LET TERS
INTENT VS. IMPACT
I was incorrectly identified last week
[Letters, 12/1], so I’d like to introduce
myself properly. My name is Ana: I’m a
queer, light-skinned Latina from a multi-
cultural family. I have a B.A. in Women’s
and Gender Studies from Willamette Uni-
versity. I was a campaign volunteer for
Hillary Clinton.
Because of my mishmash of identities,
I’m privileged in many areas, marginalized
in others. My goal as a feminist is to recog-
nize my privilege and use it to amplify the
voices of those who are not being heard.
I’ve made lots of mistakes, and some-
times I too feel defensive about being called
out. When this happens, I try to take a deep
breath, check my ego and listen. I also try
to do my own research, so people with mar-
ginalized identities don’t always need to do
the work of educating me. It’s hard work,
but I know I can’t continue to grow as an
activist if I don’t listen and learn.
I’d encourage anyone who is still con-
fused about blackface to Google the ques-
tion, “Is blackface ok?” There are countless
resources, many written by people of color,
detailing more extensively why blackface
is inappropriate and unacceptable.
I’d also encourage folks to think about
intent vs. impact. Imagine throwing a Fris-
bee around with friends in a crowded park.
If I make a bad throw and hit a stranger in
the head, it doesn’t matter to that person
that I wasn’t intending to hurt them. The
impact of my action was that they got hurt,
and I need to take responsibility, apolo-
gize, and make sure they’re ok.
To be honest, the number of letters de-
fending blackface as excusable has truly
frightened me. As a community, we need
to be able to recognize and call out racism,
especially our own.
Ana Sayavedra
Eugene
DOWN ON BROWN
I know nothing of Gov. Kate Brown’s
interior life, the experiences that helped
form her character and aided her in de-
veloping her internal standards. We judge
public servants by their proposals and their
actions.
Some of Brown’s past actions have
been disappointing to me: her complicity
in the sale of the Elliott State Forest and
the lessening of the protections for Oregon
wolves. Because of these actions, Brown
did not earn my vote this past election, al-
SHE WHO WATCHES
though I voted for every other Democratic
candidate on the national and state tickets.
Despite this past history, I was truly
stunned by her proposal to permanently
shut down the new state psychiatric hospi-
tal in Junction City, just recently opened, in
her proposed budget. What a rich resource
that hospital is, and what a long fight it was
to achieve it!
Brown says she prefers community-
based solutions, despite the fact that these
are presently overwhelmed by demand and
she allocates no funds to maintain or create
more of them. Isn’t this the same rhetoric
we heard from President Reagan, whose
national fiscal policies basically eliminated
these hospitals? He also preferred local so-
lutions and allocated no financial resources
to create them.
Again, as always it seems, the most
vulnerable among us are on the losing end
of these “very difficult” decisions. Perhaps
Brown should consult with some of the
families that have members with severe
mental disabilities and see what we think
about this proposal. We are the ones who
truly face daily difficult decisions.
James W. Luzzi
Eugene
SODOM AND ORLANDO
Seriously, one of the best letters EW re-
ceived in 2016 [“The Best Letters,” 12/1]
was from a small-minded bigot comparing
the mass shooting in Orlando to the story
of Sodom and Gomorrah, and drawing the
appropriate biblical conclusion? Or, rath-
er, is the inclusion of that letter how EW
proves to itself that it’s not just a blindly
ideological rag?
I’d be willing to bet the best letters the
EW receives are those that go unprinted
because they cut too close to the bone.
Bill Shaw
Eugene
EDITOR’S NOTE: We strive to print as many letters as
possible and run extras online. The “best” letter was the
rejoinder we ran right after that letter, headlined “Butt
Sex.”
POVERTY WAGES
Coming up on Monday, Dec. 12, the Eu-
gene City Council is scheduled to discuss
the value of providing a minimum wage
for city employees and contract workers
who provide city service for us. We cur-
rently have more than 700 employees who
earn less than $15 an hour, which in a num-
ber of cases makes them eligible for food
stamps. We are currently paying wages to
B Y K AY L A G O D O W A T U F T I
TV Butte Update
TRIBES HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE RESPONDS
E
d King of King Estate Winery created a
mining company called the Old Hazeldell
Quarry (OHQ) Project. East of Eugene in
Oakridge, King and cohorts have applied
to rezone 46 acres of forestland to quarry
through Lane County. The quarry site is known as TV
Butte and is proposed to be active for 50 years, extract-
ing 17 million tons of andesite rock.
