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News
Briefs: What is Terrorism? | Walk
the WEPlands | Echo of the '60s | Ugly
Ducklings | Saving Bunchgrass | Sunny
Thoughts | Corrections/Clarifications
News:
Opportunity Calling -- Profits and political gain in the aftermath.
News:
Warner Creek -- Ten Years After the Arson.
News:
The Gathering -- Eugene activist brings back lessons from World Conference.
Happening
People: Roger Briand
What
is Terrorism?
President George W. Bush has declared war on terrorism.
But what exactly is "terrorism"?
Using passenger airliners as missiles to destroy the World Trade
Center clearly qualifies. But what about burning an SUV, spiking a tree, releasing
a mink or other property sabotage, even political graffiti?
The FBI's definition of terrorism is extremely vague. An FBI-police
Oregon "Joint Terrorism Task Force" (JTTF) alarmed members of the Portland
City Council last year. In a written request for endorsement of the group, the FBI
described the task force's mission as "to identify and target for prosecution
those individuals or groups who are responsible for right wing and/or left wing movements."
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Slant
-- As city staff, elected officials and the UO ponder the new federal
building site east of downtown, all sorts of ideas, some scary, are being tossed
around. Should we reroute Franklin Boulevard at Hilyard along the railroad tracks
behind the fed building, a straight shot to 6th Avenue? A pedestrian bridge
linking the fed building site to downtown? A trolley car line? High-density commercial
development along the river north of the tracks? A whole new rethinking of the nearby
Riverfront Research Park? Is there room for a high-rise hospital over there somewhere?
Turning the Autzen Foot Bridge into part of an LTD shuttle route linking Franklin
with the Leo Harris Parkway across the river? Wings on the bridge for bicyclists?
Great fodder for political cartoons.
-- First-termer Phil Barnhart is one of the few Oregon lawmakers
to earn 100 percent on pro-enviro voting in 2001, as calculated by the Oregon League
of Conservation Voters. Go Phil! The rating is based on votes affecting water quality,
pollution, wildlife, land use, energy, etc. Susan Castillo got a 92, Tony Corcoran
an 83, Bill Morrisette a 75, Bob Ackerman a 71, Al King a 47, Lee Beyer a 42, and
Cedric Hayden garnered a big zero. Future OLCV reports will evaluate our County Commission
and City Council. How will Councilor Gary Rayor be rated by OLCV? Rayor's positions
have disappointed many of the people who campaigned tirelessly to get him elected.
Granted, it's a little tricky linking votes and positions. An official might oppose
a parkway, for example, but favor referring that parkway to the voters. Someone might
vote against an environmental protection because it's not strong enough. But OLCV's
ratings show trends and patterns of thinking that cannot be ignored when these folks
seek reelection.
-- Diane Burch of Florence has declared her candidacy for the West
Lane area County Commission seat in 2002. We're hopeful that several good candidates
arise. It's time for Anna Morrison to retire.
-- The League of Women Voters is working with Eugene City Club
to present a program on the West Eugene Parkway Oct. 19, but the line-up of speakers
looks suspiciously skewed: former Councilor Emily Schue, Mayor Jim Torrey, LCOG planner
Steve Gordon and ODOT manager Robert Pirrie. Gordon knows wetland science but we
don't see anybody in this group standing up and saying, "This is a fiscally
ridiculous and environmentally irresponsible proposal that will only make our sprawl
problems worse." This panel needs a balancing act.
SLANT includes short opinion pieces and rumor-chasing notes compiled
by the EW staff. Heard any good rumors lately? Contact Ted Taylor at 484-0519, editor@eugeneweekly.com
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"It sounds like something out of the Nixon administration,"
said City Commissioner Charlie Hales. "According to a lot of people in this
state, this City Council would qualify as a left wing organization." He added,
"Ralph Nader would qualify."
The commissioners revised the language of the agreement to indicate
that prosecuting criminal rather than political activity should be the mission of
the task force.
At the time, FBI supervisor Kevin Favreau described the FBI definition
of terrorism. "If we can show that two or more people are involved in criminal
activity where they utilize force or violence to try to enhance political or social
change, that is our definition of terrorism," he said. He added that "advocating
violence of some type" would also be investigated.
