|
News
Briefs: Basketball Courthouse
| Natural Convergance | Poster
Protesters | EW Staff Honored|
Art Meets Anarchy|
Progressive Vigil
| Corrections
News:
Bari Bombing-- FBI on trial in Oakland.
News:
Peaceful Institutions -- Departments of peace, schools of peace
envisioned.
News:
Starwars Courthouse -- The jury is still out on the new design.
Happening
People: Jim Shoemaker.
Basketball
Courthouse
The UO is getting
serious about the possibility of building a new basketball arena adjacent
to the new federal courthouse planned for the former Agripac site
on Franklin Boulevard.
In February, Eugene planning commissioner
and retired UO architecture Prof. Charles Rusch called for studying
the opportunity to build a new basketball arena in the courthouse
neighborhood.
|
Slant
Will
the City Council override the Eugene Planning Commission's surprise
"no" vote on the West Eugene Parkway? At 7 pm Thursday, May
23 at Harris Hall is an unofficial public forum on the WEP in
advance of the big joint public hearing at 6 pm Wednesday, May
29 at City Council Chambers. The Chamber of Commerce and pro-development
interests keep harping on the marginally pro-WEP advisory vote,
but the more substantive issues involve transportation priorities,
preserving valuable wetlands and allocation of limited resources.
Let's not let west Eugene speculators override years of community
planning.
Who will be Eugene's next mayor?
Jim Torrey keeps waffling on running for state office and might
decide to run again. But he might face some serious challengers
in 2004. Kitty Piercy? Don Kahle? Wouldn't it be just excellent
to have David Kelly in the race? Can't you imagine the R-G's
editorial response: "The brightest, most qualified candidate
we have refused to endorse."
Kate Rogers Gessert is taking a break from her "Undercovered"
series to get caught up on home and garden projects. We appreciate
the hundreds of hours she has volunteered in her efforts to
provide alternative news reports from Afghanistan, Pakistan,
Israel and elsewhere. Experience and common sense tells us that
propaganda is rampant in both the mainstream press and in organizations
with political agendas. But the only way to get closer to the
truth is to examine conflicts from multiple perspectives. She
plans to write again in a few weeks as the war on terrorism
evolves.
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
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
|
Now the UO has officially weighed in
in support of Rusch's proposal with a letter from UO Vice President
for Administration Dan Williams. "We hope the Planning Commission
can develop a plan that could accommodate the siting of an arena within
the land surrounding the new federal courthouse," Williams wrote to
the commission May 10.
"While we are not ready to proceed
with formal planning for such an arena, we are going to build eventually
and there are some very attractive features in the location Commissioner
Rusch has proposed," Williams wrote. "The suggested location is proximate
to the university and at the same time accessible to amenities (such
as restaurants and hotels) already present within the downtown area."
Jerry Diethelm, a UO landscape architecture
professor emeritus, says the courthouse district has enough room for
a courthouse, basketball arena and the uncovered historic millrace
he has long pushed for. "It would be very tight," he says.
The arena likely wouldn't fit under
the city's proposal for a wide new highway through the area along
the railroad tracks, according to Diethelm. Diethelm says he commissioned
a study by JRH Transportation Engineering that shows traffic through
the area could be accommodated by using 8th and Broadway, rather than
building the new highway.
The Planning Commission will meet to
discuss the courthouse district plan June 3 and forward a recommendation
to the city council. The council will discuss the courthouse plan
on July 17 and 31.
- Alan Pittman
Natural
Convergence
Natural building
enthusiasts and advocates gathered for 10 days in Portland last week,
meeting for the first time in an urban setting and hand building structures
in areas accessible to the public. Materials of choice include cob;
an earth, straw and water mixture, and straw bale.
"Natural building very well might qualify
as a movement with its own set of ideals, values and icons," says
Jan Spencer of Eugene who attended part of the gathering. "One of
the basic goals of the projects is to nurture pride in the neighborhood
through artistic, cooperatively constructed landmarks. Many participants
see natural building as helping to create a more neighborhood-based
Earth friendly local culture."
The program was literally hands-on.
There were seven cob structures and one straw bale studio. Most were
along streets and attracted considerable curiosity and approval from
passersby, says Spencer. The cob structures included sculpted benches
and an information kiosk with glass doors.
One site with a bicycle motif was a
memorial to a bicyclist killed by a delivery truck several years ago.
