Eugene weekly., January 17, 2013, Page 8, Image 8

NEWS
CAMPUS COPS COULD
BE EVERYWHERE
Accustomed to seeing a UO cop, thinking “rent-a-cop”
and continuing your misbehavior? Better take a second
glance in that rearview. The newly christened University of
Oregon Police Department (UOPD) could hand you a ticket
or lock you up off campus if UO decides — internally — to
change its public safety policies.
Eugene Police Auditor Mark Gissiner says that the
state of Oregon has statewide jurisdiction, which means
that any sworn law enforcement offi cer has the power
to act as a cop anywhere in Oregon. “If there’s a UO
police offi cer, on or off duty, and they’re in Bend and
they see you do something that makes it probable cause
that some sort of law was broken whether it was a viola-
tion, misdemeanor or felony, they can take enforcement
action there or later,” he says. UOPD has 11 sworn of-
fi cers among its approximately 90 employees, but public
safety offi cers (who can cite and arrest) are its primary
work force.
UOPD’s Kelly McIver says that right now a UO
administrative policy means that its sworn offi cers aren’t
supposed to enforce the law off-campus. “That’s something
that’s coming from them [UO’s administration] rather than
coming from some sort of state rule,” he says.
For UOPD to make the transition to a statewide
authority, McIver says the fi rst step would be to have them
carry guns, which is a discussion the campus community
will continue this term. Then the UO administration
would have to make a change to its policy and create a
memorandum of understanding with EPD and possibly the
Lane County Sheriff Department.
Until June 2011, Oregon universities had two policing
options: local police and campus departments of public
safety. Then the Oregon Legislature passed a law that
allowed universities to create full police departments.
California also has statewide jurisdiction; Washington,
Idaho and Nevada do not. “Police offi cers have really
broad powers in the state of Oregon,” Gissiner says. “I fi nd
that interesting.”
Even if UO retains its current policies, it’s still smart to
consider them police because UO properties in Eugene aren’t
always obvious in their ownership. McIver says, “There are
some very funky property lines over in [the EWEB] area
that you wouldn’t think were UO campus but are actually
university-owned properties.” — Shannon Finnell
COURT SAYS BP MUST
RELEASE CHEMICAL INFO
The BP oil disaster that sent an estimated 4.9 million
gallons of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico for three
months after an April 2010 oil rig explosion is neither
gone nor forgotten. BP is still paying settlements on the
long-term effects of the Macondo well’s spill on the fragile
ecosystem as well as paying millions in criminal fi nes.
And the legal cases continue: On Jan. 9, the Fifth Circuit
Court of Appeals ruled that a lower court had wrongfully
TREVOR ROSS
P H OTO BY TR A SK BE D OR TH A
BREWS NEWS YOU CAN USE
Eugene might want to update its slogan: “A Great
City for the Arts and Outdoors — and Beer.” Claim 52
Brewing, a west Eugene craft brewery that began fi rst
and third Friday dock sales in November, is adding a Eu-
ropean-style fl avor (among others) to the local offerings.
“We would like to present a beer style that is the
equivalent to the pinot noir,” says Mercy McDonald, who
began the brewery with Trevor Ross, a family friend and
award-winning home brewer. “There’s a lot of variety in
it, it pairs well with a lot of different kinds of foods.”
McDonald and Ross plan to have a variety of
different brews, but they say their focus will be
“sessionable” beers, those with lower alcohol content
that can be enjoyed for longer drinking sessions. One
of these beers is the German-style Claim 52 Kölsch, a
fresh, light beer that is one of Ross’ favorites to brew.
“While we’ll have a couple IPAs and a couple high-
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January 17, 2013 • eugeneweekly.com
gravity beers, I think our intent is to have beers that
have a low gravity that you can enjoy over a longer
period of time and that have the body and balance that
pair well with food,” McDonald says.
McDonald and Ross aren’t only thinking of the
brewery as a place to make great beer; they’re also
picturing it as an educational brewery that could help
people learn about home brewing from a system that’s
fairly similar — the 3.5-barrel brew system is just a step
up from the home brew system where Ross has been
honing his skills for years. “I think what [Ross] would
like to eventually do is incorporate some weekends
where people can come in and it will be small enough
groups that they have an ability to ask all the questions
they want, get walked through the system and have a
resource to problem-solve when they get home and
walk through it themselves,” McDonald says.
Claim 52 is the name of the pioneer land claim
where Ross’ house now sits, and both Ross and
McDonald thought a locally centered name was fi tting
on a number of levels. “That’s where he was honing his
skills and sharing beers with his friends,” McDonald
says. “We decided it would be good to pull back to that
area since that’s where his craft started.”
While Claim 52 is the latest in a surge in local
breweries, McDonald says she pictures local breweries
as competing against larger, Coors-sized companies
as the locavore movement generates more and more
appreciation for local food. “It makes me feel like
there’s a window of opportunity for these smaller
localized breweries to chew away at that, rather than at
each other,” she says.
Beers from Claim 52 are already available at South
Eugene and Blair Laughing Planets, 16 Tons, The Bier
Stein, Hot Mama’s Wings, Blairally Vintage Arcade,
Pantry and Pub, Holy Cow, The Barn Light, Cornucopia
on 17th. The next dock sale will be 4 to 6:30 pm Friday,
Jan. 18, at 1030 Tyinn St. Suite 1. — Shannon Finnell