TAKING IT TO THE TREES
Summer is almost here and so is clearcut
season. In an effort to stop Northwest trees
from falling on public lands, Cascadia
Summer 2009, a direct action campaign, is
looking to train people on how to do every-
thing from tree sitting to community and
media outreach and lobbying.
This Memorial Day weekend, May
23-25, Cascadia Summer will be in the Fall
Creek area putting on an “action camp.”
Attendees will be schooled in techniques
important in forest defense including: tree
climbing, living in the woods, forest medic
training, cooking in the forest, setting up a
tree sit, identifying forest flora and fauna
and participating in non-violent direct
action.
“What we hope to do is get a lot of peo-
ple into the forest, inspired and empowered
to do forest defense. That is what we have geared all the workshops toward, getting
people who care about protecting our last native forests, getting them the skills they
need and the motivation, and building a base to do forest defense,” says Trip
Jennings, known in Eugene and beyond for his work with National Geographic.
Jennings is helping organize the action camp and will be holding a video workshop
related to recording action and using photography and video to assist in activism.
Other presenters will be from the Civil Liberties Defense Center, Earth First!,
Cascadia Rising Tide, and others.
“I see such an overwhelmingly positive response to what we have been doing,”
Jennings says. “I think people want to get involved and I think that this is a really
good opportunity to do it.”
The site will no running water, bathrooms, electricity or sleeping shelters, so
people should bring camping gear. An onsite kitchen will serve breakfast and dinner,
but attendees are encouraged to bring snacks, and food or money to donate to the
kitchen.
Camp carpools will be leaving at 6 pm Friday, May 22, from the Grower’s
Market by the train station. Carpools will also be leaving the Grower’s Market
everyday at 8 am through Monday. Jennings says he hopes most people will choose
to stay in the forest for the whole weekend, but there is no requirement to stay the
whole time.
Cascadia Summer’s goal is to create an ongoing camp in the forest after the
action camp has ended, and give people the option to stay through the summer. For
more information visit http://forestdefensenow.blogspot.com The group also holds
general interest meetings at 6 pm Thursdays at 17th and Charnelton.
— Topher Vollmer
THE BLIND IN A BIND
The Oregon Commission for the Blind (OCB) has been told by Gov. Kulongoski’s
office that he is recommending the commission be “suspended” due to the eco-
nomic crisis.
“This would mean that the agency would cease to operate effective July 1, and
the services we provide would somehow be integrated into other programs within
state government,” said an email sent to interested parties statewide from Robin
Illers, a rehabilitation instructor at OCB in Roseburg.
“We believe that this is not a cost effective decision and that the services that the
agency provides to blind Oregonians are at great risk if this recommendation is car-
ried out,” said the email.
The Legislature will be left with the final decision as to whether or not to con-
tinue the OCB.
The agency provides specialized vocational rehabilitation and independent living
services to individuals who are blind or vision-impaired. It is the only state agency
in Oregon which provides these services. The state provides 11 percent of the
agency’s budget, and that money is used to leverage matching federal grants.
Rob Cook, secretary of the Lane County Council of the Blind, thinks some
positive change can come from the funding crisis. He believes the commission
should be saved as a separate agency, but also restructured to be more efficient. “You
can spend two-thirds the money and get 10 times the services,” he says. Cook would
like to see less bureaucracy and more direct help to find jobs for those who are blind.
Supporters of the agency say money spent training and keeping blind people
employed more than pays for itself in increased tax revenues and reduced social
services.
Cook, James Edwards and possibly other advocates for the blind are going to
Salem this week to lobby members of the Legislature’s Joint Ways and Means
Committee, whose members include Sen. Vicki Walker and Rep. Nancy
Nathanson.
— Ted Taylor
8 MAY 21, 2009 EUGENE WEEKLY
NEWS BRIEFS
WAR DEAD
system that would allow for competing soft-
ware systems while also allowing for easy
and secure access to medical records by
both patients and their doctors. Electronic
doctor-patient communications would be a
part of this standard.”
He adds, “A single-payer system could
make it easier to enforce an open standard
for records and communication instead of
the current mess of incompatible software
systems. Of course, unless open standards
are required by legislation they may not
happen.”
On the topic of who owns medical
records, Kraemer says, “In the 1950s,
patients were not even allowed to see their
own medical records and doctors would
sometimes refuse to transfer them to anoth-
er doctor. Various federal and state laws
along with changing customs have made
records more accessible, but ultimately
patients should have free access and copy-
ing rights no matter who ‘owns’ the
records.”
