            |
|
 |
 |
Hartung's a tough buggar and he wanted to return the next day. But his friend, Sen. Wally "the Warden" Miller4 a World Wrestling Federation aficionado 4 prevailed on Tommy to get a second opinion (the doctor told him he was ugly, too) and he didn't return until Thursday. Speaking of distinguished good looks: I once identified myself as a state senator on a voter's doorstep, and she looked at me suspiciously and said, "You don't LOOK like a senator!" Oh, well.
Instead, our committee spent last Wednesday hearing two hours of debate over the scope of practice of geological engineers and engineering geologists. I kid you not. Committee members were slapping each other to stay awake and dream up germane questions. We even asked the witnesses if they knew who was responsible for the Olympia earthquake, and of course they all blamed it on the architects. On the local front, I thought it was hilarious that a bunch of labor guerillas snuck into Register-Guard boxes all over town last Tuesday and wrapped the newspapers with a cover urging the Baker family to settle a two-year contract dispute with their workers and get rid of that union-busting SOB, Zinser. Along with 500 other local folks, I canceled my subscription to the R-G last week at the request of the Eugene-Springfield Solidarity Network. We did it to send a message to the Baker family that the community was watching as they went into bargaining March 1-2. The interesting thing is that the fake newspaper cover was done without the Guild being involved.
And then to have the OUS mouthpiece, Benjamin Rawlins, claim he wasn't trying to stifle efforts by the UO students and the UO Senate to join the WRC. What an insult to every Oregonian's intelligence! What kind of message does this send to the students about academic intellectual freedom? May as well call it Phil Knight U. Speaking of new names, I spoke with Ways and Means co-chair Ben Westlund about that new higher ed campus he wants to put in his back yard in Bend. I thought the cartoonist Harriman's idea of the University of Oregon State University Platypus was redundant, and the Pork U. Oinkers was a little too direct. My suggestion is the Westlund State Wankers. 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 Back to Top
Ballots arrived in most mail boxes late last week and must be delivered to the Lane County Elections Department by 8 pm Tuesday, March 13. Two positions on the Eugene School District Board are contested. Incumbents Mike Fox faces Michael Glownia in Position 6 and Anette Spickard faces Tom Herrmann, Mac McFadden and George Jeffcott in Position 1. Fox has served on the board for the past nine years and is a strong advocate for music and arts in the school. We wish we could say he helped restore arts in our schools, but he has helped keep arts on the agenda, and he deserves our continued support and gratitude. Fox's lone opponent , Glownia, likes to insert himself in local politics from the top down, running last year for mayor and this year for school board. Glownia is using his candidacy to publicize and promote some important progressive issues, such as the short-sighted contract with Coke and Pepsi, but he needs some years in committee work before he will be a credible board candidate. Spickard was appointed to the board based in large part on her financial savvy in dealing with diminishing funds, and she has contributed her wisdom in other areas as well. Attorney Herrmann chairs the district Budget Committee, has a high sense of civic duty, and would be a good addition to the board. Community activist and advocate McFadden would effectively represent a vitally important segment of our community that is often overlooked and undervalued. But among all these great candidates, the strongest and most outspoken voice for positive change comes from Jeffcott. This seasoned educator knows Eugene schools intimately, is highly regarded by his peers and expresses a remarkable passion for education. He understands how important schools are to their neighborhoods, and how investments in smaller class sizes pays off in the long run. He also understands teacher burn-out 4 and student burn-out. But more than anything, Jeffcott would use his formidable teaching skills to educate citizens and lawmakers on the pressing needs of public education today. To paraphrase him, "If people don't wake up and start to care, nothing will change."
