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
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