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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 20, 2012)
biz beat Need to dump your load? Rexius recently raised its minimum dump fee for yard debris and wood scraps from $2 to $5. Lane Forest Products tells us they still have a minimum dump fee of $2.50 but it will go up to $4 this fall. So the choice is mostly a matter of convenience, drive time and quality of service. How about buying yard and garden products? The two companies offer some unique products, and some that are the same. Both sell hemlock bark but Lane Forest’s hemlock is a buck a yard cheaper. Most rock products are also a bit cheaper at Lane Forest. Both companies post their latest price charts on their websites. About 128,000 Oregon workers will get a raise in 2013 when Oregon’s hourly minimum wage will go up 15 cents. The current minimum wage of $8.80 will go to $8.95. “A rise in the minimum wage is good news for workers and Oregon’s economy,” says Jason Gettel of the Oregon Center for Public Policy. “It helps the lowest-paid workers make ends meet, and helps the Oregon economy when the workers spend those extra dollars in local businesses.” OCPP calculates that the increase means an additional $312 a year for a family with one full-time minimum wage worker. At $8.95 an hour, an Oregon full-time minimum wage worker will earn $18,616 next year, an amount below the 2012 federal poverty guideline for a family of three ($19,090). Locally owned Coastal Farm & Ranch has offered to match dollar-for-dollar any donations to restart Lane County 4-H programs, up to $30,000, with a deadline of Sept. 30. The program needs about $60,000 to re-start. Visit the Eugene store at 2200 W. 6th Ave. for details or go online at oregon4hfoundation.org and designate Lane County when making donations. We hear Rivers Turn Farm is celebrating the fall harvest Saturday, Sept. 22, with a fruit pressing and some good deals on fresh fruit for canning or drying. Find the farm at 31139 Lanes Turn Road a few miles north of Coburg. Owners are Marsha and John Sundquist. The Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides is now taking reservations for its fourth annual Evening with NCAP fundraiser and dinner Oct. 6 at the Vet’s Club Ballroom, 16th and Willamette St. See http://wkly.ws/1cr for early-bird ticket sales. More than 60 local and regional businesses and nonprofits have donated goods and services to be auctioned. ACTIVIST ALERT • An interactive workshop on “Class Prejudice: What It is and How Do We Fight It?” lead by Roscoe Caron will be from 9 am to 3 pm Saturday, Sept. 22, at Central Presbyterian Church, 555 E. 15th Ave. in Eugene. Sponsored by CALC, sliding scale $20-$25 with scholarships available. Call 485- 1755 or email calcoffice@gmail.com to register. • “Initiation of EWEB Special Area Zone” is on the Eugene City Council agenda for 7:30 pm Monday, Sept. 24, in the Eugene Public Library. This item is in regard to privatization and redevelopment of public lands along the Willamette River that are no longer being used by EWEB. • A free public forum on mental health with state Rep. Val Hoyle will be from 1 to 3 pm Tuesday, Sept. 25, at Lane County Behavioral Health offices, 2411 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. For more information or to get on a mailing list, email oregon.united@gmail.com or call 345-9106. • A free illustrated talk on “Eugene’s Changing Landscape: 1846 – 2012” by horticulturist Whitey Lueck will be at 6 pm Tuesday, Sept. 25, at the Eugene Public Library. Call 682-5450 for more information. • A City Council work session and possible vote on the West Eugene EmX extension will be at noon Wednesday, Sept. 26, at the Eugene Public Library. Opportunity Eugene recommendations will also be discussed at this meeting. NEWS BRIEFS TIMBER INDUSTRY VS. SCIENCE Nothing’s worse than science getting in the way of a good clearcut. On Aug. 13, timber industry, livestock and off-road groups filed a case in federal court alleging that a planning rule for federal lands unlawfully establishes “ecological sustainability” as a primary purpose of national forest management. Conservation groups say the industry suit aims to drastically limit the use of science in managing national forests. The Western Environmental Law Center (WELC) says that the purpose of the industry group’s lawsuit is to prevent the Forest Service from using “best available science” and ecosystem management tools to guide decisions affecting 193 million acres of national forests, and to prohibit the agency from maintaining viable populations of wildlife. Eugene-based WELC entered the fray on Sept. 10 when it filed a motion to fight the industry suit in federal district court in Washington, D.C., on