Another was an integrated design including kiosk, benches, sculpted
wall, mosaics and a solar-powered water feature. This one, managed
by Rob Bolman of Eugene, was designed as a companion to a giant yellow
geometric sunflower, an "intersection repair" endeavor, painted on
the entire residential intersection next to the cob project.
"These materials have been basic ingredients
of human settlement and construction for thousands of years," says
Spencer. "It is estimated that today, more than a third of the world's
population continues to depend heavily on earth, bamboo, unprocessed
plants and other vernacular materials for shelter."
Throughout the week speakers addressed
a wide variety of related topics and issues including public art,
changing building codes to accommodate "alternative" building techniques,
natural building's botanical partner permaculture, community building
through "city repair" and "block planning" along with slides to illustrate
notable natural building projects.
"Another ideal of natural building
and permaculture is the concept of multiple benefits," says Spencer,
referring to designing buildings and habitats that serve more than
one purpose. "Combining shelter, art, community building, satisfying
human needs, being earth-friendly and having fun in the 'hood were
not only the ideals of the convergence. They are ideals of an emerging
culture."
To learn more about natural building,
call 344-7196. To learn more about permaculture, call 689 6545.
Poster Protesters
Should
good old sexist cheesecake be used to sell "the cult of animal rights?"
A lively debate in happening online at www.portland.indymedia.org
following Oregon appearances by scantily clad animal rights activists
in early May.
The lunch hour downtown protest by
touring members of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)
was intended to raise public awareness of cruelty to animals by the
meat and leather industries, but the protest also drew complaints
from fellow activists.
"Can PETA please grow up, rise up and
start using tactics that do not use women's bodies, for Pete's sake!"
writes one anonymous person. "Using women's bodies to sell things
is fucked up, whether it's for slick, shiny new cars or a plea to
protect animals."
Complaints also surround promoting
plastic clothing as a substitute for leather: "Plastic is ecocide
and is far from a responsible choice as an alternative to leather.
Plastic does not allow the body to breathe ... stinky, sour people
is what ya end up with."
"Animal rights activists and groups
can be notorious for the single-mindedness of their advocacy," writes
another, "willfully ignoring other oppressions ..."
Another contributor writes, "The bottom
line for me is that PETA makes activism look a little more fun than
a lot of our normal protest techniques." - Ted Taylor
EW Staff Honored
EW Associate Editor
Aria Seligmann has been selected for a Journalism Fellowship in Child
and Family Policy for her reporting on education and social issues.
She and 22 other journalists from across the nation will participate
next fall in briefings and work sessions with legislative leaders
in Washington, D.C., on child well-being, education, health, welfare
reform and other issues.
Seligmann's series on adolescents with
mental illness specifically drew the attention of judges, who named
her a Foundation for Child Development fellow. Other funding comes
from the Lucille Packard Foundation. The fellowship program is run
through the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism
professional development program.
The same series won awards from the
Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) 2001 non-daily newspaper
contest, held May 11. Seligmann won second place in the Social Issues
Reporting category for "All Cracked Up," a report on how adolescents
with mental illnesses are often incarcerated rather than treated;
and third place in the Education Feature category for "And Education
for All," on parents of special needs students struggling to find
appropriate public education for their kids.
Staff Writer Alan Pittman was also
an SPJ winner, taking home second place in the Education News category
for "Closing Doors" on 4J elementary schools closing; and Editor Ted
Taylor again brought home first place in the Headlines category for
such zingers as "Chicks on Drugs," for a story on antibiotics in chicken
farming, and "Apes of Wrath," for a movie review of Planet of the
Apes by Lois Wadsworth.
Intern Bobbie Willis placed third in
Oregon Quarterly's Northwest Perspectives essay contest. Willis
will join first place winner Ana Maria Spagna and second place winner
Charles Goodrich in reading from their works at 7:30 pm May 29 in
the UO Knight Library Browsing Room. The reading is free and open
to the public.
Art
Meets Anarchy
In conjunction with Lord Leebrick
Theatre's performance of Accidental Death of An Anarchist by
Dario Fo (May 23-June 15), a series of three public presentations
will be held at the theater. The focus of the discussions are as follows:
May 28: Local Anarchist Struggles:
Presentations on anarchist media, alternative schooling, feminism,
prisoner-support, and other local anarchist projects.
June 5: Anti-Authoritarian Movements
In Defense Of The Environment: Showing of Earth Liberation Front:
Green With A Vengeance, a documentary about the underground radical
environmental movements and Eugene political prisoners Jeffrey "Free"
Luers and Craig "Critter" Marshall. A presentation by Craig Rosebraugh,
the former spokesperson for the ELF and founder of the ELF Press Office,
and more TBA.
