Endorsements
At a Glance
eadline for dropping ballots in one of
the white boxes around town is 8 pm
Tuesday, Nov. 2. Postmarks don’t
count, so it’s best to mail ballots in by
Thursday, Oct. 28. Below are our selected
endorsements at a glance. See our full
endorsements last week, and for races and
issues not listed, please refer to your
Voters’ Pamphlet. Most candidates have
easily found websites.
D
CONFERENCE
FOCUSES ON
BEING GREEN
Planning is well under way for an all-
day community conference on making
Eugene more ecologically sustainable. The
event will be from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm
Saturday, Oct. 30, at the First Methodist
Church, 1375 Olive St. in Eugene.
The event is called “Eugene — Local and
Green — Getting Started, Moving Forward,
Working Together,” and is sponsored by
Eugene’s Neighborhood Leaders Council
Committee on Sustainability, in collaboration
CANDIDATE RACES
with numerous community groups and
organizations. Cost is sliding scale, $5 to
$20, and light refreshments and finger food
will be provided.
Jan Spencer, one of the organizers and
presenters, says the conference will focus
on “practical actions people can take for
living more local and more green.” He says
presenters and panels will “touch on food,
reinventing the urban landscape,
community collaborations and success
stories, neighborhood mapping, challenges
and exciting strategies and possibilities for
the coming years.”
Speakers and panelists so far include
Hanna Scholtz, Denise Christine, Sue
COUGAR KILLS FOR NAUGHT?
The ODFW’s cougar plan faces some steep criticism in a review of its first three years.
The state plan set up areas for the targeted killing of cougars in order to study the results on human safety and
predation. No human death has been recorded as a result of a cougar attack in Oregon. Dr. Robert Weilgus of
Washington State University wrote in his review that no evidence was used to support statements claiming that the
Oregon kills reduced depredation.
“When the plan came into being, in 2005, the purported purpose of the plan was to increase public safety, in order
to achieve that the plan is designed to do one thing only and that is increase cougar mortality,” says Sally Mackler of
Predator Defense.
Contrary to the design of the study, research suggests that too many cougar kills increase the proportion of
juvenile cougars, which are usually killed by rival adult males in the wild. Juvenile cougars are more likely to resort to
using livestock as food, and may even attack humans. “By pursing this kill-only strategy, we’re in conflict with the
purpose of the plan,” Mackler says.
Activists in the big cat arena believe that future plans should rely on different methods of cougar management for
financial reasons, as well. “The information that we have from the review shows that it costs about $3,000 per cougar
killed. About 100 were killed in first three years of the plan, and it cost $310,500 to accomplish that,” Mackler says.
“That money could have been spent better to improve public safety and improve protections for livestock through the
use of guard dogs and other nonlethal protections.”
Three years of the cougar plan were compiled in an ODFW manuscript and sent on to 13 employees of agencies
similar to the ODFW and one academic for peer review. Six responded, and the results were presented to the House
Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Communities Committee in September. These responses will be factors in
the decision on renewal of the cougar plan in the spring. — Shannon Finnell
U.S. SENATOR.
Ron Wyden (D)
U.S. HOUSE, DISTRICT 4.
Peter DeFazio (D)
U.S. HOUSE, DISTRICT 5.
Kurt Schrader (D)
GOVERNOR.
John Kitzhaber (D)
STATE TREASURER.
Ted Wheeler (D)
SENATE DISTRICT 4.
Floyd Prozanski (D)
SENATE DISTRICT 6.
Lee Beyer (D)
SENATE DISTRICT 7.
Chris Edwards (D)
HOUSE DISTRICT 7.
Sara Byers (D)
HOUSE DISTRICT 8.
Paul Holvey (D)
HOUSE DISTRICT 10.
Jean Cowan (D)
HOUSE DISTRICT 11.
Phil Barnhart (D)
HOUSE DISTRICT 12.
Terry Beyer (D)
HOUSE DISTRICT 13.
Nancy Nathanson (D)
HOUSE DISTRICT 14.
Val Hoyle (D)
STATE MEASURES
MEASURE 70.
Veterans’ loans. Yes
MEASURE 71.
Annual Legislature meetings. Yes
MEASURE 72.
Lower interest loans. Yes
MEASURE 73.
School money for prisons. No
MEASURE 74.
Marijuana dispensaries. Yes
MEASURE 75.
Corporate casino. No
MEASURE 76.
Park funding. Yes
COUNTY CANDIDATES
& ISSUES
WEST LANE COMMISSIONER.
Jerry Rust
SPRINGFIELD COMMISSIONER.
Pat Riggs-Henson
SPRINGFIELD MEASURE 20-173.
Yes
LANE COUNTY MEASURE 20-174.
Yes
LANE COUNTY MEASURE 20-175.
Yes
LANE COUNTY MEASURE 20-176.
Yes
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EUGENE WEEKLY
OCTOBER 21, 2010 11