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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 2013)
For-profit banks are losing billions as more and more people discover not-for-profit credit unions, which often offer better savings and loan rates and fewer of those fees that irritate bank customers. Bankers, naturally, have big clout in Congress and regulations are being proposed that would require credit unions to pay the same taxes as for-profit banks. Several of our local credit unions are joining to educate their members and the public about the issues. Three CEOs, Bob Newcomb of SELCO Community Credit Union, Mandy Jones of Oregon Community Credit Union and John Iglesias of Northwest Community Credit Union, are collaborating on a series of videos outlining the benefits to the public of maintaining their tax-exempt status. See the videos at selco.org.CUtaxation or check out the national website DontTaxMyCreditUnion.org. Need help enrolling in Obamacare? Cover Oregon and The Sharing Health Care Options from White Bird Clinic will be available from 11 am to 1 pm Tuesday, Nov. 26, at Springfield City Hall. Call 726-2237. Due Donne Boutique, a longtime Eugene-based fashion store, has moved to a new location at 5th Street Public Market. The business, owned by Chris Hayward- Mahew and her daughter Clarice Hayward, was previously at 450 Coburg Rd. Due Donne, which is Italian for “two women,” had its grand opening Nov. 14. Hours are 10 am to 7 pm Monday through Saturday and 11 am to 5 pm Sunday. Call 345-4411. Cascadian Courier Collective has joined Falling Sky Delicatessen to offer pastrami and other food by bike delivery daily from 11 am to 10 pm, rain or shine, says Rob Cohen, one of the owners of Falling Sky. The delivery route covers most of downtown and south Eugene. Call 653-9167. Just a reminder: Holiday Market will begin at the Lane County Fairgrounds this weekend, Nov. 23-24. Hours will be from 10 am to 6 pm weekends (plus the Friday after Thanksgiving) but will close at 4 pm Christmas Eve. See full schedule at holidaymarket.org or call 686-8885. Lane County Farmers Market’s Holiday Market in the adjacent Performance Hall will follow the same schedule. The UO raised $1.4 million from local donors to keep the Ken Kesey archives in Eugene, and $100,000 came from Rogue Ales & Spirits of Newport. The company, founded by three UO grads, has a new product, a Kesey- inspired “One Brew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” in a colorful glass-enamel bottle. A portion of the proceeds will contribute to the Ken Kesey Fund at UO libraries. See rogue.com. We hear the annual Basic Rights Oregon Eugene Garden Party Sept. 22 raised $12,240, and contributions are still coming in. All proceeds will be used by BRO to fund its education advocacy activities, including the campaign to place a marriage equality initiative on the statewide 2014 ballot. See basicrights.org. The Benton Soil & Water Conservation District is now holding its annual Native Plant Sale and Eugene area residents can take advantage of the event to purchase low-cost native plants. Available are some 60 varieties of trees, shrubs, groundcovers, grasses and flowers with prices ranging from 50 cents to $4. This event has contributed to the planting of more than 250,000 native plants in the Willamette Valley. Ordering is available online at bentonswcd.org and the deadline for orders is Jan. 31. Plant orders are distributed in Corvallis Feb. 22. NEWS MEGALOADS COMING TO EASTERN OREGON ROADS On Nov. 24 massive loads of tar sands equipment — some as long as a football fi eld — will hit the roads of rural Eastern Oregon, traveling from Uma- tilla through the small towns of Prairie City and John Day to Homedale, Idaho. Activists, Native Ameri- cans, rural dwellers and more have been fi ghting the so-called megaload shipments for three years now in Idaho and Montana, and now the fi ght has come to Oregon. A press release from the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) warning Thanksgiving-week travelers that roads will be held up for 20 minutes at a time says the megaloads are of “water purifi cation equipment and parts.” According to the Blue Moun- tain Eagle, Oregon-based shipping company Omega Morgan confi rmed that “the shipments would be parts of giant evaporators, equipment used in power generation and oil sands refi nery processes.” The route goes from the Port of Umatilla, east to Pend- leton, then south on Hwy. 395 to Mount Vernon and east through John