NEWS BRIEFS
BLASTING AT
PARVIN BUTTE
Lost Creek Rock Products has begun blasting at Parvin
Butte, and neighbors say the noise is frightening people and
their pets. The once-wooded land has been logged and the
butte, which gives a scenic backdrop to boaters on the nearby
Dexter Lake reservoir, is slated to be razed.
Neighbor Pete Helzer tells of a neighbor’s dog that was so
scared by the blasting noise that it ran through two fences
before it could be stopped. He says destroying the butte
harms not only the rural community but its history, as well as
the water and environment.
Lane County did hear from neighbors about the blasting
noise, says Shelley Kurtz, interim public information officer.
But she says the county doesn’t “have authority to cite for
non-compliance given the distances involved.”
Another neighbor, Arlen Markus, says when the April 10
blasting happened, his wife was feeding horses in the barn
and felt the blast through the dirt floor. He says, “She was
lucky that the horses did not spook and trample her to death.”
He says he is frusterated his County Commissioner, Faye
Stewart, has been silent on the issue.
Another butte neighbor, Courtney Campbell, emailed the
county that the blast “shook the entire foundation of my
home, even knocking several items on tables over” and it
made her animals frantic.
“This is outrageous and unacceptable,” she wrote, “Isn’t
there anything the county can do?”
According to Matt Laird of the Land Management
Division, right now there is not. “The code requires notice if
blasting occurs within 500 feet of an occupied structure,” he
says and there is “no evidence that there are any occupied
structures within 500 feet of the blast.” He adds, “While I
believe it would be courteous of the operator to provide
notice to the surrounding neighborhood, it is not required by
code.”
Lost Creek Rock Products, a business of Greg Demers
and the McDougal brothers, has argued to Lane County that
it does not need a site review permit for the mine. A site
review would allow neighbors input over problems the
nearby mine could create for them such as dust, blasting noise
and trucks.
Kurtz says the county is currently in a holding pattern over
the issue and has until May 4 to decide whether to file an
appeal challenging a decision made by the hearings official.
The decision said a site review is needed if mining activity
occurs in the 200-foot buffer around the mine, but not at the
mine itself, where the blasting has occurred.
The legal system has relegated the Parvin Butte neighbors
to the sidelines in the site review dispute, Helzer says, but
“we do have a sense of what the landscape is and a historical
sense of the landscape.”
Helzer, who is a sculptor known for his downtown Ken
Kesey and Rosa Parks statues, as well as the bronze relief
sighting pedestal atop Mount Pisgah, wants to give the people
of Dexter and Lost Valley a voice and give others “a sense of
what’s at stake.”
Towards that goal, Helzer is working with other neighbors
on an art exhibit, “Silent Witness” at Maude Kerns Art Center
May 14-18, which will include photography by Dexter
photographer John Bauguess as well as poetry.
— Camilla Mortensen
TWO MOMS AT
KIDS MARCH
PEPPER SPRAYED
It was Kids Day, a part of Occupy the Trees, a weeklong
Earth Day-oriented celebration. But the April 25 children’s
event ended dramatically with two mothers pepper sprayed
by Eugene police and children crying, according to attorney
Lauren Regan.
Kids Day consisted of a kids’ march and a scavenger hunt
for nature items, as well as speeches from children about the
environment, according to a press release from Occupy
Eugene.
The issue began with children playing in the shrubbery at
the park. Regan says the “cops were pretty aggressive right
off the bat,” when they warned the mothers that their children
were not allowed to play in the bushes at the Park Blocks.
The young mothers, who are in their twenties, according
to EPD records, were given tickets for “Violation of Park
Rules — Damaging Vegetation.”
“It sounds ridiculous but it actually is an offense that can
lead to exclusion from the downtown zone,” Regan says.
She questions why mothers were ticketed for the actions
of their young children and asks why the officer didn’t
approach “with a smile on his face and say, ‘Hey kids why
don’t you get out of the planting area, we are trying to grow
flowers.’”
According an EPD information officer, “When the officer
contacted the women to talk about the children’s behavior, the
two became hostile and refused to comply with the rule or to
provide their names. As a consequence, the officer issued the
two parents” the citations for damaging vegetation.
EPD says later that evening, around 5:30 pm, “Roughly
20 people were gathered in the park blocks possibly to
engage in protest activity although there was no clear
indication of that.” An officer was giving out police stickers
nearby. According to EPD one of the mothers who had been
ticketed “slapped his hand away telling the children to not
accept stickers from the officer.”
Regan says the mothers, who are low income and one is
transient, were upset by the ticket, which has a $155 base
IT’S ABOUT TIME
BY DAVID WAGNER
NATIVE BANANA SLUG
know summer is close because the sun shines in our north
ARIOLIMAX COLUMBIANUS
windows. A sunny morning is a good time to go turtle
watching in the Delta Ponds. They line up on anchored
logs in early morning. The warm weather brings the
cottonwood trees into final stages of bud burst. Inside the
leaf buds — but not the flower buds — is a resin that smells
very sweet. It is the American source of Balm of Gilead.
