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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 4, 2016)
NEWS BY AMY KLARUP COMMUNITY MEMBERS SUPPORT MEA- SURE 97 IN HOPE OF FUNDING SCHOOLS N ow that Measure 97, formerly Initiative Petition 28, has officially qualified for the November ballot, op- ponents are rallying the troops to fight the tax on cor- porate sales by raking in donations from corporations, with more than $5 million in contributions already. Although the big names — Target, Geico, Costco, Wells Fargo, Gap — are against Measure 97, which proposes tax- ing corporations with annual Oregon sales of more than $25 million in order to fund schools and other public services, not every business owner has it out for the measure. A number of local businesses and community members support it. Passionflower, Capella Market, Palo Alto Software, Voo- doo Doughnut and Falling Sky Brewing count themselves as proponents of the measure. Rob Cohen, co-owner of Falling Sky Brewing, says Or- egon schools are in desperate need of funding, and Measure 97 can help. “As a business person, it’s so clear that when you invest in kids and education, you get an amazing return on your invest- ment through better citizens and better workers,” Cohen says. “It’s a no-brainer to me.” Cohen’s son started kindergarten with a class size of 35 students last year, and Cohen says he’s worried his son will learn to dislike school if his class sizes continue to balloon. “I’m a small business owner, and I have a bunch of em- ployees with kids in school. We all bear the burden of trying to educate our kids by volunteering and spending our time trying to shore up this broken system,” he says. “It’s not sus- tainable.” Cohen disputes assertions that the measure is regressive, and he says any measure involving revenue would elicit criti- cism from those paying the tax, no matter its structure. He points to studies that show large companies price regionally, not state by state. “There’s nothing more regressive than not educating kids,” Cohen says, adding that some industries in Oregon have a difficult time attracting employees because Oregon’s school system lacks funding, and in-demand workers don’t want their children going to Oregon schools. “It’s not good for business when we can’t bring talent to the state,” Cohen says. Eileen Nittler, a Eugene 4J school board member, says the entire future of Oregon is at stake if the state can’t find a way to properly educate its future workers. Nittler supports Measure 97, she says, but as an individual, not as a member of the school board, which has not yet taken a position on the measure. Nittler says the school board will discuss endorsements once board meetings resume in August. “We are failing the future of Oregon,” Nittler says. “That sounds so apocalyptic, but I’ve had four kids in public educa- tion in Oregon, and it’s not what it needs to be for our kids.” Nittler says the state must prioritize school funding, re- gardless of the outcome of Measure 97, and she’d like to see an amendment to the Oregon Constitution mandating the state to fund schools to the level recommended by Oregon’s Qual- ity Education Model. Right now, the model shows a yearly $1 billion gap in school funding. “If we change our priorities, the conversation around tax reforms will follow,” Nittler says. She says the tax isn’t perfect, but “we don’t have the luxu- ry of arguing over whether our Pop-Tarts might go up a dime. We’re beyond that.” BY PAUL NEEVEL HAPPENING PEOPLE DAVID ROSEN A physician, a psychiatrist and a Jungian analyst, Dr. David Rosen spent 25 years in College Station, Texas, where he held the McMillan Professorship in Analytical Psychology at Texas A&M University. When he retired in 2011, Rosen moved to Eugene, a city he had first visited six years earlier. “I house sat for someone on Crest Drive and worked on a book,” he explains. “I enjoyed Eugene.” Rosen has had more than a dozen books published. His 1993 volume, Transforming Depression: Healing the Soul through Creativity, documents a long-term research project sparked by his interviews with Golden Gate Bridge suicide- attempt survivors in the mid-1970s and offers a therapeutic approach that engages the patient’s creativity. His most recent book, published this year, is Spelunking Through Life, a collection of 30 haikus, illustrated by Diane Katz. He is currently working on his first novella, a work of historical fiction about Lane County’s enigmatic Opal Whiteley, whose childhood nature diary became a national bestseller in the early 1900s. As a member of the Pacific Northwest Society of Jungian Analysts, he also still sees patients. “People always said I was funny,” says Rosen, who no longer has a convenient captive audience in a classroom. “I like to tell stories and jokes. When I retired, I got up the nerve to do standup comedy.” Rosen will appear in the guise of Singing Senior Comedian Dr. Nada for open mic comedy night in the Green Room at Doc’s Pad, 710 Willamette Street, between 9 pm and midnight on Thursday, Aug. 11. Dr. Nada warns that the current political situation will be the theme of his presentation. • A Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration honoring those who died when the U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is 7:30 pm Saturday, Aug. 6, at Alton Baker Park’s small shelter, near the duck pond and park entrance. There will be a talk by Mayor Kitty Piercy, drumming by Eugene Taiko, traditional Japanese Obon dancing and music by the Yujin Gakuen Children’s Peace Choir. The event will close at dusk with the floating of candle lanterns on the duck pond while Koto master Mitsuki Dazai plays traditional Japanese music. Contact: Michael Carrigan at CALC, 541-485-1755 or calcpeace@efn.org. • The Third Annual Interfaith Peace Walk is 6 to 8 pm Sunday, Aug. 7, in Springfield. Meet at the Ebbert United Methodist Church Community Garden at 6th and D Street, walk to the fountain at Springfield City Hall and end at The Learning Garden at Brattain on C Street for refreshments. Organizers say, “The purpose of this walk is to forge relationships and understanding through the sharing of personal stories. Opportunities will abound for prayer/reflection, getting to know each other and participating in planting goodwill. People of all ages, faiths and backgrounds are invited to join in this walk for peace in our hearts and world. While differences between us are real, we all share a common humanity and need to care for our planet.” For more information call 541-603-8706. • The Lane County Equity and Access Advisory Board extends membership application deadline to 5 pm Aug. 19. This board was created in April to guide and advise the county administrator on “policies and practices surrounding equity, inclusion and access in both internal and external matters,” Lane County says. And the board “is interested in having diverse representation that includes people of different racial and/or ethnic backgrounds, identities, abilities and perspectives.” Members must live within the county. Applications are available online at lanecounty.org/volunteer and in the Board of Commissioners Office located at the Lane County Public Service Building, 125 E. 8th Avenue, or email equity@co.lane.or.us POLLUTION UPDATE On July 26, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) fined Jason and Rachel Shannon $15,885 for illegally discharging sewage to the ground at their property on East Bolton Road in Veneta. DEQ also issued an order to the Shannons requiring them to connect to the city of Veneta’s sewer system by Aug. 31; to decommission their failing septic system within 10 days of connecting to the city system; and to immediately enter into a contract to have their septic tank pumped regularly until their system is decommissioned “in order to prevent further discharge of sewage to the ground.” DEQ’s notice to the Shannons notes the public health hazard posed by sewage. On July 25, DEQ fined Massachusetts-based Hollingsworth & Vose Fiber Company $2,600 for discharging almost 7,000 pounds more pollution to the Willamette River from its Corvallis plant than it is permitted to discharge in January 2015. Hollingsworth & Vose’s discharges of pollution to the Willamette take place pursuant to a Clean Water Act permit that DEQ issued to its predecessor, Evanite Fiber, in August of 2003. This permit expired over eight years ago. It’s also not clear why it took DEQ over a year and a half to fine Hollingsworth & Vose for the January 2015 violations. Doug Quirke/Oregon Clean Water Action Project eugeneweekly.com • A ugust 4, 2016 9
