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News
Briefs: More Dry Years? | ODA
Criticized | Solar System Tours | Peace
Begins at Home
News:
Teach-In -- Profs pack the EMU with messages of peace, restraint.
News:
The Long Way Home -- Trapped in far-off places, three Eugene women learn valuable
lessons in the wake of terrorist attacks.
Happening
People: Rob Handy
More
Dry Years?
It's too early to know for certain, but the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in early September reported that a new El Niño
may be brewing in the Pacific Ocean.
In El Niño years, winters in the Northwest are usually milder
and dryer, and the waters off Oregon's coastline also become warmer. The weather
phenomenon is understood as a bad thing for imperiled salmon stocks, which depend
on abundant, cold water.
NOAA's Pete Lawson, who studies climate and salmon in Newport,
says an El Niño is coming, "but (it's) not a strong one."
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Slant
-- The City Club/League of Women Voters noon panel on the West
Eugene Parkway Oct. 19 appears to be expanding to include some dissident voices,
but we will have to wait to see if the discussion is fairly balanced. This program,
coming just as ballots are mailed for the Nov. 6 election, is likely to be well attended,
and may even draw demonstrators outside the Hilton.
-- Columbus Day was observed (more or less) Monday, Oct. 8, and
every year we wonder why. The more we learn about Chris Columbus, the less inclined
we are to celebrate his exploits. We hear the city of Berkeley has designated the
holiday as "Indigenous Peoples' Day." Now that's worth observing.
-- Rick Lindholm's polling organization has been calling Eugeneans
asking if the City Council is responsible for Sacred Heart leaving town. The pollsters
also ask if Sacred Heart planned to move to Springfield all along and was just stringing
the council along. Some of the questions were downright confusing, even for someone
who knows the issues. We're always skeptical of these polls, wondering why they are
conducted, how the information will be used, and whether they are intended to evaluate
opinions or influence thinking.
-- It's not all doom and gloom on the terrorist war front. Here's
a unique proposal from Barbara Mahaffay via www.nhne.org: "I think
I've got a solution to the Osama bin Laden problem. Killing him will only create
a martyr. Holding him prisoner will inspire his comrades to take hostages to demand
his release. Therefore, I suggest we do neither. Let the SAS, Seals or whoever covertly
capture him, fly him to an undisclosed hospital and have surgeons quickly perform
a complete sex change operation. Then we return 'her' to Afghanistan to live as a
woman under the Taliban."
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At the same time, climatologists believe the region is moving into
a new climate regime: a 10- to 30-year cycle of colder, wetter weather, despite the
past two years of drought.
Lawson therefore expects the coming El Niño to mean very
little for the Northwest. "Since we seem to have shifted into a new regime,
a new climate, the effects of El Niño are apt to be less extreme here,"
he says.
But the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission is bracing
for the effects of a typical El Niño on the already drought-stricken region.
Kyle Martin, the group's hydrologist, told the Pacific Fishery
Management Council earlier this year that two years of drought belied NOAA predictions
of a positive climate shift. He said there is no relief in sight before 2003 for
depleted reservoirs, which are close to or below historic lows. CRITFC argued for
using extra water this year to help record-high numbers of fish return to their natal
streams to spawn while they can. -- OI
ODA
Criticized
The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) received a near
failing grade of "D" for its draft rules to implement Oregon's new pesticide
right-to-know law, according to a report card issued Oct. 1 by the Oregon Pesticide
Education Network. OPEN is the leading proponent of the Pesticide Right to Know law
(HB 3602) which passed in 1999.
OPEN is a coalition of more than 70 groups spearheaded by the Oregon
Environmental Council (OEC), the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides
(NCAP), and the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG).
"Pesticides are turning up everywhere -- in our water, in
salmon, and even in our children's bodies," says Aimee Code of NCAP in Eugene.
"This law is supposed to allow us to track where they're coming from and how
they're getting there, so we can better protect human health and the environment.
Unfortunately, ODA's draft rules fail to meet the intent of the law."
ODA has proposed a set of draft rules that would determine how
specific, accurate, and comprehensive the program would be. The agency is now asking
for public comment on these rules. OPEN says the rules as they read now will severely
limit Oregonians' right to know about pesticide use.
