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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (July 27, 2017)
B Y S A R A R O S A D AV I E S • Sen. John McCain voted in favor of beginning the process to repeal the Affordable Care Act. McCain returned to the Senate floor with stitches above his eye and visible bruising to his face after undergoing a craniotomy to remove a brain tumor last week. Would his constituents in Arizona who are uninsured be able to afford the same surgery? If the ACA is repealed without a plan to replace it, will cancer go back to being a pre- existing condition? How can leaders elected by the people continue to ignore the majority — especially now that 55 percent of Americans support the ACA, according to a recent Gallup poll, while only 13 percent support the GOP health care bills — when it’s a matter of life and death? Health care is a human right. Elected officials should always do what’s in the best interest of the people. If they can’t, then they should be willing to share their congressional health care benefits with the people. • We’re downright thrilled at the news that the University of Oregon’s newly renamed College of Design is buying the former Willamette Stationers building at Fifth Avenue and Oak Street downtown to put in art studios and a gallery. That will help forge much-needed links between the UO’s strong art department and artists in the community — and will up the presence of visual arts in downtown Eugene. • Would the old Lane Community College building in downtown Eugene make a good homeless shelter? That’s the question City Counselor Betty Taylor posed at the July 21 City Club of Eugene meeting. Ben Brubaker, one of the speakers and a crisis worker at White Bird for more than ten years, said he would love it. Management costs always come up as an obstacle for a major shelter, but what about a public- private partnership or some other creative answer? Brubaker and David Gerber, director of the Homeless Outreach Team, a nonprofit based in Eugene since 2012, both talked about the increasing numbers of homeless in Eugene and the challenging search for solutions. • Thumbs up to the city of Eugene staffers putting on Eugfun (eugfun.org). Young and old filled Washburne Park for an early evening hour Sunday, July 23, to hear the Oregon Tuba Ensemble. Great fun for kids to eat a picnic dinner from a basket on the grass and then dance around the edges and roll on the lawn in rhythm to the music. Their appreciative parents, grandparents and many more applauded loudly for every number the ensemble offered. And it was all free. • A poll on an independent performance auditor initiative intended for the May 2018 ballot shows 69 percent in favor of the measure, 27 percent opposed and only 4 percent undecided. “Adding an elected independent auditor in Eugene is supported by a wide margin,” says the Lindholm Research blog, which conducted the survey. “However, it does not hit the crucial 70 percent level. Ideas that sound good tend to get a large amount of initial support. Campaigns tend to reduce that support.” The poll, conducted in April, was based on the city attorney’s original ballot title, which was altered by a Circuit Court judge to be more inclusive and less biased. Meanwhile, we hear the signature gathering is going well, but more help is needed. Visit cityaccountability.org or call 541- 520-9572. • The most grateful applause Friday night at The Shedd’s opening of Good News! came during intermission, when female playgoers discovered the brand-new nine-stall men’s and women’s restrooms that also opened that evening. They replace tiny facilities that had been referred to, with tongue in cheek, as “historic” toilets. The first women to use the new restrooms, or so we’re told, broke into spontaneous applause from behind stall doors. “A sitting ovation,” one said. SL ANT INCLUDES SHORT OPINION PIECES, OBSERVATIONS AND RUMOR-CHASING NOTES COMPILED BY THE EW EDITORIAL BOARD. HE ARD ANY GOOD RUMORS L ATELY? CONTAC T C AMILL A MORTENSEN AT 541-484-0519, EDITOR@EUGENEWEEKLY.COM 6 July 27, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com ANIMAL-FRIENDLY LOVE Eugene lube brand Good Clean Love to receive PETA award P eople for the Ethical Treatment of