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News
Briefs: Beer Bash | Officer
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News:
Halfway to Yucca-- DOE has a Utah site in mind for "temporary"
nuke storage.
Happening
People: Joshua Skov.
Beer
Bash
Police officers confronted a crowd of
300 to 500 partying college-age people last Friday night, May 31,
according to the Eugene Police Department.
 |
| A EPD officer
videotapes burning debris on Patterson Street near campu. |
Disorderly partiers in the neighborhood
of Patterson Street and 17th Avenue threw a beer keg against a house
and broke off an outdoor water faucet at another residence, according
to EPD. After officers ordered people to disperse, crowd members threw
bottles and rocks at police cars, tore down and burned street signs
and lit fires in trash bins, EPD says. Police reported 11 arrests
of men aged 19 to 23, mostly for disorderly conduct. Two were charged
with riot. Although police say bottles were thrown at them, no one
was charged with assaulting a police officer.
Police used tear gas cannisters to
try to break up the crowd. In addition to 21 EPD officers, 20 additional
officers were dispatched to the
scene from Springfield, Coburg, Lane
County SheriffŠs Office and the Oregon State Police.
É Alan Pittman
Officer
Overkill
The Cottage Grove Ranger District of the Umpqua National
Forest scheduled an open house March 14 to let citizens meet one-on-one
with the district staff to ask questions, offer opinions, and generally
become involved with the agency that determines the fate of that section
of public land.
But when five activists showed up at
noon carrying signs and banners, says Leeanne Siart of the Oregon
Natural Resources Council, the federal staffers apparently changed
their minds. †They immediately locked the door and said ÔNo open house.
YouŠre being too threatening.Š˙
|
Slant
Portland
attorney and former lawmaker Stephen Kafoury (www.stephenkafoury.com)
accurately predicted 30 out of 32 contested primary legislative
races in Oregon, and now heŠs eyeballing the November ballot.
He predicts a close party split in the general election, with
the House remaining Republican and the Senate turning Democratic.
He figures the Legislature will swing depending on which sectors
of voters get excited enough by the issues to vote. The gov
race could drag a lot of folks out of the woods.
In House contests, Kafoury predicts Prozanski over Hayden in
District 8, Barnhart over Bolanos in District 11, Beyer over
Fox in District 12, and Hawkins over Farr in District 14. In
Senate races, his bets are on Corcoran over Alsup in District
3, and Walker over Cary in District 7.
These are encouraging predictions, but they shouldnŠt lead anyone
to take the elections for granted. Kafoury himself says the
religious right has the power to organize a surprising number
of voters É enough to swing any close election. And any close
election can swing the Legislature.
Last
week in EW, Floyd Prozanski came to the defense of
the new media access rules proposed for Eugene police by the
Police Commission, and itŠs good that weŠre having something
of a public dialogue on the topic. Journalists (at least some
journalists) get excited about this stuff because it deals with
fundamental issues of freedom of the press. One red flag for
us is giving cops a written policy that allows them to order
media to disperse during protests. Another red flag is having
cops in the heat of protest judge whoŠs media and whoŠs not
media. Meanwhile, we are left without any useful policies to
rein in a history of EPD excesses. Media still canŠt interview
cops without going through PR channels, police are still not
allowed to say anything critical of their department, and police
whistleblowers still have inadequate protection from retaliation.
These naive new Police Commission policies have skirted the
real issues.
So
Bush has finally conceded that global warming is caused
by human activity and is only going to get worse. So the logical
next step would be to do something about it, but BushŠs solution
is to slap on more sunscreen. The real solutions remain obvious:
tighter regulation of industrial greenhouse emissions, higher
standards for auto mileage and emissions, new research and incentives
for alternative energy production, banning two-cycle engines,
supporting mass transit É even simply enforcing the laws we
already have on our books. Environmental destruction may be
good for business in the short term, but itŠs disastrous for
the economy in the long haul.
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
|
Over the course of the next half hour,
about 50 activists showed up to †peacefully protest the Cottage Grove
Ranger StationŠs logging policies,˙ she explains.
