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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 2010)
NEWS BRIEFS get to the side with the traps. Harwood says the nutria, an invasive species from South America originally brought to the Pacific Northwest for their fur, can reproduce three to four times a year, with four or five babies in a litter. He says though river otters will prey on them, the rodents lack many predators to control their populations, and they harm native plant life. He says there are probably a dozen of the lethal traps set along the waterline of the Leaburg Canal near the pond, and the traps will be moved at the end of January. Methods to protect the area from burrow- ing such as lining the banks with an imper- meable material have been suggested. “They may cause damage but are still liv- ing beings,” Breitenstein says. “It looks like a nutria war zone out there.” The traps are conibear traps, set under the waterline. The traps are capable of crushing a dog’s head or killing it, and have been known to kill or maim dogs in Oregon and other states. For how to release a dog from a conibear trap, go to http:// wkly.ws/6f — Camilla Mortensen PET ADOPTION AT GATEWAY A new pet adoption center will have a grand opening from 11 am to 5 pm Saturday, Jan. 23, at the Gateway Mall. Save the Pets is a local volunteer-run non- profit group that will have its Adoption Center open seven days a week. It is located between Ashley Furniture and the mall’s Center Court. This is the same orga- nization that holds weekend adoption events at Petsmart. Founder and president of Save the Pets is Lori Smith, “It has been our dream since we founded Save the Pets to have a perma- nent location to showcase animals in need of homes,” she says. “We look forward to uniting families with the wonderful ani- mals that have been neglected or rescued in our community.” See can be reached at savethepetseugene@gmail.com Gateway Mall General Manager Ron Glover said the new pet center comple- ments the mall, and he praised the “kind, professional personnel” associated with Save the Pets. “Pets need the same impor- tant elements in life such as love, care, a kind gentle hand and strength of faith by depending on others.” The center also plans to educate valley residents about the importance of spaying and neutering, and plans to be a source of information about low-cost programs in the area. Valerie Brooks is serving as volunteer director of the center and as a board mem- ber. A drawing will be held at 4 pm Saturday for a pair of round-trip airline tickets to Las Vegas. To qualify for the drawing, Save the Pets requests a donation of pet supplies, such as unopened pet food, gen- tly used bedding, scratching posts, crates and toys. More information about supply needs can be found on the “Wish List” sec- tion of the website, www.savethepets.net ANARCHIST INFORMATION Radical reading is coming to Eugene. Bad Egg Books, a radical infoshop, is get- ting ready to open on the corner of 13th and Oak. Despite Eugene’s reputation as an activist and anarchist Mecca, the area hasn’t really had anything approaching an infoshop since Icky’s Teahouse closed in 1997. Organizers are accepting donations from 1 to 4 pm Sunday, Jan. 24. An infoshop is basically a gathering place for activists and pro- vides reading materials and resources for the community. Volunteer run and usually managed by a collective, in the U.S. they grew out of the peace and justice centers that sprang up during the Vietnam era. Bad Egg Books will share the building with the Hummingbird Gallery and is located adjacent to the newly opened Cornbread Café, vegan soul food foodcart. Organizers are asking for donations of bookshelves, a couch or comfy chair, lamps, computer, a moneybox or till, a computer, DVDs and CDs, and most importantly books and zines. The Bad Egg Books col- lective says, “Currently our walls and floors are bare, but with the coming together of the community we will have a wonderful radical infoshop/lending library to help get radical ideas and information out to hun- gry minds.” If you have a donation or want informa- tion about volunteering at the infoshop, email badeggbooks@gmail.com or drop by the informal donation party on Sunday at 112 E. 13th. An opening date for the infos- hop is still in the works. Please contact the collective in advance if you have a larger item like a couch to donate to ensure there is space for it. — Camilla Mortensen MORE EVENTS FOR HAITI Among the many local organizations and businesses raising money for Haiti relief is this weekend’s Good Earth Home, Garden & Living Show at the Fairgrounds starting Friday evening, Jan. 22 and run- ning through Sunday. Show management has committed to matching up to $10,000 in donations to the Oregon-based Medical Teams International. The nonprofit was founded in 1979 as NW Medical Teams and has served more than 4.5 million people in 53 nations. The group collected