behalf of Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center and Oregon Wild. The industry groups include the American Forest Resource Council, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the California Association of 4 Wheel Drive Clubs, among others. The industry lawsuit says the 2012 National Forest Management Act Planning Rule “creates an unprecedented new requirement that every forest plan ‘must provide for social, economic, and ecological sustainability.’” And its objections include a section that states all forest management plans must also “maintain or restore” air quality, soils and soil productivity, including guidance to reduce soil erosion and sedimentation, water quality and water resources in the plan area. “Of course it’s appropriate to use science and conservation biology,” Pete Frost of WELC said. Doug Heiken of Oregon Wild called it “truly bizarre when the timber industry must argue against science and in favor of crony capitalism in order to achieve their desired result.” According to the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), which is not part of the current suit, the 2012 planning rule is Forest Service’s fourth attempt since 2000 at National Forest Management Act regulations. The CBD says that “all three previous attempts were challenged and defeated in court by the Center and allies, who argued successfully that the Forest Service had failed to assess the - Pete Frost of WELC impacts of the rule changes on the environment, including endangered species.” The CBD says even the currently proposed planning rule that the industry groups object to “weakens longstanding protections for biological diversity on national forests.” — Camilla Mortensen ‘Of course it’s appropriate to use science and conservation biology.’ happening people COUNTY BALKS AT DOCUMENTS REQUEST Attorneys for a mentally ill homeless man say Lane County refuses to turn over documents related to a case against the county that alleges officials violated the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and violated Mark Andrew Kemp’s constitutional rights. Attorneys Lauren Regan and Marianne Dugan filed a motion to compel Sept. 17 because they say the county refuses to turn over a document called “Oregon Jail Standards.” Dugan says that the county won’t give them a copy of the Oregon Jail Standards that were in effect in BY PAUL NEEVEL LANE COUNTY SPRAY SCHEDULE • ODOT plans to do herbicide spot and structure (guardrail) spraying along Highway 36 for noxious weeds from Sept. 24 through Oct. 5. They do not plan to do any spraying in the section from milepost 24 to 32.2 at Amy Road in the Beyond Toxics Adopt-A-Weed program. • Giustina, 245-2301, is hiring Washburn Contract Services, (503) 831-1593 to do roadside and other spraying on many miles near the Long Tom River, Owens Creek, Jones Creek and Swartz Creek. See ODF notice 2012-781- 00659. Compiled by Jan Wroncy, Forestland Dwellers: 342-8332, www.forestlanddwellers.org CORRECTIONS/CLARIFICATIONS In our Sept. 13 News Briefs story “Assault on Travelers Leaves Questions,” we wrote that “Kellis and two others say that EPD likely charged the wrong man in the assault on Kellis.” We should have clarified that the referenced “wrong man” Ryan Jeremy Bennett was charged with disorderly conduct. 10 SEPTEMBER 20, 2012 EUGENE WEEKLY SIRI KIRPAL KAUR KHALSA & JIM WALDON The son of a phone company manager, Jim Waldon grew up in a number of Northern California cities. “I went to first grade in three different schools,” he recalls. After two years at Sacramento State, he transferred to UC Santa Cruz, where he took a degree in psychology and where he met Siri Kirpal Kaur Khalsa, known then as Katie Sykes, who was a recent valedictorian at San Diego High. “We married each other for our sense of humor,” she says. He worked as a probation officer in San Diego until 1978 when they escaped to Salem. “I got on at the public library and ended up in charge of the audio-visual department,” he says. “I was able to interact with hundreds of patrons, from street folks to the governor.” Sykes finished a degree in art at Marylhurst, began to practice kundalini yoga and met the Sikh community. She took vows and got her Sikh name in 1986. “After the 2001 attacks, I signed up to act as Sikh spokesman,” she says. “We founded the Oneness Coalition and organized interfaith services.” Her book, Sikh Spiritual Practice: The Sound Way to God, was published in 2010. When Waldon retired in 2008, the couple relocated to Eugene. He is currently president of the local Dances of Universal Peace group, drawing on a variety of faith traditions. Dances are held at 7 pm on first, third and fifth Fridays at the Friends Meeting House, 2274 Onyx. VOTE NOW! BESTOFEUGENE.COM
