NEWS
We heard a late-night flight coming into Eugene
Sunday, Feb. 23, was unable to land and was diverted to
Portland. Grumpy Eugene passengers had to rent cars
and make the early morning drive home. The pilot told
passengers that he was unable to get ground wind
speed information from the Eugene tower and so he
could not land. What happened? We checked with
Eugene Airport officials and, of course, it’s complicated.
The tower shuts down at midnight, so if a plane is
delayed and arrives after midnight, there’s no one on the
ground to talk to. Some, but not all, airlines require their
pilots to have direct contact with towers when landing,
and all pilots have discretion when it comes to safety.
PDX is relatively nearby and the tower operates 24/7.
The airport weather station is owned and operated by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and it
sounds like NOAA equipment has been working just fine.
We also learned that the city has an arrangement with
the airport in times of heavy fog. The tower will sometimes
stay open beyond midnight to accommodate late
arrivals. City taxpayers pick up the tab for overtime. Any
pilots or tower people out there who can tell us more?
A saved and restored Civic Stadium should prove to
be good for business, and local businesses are getting
involved in raising money for Friends of Civic Stadium
(FoCS) now that School District 4J has given the go-ahead
for the city to buy the property. The group needs to raise
$3 million for the renovation and other costs and already
has a lot of business support. As of this week Bagel
Sphere stores around town are donating a percentage of
Monday sales. Any others to talk about? Meanwhile,
FoCS has created an escrow account at Evergreen Land
Title. All donations will be returned if the funding goal is
not met, but we’re optimistic. See savecivicstadium.org
for information about FCS and the escrow account.
A free small business clinic is planned for 5 to 7 pm
Thursday, March 6, and again March 27, at the Eugene
Public Library downtown. Sponsored by the LCC Small
Business Development Center and SCORE: Counselors to
America’s Small Business. Topics include “Start and Grow
an Arts & Crafts Business.” Pre-registration is required,
call 682-5450.
A free meeting on “The Gift Economy” will be from
noon to 2:30 pm Friday, March 7, at the HEDCO Education
Building Room 220 on campus. See story in EW last
week.
We see Eugene Yoga and the Pelvic Wellness Center
are doing something different, a panel discussion on
“Sex, Chocolate & Menopause” from 6:30 to 9 pm Friday,
March 7, at Eugene Yoga, 3575 Donald St. Sliding scale of
$12-$15 supports scholarships. Panelists include a
gynecologist, nurse practitioner, sex therapist, clinical
social worker, naturopath, massage therapist, strength
trainer and others. See eugeneyoga.ous or call 520-
8771.
A one-day conference to showcase research and
creative expression by graduate students in all of the
UO’s graduate colleges and schools will be from 9 am to
4:30 pm Friday, March 7, at the Erb Memorial Union on
the UO campus. More than 170 grad students in some
50 disciplines will be involved, along with local
businesses such as Acroname, Abcam, Organic
Consultants, Concentric Sky and Life Technologies.
The nonprofit Sexual Assault Support Services
provides many services to women, but one in six men
have experienced childhood sexual abuse, and only a
small number of them take advantage of SASS services,
according to Jessica Mason, program director of SASS.
“We would like to make it more known in the community
that all our services are accessible for male survivors,”
she says. Mason is currently conducting intakes for a
self-identified male support group and supervising a
“community campaign for the agency 1in6 which works
with adult male survivors of childhood sexual abuse.”
See sass-lane.org or call 484-9791.
CITY MANAGER PROPOSES
CUTS TO HUMAN SERVICES,
HUMAN RIGHTS
Eugene City Manager Jon Ruiz has recommended cut-
ting $250,000 from Human Services discretionary funding
as part of balancing the city budget for fiscal year 2015,
which begins July 1. These cuts would manifest as “reduc-
tions in support to local nonprofit agencies such as Looking
Glass, St. Vincent de Paul, Womenspace, Lane ShelterCare
and a myriad of others,” according to Human Services
Commission (HSC) Chair Pat Farr.
Ruiz’s suggestion entails reducing the General Fund
contribution for Lane County Human Services by 29 per-
cent, with the option of the Eugene City Council refunding
it when city monies become available in December.
Farr, who is also a Lane County commissioner, says he
will personally lobby the city manager and Eugene’s Bud-
get Committee to maintain funding at current levels. He
adds that cuts have been proposed and often implemented
by the cities of Eugene and Springfield, Lane County and
the federal government nearly every year since his appoint-
ment to the HSC in 1995.
During the Budget Committee’s Jan. 28 public hearing,
Womenspace Executive Director Peggy Whalen asked the
city to not cut human services funding.
