Ducks Romp! UO football, 800,000, citizens, 0. Back to the Bushes: George W. eyes timber left standing under Clinton's watch. Dragged Out: Third year of bargaining begins for flusterer R-G employees. News Briefs:   Taking a Stand | Autzen Jam | Silenced Voices | Future Energy Happening People: Margaret Wiese, volunteer and teacher. Ducks Romp! UO football, 800,000, citizens, 0. By Alan Pittman A tiny non-profit education program for kids and supporters of a city park went up against the "mean green machine" of Duck football last week and got trampled. In a 5-3 City Council vote, the Ducks stripped city park land away from the Willamette Science & Technology Center (WISTEC) and park users to subsidize a planned $80 million stadium expansion. The city subsidy for the stadium is worth about $800,000 a year. The city gave the UO use of 1,157 parking spaces on city-owned property. The UO charges tailgaters a minimum "donation" of $700 a year to park at the stadium. In giving the land to the UO, the city may have killed WISTEC, which has been in operation since 1961. Meg Trendler, director of the struggling science education center, said after the meeting that unless a major new source of revenue is found soon, WISTEC will likely be forced to close. The search for options continues. WISTEC was hoping to raise up to a third of its budget by selling parking spaces during football games on the city land around its building. "It is not the only fund raising that we do, but it bridged a large gap," Trendler said. "It's disappointing." In an Aug. 24 letter, the UO Athletic Department told WISTEC that it wanted the land around the education center for a bus station to serve the stadium expansion. The UO did not want to locate the station on its own property in the large parking lots surrounding Autzen Stadium because that "will result in displacement of parking now used for high level donors to the university," the UO said. The UO offered WISTEC about half of what the education center had budgeted to make from the parking in the next six years. If WISTEC refused to give up the property, the UO told WISTEC that the university would seize the lot from the nonprofit by its "right" under a prior agreement with the city. Trendler responded in a letter that the UO's compensation offer was unacceptably low. She disputed the UO's legal claim to the property and said the UO's "threat" and "ultimatum" to seize the property was "completely inappropriate and bordering on unprofessional." WISTEC supporters pleaded with the council for support. "I'm five years old and I don't want WISTEC to close," said a little boy, peeking above the podium at a public hearing. "Why should they build a transit station that they need on city property?" asked Felicia Katz, a young WISTEC volunteer. "Don't appease the athletic department at the expense of the children of our community." But city staff and a council majority were firmly favoring the Ducks. UO President Dave Frohnmayer sat in the front row of the council chamber surrounded by high-ranking university officials, lawyers and athletic staff wearing green, swooshed jackets. City staff and city councilors joked and shook hands with Frohnmayer and UO executives before the vote while WISTEC supporters sat to the side of the chamber. Councilors Patt Farr, Scott Meisner, Gary Rayor, Nancy Nathanson, and Gary Pape and Mayor Jim Torrey favored the Ducks, and criticized WISTEC for not accepting the UO's "generous" offer, seeking a city subsidy, and not doing enough fund raising to make up the loss of revenue. Councilors Bonny Bettman, Betty Taylor and David Kelly urged a compromise to save WISTEC by requiring the UO to offer $59,000 more in compensation, but they were voted down. "It's good for education. I would think the university would be supporting it [WISTEC] also," Taylor said. Bettman said the "give away" of the city property "was an out-and-out subsidy" to the athletic program. While WISTEC opened its books to plead its case, the UO athletic department did not. WISTEC struggles on a budget of $163,000 a year while the UO Athletic Department has a budget of $26 million, pays its football coach $1 million a year and is launching an $80 million stadium expansion. WISTEC wasn't the only one trounced by UO football last week. Park supporters had urged the city to require the UO to stop using two pieces of Alton Baker Park land along the canoe canal to park hundreds of cars during home games. As a compromise, the park supporters urged the city to at least charge the market rate for parking cars on the land and use the money to support park restoration efforts. The council majority voted to continue to give the lots to the UO for just a fraction of what they're worth. The city charges the UO only $300 a year for use of all 432 spaces in the lots. The council also voted to give the UO use of 170 spaces along Leo Harris Parkway for $8,160 a year. UO Vice President Dan Williams dismissed criticism that the city was "subsidizing" UO football. What's good for the UO is good for Eugene, according to Williams. "What would Eugene be like without the University of Oregon?" Williams, however, admitted that the university wasn't about to leave Eugene over having to provide WISTEC $60,000 more in compensation. Back to Top Back to the Bushes George W. eyes timber left standing under Clinton's watch. By Orna Izakson There's a breed of Oregon forest activist that looks back with a certain fondness to the presidency of George Bush, Sr. George the Elder, the self-proclaimed "environmental president," thought that letting the Northern spotted owl crash into Northwest timber jobs would give him or Congress political cover to strip protections for the bird. That "train wreck" policy backfired on him, shutting down logging in all the West-side national forests with a bang of a wooden gavel on Judge William Dwyer's Seattle bench. Clinton lifted Dwyer's injunction with the Northwest Forest Plan (also known as Option 9), and got some timber trucks rolling again. He did it again with his signature on a bill containing the notorious Salvage Rider, which brought high-profile environmentalist occupations of national forests at Warner Creek and elsewhere. Industry complained not only about the cut plummeting from the glory days of the 1980s -- when logging on federal lands reached record highs -- but that Clinton never met promised harvest levels. The Willamette National Forest, for example, was supposed to cut 136 million board feet by the end of the last decade, down from the 490 mmbf predicted in the agency's 1990 plan. In 1999 that projection was 111 mmbf, and the cut was 43 mmbf because of appeals and lawsuits. In 2000 the projection was 105 mmbf and the cut was 30 mmbf. Environmentalists have temporarily halted new old-growth logging on the Willamette and other regional national forests for most of the past year with a series of lawsuits over protocols for protecting streams and critters. As scion Bush takes back his father's office, what kind of logging can the Willamette National Forest and the region expect? Will the Northwest Forest Plan go away? Will the cut rise? Most people believe the Forest Plan is locked in place fairly strongly by existing laws. Substantial changes would send the whole issue back to court, potentially returning the forests to the gridlock under Bush Sr. "All we've heard out of the Bush campaign was a commitment to implement the Northwest Forest Plan," -- that is, raise the cut to the plan's stated targets -- says Chris West of the American Forest Resources Council (AFRC) in Portland. West believes eight years of experience under the plan show it's possible to be more flexible, get more logs out and still protect species as required under environmental laws. He believes the plan could be scrapped for a more flexible version, although he's heard no rumblings of such an undertaking being considered. Patti Rodgers, a spokeswoman for the Willamette National Forest, doesn't think the plan allows much flexibility for raising the cut here. "I do think it would take a major overhaul of that plan to see any major changes in the way we're doing business," she says. Technically, changing the plan would require going back through the process that created it: a series of public hearings on a series of environmental impact statements, with the likelihood of lawsuits from environmentalists and the timber industry at the tail end of the process. Such cases would likely go back before the same judge who, in approving the plan seven years ago, said it barely met the requirements of the law. Andy Stahl of the Eugene-based Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics believes that Bush could double the cut without taking the plan back to a judge -- at least in theory. Like West, he points to the fact that Clinton never raised logging to promised levels, and since those promises were legal in theory they could be legal in practice. That's the theory, anyway. Can it actually be done legally? "That's the $64 million question right there," Stahl says. "I think there's a lot more relatively benign tree removal that could go on in the national forests under the Northwest Forest Plan than is occurring currently, but there are a lot of folks in the Forest Service who think that if it isn't a clear-cut, it's not very interesting." West says the plan's configuration forces old-growth logging. George Sexton, the Eugene-based watershed coordinator for the American Lands Alliance, says most of the plantations on the Willamette are too young to be commercially viable, so 90 percent of the sales coming off the forest are old-growth -- a shot across the bow to environmentalists. "The Forest Service is institutionally incapable of coming out with an old-growth timber sale program that's legal," he says. "It doesn't matter if there's a Democrat in the White House or a Republican in the White House or a Martian in the White House: You can't clear-cut old