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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 2016)
BY MIKE BIVINS • A fundraiser for Emily Semple, candidate for Ward 1 Eugene City Councilor, is at Tsunami Books, 2585 Willamette Street. The event will be from 5:30 to 8:30 pm Thursday, Sept. 19. “There will be good talk and good music,” organizers say. • There will be a Stop Hate Now! rally 5:30 pm Sept. 29 at Willamalane Park, 1276 G Street in Springfield with speakers, spoken word, songs and chants. “The rally is in reaction to increasing levels of racist, xenophobic, homophobic, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic and classist activity happening in Lane County,” the Community Alliance of Lane County says. “There have been more Confederate flags seen in the area, vandalism targeting Asian owned businesses, a truck driving around with neo-Nazi and white supremacist messages on it and more.” For more information contact CALC at 541-485-1755 or calcb2b@gmail.com. • The Eugene Police Department says 10 am to 2 pm Saturday, Oct. 1, is the 2nd annual Stuff the Cruiser at Home Depot on Green Acres Road. People are encouraged to come out and bring new, unwrapped toys for the Children’s Miracle Network, which is a PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center Foundation program, EPD says. The toys go to Sacred Heart’s pediatric units at RiverBend. “Every time a child is admitted, or comes in for surgery, a procedure or even an MRI, they are given a toy to ease their nerves about being in the hospital,” EPD says. At the same time, Home Depot is hosting a Safety Day where kids can build a firetruck craft, climb in an ambulance, sit in the driver’s seat of a firetruck and look at classic cars and motorcycles. • Willamette Riverkeeper’s Great Willamette Clean Up is 8 am to 1 pm Saturday, Oct. 1. Locations include Maurie Jacobs Park, Alton Baker Park, Springfield’s Island Park, Peoria Park in Corvallis and more. Some locations require a boat, others are on land. Go to goo. gl/G7GP5A or Willamette-Riverkeeper.org for more info and to register. • The Slow Way Home documentary and panel discussion is a benefit for Eugene-Springfield Safe Routes to Schools and takes place 6 pm Monday, Oct. 3, at Roosevelt Middle School, 680 E. 24th Avenue. Organizers say, “This event is free and we are asking that you support our work to increase the number of kids who can safely walk or roll to school by giving as you can.” To RSVP, find the Slow Way Home event page on Facebook. • The Fall 350 Eugene Meetup is 7 pm Wednesday, Oct. 5, at the First United Methodist Church, 1376 Olive in Eugene. Topics include: No Dakota Access pipeline, no LNG pipeline, no bomb trains, DivestUO, Eugene’s climate recovery ordinance, Oregon climate legislation, electing climate champions and no TPP. Go to world.350. org/Eugene or facebook.com/350EUG for more info. • White Bird has offered temporary housing to the Occupy Medical clinic, OM clinic manager Sue Sierralupe tells EW. Starting in October, White Bird is allowing Occupy Medical to share free healthcare from its building at 509 E. 13th Avenue. “This is a temporary loan but a huge gift to a group of volunteers used to providing care in freezing weather,” Sierralupe says, adding, “This is deep level activism.” Occupy Medical serves healthcare as a human right every Sunday from noon to 4 pm, usually located at the downtown Park Blocks. POLLUTION UPDATE The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) sent Pacific Sea Food Co. Inc. (doing business as Pacific Shrimp, Inc.) a pre-enforcement notice on Sept. 6 for violating its Clean Water Act permit by discharging pollution to Yaquina Bay in Newport in excess of permit limits in June. DEQ fined Pacific Sea Food $17,800 in October 2015 for similar violations at multiple facilities in Newport; however, it appears that DEQ entered into a settlement with Pacific Sea Food that allowed Pacific Sea Food to pay just $3,560 of that fine. Doug Quirke/Oregon Clean Water Action Project 8 September 29, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com GUN ADVOCATES PREPARE TO BURN AN EFFIGY OF GOV. KATE BROWN IN SALEM PHOTO: MIKE BIVINS GUN PROTESTERS AT THE CAPITOL BURN GOVERNOR’S EFFIGY O n Friday, Sept. 23, dozens of gun-rights advocates rallied at the Oregon State Capitol, bringing with them not just an arsenal of guns but also an effigy of Gov. Kate Brown that was hung and burned on the steps of the Capitol. The open-carry protesters took issue with Brown’s Ex- ecutive Order 16-12, which strengthens existing gun laws, as well as her intentions to bring forth legislation in 2017 to close several Oregon gun ownership loopholes. Casey Runyan, listed on the protest’s Facebook event page as an organizer, says he and his fellow protesters “are in opposition to Kate Brown’s policies” and that “it doesn’t matter if there’s another Orlando shooting. It doesn’t matter if there’s another Sandy Hook. It doesn’t matter if there is any other kind of mass shooting — our right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” During the protest, multiple groups went inside the Capi- tol while open carrying various sidearms and high-powered rifles. Most of the protesters entering the Capitol showed Oregon State Police their concealed handgun licenses (CHL) and then shook hands with the officers. However, Runyan did not comply and refused to show the troopers a CHL and proceeded to rove around the halls of the building — eventually tracking down and talking with state legislators Andy Olsen and John Davis. Troop- ers were seemingly everywhere as the open-carry protesters scoured the building for elected officials. Runyan was never arrested or asked to leave the build- ing. Later, Bill Fugate, state police public information offi- cer, told EW that Runyan is well known to them as a person with a CHL so they didn’t press the issue. A CHL is required for those who wish to open carry a gun in a public building. Runyan, who unsuccessfully ran for state representative in Oregon’s House District 9 in 2014, also says that regard- less of the crime committed, if someone is safe enough to be released from prison, they are safe enough to own a gun. Runyan would not comment on the effigy burning. Republicans pulled their support from Runyan in 2014 after it was revealed he was convicted of drunk driving and felony assault in Michigan in 2004. According to news re- ports at that time, he has since been allowed to own guns after filing a petition for relief under the law, despite the felony. The Oregonian reported that Brown’s office “con- demned” the burning later that day. Hours after the effigy burning, Ceasefire Oregon put out a press release saying it “condemns today’s reprehen- sible action by gun extremists directed toward Gov. Kate Brown.” Ceasefire Oregon’s Executive Director Penny Okamoto says, “We very much support the action Gov. Brown is taking.” Okamoto adds that “it’s not right” that a person can bring a loaded AK-47 into the Capitol but not a sign. Likewise, State Rep. Val Hoyle says she supports Execu- tive Order 16-12, as well as Brown’s intentions to close gun ownership loopholes. She also says the burning of Brown’s effigy was “very depressing,” and adds that Brown’s actions are about gun safety and not gun control. Eugene’s Mayor Kitty Piercy also says she is supportive of Brown’s efforts to reform Oregon’s gun laws. Regarding the open-carry protest, Piercy says she doesn’t understand “why anyone needs or wants to open carry.” An effigy of then-Secretary of State Brown was also burned in 2013 by environmentalists at a party commenting on the Oregon State Land Board’s logging policies along with an effigy of then-Gov. John Kitzhaber. But this past Friday’s burning possibly points to some- thing more sinister, as the effigy’s sign bore the cattle brand of infamous Malheur Wildlife Refuge occupier Robert “La- Voy” Finicum, along with a nod to Sen. Ron Wyden’s com- ment to the media after Finicum was killed that the occupa- tion was “a situation where the virus was spreading.”