“Human services funding supports not only our safe
house for survivors and families fleeing domestic violence,
but also our turning point program, which offers transition-
al and case management services to survivors who have
already left their abusers and are looking for long-term sup-
port,” Whalen says. “We actually help them become self-
sufficient and live a life abuse free.”
City Councilor Chris Pryor says the uncertainty of hu-
man services funding is a challenge in accepting Ruiz’s
recommendation.
“But the fact that it’s been placed first in line to be fund-
ed when the city funds come available almost sweetens that
to the point where I can live with it,” Pryor says.
Ruiz says the proposal gives City Council more flexibil-
ity in deciding where the money will be distributed, such
as funding Looking Glass or St. Vincent de Paul directly
rather than appropriating the money to human services.
“To be candid,” Ruiz says, “if I were the county or HSC,
this wouldn’t be my favorite proposal because what hap-
pens is they can rely on $250,000 less for budgeting.”
Ruiz also proposed cuts to the Equity and Human
Rights Office and to the Neighborhoods Program by re-
ducing $69,000 of materials and supplies and eliminating
three currently vacant positions. Those offices deal with
discrimination complaints and work with neighborhood
associations.
Equity and Human Rights and Neighborhood Program
Manager Michael Kinnison says most services will need
to be modified or reduced due to less staff and resources.
“We may have to do some things differently, some
things less, maybe figure out how to do things more ef-
ficiently and maybe some things not at all,” he says.
Kinnison says neighborhoods could see a reduction in
public information and outreach resources, such as news-
letters and neighborhood analyses.
“We, like many other parts of the city, have been im-
pacted,” he says. “We’re still confident that we’re going
to be delivering services that are contributing value to the
city, the organization and the community and hope that
folks don’t feel like we’ve made such changes that they
feel too aversely impacted.”
Also proposed are cuts to libraries, recreation and travel
and reducing the amount the General Fund contributes to
Parks and Open Space operations and maintenance re-
quirements. The Budget Committee continues FY15 bud-
get talks 5:30 pm March 6 and 6 pm March 11 at Harris
Hall, 125 E. 8th Ave. — Missy Corr
LATINO GROUP EXAMINES
PUBLIC SAFETY ISSUES
Grupo Latino de Acción Directa (GLAD)’s Feb. 28 fo-
rum at St. Alice’s church in Springfield focused on public
safety. More than 140 members of the Latino community
attended, including Timothy Doney, the new Springfield
police chief and Lane County Sheriff Tom Turner, accord-
ing to one of GLAD’s founders, Phil Carrasco.
GLAD is hosting evening and luncheon forums as well
as “Café con” (Coffee with) events that politically engage
a broad spectrum of the Latino community, Carrasco says.
These forums let people show up and speak their piece,
without others speaking for them, he says.
At the public safety forum, Latino community members
expressed concern about how the lack of driving privileges
currently causes stress and hardship. Carrasco says the of-
ficers present expressed understanding and emphasized the
need for people to carry a photo ID.
IT’S ABOUT TIME
B Y D AV I D WA G N E R
M
arch is the month when the valley woodlands begin greening
up. Two shrubs, osoberry and snowberry, are the first to give a
light green wash to the understory. The osoberry (also known
as Indian plum) flowers at the same time as leaf-out but
snowberry saves flowering for late spring. My favorite color is
spring green, the color of freshly emerged leaves. I am
particularly fond of vine maple because its leaves stay this fresh, spring green
throughout the summer, especially under a forest canopy. In the open it does get
dark green by mid summer but then will turn red in the fall, the best fall color in our
area.
Frogs are singing vigorously in ponds and ditches. Egg masses seen in ponds
now are either frogs or newts. Both are out courting, breeding and laying eggs.
Birds will not begin nesting until the canopy of their home tree leafs-out. Walking
around town now is the last chance to see nests from last year in leafless trees. It
would be interesting to take careful note to see if the nests are reused this year.
Following the recent ice rain, every big Douglas fir in town had a circle of
branches and branchlets around its base. It occurred to me that this is part of the
evolutionary adaptedness of this species to occasional snow and ice. Unlike
maples, Douglas fir branches are just brittle enough to break off before too much
weight builds up to bring the whole trunk down.
David Wagner is a botanist who lives and plays in Eugene. He created the “Willamette Valley Nature
Calendar” for 30 years, ending in 2012. He offers a free download of 2014 calendar pages at tinyurl.
com/wagnercalendar. Contact him at fernzenmosses@me.com.
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March 6, 2014 • eugeneweekly.com
EQUISETUM HYEMALE,
SCOURING RUSH