growth without driving species to extinction and harming water quality. And so what the agencies do is continue to offer old-growth timber sales, lose in court and then re-write the rules under which they lost." Sexton's organization is one of several that sued the agency for violating requirements to survey and manage for a long list of old-growth forest species as outlined in the plan. Another lawsuit found the agency wasn't doing enough to meet the plan's stream-protection goals. On Jan. 17 the Forest Service proposed a new set of guidelines for protecting that long list of species, cutting that list from more than 400 species down to 346. Sexton predicts a new lawsuit keeping most logging shut down -- and this is over a Clinton initiative. Bush Jr. may find the most opportunities in Clinton's 11th-hour legacy efforts: the roadless area initiative, for example, or Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck's policy statement about halting or substantially curtailing old-growth logging. The former initiative prevents new roads in unroaded areas larger than 5,000 acres -- of which Oregon has fewer than most other Western states -- and halts most logging there. The initiative is vulnerable on several fronts. Bush could try to reverse it administratively by going back through the process that created the regulation in the first place: a series of proposed rules with a series of public hearings. If he can make the case for a different regulation based on the new hearings, he can safely make the change. Environmentalists, however, think the record that led to the existing regulation is strong, and that reviewing the record and coming to a different conclusion would violate laws against executive whimsy. Bush could also let the initiative die by rolling over as industry lawsuits against it come before the new Justice Department. Congress also could reverse the law under an unused statute approved in 1996. Legal strategists say the law -- giving Congress short-term veto power over regulations that cost more than $100 million to implement -- was never tested because of the presumption of a Clinton veto. Bush may prove more open to such action over Clintonian regulations. In either of those cases, Bush wouldn't take as much -- if any -- direct heat for what most believe would be an unpopular decision. A new fire policy -- which comes with money for various projects that would likely include logging -- could be expanded to offer more cash to wetter, West-side forests. Bush also may prove more open to legislation such as the Salvage Rider -- for which Clinton used his first veto before ultimately signing the law. If Bush and the GOP-controlled Congress do go the rider route, the new president will find himself in a new round of timber wars, opposed by an army of battle-hardened activists larger and more seasoned than anything his father faced. Back to Top Dragged Out Third year of bargaining begins for flustered R-G employees. By Thia Bell Using company e-mail to spread union news may not be confidential, but it's a form of talking on the job that's protected by federal labor law, a media guild is convinced. The Eugene Newspaper Guild says it is battling work-place censorship, wage freezes and threats to full-time jobs. They fight with bake sales, rallies, radio ads, a website (www.eugenenewsguild.org), and award-winning writers volunteering at the bargaining table and publishing newsletters. The Guild doesn't see ink drying on a contract yet. The third year of bargaining begins this week. Talks stalled in mid-January. Mediators said the two sides were so far apart, not to call them back until March 1, says Suzi Prozanski, the just-re-elected Guild president. She is a copy editor at The Register-Guard where 155 people from circulation to the newsroom have worked 18 months without a contract. "They're dragging it on," she says of the management whose bargaining team can meet only every other month. "They don't lose anything by prolonging it. The only compromise was when they were facing the unfair labor practices complaints. They agreed to restore language giving us jurisdiction, or the right to exist," she says. In return, the Guild agreed to share jurisdiction with the Eugene Typographers Union. The sides also agreed to a 50-cent shift differential for working nights -- per shift, not per hour -- instead of the dollar the workers asked. "Community support has been excellent. People have been writing letters to the editor and calling the publisher," Prozanski said. "I don't understand why the publisher is not responding to this. It's frustrating." Instead, few were surprised when the R-G clamped down on employees using company e-mail for "union business," though personal use is still allowed. In a related action, the Guild filed an unfair labor practices complaint when the Guild president was threatened with discipline and even dismissal for sending a union e-mail on her own time to Guild members at their workstations. "The