BY CORINNE BOYER
• Oakridge area residents against the
proposed Old Hazeldell gravel quarry at TV
Butte on the edge of the town will hold a
rally on Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza,
noon Tuesday, Dec 13, before packing into
Harris Hall, where the Lane County
Commissioners will be reading and
discussing the proposal, rally organizers
say. For the quarry proposal to move
forward, the commissioners must decide
to rezone the property from forestland to
rock and gravel. The Coalition to Save TV
Butte asserts that the blasting and
crushing will put silica (volcanic glass)
slivers into the air, threaten water quality,
and threaten a native heritage site and
wildlife, while the heavy truck traffic will
conflict with a major-use mountain bike
route.
• Cascadia Wildlands’ 14th Annual
Wonderland Auction, is 6 to 10 pm
Saturday, Dec. 10. The event includes a
gourmet dinner by Lane Community
College’s catering, dessert from Coconut
Bliss and Vanilla Jill’s, locally brewed beer
from Ninkasi and others, wine from Opine
Cellars, cider from WildCraft Cider Works,
and live jazz by the Red Pants Trio, Cascadia
Wilands says. Eugene-made Elevate
Kombucha will be available on tap during
the event. “Live and silent auctions will
feature extraordinary getaways in all
corners of Cascadia, unforgettable outdoor
adventures, recreation gear, fine jewelry,
wine packages and a whole lot more.” For
more, go to cascwild.org.
CITY OF EUGENE
HUMAN RIGHTS
COMMISSION
DRAFTS
‘SANCTUARY CITY’
RESOLUTION
P
• Lane County letter carriers and
FOOD for Lane County food drive is
Saturday, Dec. 10. To participate, use a
plastic or reuseable bag to leave a donation
of canned or packaged food by your
mailbox on Dec. 10. Your letter carrier will
pick it up, FOOD for Lane County says. For a
list of the most-wanted foods, go to
foodforlanecounty.org and click on “donate
food.” On Dec. 3, 52,618 pounds were
collected. The goal is 100,000 pounds.
• The Sponsors’ Women’s Program will
accept a gift of $4,500 from 100+ Women
Who Care. The event is 5:30 pm at Bothy
Cottage at the downtown campus, 767 W.
8th Avenue, Monday, Dec. 12. 100+
Women Who Care is a group of local women
that selects a local nonprofit organization
each quarter, and each member writes a
$100 check to this charity. The gift will be
accepted by Executive Director Paul
Solomon, Women’s Program Director Joan
Quaempts and board member Trina
Kanewa. There will be refreshments and an
open house and tour of Bothy Cottage.
RSVP to Quaempts at quaempts@
sponsorsinc.org or 541-505-5691.
CLARIFICATION/
CORRECTION
In our Slant last week celebrating the
Whiteaker Community Dinner we wrote
about the long tables that spanned the
Whiteaker Community Center cafeteria.
The tables in fact spanned the Whiteaker
Head Start School gymnasium. Whoops,
we regret the error but still loved the event!
8
eople filled chairs, lined walls and sat on the floor for the
duration of the special meeting of the city of Eugene Hu-
man Rights Commission (HRC) on Monday, Dec. 5. Pro-
fessors, public school teachers, community members and
activists were vocal in their concerns for undocumented
people in their communities, classrooms and schools.
The special meeting was held in response to a large turnout at
the commission’s November meeting to hear from the public and to
discuss the designation of Eugene as a sanctuary city in the wake of
the discriminatory language and anti-immigration fear tactics that
marked President-elect Donald Trump’s bid for the White House.
Around 100 people attended the November meeting and several
testified in favor of a resolution and an ordinance, according to
commissioner and co-chair Ken Neubeck.
The sanctuary city resolution draft declares: “The city of Eu-
gene be a sanctuary city that protects the civil and human rights of
its residents regardless of their immigration status, national origin,
race, ethnicity or religion.”
Based on those criteria, city offices, resources and funds, which
includes the Eugene Police Department, would be barred from
providing federal agencies with a registry or maintaining a list or
surveillance of city residents based on political views or social ac-
tivities.
December 8, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com
Before roughly 40 people spoke at Monday’s meeting, Neu-
beck reminded the audience that the proposal would not expand
anyone’s rights or provide anyone with special rights. Immigration
enforcement is carried out by the federal government and Oregon
law 181A.250 forbids law enforcement from collecting or main-
taining specific information related to the “political, religious or
social views” of individuals, groups, businesses, corporations or
other organizations unless it pertains to a criminal investigation.
Furthermore, ORS 181A.82 states that no Oregon law enforce-
ment agency can use moneys or resources to apprehend anyone
“whose only violation of law” is being “present in the United
States in violation of federal immigration laws.”
Public comments ranged from condemning white supremacist
beliefs that threaten the mental health and safety of minorities to a
reverend speaking on behalf of protecting the unhoused. Carmen
Urbina, who has long worked with the local Latino/a community,
became emotional as she recalled speaking to mothers about their
concerns and “beautiful white babies attacking beautiful brown
babies.”
Members and activists of the LGBTQ communities reiterated
discrimination fears felt by non-gender-conforming persons. Sev-
eral people suggested adding and including sexual orientation lan-
guage to the resolution.
Former HRC member Phil Carrasco organized individuals and
community groups for the special meeting to aid in passage of the
resolution, which had been drafted by a workgroup of HRC and
community members.
The resolution and the ordinance passed unanimously. Neubeck
says the soonest the resolution would go before the Eugene City
Council would be Dec. 12, but the earliest date for a public hear-
ing on the ordinance declaring Eugene a sanctuary city would be
Jan. 17, 2017. He’s confident the ordinance will be passed, but not
before Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
Several people urged attendees to write letters to the editors of
Eugene publications. “Clearly the community is moved and upset
with what is being stated about the deporting of undocumented im-
migrants and also providing sort of a registry of Muslim residents
whether they’re immigrants or not doesn’t seem to make any dif-
ference,” Neubeck says.
He adds: “It’s going to be very important that people continue
to come out to public comment before the City Council so the
City Council can see the range of depth of sentiment. They want
to know who wants this; they want to see that it’s people from all
over the community.”
HAPPENING
HISTORY
BY HEATHER KLIEVER
RAZING THE OLD TO RAISE THE NEW…
This image is from the 1959 dedication
ceremony of the current Lane County Courthouse
located at 125 E. 8th Ave. Linda Revell Martin holds
a copy of the dedication ceremony program with a
photo of 1898 county courthouse. The 1898
courthouse replaced the wooden 1855 courthouse,
which also stood at the corner of 8th and Oak.
Heather Kliever is curator of education at the Lane County His-
torical Society.