But Portland CopWatch members testified that it remains unclear
how the task force would define criminal terrorism.
"What is 'criminal activity'?" asked Dan Handelman. "Is
it jaywalking? Is it standing in the middle of the street when a police officer tells
you not to?" Handelman called the task force's political focus a "pseudo
fascist" throwback to the McCarthy era.
In May, former FBI director Louis Freeh testified to a Senate Committee
on the threat of terrorism in the U.S. Freeh defined terrorism as "the unlawful
use, or threatened use, of violence by a group or individual -- which is committed
against persons or property with the intent of intimidating or coercing a government
or its population in furtherance of political or social objectives."
Freeh devoted about equal time in his statement to environmental
and other "left-wing" extremists as he did to Osama bin Laden and Middle-East
terrorist groups. The FBI's broad definition of "terrorism" as any unlawful,
political act that damages property is a broad brush. Graffiti saying "Stop
Bush" could fall under the official definition of "terrorism." --
AP
Walk the WEPlands
Eugene citizens will vote in November on Measure 20-54,
which would authorize the city to lobby state and federal agencies to build the West
Eugene Parkway (WEP), a bypass of the West 11th Avenue business district. An alternative,
Measure 20-53, would implement cheaper, diverse solutions focusing on land use changes
and existing roads instead of the WEP.
"The WEP would subsidize sprawl -- such as the new Wal-Mart
and Target superstores at 11th & Beltline -- and puncture the urban growth boundary,
not solve traffic congestion," says Mark Rabinowitz of the No on 20-54 Committee.
The committee, a coalition of environmental and civic groups, is
sponsoring two tours of the proposed WEP route. The tours will start at 11 am at
First and Bertelsen streets on Monday, Oct. 8 and Saturday, Oct. 27.
The tours are "a good way to see what the original Willamette
Valley ecosystem looked like before Columbus, since more than 99 percent of the original
habitat is gone," says Rabinowitz.
The group says WEP would "slice through the heart of the West
Eugene Parklands, a hidden treasure that contains some of the last remaining native
habitat in the southern Willamette Valley. It threatens endangered species including
Western pond turtles and rare plants, and would fill in 50 acres of wetlands."
In recent years, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has spent more
than $10 million to protect native wet prairie in West Eugene, and the Army Corps
of Engineers has spent millions more to restore lower Amazon Creek.
The tours are free, and will be held rain or shine. Drinking water,
a camera, lunch and good shoes are recommended. For more information, call 349-9860
or 686-6761.
Echo of the
'60s
Anti-war sentiment on college campuses appears to be growing
to a level not seen since the flower-power era, and Eugene is once again pushing
diplomacy and daisies over bullets and missiles.
Eugene's peace activist community was even featured in The New
York Times Friday, Sept. 28 under the headline, "An Echo of the '60s."
Interviewed were UO history Prof. Daniel Pope, who teaches a popular course on American
radicalism. "I told my Monday class that it's essential that we look for solutions
that didn't wreak further damage and were respectful and nondiscriminatory,"
Pope told the NYT.
Local activists are organizing a slug of events. Next up is a peace
rally and march beginning at 2 pm Sunday, Oct. 7, at the UO's Erb Memorial Union.
The event is organized by the UO Survival Center and Justice Not War Coalition, currently
made up of Eugene PeaceWorks, Oregon PeaceWorks, WAND, the Green Party, as well as
individuals from other Lane County groups supporting non-violence. Contact 343-8548
or 346-4356.
A free "Peace, Justice and Globalization" conference
and teach-in is being organized by the same groups at Grayson Hall on campus for
Oct. 19-21. Keynote speaker line-up includes Bruce Gagnon, Stephen Zunes, Juliette
Beck, Ann Fagen Ginger, Anita Weiss and Ibrahim Hamide. The conference also includes
a film festival, live music and numerous workshops. -- TJT
Ugly Ducklings
Going to an Autzen game can be dangerous.
That's what Kevin Miller, electronic information editor at The
Register-Guard, and his 10-year-old daughter Maddy found during the Sept. 1 Oregon-Wisconsin
game. In a letter to the EPD commending police for preventing violence, Miller described
being caught in a "near-riot" when Duck general admission fans refused
to move from seats reserved for Wisconsin fans.
