NEWS BRIEFS
choose to join an ongoing forum on issues
such as transportation, green building and
energy efficiency.
Deep Green is presented by Eugene’s
Green Building, Waste Prevention and
Sustainability Programs and it will be
followed at 7:30 pm by a discussion with
Briggs.
Admission is a suggested $5 donation
at the door, but no one will be turned
away. The film and its maker will also be
at the Public Interest Environmental Law
Conference the first week of March at the
UO Law School (see www.pielc.org).
— Chelsea Fryhoff
CALL FOR
LAWSUIT
APPEAL
Signing statements are beginning to
circulate around Lane County calling on
county government to mount a legal
challenge to the lawsuit ruling targeting
county commissioners. The statements
read:
“We, the undersigned citizens of Lane
County, Oregon, respectfully request that
the Government of Lane County
immediately agrees to pay all costs involved
in a full appeal of Judge Gillespie’s 2011
decision against Commissioners Sorenson,
Handy, and other Lane County officials.”
Alternatively, there is a statement that
replaces “respectfully request” with
“respectfully demand.”
“A signing statement is different, and in
some ways more powerful than a petition,
in that signers do not have to be registered
voters or of ‘legal’ age,” says Scott
Landfield of Tsunami Books who is helping
distribute the statements at his store on
Willamette near 25th Avenue.
Landfield says members of the South
Eugene High School Democrats have
already asked for and received this
statement. “Three years ago a signing
statement led to an eventual vote that
defeated the $40 million to $80 million
urban renewal giveaway of downtown
Eugene,” he says. — Ted Taylor
BARNHART
SEES PAINFUL
CUTS AHEAD
Rep. Phil Barnhart of Eugene is now
hanging his hat in Salem and will be there
for the next five months, but says he plans
to hold town hall meetings at home, “mostly
on Saturdays.”
Barnhart, a Democrat, has been assigned
to three committees in the new “bipartisan”
Legislature where neither party has a
majority. When the Democrats were in the
leadership position he was chair of the key
House Revenue Committee, but he now
co-chairs the panel with Rep. Vicki Berger.
He is also serving on the House Rules and
Tax Credits committees.
“The state currently has a $3.5 billion
deficit, which equals approximately one-
quarter of the overall budget,” he says in his
first legislative report. Last summer at a
Bus Project public meeting he predicted the
state would see a $2.5 billion deficit in the
2011-13 biennium, “but the number could
easily be higher.”
“The Legislature must take the next
steps to cope with the deficit and continue
essential programs in the state,” he says this
week. “We will pass the budget that will
change the way we do business and will
reduce basic programs our citizens need. I
expect to vote for budget bills I greatly
dislike because the alternatives are worse.”
The lawmaker says he is focusing on
economic development and job growth. “I
am working on a plan to enable us to move
the management of existing state funds to
invest in new ventures and help promote the
growth of local business and agriculture,”
he says.
Barnhart can be reached at (800) 332-
2313 or email rep.philbarnhart@state.or.us
— Ted Taylor
A scene from Witness by Neil Ever and Chad A. Stevens screening at the Wild and Senic Film Festival
WILD AND SCENIC FILMS
On Tuesday, Feb. 22, conservation group Cascadia Wildlands will host Patagonia’s
fourth annual Wild and Scenic Film Festival at the UO campus. The festival hopes to
yield donations to support the preservation of species at risk in the Cascade region,
and in doing so it will continue to fulfill the group’s mission to “educate, agitate, and
inspire a movement to protect and restore Cascadia’s wild ecosystems.”
Co-sponsored by the UO Outdoor Program, Ninkasi, Tactics and Backcountry Gear,
Cascadia Wildlands hopes to draw a large crowd of folks hungry to view the nine films
that adorn the evening’s bill. Wild and Scenic intends to be a smorgasbord of projects,
from displaying films that provide commentary on the state of global outdoors, to
showing human-nature interactions with didactic stories and stunning footage.
Among said stories is Skier’s Journey: Kashmir, which documents a pair of skiers and
their experience in search of a spot to ski in the Himalayas.
Another attraction is The Greatest Migration, a 20-minute piece made by local
filmmaker and outdoor adventurer Trip Jennings, which documents the daunting
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migratory habits of Snake River salmon as they struggle to survive an onslaught of
dams and hazards along the path to their spawning grounds, some 7,000 feet above
sea level. The film aids Oregonians — residents who need to be especially conscious
of salmon — in thinking closely about human impact on local river systems.
“We want to pack the house, connect with the community and provide them with
an affordable night of cutting edge-film that isn’t Hollywood,” said Cascadia Wildlands
Campaign Director Josh Laughlin. “It’s not a large fundraiser for us, rather a
community—builder where we can show off some powerful film and introduce
community members to the conservation work of Cascadia Wildlands.”
“It’s a compelling mix of thrilling backcountry adventure and powerful campaigns
working to safeguard the Earth,” said Laughlin.
The films will be shown from 7 to 10 pm in 180 PLC at the UO campus. Tickets are
$7 for the general public. More information on the festival at www.cascwild.org
— Andy Valentine
EUGENE WEEKLY FEBRUARY 17, 2011 9