BY CAMILLA MORTENSEN
NATIVE AMERICAN ACTIVIST GRABBED BY
LAW ENFORCEMENT DURING PUBLIC TESTIMONY
A
s a Native American activist testi-
fied against a proposed gravel mine
in Oakridge at an Oct. 12 Lane
County Board of Commissioners
meeting, a plainclothes law enforce-
ment officer walked up, took her by the wrists
and began placing her arms behind her back.
Commission Vice Chair Pat Farr, who
stopped the officer, later called the incident a
learning experience in terms of cultural sensi-
tivity and discrimination.
Warm Springs tribe member Kayla Go-
dowa Tufti, who is also a freelance opinion
columnist for Eugene Weekly, says she was
testifying at the meeting at Oakridge High
School for herself and on behalf of her 1-year-
old daughter whose future would be affected
by the mining on TV Butte on the outskirts of Oakridge.
The County Commission will decide whether the land will
be rezoned from forest to quarry.
The proposed quarry mine, called Old Hazeldell, is a proj-
ect of Ed King of King Estate Winery and bills itself as en-
vironmentally responsible on its website. Opponents of the
mine question not only its sustainability but also its affect on
neighbors, through dust, noise, trucks on the road and more.
Godowa Tufti of the Warm Springs tribe is concerned about
the mine destroying Native American cultural resources.
Godowa Tufti signed up to testify against the mine
and also signed up on behalf of her daughter. In her own
testimony she discussed her family’s long history in the
area, and the historic use of the area by the Chakgeenkni-
Tufti band of Molalla Indians, who were among those who
gathered foods such as camas, elk and huckleberries and
camped at TV Butte.
Then when the next person was called, Godowa Tufti
stayed at the podium and explained she was testifying for
her daughter, J.C., who she said would be most affected by
the proposed mine over the course of its 50-year existence.
Commissioner Chair Faye Stewart responded, “A
1-year-old give testimony?” And he told her she was wel-
AN OAKRIDGE POLICE OFFICER GRABS KAYLA GODOWA TUFTI
come to turn the comments in later. Godowa Tufti began
reading.
As she read, a plainclothes officer walked up to the po-
dium and reached for the paper Godowa Tufti was reading
from. Video of the incident shows her politely requesting
that he not touch her things. He then moved behind her and
began to place her arms behind her back. As she continued
to read, Farr walked up and had the officer desist.
“The tactics used only escalate a situation and make it
unsafe for tribal people to testify publicly,” Godowa Tufti
says. “But I do hope this incident will give us an oppor-
tunity to discuss the abuse of power taking place in local
government and law enforcement.” She points out that
“what happened was a violation of civil liberties. This cre-
ates an unsafe space for tribal people, families of color or
families in general.”
Warm Springs Tribal Council member Carina Miller
testified next, saying she was shocked at the officer laying
his hands on a native woman. She refuted the testimony
of the cultural historians hired by the mine and called the
research “dehumanizing.” It was inappropriate for a non-
native expert to tell native people who are the descendants
of local tribes that they did not exist on the butte, she said.
Farr tells EW that it is standard to have law en-
forcement at County Commission meetings and
when the meeting takes place in another city, like
Oakridge, instead of its usual downtown Eugene
location, the board uses local law enforcement.
Commissioner Stewart responded in a state-
ment via Lane County Spokeswoman Devon
Ashbridge: “We regret that Ms. Godowa Tufti’s
testimony was interrupted in a manner that was
upsetting and could certainly be interpreted as
disrespectful.” And the statement says both Farr
and Stewart sought Godowa Tufti out after the
hearing to apologize.
The statement also says that the Oakridge of-
ficer responded when “Godowa Tufti declined to
follow the established rules of the public hearing,
which allows speakers each one three-minute
comment period, by signing up to make a second, separate
comment — which no other attendees were allowed to do.”
Quarry spokesman Phil Donovan says, “I think Commis-
sioner Farr nicely defused an awkward moment by instruct-
ing the officer to allow her to finish her testimony.”
Farr says the incident was a learning experience for him,
and, “When a person is discriminated against only they truly
know how it feels.”
Kevin Matthews, who previously ran against Stewart for
his commission seat, also referenced the incident in his re-
marks and later told EW, “I’ve probably been to something
like a hundred public hearings in Oregon over the last 20
years, and I’ve never seen anything remotely like what was
done to a Native American woman at the county commis-
sioners’ hearing in Oakridge.”
He adds, “It’s a shocking level of double standard for
a strip-mine opponent at the podium to be grabbed and re-
strained for handcuffing, for talking a little more than her
allotted three minutes, when the strip-mine applicant had
already gone on for some two hours, more than an hour over
their stated time.”
Written comment can be submitted on the proposed rezoning until Nov. 1. Send
to Deanna.Wright@co.lane.or.us.
HAPPENING PEOPLE
SARA BILLDT
Born in Sonora, California, to a Native American mother
and a European-American dad, Sara Billdt grew up in
several small towns in the Sierra foothills. After her parents
divorced, she and her father, Luther Billdt, moved to
Phoenix, Oregon, near Medford. “My father sold cars,” she
says. “We were poor, but we had everything we needed.”
After high school graduation in 2003, she and her father
moved to Eugene, where he has retired. She held a series of
food service jobs and began to sing and play guitar on open
mic nights at Cafe Paradiso. “My dad played guitar
professionally in the ’60s and ’70s,” she notes. More
recently, she got into bartending, first at Cowfish Dance
Club, and now in her third year at Blairally Vintage Arcade. “I
feel that I’ve found my place,” says Billdt, who also performs
8
October 27, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com
BY PAUL NEEVEL
on guitar and vocals with local rock band Coyote. “We
usually have a show once a month.” Late last summer, as
she learned of indigenous peoples’ pipeline protest in
North Dakota, Billdt was moved to action. She created the
Facebook group “Eugene Stands with Standing Rock” Sept.
4. A week later, she was on the road to North Dakota with
two carloads of donated camping gear, along with her new
Facebook friend Meesha Goldberg and her 68-year-old
mom, Nellie Wooldridge, who had driven up from Sonora. “It
was an amazing experience,” she says. “I’ll never forget the
smell of campfire smoke, sage and sweetgrass.” Following
a fundraiser at Blairally last weekend, Billdt and Goldberg
are planning another supply run to Standing Rock in
December. They hope to stay for a month, camping in the
cold Dakota winter.