The county is also seeking to uphold the nearly $8,000
in fines it levied against LCRP, a business of Greg Demers
and Norman and Melvin McDougal, for continuing its
quarry-mining operations without a site review. Bill Kloos,
an attorney for LCRP, argued before Darnielle at the
hearing that a site review was not needed. But a number of
neighbors testified about the noise and other issues the
mining was creating for nearby homes. In a separate case,
the neighbors have contested a bridge LCRP wants to
build. They fear it will affect salmon and other wildlife and
cause flooding.
The county says it is asking for reconsideration of the
site review ruling because the Lane Code outlines
provisions that must be followed for quarry operations.
In a letter to the county supporting the request for
reconsideration, Dan Stotter, attorney for the Parvin Butte
neighbors, wrote that it’s the position of his clients that
further legal review, in either the Land Use Board of
Appeals or in circuit court, “is likely to result in a reversal
of the hearings official’s decision in this matter.”
It is unclear at this point if the county will appeal the
decision to LUBA or the circuit court if Darnielle does not
reconsider or if he repeats his earlier decision.
For more on Parvin Butte go to saveparvinbutte.org
— Camilla Mortensen
zontaeugenespringfield.com and see the “Women’s Day”
category in EW’s calendar this week and next week’s issue
for more International Women’s Day events.
— Caitlin McKimmy
IF LCAS GOES
WHERE WILL THE
PETS GO?
The city of Eugene and Lane County are planning to do
away with Lane County Animal Services (LCAS), sparking
an outcry from local advocates for dogs, cats and other
pets, who worry this could bring the county back to the
days when thousands of stray pets were killed each year.
Lane County, Eugene and Springfield are forming an
happening people
interagency task team to explore and develop a new model
of service delivery for animal services, the county says.
LCAS is “one of the real success stories, one of the
really shining examples of city-county partnership,” says
Scott Bartlett, who serves on LCAS’s advisory committee.
He is also the veteran of 16 years on the county’s Budget
Committee. Bartlett says, “This new model thing in my
mind is shallow, unsubstantiated and extremely risky to
the animals.”
The proposal for animal control apparently arose out of
the announcement by City Manager John Ruiz that Eugene
was pulling $130,000 from LCAS’s budget, as well as
county budget cuts.
According to Karen Gaffney, assistant director for
county Health and Human Services, the county’s 25
percent across-the-board budget cut brought LCAS’s
ability to “maintain critical services to animals and the
BY PAUL NEEVEL
WOMEN AND SEX TRAFFIC
Most Eugeneans probably assume that human
trafficking is an international phenomenon, plaguing far-
off nations like India and Thailand. This is decidedly not
the case. Trafficking is an issue that affects the U.S., and
prostitution and servitude in Oregon is on the rise. In
order to raise awareness for this pressing human rights
issue, and as part of its annual International Women’s Day
Forum, the Zonta Club of Eugene-Springfield is holding a
luncheon and panel on sex trafficking 11:30 am Thursday,
March 8.
Traffickers are exploiting the young people living on
the streets of the Pacific Northwest with alarming
frequency — Portland and Seattle are among some of the
most dangerous cities in the U.S. when it comes to
trafficking, according to the Zonta Club.
Hosted in the Eugene Hilton Conference Center, the
forum titled “Homelessness and Trafficking: Keeping Our
Kids Safe” will explore the issue of human trafficking
from a local perspective. There will be speakers from a
local shelter, juvenile justice, women-survivor support
groups and a woman who was trafficked. The goal of the
event is to educate the community about how this problem
affects local young women and children and what can be
done to help.
The cost of the luncheon and panel is $25 per person
and $200 for a table of eight. All of the proceeds from the
event will go to Zonta, an organization that works to
support women’s issues locally and worldwide. Advance
registration required; check with Zonta for details at
MARY DEMOCKER
The sixth of nine siblings, Mary DeMocker grew up in an old farm house outside Rochester, New York. “My life was ballet,
harp, and horses,” says DeMocker, who put in two years at Colby College in Maine before escaping to NYC, where she
worked in film and TV production, studied at NYU, organized students for the Central American solidarity movement,
and played harp on the street. “I found a spot in SoHo where they didn’t mind my playing.” After graduating from NYU,
she came to Eugene with a UO harp scholarship in 1988. She met her husband-to-be Arthur Peck within months, toured
schools with a musical program celebrating Earth Day, and began her career as a home-based harp teacher. She has
also published articles on parenting since the birth of her kids Zannie and Forrest in the late 1990s. A few years back,
DeMocker and family began a Halloween tradition with a front-yard display of cardboard tombstones bearing
inscriptions such as “Climate Change Denial” and “Oil Addiction.” After last fall’s display, the family has gone on to
engage its South University neighbors with several more interactive “front-lawn theater” installations, each one aimed
at a particular social or environmental issue. See photos of all the recent displays at marydemocker.com
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EUGENE WEEKLY MARCH 1, 2012 7