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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 2012)
NEWS CONSERVATIVE ACTIVISTS PROTEST LOCAL MEDIA ACTIVIST LERT • A beach clean-up day in the Florence area is planned for 10:30 am Sunday, Nov. 25, by the Surfrider Foundation. See oregon.surfrider.org/events or email jonandjaine@bmi.net or call (800) 743-SURF. • A petition From Cascadia Wildlands at wkly.ws/1e0 urges the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to maintain federal protections for wolves in the Pacific Northwest. Wolves, even those with collars, are being hunted and killed in Northwestern states. See more information at the Forest Web of Cottage Grove Facebook page. • Quaker peace and justice activist Peg Morton will sign her new book Feeling Light Within, I Walk from 4 to 6 pm Sunday, Nov. 25, at Tsunami Books, 2585 Willamette; and distribution of pre-purchased books will be from 2 to 5 pm Saturday, Dec. 1, at 510 Van Buren St. Morton can be reached at 342-2914. • EmX funding still has more public process to go through and the deadline for written testimony is Dec. 2 for pending action by the Central Lane Metropolitan Planning Organization. The MPO will be looking at whether to earmark Oregon Lottery funds to help finance EmX expansion. Send comments to mpo@lcog.org • EWEB commissioners will hold the second of two public hearings on proposed rate increases at 7:30 pm Tuesday, Dec. 4, at EWEB’s North Building. The rate hikes for both water and electricity would take effect in 2013. The electric rate hike would be 4 percent and would go into effect next May. The water hike would be 20 percent and would go into effect in February. For more information on rates, see www.eweb.org/ rates2013 PHOTO BY AMY SCHNEIDER TEA PARTY UPSET OVER LOCAL MEDIA BENGHAZI OMISSIONS BY PAUL NEEVEL A downpour of rain and a lack of media attention did nothing to stop a group of protesters from picketing at 7th and Pearl in downtown Eugene on Saturday, Nov. 16. Members of the Tea Party-related Lane County 9-12 Proj- ect and other conservative groups say it’s the lack of local media attention that has led them to protest local media. The activists decked out in rain jackets and umbrellas gathered to express their dissatisfaction with the media’s coverage of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. “It’s about allowing Benghazi to happen and the lack of response since it happened,” says Glen Stutzman, a mem- ber of the 15 protesters who represented the larger group Conservative Call to Action. “It wasn’t until the Petraeus scandal that this started getting traction in the media, but it’s going in the wrong direction.” Stutzman says that he is looking for more balanced cov- erage of the issue. Fellow protester Darrell Blaser, a former engineer, says he feels that Obama is blaming an anti-Mus- lim video when he should come out with the truth. After the events in Benghazi, Blaser says he “wouldn’t mind see- ing impeachment proceedings for Obama if he covered it up just for the election.” Bob Sowden, organizer of the protest, says that since larger media outlets are not reporting the issue, it’s up to local media to respond. He organized two other Saturday morning protests this month, one at The Register-Guard and another at KMTR, and he says they may hold another protest after Thanksgiving, depending on the outcome of the Benghazi hearings. KEZI did a brief story on the R-G protest. An emailed press release sent out the night before the R-G protest said in part, “We are imploring the local news sources in Eugene, Oregon to do the right thing and give a full accounting of the possible criminal disregard for the lives of our military and our ambassador. The facts are available, why are you not reporting them. You are silent on this matter. We will not be silent.” Most local media outlets don’t report on international news themselves and run stories from the larger media out- lets they are affi liated with. The R-G’s coverage of inter- national issues, such as the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, primarily comes from the Associated Press and The New York Times. On Nov. 15, Eugene peace activists held a vig- il called “In Solidarity with Gaza” at 7th and Pearl in response to the current Isreali-Gaza confl ect. — Amy Schneider and Camilla Mortensen HAPPENING PEOPLE MECCA, the Materials Exchange Center for Community Arts, is expanding its store hours at 449 Willamette St., next to the Amtrak station. MECCA will now be open afternoons and early evenings, and will be celebrating its new hours with a public ceremony at 11 am Saturday, Dec. 1. Officiating will be MECCA Executive Director Jija Adrade and Slug Queen Sadie Slimy Stitches. The nonprofit store acts as a clearing house for scraps and discards that can be used creatively and sold at low prices to artists, teachers and others. The Noli Italian Café closed its 5th Street Public Market location at the end of September and reopened Oct. 16 at 769 Monroe, next to Sweet Life Patisserie, under a new name, Noli Ristorante Italiano. Both names are used in websites and Facebook pages. Owners are Davide Mulone & Maggie McDonald. “The new location gives us an opportunity to set our own hours, hang local artists, have music or wine tastings and just generally represent ourselves in an amazing, vibrant neighborhood we now call home,” says McDonald. The new phone number is 844-1663. Eugene-based Bloom Paper Goods has launched a direct- to-customer, photo greeting card website and card generator at bloompapergoods.com The business offers both printed and digital products designed for “tech-savvy, fashion- oriented women,” according to Bloom Creative Director Brianna Bulski. The company hopes to expand in the near future. A new legal assistance program for low-income households facing foreclosure is now available thanks to a collaboration between the Oregon Housing and Community Services and Legal Aid Services of Oregon. A Eugene office is being set up, but for now, get information at oregonhomeownersupport.gov or call (503) 227-0198. HIV Alliance in Eugene is seeking donations to help repair unanticipated leaking siding and structural damage at its building at 1966 Garden Way. The damage is estimated to cost about $7,500 to repair. The nonprofit has set aside $1,500 and is expecting a donation of $3,000 to come in soon. “We need an additional $3,000 to finish the job,” says Executive Director Diane Lang. Call 342-5088 or email nryan@hivalliance.org to help. The Oregon Country Fair is now accepting endowment fund grant applications for 2013. Deadline is Jan. 18, grant information can be found at oregoncountryfair.org and grant winners will be announced March 11. JOAN CONNOLLY & CORINNA & DAVID ADEE An avid student of music in Medford schools, David Adee played in the Rogue Valley Symphony at age 13 and had a 20-year career as a French horn player, mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area. Lifelong gardener Joan Connolly started a landscaping business when she moved to Eugene from the Puget Sound area in 1985. The pair met at a contra dance soon after he arrived in 1998 to pursue teaching credentials, and they married two years later. They adopted newborn Corinna in 2005. Adee has taught music in Eugene schools since 1999. “I’m most well-known for marimba bands at Camas Ridge,” he says. “That went on for eight years.” He still visits Camas Ridge for marimba practice, but Adee is currently working at River Road School. Four years ago, just as the family was looking to move from Connolly’s small house on Oakleigh Lane, her “dream property,” one street over on McClure Lane, came up for sale. “We were ‘called’ to buy it,” she says. They got family help to buy the larger house on 2.7 acres of meadow adjacent to the city’s Riverfront Park. After study, they adopted the collaborative model of development known as cohousing, featuring a large common house in a pocket neighborhood of cottages and gardens. Still in the planning stage, Oakleigh Meadow Cohousing has 11 committed households and hopes to attract others. Learn more at oakleighmeadow.org. eugeneweekly.com • November 21, 2012 11