Guild's national office says we have a great case and has agreed to pick up all costs as part of its legal assistance fund," wrote reporter Lance Robertson in The Guardian, the official voice of Local 37294. Several rulings in the 1990s indicated that using e-mail, like talking around the water cooler or using a cork bulletin board, is a protected activity under the National Labor Relations Act. Last year, the union agreed to drop four complaints of unfair labor practices but has drawn the line at other concessions. "They want us to give up the right to bargain," Prozanski said. "We don't intend to give up that right." Publisher Tony Baker did not return a call for comment. Calls to other managers are emphatically referred to Baker, and media are told only that the newspaper's position is not to negotiate through the media. Meanwhile, the Guild's experience in dealing with Michael Zinser, the famed "union-buster" attorney that Baker hired as a consultant, has caught the attention of other newspaper unions in similar bargaining deadlocks. The Albany (N.Y.) Times Union flew Robertson across the country to give pointers on how what their staff could expect from Zinser at the bargaining table. Back home, R-G workers and supporters from other unions continue to rally through the winter, adapting lyrics to the "Ol' Gray Mare' to the "The Ol' R-G," and changing "Please, Mr. Postman," into "Please, Mr. Baker -- You got to sign a contract." Back to Top Taking a Stand   Demonstrators protest Bush's inauguration in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20. .   Eugene political activists and videographers have returned after participating in and documenting protests at the nation's Capitol Jan. 20. They joined thousands of citizens braving winter weather and hostile police in protesting the inauguration of George W. Bush. In e-mail messages sent home, protesters reported marching with Dick Gregory, the Rev. Al Sharpton and other national civil rights leaders. Thousands gathered for the Million Voter March, calling for election reform in Florida and nationwide. "The most significant act by this group was when they prevented the police from arresting more than 100 demonstrators, mostly from the Revolutionary Anti-authoritarian Block," wrote photographer Kurt Jensen. "In a selfless act of solidarity, members of the Million Voter March, occupying the entire street, marched into the area where the police had separated and cornered a portion of the black bloc. Confronted by the large crowd, the police were quickly outnumbered and retreated, freeing the bloc from their unjust detainment." A rally and march by the members of the New Black Panther Party and American Indian Movement began a few blocks away and also made its way to Pennsylvania Avenue, wrote Jensen. The Panthers called for an end to legal lynchings and executions, and an end to police brutality, racism and the exploitation of workers. The D.C. police reported arresting nine people. Two were hospitalized, one with a broken knee, another with a broken wrist. Witnesses reported several people being struck with batons on the face and head. "There were massive unlawful temporary detentions and accounts of police brutality," wrote Jensen. "It was clear individuals were singled out by their appearance, not by their behavior." Autzen Jam The Eugene City Council last week voted for what could become a huge traffic jam and illegal parking nightmare in the area surrounding Autzen Stadium. The council waved city regulations for the UO and allowed the university to expand its stadium by 12,000 seats without providing a single additional parking space. "This is a massive expansion and it's going to have tremendous impact," said Councilor Bonny Bettman. To alleviate the impact, the UO pledged to vastly expand the use of buses to move people to the stadium. But the UO's bus transportation agreement with the city lacks enforcement teeth and appears unlikely to succeed. Here are some of the major problems with the plan: * Even before the expansion, city traffic planner Dave Reinhard said neighborhoods, businesses and park parking lots were already "experiencing extreme impact from heavy, and often illegal, parking by stadium users." * The UO says it will increase bus ridership from 13 to 21 percent. That's far beyond what stadiums in other U.S. cities have been able to achieve, even when light rail service is available. For example, Baltimore has 15 percent and Cleveland has 7 percent of their fans coming to games by train or bus, according to a study by a UO consultant. * The plan allows the UO to continue to offer free employee parking at the stadium rather than having its people ride the bus. * The plan does not require the UO to offer free bus rides. * The plan does not penalize the UO for failing to meet busing goals. Councilor David Kelly had suggested that the city have the power to restrict the sale of tickets at Autzen if the UO fails to meet its alternative transportation