NEWS BRIEFS
packed with local residents on a tour of
neighborhoods and the toxic industries
that impact them. Participants included
Mayor Kitty Piercy, Commissioner Rob
Handy, City Councilors Andrea Ortiz and
George Brown, and councilor candidate
Juan Carlos Valle. Ben Duncan, chair of
Gov. Kitzhaber’s Environmental Justice
Task Force and others representing state
and federal interests attended as well.
City Councilor Pat Farr, who is
running against Handy for the North
Eugene commissioner’s seat, was signed
up but did not arrive for the event
— River Road in the north Eugene district
is one of the impacted areas that was
toured.
Mixed in with neighborhood residents
were students from the UO, as well as
representatives from the Lane Regional
Air Protection Agency (LRAPA), the agency that monitors
and enforces air quality issues. The tour was part of a three-
day wide-ranging community discussion of environmental
justice that took place everywhere from a church to the UO
campus.
The bus tour was a collaboration between Beyond Toxics
ACTIVIST ALERT
• Finalists for the executive director of Lane Council of
Government will speak and take questions from 5 to 7 pm
Thursday, April 19, at the Hilton Vista Room. A final decision is
expected at the LCOG board meeting April 26 in Veneta.
• A candidates forum for North Eugene’s County Commission
race, sponsored by Harlow Neighbors, will be from 6 to 8 pm
Thursday, April 19, at North Park Community Church, 3484 Harlow
Road.
• Max Rameau, director of Take Back the Land, a national
movement “liberating” vacant government land and foreclosed
homes by moving homeless families into them, is in Eugene for
several events, sponsored by Reality Kitchen, Occupy Eugene,
CLDC, Lane Peace Symposium, and A Community Together (ACT).
He will speak on “Community Control of Land and Human Rights”
at 7:30 pm Thursday, April 19, at Reality Kitchen, 245 Van Buren,
Eugene. $10 advance, $12 at the door (tickets at realitykitchen.org).
This talk will be recorded by David Barsamian for Alternative
Radio.
• Local publisher Kris Millegan of TrineDay Books will speak at
7 pm Thursday, April 19, at Tsunami Books, 2585 Willamette.
Millegan has published 40 books by authors investigating
RESIDENT JOANNE GROSS STANDS IN
FRONT OF HER HOUSE WHILE A NEARBY
PLANT EMITS TOXICS INTO THE AIR
disproportionate exposure to environmental
harms.
Arkins says that many argue that the
industries were there first, before the
neighborhoods, but she points out that some
of the housing was built for the people who
would be working places such as the Union
Pacific railyard, and some of the schools
were in place before the industries were.
Arkin says the Eugene Toxics Right-to-
Know reporting system shows that Bethel
schoolchildren breathe approximately 72
pounds of toxic chemicals a year.
The tour included the UP railyard site and
its toxic groundwater pollution; a flooded
auto wrecking yard near ponds that are home
to the western pond turtle; Murphy Plywood,
which emanates formaldehyde, a known
carcinogen; and Georgia-Pacific Chemical, a
COURTSEY OF BEYOND TOXICS
Koch Industries company that puts out 36,000
pounds of air toxics a year, according to LRAPA, to name
and Centro LatinoAmericano. Many of the people who are
only a few. Many of the industries were in close proximity to
affected by the air, water and soil pollution in West Eugene
schools, homes and even a daycare center.
are Latino, and several spoke of the conditions they face
For more on the effort to bring environmental justice to
through a translator. According to the Environmental
west Eugene, visit BeyondToxics.org
Protection Agency, which was one of the sponsors of the tour,
— Camilla Mortensen
minority and/or low-income communities often face a
conspiracy topics. Free.
• “Occupy the Economy” with NPR’s David Barsamian will be
the program at City Club of Eugene at 11:50 am Friday, April 20, at
the Hilton, 12th floor. Barsamian is founder of Alternative Radio
and author of Targeting Iran.
• The Lane Peace Center’s fifth annual Peace Symposium/
Democracy Convergence is April 20-21 at LCC. Free. Speakers
and panelists include David Barsamian of Alternative Radio, David
Cobb of Move to Amend, Ms. George Friday of the Bill of Rights
Defense Committee, Ben Manski of the Liberty Tree Foundation for
Democratic Revolution, Max Rameau of Take Back the Land, and
David West of the Potawatomi Nation. For information and
registration visit www.lanecc.edu/peacecenter or e-mail
peacecenter@lanecc.edu
• A Saturday, April 21 panel on ”Homelessness and Housing in
Lane County” with Nancie Koerber, Doug Bales and Susan Ban will
be recorded at CTV cable access and available to watch at
realitykitchen.org and CTV.
• Eric Tars from the National Law Center for Homelessness and
Poverty, will speak on “Housing is a Human Right: National and
Local Perspectives on Housing and Homelessness” from 6 to 8 pm
Monday, April 23, at the Eugene Public Library. Co-sponsored by
the Eugene Human Rights Commission and the Community
Coalition for the Advancement of Human Rights. Free. Tars works
on homelessness as a human rights issue and protecting the rights
of homeless youth. See http://nlchp.org
• A fundraiser and silent auction to benefit Commissioner
Rob Handy’s re-election campaign will be from 5:30 to 7:30 pm
Tuesday, April 24, at Cozmic, 8th and Charnelton. $10 cover.