June 12: A History Of Anarchist And
Anti-Authoritarian Movements: Various speakers will discuss the history
of anarchist and anti-authoritarian movements for social change, from
the "Kronstadt Commune" in the midst of the Russian revolution, to
the present. Speakers TBA.
Each presentation is at 7 pm. Admission
is $3-$6 sliding scale. The Lord Leebrick Theatre is located at 540
Charnelton St. For more information, call 465-1506.
Progressive
Vigil
Progressive Responses, an
offshoot of the Citizen's Alliance of Lane County, has scheduled the
second in a series of biweekly vigils at offices of government leaders
in protest of Bush administration policies. The next vigil will be
from 4:30 to 5:30 pm Wednesday, May 29 outside Sen. Ron Wyden's office
at 7th and Charnelton.
Held in concert with Faith in Action
and Two Rivers Interfaith Ministries, the vigils show participants'
concerns about the Bush administration's war on terrorism and the
effects it will have on U.S. residents.
"While we seek justice for the hijackers'
victims and a safe future for all the world's children, we fear that
our government's response to Sept. 11 is actually reducing the chances
for global security and justice," the group said in a press release.
"We believe that we can best assure the safety of our nation, and
of the world, by promoting democracy and justice worldwide, and by
upholding the rule of international law."
Participants will speak out against
restriction on civil liberties and the free press, reject nuclear
arms proliferation, oppose efforts to expand the war to other countries
including Iraq and Colombia, and in favor of raising energy-efficiency
standards, employing unbiased experts on the Middle East and funding
programs to help war-torn areas.
- Orna Izakson
Corrections/Clarifications
In last week's "Outer
Limits" story, Our Place and The Little "R" Cafe should
have been listed at Royal and Highway 99, and the owner is Jim Trunnell.
EW incorrectly reported last
week that Melissa Mona voted for a new Eugene Police Commission media
policy. Mona, a city Human Rights Commission (HRC) member, attended
the Police Commission meeting in the place of the regular HRC liaison
and did not participate in the voice vote.
Back to Top
Bari
Bombing
FBI
on trial in oakland.
By
Orna Izakson
At about 9 am last Friday, more than
50 people waited in the morning sunlight outside the federal courthouse
in Oakland, Calif. Security was tight, but an officer who had guarded
the door to Judge Claudia Wilken's court for six weeks explained it
was to ensure everyone's safety in case there was a bomber out there.
"And we know there is," he said.
 |
|
Attorney
Dennis Cunningham questions Tom Viers, the Oakland firefighter
who removed Judi Bari from the car after the bombing.
. |
|
Inside the courtroom, four FBI agents
and three Oakland Police officers faced charges of conspiring in 1990
to violate the constitutional rights of Earth First! activists Judi
Bari and Darryl Cherney after a bomb exploded in the activists' car.
The trial marks only the second time in history that the Federal Bureau
of Investigation has faced a jury as a defendant. The bomber has never
been found.
On May 24, 1990, a pipe bomb exploded
through metal and bone as Bari and Cherney drove to Santa Cruz, Calif.
to sing and inspire activists to spend their summer helping to stop
logging of the last unprotected ancient redwoods. Bari and Cherney,
unquestionably the bomb's victims, were arrested shortly after the
blast. The FBI and OPD believed the activists were carrying the bomb
themselves to use to advance their cause.
The activists assert that the FBI and
OPD used the bombing to smear them in the press and undermine their
increasingly successful work on behalf of the environment. They charge
that the agencies conspired to violate the activists' Constitutional
right to free speech and protections against unlawful searches and
wrongful arrest. They point to the long and well-documented history
of the FBI's counter-intelligence program (COINTELPRO) - which actively
worked to discredit and neutralize activists in the Black Panther
Party, American Indian Movement, anti-Vietnam war effort and others
- as precedent for what was done to them.
"Judi and Darryl were challenging very
powerful timber forces in Northern California and that's why (the
FBI believed) they had to be stopped, because they were being effective
and affecting business as usual," said Alicia Littletree, a paralegal
on the activists' team. "They are rolling back Constitutional protections
now in the wake of 9/11, and they're using a fear of terrorism to
do it. What this case shows is that those powers will be used to crush
dissent, and we can't let that happen."
Judge Wilken didn't allow the jury
to hear about the FBI's history of targeting activist groups. But
Bari and Cherney's lawyers tried to show the jury the pattern in the
current case.
