Eugene weekly., July 25, 2013, Page 8, Image 8

NEWS
The Oregon Legislature has approved and funded
$3.75 million for the new South Willamette Valley Regional
Accelerator and Innovation Network (RAIN), a broad
initiative that “taps into the research and educational
expertise of academia and aggressively moves it toward
private economic growth,” says Sen. Lee Beyer. RAIN will
involve collaboration between UO, OSU and the cities of
Eugene, Springfield, Albany and Corvallis. Eugene Mayor
Kitty Piercy and Corvallis Mayor Julie Manning worked on
the initiative, which will focus on nurturing small
technology-based companies.
The next Emerald FEAST (Financing Eugene Area
Sustainable Talent) will be from 6 to 8:30 pm Thursday,
July 25, at First United Methodist Church, 1376 Olive St.
Diners purchase a meal for $15 to $25 and vote to donate
the evening’s proceeds to one of several small businesses
and start-ups that pitch their projects. The FEAST has given
away $2,900 so far in six events.
Share House, a nonprofit southeast Eugene foster care
home for developmental/intellectually disabled women,
is celebrating 28 years of service Saturday afternoon, July
27, by officially opening a new wing, an accessible new
bathroom and a wheelchair ramp. All five bedrooms are
now on the first level. Project plans were donated by Larry
Beggs, builder was Mick Berlincourt and dozens of
businesses, contractors and individuals contributed
supplies, cash, landscaping and other donations, says
Diane DeVillers, treasurer of the Share House Board of
Directors.
A Kickstarter campaign is being launched by Doug’s
Nuts of Eugene. Doug Furlong is Boss Nut, Kari Furlong is
Auxiliary Nut and Lisa Bee-Wilson is Wing Nut. “It takes a
lot of hands to support Doug’s Nuts,” says Boss Nut. See
dougsnuts.com.
The Springfield Chamber’s monthly CA$H MOB will be
at 4 pm Thursday, July 28, at Affair with Flowers, 1918
Marcola Road. The event invites chamber members to
shop in locally owned businesses. See Springfield-
chamber.org.
The nonprofit Springfield Gateway Arch project is
using Kickstarter to help raise $2,500 to complete a 5-foot
scale model of a welcoming arch to be built over Highway
126 near Springfield’s eastern city limit. Springfield once
had a landmark arch near Glenwood in the 1920s but it
was destroyed by floodwaters after standing only seven
years. Google Springfield Gateway Arch to see drawings
and find various ways to help the project.
Pacific Pub Cycle of Corvallis is an enterprise that uses
a “multipassenger, community-pedaled” vehicle to move
people around to visit a string of brew pubs. The business
has now expanded to Eugene and had its first run July 18.
Details on which pubs will be on the tour are yet to be
announced. In Corvallis, the tour includes Block 15, Flat
Tail Brewing, McMenamins and Sky High Brewing. The idea
originated in Amsterdam. See pacificpubcycle.com or call
632-4343.
Chaos Kolaches celebrated its first anniversary in
business July 20 with a party featuring live music by Tita
Louisa, a live broadcast on 1450 All Comedy Radio, face-
painting for kids and other activities. The shop and coffee
bar is at 388 Q St. in Springfield but it also distributes its
traditional Czechoslovakian pasties around the valley
through catering and special orders. The Chaos crew is
Beau Mollinary, Jennifer Petersen and Aaron Nankin. See
chaoskolaches.com or call 654-0831.
CAR HELP by Oregon Auto Repair will be offering free
classes on “what you need to know about your car” at 11
am Saturday mornings in August at the shop, according to
new owner Bruce Robertson. He calls it the “Self Sufficiency
Series.” The shop is located at 89962 Prairie Road, across
from the Prairie Schooner Tavern. Call 357-7311 to register.
Daisy CHAIN (Creating Healthy Alliances in New-
Mothering) has received international recognition for
“excellence in staffing and protection, promotion and
support of breastfeeding.” The Eugene-based nonprofit
was honored with the Care Award for Community Based
Health Agencies by the International Board of Lactation
Consultant Examiners. Daisy CHAIN provides in-home
care, 24-hour support and mother-to-mother support in
Lane County. World Breastfeeding Week is coming up Aug.
1-7 and Daisy CHAIN is sponsoring “The Big Latch On” at 10
am Saturday, Aug. 3, in Monroe Park, 950 Monroe St. in
Eugene. Springfield Mayor Christine Lundberg will speak.
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July 25, 2013 • eugeneweekly.com
LIANE RICHARDSON IN
HOT WATER OVER PAY
County Administrator Liane Richardson appears to be
eroding the confi dence of Lane County citizens again. Her
efforts earlier this year to increase her pay from $152,345
to $175,656, an increase of more than 15 percent, caused
public outcry at a time when the county is strapped for cash.
Questions have arisen about whether Richardson may have
fi nagled an increase in the money she was getting after all,
despite the outcry and despite saying she would say no to an
immediate raise. County spokesperson Anne Marie Levis has
confi rmed that Richardson has placed herself on paid admin-
istrative leave.
The county was asking the public for a tax levy and releas-
ing prisoners from the jail at the time when Human Resources
Director Madeline Zikes was asking for large raises for Rich-
ardson and county attorney Stephen Dingle in a proposal to
the County Commission. According to the R-G, Richardson
was lobbying for a raise in emails, saying that she had job
offers elsewhere.
Voters passed the jail tax levy, but the county is still up
against funding shortages for everything from homeless ani-
mals to public safety to human services, and the jail is still
underfunded.
Attorney Barry Davis sent a letter to the county this week
that referenced “out of the ordinary adjustments to Rich-
ardson’s take home compensation” that were exposed by a
whistleblower.