Ani- mals is honoring local entrepreneur Wendy Strgar with a “Compassion- ate Business” award for her company Good Clean Love, which makes organ- ic personal lubricant and other intimacy prod- ucts. But Good Clean Love isn’t your average business in any sense. The Eugene-based busi- ness is a certified B-Corp — a for-profit corpo- ration recognized for its positive impacts on so- ciety — and works to represent the values local folks hold dear, according to Strgar, the CEO. Good Clean Love specializes in paraben- and petrochemical-free personal lubricants and products. It approaches sexual health from a scien- tific standpoint and works to create products that don’t increase the risk of infec- tions like bacterial vagino- sis. Founded in 2003, Good Clean Love was a “PETA company” even before they were FDA-certified, Strgar says. In 2015, when the FDA instated a regulation requiring lube brands to test on animals, Strgar teamed up with Jeffrey Brown, a scientist at PETA, to see how animal tests could be avoided. “I was able to convince them that the testing that they do doesn’t show any results about toxicity in women,” Strgar says. “We only have to do one of four animal tests in the panel.” After two years of development and research, Good Clean Love created two safety tests that circumvent animal testing. One test had subjects wear a patch with the product on it for three to four weeks. Strgar noted that helping animals isn’t the only reason she wanted to avoid animal testing of her products. She told Eugene Weekly about how rabbit vaginas (rabbits and guinea pigs are frequent testing subjects for lubricants) are dis- similar to human vaginas, making the tests un- reliable. The scientific benefit of not testing on ani- mals aligns with Strgar’s idea that Good Clean Love should be creating products that are healthy for human bodies. PETA came to Eugene on Tuesday, July 25, and pre- sented Strgar with the “Com- passionate Business” award in a ceremony with Mayor Lucy Vinis. “That was always a really big value of ours, just trying to do the right thing,” Strgar says. “Animal testing was never my idea of what I would be doing.” Good Clean Love products can be found in shops around Lane County from the Kiva to Bi-Mart and Target. LANE COUNTY AREA SPRAY INFORMATION • Weyerhaeuser, 541-746-2511, plans to aerially and ground spray 2944.5 acres north of the McKenzie River and Vida with glyphosate, imazapyr, sulfometuron methyl, metsulfuron methyl, aminopyralid and/or MSO Concentrate. See ODF notification 2017- 771-08893, call Brian Dally at 541-726-3588 with questions. • Weyerhaeuser, 541-746-2511, plans to aerially spray 2257.8 acres south of the McKenzie River and Walterville and 85.8 acres northwest of Marcola Road with Glyphosate 5.4, Accord XRT II, Imazapyr 4SL, Rotary 2 SL, Escort XP, Oust Extra, Opensight and/or MSO Concentrate. See ODF notifications 2017-771-08943 and 2017-771-08958, call Brian Dally at 541-726-3588 with questions. • Giustina Resources, 726-3588, plans to hire Wilbur Ellis, 360-262-3197, to aerially spray 39.6 acres near Angels Flight Rd with aminopyralid, metsulfuron methyl, glyphosate, imazapyr, sulfometuron methyl, metsulfuron methyl and/or MSO Concentrate. See ODF notification 2017-771-09336, call Brian Dally at 541-726-3588 with questions. • Giustina Land & Timber, 541-345-2301, plans to hire Northwest Reforestation Services LLC, 520-6215, to spray 21.8 acres near Rebel Creek with glyphosate, imazapyr and/or Forest Crop Oil. See ODF notification 2017-781-09304, call Dan Menk at 541-935-2283 with questions. • Seneca Jones Timber Company, 541-689-1011, plans to hire Oregon Forest Management Services, 541- 520-5941, to spray 3.6 acres near Hawley Creek with imazapyr and other chemicals. See ODF notification 2017-781-09158, call Dan Menk at 541- 935-2283 with questions. • Weyerhaeuser, 541-746-2511, plans to spray 96 acres near High Pass, 87.9 acres on Prairie Mountain, 67.1 acres near Swamp Creek, 27.2 acres near Nelson Mountain Rd, 49.8 acres near Fisk Rd and 81 acres near Moke Rdwith imazapyr and other chemicals. See ODF notifications 2017-781-08998, 2017-781- 08990, 2017-781-08994, 2017-781-09002, 2017- 781-09004 and 2017-781-09006, call Robin Biesecker at 541-935-2283 with questions.
