Eugene weekly., July 10, 2014, Page 8, Image 8

Most contractors in Lane County are
happy to provide would-be customers
with their license number from the
Construction Contractors Board (CCB),
and many contractors even include it on
their business cards. But that information
might be out of date or just wrong. If you
hire a contractor who is unlicensed and
things go wrong, it can get very expensive.
See our 2008 cover story “Cutting Corners”
in our archives at wkly.ws/1s9. You can
check the CCB website and see the status
of contractors, but now it’s even easier.
Just text the contractor’s CCB number to
(503) 444-8898 and you will get a
message back verifying whether the
contractor is licensed and can legally do
work in Oregon. The state website at
Oregon.gov provides more information
about complaints, disciplinary actions,
bankruptcy, etc.
Saturday Market and Farmers Market
will, of course, be open during the Oregon
Country Fair. Sounds like the market crew
gets that question a lot. Saturday can be
crowded at the Fair, and temps in Veneta
are predicted to be pushing 90, but
Saturday Market is always cool. See the
market’s
music
lineup
at
eugenesaturdaymarket.com.
The nonprofit League of United Latin
American Citizens (LULAC) of Lane
County installed its new Youth Council in a
ceremony July 7 at Harris Hall. The
purpose of the council, the first in Oregon,
is to “create a nurturing peer-supported
environment for Latin@s of middle school,
high school and college age, and
encourages them to stay in school and
develop their leadership skills,” says Juan
Carlos Valle, president of the council. “The
LULAC Youth Councils provide youth with
a positive alternative to gangs, violence
and dropping out of school.” Se
lulaclanecounty.org or call 337-6294.
A free session on “How to Create and
Protect Business and Product Names”
will be at 6 pm Thursday, July 10, at the
Eugene Public Library downtown. Speaker
will be Frank Plaisted who will talk about
trademarks and trade names and how to
use them. Sponsored by the LCC Small
Business Development Center and SCORE.
Call 682-5450 for information on this and
other free clinics for small business.
The next free ride for Cycling for
Veterans is the Row River Trail in Cottage
Grove on Saturday, July 12. The ride starts
at 10 am at the Mosby Creek Trailhead,
riding to the end of the trail and back, a
distance of approximately 25 miles. The
ride is open to veterans, their adult friends
and family members. Participants are
encouraged to bring their own water, food
and snacks. RSVP to Ree McSween at 337-
3710 or email cyclingforveterans@gmail.
com.
CORRECTIONS/
CLARIFICATIONS
The cover story “The Glass Menagerie”
(6/26) stated incorrectly that local
company Glass Prodigy manufactures
glass sex toys. Glass Prodigy does sell
locally made glass sex toys but does not
manufacture them. See glassprodigy.com
for cute little glass dildo pictures.
8
July 10, 2014 • eugeneweekly.com
LANE COUNTY SHERIFF
OFFICERS CUT LOOSE A
PROTESTER LOCKED DOWN TO
A TRUCK DUMP AT SENECA’S
BIOMASS PLANT
PHOTO: CAMILLA MORTENSEN
EARTH FIRST! PROTEST
SHUTS DOWN SENECA
With banners reading “Buy the Elliott State Forest, Expect Resis-
tance” and “Stop this ecocide,” protesters organized by Earth First!
and Cascadia Forest Defenders descended upon Seneca Sustainable
Energy on the morning of July 7 to call attention to what they say is
the company’s pollution in a low-income area and clearcut logging
in the Elliott State Forest.
A group of protesters entered the biomass-burning plant in the
morning, dropping a banner and locking themselves down to a con-
veyor belt and a truck dump, temporarily shutting the plant down,
according to Forest Defender Cordelia Finley. Dozens of protesters
(police estimated as many as 100) chanted and held signs outside.
Three activists that entered the plant were later arrested accord-
ing to the Lane County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO), one of the many
agencies that responded to the protesters. Ben Jones, Richard Hay-
ley and Chad Kemp of Eugene were arrested on charges including
trespass and disorderly conduct.
Sgt. Greg Rice of the LCSO says 18 county staff members re-
sponded to the protest. The Eugene Police Department also sent
officers and vehicles, as did the fire department and Oregon State
Police. EPD spokeswoman Melinda McLaughlin says the agency
sent 45 units because the protest was “initially reported to be more
than 200 protesters fighting with employees,” the scope of the
property and “the unpredictable nature of large group protests.”
