            |
Ballots are arriving in Eugene mailboxes this week and will include four positions for the 4J board. Only two of the positions are contested, those of incumbents Mike Fox and Anette Spickard. Other incumbents Chris Pryor and Beth Gerot are running unopposed. Fox is an attorney who has served on the board for the past nine years. His one opponent is Michael Glownia, a youth workshop facilitator, poet and former mayoral candidate. Spickard, an accountant, was appointed to fill the position left vacant when Phil Barnhart was elected to the Legislature in January. She is being challenged by Tom Herrmann, an attorney; George Jeffcott, a retired 4J teacher; and Mac McFadden, a community activist. Bob Reeves and Ed Ruttledge are on the ballot, but have decided not to campaign. Fox has a long resume in academic and community affairs in addition to his law practice and circuit court judgeship. He has served on the Eugene Symphony Association Board, Oregon School Boards Association (OSBA) committees and other state boards. "I am an advocate for music and arts in the schools and we have unfortunately drifted away from that," he says. "One reason for going through the school closure process now is to eliminate some of our fixed costs and bring some of the arts back." Fox says he sees "benefits and negatives" to charter schools. "They can be useful in providing alternatives," he says, "but charter schools can take away funding for traditional public school programs." Glownia has a background in marketing and sales, has volunteered in local schools, and is on the board of Planned Parenthood. "We really need to implement some new changes in our schools," he says. "What I'll offer the board is something fresh, something new, some creative ideas." Glownia calls for: ending school closures, removing soft drink machines from schools, reducing class sizes, "holistic learning" and cutting administrative costs. He supports the charter school movement enthusiastically, and says one of the main reasons for his candidacy is his concern for "the difficulties the Village School had in getting their charter approved." Spickard is currently a staff accountant with Jones & Roth, administering retirement plans and doing municipal audits. Previously, she was an administrative analyst with the Lane County district attorney's office. "Financial problems are at the root of many of the decisions facing Oregon school boards," she says. "It's critical that the board retains an accountant who has experience in public financing and public budgets, and provide continuity on the board during these challenging times." Regarding charter schools, Spickard says her main concerns are that they employ as many certified teachers as possible, and that they are "well managed and capable of sustaining themselves financially." Herrmann is a business attorney, chair of the district Budget Committee and was neck-and-neck with Spickard in January's appointment process. He is a member of the OSBA and active in local and state campaigns involving education. "We need to find a way to advocate for some sort of dedicated state fund for K-12 education," he says. "If we don't do that, we will continue to see declines and declines & Charter schools are a conundrum for me. If it's an idea whose time has come, it's come at the wrong time in Oregon." Herrmann says the board has a responsibility to see that charter schools "are filling a real need, have financially responsible plans, and will outlast the fervor of their founders." Jeffcott taught high school and middle school in Eugene for 27 years and if elected would advocate locally and statewide for education support. "Teachers are terribly overworked," he says. "I retired early because I couldn't keep up with the pace anymore. & We're going to burn out young people. I work with student teachers and they are already starting to look at other states because they see what's going on." Jeffcott says he knows the school system "inside and out," and "it's time to get a teacher on board." Jeffcott says he was skeptical at first of charter schools, but "they're here, let's work with them, let's try to make the whole system work." McFadden is a longtime advocate for the poor and homeless in the Eugene area, most recently as "car camper" facilitator for the city. He has served on numerous panels dealing with education, including the Schools of the Future Committee and committees dealing with school choice and school closure. "I'm willing to follow up on the work that I did," he says. "I would bring strength to the board by offering a voice for the low-income community, and generate support for 4J schools and their policies and support for the bond measures we are going to have to have to replace some of our aging buildings." McFadden says charter schools have a place in the district, but he's concerned that not all their teachers need to be certified. Rep. Barnhart says he's impressed with both the quality and balance of expertise on the current board. He's not endorsing anyone in the race, though he says Spickard adds an important element. "One of the things that has been lacking on the board is that level of expertise in financial analysis." Barnhart says he shares the candidates' concerns for stable and adequate education funding and one of his main roles now in Salem is fighting for schools. Next week: the LCC board race and EW endorsements. Censored
