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* Energy Deregulation: I drafted two power dereg bills and introduced them immediately Monday, Feb. 12. One bill just repeals SB1149 outright. The other bill repeals all the deregulation components of SB1149 but retains a 3 percent "public purposes" rate for green power, renewables, low-income assistance for heat and for housing. (See cover story.) * PERS 3rd Tier: Nothing new so far, still expecting big bill. * Workers' Compensation: Our Commerce, Labor and Economic Development Committee did not see the workers' comp bill, SB485, come back from getting its newly drafted amendments written. We will probably get them next week for a final hearing before voting it to the Senate floor. Word is that there are enough votes to pass it over to the House. The group that created the compromise has continued to present a solid front and it appears that legislative leadership and the governor are OK with it. * Prescription Drug Costs: The Senate Democrats took advantage of a slow news week to bring out our plans for prescription drug reform. At a press conference, we introduced several legislative proposals aimed at making prescription drugs more affordable for Oregon's seniors and potentially saving the state millions of dollars. The state currently spends close to $1 billion each biennium, combined state and federal funds, on purchasing prescription drugs. Over the past decade, 66 percent of the increase in costs to the Oregon Health Plan can be attributed to rising prescription drug costs. The legislation we put forth is meant to be a menu of options for the Legislature to consider this session. The three bills include proposals to: 1) Establish a prescription drug bulk purchasing program. 2) Ensure pharmacies sell prescriptions to Medicare recipients at the same price charged to Medicaid participants. 3) Establish the Maine Plan in an Oregon Prescription Program: require pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies to negotiate with the state for lower rates as a condition of doing business with the state. Anyway, it got so slow that Senate President Derfler called off the floor session Friday and sent us home to our districts. I took advantage of the opening in my schedule and sat in on a problem-solving meeting between a Catholic school principal and a school district representative over the level of services, if any, that a parochial school could expect from the public school system. I liked the tone of the meeting, very calm, both folks laying out further questions. Later I spoke to the fourth grade classes at the McCornack Elementary School and answered questions. The questions were tough 3 you could tell these folks had been studying Oregon government. Why would one file a committee minority report if you knew it would lose? 4 great question from a fourth grader. Sometimes a minority report can pass, if the differences are small between the main bill and the minority report that replaces it. Also, you can get someone "on record" on an issue who might like to dodge the issue in his/her next campaign. Are there minimum qualifications for elected officials? Only the basic constitutional ones. There are doctors, lawyers, farmers, plumbers, nurses, electricians, business owners, police, firefighters, millionaires, teachers, parole officers, frozen bull sperm/kitty litter entrepreneurs, bankers, preachers, forensic psychologists, housewives, roofers, TV newscasters, professors, back hoe operators 4 even a union representative. There are no rocket scientists that I have found so far. In our Senate Democratic caucus there are seven women, seven men; two African-Americans, an Asian-American and a Chicana. We were going to apply for the all-Madden all-star team for diversity in the composition of Oregon legislative caucuses. The last question the students asked was: "Is Judge Judy a real judge?" I said I wasn't sure but I hoped not.