In closing arguments to the jury, activist
attorney J. Tony Serra discussed membership of the four FBI defendants
in that agency's "Squad 13," which he called an elite, inner-sanctum,
anti-terrorism squad. Squad 13, several testified, worked on high
profile issues including the Irish Republican Army, the Iraqi invasion
of Kuwait, and a visit by Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Earth
First!, which Serra said was then emerging as the premier environmental
group in the Northwest, made it onto Squad 13's list.
"They are the KGB of the FBI," Serra
told the jury about Squad 13. "They are the political law enforcement
entity" whose "real mission" is to "destroy whatever group (they are)
investigatingˆ From the beginning, Earth First! was on the political
agenda of this most political ˆ Squad 13ˆ And the Oakland Police Department
was their willing lackey."
Details of the plot are Byzantine,
the players as numerous as characters in a Russian novel. Everything
hinges on minor details, like the precise type of nails strapped to
the bomb as shrapnel, or the precise location of the bomb itself.
The government defendants asserted
that the bomb was in clear view, on the floor of the back seat. Therefore,
they argued, the activists knew it was there and carried it on purpose.
The plaintiffs say the bomb was under the seat, blasting a hole clear
through the cushion on which Bari sat that day, as anyone looking
at the car could clearly see.
At the scene of the bombing, agents
and officers reported that the nails strapped to the bomb matched
nails found in Bari's trunk. But the nails clearly didn't match: One
set was long, skinny finishing nails with tiny heads, the other was
shorter roofing nails with broad heads.
"The things that they relied on were
false - they made them up," said attorney Dennis Cunningham.
Government attorneys downplayed clear
mistakes like the nails, didn't budge on the location of the bomb,
pointed fingers at the other agency, and said no mistake was beyond
the scope of reason at the time. They urged the jurors to be careful
about setting a precedent that would hamper critical law-enforcement
collaboration.
Joseph Sher, representing the FBI,
said mistakes that made it into one crucial document were the result
of miscommunication he likened to a child's game of telephone, where
each iteration changes things in a way that is inevitable but unintentional.
Maria Bee, representing the OPD, said the activists hadn't proven
anything more than mistakes by the officers.
"Negligence is not enough to constitute
a constitutional violation," she told the jury. "Everything they did
was reasonable based on the information they had at the time."
Attorney Bob Bloom, representing the
activists, disagreed.
"This is not about honest mistakes,
it's about intentional falsification and intentional misconduct,"
he told the jury. "They did it because they thought they could get
away with it. Don't let them get away with it."
Outside the courtroom, Cherney said
that the court fight was bigger than two Earth First!ers. They also
were representing activists who hadn't managed to bring the FBI before
a jury, activists like Leonard Peltier, Martin Luther King Jr., Geronimo
Pratt, Malcolm X and others.
"The reality is the FBI is a threat
to our national security," he said. "The highest priority of any law
enforcement officer is to uphold the Constitution of the United States."
The jury began deliberations Friday
afternoon and had not returned a verdict as of press time.
Back to Top
Peaceful
Institutions
Departments
of peace, schools of peace envisioned.
By
Aria Seligmann
"Hello, Peace Department," says the
receptionist when you call the
U.S. Federal Government with your concerns about a group of loving
people planting an organic garden in your front yard. As you peer
through a crack in the window blinds, you are confronted with the
image of a community of caring individuals of diverse backgrounds
helping each other - and you.
 |
.Congressman
Gary Kucinich
. |
What is the world coming to?
Thinking beyond the tensions of our
current international political climate, many are envisioning such
a new America. Leading the visionary charge is Congressman Dennis
Kucinich (D-Ohio), who is criss-crossing our country to build broad
support for a U.S. Department of Peace. So far, 43 other members of
Congress have signed on.
As word spreads throughout the land
of this crusader, enthusiasm is brewing. Kucinich is currently receiving
hundreds of e-mails per day from excited individuals wanting to join
his as-yet-unannounced presidential campaign.
But the 55-year-old lawmaker, who came
to fame as Cleveland's 32-year-old boy mayor back in the '70s, so
far is noncommital about his run. "There are 535 candidates for president
right now," he says, laughing, "and each of them has their supporters."
But pressed on the issue, he admits, "It's like an office pool. My
name just happened to be picked this week."
For Eugene, the timing is great for
Kucinich's growing fame. He will be in town this weekend to speak
about his vision for a peaceful America and to raise funds for the
future Eugene Children's Peace Academy, to open in September 2003.