goals. * To protect donor spaces, the UO chose to locate a bus station farther away from the stadium in the WISTEC parking lot. The longer walking distance "will have a negative impact on ridership" and will create problems for "mobility impaired passengers," LTD warned. * The plan limits parking by continuing to allow RV parking for tailgating donors and by adding a 51,000 sq. ft. "great lawn" in the middle of the parking lot for pre-game party tents. * The plan uses Alton Baker Park lots and natural areas for stadium parking. The city has dedicated two pieces of park land near the canoe canal for game parking and pledged to expand park parking lots for fans. Concrete would be embedded in park meadows for yet more stadium parking. The UO has a record of failing to live up to past stadium parking agreements. In 1997, the UO convinced a city park committee that it desperately needed a section of Alton Baker Park to keep fans from illegally parking in the park and neighborhoods. The next year the UO eliminated 1,100 of its own spaces to build a new indoor practice facility and soccer field. The UO also failed to live up to an agreement to restore and landscape a protective buffer along the canoe canal. -- AP Silenced Voices Two well-known labor scholars will visit Eugene in February and address the silencing of workers' voices in America and the difficulty of maintaining effective labor laws both here and abroad. Both speakers are sponsored by the newly created Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics housed at the UO School of Law. Nelson Lichtenstein, a noted labor historian and author from the University of Virginia, will be in town Feb. 5 to kick-off a new exhibit at UO Knight Library about Morse's days as a labor arbitrator. Lichtenstein will speak on "The Lost World of Workplace Justice" at 7 pm in the Knight Library Browsing Room. The library exhibit includes documents and photos showing Morse's life and career as dean of the UO law school, labor arbitrator and politician. "Our culture is no longer attuned to the concept of industrial democracy or workers' rights," Lichtenstein notes. Though Morse worked to "constitutionalize" the world of work, "that expectation has now faded, and our democracy is in deep trouble because of its demise." William B. Gould IV is one of this year's Morse Chair holders at UO. A Stanford Law School professor who served as chairman of the National Labor Relations Board from 1994 to 1998, Gould recently published a memoir about the tribulations of trying to ensure impartial administration of federal labor laws while faced with a hostile Republican Congress. Gould will be in town in late February or early March to give a public lecture about labor law in a global economy. Future Energy Governors from nine Western states will be meeting in Portland Feb. 1-2 to search out both short- and long-term solutions to the energy crisis. The energy conference will be followed up by discussion in Eugene from 6 to 8 pm Saturday, Feb. 3 in the Fir Room at the EMU at UO. On the agenda will be discussion of future energy sources in light of projections that available oil and natural gas deposits are projected to reach depletion levels within 20 to 50 years. The Eugene discussions will feature Charles Terrey, energy analyst and vice president of the American Hydrogen Association in Mesa, Ariz. Other guest speakers will address global warming, recent discoveries from the Hindenberg disaster, hydrogen energy and fuel cells, landfill gas conversion, solar power, wave generators, offshore wind generators, and other alternatives to fossil fuels. For more information, call 484-0303 or 349-0776 or log on to www.clean-air.org -- TJT Back to Top Margaret Wiese Nebraska native Margaret Wiese taught home economics in high school and college in Iowa before she moved to Eugene in 1947. "I had the opportunity to come out and teach at the UO," she says. "I grew up loving mountains and the out-of-doors." Wiese became an active member of the Obsidians outing club, the Natural History Society, and the Native Plant Society. "I took classes through the UO extension service," she remembers. "I learned a lot from biology and geology professors." Wiese taught nutrition at the UO for more than 30 years. Since her retirement, she has stayed busy with numerous volunteer activities. "I've worked at the Mount Pisgah Arboretum for 18 or 20 years," she says. "Right now I help with plant sales in the spring and fall." A member of the Eugene Stream Team since its inception, she has monitored a portion of the Nature Conservancy's Willow Creek Wetlands. Every other Monday, Wiese joins Catherine Jones, a hiking companion for more than 50 years, at the Springfield Cupboard of the interfaith organization FISH, where they pack emergency food boxes for needy families. -- Paul Neevel Happenin' People Archives Nominate A Happenin' Person Table of Contents | News & Views | Arts & Entertainment Classifieds | Personals | EW Archive