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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 25, 2011)
NEWS BRIEFS slant • The Eugene Celebration is upon us this weekend with all its glory and quirky fun, following on the heels of the more conventional Lane County Fair. The Eugene Celebration Parade Saturday morning is always full of surprises, and can even be outrageous and highly political. Downtown becomes a marvelous, high-energy center for music, art, food and even education. The Community Causeway, Sustainability Village and Health & Well-Being Celebration are great gathering places for people who are active in social, political, environmental and healing work. And for the first time, your favorite local newspaper will host great local music performances this year on the Eugene Weekly Stage at 10th and Olive, starting Friday night. Our Next Big Thing top two finalists, Tyler Fortier and Betty and the Boy, are scheduled to perform from 1:30 to 2:30 pm Saturday, and at least some of the contest judges will be in the audience, taking notes. Let’s “Raise the Roof” once more. Proceeds from Celebration ticket sales again this year will go to support Springfield/Eugene Habitat for Humanity. LTD will provide free bus service to anyone with a Celebration wristband. • Cynthia Wooten was one of Eugene’s biggest movers and shakers for 35 years and co-founded the Eugene Celebration and the Oregon Country Fair. She served on the City Council, ESD Board and the Oregon Legislature before she was term-limited out and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. Now she’s back home, at least part-time, and getting busy again. She loves Eugene and we welcome her energy and drive. Her new project, in collaboration with film festival expert Linda Blackaby, is the Good Works Film Festival planned for Oct. 6-10 in Eugene and Portland. Seven new documentaries and narrative films with social justice themes will be shown, along with forums, networking programs and other events during the long weekend. The website www. goodworksfilmfestival.org should be up soon. • Mention John Canzano and local Duckbills will wrinkle in disdain. He’s The Oregonian sports columnist who writes all the tough UO sports stuff we don’t find in local media. But Canzano delivered a whopping prediction on Aug. 23: He writes that the flashy Ducks, ranked third nationally, will win all 12 games this fall. No crystal ball for the play-offs. • How bloody is the war in Afghanistan? We’ve grown numb to violence in our endless wars. We hear endless stories about Casey Anthony and the Octomom, but warfare’s ongoing death and destruction are ho-hum in the mainstream media, which is why we run our “War Dead” listings whenever we have the space. This past week, eight Americans in uniform died in Afghanistan and 152 were wounded in action. Typical week at war — no wonder the VA is having to build big new medical clinics all over the country, and no surprise that it takes nearly a year for some undisputed disability claims to be settled. The cost of war and occupation continues to be staggering. Iraq has cost $792 billion so far and Afghanistan is pushing $447 billion. Eugene taxpayers alone have paid (or gone into debt) $360 million to support these wars, and in the long run, the cost will run into trillions. History is full of examples of nations that have overextended themselves militarily while ignoring domestic needs contributing greatly to their downfall. 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 UO philosophy associate professor Bonnie Mann took offense at several allegations made public in July by Brian Leiter in The Leiter Report philosophy blog. Leiter wrote about student allegations of sexual harassment and attempts to cover up the allegations in order to protect the department’s reputation and an unnamed “award.” Mann said she was merely respecting confidentially during the administrative review by not discussing the allegations. A letter signed by seven faculty members in the department calls Leiter’s blog statements “false and misleading,” but Leiter said he had confirmation of what he published. Pulling the award does not mean the British-based SWIP agrees with the allegations. Instead, there appears to be a communication mix-up. The announcement on the SWIP website says, “It has become clear to us that our procedures were not properly followed during the canvassing of opinion prior to making the award, and as a result we were not apprised of information that may have had an impact on our decision. Because these procedures were not followed, we feel we must withdraw the recognition, despite the impressive mainstreaming of feminist philosophy at Oregon.” So what happened? Mann said after the department was nominated for the award she was asked to forward an email from SWIP to the department mailing list seeking comments that would be kept confidential. She added a personal note “encouraging people to support the