"When the EPD officers arrived to take charge of the situation,
we had multiple fights in progress or about to start in front of us and a shoving
match behind us, and I found myself having to tell my daughter that if the fighting
swept over us, I wanted her to get down in the aisle and I would cover her with my
body. As the police began moving people out, I heard at least one guy yell that he
was ready to 'fight the f------ cops' if they tried to move him and others shouted
their agreement. Maddy was so scared she became physically ill."
"I knew that with so few officers it was a crapshoot, because
they wouldn't have had much chance if the crowd had turned on them. Repeatedly, I
saw officers deal calmly and politely with people who were screaming at them, spittle
flying from inches away."
Miller's daughter wrote to thank police in an attached letter.
"You probably saved me and my dad from getting injured. You don't know how much
relieved I was when I got out of that game. -- It was soooo scary." -- AP
Saving Bunchgrass
The Lane County Assessor's Office has settled a case in
Oregon Tax Court under terms that may make the state's Open Space tax-incentive program
more effective at protecting wildlife habitat.
The suit was brought by Adam Novick of Eugene. He sought to appeal
the value assessed under the program for property in south Eugene. Novick had applied
to the program in early 1999 to help protect his property from development. The two-acre
site contains oak habitat, including a remnant of native bunchgrass savanna.
Novick says the settlement apparently sets a precedent for the
amount of tax deferral provided by the Open Space program. Under the agreement, the
county will defer 96 percent of the taxes on the property, based on the property's
current use for protecting habitat. Prior to the settlement, the program's maximum
deferral for any property was reportedly about 30 percent.
The settlement also apparently sets a precedent by defining habitat
protection as a land use under the Open Space program. Under the agreement, the current
use of the property is likened to the uses allowed under the city's code for Natural
Resource Zone. Novick says he believes the detailed description in the code could
help counties implement and enforce the Open Space program to protect habitat on
other properties, by providing a basis for assessing them and for evaluating changes
to their use.
Novick said he hopes these apparent precedents might help other
citizens use the Open Space program to protect habitat elsewhere in the state.
Novick and the Lane County Assessor's Office agreed to the settlement
on Aug. 27, with assistance from the Oregon Tax Court's mediation service. Unless
appealed, the settlement becomes final 60 days after that date. Neither party expects
to appeal.
To increase the chance the property will be saved permanently,
Novick has been restoring the property's native vegetation and working to find recognition
for its ecological value. Under his ownership, the property has been serving as a
source of native grass seed and seedlings for the BLM, Marion County, and the city
of Portland.
Sunny Thoughts
Coming up Saturday, Oct. 13 is Eugene's annual Solar Tour
and local solar energy advocates will be offering guided tours and free workshops
on the latest in solar/renewable/conservation designs, techniques and products. For
more information or to volunteer to help with the events, contact Tom Scott at 302-6808
or e-mail solaror@teleport.org
Corrections/Clarifications
In a Sept. 11 story, EW incorrectly reported the
date for the U.S. bombing of Libya and the number of casualties from a U.S. cruise
missile attack in Sudan. The Libya bombing was in 1986 and one person was killed
in Sudan.
Back to Top
Opportunity
Calling
Profits and political
gain in the aftermath.
By Alan
Pittman
A military response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will bring
big profits to many corporations and wealthy investors. Revived patriotism may mean
new political clout for Republicans.
When Wall Street re-opened the Monday after the terrorist attacks,
many stocks plummeted, but not all. Raytheon stock rose 27 percent. The defense contractor
is one of the largest makers of cruise missiles for the Pentagon. Northrop Grumman,
which makes $47 million unmanned spy planes, saw its stock jump 16 percent.
The Wackenhut Corporation saw its stock rise 27 percent. The corporation
is one of the nation's largest sources for security guards and systems. Viisage Technology,
which makes face recognition software useful for big-brother security, enjoyed a
142 percent stock leap.
Defense contractors were facing flat defense spending before Sept.
11. Now, Bush's call for up to $30 billion in increased military spending is expected
to sail through Congress.