Tony Corcoran of Cottage Grove is minority whip in the Senate and represents portions of Lane and Douglas counties in Senate District 22. He can be reached in Salem at (503) 986-1722 or e-mail corcoran.sen@state.or.us  Proven Methods Local campaign finance reform is both needed and doable. According to the number of Eugene voters that voted "yes" on state Ballot Measure 6 in November, most (58 percent) support some type of campaign finance reform at the state level. Many of us became convinced reform is needed at the county level after the large amount of last minute contributions to Commissioner Bobby Green's 2000 campaign. However, most citizens don't realize reform is also needed at the city level. Campaign finance reform is one of the most important issues facing Eugene. In 1996, the average amount spent in seriously contested City Council races was approximately $6,000. By the year 2000, this amount was over $35,000. That's an increase of almost 600 percent in four years! Business and development interests were largely responsible for the increase. Tracy Olsen and Mike Sherlock spent approximately $25,000 and $22,000 respectively (more than twice as much as their opponents); 44 percent and 59 percent of their contributions came from PACs and businesses, and 20-25 percent of their overall contributions came from three PACs in particular: Oregonians for Affordable Housing (a PAC for the Home Builders Association), the Oregon Home Realtors PAC, and the Eugene First PAC (representing Hyundai and other busines and development interests). Although Olsen and Sherlock were not elected, the interests behind them will not likely give up. Eugene will experience unprecedented levels of contributions and spending in the next election unless campaign finance reform is enacted. One of the most common objections to campaign finance reform is that it is often overturned in court. Some methods have been overturned, but many have been ruled constitutional. By using the legal precedents, drafting reform that will withstand legal challenge can be accomplished relatively easily. The following are proven methods that Eugene could use: 1. Improve the reporting and disclosure process. Placing the contribution and expenditure information in a database (vs. papers and files) would be another big improvement. Web access to the database could be provided also. 2. Promote the candidates and issues. 3. Voluntary spending limits 4. Conflict of interest restriction for significant contributors. Similar legislation has been used successfully in Westminster, Colo. Councilors there have rarely had to exclude themselves; instead, contributors have adjusted their behavior by contributing $100 or less. Although this method hasn't been challenged in court, legal opinions have supported the constitutionality of the reform. 5. Public financing of campaigns Eugene has a unique opportunity to enact campaign finance reform. The City Council is currently discussing goals, and the Charter Review Committee (a group of citizens appointed by the City Council) is reviewing and recommending changes for the City Charter. I urge everyone to contact the councilors and Charter Review Committee members, and request that they enact campaign finance reform before the next election.
John Herberg is a UO environmental studies student, on the Steering Committee for Citizens for Public Accountability, and active in the Lane County Pacific Green Party and Alliance for Democracy.
Infiltrating the food supply with hazardous wastes labeled "fertilizer" may sound like an improbable terrorist plot dreamed up by a novelist penning her next best-seller. Yet, the loopholes allowing toxic waste in fertilizer are real and have faced surprisingly little public scrutiny 4 until now. Responding to the uproar following toxic-waste nightmares like the 1979 evacuation of Love Canal, N.Y., Congress long ago passed laws meant to strictly control toxic wastes from "cradle to grave." Pollution prevention is one of the primary goals of these laws. So Congress encouraged industries to recover and reuse chemicals in manufacturing, in an attempt to reduce the total amount of chemicals needed for factory production. In a remarkable twist on the laws designed to stop the dispersal of pollution into the environment, some industries quickly began arguing that their wastes (like smokestack ash from certain kinds of steel mills) could be "recycled" into fertilizer. The industries contended that their toxic wastes contain ingredients such as zinc, which might promote plant growth, or iron, which might make grass greener. Yet many of those same wastes can be laden with tag-along toxicants such as arsenic, lead, cadmium and dioxin 4 chemicals that can cause or contribute to cancer, learning disabilities, reproductive problems and a host of other ills. And, the law was intended to compel factories to capture and contain toxic leftovers because of the health threats they pose. Turning toxic waste into "fertilizer" saves money. Rather than pay disposal costs at properly equipped landfills, factories can give away or sell smokestack ash to fertilizer