LET TERS
A RIVERFRONT VISION
Following the UO Foundation’s
disappointing renege on its winning bid to
be the project manager for the Willamette
riverfront EWEB development, I am
encouraged by new voices promoting
again the notion of a last chance for the
city of Eugene to “take control of a project
that will affect us forever” and buy that
property from EWEB.
Another voice encourages the notion
that the steam plant is the perfect host
building for a world-class tourist destination
museum and visitor’s center, touting the
primary historical developments of Eugene
over the last 175 years, including timber/
lumber, food production and processing,
the railroad, the UO, clean water, energy
and the recent growth of the Silicon Shire,
Eugene’s response to the Silicon Valley in
California. The Lane County Historical
Museum and the Science Factory could
both be included in such a new museum
energy.
In the interest of better understanding
the now fenced and vacated EWEB
property (except for three buildings — the
steam plant, the bow-truss warehouse and
the river’s edge meter-calibration building),
what if we hold the Eugene Celebration on
the 17 acres in question this fall, giving
one and all the opportunity to know what
is at the river’s edge property. At this stage
HOT AIR SOCIETY
of the game, it seems like EWEB and
the city of Eugene are the folks with the
controlling interest in the property, so let’s
organize a group of interested, passionate
people to ask “what if” to some of these
possibilities?
Tom Snyder
Moments In Time Exhibits
Eugene
SPRAY VACATION?
No, “spray vacation” is not a typo of
something as benign as a spring vacation,
but something much worse. After attending
a monthly speakers’ forum held by the
volunteers with the Blackberry Pie Society
(a much appreciated and needed service to
the community), I had to write this letter.
As speaker for the month of June, they
hosted State Rep. Cedric Hayden Jr.
When the Republican politician
answered questions about aerial spraying of
forest pesticides (atrazine and glyphosate)
over humans and their waterways, he
replied that it was too bad that people were
not given more notice so they could go on
vacation or leave the state while timber
companies are aerial spraying near their
homes. Many outraged citizens responded
immediately to his suggestion to take a
spray vacation.
A woman from the Cottage Grove
[South Lane] school board asked if profi ts
were more important than people and clean
water. She also asked how families were
going to move all their livestock and pets
on such a vacation. One may need an ark
for that spray vacation.
Another gentleman shared how a right-
of-way for powerlines had been sprayed
above a water district that served 100
homes and 300 people. These folks would
need a cruise liner for their spray vacation.
One couple explained how they
removed their children from summer
camp after they found the water they
were swimming in had been contaminated
by drift from an aerial spray. Where do
summer camps go on spray vacation?
It was disappointing that Hayden Jr.
seemed totally out of touch with this issue
which is so important for rural Oregon.
Luckily he is up for re-election in 2016.
There is a way to learn more about how
rural communities are being poisoned by
aerial spraying “drift.” Watch on OPB how
the small community of Tiller on the South
Umpqua was sprayed: wkly.ws/214.
Patrick Starnes
McKenzie Bridge
Editor's note: Starnes attempted to get on the ballot
against Hayden in the 2014 election but didn't collect
enough signatures.
PAID SICK LEAVE LEGISLATION INSPIRES FRENZY
une is a tough month for Oregon legislators
for a variety of reasons. There’s pressure to get
out of the building by the 4th of July. Since it
is a citizen Legislature, many of the members
are missing work, and employers want their
employees back. And, fi ve months into session,
members have listened to their colleagues’ positions
and those of the other three caucuses ad infi nitem and
ad nauseum.
To make it worse, it’s a time when most committees
have completed their work and are shutting down,
leaving most members waiting on posturing caucus
leaders trying to read political tea leaves to decipher the
upcoming election year. In other words, it’s intellectual
water boarding. Psychologically, you feel like you’ve
been stuck much too long on a cruise ship off the coast
of Borneo, besieged by pirates, stuck onboard with the
faculty of Bob Jones University listening exclusively
to Don Ho’s Tiny Bubbles and Forever in Blue Jeans
by Neil Diamond. So your head really hurts, but you’re
not hung over!
This underlying anger reared its ugly head last week
during the House debate on SB 454, the bill that would
require Oregon employers with 10 or more employees
to provide paid sick leave. Earlier, during the Senate
debate, Republican leader Tim Knopp predicted “this
[SB 454] is going to kill job creation in this state.”
