• What happens if the kicker kicks next year?
Our news brief this week talks about how the
Constitution-mandated tax rebate could be a
big problem for the state budget. What we hear
through the English ivy vine (Eugene’s equivalent
to the grapevine) is that Phil Knight might be
holding back on giving the UO big challenge bucks
this year because it could trigger the kicker and
the state could lose up to $300 million in the next
biennium, hurting education. Crazy scenario. If big
donors sell stock and give the money to Oregon
universities, donors will pay taxes and boost
state revenue. If donors just give stock to the
universities, there’s no tax to pay. Regardless, an
infusion of a billion or so into the Oregon economy
will generate new contracts, new jobs, new
spending and uh-oh, new taxes.
The kicker was intended to prevent excess
growth in government, but instead it’s added
uncertainty to the economy, exacerbated the
gap between rich and poor (the rich get most of
the rebate bucks) and kept Oregon from building
a rainy fund to get us through recessions. Let’s
support efforts in Salem to get rid of it.
• Here’s the ultimate test of popularity in
Oregon. This comes from a pregnant mom, mother
of two girls, that her baby boy probably would not
be named Marcus (as in Mariota). Too many others
are using that!
• Will helping the unhoused help bridge the
town and gown divide between UO and the city
around it? Last week community members
brainstormed with academics at a roundtable
sponsored by the Department of Philosophy.
Some of the ideas included direct aid such as
the UO participating as an Egan Warming Center,
permission for car camping in Autzen parking
lots when unused for seasonal athletic events,
allowing university land to be used as a homeless
rest stop and the hiring of the unhoused for
positions for which they are qualified. Other ideas
were more academically oriented like course credit
for supervised undergraduate fieldwork in support
of the homeless, grad and faculty analyses of
city policies and practices as they impact the
unhoused with reports to the Eugene City Council
and in general, more intentional university
interaction with the problems that exist in the
off-campus community where undergraduates,
graduate students, faculty and staff live. Check
out homelessness.philosophy.uoregon.edu for
more on the effort.
• Looking back on the elections, it’s clear the
reelections of Gov. John Kitzhaber and Sen. Jeff
Merkley and other progressives were due in part
to the active role of Planned Parenthood and other
organizations that support women and families.
These groups rallied voters and helped define
the candidates and their positions on women’s
health and economic equity. Statewide, Planned
Parenthood sent out 420,000 direct mail flyers,
made completed phone calls to 24,655 households
and endorsed 55 candidates. Volunteers put in
thousands of hours in 572 shifts. Impressive.
• Ever been inside Cabela’s at Gateway Mall in
Springfield? It’s a surreal store that can provide
culture shock for tofu-eating, yoga-contorting,
Birkenstock-clad lefties. At Cabela’s you check
your guns at the door and stuffed dead animals are
everywhere, including deer with their nut sacks
intact. How do taxidermists do that? Ping-pong
balls? A scruffy buck’s butt stares you in the face
when you descend from the discount “Bargain
Cave” upstairs. Weird things on the racks up there:
one leg of a pair of thigh-high hip waders. The clerk
doesn’t know what happened to the other leg.
Maybe there’s a one-legged shoplifter out there?
She figures somebody will buy the leg eventually
because, well, it’s a bargain.
WTF!
A sign-carrying protester
appeared on the sidewalk outside
EW last week, which is rare but
always welcome. Shannon Wilson
is one of our regular letter writers
and told us he was protesting EW’s
blanket endorsement of Democrats
who are not much better, maybe
worse, than Republicans when it
comes to environmental issues. He’s
pissed at Dems who go along with
logging BLM’s O&C lands, selling
off the Elliott State Forest lands
and promoting nuclear power. We share some of his frustrations, but seriously? Most GOP candidates are
not only rotten on enviro issues, but also on every other issue we care about. We wouldn’t mind endorsing
some third-party candidates, but as a practical matter they are still very much on the fringe. Pacific Green
candidates only got about 2 percent of the vote in statewide races this time. The way to build third parties
is to get elected to school boards, city councils, planning commissions, utility boards, even neighborhood
leadership positions. We see that happening in Corvallis with Green Party member Mike Beilstein winning
re-election to the Corvallis City Council this month as well as running for the U.S. House.