In a meeting with about a dozen TV, radio and newspaper journalists, Police Chief Jim Hill repeated that reporters covering such "unlawful" protests will be subject to arrest along with protesters. "The law requires that media people, just like everybody else, obey the law," Hill said. "The bottom line is if we're going to clear an area, that's going to include the media." Local media have criticized the policy charging that it prevents reporters from telling the public what happens at political protests. "It's in effect an ability to censor the coverage," Register-Guard editor Jim Godbold said in the meeting with police. Hill claimed the arrest policy is necessary because some activists participate in protests while claiming to be media covering the event. "We can't allow people who are out there participating in the event and then saying they are media." Godbold has urged the police to require police-issued press credentials of media before they are allowed to cover protests. But Hill rejects the idea as a "set up." Hill said it isn't the police's role to issue credentials that say who is approved media and who isn't. "We would be roundly criticized." But UO journalism Dean Tim Gleason said at the meeting that such a no-credentials policy "may actually result in less access" for media to cover protests. What will likely happen in practice is that some "favored" reporters will be let through to cover an event while "everybody else will be behind the line." Pam Alejandre, the police's new public relations manager, said the department won't discriminate among media outlets. "All media in an event are to be treated equally." But videographers who have shot footage for the cable access TV show Cascadia Alive! said they have been targeted by police. Randy Shadowalker said while mainstream TV stations wander freely at protests, he and other videographers readily face arrest, steep tickets, or having their cameras and tape seized if they so much as step into the street. "If you're outside the spin the police department wants, you're going to get hassled all the time." "I think we all know it isn't equal treatment," KLCC Manager Steve Barton said. But KMTR TV reporter Cari Lampshire said the disparate treatment of the videographers is justified. "We weren't holding a sign saying, 'If Mumia dies, the city burns' one moment and carrying a camera the next," Lampshire said, referring to a protest in support of an African-American death row inmate. But videographer Tim Lewis said the police have a "double standard" when it comes to reporters participating in news events. Lewis points out many TV reporters regularly blur the lines between media and police. For example, a few years ago a female KMTR reporter went undercover for the police in a prostitution sting operation. In another example, Chambers Communication, which operates KEZI, has an agreement with local police to produce a syndicated "State Police" show. Videographer Marshall Kirkpatrick said Lampshire wasn't carrying a sign, but "you were carrying a camera one moment and then riding around in the back of a car with the police chief the next." He said the mainstream media is given better access because of their "political role" in supporting the police. "The vast majority of media in this town, especially corporate media, roll over and do whatever the police department wants." Lewis said the alternative media are often the only source of information to dispute the police version of events at protests where demonstrators claim police have used excessive force. "They're concerned about the kind of information we're going to collect," he said. When it comes to providing information, Alejandre said she's told officers to not talk to the media without her prior approval. "I do require that the media has been first contacting me," Alejandre said. Barton of KLCC said the policy could restrict reporting. "You may not want us to talk to this person because they may give us information you don't want." Videographer Trish Binder complained that the filtering policy "is obviously about controlling the story." "It's a way to manage it," Alejandre said. "I want to make sure the person representing the EPD is the right person." She added, "There certainly are some changes happening." Lewis agrees. "The EPD is trying to decide what kind of access the media has," he said. "People should be enraged." Register-Greed This week, the Eugene Newspaper Guild called for readers to temporarily cancel their subscriptions to show support for the union in the stalled contract negotiations. The Guild has asked community members to cancel subscriptions and then restart delivery on Saturday to coincide with the end of another round of negotiations with the paper's owners.
