We wrote about changes afoot at Wings
Seminars in this column Dec. 10 and we’ve since
heard from Wings founder Kris King that the
company is for sale following a personal tragedy.
“My son died a year ago and I realized I work too
much. Working 28 days a month is not the smartest
thing,” she says. “I have two offers and three more
are coming in.” Finding the right new owner may be
a challenge, she says. The new owner “needs to be
ethically aligned … I’m not just selling a business.
They need to really care about this work.” If a
change of ownership does not happen soon, Wings
will close its doors Jan. 31; however, advanced
seminars and trainings already fully booked in
February and March will go on.
“It’s been a great 30 years,” King says. And the
biggest rewards? “I’ve seen many incredible
transformations” during the seminars. Wings has
worked with some 35,000 people over the years,
including those sent to the seminars by
corporations and government agencies to improve
confidence, focus and communication skills.
We hear through the biz grapevine that Andy
Vobora, LTD’s director of Customer Services &
Planning, will be retiring from LTD after 32 years
and will become Travel Lane County’s vice
president of stakeholder relations. Vobora was a
finalist for the general manager position at LTD,
but Aurora “A.J.” Jackson was offered the position
in October. Jackson replaced Ron Kilcoyne at LTD.
Kaiser Permanente, a nonprofit provider of
both health care and health insurance, opened a
medical clinic in the former Eugene Public Library,
100 W. 13th Ave., along with a dental clinic in the
former Fletcher’s for Children at 1011 Valley River
Way. The clinics serve Lane County members of
Kaiser, including UO students on their families’
plans, plus Medicaid patients assigned through
Trillium. Call the medical clinic at 431-1250 or the
dental clinic at (800) 813-2000. For more
information, visit kp.org/lane. Kaiser has a
business model that’s unique in health care. It’s
vertically integrated, combining hospitals with
insurance plans, increasing efficiency and
keeping down costs.
The seventh annual Fun with Fermentation
Festival will be from 11 am to 4 pm Saturday, Jan.
9, at the Unitarian Universalist Church at 13th and
Chambers. The festival, a fundraiser for Willamette
Valley Sustainable Foods Alliance, highlights the
many ways of food and beverage preservation.
More than 25 regional businesses will be
attending and sampling fermented products, from
kefir to beer to pickles. Admission is a suggested
donation of $5 with two cans of food for FOOD for
Lane County, or $10 without food donation. Kids
12 and under are free. See sustainableeugene.
com or email info@wvsfalliance.org.
IT’S
ABOUT
TIME
BY D AV I D WA G N E R
8
MALHEUR MILITANTS BENEFIT
FROM FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Vanilla ISIS, Y’all Quaeda, YeeHawdists, terrorists, mili-
tants, militia — whatever you call them, and whether you fear
them or laugh at them, the band of mainly out-of-state, armed
and anti-government protesters who have taken over the head-
quarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Oregon’s
east side have drawn almost nonstop attention since their siege
of the remote bird sanctuary began Jan. 3. Ironically, the armed
protesters who hate the federal government also benefit from
the feds.
At the heart of the standoff lie America’s public lands. More
than half of Oregon’s land is federally owned. Some ranchers
want that land moved into state, county and private hands. The
leader of the occupying group is Ammon Bundy, the son of
Cliven Bundy, who famously had an armed standoff with fed-
eral authorities at his Nevada ranch in 2014 over a similar is-
sue — grazing cattle on federal lands.
Ammon Bundy was Tasered during
that standoff for kicking a police dog.
The Bundys owe more than $1
million in grazing fees.
The Oregon standoff began over
the Hammonds, a father and son who
have had a long-simmering feud with
the Bureau of Land Management. In
the late ’80s the senior Hammond
allegedly made death threats against
refuge managers over his cattle tres-
passing on refuge land. In 2012,
Dwight and Steven Hammond were
convicted of lighting two fires that
burned federal land, in 2001 and
again in 2006.
According to a statement by Acting U.S. Attorney for Or-
egon Billy Williams, the first fire was set to cover up a poach-
ing incident, but it also endangered nearby hunters. The second
was set without notifying firefighters battling nearby fires. Judge
Michael Hogan sentenced the men below the congressionally
mandated prison terms. They served time and were released.
The case went back to court, and later Judge Ann Aiken resen-
tenced them to the five-year mandatory minimum.
The Hammonds reported to prison Jan. 4.
Despite sharing the armed protesters’ ire for the feds, the
Hammonds have said via their attorney that Ammon Bundy
does not speak for them.
While the Bundys and the Hammonds might claim to hate
the federal government, data shows they have benefitted from
the feds. Mother Jones reports that in 2010 Ammon Bundy
received a federal small business loan of $530,000. Data col-
lected by the Environmental Working Group shows Hammond
Ranches Inc., received farm payments totaling $295,471 from
1995 through 2012.
Finally, a 2015 report by the Center for Biological Diversity
shows that in 2012, the BLM’s grazing fees were 93 percent
cheaper than the average market rate in 16 Western states, and
in 2013, it cost Oregon ranchers an average of $1.35 a month
to graze on federal land and $15 on private land for a cow and
her calf.
On Jan. 4 the Bundy group met
with widespread derision after one of
its members put out a plea on social
media for supporters to send them
snacks and energy drinks.
Bundy has said he will remain at
the refuge for “as long as it takes.”
According to The Guardian news-
paper, sources say the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, which runs the ref-
uge, intends to cut off power. “‘It’s
in the middle of nowhere,’” said
the official, who is based in Wash-
ington, D.C., and has knowledge of
the planned response to the militia.
“‘And it’s flat-ass cold up there.’”
Many on social media have questioned why the authori-
ties are willing to wait out armed white men when in other
situations law enforcement has been quick to shoot or quash
the protests of people of color. Others have noted that when
talking about the rightful ownership of federal lands, Native
Americans have more rights to it than the ranchers. The federal
and ranch lands at issue in the Hammond case were historically
Paiute lands. — Camilla Mortensen
While the Bundys and
the Hammonds might
claim to hate the federal
government, data shows
they have benefitted
from the feds.
WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW,
ZONOTRICHIA LEUCOPHRYS
K
ind of like in summer, the winter Solstice
just slipped by with nary a wink or a
nod. The approach is so gradual in both
ways that only a calendar watcher (or
member of a pagan community) knows
for sure what day to celebrate Solstice. The extra
rainy December meant that it was cloudy most
nights. Night sky changes were hard to follow
despite regular bedtime walks. I have seen Orion
less than five times since he first returned to the
night sky. The same goes for seeing the Pleiades,
a little distressing as I have always thought getting
January 7, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com
a glimpse of this seven-sister cluster brought
good fortune.
Star viewing may be limited these overcast days
while whale watching at the Oregon Coast is at the
year’s best. In the four weeks spanning the New
Year, southward migration of gray whales moves
through faster than the northward migration with
cows and newborn calves. The males will follow
soon, more slowly. My favorite whale-watching
lookout is the shelter at the top of the Cape
Perpetua trail. Shelter is the critical word here.
There are volunteers offering whale information at
the Cape Perpetua Visitor Center as well as the
overlook along Hwy. 101 at Cape Perpetua.
The next year will certainly be different from the
last. We begin with a snow pack in the mountains
that last year’s winter never came close to
accumulating. The mountain meadows will have
lots more flowers to watch. Hopefully, the stressed
trees will recover.
David Wagner is a botanist who works in Eugene. He teaches
moss classes, leads nature walks and makes calendars. For
information on how to get his 2016 Oregon Nature Calendar,
contact him at fernzenmosses@me.com.