But the "trouble-makers" in these races cannot be ignored in terms of energy and ideas. Architect Morgan, running against Shelley in Zone 4, sits on the LCC Budget Committee and is critical of "the drift towards compromise and crisis at LCC that has occurred over the past few years." He is vowing to fight for higher staff salaries, smaller class sizes, maintaining low tuition, hiring more full-time teachers, and reforming the budget process. He wants to expand continuing education programs and reach out to retired and elderly, Hispanic and deaf communities. Shine, a retired community college teacher, is equally enthusiastic in the Zone 3 race vs. Wheeler. Shine is active in numerous labor and human rights groups and supports strengthening satellite campuses, examining LCC's 45 advisory committees, centralizing tutoring and reaching out more to the community. "LCC is a first-rate community college and most people don't know how good it is," he says. "The board needs to be out there in the community praising the college." -- TJT The "Stone Soup" cartoon by Eugene's own Jan Eliot in Tuesday's R-G caught the kernel of the current flak in the UO Athletic Department. A young woman asks "Mr. Mire" why the boys' basketball coach gets paid and she doesn't. Mr. Mire says, "We can't afford it! If we paid both coaches, it would endanger the whole program! You wouldn't want to be responsible for that!?" And when the young woman tries to talk to Mire, he says his Rolex says he's gotta run! The current March madness in the UO is all about Title IX and women's equity in collegiate sports. The athletic department, now headed by Bill Moos, and Coach Jody Runge have been at odds over equity in women's sports since she came here. Not surprising that the conflict is deep. He's a football guy from Montana and she's a six-foot, three-inch woman with the winningest record by either men or women basketball coaches in Oregon history. In the current conflict, Moos shows his colors when he immediately talks to his friends in the press and not to the coach after the players offer their complaints. Then he suggests that he didn't contact Runge because the players didn't want her to know they had met with him. Wait ... something's wrong with that reasoning! You talk to the press to keep the players' secret? You talk to the press and not the coach a few days before the important Oregon State game? Makes us wonder if he has the best interests of the players, the coach, and the program in mind. -- AJ
"Users" were out in force on this February day to urge restoration of Rogue bait fishing and Sandy River hatchery steelhead. Upon staff biologist recommendation, the commission had earlier cut back on both in order to help restore wild fish runs. Bait hooks often kill wild fish being returned to the river; and hatchery steelhead on the Sandy will compete with wild salmon after Marmot Dam is breached, as currently scheduled. But it takes patience to fish with flies and lures rather than bait, and even more patience to wait for restoration of wild runs. Fishermen, bait fishing shop owners, fishing guides, and a young boy testified against the commissioners' earlier decisions. They variously denied a difference between wild and hatchery fish; said their businesses depend on bait or hatchery fishing; and claimed that unless people can "contact" fish they won't care for them, and that fishing keeps young people away from drugs. One man pointed to the mission statement, reminding commissioners, "You're supposed to ensure use. " Elk farms were the next decision item. In the 1970s, the Commission grandfathered 11 elk farms that had begun to operate in Oregon, and issued five more permits in 1997. Since the beginning, however, the commission has been extremely wary of the threat these farms pose to wild elk and deer: Escapes inevitably happen; genetic alteration of wild elk can occur; diseases can be transmitted; and the high fences block wild elk and mule deer migrations to winter habitat. Now, chronic wasting disease (CWD), a prion-based mad cow-like disease, is arriving in the West's elk ranches, and in adjacent wild elk and mule deer. It's impossible to tell if a deer or elk has CWD until after it's dead; and it's not known whether CWD can jump to humans, as mad cow disease does, causing always-fatal Creutzfeld-Jacob brain melt. Now Oregon elk farmers want 10 new ranches a year. They want to sell elk to new ranches, and they want to be able to sell elk meat (which would lead to poaching of wild elk for money), They're also promoting Senate Bill 41, which would transfer elk farming authority to the Oregon Department of Agriculture. As one elk farmer testified, "The ODFW doesn't do anything for us." On this issue, however, both users and non-users were present to urge commission protection of the wild: hunters, hunting and anti-hunting associations, wildlife biologists, and a member of a four-generation Oregon agricultural and ranching family. The commissioners held firm against new elk farm permits. But what would their decision have been if there were a test for CWD? What if elk farms only threatened wild elk winter habitat, leading to more trough-feeding of wild elk during winter? What if elk farms only threatened wild deer mice, or frogs? By the end of the day, I had three main thoughts: First, more people who enjoy, but do not "use," wildlife need to be present at wildlife hearings. Second, Oregon needs to follow Montana's lead: Citizens there passed an initiative requiring the phase-out of Montana's elk farms. And third, we have to move, as a people, toward regarding "Our mission is to protect and enhance Oregon's fish and wildlife and their habitats" as a complete sentence. Mary O'Brien has worked as a public interest scientist for the past 18 years. Her new book, Making Better Environmental Decisions: An Alternative to Risk Assessment, has been published by The MIT Press. She can be reached at mob@efn.org Back to Top Trudy was a patient teacher. She shook her head and laughed, extended a work-roughened hand and helped me up. She freed the squirming calf from the lasso and patted his rump. Momma cow took over, and nosed her son out of harm's way. Trudy was my first lesbian mentor. She was strong and independent and could rope cattle like a real rancher, which she was. A straw cowboy hat anchored down her fine, gray-blond hair. Her green eyes were gentle, softer than the rest of her weathered face. She'd fire up her old brier pipe to commemorate special moments, the end of a long day, a job well done. Trudy was in the life years before the Stonewall riots brought gay liberation to America. She served in the U.S. Navy during the World War II. Nylon was rationed then so, to keep up with the dress code, the women painted stocking seams on their bare legs with eye make-up. Trudy's steady hand drew the little line up the backs of her bunkmates' legs. She was careful to conceal her pleasure. Trudy told me how sometimes she'd arrange access to a Jeep. Six like-minded women would pile in and head off base to the countryside. They'd park, and stroll away two by two. After the designated time, the three couples would meet at the Jeep and drive back to the base. They never talked about it. When the war was over they all returned to civilian life and got married to men. Thirty years and four husbands later, Trudy came out for good. Our paths crossed when I was only 25, newly out and still shaking off my heterosexual upbringing. Trudy was everything I wanted to be; a bold, independent woman who didn't need a man. "Ode to a Gym Teacher" was big on the women's music scene at the time. I'd ride my bike across town singing "She was a big tough woman, the first to come along, to show me being female meant you still could be strong." I pumped those pedals and glowed with hot love for my sure-talking, cowboy-booted, pipe-smoking Trudy. Still tender from a recent break-up, Trudy had no interest in romance, especially with an overly eager youngster like me. But I was persistent and got myself hired on as a ranch hand. She needed the help and I worked hard to earn my keep. After a few months, her resistance to my affections softened and she welcomed me into her bedroom. During the two years I lived with Trudy on her ranch, I developed a lot of self-confidence. She taught me how to use a chainsaw, drive a tractor and string barbed wire. I strutted around with my heavy leather gloves and big wire cutters in the back pocket of my ranch overalls. I was invincible. Trudy taught me not to be afraid of challenges, not to give up. My second try at branding succeeded. I seared the ranch emblem onto the hindquarters of that calf and set him loose before Momma cow arrived to investigate the commotion. Trudy tipped back the frayed brim of her hat, reached into her suede jacket and pulled out her tobacco pouch. She took her time packing and lighting her pipe. Puffs of gray smoke floated skyward and disappeared over the hayfield. Trudy click-closed her Zippo lighter, tapped out the pipe on her boot heel and we got back to work. 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 at EW, also runs in several other newspapers around the country.