"For nearly two years, workers at The Register-Guard have been battling the newspaper owners' attempts to weaken workers rights, run roughshod over the union that has represented workers for more than a half century, stall contract negotiations, replace full-time work with part-time or contract workers, and freeze or roll-back wages for many employees," the lead story in the flier reads. A photograph depicts a Grinch head peering over the R-G building during a recent union rally. The caption identifies the Grinch as publisher Tony Baker. Guild President Suzi Prozanski said the flier was not done by the union. "We had nothing to do with it," she says. Articles in the mock paper were bylined by famous historical figures from the American labor movement, such as Joe Hill. R-G Publisher Tony Baker and circulation manager Mark Ogle did not return calls requesting comment. R-G public relations person Bridget Baker declined to comment regarding union issues, "Our philosophy has been not to make a statement to the other media." The flier described R-G workers as "shocked and angry" to see deteriorating working conditions at the paper. "The [Baker] family owners of The Register-Guard are turning a once-great newspaper into the same kind of run-of-the mill, chain-operated, anti-worker papers that litter the American landscape." The flier charges that the Baker family's third generation, which now owns the newspaper, have embarked on an "anti-worker" strategy motivated by greed, wanting more profits to split amongst its 21 members. "Even with revenues soaring past $35 million per year by the mid-1990s, the Bakers wanted more. They vowed publicly to triple the profit margin within five years. Advertising rates started going up substantially each year and workers' raises started lagging behind the cost of living." Compared to other newspapers, many R-G workers are well paid, according to data from the National Newspaper Guild. The R-G pay for its ad sales people, reporters and telephone operators is about the middle of the pack compared to 54 other union newspapers. R-G ad sales people earn a top salary of about $46,000 a year, compared to $42,000 at the much larger Seattle Times, according to the National Guild. R-G reporters' top salary is $46,000 compared to $45,000 at the Times. Prozanski says the paper has proposed cuts in pay for ad sales and circulation workers, but many of the major negotiation issues go beyond pay. The newspaper's management has demanded a new clause in the contract that would allow the newspaper to essentially replace union employees with part-time and non-union workers. If the policy stands, "there might not be a Guild left," Prozanski says. Getting rid of the union might increase the value of the paper if the owners decided to sell it, Prozanski says. But she says she hasn't heard anything from the Bakers about a possible sale. Another big sticking point is a "union-busting" attorney the paper has hired from Tennessee to negotiate with the union. Attorney L. Michael Zinser has told the union "take it our way or leave it," Prozanski says. Although the labor dispute has grown heated, Prozanski says the union isn't about to strike. "It will be a while before we get to the point of a strike vote," she says. The Guild union in Seattle spent 10 years fighting for better contracts before it went on strike for 49 days this winter, Prozanski says. "They didn't win a whole lot," she says. "The Seattle strike made us really wonder whether that's the best tactic." A better tactic may be using community pressure on the R-G owners to push for a settlement at the negotiating table, Prozanski says. "It takes the community standing right behind us."
