LET TERS
KILLING MY BEES
As winter sets in I spend my evenings
worried about my honeybees. I have been
noticing a lot of dead bees on the bottom
screen boards and it alarms me. I know
my bees have visited all my neighbors’
yards. The city of Eugene and some of my
neighbors are not only poisoning our bees
but our water supply.
I live in the River Road area and it has
come to my attention the city of Eugene
has been spraying pesticides in the parks
along the Willamette River. I live within
200 yards of the new salmon restoration
project. When the city started the project
they sprayed poison on the blackberries
and other invasive species. Since they
started the project they have sprayed
poison yearly to combat these invasive
plants. The last time they sprayed they
did it in the fall of 2012 when the berries
were fi nishing off. The signs they put up to
notify the public were very small so people
wouldn’t notice them and complain.
When confronted about the issue, the
woman in charge of the project admitted
that these practices weren’t sustainable. For
those of you who have eaten blackberries
along the river you probably have eaten
poison. EWEB has notifi ed us now that we
are all now drinking poison in our water.
I have always believed the quickest way
we can destroy life on Earth is to poison
our water supply. We must stop the use of
pesticides immediately.
Doug Hornaday
Eugene
QUESTION OF TRUST
“Public safety” at what cost? It’s diffi cult
to put a price tag on violent crime. Is the
$15.9 million in new taxes for fi ve years,
which the Lane County Commissioners
have decided we should pay, more than the
cost of the crime it would prevent? In case
they are unable to do the math, it would
provide $120,455 per year for each of the
120 beds they propose to open in the jail.
Since the going rate for incarceration is
about $30,000 per year, that must be one
fancy institution! The proposed tax would
also generate $1.45 million per year for
youth services. On nine previous occasions
“public safety” taxes were rejected,
ostensibly because voters did not trust the
Lane County government to use their money
effectively. If the commissioners think that
asking four times as much as they need for
each jail bed will improve that level of trust,
I suspect they are in for a rude awakening!
Much as I would like to know that law
HOT AIR SOCIETY
enforcement has the ability to deal with
real threats to our society, in a county
whose residents don’t even have access
to a library, I believe that if we were to
provide the county $15.9 million annually,
$10.9 million more than needed, the money
could be better used to prevent crime than
simply to support incarceration.
For example, how about providing a
large dormitory facility to provide for the
needs of those who have been left homeless
by the continuing economic crisis?
Marc Shapiro
Eugene
GAY MEN SOCIALS
Your cover story Feb. 14 on same sex
dating was both wonderful and sorely
lacking all at same time. It missed two very
important points that would have been so
simple to include and so appropriate given
the timing of your article!
There are actually several groups in
town that have regular socials for gay
men. There is a movie group, a men’s
potluck group, a sports group, and every
Wednesday at Cowfi sh a regular meet-up
from 5 to 8 pm.
The Pride Equality group (sponsoring
group of Eugene’s annual Summer Pride at
Alton Baker Park every August) hosted its
WHO’S RUNNING THE SHOW THIS TIME?
o more “Insider Baseball.” I’m not an
insider any more, and my knees don’t
allow for softball, much less baseball. But
I continue to watch the Salem political
game from afar; shoveling horse pucky
here in the south hills of Lane County and refl ecting on the
days when horse pucky was my day job in the Legislature.
I still visit Eugene occasionally just to observe its
downtown’s glacial recovery toward normalcy, or to gaze at
Civic Stadium dying like a nine-acre beached whale while
Pat Kilkenny and the Ducks await their NCAA football fate.
Or, sometimes I go to Springfi eld if I need to feel culturally
uplifted. Coburg I only go to if I want a speeding ticket.
So I’m still keeping a close eye on the Legislature for
you. The current Salem version of the Hot Air Society began
in earnest on Feb. 4. Amid all the posturing over PERS and
guns, I noticed my friend Brad Witt, a good labor Democrat
from Clatskanie, introduced the fi rst stunner of the session.
House Bill 2783, pushed by a coalition of “nanny state”
humane treatment groups, would make it a violation for a
lobbyist to tether a legislator with a short leash or a choke
collar or to keep a legislator tied up outside for an extended
time. It would become a misdemeanor if tethering a legislator
leads to injury or death. (It’s just a matter of time, folks.)
