Eugene weekly., May 12, 2011, Page 8, Image 8

GUN VIOLENCE LINKED TO
CUTS IN SOCIAL SERVICES
Virginia Tech shooting survivor Colin Goddard was in Eugene for the Million
Mom March Against Gun Violence May 8 and said social services such as
mental health counseling are “crucial to helping reduce gun violence and need
to be as well funded as they can be.”
Goddard, who survived four bullet wounds, is on a national tour as a
spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. He spoke with EW
during the march from EWEB Plaza to Owen’s Rose Garden. The march this
year was in honor of slain Eugene police officer Chris Kilcullen
Gun violence and mental health services “are absolutely related, even if you
look at the death of officer Chris Kicullen by someone who was (allegedly)
dangerously mentally ill with a firearm,” said Goddard. “Guns don’t kill people,
people kill people, and if that’s true we need to do a better job of checking those
people. Mental health services is something that prevents shootings from ever
coming about. It helps deal with people before they decide to lash out and
violently harm others.”
Goddard said the state of Virginia spends less now on mental health services
than it did when the school massacre happened in 2007. “Unfortunately, state
legislatures are feeling the pinch and mental health services is usually where
they go for cuts,” he said. “That puts everyone at a higher level of danger.”
In his public talk before the march, Goddard said the news about the death
by gunshots of Osama bin Laden has gotten worldwide attention, but “more
Americans have been killed by gun violence here at home over the past 30 years
than have been killed in all the wars we’ve fought overseas in the past 30 years.
We march for those killed abroad, and those killed at home; the thousands who
are killed every year, for the average of 32 who are killed every day in America,
for the 32 who were killed at my school four years ago, for officer Kilcullen, one
of the 32.”
Goddard called for better background checks, “limiting the firepower that
was created for military use that is being sold to the public,” and banning
30-round magazines.
He concluded saying “I think people are gathered here to day because we’re
fed up. We want things to change. And I don’t want people to go through what
I went through. We’ve changed nothing since our country’s last major shooting.
We should not be surprised when the next one happens.”
While in Eugene, Goddard also showed his documentary Living for 32 in
which he demonstrated how easy it is to take cash into gun shows and buy
handguns without ID or background checks. — Ted Taylor
KIDS AND
RADIATORS
Hillary Johnson, chair of Strong
Schools Eugene, spoke at the Million
Mom March gathering in Eugene May 8
and said the campaign to pass Measure
20-182 is “about kids and radiators.”
Johnson said she got involved in the
temporary income tax for schools issue
after visiting the school where her daughter
will be going next year and seeing class
sizes so big kids had to sit on radiators.
“Then, when I heard kids complaining
about not enough school, I knew our
schools needed help,” she said, drawing
laughs from the crowd. “All across
America public schools are suffering from
budget cuts that are gutting programs,
laying off teachers and shortening the
school year. But here in Eugene we have
the opportunity to do something about it.”
Johnson said if this measure doesn’t
pass, “we’re talking about kindergarten
classes of 30-plus 5-year-olds and one
teacher. Moms out there: remember your
5-year-olds? Imagine having 30 of them,
one adult, and now let’s learn how to
read.” She said middle school math classes
are expected to grow to 53 kids.
“We cannot starve out schools while we
wait for the state to clean up this funding
mess,” she said. “We must step up for our
schools, our kids and our community.”
— Ted Taylor
PHOTO BY TED TAYLOR
Colin Goddard
LIGHTEN UP
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is
king. But in the land of the Tea Party, the king
is the blind man and the one-eyed man is a
Marxist evildoer. — Rafael Aldave, Eugene
RUNNING
ON IDLE
A bill restricting idling, long in the works
in the Oregon Legislature, may be passed as
a shadow of its original self. It would also
limit what local municipalities could do to
protect and control their air.
House Bill 2081, which aims to reduce
the amount of time that vehicles can idle,
has been “gutted and stuffed,” according to
Oregon Toxics Alliance (OTA) Director
Lisa Arkin, and it could wind up doing more
environmental harm than good. The current
version of the bill contains a preemption
clause that reserves idling regulations for the
state, superceding local statutes and plans.
“It’s not democratic,” Arkin says, “because
it takes away the ability of people to
determine their own standard of living.”
Lane County commissioners and the city
of Eugene oppose the bill with the
preemption clause. “The city has a dynamite
energy action plan,” Arkin says, but the
preemption clause in HB 2081 would
prevent the city from fully controlling its
own environmental policies. Eugene
businesses and organizations have expressed
support for idling reduction. Rexius Forest
Byproducts, Lane County, the city of
Eugene, Sequential Biofuels and Market of
Choice are among the groups that have
adopted no idling policies. UO has a
voluntary no idle policy.
The bill started out with stronger
measures resulting from when the 2009
Oregon Legislature passed HB 2186, which
ordered the Department of Environmental
Quality to determine how to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions from commercial
trucking. The DEQ formed an advisory
committee of citizens and stakeholders,
including the Oregon Trucking Association,
to develop recommendations.
The DEQ’s original recommendations
would have required truckers to gradually
phase in technology that would allow their
trucks to function — running heating and
cooling systems or other electric-dependent
processes — without running their engines.
Under these regulations, the alternative
technologies would pay for themselves with
saved fuel expenses, and truckers and their
cargo would still be able to rest in
comfortable conditions.
During the comment input period, Arkin
says the committee added exceptions that
negate much of the HB 2081’s intended
impact. The bill allows idling for an
indefinite period of time when temperatures
are below 50 degrees and above 75. Arkin
says that other, colder areas have tougher
limits. A local ordinance in Dane County,
Wisc., for example, allows 15 minutes of
idling at temperatures below 40 degrees or
above 80 degrees.
In addition to the emission of greenhouse
gases, OTA and other groups are concerned
about the effects of diesel particulate matter
from unnecessarily idling diesel engines.
Children and elderly people are particularly
sensitive to the respiratory effects of the
particulate, which is one reason Arkin
advocates for local control.
Arkin says, “Once this bill passes, with
its incredibly weak language, there is no
opportunity for DEQ to fix parts of the bill
that don’t work very well or get public
input.” — Shannon Finnell
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MAY 12 , 2011
EUGENE WEEKLY
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