Finley calls the Seneca-Jones companies “bad neighbors” for the
plant’s emissions of air toxins into the West Eugene community and
its nearby schools. She says Seneca is also a bad neighbor for its
role in the privatization of the Elliott State Forest. The state of Or-
egon has begun selling parcels of the public forest and Seneca-Jones
Timber purchased 788 acres called East Hakki Ridge, Finley says,
BUDGET CUTS
TRIM PARK SERVICES
Fiscal year 2014 went out with a bang in Eugene July 1 and
took park bathrooms, irrigation, trash service and jobs with it. Re-
strooms at three parks — Hendricks, Sheldon and Sladden — will
close and neighborhood parks will see less watering and garbage
pick-up, as $300,000 in reductions to park maintenance set in.
Eugene’s City Council approved the cuts June 9 as part of a
balancing act to fill a $1.9 million deficit in the city’s general fund.
Neighborhood parks will be watered 75 percent less often and
mowed half as frequently, according to a notice on the city’s web-
site. Trash cans will be emptied two days per week less in parks
that previously had trash service between five and seven days each
week. The budget also eliminates two recently vacant park main-
tenance jobs.
“Because previous cuts have already reduced maintenance to
below intended service levels, the impacts of this year’s reductions
will likely be more noticeable,” the notice states.
City of Eugene Park Operations Manager Scott Milovich says
the restrooms were chosen for closure because they’re near other
restrooms. He says one bathroom will remain open at Hendricks
Park; 21 bathrooms will remain open in the 78 neighborhood and
community parks maintained by Parks and Open Spaces.
not only shutting the land down to recreation but also endangering
the federally protected marbled murrelets that Coast Range Forest
Watch documented as nesting in the trees. Cascadia Wildlands and
other environmental groups have sued over the timber sale.
Seneca-Jones co-owner Kathy Jones (or as the company calls
them, one of the “Jones girls”) raised hackles when she told The
Oregonian that the company didn’t need the timber from East Hakki
and submitted the bid because “eco-radical” environmental groups
had promised lawsuits to protect the marbled murrelet.
Todd Payne, Seneca’s general manager, says, “this is a radical
group of activists who are obstructing the everyday activities of
working Oregonians at a family-owned business.”
Interaction between protesters and law enforcement was largely
peaceful, and the protest was watched over by legal observers from
the National Lawyers Guild and the Eugene-based Civil Liberties
Defense Center. The protest concluded after the protesters locked
down in the plant were cut loose and arrested and law enforcement
told the outside protesters to clear the street or risk being cited for
trespass.
Lauren Regan of the CLDC, who observed the protest, says,
“Public right-of-ways are protected First Amendment areas and
cops can’t just clear the streets because they feel like it, and no
one in the public demonstration was doing anything illegal — just
peacefully exercising First Amendment rights.”
Rice says protesters “cannot block the flow of traffic and block
the entrances to businesses.” While protesters did gather at Seneca’s
gates, they stayed off the roadway and it was the police who set up
roadblocks on each end of East Enid Road.
Regan commented that perhaps “Seneca-Jones should build a
free speech zone outside their facility because the public is out-
raged at the threats to human health and detrimental climate impacts
caused by their profit-driven actions and lawful protests are sure to
be a regular occurrence at the plant.” — Camilla Mortensen
Jean Stacey, a local homeless rights advocate and member of
SLEEPS (Safe Legally Entitled Emergency Places to Sleep), is
organizing a protest — spurred by the park restroom closures —
against what she says is an example of the city’s “mixed up priori-
ties.” The dissent could take the form of protesters sitting next to
large piles of manure bags or pulling toilets, labeled as the three
parks, in wagons downtown as a penny tossing game.
“Keeping a bathroom open is not a huge budget item,” Stacey
says. “And [SLEEPS] believe there are many things that are be-
ing done that are not as essential to the public health and safety as
this is.”
Stacey says she hopes the protest will occur before the next
City Council meeting July 14. “All of us in the public need to start
communicating with our councilors,” Stacey says. “And that’s
why we’re doing these things.”
The new fiscal year also brings less hours at the downtown li-
brary — which now opens at 1 pm on Sundays, rather than 10
am — and promises less funding for neighborhood newsletters,
$50,000 less in recreation program scholarships for low-income
individuals and families and an increase in some recreation pro-
gram fees.
To get involved in the protest, Stacey suggests participating
in an independent act of opposition or emailing contact@eu-
geneSLEEPS.org. — Missy Corr