According to The Register-Guard, we’ve all seen them
– “or at least heard them. Legislators chained up for hours
outside, barking their heads off.” The bill would prohibit
leaving a legislator on a tether for more than fi ve hours a
day, or 10 hours if attached to a zip line. I’ve personally
seen lobbyists leave a lawmaker outside waiting, while he
goes in and has a latte with the lawmaker’s opponent, and
then comes back out, unchains the lawmaker, then pretend
he’s his best buddy, and promises to send him a check!
That’s how lobbyists are — we’ve all seen the cruelty, it’s
time to curb this behavior. I’ll track this one for you. It’s a
promising start, but only a start!
4
February 21, 2013 • eugeneweekly.com
SOCIETY MISBEHAVES
Please join me and hopefully the entire
city of Eugene and 25,000 UO students to
prohibit and abolish Oregon Administration
Rule 581.021.553. This rule specifi es the
use of “seclusion rooms,” the locking up of
our littlest students and innocent children in
elementary schools who misbehave.
This week the Oregon House will have
a public hearing to prohibit such a law that
stood for nine dark years. The number is
HB 2756.
It is not our innocent children who
are “misbehaved” and therefore being
locked up, but foremost the parents, then
the schools and all of society. These
children only mirror our non-behavior and
misconduct. Just look around.
BY TONY CORCORAN
Eye on the Legislature
N
fi rst annual Winter Pride event at Cozmic
last week, an event made possible by a
generous grant from the Pride Foundation.
Aug. 10 will be Summer Pride. Please plan
to have a nice, prominent article for our
summer event!
Brian Lewis
Member, Eugene Gay Men’s
Social Network Board
and Pride Equality Board
This week, I’ll walk you
through some of the leaders of the
session, and in future columns,
we’ll delve into how well this
particular 77th edition of Salem’s
Hot Air Society functions.
As you know, each Hot Air
Society session has a life of its
own, much of it determined by
the leadership in both chambers
and both parties. The guy who
rents the offi ces in the middle
of the Capitol, Gov. Kitzhaber,
is the same guy I started out my
political career with in 1994. His
work is well known, the Oregon
Health Plan and the Salmon
Plan have already established
his legacy. This time around
he seems to really be enjoying
himself. Remember, during the
eight years I served with him,
we never had a Democrat majority in the House or the
Senate. This time, with a slim Democrat leadership in both
chambers, we should all be cautiously optimistic – really
we should.
Senate President Peter Courtney – the dean of the
building. Been around since Christ was a corporal, longest
serving Senate president in Oregon history. During my last
session when we did PERS reform in 2003, he managed
a 15-15 tie as Senate co-president with Republican Lenny
Hannon. This time around he has a narrow 16-14 D majority,
with some seats to protect in two years and some things to
get done this session, especially mental health issues.
Senate Majority Leader Diane Rosembaum — strong
Portland labor Democrat, started in the House in 1998;
jobs and women’s issues are her forte – straight forward
negotiator.
Senate Minority Leader Ted Ferrioli — I knew
him when he was a Creswell Democrat back in the ’80’s.
Now he’s described as an East Oregon Republican rancher
with a concealed weapons permit.
Whoop-de-doo! He’s already laid
down the gauntlet on PERS, telling
The Oregonian that Courtney has
to produce 16 Democrat votes for
reform or he won’t give him one vote!
Wow, brinksmanship in February!
He’s like Mitch McConnell with a
shorter rifl e (and no fi libuster).
House Speaker Tina Kotek —
I’ve only met her a few times. Val
Hoyle and others speak highly of
her. Fourth-term legislator. A 34-
26 majority is nice, but it’s a slim
majority; e.g., you need 36 votes in
the House for any revenue reform.
House Majority Leader Val
Hoyle — more on her later, just
take my word on this for now:
Lane County is lucky to have this
plucky Irish broad as one of our
representatives.
House Minority Leader Mike
McLane – Powell Butte Republican, the new guy, elected to
the House in 2010, already their leader. By most accounts,
the governor’s offi ce at least, thinks he’s a guy who can be
reasonable. That’s saying a lot when you consider the House
Republican caucus he manages: everyone from Vickie
Berger – a reasonable moderate – to Dennis Richardson –
famously, immoderately, not reasonable.
Tea bags will be fl ying. One of my (few) friends sent me
a bumper sticker response to Richardson’s recent proposal
that we arm our teachers in the aftermath of Newtown: “A
teacher in every gun shop!” Yay! Verily! Talk to you soon.
Tony Corcoran is currently a state employee, but his observations in
this column are those of a private Oregon citizen. While he served in the
state Senate he wrote a column for EW called Insider Baseball.