WOULD EUGENE
COPS PEPPER
SPRAY PROTESTERS?
In Seattle police doused an 84-year-old woman in the
face with pepper spray. In California UC-Davis police
showered a dozen passive protesters with the chemical
weapon sending two to the hospital. In Portland, police in
riot gear blasted a shouting woman directly in the face
with the burning weapon.
As images of police violence using the chemical
weapon on nonviolent Occupy protesters in other cities
go viral, the question arises, could this happen in
Eugene?
Maybe. On June 1st, 1997, Eugene police used dozens
of canisters of pepper spray to inflict burning pain on
nonviolent tree-sitters downtown. They even cut the
pants away of one protester hanging in a tree to spray his
genitals and anus, a state police investigation found.
No Eugene police were ever punished for the violence
using a weapon the ACLU has linked to more than 100
deaths. The department did, however, somewhat change
its vague official policy on the use of the chemical
weapon, but the police left themselves lots of wiggle
room.
The EPD policy (POM 901.3) now states that pepper
spray “should not be used as a means to disperse crowds,
although it may be used when reasonably necessary to
defend persons or to assist in effecting an arrest.” That
“assist in effecting an arrest” clause could apparently
allow mass spraying passive demonstrators sitting on the
ground and refusing orders to leave.
The EPD police states that pepper “spray should not
be used against persons engaged only in passive
resistance. For purposes of this policy, ‘passive resistance’
means non-compliance with an officer’s orders
unaccompanied by any active or physical resistance. (An
example of passive resistance would be a person who
was limp on the ground, and who was not grasping onto
an object or making other efforts to resist being taken
into custody).” That “example” could apparently allow
Eugene police to pepper spray the Davis demonstrators
who had locked arms while sitting down, or to spray
someone holding onto a tree.
What about 84-year-old women? The vague EPD
policy doesn’t have any age limit. Police should “consider
any information you know about a person’s pre-existing
medical or physical conditions which might exacerbate
the effect,” the policy states.
But the EPD policy does not explicitly prohibit using
the chemical weapon on pregnant women, children,
people with asthma or pacemakers or anyone else. The
policy does state that chemical “spray should not be used
in the vicinity of infants unless absolutely necessary.”
— Alan Pittman
The format for the evening will be similar to a Samoan
circle, according to organizers in a memo being circulated.
After the initial comments, the audience will break into
small groups for table talk discussion, followed by a
structured conversation on stage and a reconvening of the
whole group at the end. Dan Bryant will be the moderator.
No food or drink will be provided by the organizers,
though both are available for purchase as Cozmic Pizza.
The event will be videotaped and edited down to 60
minutes for later broadcast on KLCC.
MAYORS TAKE STAND
AGAINST TAR SANDS
Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy was one of the first of more
than 100 mayors from 28 states and representing 8.5 million
people who called upon the Obama administration to deny
the permit for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline project.
The pipeline “would bring very high-carbon tar sands oil
from Canada to the Gulf refineries,” Piercy says.
In response to pressure from communities and
environmental organizations and in view of the pipeline’s
possible effects on sensitive wetlands and water, President
Obama decided to conduct a new environmental review of
the pipeline, a decision Piercy says she supports.
Piercy was also one of 25 mayors who sent a letter to
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in late March expressing
concern over the Keystone pipeline and asking the State
Department to look at how the expansion of high-carbon tar
happening people
sands imports can undermine municipal clean energy
initiatives.
According to Piercy, “Tar sands have three times the
greenhouse gas emissions in production as conventional
oil.”
At least two tar sands related pipelines have spilled into
U.S. rivers. The EPA recently released the information that
the July 2010 Enbridge oil spill into Michigan’s Kalamazoo
River released 300,000 more gallons of oil into the river
than previously thought. More than 1.1 million gallons of
tar sands oil has been recovered from the spill site, according
to the EPA. This summer’s Exxon Silvertip pipeline spill
into Montana’s Yellowstone River is currently estimated at
1,000 barrels.
The pipeline might be far away, but it can still affect
Eugene. Piercy says, citing the letter: “For communities like
ours we worry that ‘expansion of high carbon fuels such as
tar sands undermines the hard work by local communities
everywhere to fight climate change, reduce dependence on
oil and create a clean energy future.’”
Michael O’Leary of Tar-Free Future, working on the tar
sands issue in Oregon says, “10 percent of Oregon’s fuel is
tar-sourced.”
Piercy says, “Mayors working together all across the
country can have an influence on national decisions and
help build understanding of how these federal decisions
affect everyday Americans. We know the kind of future all
our families want for their kids and that motivates us to join
together to speak for our communities.”
— Camilla Mortensen
BY PAUL NEEVEL
EZRA TISHMAN
Raised by an abusive single mom in Pittsburgh, Ezra Tishman moved to a foster home in high
school, got a vocational rehabilitation scholarship to Hoefstra University on Long Island, then
transferred to Godard College in Vermont. “I started a men’s group,” he notes. “My thesis was
on ‘the Myth of Masculinity.’” After graduation, he spent years as a mail carrier in Vermont,
Alaska and Oregon, and also worked as a farm hand, a fisherman, and an adjunct professor at
the University of Vermont. “I was always writing poetry, reading like crazy, and keeping
journals,” says Tishman, who moved to Eugene in 1995, after a year in Moscow, Idaho. In Idaho
he started an online business, Aardvark Book Search, specializing in rare and collectible books,
which has become his full-time work (find him at www.ezrabook.com). Tishman married UO
English associate professor Lisa Freinkel in 2001. In 2004, the couple saw an ad for a used
bookmobile. “I love putting good books in people’s hands,” says Tishman, who bought and
refurbished the vehicle, known as Gertie. “We set her up in Whiteaker on the last Friday of the
month.” Supporters of Gertie’s mission to provide free and low-cost books to underserved areas
are invited to a benefit concert for Tishman’s nonprofit, Books to the People, at 5 pm Sunday,
Dec. 4, at Cozmic Pizza, featuring Mood Area 52.
GATHERING EXAMINES
OCCUPY EUGENE
A community conversation about Occupy Eugene
sponsored by City Club of Eugene and the Downtown
Neighborhood Association is planned for 6 to 8 pm
Monday, Nov. 28, at Cozmic Pizza downtown.
The gathering will begin with six brief presentations,
three from Occupiers (Lauren Regan, Jamil Jonna and
Silver Mogart), and three from others with knowledge and
experience with related issues (Ed Whitelaw, Jean Tate and
Rick Karr).
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EUGENE WEEKLY NOVEMBER 23, 2011 7