Eugene weekly., July 05, 2012, Page 6, Image 6

LAWSUIT ALLEGES
COUNTY VIOLATION
OF MEETINGS LAW
The question of whether Lane County Commissioners
Sid Leiken, Jay Bozievich and Faye Stewart violated open
meetings law with a May 3 emergency meeting that did not
provide 24 hours notice is now in the hands of the Oregon
courts.
Attorney Marianne Dugan filed the suit June 29 on
behalf of Commissioner Rob Handy. The suit seeks a
judge’s declaration that decisions made during the meeting
were made illegally and seeks costs and attorneys’ fees from
the three commissioners, not the county itself. It also seeks
a declaration that the commissioners named in the suit
violated Oregon law when they held the meeting and did not
release the minutes.
Emails that Dugan obtained through a public records
request show that the conservative majority of the board
through emails and phone calls decided to have a meeting
about whether to release public records in regard to
allegations of wrongdoing against Handy. But progressive
Commissioners Pete Sorenson and Handy were not
contacted until less than an hour and a half before the 9 am
meeting on May 3. The three conservatives then voted to
release the documents.
The emergency meeting was held in response to
allegations that Handy illegally asked for contributions for
his debt that came about as a settlement over a timber
company-financed open meetings lawsuit. Handy said he
had previously checked with the county’s finance department
regarding the legality. He said the release of the documents
was timed to maximize the damage that would be done to
him in the May 15 primary election, which would take place
before he could be cleared of wrongdoing. Handy lost to
conservative City Councilor Pat Farr.
Commissioner Jay Bozievich has denied receiving
advance notice of a meeting, saying in a June 7 email “the
matter was referred to legal counsel and we were waiting for
advice as of 7:09.” Bozievich also said in the email that in
the future he would only comment to EW if a public records
request is filed. Lane County charges for public records
requests.
Bozievich also forwarded emails that did not come to
light in Dugan’s public records request that appear to show
part of the impetus for the hurried meeting was a request
from conservative talk show host Bill Lundun. Farr appeared
on Lundun’s radio show before the election.
Leiken and County Administrator Liane Richardson did
not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. The
County Commission was not in session this week due to the
July 4 holiday. Stewart said he was unable to comment as he
had not yet seen the suit or heard back from legal counsel.
Under Oregon law there must be justification in the
minutes of the meeting for emergency meetings arranged
with less than 24 hours notice. The minutes of the May 3
meeting have not released, the suit says.
In other county news, according to attorney David Force,
the Oregon Court of Appeals agreed with the Lane County’s
contention that an appeal of the controversial voter
redistricting was moot, since the election utilizing the
redrawn North Eugene district was held in May, and its
result cannot be changed regardless of the legality.
The changes to voter boundaries, which opponents say
favor conservative candidates, was approved by the board’s
conservative majority of Leiken, Bozievich and Stewart.
— Camilla Mortensen
PESTICIDES IN YOU
AND YOUR SALMON
When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. But
what do you do when life hands you pesticides in your urine?
You fight. And when the Environmental Protection Agency
attempts to delay regulations protecting salmon from
pesticides, you take that agency to court.
Residents of the Triangle Lake area aren’t mixing up
urinade, but they’re not taking the poison lying down, either.
At noon on Saturday, July 7, anti-pesticide group Pitchfork
Rebellion and other Triangle Lake residents will speak out at
“Occupy This! Rally for Pesticide Justice and Jobs!” The
sports
Rainy Days and Head Collisions
EMFC Azul, Eugene’s premier women’s soccer team, had a weekend of ties at home: The
first, against Issaquah Soccer Club came down to stoppage time. “It was a real barn-
burner,” says Evon Smith, Azul’s coordinator and perhaps the team’s most loyal fan. In a
last-ditch effort, Eugene Metro Fútbol Club (EMFC) put an equalizing header between the
goalposts from a corner kick that rang in the final whistle, much to the chagrin of the
opposing coach.
Saturday’s game against Emerald City, uncharacteristically taking place at 2 pm, was
rain-swept and rotten. As my grandfather would have put it: “Aye lad, it’s a lovely day for a
footy match.”
The pitch was slippery, as was the ball, and innumerable, sliced goal kicks and long balls
sailed out over the sidelines. The first goal came in the eleventh minute, scored with poise
by Azul striker Caitlin Jobanek, and Lindsay Parlee’s magnificent goalkeeping kept the
score at 1-0 throughout the slippery first half.
The second half began with Emerald City instantly affecting a barrage of attacks on
goal, each of which Azul managed to fend off until the 65th minute, when a chance one-
on-one break allowed the Seattle opponents a simple tap-in to equalize.