By the end of May the Oregon oak trees will finally have their leaves
fully expanded. The last of the native trees to leaf out, they are genetically
predisposed to avoid late season snow damage. The wild cucumber is growing
fast, extending grasping tendrils upwards. All the early flowers are male. These are the ones on
stalks. The female flowers appear later, singly in the angle between leaf stalk and stem.
Mowing and weeding, I love the smell of plants cut and torn off. I wonder if I am an instinctive
gatherer, rather than hunter, with a sap lust instead of blood lust? Slugs are afoot these days, eating
their way through the lilies and primroses. If you want to pick one up to toss away, you had better
use a leaf or other wrap because they produce an alarm slime when disturbed. It is amazingly sticky
and won’t wash off with soap and water.
The Wildflower Festival at Mount Pisgah Arboretum is Sunday, May 20. Please join me for a plant
walk at 1 pm.
I
David Wagner is a botanist who has worked in Eugene for more than 30 years. The 2012 Willamette Valley Nature Calendar is the last
one he will make. A few are still available; contact him directly at fernzenmosses@me.com
8 MAY 3, 2012
EUGENE WEEKLY
fine. They told their children not to take the stickers and
according to witnesses told the officers they didn’t want their
children to be given stickers. When the kid reached out to
give the sticker, Regan says the mother, who EPD identifies
as Angela Bartow, brushed the child’s hand away, but says the
officer “claims somehow she brushed his hand.”
The incident is on video but has not yet been released. The
children, Regan says, are around 4 years old.
Both mothers left the park and EPD says, “although she
had committed the crime of physical harassment, because of
the size and behavior of the group, the officer elected to not
take action immediately.” EPD says the officer “chose to
wait for a calmer time and place to either arrest or issue her a
citation.”
Regan says Bartow “had her back to the police when all
of a sudden the cop comes from behind and begins macing
her without really saying anything to her about being under
arrest or to put her hands behind her back.” The other mother,
Ashley Dicharry, came up and put her arms around Bartow
and was also sprayed.
One of mothers was yelling for someone to take the
children away, Regan says, and as she was yelling the officer
“lifts her up and does a wresting move on her and throws her
on the ground.” Both women were bruised, Regan says. She
adds that witnesses say one of the officers pointed a Taser at
the women’s heads.
She says a number of people involved with Occupy
Eugene who witnessed the event, including an attorney, say
the police appeared to be trying to antagonize people.
“A bunch of kids started crying, and asking why the police
ruined the event,” Regan says. She adds “it was a totally legal
children’s event” and the police could have handled it
differently. She asks, “What lawful justification does EPD
have for using force and chemical weapons for people not
placed under arrest, not resisting arrest and not a threat to the
police?”
The charges the women were given include resisting
arrest, disorderly conduct and harassment.
— Camilla Mortensen
INDUSTRY BACKS
FARR CAMPAIGN
County Commission candidate Pat Farr, running against
incumbent Commissioner Rob Handy, has raised about
$91,000 so far, averaging $1,000 per donation. Lindholm
Company, a consulting and polling firm where Farr
worked until taking a leave, has donated a total of $4,060
in cash and in-kind services. Wildish Sand and Gravel Co.
donated $5,000, followed by $3,000 from Delta Sand and
Gravel and $2,500 from Hamilton Construction in
Springfield. Also donating $2,500 each were Rosboro
Lumber, Murphy Hardwood Plywood Division and John
ACTIVIST ALERT
• Eugene’s sixth annual Global Marijuana March will kick off with a list
of speakers at noon Saturday, May 5, at the Free Speech Plaza, 8th and Oak,
followed by a march at 1 pm. Speakers include Jim Klahn, Rick Staggenborg,
MD, Lynnette Shaw, Shelley Fox-Loken, Bob Wolfe, Sam Chapman and Elvy
Musikka. Organized by Jim Grieg and Dan Koozer. Other marches will be in
Salem, Medford and Portland. Contact jimgreigineugene@gmail.com
• Phone banking, canvassing and other activities in support of
progressive candidates are being organized by the Oregon League of
Conservation voters. Canvassing for Rob Handy will be from 11 am to 1 pm
Saturday, May 5, beginning at the Handy campaign office, 354 W. 6th Ave.
Calling for Handy will be late afternoons May 6, 8 and 13. Calling for Pete
Sorenson, Kitty Piercy and Betty Taylor will be the evening of Wednesday,
May 9. Email ashley@olcv.org or call 968-8269 for details and to sign up.
• Broadcast journalist Belva Davis, who overcame tremendous obstacles
including abuse, sexism and racism to become the first black female news
anchor on the West Coast, will speak at 7 pm Tuesday, May 8, at the second
floor lounge of the Eugene Hotel, 222 E. Broadway. Complimentary
appetizers, juice, wine and beer catered by Café Soriah. $25 admission
benefits Eugene PeaceWorks. Reception begins at 5:45 pm. Davis will also
speak (free) at 1:30 pm Wednesday, May 9, at the LCC Longhouse Building
31, and again at 7 pm at the Lillis Building, Room 182 on the UO campus.
Davis has anchored at CBS, NBC and PBS and currently hosts a political
affairs program for KQED-TV in San Francisco.
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