Most of the money will go to special guideways for the buses, new sleek buses and new transit stops. LTD says the system will cut travel time between the two downtowns by 43 percent in the next 20 years. But much of that time savings could be realized without spending the millions of dollars on BRT. According to LTD, only 17 percent of the travel time savings can be attributed to avoiding traffic congestion by using the expensive new guideways. The rest of the 26 percent savings comes from measures that could be implemented with the same bus system LTD has now. Fewer bus stops save 10 percent, reduced time at stops saves 6 percent, and a signal priority mechanism to change lights green for buses saves another 10 percent. While LTD emphasizes quicker travel times for BRT, the agency doesn't factor in longer walks to bus stops in its calculations. Bus stops will be spaced about twice as far apart on the new BRT system. -- AP
Barnhart resigned from the Eugene School Board in January and was involved in the district's charter school program. Based on his experience in Eugene, he says, he will be pushing legislation to 1) prevent charter school employees from serving on charter school boards, 2) clarify financial responsibility in case charter schools go bankrupt, and 3) require that all charter school teachers be certified. Regarding the certification rule change, Barnhart says it would be phased in for existing schools. And he says he's open to creating a modified certification category for charter school teachers. Commenting on charter schools in general, Barnhart says Eugene's situation is unique. "If you look at Eugene compared to other school districts around Oregon, we're miles ahead. I think the charter school impetus in Oregon was not really related to what was going on it Eugene. It was related to other areas where there are not alternatives in schools." "The ironic piece," says Barnhart, "is because Eugene is so involved with its alternative education, there are also more people in Eugene who have the expertise and the interest in setting up charter schools. It may be that Eugene needs them the least, but at the same time, has the people most likely to be doing it." Barnhart says he doesn't expect much legislative action on charter schools this session since "it will take a couple of years to see if the law [passed in 1999] works." -- TJT "Prime farm and forest land is disappearing at an alarming rate, the result of a relentless assault by high-price lawyers, land-use consultants and dummy corporations that front for unscrupulous developers," says Rich Fairbanks, president of LandWatch. Fairbanks says the problem is made worse "because the county's planning budget depends on building permit fees (and) planners actively encourage irresponsible development and promote low-density sprawl." LandWatch took a leadership role in successfully fighting efforts to open up 700,000 acres of prime forest land in Lane County to development. The group has also testified on proposed gravel mining, downzonings, salmon habitat, system development charges and other environmental and land-use issues. For information, contact LandWatch at P.O. Box 5347, Eugene 97405, e-mail fairbank@epud.net or visit www.landwatch.net -- TJT Meadows' mother, Phoebe Quist, has referred to her daughter as an "earth missionary." Meadows described herself in light-hearted website profiles as "an opinionated columnist, perpetual fund-raiser, fanatic gardener, opera-lover, baker, farmer, teacher and global gadfly." She was born in 1941 in Elgin, Ill., and trained as a scientist, earning a Ph.D in biophysics from Harvard University in 1968. She taught for many years at Dartmouth College and was director of The Sustainability Institute. Meadows was the principal author of The Limits to Growth, which sold millions of copies in 28 languages. In 1991 she collaborated with her co-authors, Dennis Meadows and Jorgen Randers, on Beyond the Limits. She was also co-author of two technical books, Toward Global Equilibrium, and The Dynamics of Growth in a Finite World. Her column, "The Global Citizen," received the Walter C. Paine Science Education Award in 1990 and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1991. Selected columns were published in 1991 as a book, also called The Global Citizen. A memorial service will be announced, and donations may be made to The Sustainability Institute or to Cobb Hill Cohousing, both at P.O. Box 174, Hartland Four Corners, VT 05049.
The Eugene-based Oregon Toxics Alliance now has an official name and is accepting tax-deductible contributions from founding members. Just send a check to OTA, P.O. Box 12056, Eugene 97440. The OTA, inspired by the local and state battle over toxics right to know laws, intends to: * Provide all Oregon citizens, tribes, organizations and communities with access to scientific, technical, legal and strategic resources for challenging unnecessary toxics. * Assist local groups throughout Oregon that are responding to toxics use; and developing systems, structures, laws and litigation that will set precedents for fundamental change. * Undertake systematic, long-term education of Oregon media regarding toxics use and alternatives. * Initiate, join and support local and statewide campaigns to bring major toxics reform in Oregon. A statement from the group says OTA "does not aim to 'reduce' toxic pollution to some 'standard,' but to eliminate unnecessary toxics use and contamination. This takes a whole state working together." -- TJT
|
Meanwhile, a flier of unknown origin claims in a banner headline, "Local
Newspaper Gets Greedy, Register-Guard Owner Tony Baker Refuses to Bargain
in Good Faith." The newsprint flier (styled as a mock R-G front page)
went out Feb. 27 wrapped around some copies of the R-G.