Unfortunately it had been lofty balls that allowed Emerald City their dominating
possession streak in the second half, with their players simply being too tall and well versed
at controlling floated passes for the home team. And if this didn’t set a tone of
determination when it came to the ball being in the air, then the late second-half collision
between two Emerald City players certainly did, when a nasty clash of heads resulted in a
broken nose and concussion that ended in medics carrying the two still conscious, though
badly beaten, teammates off in stretchers.
At the final whistle, the score remained 1-1, but it was an exciting game nonetheless.
On another note, Spain just made history with their Euro 2012 win. But it was not for
lack of injury on the Italian side. Remember, soccer fans; this is a contact sport, and the fact
that full-body tackles aren’t involved should never be taken for granted.
The final EMFC Azul home game will take place against Oregon Rush on Wednesday,
July 11 at 6 pm. — Andy Valentine
6 JULY 5, 2012
EUGENE WEEKLY
peaceful rally will call for the immediate ban of aerial
spraying of pesticides near homes and schools, and it takes
place at Wayne Morse Plaza at the old federal courthouse.
According to Standing Together to Outlaw Pesticides
(STOP), aerial sprays don’t just mist buildings and people
with pesticides, they also result in contamination of the
watershed. Residents, in an informal group called the
Siuslaw Watershed Guardians, paid for the analysis of four
public streams near Triangle Lake and found atrazine,
desethyl atrazine or hexazinone in all of them. The group has
been fighting to stop the toxic sprays for years and the state
only began to take the issue seriously after a researcher found
the pesticides 2,4-D and atrazine in the urine of Triangle
Lake residents.
STOP is calling for a moratorium on forestry pesticides.
“The health of humans, in particular children, should come
before Big Timber profits,” says member Eron King, whose
whole family tested positive for atrazine and 2,4-D in April
2011. “In light of the suspended state exposure investigation,
it is important that the governor issues a moratorium on all
forestry pesticides until the investigation gets full cooperation
from ODA [Oregon Department of Agriculture], ODF
[Oregon Department of Forestry] and the timber industry,
and can conclude that the pesticides within my children,
neighbors and I are not from forestries clear-cut sprays.”
Oregonians do have some hope for keeping pesticides out
of our waterways when it comes to the neurotoxins that
affect salmon. In June, Northwest Center for Alternatives to
Pesticides won a court battle against the EPA in which the
EPA sought to delay legal protections from pesticides that
damage salmon habitat. A Seattle judge found industry and
the government were not taking genuine steps to protect
salmon jeopardized by pesticides, Amiee Code of NCAP
says. Judge Thomas Zilly has lifted the stay, which now
allows NCAP to move forward with a lawsuit it initiated in
2010. In the ruling, Code says, “the judge really comes out
and points out EPA is being disingenuous.”
Code says the case has been a long time in the making.
“We’ve been fighting for obvious, needed protections since
2000.” She says current regulations are insufficient and the
courts have agreed with NCAP.
“We won’t give up; the environment can no longer be put
on the backburner while unsustainable and harmful business
continues unabated,” Code says.
— Shannon Finnell and Camilla Mortensen
biz beat
A new cohousing development called Oakleigh Meadow is forming with a
group of about a dozen local households. The 2.7-acre site will be off River Road
near Riverfront Park and the bike path, on land owned by David Adee and Joan
Connolly. Other founding members include Pen Sand, Jim O’Connor and Jen
Carroll. The sustainable housing project will include 16 to 24 units and a common
house for shared activities such as meals and recreation. Consultant for the project
is architect and author Katie McCamant, co-founder of The Cohousing Company,
and she will give a free slide show and talk on cohousing at 7 pm Friday, July 6, at
the Baker Center, 325 E. 10th Ave. See www.oakleighmeadows.org or call 688-5233.
Access the Law is a Eugene nonprofit office offering affordable, sliding-scale
legal services for working low-income families and individuals at 245 W. 13th Ave.,
phone 686-4890. Attorneys on staff include Marc Friedman, Amanda Husted, Tori
Klein and Katrina R. Saint Marie.
Eugene-based Gorilla Capital, Grape Solar and Café Yumm! made the
Portland Business Journal’s Top 100 list for fastest- growing privately held
companies in Oregon. Café Yumm!, which now employees 233 people and has 11
restaurants, posted a 51.9 percent growth rate during the three-year period from
2009 through 2011.
Voodoo Doughnuts is having some fun with its latest creation, Easy Pesey
Lemon Kesey doughnuts, lemon-filled with tie-dye vanilla frosting and a chewy
cube of “acid” on top. Part of the proceeds from sales of the limited-time doughnuts
are going to help support the Kesey Collection of manuscripts and artwork in its
current home at the UO Knight Library, says Sara Heise of Voodoo.
Rick Nicol, president of Western Pneumatics, Inc., has been reappointed to the
Eugene Toxics Board, representing businesses that are required to report under
Eugene’s Toxics Right-to-Know Program. Randy Prince, representing an
environmental advocacy position, was also reappointed.
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