companies, who then turn a profit by selling it to unsuspecting farmers and consumers. U.S. factories shipped 270 million pounds of waste to farms and fertilizer companies from 1990 through 1995, according to federal data submitted by the factories themselves, and obtained by the Environmental Working Group. Oregon companies sent nearly 26 million pounds of industrial chemicals to fertilizer companies during that time period, and more than 2.3 million pounds of waste was received by Oregon fertilizer companies and facilities that appeared to be farms. This makes Oregon a net exporter of toxic wastes to fertilizer companies. After several Northwest newspapers exposed this practice in 1997, some states took tentative steps toward tightening their fertilizer laws. But even the most far-reaching state law 4 passed in Washington state with fertilizer industry backing 4 set standards so loose that most fertilizer companies can meet them without reducing contamination levels, and in some cases merely by changing the directions on their product labels. In Oregon, Gov. John Kitzhaber's agriculture department convened a workgroup last year to study the issue. That group appears poised to recommend legislation similar to the ineffective Washington law. "Kitzhaber is heading in the wrong direction on toxics in fertilizer," says workgroup member Rhett Lawrence of OSPIRG. Facing persistent foot-dragging by the states, the Sierra Club and the Seattle-based Washington Toxics Coalition finally sued EPA in 1998, seeking to compel the federal agency to treat certain heavily contaminated fertilizers as hazardous waste. A legal settlement filed in federal court now requires that EPA weigh national rules for toxic metals and dioxins in problem fertilizers. EPA also agreed to formally ask the American public whether wastes from dioxin-producing industries should face an outright ban. To get these wastes off our food-producing land, Americans must tell EPA to end this toxic infiltration of the food supply. Before Feb. 26, write to: RCRA Docket Information Center, Office of Solid Waste (5305W),
US EPA Headquarters (EPA, HQ), 401 M. St. SW, Washington, D.C., 20460.
Jonathan T. Stier is an attorney at the National Environmental Law Center in Seattle, and a UO Law School graduate. He represented the Sierra Club and Washington Toxics Coalition in the recently settled toxic fertilizer lawsuit against EPA.
Sally Sheklow has been a part of the Eugene community since 1972 and is a member of the WYMPROV! comedy troupe. Her column, which began in EW, also runs in several other newspapers around the country.
As Pownall states, it is often difficult for depressed individuals to seek help. This reluctance to seek help may be particularly high among depressed teenagers. Adolescence is a time when depression often makes its first appearance. Unfortunately, a great deal of suffering often occurs before a teenager's depression is identified. It can be tempting to dismiss or mislabel symptoms of depression as "a phase" or simply part of being a teenager. Pownall also raises important issues about which form of treatment is most effective for adults; these same issues are even more challenging and complex with teenagers since teen depression is less well understood than adult depression. EW readers may be heartened to know that there is a program funded by the National Institute of Mental Health here in Eugene and 10 other sites across the U.S. that is offering free treatment to teens with depression. The program is also trying to address important questions about which form of treatment is most effective for which individual. The TADS (Treatment of Adolescent Depression Study) program is being offered by the Psychology Clinic at the UO. For further information about TADS, please feel free to call us at 346-4987. Anne D. Simons, Ph.D. Love Wisely Then, last week I heard about a man, wearing dark clothing, breaking into an unlocked home in our town. He tied up the man in this home and raped the 9-year-old girl. Another 9-year-old child saw a man staring in her bedroom window. The mom called the police and no further intrusion occurred. These acts are a sickness born of fear. As a mother, woman and human on this planet, I know how this feeling arises, and I know loving compassion is the only answer. Please take the time to love. There cannot be enough genuine kindness in our lives. We are not strangers. We have the same tears and pain. And we need to be real. Take the time to protect yourself. Learn tai chi, akido, or some other centering, empowering martial art. Remember, awareness is our first line of defense. There are many quality and qualified instructors. Contact someone. You need to know how so you can defend yourself against attacks of any nature. Love and live wisely. Lock your doors, find safety in numbers and strength in yourself. Angela Jaster