Much of this spending doesn't appear likely to go to the nimble
special forces the nation needs to track down and fight terrorists, the Wall Street
Journal (WSJ) reports. The military and defense contractors and their
allies in Congress favor big ships, heavy tanks, mobile artillery and other expensive
weapons and have so far "balked" at diverting funding to more versatile
units. The Air Force wants to spend $70 billion on a new F-22 fighter plane designed
to foil sophisticated Russian radar. Most of Afghanistan doesn't even have electricity.
A formal declaration of war could save insurers billions. Most
insurance contracts exclude "acts of war" from contracts. Insurance corporations
are hedging on whether or not they'll use such exclusions to get out of paying claims,
the WSJ reports.
Construction companies and real estate developers and speculators
near New York also stand to make big bucks. The Pentagon will spend an estimated
$1 billion rebuilding and the World Trade Center complex will cost $4.5 billion to
replace after the clean-up, McGraw-Hill analysts estimate. Shares of New York real-estate
investment trusts Mack-Cali and SL Green hit one-year highs in the wake of the terrorist
attacks, the WSJ reports.
A few dot-com entrepreneurs could cash in on hate. Namezero.com
owns the web address "killarabs.com." Namezero advertises, "Buy this
domain name before someone else does!"
Others hope to profit from patriotism. "Savvy street vendors
in New York were quick to cash in on the craze with cheap silk-screened T-shirts
and bandanas ablaze with Old Glory Motifs," the WSJ reports.
In Eugene, a T-shirt salesman made the rounds of a candlelight
vigil after the attacks, hawking New York Fire Department shirts.
The Array Corp. that has the contract to sell blue jeans made by
Oregon prison labor issued a press release last week calling on Americans to buy
their product to "help support America's economy" in the wake of the terrorist
attacks.
The rich and corporations stand ready to benefit from efforts to
bail out the economy after Sept. 11. Republicans in Congress and in the White House
are reportedly talking about a $100 billion stimulus package focused on tax breaks
for investors' capital gains and for corporations.
Already, Congress has approved $15 billion in corporate welfare
for the airline industry. Airline companies have announced plans to lay off up to
100,000 workers, "but it is difficult to find a big carrier whose top executives
are yet sharing the pain by cutting their own compensation," the WSJ
reports.
After the success of the airlines, lobbyists for the insurance,
car-rental, travel, restaurant, hotel and other industries are lining up to cash
in on the national tragedy. "It's pretty much open season," one lobbyist
tells The New York Times.
Republicans are reportedly happy to dole out the corporate welfare
while opposing health insurance benefits and minimum wage increases that could help
laid-off workers.
Meanwhile, terrorist money reportedly remains safe in secret offshore
accounts, The Nation reports.
Republicans have fared well since the attacks. Bush's low approval
ratings shot to historic highs after Sept. 11.
Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber decided not to run against incumbent
Republican Gordon Smith for the Senate. "I think Gordon is in a particularly
good position," Oregon Senate Majority Leader David Nelson, R-Pendleton, a friend
of Smith's told The Oregonian, "particularly after the events
of the last few weeks."
The conservative editorial page writers at the WSJ say Bush
should take advantage of his war-driven approval ratings to push a broad Republican
agenda including huge tax breaks for the rich, fast-tracking free trade, conservative
judicial appointments and oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "This
gives him a historic opportunity to assert his leadership, not just on security and
foreign policy but across the board."
Back to Top
Warner
Creek
Ten years after the
arson.
By Orna
Izakson
It was the middle of a hot day at the end of summer, after the
second year of a drought. The flow of logs to the mills in Oakridge had slowed to
a trickle; even the burned trees salvaged in the nearby Shady Beach timber sale were
running out.
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Michelle Wood of
UO stands in new growth of Douglas fir.
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Over the course of 48 hours, someone set several fires in the Willamette
National Forest. On Oct. 10, 1991, one of those spots was in a habitat reserve for
the Northern spotted owl set into the Cornpatch Roadless Area. When the firefighters
came, they named the blaze after the first access road they turned on: Warner Creek.
After 13 days and $10 million fighting the fire, the season's first snow put out
the flames.
In the intervening decade, the 8,973-acre Warner Creek burn became
a flashpoint for the ongoing debate over logging on public lands, ultimately gaining
national attention when protesters camped on a road for 11 months, successfully staving
off salvage logging at the site.