Siart says the Umpqua NF is planning
†three big, bad (timber) sales.˙ One, called Salty, is along Layng
Creek, which provides Cottage GroveŠs drinking water. The Wyatt sale
along Brice Creek, which still in the planning stages, would cut ancient
trees in a roadless area ONRC wants protected as wilderness. The Blodgett
sale is old-growth forest given in exchange for a second-growth forest
in the Coast Range that couldnŠt be logged because of concerns for
the threatened marbled murrelet.
†If the Cottage Grove district continues
to plan timber sales in old growth and mature forest,˙ Siart says,
†they can expect continued opposition from the public.˙
After locking out the protesters, a
forest staffer offered to let one representative activist in. The
group refused, saying no single person could speak for all of them,
and the event was canceled.
Two and a half months later, everyone
tried again.
On May 30, the ranger district hosted
another open house, but this time they were prepared. Although only
a small handful of activists showed up at the Thursday event, the
forest had 16 law enforcement officers on hand, videotaping the activists,
recording their license plate numbers and letting them into the building
one person at a time.
Siart says the process was intimidating.
One woman cried after making it into the building, saying she felt
that she was being treated as a criminal for trying to participate
in a public event.
Siart objects to the expense of that
many law enforcement officers in the face of a small, peaceful contingent
of people trying to exercise their rights. †It made it extremely difficult
to participate in democracy,˙ she says.
É Orna Izakson
Building
Vogue
Supporters of the ultramodern design of the new federal
courthouse have said the new building will be an architectural showpiece.
ThatŠs just how supporters described EugeneŠs modern design for a
new City Hall in 1964.
†The building, designed by architects
Morin and Longswood, was a long way from completion when it was already
being cited as an architectural showplace, complementing the entire
civic center. And EugeneŠs civic center is now receiving nationwide
attention,˙ The Register-Guard reported in 1964.
Now, the blank exterior of City Hall
is derided as ugly and city officials want to replace the building
with a new City Hall costing $50 million or more.
So, in three or four decades, will
citizens want to tear down a modern design of the new courthouse that
has since gone out of fashion, like last years hemlines?
Courthouse architect Thom Mayne said
he doesnŠt care. Future Eugeneans †can like it or not, but thatŠs
who we are,˙ he recently told the City Club.
Mayne said he had no interest in a
more historic-looking, timeless design. †From my point of view as
an architect, you can only build a contemporary building,˙ he said,
adding. †I donŠt mean this in an ego sense.˙
†The buildings people hate are sometimes
the most interesting buildings,˙ Mayne said.
In 1964, city officials derided the
old City Hall, which occupied a 1910 schoolhouse, as gloomy, cramped
and decrepit. However, if the old City Hall stood today, itŠs Victorian
character would have made the building a historic landmark.
The city may be able to save taxpayers
millions by renovating and expanding the existing City Hall rather
than tearing it down. The 1964 R-G reported, †the northeast
portion of the building was constructed so that six additional floors
can be added.˙
É Alan Pittman/Nicole
Hill
Clearcut
Evidence
In November 1996, after torrential rains brought loose
soils of a clearcut barreling down into a home near the Oregon coast
É killing the people inside É forestry officials in the state claimed
there was no causal connection between landslides and clearcuts. That
claim was shaken at the time by common sense and anecdotal evidence,
and, more recently, by successful litigation and statements from some
of the most recalcitrant of scientists on the issue.
In the wake of the deaths, environmentalists
asked the Board of Forestry to ban steep-slope clearcutting. The board
initially refused, saying that doing so would halt most logging on
industrial forest land in the landslide-prone Coast Range.
|
Web
Sitings
Utne
Reader Picks
A collection of links to some of the best of the alternative
web, including alt newspapers and Ôzines. EW stories are sometimes
in the links.
Answering
AIDS Denialists
The "AIDS Treatment News" series to counter claims made by those
who deny that HIV causes AIDS or claim that HIV is harmless
or doesn't exist.
More
Links:
WebSitings
Archive
WebSitings is a list of useful and sometimes
quirky web sites. Care to contribute to the list? Send suggested
sites and a short description to editor@eugeneweekly.com
|
Glen Spain of the Pacific Coast Federation
of FishermenŠs Associations explains that the Oregon Department of
Forestry at the time †had never had authority to say no to any clearcut
logging or any steep slope logging anywhere in the state.˙
The Legislature eventually passed a
law granting that authority to protect people living downhill. But
Spain says the legislation doesnŠt address the needs of salmon, waterways
or other public resources, although the state forestry department
could extend such protections if it chose.
