Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 2014)
NEWS SheerID has grown to 21 employees and has moved from 1175 Charnelton to a larger building at 2451 Willamette St. The now vacant Charnelton building was previously occupied by the nonprofi t Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics. SheerID specializes in verifying valid customers for businesses, nonprofi ts and other organizations that do targeted marketing. The business grew out of concern for fake IDs and coupons being used for discounts and special off ers by military vets, students, alumni, etc. The company has seen major growth since launching in early 2013. Its customer base now includes PGA TOUR, Costco, Guitar Center, The Buckle, Tableau Software, Symantec and the UO Alumni Association. Last year the UO Duck Store contracted with the company after a coupon code went viral and non-alumni redeemed alumni discounts. See sheerID.com. Gil Penalosa, executive director of 8-80 Cities, will speak at a gathering from 7:30 to 10:30 am Thursday, Feb. 20, at the Eugene Hilton. Penalosa will join a panel to talk about creating cities for people of all ages though sustainable and healthy urban design. Panelists include Mayor Kitty Piercy, Mayor Christine Lundberg and Doris Towery. Dan Egan will facilitate. This event may fi ll up. Register at ltd.org. UO student business projects are the topic of City Club of Eugene at noon Friday, Feb. 21, at the Downtown Athletic Club, 999 Willamette St. Presenters will include Simon Blatz of Blue Dog Mead, Karen Bonner and/or Shannon Oliver of Red Duck Foods and Sean Thorne of Hallspot. $5 for nonmembers. See cityclubofeugenne.org. Farmers from throughout Oregon will be gathering for the 14th annual Oregon Small Farms Conference from 9 am to 5:30 pm Saturday, Feb. 22, at OSU. Keynoter will be farmer and author Michael Ableman, and some workshops will be in Spanish for the fi rst time. See wkly.ws/1ov or call 737-3380. The nonprofi t HIV Alliance and the Men’s Health Network are planning a Health Fair from noon to 3 pm Saturday, March 1, at the Atrium Building, 99 W. 10th Ave. The event is focused on “HIV health and gay men, and promoting the overall health of the gay men’s community,” says organizer Paul Homan, prevention manager at HIV Alliance. The event includes a panel discussion including physicians, nurses and peer educators. Email phoman@hivalliance.org or call 342-5088, ext. 117. The next SmartUps gathering will feature Jen Bell of bell+funk advertising and PR agency, from 5 to 7 pm Thursday, Feb. 27, at the Oregon Electric Station, 27 E. 5th Ave. $12 adv. $18 door. The Lane County Children’s Photo Contest launched in February with a portion of each session booked that month being given to Parenting Now!, formerly Birth to Three. Three professional photographers are participating: Bruce Berg (726-6119), Sheri Hubbs (870-5555) and Urich Photography (461-2511). Parenting Now! will receive $25 from each February photo session and the contest ends with awards May 10 at Valley River Center. Call 434-4356 for more information. 8 FEBRUARY 20, 2014 • EUGENEWEEKLY.COM UO STUDENT GOVERNMENT RESOLUTION CONDEMNS LIERRE KEITH On Feb. 12, the Associated Students of the University of Oregon voted in favor of a resolution “condemning the discriminatory views and practices of Lierre Keith and Deep Green Resistance.” The issue was brought forth because people in the LG- BTQ community and allies felt unsafe having Keith come to campus to speak at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference due to her alleged transphobic views, ac- cording to the authors of the resolution. DGR is an environmental organization that sees civi- lization as destroying the Earth, and comes from a radical feminist viewpoint. DGR says “gender is social, a product of male supremacy.” Keith and DGR have been accused of bigoted views on trans* people, who might be born with one set of organs but identify with another gender, stem- ming from a stance that “the women of DGR do not want men — people born male and socialized into masculinity — in women-only spaces,” according to the DGR website. ASUO Senator and co-author of the resolution Miles Sisk says that the point of the resolution was to show support of the LGBTQ community and “I think that the resolution successfully did so.” Sisk was one of seven co-authors of the resolution and the only male. Although Keith was not available for comment, citing a previous EW article on the issue in which she was not contacted for comment, Saba Malik, a DGR advisory board member, was available. “I think [the resolution is] a shame and blow for free speech, especially in the place of academia,” Malik says. The resolution passed only after amending language that asked PIELC organizers to “reconsider” bringing Keith. Once the language was changed, the resolution passed with a vote count of 16-3-0. Malik says that Keith and other DGR members have been harassed and