Thanks to the help of friends, neighbors and community allies, the Guild's grass-roots campaign to suspend subscriptions for a few days was a resounding success. The atmosphere at the Chad Drive plant was charged as hundreds of people called in. Although contract negotiations were still slow, the company did not yet present its last and final offer. We have hope that the owners will take the community's support of newspaper workers into consideration as bargaining continues. The Guild isn't the only union facing hostility from the newspaper owners. The pressmen's union recently started contract negotiations, and the company proposal is filled with many of the same objectionable take-backs that the Guild faces. Also, the R-G has until next week to answer charges from the National Labor Relations Board alleging the company illegally shut down a union-organizing drive in the distribution center. We'd also like to clarify one salary reported in Alan Pittman's story last week. The top salary in ad sales is $36,300 (the figure given was about $10,000 more). Any pay above that is earned through commissions. Guild members are proud that we have been able to bargain some good wages at the R-G. What we are not proud of (and what R-G owners should be ashamed of) is that the pay for half of our job classifications would qualify a family of four for food stamps. For updates on upcoming actions, e-mail us at eugguild@efn.org Suzi Prozanski Russian Roulette Bob Berman The Village
Gizmo It takes a village to raise a Gizmo. Thank you, Eugene. Mark Murphy Generation Gap The article clearly depicts the predominant generation hard at work and play but you do a disservice, as alas the boomer generation is so oft to do, to those of us younger and older. I am not some disaffected Gen-Xer starved for generational equity but rather someone tired of not seeing older and younger folk being portrayed as major contributors within our community. Yours (and aging by the second), Damien Sands Hope for Monitoring The OUS policy states that the UO and other schools can refuse business with contractors engaged in illegal activities. This may preclude cracking down on multinationals that do not pay a living wage, have unsafe working conditions, and/or engage in union-busting activities. However, the UO may still hold businesses accountable for not complying with the laws of the countries in which they produce (no matter how weak these laws are). As such, a monitoring organization would be highly consistent with the OUS's new policy, even if it means watered-down conduct codes and accountability standards. Of course, it is also worth noting that the new OUS policy is logically incoherent: It simply compels universities to conduct business in another, thinly-veiled political manner. Max Brown
I cannot understand the Greenhill Board's actions. Greenhill's newest director lowered the euthanasia rate and was written up in national trade publications for her innovative approach. It seems that the two remaining board members are bent on destroying the reputation and functioning of this wonderful animal welfare group. I hereby notify the Greenhill Humane Society Board I wish to serve on the board and have the time, heart, and business experience to be of service -- and vote them off. It seems there are more than dogs and cats at Greenhill that need to be muzzled and spayed. L. Michael Adler Positive Change I take interest in proportional/preferential instant runoff voting, not only because of its potential to benefit both the Greens and Dems, but also because it enables women and racial minorities more leadership. This would give me the freedom to support two parties and push for the changes in each I envision. Of all I read, my favorite article on this is "Ain't I a Voter?: Voting Rights of Women" www.icg.apc.org/enVISION/women.htm One of the many web sites I found is (www.fairvote.org). For those interested in plugging into the national election reform movement, this is a user-friendly way. The Multnomah/Clackamas Chapter of the PCP is interested in making gender balance and diversity more than just an ideal. Women interested in leadership can contact co-chair Barb Payne at (503) 240-1908 or co-chair Lysha Wasser at (503) 239-1980. I want to thank Justus Grose for the well-written letter "Support Womenspace" 2/22. Ceila Levine (Starshine)
|