On May 31, Spain and colleagues at
three other environmental groups went to court seeking protection
for imperiled coho salmon, as well. The groups É Pacific Rivers Council
in Eugene, and the Corvallis-based Coast Range Association É asked
a federal court to stop State Forester James Brown from approving
clearcuts on steep, landslide-prone slopes near streams coho depend
on for survival.
The Endangered Species Act prohibits
activities that harm protected species such as coho. The environmentalists
say that clearcutting increases the frequency of landslides, and landslides
harm the species by smothering their eggs and hampering migration
and rearing.
†OregonŠs logging rules clearly do
not meet the standards of the Endangered Species Act and the state
is not on course to correct the problem,˙ says Patti Goldman, the
EarthJustice attorney representing the groups. †The state must comply
with the ESA. So now we are asking a federal judge to make the Department
of Forestry do what it wonŠt do on its own.˙
Spain says the groupsŠ request applies
only to industrial forestland owners with more than 5,000 acres. The
move would only affect the highest risk sites, he says, an estimated
5 to 15 percent of the industrial land. Those acreages could still
be logged selectively, but not clearcut.
†The Board (of Forestry) has created
a dilemma of its own making, and the department has refused to acknowledge
that it has any legal obligation under the federal Endangered Species
Act,˙ he says. †We donŠt feel that a federal court would agree.˙ É
Orna Izakson
Corrections/Clarifications
ő In our short story on Jeffrey
†Free˙ Luers last week (5/30), the website listed for more information
was incomplete. The site should be www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk
†The ÔukŠ at the end is important,˙ writes one reader. †Otherwise
it goes to some bizarre site.˙ ItŠs actually the Berlin Airlift Historical
Foundation. Different walls.
ő A reader of our Summer Guide article
†The Sounds of Summer˙ (5/23) tells us Richie Havens never did La
Bamba. The artist is actually Ritchie Valens. Yeah, youŠre probably
right on that one. Different drugs.
Back to Top
Accidents
Will Happen
Yucca
site could direct radioactive waste through Eugene area.
By
Michael Carrigan
†There is no question that accidents
will happen É the U.S. government
has admitted that. Since weŠre dealing with highly radioactive waste,
if a serious accident happens, the consequences will be severe,˙ said
John Hadder of Citizen Alert, a Nevada-based environmental group,
in a presentation to 80 students at Jefferson Middle School May 29.
Hadder is transporting a mock nuclear
waste cask through Oregon and other states. The cask represents the
kind of containers that may be transporting nuclear waste from the
Trojan nuclear power plant and the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in
Washington through Oregon to Yucca Mountain, Nevada. His presentation
was part of a multi-state campaign to raise awareness of an upcoming
vote in the Senate on whether or not to approve Yucca Mountain as
the permanent repository for the nationŠs high-level nuclear waste.
The Eugene stop was sponsored by Oregon PeaceWorks, Eugene PeaceWorks
and WomenŠs Action for New Directions.
According to Pete Mandrapa, who teaches
eighth grade at Jefferson, the students looked at both sides of the
issue and will write letters to their U.S. senators saying what they
think should be done. †Once informed, the kids took a real interest
in the issue because they learned it will affect their lives,˙ said
Mandrapa.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
estimates that 3,324 truck shipments of highly radioactive waste will
travel through Oregon along I-84, or as many as 649 train shipments
of the waste will travel alongside I-84 and I-5. This cargo may pass
through Eugene, Oakridge, Klamath Falls and other cities in Oregon.
A final decision on exact routes and transportation methods in Oregon
has not been made.
The DOE conducted a study that found
that a severe accident in a rural area would contaminate a 42-square
mile area, require over a year to clean up and cost $620 million.
An accident in an urban area could cause far greater damage. Emergency
response and public health infrastructures in Oregon are not prepared
to deal with a catastrophe of this magnitude.
Hadder said the DOE has not done sufficient
testing to determine how well the casks would withstand the impact
of a freeway accident, train derailment or fire. The threat of terrorism
makes nuclear waste transport an even riskier proposition. Jim Hall,
former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, has likened
the casks to mobile terrorist targets.
