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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 20, 2009)
news briefs and schools, government structural changes to prevent pesticide CEOs from heading up environmental government programs, and an end to clear-cutting in the Elliot State Forest. “One of the interesting aspects of this rally is the location. The U.S. Courthouse, most people don't realize, is where Homeland Security is located,” says Owen. "We purposely wanted to bring this rally to their front door,” he says. “Our reason for having the rally at this location is to show that we weren't intimidated by their previous actions.” He says that despite the presence of the federal agents whose call to the EPD led to Van Ornum’s Tasing, he still expects this to be a peaceful, legal rally. “We think that they are going to go out of their way because they got bad publicity last time,” he said. — Shaun O’Dell ACTIVIST ALERT • The Green Mind Film Series is showing The Doctor Who Hears Voices at 6:30 pm Tuesday, Aug. 25, at the Eugene Public Library Bascom-Tykeson Room. Following the free fi lm will be a moderated discussion with a panel including psychiatric survivors and mental health professionals. • City Club of Eugene is on summer break and is planning an informal gathering to collect input, feedback and suggestions. The free, no- host event is open to anyone interested in City Club, and begins at 6 pm Thursday, Aug. 27, at High Street Brewery and Café, 1243 High St. To get on City Club’s mailing list, send a note to mm@prpr.com • Looking Glass Youth and Family Services CEO Craig Opperman and County Commissioner Rob Handy will host a County Commission community outreach meeting at 6 pm Tuesday, Aug. 25, at the Looking Glass Riverfront School, 1475 Franklin Blvd. Focus will be on the services provided by Looking Glass and other organizations involved in child, youth and family services. • A health options town hall with Councilor Betty Taylor and Mayor Kitty Piercy will be from 7 to 9 pm Wednesday, Aug. 26, in the happening people slant City Council Chambers. Also on the panel will be County Commissioner Pete Sorenson, Dr. Paul Hochfeld (on single payer), Larry Scott (on Canadian health care), and Val Hoyle. An hour or more will be available for audience members to express opinions and ask questions. • A community reception for Eugene’s new Police Auditor Mark Gissiner will be from 4 to 6 pm Thursday, Aug. 27, in the McNutt Room at City Hall. • Common Cause Oregon is once again active, focusing on improving voter participation. The nonprofi t has a new offi ce in Portland led by Janice Thompson, former executive director of Democracy Reform Oregon. Email jthompson@commoncause.org or call (503) 283-1922. DOM DEFAZIO REMEMBERED Longtime Lane County photographer and toy maker Dominic DeFazio died of apparent heart failure Saturday, Aug. 15, according to friends of the family. DeFazio and his wife, Susanna, had just begun a backpacking trip into the Olympic National Forest, when he reportedly became ill. She has returned home and is in seclusion with her family and not taking calls at this time. No date has been set for a memorial since the couple’s son, Daniel, is at sea, and has not yet been contacted. Their daughter, Diana, and son-in-law, Garth, are here from Alaska. His sister, Carol DeFazio, Susanna’s mother, and brother, David Farkak, are all with the family in Walton at this time. DeFazio had a degree in photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology and stud- ied with Minor White. He worked as a profes- sional photographer for many years, then retired to make wooden toys. He then returned to pho- tography later in his life. He was an avid back- packer and nature photographer, and was the “unofficial photographer” of the Oregon Country Fair for 20 years. His photography has been on exhibit at New Zone Gallery in Eugene and can be seen online at www.newzone.org/defazio.html BY PAUL NEEVEL MICHEAL SUNANDA A grad of Benson High in Portland, Micheal Sunanda started out at the UO but "got kicked out for adolescent rebellion," he says. "I broke all kinds of rules." He finished up at PSU with a degree in PE and taught grade school for two years, then dropped out for a life of meditation. "I had three visions in the forest," says Sunanda, who returned to the UO in 1971 for a MA in Dreikurs family coun- seling: cooperative parenting, and subse- quently practiced "hippie family counseling" in several communes. He moved to Hawaii in 1988, got into the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms movement and WWOOFed his way around the islands as a pemaculture apprentice through the ’90s. After taking a permaculture course in Australia in 2000, he visited 100 permacultulture sites throughout the Americas before returning to Oregon in 2006. Since the ’70s, Sunanda has been self-publishing booklets on topics ranging from holistic parent- ing to ecoforestry. His recent writings can be found on his website: efn. org/~ecozma. He is currently looking for a permaculture farm where he can locate his eight-foot dome-home in return for farm work. "I'm tring to get WWOOFing started in Eugene," he says. WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • It’s