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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (July 6, 2017)
• The Oregon Country Fair is kicking off, and we treasure this quirky annual celebration and all it does to revel in the hippie culture that makes Eugene Eu- gene. And as with anything we treasure, we have to love it in all its flaws, whether those might be complaints about the dust or the music acts or something more painful such as the Ritz Sauna story pole debacle that hurt and offended native peoples. As the dust settles, we hope we will hear about efforts OCF makes to work with the native community to re- store trust and build new bridges. • KLCC public radio is seeing major chang- es this summer. A celebration of life was held July 1 for longtime Music Director Michael Can- ning who died May 14, a year after he retired. Program Director Don Hein retired June 30 after 40 years. News Director Tripp Sommer retired at the same time after 36 years, along with Development Director Cheryl Crumbley, who was with the station for six years. KLCC is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. • Bike Friday, the company in west Eugene that specializes in building high-end folding bi- cycles that are sold worldwide, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this summer. A celebra- tion open to the public is planned for 11 am to 4 pm Monday, July 10, at the factory, 3364 W. 11th Avenue. • The nonprofit McKenzie River Trust has assisted the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians in purchasing 125 acres of “ecologi- cally and culturally significant wetlands” on the central Oregon Coast south of Florence, ac- cording to MRT Executive Director Joe Moll. The Fivemile Creek land is upstream of Tahkenitch Lake, and is habitat for spawning Coho salmon. Last year, MRT was able to preserve two miles of riverfront on the McKenzie known as the Finn Rock Reach. This spring the organization launched the McKenzie Homewaters capital campaign with a $6 million goal. • Corvallis environmental groups have been collaborating on increasing the amount of solar installations in the city since late 2015 and hope to more than double the amount of renewable energy generated by 2020. Data so far indicate the Harvest Sunshine team has boosted solar generation by 13 percent in the first year. Involved in the team are the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition, the Corvallis Environ- mental Center and Environment Oregon. See sustainablecorvallis.org. • In pet business news, Kibble on Wheels is coming to Eugene. Meals on Wheels America has given a $1,500 grant to FOOD for Lane County to launch a pet support program for low-income elderly who struggle to pay for pet food. The program begins in August. In feline- specfic news, Springfield resident Kerry Bar- bero has been honored in the “Best Cat Blog” category competition at the national BlogPaws convention in South Carolina for her Noir Kitty Mews blog. Barbero writes from the perspec- tive of Valentine, her black Persian cat. • The Nation magazine is the lat- est to have a big piece on our Jeff Merkley, the only senator to endorse Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary. Sen. Merk- ley is mentioned more and more on national media as a possible candidate for president. Why not? Oregon may not be the best base nationally, but our senator does inspire confidence. What a change that would be! • This is hardly a peppercorn in the pantheon of cruelties the Trump administration is laying on most of the American people, but it does show the “trickle down” effect of the Donald’s proposed budget: Merlyn Hough, direc- tor of LRAPA, the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency, told us recently that this federal budget would reduce little LRAPA’s bud- get by about 30 percent. Add that to all the other environmen- tal erasures this administration is doing and it makes us wonder if they don’t care a whit about the air they breathe, the water they drink, the species they destroy, on and on. They should at least care about the generations that follow us. • What we’re reading: Double Bind:Women on Ambition is a collection of essays edited by Robin Romm, who grew up in Eugene, the daughter of a law- yer mother and doctor father. The jacket calls it a “neces- sary collection … examining the concept of female ambition from every angle in essays full of insight, wisdom, humor and rage.” Published in 2017, the essays writers range from Pam Houston and Sarah Ruhl to Molly Ringwald. Now living in Portland, Romm has written two earlier books and many articles. She says this book is “an entry point. The rest is up to you.” 8 July 6, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com SUSTAINABILITY. IT’S IN OUR ROOTS. AT SENECA, WE APPROACH TIMBER MANAGEMENT WITH A LONG-TERM, SUSTAINABLE VIEW. We invest in creating healthy ecosystems, which are vital to our business, fish and wildlife, and those who enjoy recreation on our lands. We manage our timberlands with the future in mind: generations of trees and generations of family. DID YOU KNOW? • Our tree farms clean the air of CO 2 from the equivalent of 86,169 vehicles each year • We have 91% more timber on our lands than we did 20 years ago • We plant more than 1.5 million seedlings each year • Sustainability is key: trees planted today won’t be ready for harvest until 2067 Visit SenecaSawmill.com to learn more!