Lane County Commissioner Pete Sorenson
opposes designating Yucca Mountain as a waste dump because of the
threat posed to local residents by the transportation of nuclear waste
through Eugene: †250,000 people in the Eugene area live within a few
miles of the main north-south rail line and their lives would be jeopardized
if there were a terrorist attack on a nuclear waste cask,˙ Sorenson
said.
The House of Representatives recently
voted to approve the Yucca Mountain proposal, but Congressman Peter
DeFazio was opposed. †Instead of acting responsibly and addressing
the dangers of nuclear energy or finding viable sources of alternative
energy, Congress has chosen to pass the buck to Nevada and say Ônot
in my back yard,Š˙ said DeFazio.
The U.S. Senate will soon be voting
on Yucca Mountain. OregonŠs senators have not stated how they plan
to vote though Sen. Ron Wyden will likely vote against the project
and Sen. Gordon Smith is reportedly leaning toward voting for it.
Lavon Rose also spoke to students at
Jefferson. LavonŠs father runs a pistachio farm about 10 miles from
Yucca Mountain. Rose said she worries that the nuclear waste will
eventually find its way into an aquifer that lies under Yucca Mountain,
and contaminate water supplies for Las Vegas, Los Angeles and other
areas. †I donŠt know why people arenŠt screaming and shouting and
jumping up and down about this,˙ she said,
Yucca MountainŠs seismicity is also
under attack as 33 earthquake faults crisscross the area. Las Vegas,
home to half a million people, lies just 90 miles away from Yucca
Mountain. Members of the Western Shoshone Nation have resided in the
area for thousands of years and are actively fighting the Yucca Mountain
proposal .
Shipping waste to Nevada will not consolidate
the nationŠs waste in a single spot, as is claimed by the nuclear
industry. Nuclear waste must cool for at least five years before it
can be handled for shipping, which means there will always be waste
at operating nuclear reactors.
Energy Secretary Abraham recently conceded
that the Yucca Mountain repository will only be able to hold a portion
of the 77,000 tons of waste already generated. It will not be able
to hold the new waste expected to be created in the coming decade.
Yucca opponents believe that until
there is a better scientific understanding of nuclear waste, it is
safer and cheaper to place the waste in dry cask storage in hardened
buildings, where it could be stored for decades on site while the
government develops a better plan for permanent disposal.
The nuclear industry is spending thousands
of dollars on full-page color ads in The Register-Guard and
other newspapers urging OregonŠs senators to vote †yes˙ on Yucca.
A broad coalition of Oregon peace, environmental and church groups
is waging an active campaign to get Wyden and Smith to vote against
the Yucca Mountain proposal. ItŠs a classic struggle between big money
and the power of the grassroots.
Michael Carrigan is a writer for the Oregon PeaceWorker
newspaper. He can be reached in Eugene at 343-8548 or e-mail eugpeace@efn.org
Back to Top
 Nir
Pearlson
Israeli Nir Pearlson grew
up in kibbutz Kfar Hanassi in upper Galilee. †A small community, 400
people, surrounded by agriculture,˙ he recounts. †It was tremendous
for kids, very safe.˙ As a member of an elite commando unit, Pearlson
saw combat during IsraelŠs invasion of Lebanon in 1982. He was studying
architecture in Jerusalem in 1989 when he was called for duty in the
West Bank. †I told my officer I had to refuse,˙ he says. †It was clear
to me that Israel should not be there as an occupier.˙ Pearlson spent
30 days in a military jail. With the Gulf War brewing, he and his
bride Mimi Dvorson relocated to her family home in San Francisco for
the birth of their first daughter. In 1991 they moved to Eugene, where
he finished his degree. †My vision is to do sustainable architecture,
to reduce the impact on the environment,˙ says Pearlson, now in his
fifth year with WGBS Architects. Pearlson will join Palestinian peace
activist Ibrahim Hamide as speakers at the Eugene Middle East Peace
GroupŠs Celebration of Courage from 4 to 8 pm Sunday, June 9, at the
Hilyard Community Center. A Middle East feast and music by Troup Americanistan
are also on the program.
É Paul Neevel
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