It has become such a nuisance that I have considered ordering a phone-block system of my own. Then today I received a call from QWest, my phone service representative, offering to sell me additional services. I refused the offers. Afterwards I immediately set my machine to recall the last incoming number and, surprise, it was blocked. QWest had just called me! Now I wonder, as I have for several days, has it been my phone company all along placing all those annoying blocked-calls to me to annoy me into ordering more equipment? This is one way they can make up for the rebate we all received recently. No pointing fingers, of course, however, it sure seems odd. How far will technology go to make the customer pay for the right of privacy? Rotary nuisance calls #1 money maker. Peggy Starr
It is dismaying to me that the human mind is being despiritualized to the level of a machine, that is to say, that all the complex dynamics of human behavior could be reduced to mere biological processes. This argument, however, works for those therapists or doctors who are perhaps intellectually too lazy to tackle the true roots of the problems their patients come to them with 4 to invest energy and education enough to explore the deep, varied, and subjective background conditions that may have contributed to the depression. Too often, doctors are trained not to truly think, but to apply memorized procedures and prescribe medicines 4 treating each individual human being according to a cold, universal methodology. When it comes to the enormously subtle workings of the mind, this is akin to trying to perform surgery with a hammer instead of scalpel. As individual people are generalized as consumers, and billions of dollars are at stake, we must face the shocking conclusion that some companies are exploiting the suffering of millions of people for their own profit 4 implicitly persuading vulnerable people they have a cure, but only offering a state of disconnection from pain. It is less profitable to cure a disease than to continually treat it. We must keep this in mind when we consider the reasoning behind many of our established policies and universally held truths. David Caruso Can't Live With
It The UO has had its share of issues: corporate sell-out (i.e. Nike); the Workers' Rights Consortium debacle, mainly President Frohnmayer's flip-flopping behavior, much to the heartbreak of many students and Eugene citizens who fought hard to see that the UO would support the consortium; under-age off-campus drinking and the vandalism wrought on the city from this drunken behavior; sexual harassment; date-rape; etc. 4 all major headaches for Eugene, not to mention the cost these issues have incurred on the city socially and financially. And now the UO uses its clout to bully WISTEC and Alton Baker Park visitors by 1) taking away WISTEC's city park land which they had hoped would help raise a third of their budget (by selling parking spaces during football games on the city land around their building) and 2) continue using (at a cheap charge) Alton Baker Park's land for UO football fans' parking needs. I firmly agree with the WISTEC's director's statement that "WISTEC will likely be forced to close." As for Alton Baker Park, it seems the UO values fans' parking needs over the pleasure Eugeneans receive recreating in their local parks. Boy, what would Eugene be like without the UO? My answer: "A heck of a lot better!" Ia Bolz Drugs Ineffective Most notable was the assertion that "studies show" optimal treatment for depression requires drug therapy in addition to psychotherapy. In fact, most studies show no advantages to adding drugs to psychotherapy. In a 1997 article, Larry Beutler, senior researcher and editor of the prestigious Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, challenged anyone to find current literature supporting the belief that combining medication with psychotherapy leads to better results. While some studies show the combined treatment leading to faster results, this speed has usually been offset by increased drop-out and relapse rates. Pownall also claimed the new SSRI's have "minimal" side effects; however, this appears to be another myth. SSRI's are less lethal than the older tricyclic antidepressants, but they still cause serious "side" effects like insomnia, weight gain, lethargy, and sexual dysfunction. In experiments on developing rats, SSRI's were shown to cause long-lasting undesired alterations to their brains. Given these undesired effects of antidepressant drugs, and given that psychotherapy is at least as effective, what research really indicates is that psychotherapy should be the treatment of choice for depression. Ideally, drugs should be used only when psychotherapy proves ineffective for a given individual. The fact that our current health system makes drugs primary says more about the power of the drug companies and of the medical profession than it does about the reality of depression. Ron Unger, M.S.W. Hazards Overlooked But readers have a right to know about the dangers of psychiatric drugs, and about the many sustainable, empowering, non-drug alternatives that should be more readily available to everyone in our community. I wish this were the first time we've had this complaint about EW. Just the other day in our office we found one of our first letters like this to you, from about a decade ago. Meanwhile, EW