The Peace Academy, along with the Lane County Democratic Party and
the UO Morse Center for Law and Politics is sponsoring his visit (see
sidebar).
Kucinich says there have been various
iterations of peace departments throughout history, but his "creates
a synthesis. It recognizes we are in times perhaps more challenging
on issues of violence than in the past."
His ideal peace department is one that
looks not only into issues of international violence, but of national
ones, as well. "Domestic violence - child, spousal - violence in schools,
against gays, within police and community responses - we do have a
challenge in our society of violence and it's taken for granted that
it's a predictable expression of normal human conduct. I take issue
with that," he says.
Kucinich believes that humans are capable
of evolving, and he adds, the idea of a "Department of Peace resonates
with our capacity to evolve and become more than we are and better
than we are, in the sense of allowing our own highest potential to
unfold through peace."
This elected leader - who was run out
of Cleveland by banks and big business after proving to be the "people's
mayor" by fighting to save MUNY, the public utility, from corporate
criminals; who applied for a job as EPUD's general manager ("I love
the Eugene area") in 1980 when no one in Ohio would look at him but
was only a runner-up to Lon Topaz; who serves as chairman of the Progressive
Caucus - sounds decidedly New Age.
"Well, I have been reading metaphysics
since I was 12," he says proudly, not defensively.
He quotes poets such as Tennyson "Come
my friends/'tis not too late/to seek a newer world ˆ" and Emerson.
"'Every jet of chaos that threatens to exterminate us is capable through
the intellect of being converted into a wholesome force,' at least
I think that was Emerson," he says.
Kucinich believes that each person
has a place inside herself/himself that is peaceful. Yet, he says,
the current government is playing upon our fears, and that war is
a corollary of fear, instead of playing upon our hopes, for which
peace is the corollary.
And he scoffs at the so-called nuclear
disarmament with Russia, calling it "Texas-style" peace. "You put
your gun in your pocket and I'll put my gun in mine," is how he describes
the nuclear ban, which calls for the storing, not the destruction,
of thousands of nukes. He agrees when asked if that gesture was just
a bone tossed to the American people to feel we're achieving some
sort of peaceful victory.
But he believes that peace is possible,
with humankind making sincere efforts to end famine and water shortages,
to work together for a sustainable world.
"Where is it written that war is inevitable?"
asks this devout Catholic. "Who said that? Who said the only way we're
going to have peace is to prepare for war?"
If you want war, you prepare for it.
With weapons, military budgets, military academies.
"If you want peace, prepare for peace,"
says Kucinich. One way to start is with peace academies.
Just imagine, "Junior, if you don't
straighten out, I'm going to send you to the Peace Academy!"
Has kind of a nice ring, doesn't it?
"Peace and Nuclear Disarmament:
A Call to Action" http://thespiritoffreedom.com/nuclear.html
"A Prayer for America" www.truthout.org/docs_01/02.23C.Kucinich.Prayer.p.htm
Back to Top
Star
Wars Courthouse
The
jury is still out on the new design.
By
Alan Pittman
Eugene appears ready to accept an ultramodern
"Star Wars" design for a new federal courthouse. But questions remain
about integrating the courthouse with a new millrace, space for demonstrations,
whether the design fits Eugene, and the project's cost.
Jerry Diethelm, UO professor emeritus
of landscape architecture, praises the building's appearance but faults
the design for turning its back on a proposed millrace and public
plaza the city is planning. Instead of facing the millrace, the design
has its service entrance to an underground garage alongside the millrace,
according to Diethelm.
 |
|
A
sothern view of the proposed courthouse.
. |
|
They aren't really thinking of anything
beyond the building, that's the problem," Diethelm says of the courthouse
designers.
Project architect Thom Mayne of the
Morphosis firm described the courthouse site as "kind of a non-site"
at a May 17 City Club meeting. Mayne says his design "really faces
every direction" and wouldn't rule out a millrace. "We developed an
idea that was flexible and neutral."
The existing federal courthouse has
been the scene of mass demonstrations and months-long hunger strikes,
but its unclear whether the new courthouse will include adequate space
for such free speech activities. Design drawings include no large
public plaza or free speech areas such as at the current courthouse.
Morphosis architect Kim Groves says
a "narrow" 15-ft wide area in front of the courthouse dominated by
long stairs could accommodate 500 people without demonstrators spilling
out into the street. Mayne says the long narrow area is 50 ft. wide
and could fit up to 1,000, if protesters "mold to the space."
