BY CORINNE BOYER
EW runs “Activist Alert” in our pages and online as
often as space allows and events demand. Wondering
what you can do to battle the evils and insecurities of a
Trump administration? Activist Alert is a list of the actions
people around Lane County are undertaking to make the
world a better place. Send events to editor@eugeneweekly.
com with Activist Alert in the subject line.
• Congressman Peter DeFazio is holding community
forums 10:30 am Saturday, Feb. 25, at Lane Community
College’s gym in Bldg. 5 and at 2:30 pm at the LaSells
Stewart Center at OSU in Corvallis. After the Eugene forum
ends at noon, DeFazio will join Sen. Jeff Merkley for a rally
to save health care at noon, also at LCC.
• Joe Cirincione, president of the global security
foundation Ploughshares Fund and author of Nuclear
Nightmares: Securing the World Before it is Too Late will
speak about “Nuclear Policy in the Trump Administration:
Real Dangers, Real Possibilities,” via Skype 4 pm Sunday,
Feb. 26, in Rm. 145 Straub Hall, 15th and Onyx, on the UO
campus. For more information: CALC at 541-485-1755 or
calclane.org. For more background on the issue read an
onine viewpoint, “Nuclear issues in the time of Trump,” at
eugeneweekly.com.
• “In an effort to build a network of activists working in
solidarity,” the group Disrupt Eugene says it is “hosting a
general assembly (GA) with the focus of forming a group
that can effectively organize against the current political
climate threatening so many.” The GA is 4 pm to 6 pm
Sunday, Feb. 26 at Whirled Pies, 199 W. 8th Avenue.
• Conservation group Oregon Wild is holding an Oregon
Wild Ones Advocacy Training 6:30 pm Tuesday, Feb. 28, at
Claim 52 Brewing, 1030 Tyinn Street, Suite 1. Chandra
LeGue of Oregon Wild says, “The Oregon Wild Ones
advocacy training program is all about giving people who
want to learn how to be more engaged and effective in
advocating for Oregon’s wildlands, wildlife and waters, the
skills they need to do so.” The trainings address letter
writing, giving public testimony and using social media. An
RSVP is requested at oregonwild.org/events, or call 541-
344-0675 for more info.
POLLUTION UPDATE
Cottage Grove Fined for Violating Clean Water Act
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
(DEQ) recently fined the city of Cottage Grove $4,500 for
Clean Water Act violations committed in the city’s operation
of its wastewater treatment plant, which is located along
the Coast Fork Willamette River on North Douglas Avenue.
Specifically, the city discharged high temperature effluent
to the river on multiple occasions in June; applied “recycled
water” that was high in bacteria to land on multiple
occasions in July; and was late in submitting annual
reports to DEQ for 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. The
city’s Clean Water Act permit expired in 2014 (see story in
news this issue), however DEQ allows the city to continue
discharging to the river pursuant to the terms of the
expired permit.
Doug Quirke/Oregon Clean Water Action Project
8
February 23, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com
RON WYDEN HOSTS TOWN HALL,
ADDRESSES PROBLEMS WITHIN THE
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
O
regon’s U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden entered a crowded
Lane Community College gymnasium Feb. 19
with the statement that “no topic is off limits.” He
was met with loud applause and cheering from
the packed town hall meeting.
An estimated 1,500 people showed up at LCC on Sun-
day afternoon. Since the inauguration, thousands of peo-
ple in the Eugene community have shown up to protests,
marches and activism workshops to denounce recent ac-
tions taken by President Donald Trump.
Wyden, a Democrat who has held the senate seat since
1996, is hosting town halls across the state through the
end of the week. He took more than a dozen questions in
an hour and addressed a plethora of concerns voiced by
attendees, ranging from the role of big money in politics
to what Wyden is doing to protect democracy under the
Trump administration.
With regard to “dark money” — large sums of money
spent anonymously in political campaigns — Wyden said
that “Citizens United is an abomination.” He added that
he voted for a constitutional amendment to limit campaign
spending.
“We’re going to have to address a whole host of issues
relating to opening up democracy,” Wyden said of the
Trump administration. He told the crowd that he doesn’t
believe 3 million people voted illegally, saying there’s
“zero evidence” supporting the president’s claim.
Wyden addressed the president’s treatment of the press.
“A lot of publications are looking at how this adminis-
tration is fighting leakers, when they are really objecting to
people writing things they don’t like,” he said. “Censorship
is a problem, and self-censorship is going to be a problem.”
In a recent press conference, Trump confirmed his ad-
ministration’s leaks were real, but nonetheless called the
news about them fake news.
Speaking to Eugene Weekly later by phone, Wyden ad-
dressed censorship. “I’m going to use all of the tools at
my disposal starting with being the co-chair for the Whis-
tleblower [Protection] Caucus to look for ways to protect
those who are speaking out.”
When asked about the Trump administration’s attacks
on the media, threats to civil liberties, a travel ban and
whether Trump’s administration and its actions are rep-
resentative of a democracy, Wyden said, “Well, look, the
president won the election.”
He continued: “What I’m saying now is political change
is not top-down — it doesn’t start in Washington D.C. and
trickle down to the grassroots. It’s bottom up as people be-
gin speaking up.”
The fact that thousands of people have begun showing
up at town halls and becoming involved “is what the found-
ing fathers wanted government to look like,” he added.
Russian ties to the Trump administration and the U.S.
election came up several times during the town hall. Wyden
told the crowd that “we are headed toward a special pros-
ecutor” to investigate the administration’s ties to Russia.
About the Russian investigation, Wyden later told EW,
“We’ve asked for [U.S. Attorney General] Jeff Sessions to
recuse himself, and we’ll have to see what he says.”
The final question during the town hall meeting was
asked after members of the crowd began chanting “Immi-
gration!”
“I’m a first-generation Jewish kid,” Wyden said. “I
think we ought to start by saying we are a nation of immi-
grants.” Wyden’s father escaped from Nazi Germany and
the senator lost family members in the Holocaust.
He said the debate over immigration has gotten bizarre.
“These thinly veiled religious tests are unconstitutional.”
When asked about Trump’s latest failure to denounce
anti-Semitism at a press conference last week, Wyden re-
sponded by calling it “troubling” and said that, in reality,
“all discrimination is very troubling.”
The senator said that the reluctance to mention the Ho-
locaust “is getting to be a pattern. I think that Americans in-
creasingly are going to be speaking out against these kinds
of policies. That’s why they are coming to these meetings.”
On Tuesday, Feb. 21, Trump made his first comments
addressing anti-Semitism threats, calling them “horrible”
and “painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still
must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil,” ac-
cording to Reuters.
A list of Wyden’s statewide town halls is at wyden.senate.gov. Congressman Pe-
ter DeFazio is holding community forums 10:30 am Saturday, Feb. 25, at Lane
Community College’s gym in building 5 and at 2:30 pm at the LaSells Stewart
Center at OSU in Corvallis. After the Eugene forum ends at noon, DeFazio
will join Sen. Jeff Merkley for a rally to save health care at noon also at LCC.