The law is intended to provide critical information about when,
where, and in what amounts pesticides are used in urban and rural settings, including
schools, hospitals, agriculture and forest lands, and neighborhoods. The law requires
ODA to begin collecting these data in January 2002. At this time there is no actual
pesticide use information available.
Health researchers and water providers have requested that pesticide
users report all applications within a square mile area for useful results.
The draft rules require pesticide users to report all of their
use of pesticides only once per year. "OPEN gave ODA a failing grade on this
count, because once a year reporting seriously compromises the accuracy of the data
and severely limits ODA's ability to ensure compliance with the law," said Laura
Weiss of the OEC. "Even once a month is lax compared to California's requirement
that most pesticide applicators report within seven days of when they spray,"
says Weiss. For more information, call NCAP at 344-5044.
Solar
System Tours
Coming up Oct. 13 is Oregon's annual Solar Tour and Eugene's
solar energy promoters 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
Tours will run from 10 am to 4 pm. Cost is $10/car or $5/person
on the van tour; van seats available on a first-come, first-served basis. Buy tickets
at EWEB, 500 E. 4th Ave on Oct. 13 only. Free workshops are from 10 to 11 am and
1 to 2 pm in the North Building at EWEB.
The tour will begin with a slide show and discussion of the evolution
of solar energy systems, systems that work well in Oregon, and financial incentives
that make solar a cost-effective choice. After the slide show, participants may visit
up to five homes featuring solar water heating, solar pool heating, passive solar
designs, and photovoltaic systems. Transportation will be by bike, car or tour vans.
Seating in the vans is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Scott says solar energy in the valley has gotten several boosts
in recent times:
-- The Legislature has allowed the creation of two new licenses
for solar installation -- for both thermal solar and photovoltaic systems -- and
LCC is expected to offer coursework next year.
-- Amazon Pool is now heated by 100 solar panels, backed up by
a natural gas furnace.
-- The increasing costs of energy are "making the payback
look even better for solar," says Scott, citing EWEB rebates, state tax breaks
and other incentives for installing domestic and commercial solar systems. -- TJT
Peace
Begins at Home
The UO is hosting several events in honor of October's
designation as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This year, a global theme of peace
is sure to be on everyone's mind. On Thursday, Oct. 11, the University Coalition
Against Partner Violence hosts an open mic from 8 to 11 pm at the Buzz Coffeehouse,
EMU. The evening is entitled, "Speaking Our Way Out of Violence."
On Friday, Oct. 12, Songs of Resistance and Peace features DJ music
from 1:30 to 3:30 pm in the EMU Amphitheater.
Later on Friday, from 5:30 to 7 pm in the Adell-McMillan gallery
will be the opening of Expressions of Peace: A Creative Response to Relationship
Violence. The exhibition will feature the Oregon Silent Witnesses, life-sized
cutouts of women who have been victims of domestic violence. In addition to the Witnesses,
the Lane County Clothesline Project will be displayed and the Banner Project will
be unveiled. The banners include quilted statements of peace and empowerment.
Entertainment will be provided by local comedy troupe WYMPROV!,
All activities are free. --AS
Back to Top
Teach-In
Profs pack the EMU with
messages of peace, restraint.
By Alan
Pittman
Concerned Eugeneans converged on a Tuesday evening last week. From
blocks away, hundreds could be seen walking, riding bikes, driving, coming together
for a teach-in for peace at the UO's Erb Memorial Student Union.
More than 1,200 students and community members packed the UO's
biggest meeting hall. Speakers broadcast the meeting to the hundreds outside the
doors who couldn't fit in the EMU ballroom. Calls for peace met thunderous applause.
"We envision a world of peace, a peace obtained by overcoming
injustice," said sociology Prof. Sandra Morgen, introducing a panel of speakers.
Geography Prof. Shaul Cohen described the historic roots of the
hatred that many in the Middle East have toward the U.S. In the colonial period,
Britain protected the Suez canal by imposing puppet governments in the region. "They
were ruled by foreign armies and foreign bureaucrats for the enrichment of the West,"
he said.
After oil was discovered, the U.S. moved in, Cohen said. "Governments
were set up to do the bidding of foreign oil companies." The U.S. kept a brutal
dictatorship in Iran in power for years, and U.S. support for Israel is seen as an
"insult" to Islam, Cohen said.
"When we ask why are they so angry at us, why do they hate
us, we have to look at these historical circumstances," Cohen said.
