NEWS
The David Minor Theater at 180 E. 5th Ave. is
expanding and showing $3 matinees now that Ronny
Goldfarb of Ronny’s Audio Vision next door retired the
first of the year, according to Josh Goldfarb, Ronny’s son
and the owner of DMT. “We are also in the process of
expanding and maximizing the space now available to
us. So stay tuned for updates!” he says. The DMT has
been in business for the past four years. See
davidminortheater.com or call 762-1700.
The Mentor Lane Campaign is a new coalition
launching this month during National Mentoring Month.
The coalition comprises local mentoring programs in the
county and emphasizes the “enhancement of mentor
recruitment and sharing of resources,” says Jen Jackson
of Sponsors, Inc. “The coalition has an organized referral
system to find mentors the organization best suited for
their mentoring interests. Mentors also have access to
a ‘discount card’ that provides volunteers at any agency
in the coalition access to community-wide discounts.”
Email jenjackson@sponsorsinc.org or call 505-5663.
The nonprofit Civil Liberties Defense Center has
been named one of the Top 10 Activist Groups in the U.S.
by CounterPunch. The Eugene-based law firm will be
celebrating its 10th anniversary during the Public
Interest Environmental Law Conference at the UO in late
February. CLDC founder and director Lauren Regan will
be a keynote speaker at PIELC. See counterpunch.org for
“10 Small Groups that Make a Big Difference.”
We noticed Lane Arts Council is looking for a full-
time manager for its Arts Education Program. Better
hurry if you are interested. A review of applications is
beginning Friday, Jan. 17. Email lanearts@lanearts.org.
Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon is now
available to help individuals and families sign up for
health insurance, Oregon Health Plan or Healthy Kids
through the Cover Oregon marketplace. “We are fortunate
to have two expert enrollment assisters who are working
full time to educate our community about Cover Oregon
and the Affordable Care Act,” says Jody McCurry of
PPSWO. “We invite everyone to attend our free enrollment
events happening throughout Lane County over the
next few months.” People can make individual
appointments or stop by one of the health centers
during enrollment hours. Call 543-7664 or
visit ppsworegon.org.
GloryBee Foods has been named winner of the
2014 Mayor’s Bold Steps Award that recognizes
businesses that are taking bold steps in each area of the
triple bottom line — people, planet and prosperity. The
winner was announced at the State of the City event on
Jan. 8. Runners-up for the award were Rainbow Valley
Design and Construction and Life Technologies. For
more information about the award, go to eugene-or.gov/
boldsteps.
The first Wine Exploration and Food Pairings for
Women classes are being planned for Thursday
evenings Jan. 23 to Feb. 13 at the Oregon Wine LAB, 488
Lincoln St. The classes are a collaboration between wine
enthusiast Roxanne Watson and chef Elizabeth Stuart.
Each class is $40. Call 520-8126 or find the event on
Facebook.
Congrats to KLCC News Director Tripp Sommer, who
earned a national award this month for his career
committed to public radio journalism. Sommer will be
presented with the 2014 Leo C. Lee Award in the Public
Radio News Directors Inc.’s annual conference in Virginia
in June.
The Eugene Film Society (EFS) is a collaboration
between Edward Schiessl and Joshua Purvis of Bijou
Cinemas and local businesses, nonprofits, colleges and
the UO to promote film festivals and cinema events,
“encouraging competition and collaboration among
local film organizations,” Purvis says. The next event will
be an EFS Screening & Social from 5 to 8 pm Sunday,
Jan. 26, at the Bijou downtown. The event will include
short independent films, highlights from the Cinema
Pacific and Open Lens film festivals, student work, food
and beer.
8
January 16, 2014 • eugeneweekly.com
FLEENOR FILES LAWSUIT
OVER RICHARDSON PROBE
A cloud of suspicion around the departure of former ad-
ministrator Liane Richardson still hangs over Lane County
government, in part because the full details of the investi-
gation into her unauthorized changes to her payroll have
never been released. On Jan. 13, former Lane County Com-
missioner Bill Fleenor filed an open records lawsuit over
the report by USO Consulting. The outside investigation
was commissioned by the county and released with 29 pag-
es blacked out. Fleenor, the R-G and EW were among those
who made public records requests for copies of the report.
The R-G also has a public records lawsuit over the report.
Fleenor said at a Jan. 13 press conference that Richard-
son’s actions “didn’t happen in a vacuum,” and it’s time to
“find the rot and root it out” because elected leaders should
have been aware of what was going on. “Who knew what,
when?” he asked, and he said the public would benefit from
possible revelations in the report before the upcoming May
election.
‘Is Lane County responsible
to the people or to its own
special interests?
We need transparency.’
— BILL FLEENOR,
FORMER LANE COUNTY COMMISSIONER
Three of the commissioners who had previously been
supportive of Richardson’s work. Faye Stewart, Jay
Bozievich and Sid Leiken, are up for re-election. “Is Lane
County responsible to the people?” Fleenor asked, “or to
its own special interests?” He added, “We need transpar-
ency.”