even assaulted because of their views on gender. “We as radical feminists are attacked for our stance on gender,” Malik says. “This is classic victim blaming.” The resolution has language not only condemning Keith’s views but condemning “any physical violence directed at Lierre Keith or any other presenters ...” “I don’t think it was a victim-blaming resolution by any means,” co-author of the resolution and co-director of the UO Survival Center Paige Corich-Kleim says. An issue that many DGR representatives and Keith supporters brought up at the senate meeting was the fact that Keith is coming to the conference to talk about ecological destruction. “She is not going to be speaking about the issue that the trans* community takes issue with,” Malik says. However, Corich-Kleim says that Keith’s views on gender and environment go hand-in-hand. In addition to condemning Keith’s anti-trans* rhetoric, the resolution also creates an alternative safe- space for people who identify as transgender and allies. “My hope with this resolution is that it’s a starting point to spread awareness and to create space that makes all people feel comfortable,” Corich-Kleim says. — Kevin Sullivan POLICE COMMISSION DISCUSSES BIAS POLICY Eugene’s Police Commission is hoping to improve the police department’s “professional police contacts” policy, which says in its draft version, “This policy states unequivocally that bias-based profi ling by the Eugene Police Department will not be tolerated.” City Councilor Greg Evans, who is African American, says he believes he has been affected by racial profi ling in Eugene. “I’ve been stopped in this community — between the time I was 28 and 45 years old — 43 times with only two citations,” Evans says. The commission is working in an advisory capacity to EPD Chief Pete Kerns in the creation of the policy and will hear feedback from a panel of fi ve to seven people chosen for their experience in the community. The policy will outline under what circumstances an offi cer should collect personal information, such as race or gender, to be entered into the department’s new reporting software. It will be enacted in July and reviewed one year later. “The good is we can possibly see there are some stops LANE COUNTY AREA SPRAY SCHEDULE • Seneca Jones Timber Company, 461- 6245, plans to aerially spray herbicides including Atrazine and 2,4-D on 50 acres near Coyote Creek. See ODF notice 2014- 781-00181, call State Forester Brian Peterson at 935-2283 with questions. • Seneca Jones Timber Company, 461-6245, plans to spray herbicides including glyphosate and 2,4-D along 38 miles of Seneca roads throughout Lane County. See ODF notice 2014-781-00201, call ODF at 935-2283 with questions. • Seneca Jones Timber Company, 461-6245, plans to hire Oregon Forest Management Services, 520-5941, to ground spray 17 acres near Coyote Creek with herbicides including atrazine and 2,4-D. See ODF notice 2014-781- 00183, call State Forester Brian Peterson at 935-2283. • Weyerhaeuser Co, 744-4600, plans to aerially spray 39 acres near Farman Creek with herbicides including atrazine and 2,4-D. See ODF notice 2014-781- 00193, call State Forester Brian Peterson at 935-2283.. • Weyerhaeuser Co, 744-4600, plans to aerially spray 40 acres near Owens Creek and 54 acres near South Fork Alsea headwaters with herbicides including atrazine and 2,4-D. See ODF notice 2014- 781-00194, call State Forester Robin Biesecker at 935-2283. • Transition Management Inc, 521-5897, plans to ground spray 43 acres near Spencer and Coyote Creeks, 34 acres near Preacher Creek and plans to hire Nick’s Timber Service, 503-910-1120, to ground spray 104 acres near Coyote Creek with herbicides. See ODF notices 2013-781-00715-C, 2013-781-00436- C and 2013-781-00530-C, call State Forester Brian Peterson at 935-2283. Compiled by Jan Wroncy & Gary Hale, Forest- land Dwellers, 342-8332, forestlanddwellers.org. POLLUTION UPDATE : Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) followed up on the pre-enforcement notice that it sent to Pacifi c Recycling, LLC in November (EW 1/9, goo.gl/QO7Z1t) with a civil penalty of $2,400 on Feb. 3. DEQ formally cited Pacifi c Recycling for failing to dispose of hazardous waste at a permitted site, failing to determine if hazardous waste had to be treated prior to land disposal and off ering hazardous waste for transport without a hazardous waste manifest. The hazardous waste consisted of 868 tons of soil excavated from property at 3300 Cross Street formerly used by wood treatment company J.H. Baxter, and contaminated by J.H. Baxter with arsenic, creosote and chromium. DEQ has ordered Pacifi c Recycling to fi le an annual hazardous waste generator report with DEQ by March 1. DEQ assessed a civil penalty of $4,447 against Mid Valley Metal Recycling LLC on Feb. 5 for failure to monitor stormwater discharges from its facility on South A Street in Springfi eld. — Doug Quirke/Oregon Clean Water Action Project