Cohen said America's unhealthy relationship with the region could
be helped by reducing our reliance on oil, ending the Iraqi embargo, "kicking
the peace process in the butt" in Israel, and exchanging culture and ideas between
the region and the U.S.
Prof. Anita Weiss was born in New York City but has written four
books on Pakistan and was there on Sept. 11. The depiction of Afghanistan and the
Taliban in the media is "alien to what I know from the over 20 years I've spent
in the region," she said.
Weiss described the Afghan people as former "freedom fighters"
that the U.S. used to fight the U.S.S.R. in the Cold War.
Pakistan, with its nuclear weapons, is in danger of falling to
radical extremists, Weiss said. "Bombing Afghanistan would just give more fuel
to those who say the U.S. is just out to get Muslims."
Political Science Prof. Dan Goldrich called for an international
approach to the problem. The U.S. should foster and support a powerful international
police force and criminal justice system that could pursue and prosecute crimes against
humanity, Goldrich said. In fairness, the U.S. should for the first time be willing
to subject its own military officials to prosecution if they committed war crimes,
he says.
"There isn't any such a thing as 'national security' anymore,"
Goldrich says. "It has to be global."
"War won't work," Goldrich says. "There's no easy
and viable targets." War is "highly likely to create a deepening spiral
of violence and endanger our children and grandchildren for years to come."
But some in the crowd questioned whether peace was the answer.
A woman studying for a Ph.D. said she worked at the Department of Defense Intelligence
in Washington, D.C., and had lost two police officer relatives in New York City on
Sept. 11. "Do you not feel like there comes a time where you have to stand up
and serve?" she asked the panel.
Another woman asked, "How can we call for peace when 6,000
people were killed? We need action for justice and not just dialogue."
Panelist Tammam Adi, director of Eugene Islamic Cultural Center,
said he agreed that force was needed. "The military has to act but not overreach,"
he said. "It has nothing to do with our foreign policy," Adi said of explanations
for the terrorism. "They are just evil."
But Goldrich said he was trying to save future victims of terrorism.
"How better to honor those deaths than to do our absolute best to see it doesn't
happen again."
Cohen said he served in the military and would have laid his life
down for his country. But he said, "when I was a soldier, I certainly didn't
want my life squandered."
Weiss said she has many fond memories of the people she has met
in Afghanistan during her studies. She remembers the face of a kindly woman who gave
her the traditional hospitality gift of an egg. "I just don't know who the enemy
is. Before we just start wantonly bombing people because of our anger, we have to
understand who our enemy is."
Mario Sifuentez, a multicultural advisor with the UO student association,
concluded the question and answer period with a reminder that people at the UO are
diverse in their politics and ethnicity and issued a call for tolerance and discussion.
But a man stood up in the crowd and angrily interrupted Sifuentez.
"You're giving aid and comfort to the enemy which is an act of treason!"
he shouted, pointing at the panelists. As he left the room, he yelled, "You
ought to be taken out and shot!"
"Like I was saying, there's a need for dialogue," Sifuentez
said. "It is normal to grieve and normal to heal," he said. "It is
not normal to question someone's patriotism because of their desire to talk about
it or because of their race or ethnicity."
Back to Top
The
Long Way Home
Trapped in far-off places,
three Eugene women learn valuable lessons in the wake of terrorist attacks.
By Cheri
Brooks
On the morning of Sept. 11th, Ellen Todras' plane sat third in
line for takeoff from the Newark airport. Abruptly, the pilot's voice came over the
PA system telling passengers that an "incident" had occurred at the World
Trade Center, and that the flight would be delayed. Todras looked out the window
toward the Manhattan skyline and saw smoke rising from the Twin Towers.
Her first thought was, "Let's fly out of here as fast as we
can!" It hadn't occurred to her that a commercial airplane could have crashed
into the buildings. It was beyond the scope of her imagination that terrorists would
sacrifice their own lives and those of innocent people.
Her plane eventually returned to the gate, and Todras was deposited
into the chaos of the Newark airport, the point of departure for another hijacked
plane, the one that crashed in Pennsylvania. She faced long lines at pay phones;
a stolen laptop computer; no transportation to hotels; hours of uncertainty for herself
and worried family members back home. "It was every man for himself," she
recalls. "It felt like one of those nuclear attack, end-of-the-world movies
from the '60s."
