Eugene weekly., February 11, 2016, Page 8, Image 8

• Another report on Oregon’s fast-growing
economy has come out of the Oregon Center for
Public Policy (OCPP) and the numbers look great,
except for the disparity. Sound familiar? Oregon’s
economy is a reflection of the national economy,
and the unequal sharing of prosperity is a hot topic
in the presidential primary debates. Oregon’s
steady economic growth since 1997 has outpaced
the national economy significantly. Only North
Dakota with its oil boom has exceeded Oregon
between 2001 and 2014. But “Too many
Oregonians, including working Oregonians,
continue to struggle just to get by,” says the Feb. 8
OCPP fact sheet. The group calls for increasing
Oregon’s minimum wage, more protections against
wage theft by unscrupulous employers and
“enacting a Basic Health Program that will provide
affordable, quality health care to low-income
Oregonians who earn too much to qualify for
Medicaid.” Find the full report at ocpp.org.
• The Eugene nonprofit Civil Liberties Defense
Center has moved to new, larger offices at 783
Grant Street after 12 years at its former location
upstairs at 259 E. 5th Avenue. The CLDC had an
office-warming party Feb. 5. Attorney Lauren Regan
is the director and her staff has expanded recently.
Currently, Charles Denson is associate director and
other staff attorneys include Amanda Schemkes
and Cooper Brimson. Lynette Williams is the
administrative associate. See cldc.org.
• KLCC’s annual Microbrew Festival fundraiser
will be from 5 to 11 pm Friday, Feb. 12, and from 1
to 11 pm Saturday, Feb. 13, at the Fairgrounds.
Admission is $12 in advance through klcc.org and
$15 at the door. Designated driver tickets are $10.
Some 83 breweries will be featuring their specialty
and seasonal brews, two bands will be playing,
brewing competitions will be held and thousands of
used CDs and records will be for sale.
• “Love, Money & Chocolate” is a workshop on
family finances and estate planning for couples
from 9 am to noon Saturday, Feb. 13, at 212 Main
Street in Springfield. Sponsored by the NEDCO, the
nonprofit Neighborhood Economic Development
Corporation. Chocolate provided by Euphoria. See
nedcoced.org for registration information and other
NEDCO workshops and services.
• Free one-on-one job-hunting help will be
offered from 4 to 6 pm Thursdays, Feb. 11 and Feb.
25, at the Eugene Public Library. Call 682-5450 to
schedule a 30-minute session with an employment
expert.
LANE COUNTY SPRAY SCHEDULE
ONLINE THIS WEEK
OAKRIDGE RESIDENTS GO TO
KING ESTATE TO PROTEST
PROPOSED QUARRY
On Jan. 30, several members of a group called Save TV
Butte held signs at the gates of King Estate Winery reading
“Wines not Mines” and “WTF? King Estate.”
Oakridge resident Linda McMahon says the action was to
call attention to a proposed rock quarry at TV Butte, so called
because it was previously the location of a TV repeater. The
butte and proposed quarry are just outside the city of Oakridge
and close to her rural home. She and other neighbors worry
about the noise, dust and dangers a mine could pose as well as
repercussions to a local elk herd and possible Native Ameri-
can artifacts, she says.
Old Hazedell Quarry, an investment of Ed King of King
Estate Winery, has applied to Lane County to change the zon-
ing of the hillside, currently zoned F1 and F2 forestlands,
to allow for quarry mining. Phil Donovan, a spokesman for
the quarry, says the area was a quarry before current zoning
was put in place in the 1970s. Donovan says that while the
King family’s trust fund has several investments, including
the quarry, King Estate itself has no financial stake in Old
Hazeldell and vice-versa.
Donovan also clarifies that Greg Demers and the McDou-
gal Brothers, who have been involved in a number of con-
troversial resource extraction projects such as the mining of
Parvin Butte in Dexter, are not involved in Old Hazeldell.
King’s investments and those of the Demers and McDougals
have overlapped in the past.
Donovan says the zoning change application was submit-
ted Dec. 9. According to the Lane County Land Manage-
ment Division, the application is still in completeness review
and the first hearing on it is not expected until April. Plan-
ner Deanna Wright says, “These types of applications go to
the Lane County Planning Commission and the Lane County
Board of Commissioners for separate public hearings with no-
tice and opportunity to comment/participate.”
McMahon says neighbors’ concerns include the fact that
many trucks of rock will cross a frequently used railroad
track, mining could affect water and wildlife, and fears the
trucks and mining will interfere with the recreational biking
that has become a growth industry in Oakridge. Protesters at
the Wines not Mines demonstration said they would rather
have growth in recreational jobs in the area than mining.
Donovan says he anticipates 10 jobs, possibly a maximum
of 30 jobs, if the mine goes to full capacity. He says the rock
is not for gravel but rather for transportation needs, and the
mine could operate for up to 50 years. The land will be re-
claimed concurrently, Donavan says, creating wildlife habitat
and planting trees as each section is finished.
McMahon says she worries about the possible loss of Na-
tive graves and artifacts due to the proposed mining. She says
Native American Charlie Tufti’s 1880s homestead site bor-
ders TV Butte. Tufti was known as the man who discovered
Waldo Lake and it was a rarity in 1884 for a Native person to
own land, as it was forbidden by white settlers.
Lauri Segel of LandWatch Lane County, which works to
protect farm, forest and natural areas, has spoken to the con-
cerned neighbors. Segel says the mine doesn’t have a water
source and “the expected water use that I’ve seen was very
inaccurate.”
The current estimate of 5,000 gallons a day is the maxi-
mum allowed for an industrial property, Donovan says, and
would go to things like watering quarry piles and keeping dust
down. He says the site will also house a water tower for fire
protection of a separate industrial park below the mine.
Segel says one difficulty in fighting the mine is that op-
ponents don’t have access to the site itself and have to rely
on Old Hazeldell’s geology reports on the land. According to
documents filed with Lane County, Old Hazeldell has explo-
ration permits for drilling, but in 2011 the owner had drilled
one exploration hole without a permit. Donovan says, “Lane
is one of the few counties in the state that require a permit
to do exploration. Once our geologists learned this, they ac-
quired the appropriate permit.”
In their press release following their King Estate protest,
the members of Save TV Butte wrote: “The Oakridge com-
munity knows well that the butte holds sacred cultural and
environmental significance, and its place at the heart of our
community should, by anyone in their right mind, disqualify
it for a loud, ugly, and dusty open-pit mine that our grandchil-
dren will have to face.”
Stop the quarry, they say, because “sustainable and re-
spectful ways of investing in Oakridge exist.”
Donovan says Old Hazeldell “worked really hard
to be very transparent” with the residents of Oakridge.
— Camilla Mortensen
CHAMBER PRESIDENT
REJECTS PUBLIC OUTCRY
TO SAVE KESEY SQUARE
Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce President Dave
Hauser recently weighed in on the future of Kesey Square in
his weekly email Feb. 5, “The Chamber Rundown,” to Cham-
ber members.
On Nov. 17, the Chamber voted to endorse the contro-
versial 2E Broadway proposal — the proposal to buy Kesey
Square and put an apartment building on it — when most citi-
zens were still wrapping their heads around the fact that Kesey
>>> CONTINUED ON P. 10
8
February 11, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com