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is repealed without a plan to replace it, will cancer go back to being a pre-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.