Handy will speak at 6:45 pm. More info at reelectrobhandy.com
• “Occupy the Media,” a free event featuring Alternative
Radio producer/host David Barsamian begins at 7 pm Tuesday,
April 24, at Harris Hall, 8th & Oak in Eugene. Sponsored by
Eugene Media Action, A Committee of Eugene PeaceWorks,
Occupy Eugene Zinn/Chomsky Library, ProgressiveVoices.org
and CALC.
• A candidates forum for North Eugene’s County
Commission race will be from 6:30 to 8:30 pm Thursday, April
26, at Willamette High School cafeteria, 1801 Echo Hollow Road.
Focus will be on children’s health, environment and education.
Sponsored by Lane Coalition for Healthy Active Youth, Beyond
Toxics and STAND for Children.
• Take Back the Night this year will begin with a rally at 6
pm Thursday, April 26, at the EMU on the UO campus, followed
by a march to 8th and Oak with a speak-out at 8:30 pm. More
details next week.
slant
• County Commission candidates Rob Handy, Pat Farr
and Nadia Sindi drew a small crowd for an evening City
Club forum April 12, with Handy and Farr getting a little
testy with each other while Sindi was looking queasy. She
was suffering from food poisoning and was probably
wishing to be anywhere else. Hopefully she will be
recovered for the next two forums (see Activist Alert).
Farr has accused Handy of inaccuracy and deliberately
mischaracterizing facts. We haven’t seen evidence of that
other than maybe Handy labeling Farr an “ultra-
conservative,” but we did hear some disturbing statements,
reportedly from the Farr campaign. One of our readers
participated in a Lindholm phone “survey” that had some
potentially libelous questions, such as, “Are you aware that
Rob Handy was investigated for perjury?” and “Are you
aware that Rob Handy was involved in a sexual harassment
lawsuit?” Both of these allegations are false, of course.
Farr is currently on leave from his staff position at
Lindholm, and the Lindholm Company has donated $2,500
as an in-kind contribution to the Farr campaign. The person
who was surveyed considered this call to be “offensive”
and a “push poll,” an effort to sway public opinion
disguised as an impartial survey. Farr and his campaign did
not respond by press time to questions about the survey.
• Congressman Peter DeFazio put out a shocking
observation about the U.S. Postal Service when he spoke
to City Club April 13. He said he thinks “the people
managing the postal service are trying to destroy it,” citing
examples of terrible management. That’s not so shocking
when you remember the Grover Norquist/extreme right
strategy of shrinking the government until it fits into a
10 APRIL 19, 2012
EUGENE WEEKLY
bathtub. We should help DeFazio in every way we can to
save the postal service, starting with demanding leadership
that believes in it.
• Issues remain after the Oregon State Marine Board
voted 3-2 last week to uphold the ban on internal
combustion motor boats on Waldo Lake. The rules could be
overturned in the Oregon Court of Appeals, and the case
could end up in the Oregon Supreme Court. Deep pockets
are behind the litigation. Meanwhile, the Oregon State
Aviation Board is adamant that float planes be allowed to
land, taxi and take off anytime they want, and the Marine
Board has reluctantly agreed. Float planes are rare at
Waldo, but when they come they certainly violate the 10
mph speed limit on the lake, they can bring invasive
species on their pontoons, they are more prone to crash
than wheeled planes, the noise of take-offs can be
deafening up close and the sound carries for miles over
water.
The Aviation Board will be looking again at its rules for
Waldo, but members are expected to only talk about
limiting parts of the lake that can be used, restricting times
of use, and discouraging practice take-offs and landings.
Comments can be emailed to aviation.mail@state.or.us or
mailed to 3040 25th St. SE Salem 97302-1125. See http://
wkly.ws/185 for individual board members’ email addresses
and phone numbers.
• In Slant last week we talked about our early prediction
that conservatives would use Occupy Eugene as a
campaign issue, and then we went on to mention mayoral
candidate Kevin Prociw’s bashing of Occupy Eugene in a
recent candidates forum. Prociw tells us, however, that it
was a “mischaracterization” to associate him with
conservatives. He says it’s “an easy mistake, I’m sure, as
anybody running against Kitty Piercy would seem
conservative. However, in the traditional sense of the word,
I am not. While I do advocate for fiscal responsibility and
accountability, you will find that I am a member of the
Independent Party and that many of my values are more
progressive.”
• Congrats to UO volcanologist Katharine V. Cashman.
The professor was one of 220 elected nationwide to the
2012 class of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Cashman studies volcanic rocks and has worked to explain
the nature and predictability of volcanic eruptions.
• It was a splendid show on Dexter Reservoir April 13-14
when more than 1,300 rowers and scullers raced their
shells and sculls across the laned lake. The sun even
shone. High school, collegiate and master athletes came
from the Pacific Northwest, Arizona and California,
some sleeping in tents scattered around the lake. This 18th
annual Covered Bridge Regatta, hosted by the Oregon
Association of Rowers and Oregon Rowing, is the only
regatta Dexter will display this year. It’s a huge volunteer
effort with crews of parents and friends serving heaps of
food, cleaning up, putting on the races, cheering their
teams. The 2013 Covered Bridge Regatta will be April 13-14
with the Dexter Dash and Dinner April 12 for masters.
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
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