NEWS
LOGGING FOR
JAIL BEDS?
The Lane County Jail has been releasing prisoners due to
lack of space — including one who walked down the street
and promptly robbed a bank — and public safety has been on
the Board of County Commissioners’ agendas lately, but it’s
not clear if the county is any closer to a safety solution. Sid
Leiken, board chair and part of the commission’s conserva-
tive majority, sent a message this week indicating the board
may be backing away from a jail tax and instead blaming
budget woes on a lack of logging on public lands.
‘Blaming county financial
problems on “lack of
management of the federal
forests” is an effort to pass
the buck’
˹ COMMISSIONER PETE SORENSON
Commissioner Pete Sorenson, who is not part of the ma-
jority, responded to Leiken’s release, saying, “The decision
to release inmates was made by the conservative Republican
majority that controls the Board of Commissioners, and de-
termines how much to spend on public safety and on other
things.”
In his release, which was also published as an editorial in
The Register-Guard, Leiken wrote, “release of these inmates
from the Lane County Jail is directly related to the signifi cant
reduction in federal funding and is indicative of the lack of
active management of the federal forests that make up half
our land base.”
The commissioners have been discussing putting a public
safety tax on an upcoming ballot, a diffi cult topic for con-
servatives who have anti-tax platforms. Leiken continued,
“Residents have never supported tax proposals of that size,
and there is no reason to expect they will now even in spite of
the dismantled state of our public safety system.” However,
an opinion poll commissioned by the board this summer in-
dicated that, if carefully presented, residents would support a
public safety measure.
“I disagree with Commissioner Leiken’s statement,” So-
renson said. “The problem is that federal, state and local tax-
es — provided to county government from taxpayers — have
been reduced over the past few years. Last year, the overall
county budget was reduced from $500 million to $400 mil-
lion.” He continued, “Blaming county fi nancial problems on
‘lack of management of the federal forests’ is an effort to pass
the buck.”
IT’S ABOUT TIME
Sorenson said that the board “is strongly supported
by big timber’s lobbyists,” and, citing global climate
change, added that federal forest policies should be
revised “so that we — as a nation — are investing in
federal lands, so we are replanting the forests and pro-
tecting them for wilderness, clean water, wildlife habitat
and environmentally compatible recreation and timber.”
Outgoing progressive commissioner Rob Handy has
been calling for a stronger tax on the county’s private
timberlands, which he says are undertaxed. He said,
“While our soils and watersheds are being polluted by
corporate timber barons, they ship our forests and jobs
to Asia — and handsomely fund politicians like Com-
missioners Bozievich, Leiken and Stewart — and Com-
missioner-elect Pat Farr.” He questioned why the con-
servative majority won’t “advocate for the canceling of
unfair tax exemptions by the state that cost Lane County
upward of $25 million annually? Why won’t they admit
we can fund a public safety and community health sys-
tem here in Lane County by making sure those who can
most afford it, will pay their fair share of taxes — or a
bit more?”
Conservative West Lane Commissioner Jay Boziev-
ich is holding town halls to discuss the public safety
issue on Dec. 6 in Santa Clara, Dec. 10 in Junction City
and Dec. 12 in Florence. Go to wkly.ws/1eb for times
and locations. — Camilla Mortensen
Some of Oregon’s sharpest storytellers will share mem-
ories of off-beat holiday mischief and wintry discontent at
the annual Planned Parenthood Advocates holiday benefi t
from 8:30 to 10:30 pm Friday, Dec. 7, at Cozmic, 199 W.
8th Ave. Tickets are $15 at the door or $13 in advance from
CozmicPizza.com and at the Cozmic box offi ce.
Storytellers include Camilla Mortensen, EW’s associate
editor, environmental reporter and resident folklorist; Al-
exandra Notman, EW’s arts editor; Laurie Notaro, author
of An Idiot Girl’s Christmas: True Tales from the Top of
the Naughty List; Mark Russell, author of God Is Disap-
pointed in You; L.J. Sellers, author of mysteries and thrill-
ers; Leigh Anne Jasheway, author and standup comic; Curt
Hopkins, journalist and poet; and Trisha Marcy, standup
comic. UO professor and funny man Phil Scher will host
the evening’s entertainment.
The event is a benefi t for Planned Parenthood Advo-
cates of Oregon, which, in the 2012 election cycle, mobi-
lized activists to fi ght back against unprecedented attacks
on women’s personal medical decisions. The organiza-
tion’s political action committee conducted one of the
state’s most extensive voter-outreach programs to educate
Oregonians about where candidates stand on women’s
health issues.
BY DAVID WAGNER
T
hey’re baaack! The mosquito ferns have reappeared in the ponds on the east side of Delta Highway. They have been
inconspicuous for three years, a normal population fluctuation. We recognize them by the dark, reddish-brown surface mat
on the ponds. Duckweed stays green all winter but the mosquito ferns get color in the fall. That they are still reddish brown
and not shocking purple tells us that by the beginning of December we still haven’t had a hard freeze.
Jupiter continues bright in the sky this month, rising not long after sunset. It will be a sparkling ornament hugging the nearly full
moon on Christmas Day. Orion is back in the evening sky when I take our dog out for our bedtime stroll. Orion and the Pleiades are
old friends returning from a six month voyage to the other side of the world. If the sky is clear before dawn on the 14th, the Geminids
could be the best meteor shower of the year.
The newly uncurled fronds of licorice ferns on tree branches are wonderful to behold. The bright, spring green is magical at a time
of the year when most terrestrial herbaceous plants are withered and dormant. These have a reverse cycle from the ferns of the
forest floor. I have counted how many sporangium clusters are on a typical leaf, how many spore cases in a typical cluster, and
multiplied that by 64, the number of spores in a sporangium. Average production is four to five million spores per frond!
David Wagner is a botanist who has lived in Eugene for more than 30 years. He teaches moss classes and leads nature walks. fernzenmosses@me.com
6
EW STAFFERS TO LET IT
ALL OUT FOR SAFE SEX
December 6, 2012 • eugeneweekly.com
LICORICE FERN FROND TIP
WITH ONE SPORE CASE
CLUSTER ENLARGED