According to a statement from Jim Steiner of AFSCME
in response to EW’s questions about the letter, “The letter did
not get into specifi cs but after that letter went out, the union
separately requested information about compensation, com-
pensation changes and exceptions to county payroll policies
for Liane Richardson and Stephen Dingle since Jan. 1, 2013.”
Steiner says, “Whether Davis’ letter or the union’s request
for information had anything to do with Liane Richardson be-
ing placed on administrative leave is anyone’s guess at this
point.”
The county held an executive session at 9 am July 24 “To
consider the dismissal or disciplining of, or to hear complaints
or charges brought against, a public offi cer, employee, staff
member or individual agent who does not request an open
hearing.”
The session remained closed, meaning that the media can
attend but not report on what was discussed, and the commis-
sion decided to issue a prepared statement, which EW will
post online.
Richardson reportedly sent emails to the county board
that she then forwarded to the R-G, but not EW, in which she
acknowledged “that she requested that the county’s fi nance
department make the payroll change.” The R-G says “she dis-
closed that because of the arrangement, she has now received
payments for sick and vacation time beyond what she is con-
tractually entitled.” The county spokesperson has disputed
that characterization.
If the county decides to pursue an investigation into
Richardson’s recent actions, and it costs taxpayer money, it
would be in one of a string of investigations involving Rich-
ardson that have cost the county many thousands of dollars.
— Camilla Mortensen
CLIMATE AND FOREST
ACTION-PACKED WEEKEND
Kayaks and canoes blocking fossil fuel shipments going
down the Columbia River, women and transgender activists
climbing trees and studying decolonization: Summer is when
activism heats up in the Pacifi c Northwest, and it’s just in
time because Oregon is facing climate-affecting threats from
all sides such as logging in native forests and shipments of
oil and coal. Summer Heat: Columbia River Climate Action
takes place July 27 in Portland, and the Trans and Womyn’s
Action Camp is taking place July 24-28 in the forests outside
Oakridge.
Portland Rising Tide’s Summer Heat is focusing on the
onslaught of fossil fuel projects that are using the Columbia
River as an oil and coal pipeline. After a morning of work-
shops and speakers, participants will hit the river in kayaks,
canoes and watercraft for a “peaceful, symbolic blocking of
the river to show that we will not stand for the Columbia
River becoming a chute for dirty fossil fuels,” according to
Rising Tide. Eugeneans are planning to join the action; for
more information see Mary DeMocker’s Viewpoint in the
Letters section.
The array of climate change inducing threats on the river
is dizzying: coal trains along the river from the Powder River
Basin and oil trains from Bakken and from the dirty Cana-
dian tar sands, as well as barges on the river itself carrying
megaloads of tar-sands-extracting equipment up to the Port
of Lewiston. Brett VandenHeuvel of Columbia Riverkeeper,
which has been fi ghting to protect the river from coal and
oil proposals, says, “It’s all intimately connected. The Co-
lumbia is threatened to become a fossil fuel highway, coal,
LNG and oil and potentially tar sands oil — this Vancouver
terminal would allow any petroleum products, thousands of
train loads a year of tar sands oil.”
VandenHuevel says it’s time for people to take a stand
on preserving the Columbia River and its salmon runs from
these threats. He adds that he is “hopeful that Gov. Jay Inslee
takes a very hard look at a whether Washington and the Co-
lumbia River should become the fossil fuel middleman for
the rest of the world.” Inslee will make the fi nal decision on
the oil project after review by the Washington Energy Facil-
ity Site Evaluation Council.
For those who can’t bus, bike or carpool to Portland for
Summer Heat, or who want to focus more on forest issues,
the Trans and Womyn’s Action Camp (TWAC) Cascadia —
“kicking patriarchy out of the woods” — is also accessible by
bike and carpool. The camp starts July 27 and runs through
the weekend. The camp features workshops on confront-
ing trans exclusion and transmisogyny in activism, strategic
campaigning, dealing with the media (including one with
this EW reporter), climb training, dealing with environmental
racism and more. For more information or to contribute to
the camp’s fundraising efforts, go to twac.wordpress.com.
— Camilla Mortensen
WETLANDS CAMPING
BAN BRINGS PROTEST
Activists have again pitched their tents to protest the lack
of places homeless people can sleep, this time in the West
Eugene Wetlands. In early July, the Bureau of Land Man-
agement began clearing camps of homeless people from the
wetlands. SLEEPS (Safe Legally Entitled Emergency Places
to Sleep) is camping at a site near Danebo and Pacifi c in
solidarity with those who have nowhere else to go.
While BLM plans restoration work on wetlands loca-
tions that have been camp sites, homeless advocates say
that homeless people have no other alternative, so the work
is futile. “Don’t you understand that people are just going
to come back because they have nowhere else to go?” asks
advocate for the homeless Alley Valkyrie. “You’re wasting
your time; you’re wasting money.”
Valkyrie says that choosing between homeless people
and the wetlands is a false dichotomy. “They’re falsely set-
ting up the environmentalists against the homeless advocates
in, frankly, what’s a very effective way,” she says. “If the
city gave them somewhere that wasn’t delicate environmen-
tal property where they could be, they’d be there.” Valkyrie
says she wants safe places for homeless people to sleep that
are closer to restrooms and other services.
Homeless advocate Reagan Clark says that creating a sit-
uation in which homeless people’s best choice is to sleep in
the wetlands outside of town is dangerous. “The drug abusers
tend to steal from the people who do not [use drugs], so we
need something that addresses that need,” he says. “These
are innocent people who are being completely alienated and