Spokesman Phil Donovan of OHQ claims that “if
approved, OHQ will be able to provide up to 17 mil-
lion tons of high-quality rock to be used in building
roads, bridges and homes in Lane County and be-
yond.” Exact use for the rock has not been confirmed.
TV Butte on Dunning Road is part of an ancient
Molalla village site. TV butte is within the “Usual
and Accustomed Places” of the 1855 Treaty with the
Tribes of Middle Oregon.
Article VI of the United States Constitution states
that “all treaties made, or which shall be made, under
the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme
law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be
bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of
any State to the contrary notwithstanding.”
A treaty is a legal agreement between nations; it is
international law — not domestic.
Treaties are international legal agreements that only
sovereign nations, such as the Confederated Tribes of
Warm Springs of Oregon, who are signers, can invoke.
Tribal sovereignty is at the core of the TV Butte quarry
proposal.
The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs of Or-
egon Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO)
submitted a Nov. 3 letter to Deanna Wright, associate
planner of the Lane County Land Management Divi-
sion, who is responsible for testimony and documenta-
4
December 8, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com
tion regarding the land use change.
The letter says: “This proposed change falls within
the Usual and Accustomed Lands of the Confederated
Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the
CTWSRO has a direct interest in any project activi-
ties. The CTWSRO have reserved treaty rights in the
management of these lands, as well as Ceded Lands,
as set forth through the Treaty with the Middle Tribes
of Oregon, 1855, and the ‘reserved rights doctrine.’”
The letter continues: “Of specific concern are In-
dian burials potentially located near the old Charlie
Tufti homestead. The THPO recognizes oral history
equally as valuable as results of archaeological survey
or archival research in identifying historical land use.
Indeed, oral history often sheds light on historical use
when survey and other methods cannot. The THPO
does not advocate any disturbance of burials, even in-
advertently, if the knowledge exists that they may be
present.”
At the last public hearing Oct. 12 in Oakridge,
Rick Minor of Heritage Research Associates (HRA)
presented a testimony attempting to debunk and dis-
miss evidence of tribal occupancy at TV Butte. Minor
teaches in Historical Preservation at University of Or-
egon.
Heritage Research Associates, located in Eugene, is
represented by Minor, Linda Hart and Kathryn Toepel.
HRA has been hired by OHQ to submit an archaeo-
logical report to assist in rezoning the butte. HRA’s
report was unsubstantial and dismissive of Molalla
tribal testimony and historical occupancy at TV butte.
The report did not include anthropological or eth-
nographic aspects that are extremely important to
tribes. Most importantly, burial sites located within the
impact zone and potentially the quarry site were not
properly addressed.
The Warm Springs Tribal Historic Preservation
Office knows there are seven tribal burial sites within
the quarry impact zone. There may be more within the
proposed site. And the superficial pedestrian survey
conducted by Minor was inconclusive.
The Lane County Commission and Lane County
government, who are currently overseeing the appli-
cation, have failed to take the concerns of our tribe
seriously.
At the last public hearing on the issues, Kevin Mat-
thews, past candidate for East Lane County commis-
sioner, told the commission: “The Goal 5 process has
been rigged for sand and gravel over generations of
conservative commissioners who get majority of their
campaign contributions from the sand, gravel and tim-
ber industry.”
He continued: “They’ve rigged the system. For
Goal 5 resources like wildlife, rivers and fish, like wet-
lands and scenic areas. Parvin Butte. TV Butte. Those
resources only count once they’re in an inventory.”
And finally: “Lane County has used every loop-
hole in the book to essentially not have an inventory
for those resources. There’s supposed to be natural
resource inventory in place. Which Lane County has
never done. They don’t want you to know about it.
They’re going to say we only have narrow criteria we
can decide on. Because for decades, they’ve set it up
that way,” Matthews said.
The Lane County Commissioners will hold a third
deliberation Dec 13 at 1:30 pm, Harris Hall in Eugene.
Please join us.
Kayla Godowa Tufti is a member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm
Springs and descendant of the Klamath Tribes. She is a writer, lyricist and
Indigenous rights advocate.