and distributed $126 mil- lion in supplies last year. They also serve the Pacific Northwest with 11 mobile den- tal clinics. The home show is free, but Medical Teams will be collecting cash and check donations in the lobby, and by credit card at its booth in the North Hall, according to Helen Berg, founder of Berg Productions which produces local home and garden slant • Do you know where your ballot is? Maybe buried somewhere in a kitchen pile, along with all that confounded election propaganda? This is important, people. Uncover that big white enve- lope and take five minutes to vote. Deadline to drop off ballots at a county elections box is 8 pm Tuesday, Jan. 26. We strongly endorse “yes” votes on both Ballot Measures 66 & 67. How do you plow through all the contradictory arguments? One way to evaluate the measures is to see who and what’s behind the campaigns. The pro-66 & 67 side represents long-term economic stability through supporting education, social services and public safety. The anti-66 & 67 side represents maintaining unfair tax advantages for big corporations and wealthy individu- als. Back in the 1970s, corporations paid about 18.5 percent of all state income taxes; but that’s dropped over the years to about 6.3 percent, thanks to Republican-dominated legislatures. Businesses once paid 50 percent of all property taxes, and now pay 40 per- cent, thanks to Measure 50. These new measures shift a little of the burden back. Ironically, the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce is dead-set against these measures, despite the fact that thousands of small businesses and nonprofits in this valley and state will benefit from the funding and jobs saved by Measures 66 & 67. Small busi- ness, not big business, is the founda- tion of our state economy. And Eugene is unique as a center for government and nonprofits. Try to imagine what our local economy would be like without the living wage payrolls of federal agen- cies, the UO, LCC and other state and local governments. Those tens of thou- sands of employees pay for housing, buy garden tools and tires, eat at local restaurants, drink local beer, fill psychi- atrists’ couches, volunteer, donate to charities and pay taxes. An estimated one-third of our local economy is direct- ly linked to the public and nonprofit sectors. Maintaining a strong infrastructure of education, public safety, health care and services for seniors and the dis- abled is vital to our ability to attract and keep beneficial enterprises and nonprofits in our evolving economy. Few people want to live and work in a state suffering from oversized class- rooms, high crime rates and a shredded social services safety net. That’s the direction we are going if these mea- WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM sures fail, forcing an estimated $700 million in budget cuts. The bottom line: What kind of state do you want to live in? Take that ballot, lick it and stick it. • Martin Luther King Jr. Day once again brought excellent observances in our local communities and at school assemblies. Kudos to all those who see this holiday as a day of action for peace and justice, and not just a day to sleep in or watch reruns of The Biggest Loser. Lots of folks were out canvassing Monday for Measures 66 & 67. We’re always amazed at how King’s words still resonate. Many of the issues of his turbulent times remain unre- solved at their core. This MLK Day saw the first playing of a lost recording of a speech King made in January 1960 at Bethel College in Newton, Kan. A brittle old reel-to-reel recording was recently found and carefully restored. In his speech, MLK talked about the need to be “maladjusted” to our society. We tend to use maladjusted as a negative term, but King turned it around, saying “I never intend to adjust myself to the evils of segregation and discrimination. I never intend to become adjusted to religious bigotry.” We can all stand to be maladjusted to today’s bigotry and hate, lack of police accountability, discrimination based on race and gender, our unfair tax system that favors the privileged, inequities within our university, high student-to-teacher ratios in our public schools, secrecy in government, destruction of our environment, obses- sion with war, lack of access to afford- able health care and persecution of those who are poor, homeless or men- tally ill. It’s a long list, but not unlike the list the “maladjusted” King carried in his mind and in his heart. • Something to be proud of in these trying times is our response to the unthinkable catastrophe of Haiti’s earthquake. Despite our economic woes and polarized politics, we still know how to come together as a nation, as a community, as businesses and as indi- viduals when something terrible hap- pens to our fellow human beings. There is hope for the two-legged creatures on this planet after all. 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 JANUARY 21, 2010 11