carries advertising for psychiatric drug testing agencies looking for more human subjects; these firms frequently downplay the full risk of psychiatric drugs, and the existence of other options. Thank goodness for the OTHER paper. For many years, TOP has carried seldom-covered news from the movement working for human rights inside the "mental health system." For more information, see Support Coalition International's web site, www.MindFreedom.org. Ironically, the story featured on our home page story has been nominated as one of the top under-reported stories of the year by the well-respected Project Censored. David Oaks, director Familyspace She spins a web of innuendo about me, but court records would paint a different picture. Truth is bias-free; this is the point of the argument against local handling of restraining orders. Womenspace acknowledges they accept women's allegations without investigating the facts, merely the expressed "fear" is all they base support on. How does she know what male victims experience? I'm unclear what professional credentials she has to offer. While it doesn't take being a parent to understand family concerns, it helps. Most men quickly learn that restraining orders against them can be granted soley on allegations and are used as leverage in domestic court. I was never included in any real mediation nor helped to participate in counseling to resolve and heal family wounds. Intervention and communication, any professional will affirm, is preferable to accusation and confrontation. It seems Womenspace favors the latter as policy. Gender-based arguments perpetuating an "us against them" mentality obfuscate and distort family issues and do nothing to heal. "Familyspace" would be a better alternative where a holistic environment based on honesty, cooperation and healthy family processes would help ease our court system's burdens, keeping families together, whenever possible, rather than tearing children from loving parents. Teaching our children whole truth telling and healthy problem-solving rather than power plays and domestic warfare is in all our interests and I encourage and support its establishment. Jim Evangelista Restraining
Orders First of all, Jim Evangelista himself admits, both in his letter to EW and in the R-G, that he has a restraining order against him. Since there exists in Lane County a very accessible process for contesting restraining orders, one can only assume that, since there is no mention of the order being overturned, Mr. Evangelista is a batterer. Womenspace is an organization devoted to aiding victims and survivors of domestic abuse. Womenspace does offer some service to men who are or have been abused as well. There are other agencies in Lane county that offer services to batterers. My second point is this: if you don't feel there are services out there that address your needs, create some, and support them. There was a battered mens' advocacy in Lane county. It lasted for less than a year, due to lack of community support. Womenspace was started by, and has continued to exist, due to the support of people that recognize a need for the services provided. Womens' circles, support groups and the like are organized by women who feel that it is needed. No one is stopping Jim Evangelista or Michael Snyder from creating their own support networks. Finally, I would like to say to Mr. Snyder and Mr. Evangelista: if you are truly concerned with "entrenched, institutionalized sexism," I would challenge you to take an introspective moment and look at what part you might play in issues of gender oppression. I think it is really pathetic that when any oppressed people band together, those that have traditionally held power turn around and say,"Hey, what about us?" As a woman, I don't want the lion's share, just a fair share. Pele Smith Bagel Ban However, the restriction on SEHS students is a perfectly reasonable response even if it is not fair. Its purpose is to use peer pressure to change behavior of a whole group. Wise parents have used this method with their families since the beginning of time. I suggest that a more appropriate response than a boycott of Humble Bagel is using social means within your school to let the bad apples know that the good apples don't appreciate it when they spoil things for the whole barrel. Have you written a letter to The Axe denouncing the vandals and their actions? Does anyone know who the vandals are and is keeping quiet? Encourage them to come forward so the vandals take the consequences for their actions. If no SEHS peers speak up denouncing these vandals, what will stop them from doing the same thing to the eatery you are patronizing as you boycott Humble Bagel? That eatery will then ban SEHS students and the chain will go on until SEHS students will be stuck eating in the cafeteria. Best wishes and good luck! Candace Shorack Just Ask Furthermore, it is an underlying principle of American public libraries, and a basic tenet of librarianship that "alternative" and "controversial" ideas sit side by side on the library shelf with more mainstream and conventional interpretations. It