Day and Prairie City on Hwy. 26. The Canadian tar sands are massive open pit mines that opponents say destroy forests and poison land, water and people in the oil-extraction process. The controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which would ship the dirty tar sands crude across the U.S., and a recent increase in oil-by-rail and oil export proposals in the Northwest are related to climate change-inducing tar sands mining. In September, the Nez Perce Tribal Council was arrested protesting the megaloads through their lands. Local Native American climate change ac- tivist Kayla Godowa Tufti says, “All four Colum- bia River Treaty Tribes, Umatilla, Yakama, Warm Springs and Nez Perce, issued a resolution opposing the development of the Canadian tar sands oil and the ‘megaloads’ of equipment they require, in August of this year.” She adds, “Though Omega Morgan main- tains these evaporators are destined for Nevada, it’s p obvious to many of us that this is a blatant lie. From extraction to export, we do not want this destructive industry in our homelands, nor our river. No compro- mise, no question.” Holly Zander, a press representative for Omega Morgan, says the company reached out to the Con- federated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, but the route does not cross tribal lands. It does go through national forest lands. Zander says the loads will not move on the Thanksgiving holiday. According to ODOT, the fi rst load of water purifi - cation equipment and its transport vehicle will be 380 feet long, 23 feet wide and 19 feet tall. The height means the loads cannot be transported on most major highways as they won’t fi t under overpasses. Trish Weber of All Against the Haul, which suc- cessfully fought megaloads in Montana, says, “This plan exemplifi es the arrogance of Big Oil in thinking that Oregonians will subsidize their transportation costs after they were turned back in Idaho.” She says that Oregonians will “pick up the tab in the form of inconvenience at best and risks to safety and infra- structure at worst.” Weber points out that it was an oversized load carrying housing for drilling equip- ment that knocked down the I-5 bridge over Wash- ington’s Skagit River last year. The transport compa- ny in that instance was Mullen Trucking, a frequent shipper of tar sands equipment. “All other industries build their equipment to fi t on our highways, and there is no reason Big Oil shouldn’t either — their desire for profi ts doesn’t put them above the rules,” she says. The current load of General Electric water evapo- rating equipment is scheduled to begin moving Nov. 24, and Christy Jordan, ODOT’s permit manager and freight mobility coordinator, says a permit will not be issued before Nov. 22. Weber says, “ODOT needs to refrain from issuing permits until these applications have undergone a thorough review process, including input from the public.” Tom Strandberg of ODOT tells EW, “My under- standing is that three loads will be part of this permit. There may be requests begin moving additional loads in the future.” He says some fi xtures along the route will have to be moved to allow the loads to pass. Strandberg says representatives of Omega Mor- gan have been invited to answer questions at the regularly scheduled South East Area Commission on Transportation meeting p g in Ontario, Ore., on Nov. 25, and an earlier meeting was held in Grant County Nov. 18. Wild Idaho Rising Tide, which has been protest- ing and documenting megaloads, is planning “six days of direct action” against the Oregon loads. The group will be joined by 350 Corvallis, Portland Ris- ing Tide and other members of an anti-Keystone XL and anti-fossil fuel infrastructure coalition. For more information go to wildidahorisingtide.org. — Camilla Mortensen To honor the rare and special event of Thanksgiving falling on the first night of Hanukkah, Jewish Events Willamette-Valley has teamed up with Market of Choice to do a kosher cheese and wine tasting at 3 pm Sunday, Nov. 24, at Market of Choice on 29th Avenue. It is a free tasting to “encourage people to discover award-winning kosher wines from around the world and find one to bring to their Thanksgiving or Hanukkah gatherings without fear of leaving out your Jewish friends.” Send suggestions for Biz Beat items to editor@eugeneweekly.com and please put “Biz Beat” in the subject line. AN OMEGA MORGAN MEGALOAD IN IDAHO PHOTO: JESSICA ROBINSON/NORTHWEST NEWS NET WORK 8 November 21, 2013 • eugeneweekly.com
