slant
HEALTH CARE
GETS OCCUPIED
Occupy Eugene is tired of all the talk about the state of
America’s health care system and is taking action by
treating those in need of medical care for free and
connecting them with other community services.
On Sunday, Feb. 5, at the corner of 7th and Pearl, OE
organizers set up a medical tent outside the old Federal
Building with doctors and nurses available for basic
medical treatment, and the group has a long-term plan to
continue on every Sunday.
“We think that health is a basic human right and so
we’re here to provide that for people,” says Terry Purvis,
medical coordinator for OE. “We don’t think that your
health should depend on how much money you have or
where you live.”
Purvis and other Occupiers were met with supportive
honks by passing drivers. The offering of free medical
services is an attempt to fill the gap left by the inequitable
healthcare system, Purvis says. This includes the homeless
population but also those who are without means to pay for
care, whether with or without health insurance.
The medical tent is also a way for OE to refer patients
to other organizations that offer free or low-cost medical
care in the area. Lane County Public Health is just a block
away from the tent’s downtown location. White Bird
Clinic, a Eugene-based nonprofit agency, is also nearby,
and Volunteers in Medicine is a medical clinic in
Springfield.
“These are great organizations that run on shoestring
budgets to serve the same community that we are helping,”
says Sue Sierralupe, Occupy medical organizer and
volunteer.
DEAD TREES
PROTEST LOGGING
During the wee hours of the morning on Feb. 10, members
of Cascadia Forest Defenders used dead Christmas trees to
block the driveway of the governor’s mansion in Salem.
The protest at Gov. John Kitzhaber’s house was to call
attention to an upcoming meeting of the State Land Board as
well as to what the protesters say are damaging environmental
practices on state forests, including selling off state forestland
to private interests. CFD members have objected to the land
board’s dramatic increase in clearcutting on the Elliott State
Forest and have had a series of protests and treesits.
In addition to the pile of Christmas trees, silky pink and
purple bandana-wearing protesters held banners reading,
“Rally at the State Land Board Meeting Feb. 14” and
“Kitzhaber lies. Forests die.” The land board banner, in honor
of the fact the meeting is slated for Valentine’s Day, had pink
writing and a big red heart.
One protester from Eugene was arrested for third-degree
criminal mischief and “offensive littering.”
OE organizers chose to set up the tent on Sundays in part
because the other organizations are unavailable then. Clients
who access the OE medical tent will be given anonymity if
desired, but the group plans to keep records on the illnesses
and injuries.
In the future, OE hopes to expand into a more vigilant
street program, and also care for those with mental illness and
provide dental services. Those interested in helping out are
encouraged to contact Purvis at firemanterry@gmail.com
— Ted Shorack
POISONED POLLEN
Many plants rely on honeybees to pollinate them and
facilitate reproduction, but colony collapse disorder (CCD),
which is killing about one-third of bee colonies per year
nationally, is making it much harder for bees to get their
buzz on.
A Jan. 3 study from Purdue University gives more
evidence for a significant role of pesticides like clothianidin
in causing CCD, but if it’s a problem for bees in Lane
County, beekeepers won’t know. Clothianidin exposure in
Lane County is not documented because the Legislature cut
the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s Pesticide Use
Reporting Program after collecting 2008 data.
The ODA ran the Pesticide Use Reporting Program for
three years before it was suspended, and the program won’t
be collecting data again until at least 2013. Beyond Toxics
Executive Director Lisa Arkin says without pesticide use
reporting, it’s hard to tell what sort of impact neonicotinoids
are having on Oregon’s environment.
“It is shameful that the state of Oregon denies the
residents of Oregon the right to know what toxic chemicals
are in their air and in their water,” Arkin says of the
program’s suspension. “They deny the communities the
right to know that information, and it’s directly related to
our health and the health of everything around us.”
OSU entomologist Ramesh Sagili told EW that while
Oregon’s 24 percent winter die-off rate was better than the
national 30 percent, it was still above the 10 percent die-off
CONTINUED P. 7
Ben Jones of CFD says the dead Christmas trees were used
to visually call attention to the effects of clearcutting “but we
weren’t about to cut down any trees.”
Jones says the banner proclaiming “Kitzhaber lies” is in
reference to what he and CFD members call the governor’s
hypocrisy in campaigning as an environmental candidate but
approving a plan that calls for clearcutting 1,000 acres a year
of previously unlogged coastal rainforest.
