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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (June 26, 2014)
ACTIVIST LERT • A benefit concert for David Oaks will be from 6 to 8 pm Thursday, June 26, at Cozmic, 199 W. 8th Ave., featuring music by Steel Wool. Oaks is a longtime advocate for people with mental challenges. He was paralyzed in an accident last year. Contact Tim Mueller at gwproj@pacinfo.com for more information. • Nancy Golden, chief education officer for the state and former Springfield schools superintendent, will speak at City Club of Eugene at noon Friday, June 27, at the Downtown Athletic Club, 999 Willamette St. Her topic is “What the Oregon Education Investment Board is Up To.” $5 for non-members. No program is planned for July 4, but the July 11 program will be on “Oso Mudslides: Lessons for Oregon” with Josh Roering and Megan O’Hara. See cityclubofeugene.org. PESTICIDES RESPONSIBLE FOR THOUSANDS OF DEAD BEES Eugene company Glass Tree Care and Spray Service has had its license suspended and will face a fine follow- ing an investigation into the death of 5,000 bees after the company sprayed 17 blossoming linden trees at Jacobs Lane Apartments with pesticides, says Bruce Pokarney of the Oregon Department of Agriculture. The company used imidacloprid, a neonicotonid pesti- cide linked to bee deaths. The city of Eugene banned the use of neonicotonids on all city property earlier this year, echoing a move made by the European Union last year after the correlation between pesticide use and colony collapse disorder became clear. The ban on neonics in Eugene applies only to city- owned property, not to private or commercial property. In 2014 however ODA began requiring a label statement on pesticide products containing imidacloprid and dinon- tefuran, which the agency says the applicator should have been aware of, prohibiting the application of these prod- ucts on linden trees and other Tilia species. Lisa Arkin of Beyond Toxics says some of the trees were city-owned The original ODA estimate was about 1,000 dead bees, though by now the number has been upped to at least 5,000, Pokarney says. Arkin disputes the necessity of the pesticide in the first place, since the linden trees were sprayed to kill aphids, which drop sticky sugar water onto cars parked below the trees. “There’s kind of an ethical question here: Should we be spraying a highly toxic insecticide to kill aphids that are not harming the tree and that turns out to be lethal to pollinators?” She adds, “I think another solution could be to not park your car under a linden tree, or put a cover on a car, or don’t plant linden trees in parking lots.” Marguerite P. Sugg, a resident of Jacobs Lane Apart- ments, says she swept up about half of a freezer bag full of dead bees, and saw moths, butterflies, ladybugs and yellow jackets intermixed. “I know they had to spray to keep the sidewalk clean because [otherwise] its nasty and sticky, but I never realized that spraying that would kill the bees,” Sugg says. “I would rather rinse my sidewalk off than put poison in the trees. Now I don’t have any honeybees to come to my flowers.” Jacobs Lane Apartments is run by Housing and Com- munity Services of Lane County. Although mass bee die-offs such as this one and the 50,000 die-off in Wilsonville last year sound the pesticide alarm, Arkin says that it’s important to realize how sub- lethal doses of pesticides also negatively affect pollinator survival. A recent study by Friends of the Earth found that 51 percent of plants bought at large garden retailers in 18 cities in the U.S. and Canada contained neonics, which could directly contribute to bee deaths and colony collapse. The trees have been covered in shade cloth to prevent the bees from harvesting more pollen until the linden blossoms dry up. The company has apologized to the city of Eugene and Lane County. — Anna V. Smith • A Eugene chapter of Sea Shepherd is forming with its first public meeting at 7 pm Friday, June 27, at Pure Life Chiropractic, 315 W. Broadway, according to Robbin Freedman. Her husband, Matt Freedman, D.C., just returned from a Sea Shepherd summit in Vermont. Representatives of Sea Shepherd in Washington state will be at the free meeting. Call 844-6924 for more information. • LULAC of Lane County will hold an all-ages fundraising salsa event from 8 pm to 1:30 am Saturday, June 28, at Cozmic, 199 W. 8th. Salsa dance lessons begin at 8pm and music will be provided by local and San Francisco Bay Area DJs. $10 cover. • Cycling for Veterans is planning the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway Veterans Ride Saturday, June 28, and is looking for volunteers and other support. The ride this year is from Champoeg State Heritage Area south of Newberg to Willamette Mission State Park north of Kaiser. More food, more volunteers and some shuttle pickups and drivers are needed. Email cyclingforveterans@gmail. com or call 337-3710 to help. • Health Care for All Eugene will meet at 7 pm Tuesday, July 1, at First United Methodist Church, 13th and Olive. Slides will be shown about recent polls that support universal single-payer health care. Summer events will also be planned. Call Ruth Duemler at 484- 6145. CORRECTIONS/CLARIFICATIONS An item in Biz Beat last week regarding Right at Home Eugene had a misspelling of the owner’s name due to erroneous information provided to EW. The owner of the new in-home care service is Carol Mosman, 833-5050. PHOTO: ANNA V. SMITH ILLUSTRATION TRASK BEDORTHA POLLUTION UPDATE Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is accepting comments through 4:30 pm Monday, June 30, on a proposed $410,000 settlement concerning groundwater contamination caused by McAyeals Cleaners (located immediately south of the Eugene Public Library in downtown Eugene). Visit goo.gl/miiyvW for info on commenting, and goo.gl/7kOLXt to view the proposed settlement. If more than 10 people (or a group with more than 10 members) request it, DEQ will hold a public meeting on the proposed settlement. The city of Eugene sent notice of violation letters to Kendall Ford and Kendall Auto Group late last week for failing to monitor and unpermitted discharges at its 344 & 345 Goodpasture Island Road facilities in Eugene. Doug Quirke/Oregon Clean Water Action Project RESIDENT MARGUERITE SUGG STANDS OUTSIDE HER APARTMENT WHERE IMIDACLOPRID WAS SPRAYED LAST TUESDAY. ALTHOUGH IT CAUSED THE DEATH OF AT LEAST 5,000 BEES, SUGG SAYS SHE WAS TOLD IT WAS SAFE. lighten up BY RAFAEL ALDAVE Those blacked-out pages that the Lane County commissioners and the UO folks have been providing in response to public record requests may appear to be worthless, but they are great for covering ass. eugeneweekly.com • June 26, 2014 7