SL ANT INCLUDES SHORT OPINION PIECES, OBSERVATIONS AND RUMOR-CHA SING NOTES COMPILED BY THE E W S TAFF.
HE ARD AN Y GOOD RUMORS L ATELY ? CONTAC T TED TAYLOR AT 484 -0519, EDITOR@EUGENE WEEKLY.COM
Congrats to NextStep Recycling founder Lorraine
Kerwood McKenzie who was given the Toyota Standing
O-Vation, a recognition of extraordinary people in
communities around the country, during Oprah Winfrey’s
“The Life You Want Weekend” in Seattle Nov. 8. The award
was given by Winfrey and Paralympic bronze medalist
snowboarder Amy Purdy. You can watch a video about
Kerwood McKenzie’s life and work from her Asperger’s
Syndrome diagnosis to how NextStep has kept 22 million
pounds of electronics out of the landfill and helped the
community at wkly.ws/1ud.
What will legalized pot mean for businesses and their
personnel policies? Not much will change from a legal
standpoint, according to Cascade Employers Association
(CEA), which is planning a compliance update seminar in
Eugene Dec. 11. Neither the Oregon Medical Marijuana
Act nor Measure 91, which passed last week, contain
any restrictions on employers regarding policies on
pot use on or off the job. “Essentially, your employees
can lawfully use but if they choose to do so and end up
with a positive drug test (pre-employment, reasonable
suspicion, random, etc.) then it can still be considered
a violation of your company’s policy,” CEA advises. The
organization recommends updating company drug and
alcohol policies to include specific statements on the use
of marijuana. Measure 91 goes into effect in July of 2015.
See cascadeemployers.com.
EWEB tells us Eugene area residents and businesses
are getting scam phone calls that show up on caller
ID as from EWEB, but they are not. The callers demand
payments and attempt to gather personal information.
Even if you are behind on your utility bills, EWEB will not
be calling to tell you so but instead will send snail mail or
leave a door-hanger.
Veterans Day is this week and along with the usual
events, discounts and freebies for vets comes free
swimming for vets at Tamarack Aquatic Center at 35th and
Donald in south Eugene. The heated saltwater pool will be
open for vets and their families from 11 am to 2 pm Sunday,
Nov. 16. The pool is fully accessible. Call 686-9290.
The McKenzie Flyfishers annual auction in support
of the club’s environmental programs will begin at 6 pm
Monday, Nov. 17, at Lewis & Clark Catering, 2210 Martin
Luther King Jr. Blvd. next to the Mercedes dealership.
Non-members welcome. The event is free but dinner is
optional at $17. The silent and oral auction will include
fishing gear, guided trips, hosted dinner parties, vintage
wines and more. More info at mckenzieflyfishers.org or
call 913-0710.
The state’s Technical Review Team for the Calico
Resources proposed gold mine in Malheur County
meets in Salem 11 am - 4 pm Nov. 19. Meeting details
and agenda are at bit.ly/caliconovember. The public may
listen to the meeting by phone. For call-in instructions
contact DOGAMI at 541-967-2040. For more on the gold
mine see EW’s 2011 feature story wkly.ws/1ue.
The nonprofit Skipping Stones magazine is celebrating
26 years in business and is planning a free event from 3
to 6 pm Saturday, Nov. 15, at the Odd Fellows Lodge at the
corner of 12th and Charnelton. Live music and storytelling
are planned for the family-friendly gathering. Email editor@
skippingstones.org or call 342-4956.
Crescendo LLC is having the grand opening of its
new tasting room Nov. 15-16 at 4065 W. 11th Ave. #47 in
west Eugene. The company produces organic lime, lemon
and orange liqueurs. “We just entered our eighth month
of production,” says owner Kyle Akin. “We are already in
70-plus OLCC stores across the state.” The company is a
member of the Distillers Guild and the Oregon Distillery
Trail. See organicello.com or find the business on
Facebook.
eugeneweekly.com • November 13, 2014
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