Eugene-based conservation group Cascadia Wildlands,
along with the Center for Biological Diversity and Audubon
Society of Portland, has filed a lawsuit that alleges the
clearcutting and forest practices on the Elliott, Tillamook and
Clatsop state forests are “harming, harassing and otherwise
leading to the demise of the federally (endangered species)
protected marbled murrelet, which comes inland to nest and
breed in mature and old-growth forests.”
CFD will have a rally at the next land board 10 am
Tuesday, Feb. 14, at the state offices at 775 Summer St. NE in
Salem to “tell Kitzhaber that we won’t let our forests be
destroyed without a fight.” For more information go to www.
forestdefensenow.com
— Camilla Mortensen
• Despite all the scary crime news in the daily rag
and on local TV news, Lane County remains a
remarkably safe place to live, work, play and raise a
family. But a local political action committee, Citizens
for a Safer Lane County, is asking our county
commissioners this week to put a charter amendment
on the May 15 ballot that would guarantee revenue for
public safety to support the Sheriff’s Office, DA and
Youth Services. The measure would not raise taxes
and the money would come from discretionary general
funds, so what county services would suffer? You
guessed it: the multiple social services, such as drug
and alcohol treatment, that are vital to reducing the
need for the Sheriff’s Office, DA and Youth Services.
The proposal goes to the commissioners after we go
to press this week. We predict another 3-2 vote with
our Tea Party majority on the commission favoring
their conservative buddies who see guns, handcuffs
and jail beds as the simple solution to every complex
social problem.
• It’s still safe to tweet your protests in Oregon. The
Oregon Legislature killed the “flash mob” bill at its
Feb. 6 hearing. The proposal, SB 1534, would have
made it a felony called “aggravated solicitation” to call
for people by Twitter or email to “engage in specific
conduct constituting a crime” at a designated place.
Sen. Floyd Prozanski chaired the committee that
rendered the bill dead in the water.
• Now we will see what happens with Prozanski’s SB
1526 that would essentially reverse the controversial
ruling in the Lane County commissioners’ open
meetings case. The bill would make it legal for elected
officials of a public body to confer through email or
sequential one-on-one meetings to discuss upcoming
votes in public meetings. This type of discussion is
what the commissioners got nailed for, but such
communication was not considered a violation when
the Oregon Board of Higher Education engaged in a
similar process in the controversial firing of former UO
president Richard Lariviere. Judge Michael Gillespie’s
quirky and impractical ruling against the commissioners
has been mostly ignored around the state. It’s time to
clarify and update Oregon’s open meeting rules to
allow our elected officials to actually talk to each
other.
• What will be the impact of the West Eugene EmX on
businesses along the route? A lot of credible research
has gone into this issue and we hear LTD will be
making a report at the 7:30 pm Monday, Feb. 13, City
Council meeting. Should be interesting. We expect the
anti-EmX folks won’t like what they hear.
• Words to watch in 2012. “Authentic” is a key
political word in this campaign year. That doesn’t bode
well for Romney or Gingrich or Santorum. “Resilience”
and “adaptation,” unfortunately, jump out of climate
change conversation. Too bad that we appear to be
past “prevention” or even “slowing” extreme climate
change. Meanwhile, so many Americans continue to be
deceived into denying it’s happening, let alone
identifying the contributing human causes.
• Congrats to Greg Evans, LCC ethnic studies
instructor, who will be presented the 2012 Trailblazer
Award from the Oregon Northwest Black Pioneers at
its annual celebration in Salem Feb. 11. The award
recognizes contributions to furthering the
advancement of African Americans in Oregon and
paving the way for others to follow. Evans is a well-
known civil rights activist and former regional official
with the NAACP. He is also on the adjunct faculty of
Northwest Christian University, serves on both the LTD
Board and American Public Transportation Association
national board, and has his own education consulting
business.
• Acting UO President Bob Berdahl forcefully made
the case for an “independent” governing board for the
UO Feb. 3 at the City Club of Eugene while Chancellor
George Pernsteiner suggested that “governance by
itself is not a silver bullet.” The Oregon Legislature is
expected to name a committee to examine independent
governance for the 2013 session. That’s what the
UO faculty leadership wants following the ugly uprising
over the firing of Richard Lariviere. But who would
appoint an “independent” board of a public
university? The governor, with approval of the state
Senate, so maybe governance by itself is not a silver
bullet.
SLANT includes short opinion pieces, observations and rumor-chas-
ing notes compiled by the EW staff. Heard any good rumors lately?
Contact Ted Taylor at 484-0519, editor@eugeneweekly.com
6 FEBRUARY 9, 2012
EUGENE WEEKLY
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