is the library's position that each and every citizen has the right to determine, for themselves, what constitutes alternative or controversial. EPL librarians constantly read reviews in both standard and specialized review sources. Thousands of them a year. On top of that, they monitor what is happening on the local cultural scene and peruse hundreds of publishers' catalogs annually. Finally, and most importantly for this discussion, they receive requests and suggestions from library patrons. From "straw bale construction" to "Sagittarian star charts," they try to acquire the best, most current, books, magazines, videos, and compact discs on every topic imaginable for Eugene library patrons. Does this consume a great deal of time and energy? Yes, a lot! Do we sometimes fail in our efforts to acquire the desired item? Yes. It can be out-of-print, out of stock, or simply not an item that fits within the broad parameters of our Collection Development Policy. That policy does not use "alternative" or "controversial" as criteria for not selecting a book, but rather prevents us from purposely buying materials that would lead someone to incorrectly repair their car, or materials that are so technical or academic in content that they are better suited to a university research library. If you are interested in the "nuts and bolts" of how books are selected for the library, I invite you to visit www.ci.eugene.or.us/library/ coll-dev.htm where you can read our Collection Development Policy. We also welcome your telephone calls and visits. Jackie Griffin Common Ground However, Greens must now find the common ground which will allow the momentum of the campaign to continue forward in a pro-active way. This challenge will be facing Greens in their state-wide convention being held right here in Eugene Feb. 23-25. In a Viewpoint (1/18) entitled "Green Synthesis," several Green activists (including myself) pointed out the need for electoral changes such as proportional representation and also the potential interim strategy of using Green leverage in a coalition to bring about positive policy changes in the Democratic Party. In response, it was disappointing to hear Mark Robinowitz (2/1) continue the politics of negativity and divisiveness in fixating totally on the lack of perfection in the Clinton roadless forest plan. Robinowitz seems unable to see or acknowledge that it is precisely the leverage power we describe that could build on the positive and bring about the policies he desires. After this election, Democrats will think twice before ignoring the power of the Green vote, and there are clear signs that Democrats in Oregon appear to be ahead of Democrats nationally in recognizing this reality. On another note, it was also disappointing to see Lois Wadsworth extolling the use of gratuitous violence in her review (2/1) of Crouching Tiger 4 just two weeks after so many excellent events in Eugene honoring Martin Luther King and non-violence. Spruce Houser
Statistics show that mothers are overwhelmingly given full custody of children and that fathers are assessed for financial support, but without a corresponding right to parent, which is a fundamental part of the parenting experience. I don't know why there is a restraining order against you, but there is also evidence to support the notion that these orders are excessive, and based on false information in many cases. What is clear is that children thrive with positive parental influence, and it must be active and ongoing. To interfere with that very personal and emotional fundamental human right is a far cry from a civilization with its priorities in order, in my opinion. How can a servant of justice, in so many cases, view the father as someone who can be isolated legally from their own child for no apparent reason? How can mothers take advantage of the situation and expose the children they claim to love and want to protect to this display of immature and confrontational behavior between the two most important people in that child's life? How are judges with years of education able to do that with a clear conscience? I want you to know that other people do care about your situation and view it as an abomination of justice, and are actively working to rectify the blatant sexism in our justice system. Jennifer Larson Courage to Act We are all born with tunnel vision; we cannot see past our own desires. Many of us learn to care for a small group of people 4 family, friends, maybe neighbors and coworkerswho have an immediate effect on our lives. Only a few somehow manage to look beyond these, to a much larger picture, to needs greater than their own. What will make up the difference? You. Me. When we decide to become the ones who will lift our eyes, see the need, and work to impact the life of someone who doesn't know we're here, and will never pay us back. This is, indeed, the only thing that can be done; none of us can make anyone else care, or work for what's right, or object to what's wrong. I pray: God, open my eyes; and God, give me the courage to act. Don Titus
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