John D. Wilson, M.D., of Eugene says,
“Patients own the information in the medi-
cal record and have the right to keep it pri-
vate, see it or receive copies. There might
be a charge if copying costs are significant.
The provider is the conservator of the
physical record itself, whether on paper or a
hard disk.” — Ted Taylor
ACTIVIST ALERT
• Travis Williams, executive director
of the nonprofit Willamette Riverkeeper,
will give a free talk about the Willamette
River and its environmental issues at 7 pm
Thursday, May 21, at REI in Eugene.
Williams’ new book The Willamette Field
Guide was recently published and includes
maps and suggested boat trips and hikes.
“The whole goal is to better connect people
to the river that is so close geographically to
where most of Oregon’s population is,” says
Williams. For more information, see www.
travis-williams.net or www.willamette-
riverkeeper.org
• The Pitchfork Rebellion is organiz-
ing “A Legal, Peaceful Rally to Save our
Forests by Ending Financial Conflict of
Interest” from noon to 2 pm Wednesday,
May 27, outside the district offices of the
Oregon Department of Forestry at 87950
Territorial Road in Veneta. The rally will
urge the state to adopt federal ethics/anti-
corruption standards by revoking the cur-
rent statute that permits three members of
the Oregon Board of Forestry to have sig-
nificant financial conflicts of interest. BOF
members include Larry Giustina of Giustina
Land and Timber, and Jennifer Phillippi of
Rough & Ready Lumber, both of whom are
involved in controversial aerial pesticide
spraying. The BOF oversees the Oregon
Department of Forestry.
• Jewish anti-Zionist social justice activ-
ists Darlene and Donna Wallach will give a
presentation titled “Eyewitness Gaza”
at 7 pm Wednesday, May 27, in Harris Hall,
at 8th and Oak. The Wallach sisters chal-
lenged the Israeli blockade aboard the first
Free Gaza boatlift in August 2008 and
remained until December, living among
Palestinian fishermen and farmers. They
will speak about “the spirit, resilience, kind-
ness, generosity, and sense of humor of the
Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq
began on March 20, 2003
(last week’s numbers in parentheses):
In Iraq
• 4,296 U.S. troops killed* (4,292)
• 31,256 U.S. troops injured* (31,245)
• 182 U.S. military suicides* (182)
• 1,123 U.S. contractors killed
(accurate updates NA)
• 100,361 to 1.2 million civilians
killed*** (100,339)
• $670.7 billion cost of war
($667.9 billion)
• $190.6 million cost to Eugene
taxpayers ($189.9 million)
In Afganistan
• 685 U.S. troops killed* (682)
• 2,828 U.S. troops injured* (2,820)
• $188.2 billion cost of war
($187.7 million)
• $53.3 million cost to
Eugene taxpayers ($53.3 million)
* through May 18, 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)
Palestinian people, and the peaceful ways
they survive the brutal and genocidal Israeli
blockade and occupation.” Sponsored by
the Al Nakba Awareness Project, the UO
Arab Student Union, Veterans for Peace
Squadron 13, and Peter Chabarek.
EARLY
DEADLINES
EW offices will be closed Monday,
Memorial Day. The early deadline for
reserving display ads for our May 28 issue
will be 5 pm Thursday, May 21. Classified
line ad deadline is 4:30 pm Friday, May 22.
Questions? Call 484-0519.
ON THE WEB
THIS WEEK
• More letters, including more responses
from men who are loved by Sally Sheklow.
• On the blog: Alan points out the contra-
dictions between a recent R-G editorial on
Tasers and earlier R-G news stories and
editorials, and show us more extreme sports
video. Molly brings us up to date on the
delayed opening of Café Zenon, and goes
all nit-picky on Star Trek. What’s up with
Uhuru’s tiny skirt and flirt? Camilla blogs
the opening of a new doggie daycare —
Opportunity Barks.
CORRRECTONS/
CLARIFICATIONS
• In our election endorsements last week,
we wrote that Anne Marie Levis tried to
unseat City Councilor Betty Taylor in 1996,
but actually both were running for an open
seat.
• Also in our election endorsements, we
wrote that Beth Gerot currently chairs the
4J School Board. She does not, though she
has been elected to leadership positions on
the board for seven of the 10 years she has
served on the board.
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