Todras found herself processing the tragedy alone. Rather than
coming together, people at the airport and the hotels were distant and fearful of
one another. Getting home to her community and attending services at her synagogue
on Rosh Hashana was incredibly healing. Like others, she feels Americans have lost
their innocence. "We had heard these warnings. I'd heard these warnings,"
she says. "You just don't take it seriously until -- poof."
Sandra Bishop was somewhere over the North Atlantic when
news of the tragedy struck. Her Paris flight, headed for Washington, DC, was rerouted
to Halifax, Nova Scotia. "U.S. air space has been closed," the pilot said.
Though no one seemed to know exactly what was going on, Bishop
recalls that everyone remained surprisingly calm. "It was so apparent that we
were very fortunate," she says. "It was a matter of inconvenience rather
than danger." It helped that she was on her way home from a retreat where she'd
honed her practice of Buddhist mediation. "Because I was calm, that helped other
people stay calm," she says.
This calmness proved crucial as Bishop and other passengers waited
on the tiny Halifax airstrip -- for more than 12 hours -- surrounded by other jumbo
jets and security vehicles. Finally, they were taken off the plane and bused to a
nearby army base where they were fed, housed, and cared for by friendly Canadians.
Bishop was issued a refugee number by the Red Cross. The base previously had hosted
refugees from Kosovo.
Bishop had a pleasant experience among the Canadians. But when
she made it to Washington's Dulles airport on Saturday, the atmosphere was very different.
"It felt like a war zone," she says. "People were so blown away. It
was a mess." Former refugees from Canada had to organize themselves to find
the correct lines to obtain continuation flights and deal with the shell-shocked
airline workers. Bishop learned the power of pulling together. "We're
all in the same human condition," she says. "Things go a lot more smoothly
if you cooperate and help people rather than resist or deny the conditions that you
have."
Esther Jacobson-Tepfer heard about the terrorist attacks
while visiting a tiny village in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, a small republic in
Central Asia north of Afghanistan. She had to return to the capital and phone her
husband to find out if their daughter in New York was safe. But aside from worrying
about getting stuck in the region during a U.S. attack, she says her stay in Kyrgyzstan
proved to be an "amazing seminar on a part of the world that doesn't get reflected
in our papers at all."
Jacobson-Tepfer is fluent in Russian (a common language in this
former Soviet republic), and locals sought her out to express their condolences and
their fears of American bombing. The local newspaper reported a looming apocalypse,
as people prepared for yet another war.
She saw firsthand the region's crushing poverty, high unemployment
and deteriorating infrastructure. She learned about corruption, the scarcity of water,
and the spread of Islamic militants, financed by the drug trade. Neighboring Uzbekistan
has mined its borders to keep out militants and refugees and drugs.
Jacobson-Tepfer simply hopes the U.S. will think long and hard
about the situation before acting. "Islamic fundamentalists are taking advantage
of the Trojan Horse of drugs, deepening poverty, and corrupt public officials,"
says Tepfer. Add to this equation the rich oil and mineral resources of nearby Kazakhstan
and Uzbekistan; the nuclear potential in Pakistan; and the interests of Russia and
China to the north and east. "You have the potential for a major conflagration,"
she says. "I can't imagine anything stupider than starting to bomb in Afghanistan.
The infrastructure has already been destroyed. And the potential for shock waves
to destabilize the rest of Central Asia is too extreme."
Back to Top
 Roger
Briand
"We don't need L.A.-style failed solutions,"
argues Rob Handy, an opponent of the proposed West Eugene Parkway. "Evidence
is clear that bypass highways bring increased congestion." Handy grew up in
central Connecticut, where he learned the New England tradition of citizen participation
-- "In one nearby town, decisions were made by the whole population in a town
meeting" -- but saw that tradition overwhelmed by suburban sprawl. "I graduated
in '75 and hit the road the next day," he says. "Eugene has been my home
base since '76." A resident of the River Road area, Handy was energized by involvement
in successful neighborhood efforts to block construction of an unnecessary bridge
and to forestall development of Rasor Park along the river. "Citizen activism
can be effective," he observes. A self-employed landscaper for the past 17 years,
Handy has taken time off to attend every meeting in the TransPlan process. "He's
very humble -- always refers to himself as a 'greenhorn,'" says Rob Zako of
Friends of Eugene. "But he's become an expert on transportation issues. He's
up 'til midnight sending e-mails."
-- Paul Neevel
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