"The economic incentives were the motivations," says
environmental activist Tim Ingalsbee of the Western Fire Ecology Center in Eugene.
"The majority of the community assumes that it was someone aspiring for salvage
logging, but it just as well could have been someone aspiring for fire fighting jobs."
The area that burned had been effective ly off
limits to logging because it was designated critical spotted owl habitat. Setting
it on fire put the land back on the logging block using one of two principle arguments:
log the forest to salvage value from the burned trees before they rotted, or take
out trees the Forest Service worried could burn again.
By 1995, the Willamette National Forest had sold portions of the
area for logging. Ingalsbee and others who had participated in the process and proposed
permanent protection for the area for research purposes took the matter to court.
A federal judge stopped the sale, saying allowing logging at Warner Creek would reward
the arsonists.
But the Salvage Rider passed by Congress that year put Warner Creek
back on the block. Activists took to the woods, establishing what they called the
"Cascadia Free State" on the steep logging road into the sale.
"The Cascadia Free State had the moral high ground,"
Ingalsbee says. "When environmental laws are outlawed, only environmental outlaws
can uphold the law -- Where no one else had hope (because legal tactics were moot),
Cascadia Free State was the wellspring of hope and empowerment."
The encampment lasted 11 months, setting a record for the longest
such occupation in opposition to logging, and spawning similar actions around the
region. Forest Service officials broke up the Cascadia Free State just days before
papers canceling the sale were signed.
Activists celebrated their victory, but the area remains unprotected.
Ingalsbee has been one of the primary proponents of establishing
a research natural area at Warner Creek to study how forests on the west side of
the Cascades recover from intense fire.
"Warner Creek is one of the rarest sites in the Cascadia bioregion
precisely because it wasn't salvage logged or artificially planted," he says.
"It abounds with mysteries and secrets yet to be discovered on how native forests
naturally recover from fire."
Ingalsbee originally proposed protection for 48,000 acres, covering
the burn area and other sites connecting to the Waldo Wilderness. Earlier this year
he cut the proposal down to 13,000 acres, saying that amount of land would accomplish
the scientific goals while winning new proponents to the cause.
The effort is now mired in bureaucracy.
Patti Rodgers, a spokeswoman for the Willamette National Forest,
says the agency believes the best way to consider the proposal is during the forest
planning process next scheduled in 2009; doing it sooner would require an extra $200,000.
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio and Sen. Ron Wyden have asked for the money to conduct the
necessary environmental study, but officials say that a few charred trees in the
Cascades are a low priority now as.
Thomas Mills, director of the Forest Service's Pacific Northwest
Research Station in Portland, also says money is a limiting factor, and that there
is greater interest in studying fire on the more volatile east-side forests.
"One of the issues that we always need to look at is how many
dollars and researchers do we have in relation to the areas we can do research in,"
Mills says.
Ingalsbee, however, says that's where the community steps in. Several
federal and non-federal researchers already are studying the area, he says. The Northwest
Youth Corps recently won a $7,000 grant for long-term studies of how the forest there
decays.
A decade after Warner Creek burned, the arson case is still technically
open, but the lead investigator could not be reached for comment. All logging in
the area is currently on hold and new life continues to thrive at the cool, shady
feet of the blackened forest.
Back to Top
The
Gathering
Eugene activist brings
back lessons from World Conference.
By Mary
Meredith Drew
Heads of state and ordinary people from around the world met in
Durban, South Africa in late August at the U.N. World Conference Against Racism,
Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance. The conference ended
Sept. 8.
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Bahati Ansari.
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Among the delegates and speakers was Bahati Ansari of Eugene, who
presented a workshop on racism free zones to an international audience.
The Dalits ("Untouchables") from India were there, Australian
aboriginal people, the Maori, Arabs, Palestinians, the Saami people from Scandanavia
-- descendants of African slaves. There were 2,300 representatives from 163 countries,
including 16 heads of State, 58 foreign ministers, and 44 ministers.
Many delegations attended at great sacrifice. A Sri Lankan organizer
said his agency could employ 20 full-time workers for a year with what it cost to
send six delegates to the conference.
Four thousand delegates and 1,100 media representatives were at
the NGO Forum that intersected with the conference. ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX were not
among them.
