax levy on the ballot that would fund the River Road Park and Recreation District. Look for our endorsements next week. We’re holding off to see how the school board candi- dates perform under pressure in the Chamber/City Club forum this week (May 6) and the public forum at 6 pm Tuesday, May 12, at Cesar Chavez Elementary School. • Once upon a time three little Wolfie Blitzer-like pups built houses of howling hys- teria. Swine! Swine! Swine! Each one bellowed until their ratings screamed over the quivering masked masses. But the pandemic turned out pan-anemic. More people drown in bathtubs. The virus did tire us. But the real damage was the howl- ing. Will anyone believe them next time, even if the poking pig is real? • Will the piggy flu hype benefit the local tincture industry? Swine flu prevention tips and remedies are spreading in Eugene and Springfield faster than the bacon bug itself. Herbal concoctions, pungent veggies, incantations, head gear, sinus hos- ing, money laundering, isolation chambers? What’s your preferred prevention or treatment tip? Email editor@eugeneweekly.com or slip a sterilized note under our door. • Battles over UO funding priorities have raged for years, and now some unnamed professors have started a blog at http://uomatters.com that examines the inequities that have led talented profs and even graduate teaching fellows to go elsewhere. According to the blog, full professors at the UO make an average of $99,800, which is 81 percent of the national average at public and private universities. UO administrators, on the other hand, are paid 120 percent of their peers. The blog lists President Dave Frohnmayer’s compensation at $719,000, which is 150 percent of the national average. Provost Jim Bean is paid $320,700, which is 122 percent of the average. Vice Provost for Diversity Charles Martinez makes $187,000, which is 144 percent of the average. And these salary numbers might be low. The authors report having trouble getting access to UO public records on administration pay packages. A few “scandals” are also published on the site. Provost Bean is on the record saying the UO’s Bend programs make “a slight profit,” but according to one analysis on the blog, “Bend has only 15 graduates per year and the program is losing about $1 million a year.” The blog questions the oft-touted claim that UO athletics are self-supporting. And what about that contentious new White Stag sign in Portland? The blog asserts that the high cost of purchasing and remaking the sign will be paid not by specific benefactors but instead by general foundation funds “which could have instead be used to plug the budget gap.” Another page talks about the decision to spend $2.4 million on remodeling Johnson Hall, the administration building. Speculation can also be found on what kind of lucrative deal Frohnmayer will wrangle post-retire- ment. Why is the blog anonymous? We hear some of the professors who provide the documentation are worried about retaliation, even though they are tenured. That’s an unhealthy sign at an institution that should stand as a paragon of academic freedom. Underlying nearly all of the discussions on the blog are larger questions of gov- ernance and transparency. With Frohnmayer on the way out, this is a critical time to resolve some long-standing equity and fairness issues that are keeping the UO from being as academically strong and competitive as it can be. • How’s Tsunami Books doing in this recession? We heard sales at the independent store at 25th and Willamette were down about 20 percent in recent months, but company President Scott Landfield tells us he’s hanging in there. Back in mid-April, Landfield sent out an email to customers and friends saying the store has a “maxed-out line of credit,” and “there is no room to breathe … I am presently man- aging the business alone, working the usual 75-plus hours necessary to keep the place afloat.” He offered the remaining 13 shares for sale at $500 per share, and it looks like most, if not all, have been taken. Over the past 13 years the store has sold about $2 million worth of books, mostly used, and hosted more than 1,500 events — everything from folk music to political gatherings. This is the kind of local busi- ness we all need to support. • The war in Afghanistan/Pakistan is heating up, so in our “War Dead” box we are adding statistics from Afghanistan, including U.S. dead, injured and the cost in dol- lars to taxpayers. The total costs of war cannot be calculated in a box, of course. War costs have to include long-term human suffering in its myriad forms, the destruction of social and political systems, environmental and infrastructure degra- dation and economic damage from squandered resources and war profiteering. 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 EUGENE WEEKLY MAY 7, 2009 9