ironic that as we celebrate an end to most field burning in Oregon, we see something perhaps as bad, if not worse, being shoved down our lungs by biomass-burning projects locally and all over the state, all being subsidized as “alternative energy.” The deadline for public input into the proposed Seneca plant has been extended (see our News Briefs), but is the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency going to rule against the plant because of deadly emis- sions? Don’t hold your breath. LRAPA’s mandate is to make sure Seneca con- forms to the rules and regulations. It might take federal action to stop Seneca, based on issues of environmental justice. It appears that just downwind of the proposed burner are neighborhoods with high minority populations. • We cringe to see The Register-Guard this week announcing another painful round of layoffs. The local daily, after many decades of high profits, has been hit hard by falling ad revenues and print readers. The paper racked up a $5 million loss in 2008, according to one union official. More big losses have fol- lowed in 2009. The last “black Monday” was in early June when 13 full-time and eight part-time staffers were let go, and other unfilled positions were elim- inated. This time it’s nearly 6 percent of the daily’s workforce, or the equiva- lent of about 18 full-time positions. Some familiar bylines will be going away, and more are expected as the company pushes early retirement packages. Every journalist, journalism professor and pundit has his or her theory about why the mainstream newspaper industry is crashing. Most are superfi- cial and end with a shrug. One stands out. Bill Wyman, former arts editor at NPR and Salon, leaves no turn unstoned in his long, two-part analysis at www. splicetoday.com Look for “Politics + Media,” then “Five Key Reasons Why Newspapers are Failing.” You might recognize EW and the R-G in Wyman’s analysis of what papers are doing right and wrong. • How are we faring in these crazy times? EW is cranking along surprisingly well. Our staff is stabilized at 17 people, down from our all-time high of 20, and our page counts are a bit lower this year. But we are still debt-free, still print nearly 40,000 papers a week (our audited readership in Lane County is hold- ing steady at 88,600), and our web traffic is booming. We’re still dedicated to investigative reporting and excellence in arts coverage. And we’re happy to report that advertising sales this week are the best we’ve ever seen in mid- August. Are we on the verge of a turnaround? A big thank-you goes out to all our loyal advertisers, and everyone else who supports what we do, week after week. • We'll be chasing rumors about the 2010 Oregon governor race until five minutes before the filing deadline next spring. Latest is that former Sen. Gordon Smith is inching toward candidacy on the R side. Several months ago he adamantly denied any intention of running for governor, but big pressure probably is coming from both state and national Republican organizations who see him as their strongest candidate. So who does that embolden or frighten on the D side? You tell us. • Big "roast and toast" coming up Oct. 15 in Portland to thank Jonathan Poisner for the 12 years he has relentlessly dedicated to greening Oregon's state and local governments. This fall, Poisner is leaving his job as executive director of the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, turning over his desk to Jon Isaacs, recently state director in the office of Sen. Merkley, after managing Merkley's successful campaign in 2008. Isaacs also was director of FuturePAC, political committee for the Oregon house Democrats, plus filling other political positions in Oregon and D.C. During Poisner's tenure, OLCV's annual budget has grown from $200,000 to $1.1 million and the county chapters, including Lane, have helped grow a powerful political force working at the grassroots for the environment. We're grateful for Jonathan, hopeful for Jon. • The Cash for Clunkers program is very popular, but we can’t help but raise our collective eyebrows. Some real junk heaps are getting recycled, but a lot of perfectly good vehicles that get decent mileage are also being crushed — vehi- cles that could be donated to nonprofits such as St. Vinny’s, creating jobs. Let’s not forget how much energy and resources go into building new cars and trucks. We heard from one local landscaper who told us he’d love to buy one of the thousands of crusher-bound Ford F150 pickup trucks that get 20 MPG on the highway — better mileage and less pollution than his real clunker. We’re also hearing about shifty car dealers who are jacking up compact car prices a few thousand dollars figuring some eager customers with clunkers won’t notice. Buyer beware! We checked in with Sen. Jeff Merkley’s office to see if the program might be improved. “The idea behind this program was to spur new car sales while get- ting polluting cars off the road,” says Merkley aide Mike Westling. “Because it has been so successful thus far both economically and in raising the gas mile- age of cars on the road, we don't expect it to be amended in the short term.” 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 AUGUST 20, 2009 9