Planners and participants hoped to work together in a spirit of
cooperation to draft a document and send a message to the world about how racism
and intolerance have affected millions, and that governments and individuals must
find a way to eradicate bigotry and compensate victims.
The U.S. balked at attending, attempted to dictate the agenda,
and when that didn't work, sent low level delegates without decision-making authority.
Jesse Jackson reported that the U.S. "came late, never took
its seat, and left early." He continued "... the conference featured remarkable
presentations on the staggering crimes of the past, the current effects of those
crimes, and the continuing racial injustices scarring the world."
Globalization and its impact on worldwide poverty, reparations
for slavery, oppression of indigenous people, and continuing colonialism were major
themes.
U.S. behavior regarding the conference was deplored by many delegates.
African National Congress spokesman Smuts Ngonyama said, "No country should
be allowed to dictate to the world what may or may not be discussed ... a democratic
process has to be followed in concluding the agenda ... the conference will go on.
They (the U.S.) are just one of many other countries in the world."
Ansari, Drug-Free Prevention Coordinator and creator of the Racism
Free Zone Project at Jefferson Middle School, attended the NGO forum with a delegation
from Atlanta. She presented a workshop on racism free zones to an international audience.
Delegates from Agnes Scott College reported on the success of the program there.
An education journalist wants to bring Ansari back to Africa to work in the schools.
A woman from Soweto greeted Ansari in tears, saying simply, "Welcome home."
Ansari attended workshops on black leadership and indigenous people
in the Americas. She heard Fidel Castro, Yassar Arafat, Jesse Jackson, and Angela
Davis speak. She met black women from Africa, the U.S., Russia and Brazil.
She visited Johannesburg and the shantytowns. Citing safety concerns,
conference organizers discouraged people from exploring Durban neighborhoods, but
delegates responded, "These people are no different from our brothers and sisters
on the streets of Atlanta!" So the group got to know local people, and bought
souvenirs directly from the street vendors.
About her experience, Ansari says, "I learned so much, and
the networking was wonderful. It was important to hear and know that you're not out
there struggling by yourself, that your issues are other people's issues. All the
people that were basically colonized, the same kinds of practices were used on people
the world over.
"I talked to elders in Johannesburg. They still have their
culture intact, but with the end of apartheid, the kids want to be white. They're
using bleaching cream, straightening their hair. Back in the villages they are keeping
some traditions, but they feel the youth are picking up bad habits, not respecting
their elders.
"The disappointment was that we (the U.S.) missed the opportunity
to just sit down and talk with people. You and I can disagree but at least we can
sit and talk about our differences. That's where the healing starts. And for our
government to say 'we don't have to, we're Americans, and if you don't take that
language out of there we won't even talk to you!' That's not right.
"We're trying to teach our kids better in school, teaching
them mediation. At the conference I was saying to myself, 'What is it we're going
to have to do to get the attention of America? Why do we have to be so arrogant,
what is it going to take?' And I didn't know what was going to happen later!
"We have the opportunity right now to stop talking about having
a war with somebody and ask, not who, but why? Just pull in and reflect and say we're
ready to listen. We're ready to talk."
Back to Top
 Roger
Briand
After former Beatle John Lennon was assassinated in 1980,
a small group of musically inclined friends gathered on Lennon's birthday, Oct. 9,
to play some tunes and honor their fallen hero. "We vowed to get together every
year to keep his spirit alive," says singer/guitarist Roger Briand, now a computer
technician and attendance officer at Roosevelt Middle School. The following year,
the musicians christened themselves the Number 9 Band -- "There were nine of
us that year" -- and opened their celebration to the public at the Growers'
Market. The event has since replicated yearly at varied locations, from Briand's
Songtree recording studio to the WOW Hall. "Roger has been the organizer and
ringleader since the inception," says Stan McMahon, a member of the original
group. "We do 50 or so songs." This year's celebration, scheduled for 7:30
pm Saturday, Oct. 6, at the River Road Park Annex, 1055 River Road, features the
Number 9 Band, the Paul Safar Band, and the Lennonite Choir. In keeping with tradition,
Jive Guru Dave of the Church of Latter-Day Lennonites will deliver the sermon.
-- Paul Neevel
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