award,” which she now figures was “a violation of the unstated procedures, but I was not told that personal notes were to be excluded.” Jennifer Saul of SWIP told EW that “Correspondence with more than one department member has revealed that this is the reason they did not send us their concerns: They didn’t feel they had supportive statements to make, so they didn’t read any further. This may well have been wholly innocent and well- intentioned by professor Mann’s part, but it meant that we did not receive full information.” Mann said, “This was all before I had any idea that there were allegations of sexual harassment being circulated.” One source within the university tells EW that rumors of sexual harassment in the department have been going around for the past two years, and an anonymous comment at www.newappsblog.com says a graduate student open letter raising issues about sexual harassment was signed by more than 30 students. The student letter has not been made public. Meanwhile, the department has been invited to reapply for the recognition next year. — Ted Taylor POLITICS IN THE PARADE The Eugene Celebration always draws political organizations, booths and even parade entries, and this year is no different. Rep. Peter DeFazio is expected to show up in the Saturday morning parade with his usual wheelbarrow and shovel, following either horses or the SLUG Queen. Mayor Kitty Piercy and other elected officials and candidates can also be seen walking with their contingencies or waving from vehicles. No word from Tea Party or Americans for Prosperity about their plans for the parade or booths, but We the People Eugene is trying to recruit 100 people to march with their group protesting corporate personhood, and they are gathering at 9:30 am Saturday at South Eugene High School. Parade begins at 10 am. Call 937-3007 for information. Supporters of Lane County Commissioner Rob Handy will join the Oregon League of Conservation Voters in entry #38 and will be gathering at 9:30 am at 19th and High, just north of the high school. “Bring your bikes, trailers, scooters, skateboards or other human powered transportation and join me and others for this fun morning in the parade,” says Handy. Email rob@ robhandy.com for more information. Commissioner Pete Sorenson, area state lawmakers and others will be marching with the Democrats. Rep. Val Hoyle will be part of the group with her “Sea of Ginger” and “Army of Redheads.” And peace activists and their organizations are expected to make an appearance again this year. — Ted Taylor BAND BURGLED ACTIVIST ALERT • The local Sierra Club’s Many Rivers Group will host a program on “Go Solar with Sierra Club” from 7 to 9 pm Thursday, Aug. 25, at the Eugene Garden Club, 1645 High St. Doors open at 6:45. • A special City Club of Eugene-sponsored event with Rep. Peter DeFazio is planned for noon Friday, Aug. 26, at the EWEB North Building, second floor. Bring your own lunch. $5 admission for guests. • Local animal activists will be protesting Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus as it prepares for its opening show at Matthew Knight Arena at 6:30 pm Friday, Aug. 26. Signs will be provided. Call 337-8811 or email CurtisTaylor85@gmail.com or email Misha Dunlap English at misha.law@gmail.com for more information. • County Commissioner Rob Handy is now posting transcripts of Q&As with volunteers who serve on Lane 8 AUGUST 25, 2011 EUGENE WEEKLY County panels. The latest interview from Aug. 8 is with Dennis Sandow of the Planning Commission. Another is with Jan Wroncy of the now-defunct Vegetation Management Advisory Committee (and of Forestland Dwellers) on May 10; and before that Lyllye Parker of the Commission for Advancement of Human Rights. See www.robhandy.com • The Oregon Board of Forestry will discuss the economics of wildfire protection, management of federal forestlands and use of forest biomass at its 8:30 am Sept. 7 meeting at the Fremont-Winema National Forest Headquarters, 1301 S. G St., in Lakeview. On Sept. 8, the board will tour a large area of insect-killed timber on federal and private forestland. Public comment times are planned for the Sept. 7 meeting. See www.oregonforestry. gov for details or email rnichols@odf.state.or.us Studio bCd, owned by Phil Allen of local band Basin & Range, was broken into Aug. 17, for what is estimated to be $28,000 worth of music and recording equipment. The band will be throwing a small donation-based show at bCd Friday, Aug. 26. Call 344-0579 for info. There will also be a larger benefit show in hopes to rally funding and support for the studio, set to take place in late Sept. “Phil feels like his whole life has been taken from him in the mix. We are all just trying to rally and support him right now. That studio has given a lot to the community,” says local promoter Danny Kime. For more info, go to the band’s Facebook page at http://wkly.ws/13o — Dante Zuñiga-West WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
