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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (June 12, 2014)
LERT • The Eugene Police Commission meets at 5:30 pm Thursday, June 12, at EPD headquarters, 300 Country Club Rd. Kilcullen Room. Public comments will be taken, and on the agenda is a discussion of emerging technologies. • A community meeting on public safety and mental health services in Lane County will be from 6:30 to 8:30 pm Thursday, June 12, at Cascade Middle School Library, 1525 Echo Hollow Rd. Speakers include Rep. Val Hoyle, County Commissioner Pat Farr, Judge Jane Mori, Sponsors Executive Director Paul Solomon, Jeremy Jalabert of Lane County Mental Health Services and Lt. Carolyn Mason of the Eugene Police Department. Call 530-3438 for more information. • A fundraiser in support of the Oregon Equal Rights Amendment ballot initiative is planned for 5 to 7 pm Friday, June 13, at The Davis Restaurant, 94 W. Broadway. Congressman Peter DeFazio is expected to be there. Suggested donation of $25. RSVP to eegould@hotmail.com. • Friends of Kevin Matthews are gathering from 6:30 to 8:30 pm Sunday, June 15, at the Axe & Fiddle, 657 E. Main St. in Cottage Grove, to “hear about next steps in our campaign for East Lane County,” says Christina Hubbard, volunteer coordinator for the campaign. • Looking ahead, the Eugene City Council will hold a public hearing regarding another extension of the Multi-Unit Property Tax Exemption (MUPTE) suspension at 7:30 pm Monday, June 23, at Harris Hall. This would be the third extension. Council will also be conducting a work session on City Manager Jon Ruiz’s performance evaluation at 5:30 pm June 23; and at noon Wednesday, June 25, the council will take action on the MUPTE extension and have a work session on Police Auditor Mark Gissiner’s performance. Find the council’s tentative working agenda at wkly.ws/1rx. LANE COUNTY AREA SPRAY SCHEDULE Oregon Department of Transportation is currently spraying roadsides. Call Tony Kilmer at ODOT District 5 at 744-8080 or call 1-888-996- 8080 for herbicide application information. Highways I-5, 99 and 126 were sprayed recently. Seneca Jones Timber Company, 461-6245, plans to hire Washburn Contract Services, 503-831- 1593, to spray about 5 miles of roadsides near Coyote Creek with 2,4-D, glyphosate, metsulfuron methyl and/or triclopyr with additives MSO and Syl- Tac. See ODF notice 2014-781-00563, call Brian Peterson at 935-2283 with questions. Rosboro LLC, 746-8411, plans to aerially spray 113 acres near Quartz Creek with glyphosate, imazapyr, metsulfuron methyl and/or sulfometuron methyl. See ODF notices 2014-771-00509 and 2014-771-00512, call ODF’s Tim Meehan at 726- 3588 with questions. Compiled by Jan Wroncy and Gary Hale, Forestland Dwellers: 342-8332, forestlanddwellers.org. CORRECTIONS/CLARIFICATIONS • The “Mad Viking” on the cover of our June 5 issue was misnamed. He is Jesse Wells, a member of No Shame Eugene who developed the character. Mike Anderson is another member of the group. • Regarding our Activist Alert column June 5, a better contact for helping with the GMO labeling initiative is to email lanecounty@ oregonrighttoknow.org. • In our story about Tibet Week June 5, we had the right date for the “Run with Peace” event at Alton Baker Park, but June 14 is Saturday, not Sunday. See palmocenter.org. 6 June 12, 2014 • eugeneweekly.com “That way the villager doesn’t have to write down anywhere that they’re looking for those things, they can go out and search the other way,” Hutt says. He expects the other features to be up within one month. He also hopes to computerize the OVE visitor log. “I just think it’s a great example and shows initiative of the villagers and desire to find work,” says Dan Bryant, OVE board of directors president and pastor at First Christian Church. He Eugeneans looking for help with odd jobs or more can now says the villagers want to work — not receive handouts. turn to residents of Opportunity Village Eugene (OVE), a self- Hutt has been working on the website since November. He governing community of about 30 people trying to transition hopes to find work as a landscaper or computer programmer from homelessness to stability. Two weeks ago, “villager” Al and says this project was a way to brush up on his skills after a Hutt launched a website searchable by task being sought or vil- four-year hiatus. lager’s skill or need. “The program I used to write this … when I quit doing com- “Sometimes when people come in here they have immedi- puter programming work four years ago, it did not exist. So I ate needs like a toothache or maybe they need shoes. And they had to learn it,” Hutt says. can’t get going until it’s met,” Hutt says. Homeless rights advocate and newly appointed Eugene Hu- OVE tenants each pay $30 per month for utilities. Hutt says man Rights Commission member Jennifer Frenzer-Knowlton some residents receive a disability check from the federal gov- says this program suits people transitioning from being home- ernment while others recycle cans or panhandle to cover their less to working, who may be re-acquiring work skills such expenses. He estimates half of OVE’s 31 residents are listed in as punctuality, in part because the the database. community members will likely be He’s working on an addition more understanding if a villager is a to the current website, where few minutes late than an employer community “volunteers” can would. add their information and skills “It’s a matter of meeting people to a database that is only visible where they are at. If they are ready to villagers. He is hoping this to volunteer, if they are ready to go will connect villagers who are get paid work and you have that seeking counseling or advice database sitting there ready to plug on legal, marital, debt, sexuality people in, that’s a huge, huge asset.” or addiction issues with knowl- Find a helping hand at wkly. edgeable community members — A L H U T T, O P P O R T U N I T Y V I L L A G E ws/1rw. — Missy Corr who are willing to help. OPPORTUNITY VILLAGE STARTS WORK PROGRAM ‘ Sometimes when people come in here they have immediate needs like a toothache or maybe they need shoes. And they can’t get going until it’s met.’ WIN MIN “I would like to be a useful person and bring a good change to people’s lives,” says Win Min, who grew up in Sin Tae, a farming village in western Myanmar. An avid learner in primary school, he was shocked, at age 11, when his parents told him they couldn’t afford tuition. A year of hard work on the family farm earned him permission to travel to Mandalay, where he learned that tuition was free at the Buddhist monastery’s high school. “I started learning English,” says Win Min, who memorized Myanmar history and became a tourist guide. “For six years, I took them up Mandalay Hill.” After graduation, he accepted an offer from the U.S. Embassy to study at the American Center in Rangoon. He became a community activist, bringing English teachers into monastery schools and enlisting teenagers in an elder-care project. “Then Cyclone Nargis hit and everything stopped,” says Win Min, who spent a year volunteering on recovery efforts. In 2010, he came to the UO on a scholarship offer through the International Cultural Service Program. A year away from his degree in the Planning, Public Policy and Management program, he hopes to finish a master’s before returning to Myanmar. “I’ve been a cultural ambassador,” he says. “I’ve been to senior centers and high schools. When I go back, I’ll work to make sure that everyone can get a good education.” BY PAUL NEEVEL • The Eugene Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee meets at 5:30 pm Thursday, June 12, at the Atrium Building, 99 W. 10th Ave. On the agenda is the Franklin Boulevard update, Better Eugene- Springfield Transit, priority bike lanes, Master Plan revisions and other business. HAPPENING PEOPLE ACTIVIST
