Eugene weekly., May 25, 2017, Image 9

but on top of that it is punishing people for doing things
outside that they have no choice but to do.”
Homeless people can be arrested for things housed
people do regularly in their homes: drinking, smoking and
going to the bathroom are illegal in public spaces. Adams
has been arrested for smoking, drinking, littering and even
“theft of electricity” for having his laptop plugged into a
wall power outlet behind an auto shop.
In 2014, Adams spent 11 days in jail for a noise distur-
bance that occurred six years prior.
It’s the laws that are bad, Neubeck says, but police of-
ficers still use discretion to enforce them. So Adams takes
his frustration out on them.
SHAKING COGNITIVE DISSONANCE
have spent the night at Eugene Mission, a local shelter. Ad-
ams responds, “I’m poor, I can’t afford rent and I’m not go-
ing to retire to the Mission, so that only leaves the street.”
The prosecutors may argue that if Adams can’t afford
housing, he needs to find work. “You just authorized wage
slavery,” Adams replies. “What part of retirement don’t
you understand?”
Adams often says the case is not about him. He does not
care if the court finds he broke the law; if he can change the
six jury members’ predispositions about homelessness, he
says, he’ll have done his job.
“It doesn’t matter what happens to me,” Adams says.
“What happens is people get shaken out of their cognitive
dissonance, so my grandchildren don’t have to grow up
with this.”
The first of Rod Adams’s three trials begins 9 am May
31 at Eugene Municipal Court. ■
LANE COUNTY AREA
SPRAY SCHEDULE
Giustina Resources, LLC, 541-485-
1500, plans to hire Strata Forestry, 541-
726-0845, to spray 28.1 acres northwest
of Vida near Finn Creek with triclopyr with
acid and MSO Concentrate. See ODF noti-
fication 2017-771-05791, call Brian Dally
at 541-726-3588 with questions.
Transition Management, 541-521-
5897, plans to spray its roadsides
throughout Lane County with clopyral-
id, glyphosate, imazapyr, metsulfuron
methyl, triclopyr with ester, triclopyr
with amine and/or Crosshair. See ODF
notification 2017-781-06274, call Robin
Biesecker at 541-935-2283 with ques-
tions.
BY PAUL NEEVEL
HAPPENING PEOPLE
Winning the necessity defense will be a tall order for
Adams and his public defender, Ryan Gifford. They must
prove that had Adams slept on private property due to:
a specific threat of imminent danger; a necessity to act;
and no practical alternative, while showing that the harm
caused wasn’t greater than the harm prevented.
Kathy Walker, a longtime Eugene resident who has ded-
icated much of her life to assisting the homeless, is helping
Adams prepare for the trials and thinks they’ve “covered
all their bases.” Adams’ acquittal, she says, could set a
precedent for future cases of homeless criminalization. A
guilty ruling would only serve as evidence in an even big-
ger case, she says. A class action lawsuit could be possible,
but expensive.
In 2016, the Supreme Judicial Court in Massachusetts
tossed out six trespassing convictions against a homeless
man, ruling that he should have had the opportunity to ar-
gue the necessity defense in front of a jury.
The prosecutors in Eugene may argue Adams could
MAGNOLIA RAINBOW
“People who need stuff seem to fall in my path,”
says Magnolia Rainbow, known to her friends as a
champion of the underdog, who takes care of wayward
teenagers and animals. “And I find a way to help them.”
Her small house in Springfield currently shelters 11
people, including her sons Tanner and Mac, ages 21
and 15, and three dogs, including Paddy and Bernie,
on the porch in the photo. “My parents were hippies,”
says Rainbow, who was born in a school bus and spent
her elementary and middle school years in Ashland.
Then her mother died, and Rainbow moved to Eugene
with her father and sister. She started high school at
South Eugene, but later transferred to the Opportu-
nity Center, an alternative school. Strung out on meth
and cocaine, she was kicked out by her dad and took
refuge with a friend in Santa Cruz for two years, then
Compiled by Gary Hale, Forestland Dwellers: 342-
8332, forestlanddwellers.org
POLLUTION UPDATE
returned and found work in the woods. “I loved fighting
fires,” she says. “It cured me of being a junkie.” A car
wreck in 1998 led her to study auto body repair at Lane
Community College and to finish a GED, but it also led to
seven operations on a herniated disk and, eventually,
a disability pension. She gave up drinking six years ago
at the insistence of her son Mac and has since started
a career as a jewelry artist. “I donate 20 percent to
Clean Slate Canine Rescue and Rehabilitation,” she
notes. See her jewelry at Mona Beads, 1712 Willamette
Street or on Facebook, Magnolia Rainbow’s Handmade
Jewelry to Help Homeless Hounds. Also online, her
friends have established a GoFundMe.com campaign
called “Save Maggie’s Home!” to help her pay off a debt
to her sister and give her clear title to her Springfield
sanctuary.
Know anyone whose good work deserves attention in this space? Call the editor at 541-
484-0519 or editor@eugeneweekly.com.
The Oregon Department of Environ-
mental Quality (DEQ) recently sent the
owners of Knoll Terrace (located north of
Corvallis) a pre-enforcement notice fol-
lowing an April inspection during which
“non-disinfected effluent” from the
manufactured home community’s sew-
age treatment facility was discharging
to Mountain View Creek. DEQ was unable
to determine the total amount of effluent
discharged to the creek because there
was no documentation of how long the
discharge had been occurring. DEQ esti-
mated that the effluent likely contained
E. coli at levels almost 8,000 times the
amount that is legally allowed. DEQ has
referred the matter to its Office of Com-
pliance & Enforcement for further action
concerning the illegal discharges, as
well as monitoring and reporting viola-
tions and “improper operation and main-
tenance of pollution controls.”— Doug
Quirke/Oregon Clean Water Action Project
eugeneweekly.com • May 25, 2017
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