Fleenor’s attorney is Corvallis-based Dan Stotter and
co-counsel is Lance Quaranto of Eugene. The county has
said in the past that it redacted the report to protect the
whistleblower who called attention to Richardson’s pay
changes, and it cited Oregon public records law as allow-
ing some records to be kept secret in certain circumstanc-
es, such as protecting whistleblowers and pending litiga-
tion. When asked for comment on Fleenor’s case, county
spokesperson Anne Marie Levis said the county does not
comment on pending litigation.
Stotter said the exemptions that the county is relying
on are “‘conditional exemptions’ in that they expressly
do not apply if there is a significant public interest in the
records at issue.”
He said there “clearly is a public interest in under-
standing how it came to be that county administrator
Richardson took funds from the public” as well as in how
the county responded.
Stotter also said that Oregon law “requires a public
body to redact (black out) only the limited portions of re-
cords that actually contain exempt information.” Accord-
ing to Stotter, the county has not met that duty with its
“extremely broad redaction of everything in whole para-
graphs, and even whole pages” of the Richardson report.
Richardson, who is divorced, has changed her name
back to Inkster, according to her LinkedIn page, where
she lists herself as an attorney-at-law since August 2013
and as an “independent consultant to The Pampered
Chef.” Those who “liked” the Facebook page that Rich-
ardson used for county administrator updates now find
that they are getting updates about kitchen products.
— Camilla Mortensen
RECALLED COUNCILOR
FILES SUIT AGAINST ALLEGED
FALSE ACCUSATIONS
It’s one thing to get ousted from office, but quite another
when the ousting is based on false statements. That’s what
recently recalled Lowell City Councilor Pam Bryant alleges
in her Jan. 7 lawsuit against Kenneth Hern and Nancy Gar-
ratt, two members of the Recall for Lowell’s Future Com-
mittee that sought to remove her from office.
Lowell, a city with a population of about 1,000, is located
on the north shore of Dexter Reservoir, southeast of Eugene.
On Dec. 10, 2013, Lowell’s recall election resulted in Bry-
ant’s recall by a margin of 26 votes. Fellow Councilor Gary
Reese was also subject to a recall vote but was not voted
out. In the complaint filed by David Bahr, Bryant’s attorney,
Bryant alleges that the defendants presented a series of false
statements that “were intended to mislead voters in the recall
election and cause Ms. Bryant’s defeat,” and that this action
is in violation of the Oregon Corrupt Practices Act.
Bryant says that she supports political debate, but elec-
tions should be based on truth and honesty to help voters
make informed decisions. “People rely on the information
that is put out in flyers, newspaper articles and official docu-
ments, and we as a people need to be honest, because when
people base their vote on false statements, they’re not getting
a fair shake,” she says.
Bahr says that the defendants made a range of accusations
against Bryant, some of which were main talking points in
the recall effort. He says the accusations are “just like pasta.
They’re throwing them up on the wall to see if they stick.”
One such accusation involves the Political Action Com-
mittee (PAC) Save Our Schools Lowell. A flyer allegedly
created by the defendants, entitled “Facts and Informa-
tion about Pam Bryant and Gary Reese,” states that Bryant
“formed ‘Save-Our-Schools Lowell’ to raise money for our
schools … Save-Our-Schools Lowell does not exist.”
Bahr points out
that the Oregon secre-
tary of state’s website
‘School funding is a
shows Bryant formed
Save Our Schools major issue in Lowell, and
Lowell on Feb. 25,
I believe that Ms. Bryant
2011, and she is listed
as the treasurer (wkly. was staking at least part
ws/1o8).
of her position in the
“School funding is
a major issue in Low-
community as someone
ell, and I believe that
Ms. Bryant was stak- advocating for schools.’
ing at least part of her
— D AV I D B A H R , AT T O R N E Y
position in the commu-
nity as someone advo-
cating for schools, so
it’s damaging for someone to say that it’s totally made up
and not true,” Bahr says.
Bryant says she is a strong school supporter, and she
thinks the accusations were an attempt to discredit her with
the education community.
Other statements that Bryant alleges are false include
Bryant recording a Lowell City Council executive session
meeting, inferring that the Lowell city administrator was in-
volved in missing city money and calling the city attorney
without authorization.
“We’re certainly not against free exercise of opinion in
the political debate,” Bahr says. “That’s why we have the
First Amendment. But the state of Oregon has established
the boundaries for what you can get away with, and you just
can’t make statements that are politically untrue.”
Bryant’s complaint says she seeks economic damages, at-
torney fees and for the defendants to retract their false state-
ments. She is considering running for councilor again this
fall. “It would be nice to know that people aren’t thinking
that I’m anti-school, anti-growth and anti-business when I’m
not,” she says. — Amy Schneider