Mayne says government officials wanted
a building that was secure without appearing fortress-like. "The interest
there was much less about demonstrations."
"We don't design for protests," says
Don Cinnamond, the U.S. District Court clerk for Oregon.
Chief U.S. District Court Judge Michael
Hogan, who has been actively involved in planning for the the building,
says discussions are ongoing about how to include an area for demonstrations
in the design. Such demonstrations are an expected and "natural" part
of courthouses, he says. "I'm sure there will be" room for demonstrations
in the final project, Hogan says. But he says the security of the
building is an important consideration. "How that [demonstration space]
exactly would play out, I don't think we exactly know at this point."
With it's curvy, leaning metallic walls,
the new courthouse design looks like a work of modern art sculpture.
But not everyone likes modern art.
Republican Sen. Gordon Smith told the
architects he didn't like contemporary architecture, Mayne says. Smith
asked that the front columns of the courthouse be changed and they
were, Mayne says.
The columns were previously square
but were made larger and round, in response to Smith's criticism,
Mayne says.
Smith is a powerful player when it
comes to funding federal projects in Oregon. But Mayne denies any
undue influence. "I wouldn't say we're taking orders," he says. "We
listened to [him] and responded," he says.
Hogan, who describes himself as a conservative,
says he was at first "conflicted" and then accepting of the modern
design. "I love [the UO's] Deady Hall, but we're not going to have
another Deady Hall," he says.
A City Club member asked Mayne, "How
does [the courthouse design] look like Eugene or what does it have
to do with the Northwest."
Mayne, who describes himself as a "radical"
L.A. architect, responded he didn't design the building in a Eugene
or Northwest style. He says when he flew into Eugene and drove into
town from the airport, he found much of the city's buildings "hideous."
"What is the style of Eugene? Guess
what, I don't think you have a style," Mayne says about the mishmash
of architecture in the city.
The last federal courthouse built in
Oregon, the $129 million Mark O. Hatfield skyscraper in Portland,
came under fire as a monument to federal waste.
"It isn't just a building, it's a palace,"
retired state Appeals Court Chief Judge George Joseph told Willamette
Week in 1997. "I just don't think, in this day and age, when the
most commonly heard words are that government wastes money, that it's
appropriate to build palaces for anybody at the public expense."
Willamette Week reported that
Hogan spends most of his time in Eugene, but his new office in Portland
includes "spacious chambers on the top floor of the courthouse, with
a fabulous view of Mount Hood and a spectacular penthouse terrace."
At a time when local schools are begging
for money, Mayne and Hogan defend spending $70 million on a quarter-million
square foot courthouse most people in town will never use.
Hogan says his new Eugene office won't
be bigger than his existing spacious office in Eugene, but will have
a better view. The building's quality will reflect the importance
of the U.S. Constitution, Hogan says. The design will become a landmark
and tourist attraction Eugene will be proud of, he says.
Mayne says people should criticize
spending on the "Star Wars" missile defense program before attacking
the cost of his design. He says the building is a high quality investment
built to last. "Should we apologize for that, absolutely not."
Photos of the courthouse design are
available at www.eugeneweekly.com.
Back to Top
Josh
Laughlin
After 18 years on Cape Cod- "basically
a big sand bar" - Josh Laughlin headed west in 1993 to see the country
and enroll at the UO. "I was becoming aware of political issues,"
he says. "The ancient forest struggle sucked me in." When Congress
passed the Salvage Rider in '95, Laughlin joined the campus forest-action
group that supported the blockade of Forest Road 2408. "Two timber
sales were canceled due to grassroots pressure," he notes. "I found
empowerment in collective action." Laughlin was among the tree-sitters
pepper-sprayed by police in downtown Eugene on June 1, 1997 and he
is one of three plaintiffs in the ongoing civil rights case stemming
from the incident. Following graduation from UO J-school in 1998,
he spent three years as an editor with the Earth First! Journal.
Last August, he became communications director for the Cascadia Wildlands
Project (www.cascwild.org), a nonprofit dedicated to protecting forests
through monitoring and education. "We're working to end old-growth
logging," he says. "We've found the Forest Service giving old-growth
in the Cascades as 'replacement volume' for canceled second-growth
sales."
- Paul Neevel
Happenin' People Archives
Nominate A Happenin' Person
Table
of Contents
| News | Views | Arts & Entertainment
Classifieds | Personals
| EW
Archive
|