During the House debate, Republicans tried every stall
tactic and remonstrated vociferously about the Oregon
fi nancial crisis that would ensue if we dared to allow a
4
JUNE 18, 2015 • EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
Please, let’s not make the same
mistakes as last year! Linden trees are
blooming now, and the wonderful scent
they have is causing domestic and wild
pollinators of all kinds to fl ock to them.
Mine are buzzing with bees today. These
trees do not get aphids, or any other pest
that I have seen. I have two in my front
yard that are 15 years old and I have never
seen any sticky dripping sap below them.
I park my car under one and the windows
stay clear.
Please, no neonicotinoid use on these.
There is no reason to use any pesticides on
these trees!
Mike Koivula
Springfi eld
EMPATHY TENT
A teacher who touched our lives deeply
passed away this year. After he died,
around 30 of us locals met to discuss how
to keep Marshall Rosenberg’s energy
alive and growing. Through his training
in nonviolent communication he gave so
much, so clearly, on how to live a full life,
seeing more fully and connecting with self
and others.
One idea was to have a space at the
Saturday Market for people to be listened
to in an empathic way as he taught. I
volunteered to get it going, and our fi rst
BY TON Y CORCOR A N
Zombie Apocalypse
J
LINDENS IN BLOOM
low-income single mom at McDonald's to get paid to
stay at home with a sick child, for example.
Finally, Rep. Shemia Fagan, a Portland attorney,
born and raised in Dufur, had had enough. Enough
of your “zombie apocalypse” ranting, she told the
naysayers on the House fl oor. Well, like I said, tempers
are short these days, so the Republicans did what any
dignifi ed adults would do in this circumstance: They
huffed off the fl oor and threatened to deny the House
the quorum it would need to vote on the bill. They
accused Fagan of impugning their dignity (as if one
could insult something that doesn’t exist), the speaker
told them to pack sand, and fi nally the bill passed.
All kidding aside, everyone in this state should
acknowledge the excellent work done by Rep. Paul
Holvey and Sen. Michael Dembrow in shepherding SB
454 through the process and on to Gov. Kate Brown’s
desk for signature. Paul is one of the hardest working
and persistent legislators I’ve known. I remember
advising him a couple of years ago to quit fi ghting
windmills with his futile efforts to end fi eld burning.
Look how that worked out.
House Majority leader Val Hoyle praised Paul for
his hard work and his excellent fl oor speech, bragging
that Oregon now has the most progressive legislation in
the country on paid sick leave. And Paul deserves much
of the credit for calmly addressing the merits of the bill,
rather than succumbing to the same zombie apocalypse
rhetoric that probably accompanied legislation that got
us the 40-hour workweek and child labor laws 90 years
ago.
Floyd Prozanski, Human Rights Violator
Val Hoyle, Human Rights Violator
By now you’ve seen these billboards that sprouted
up in the last month or so. If your reaction was anything
like mine, your fi rst thought was: Damn, I kinda like
those two progressives, how could I have been so blind
not to recognize human rights violators in my own
damn midst? The second thought was: Who’s behind
this cute character assassination and the accompanying
recall efforts? It’s the usual suspects, folks — Kevin
Sterrett and the single-issue gun nuts who hate SB
941. (And no surprise that Art Robinson’s son, Matt,
is coordinating the printing and distribution of the
billboards.)
This is the same tactic gun nuts in Colorado used
to recall two state senators who had the cojones to
vote for fi rearm background checks in that state
in response to the Columbine massacre. I applaud
Floyd and Val and the other legislators targeted by
these morons for having guts enough to
do the right thing. Winston
on Churchill
once advised a colleague: “You
You have
enemies? Good. That means you’ve
stood for something some time in
your life.” I’ve always fantasized
ized that
Sterrett’s organization, Oregon
on Firearms
Federation, would join forces
ces with
the Oregon Fisheries Underground
round
Cable
Corporation.
Their
heir
acronym would be awesome e
and we could send them a
message — OFUCC-OFF!
Violate this! ■
Tony Corcoran of Cottage Grove is a
former state senator and recently re-
tired state worker.