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News
Briefs: Petitions Turned In
| Ungreen Green | Labor
Notes|
News:
Hence a Fence: Storm-struck cedar gives new life.
Happening
People: Sarah Cantril.
PETITIONS
TURNED IN
A total of 11 initiative petitions were
submitted to the secretary of state in Salem July 5, including three
endorsed by the Pacific Green Party of Oregon and other progressive
organizations. The three involve health insurance, campaign finance
reform and labeling of genetically modified foods.
Election offices around the state have until Aug.
4 to verify petition signatures and the verification process is expected
to begin July 15.
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Slant
Ç This effort is
Eugene at its best. It's a broad-based citizen movement to improve
this place, not for private gain, but for the schooling of our
kids. Sparked in part by Alan Pittman's cover story in EW
Feb. 7, a small committee formed to follow the cities of Ashland,
Lake Oswego, Portland and Pendleton in giving residents a chance
to vote for financial assistance to their struggling public
schools. Two parents and former teachers, Mardel Chinburg and
Jean White, called the first meetings. Staffs of the city and
both Bethel and 4J school districts joined to craft a proposal
which would be agreeable to their school boards, the Eugene
City Council and Mayor Torrey. The small committee grew into
a big one. The school boards signed on. Hopefully, this month
the council will vote to put a property tax levy before the
voters in November which will fund counselors, nurses, librarians,
athletics and music, thus freeing up money for teachers and
core academic areas and still meeting state law. Now the committee
needs to grow even more, both to persuade the council and to
pass the measure in the fall. If you want to sign on for public
education, respond to cabshouse1@aol.com or 485-8355 this week.
Ç We predicted in recent weeks that the West
Eugene Parkway vote at the City Council would come down to a
four-four vote July 8 with the mayor breaking the tie. We wish
we were wrong. This ill-conceived and money-driven boondoggle
will likely end up dying in the courts at huge legal expense,
or at worst it will be built someday at even greater cost to
the quality of life in our valley. This is the kind of project
Californians are looking back on today and saying, "What were
we thinking?"
Ç For the first time since 1996, Oregon's statewide
ballot in November will be free of initatives intended to weaken
or destroy Oregon's land use planning system — barring
a referral from the Legislature. Hats off to 1000 Friends of
Oregon and others who worked with the secretary of state to
get truthful ballot titles that killed some of the proposed
initiatives. However, Bill Sizemore and Oregon Taxpayers United
are likely to get a measure on the November ballot similar to
2000's defeated Measure 92. Petition 18 would again mess with
unions and payroll deductions, and create obstacles for non-profits
and their fund-raising. Land use groups and environmental organizations
would be affected.
Ç Among the good initatives likely to go on
the ballot are single-payer health insurance for Oregon, campaign
finance reform, labeling of genetically engineered foods and
one we haven't heard as much about: The Initiative Integrity
Act would prohibit paying signature gatherers by the signature,
a practice that has resulted in some shoddy, even fraudulent
petitions. The Voter Education Project announced last week that
it has found substantial evidence of forgery and fraud on petitions
submitted by Bill Sizemore for one of his initiatives. The VEP
claims forgeries and fictious names were gathered and a complaint
has been filed this week in Marion County Court. Our initative
process needs some serious tweaking, not only in signature gathering
practices, but also in the signature verification process, legal
review of ballot measures, and the number of signatures required
for ballot measures that would change our Constitution.
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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Two of the initiatives would make statutory changes,
which required 66,786 valid signatures of registered voters to qualify.
The Health Care for All-Oregon (HCA-O) initiative turned in 98,001
signatures, or 46 percent more than required. Three-quarters of the
signatures were gathered by volunteers. HCA-O would provide single-payer
comprehensive health coverage to all Oregon residents, funded by a
combination of employer and progressive income taxes, administrative
cost savings through elimination of HMOs, and the pooling of federal
and state funding for Medicaid and Medicare.
Petitioners for the Consumers' Choice initiative sponsored
by Oregon Concerned Citizens for Safe Food garnered a 52 percent margin
for error by turning in 101,255 signatures. This proposal would mandate
the labeling of genetically engineered foods, upholding the consumers'
"right to know." Opposition has already been mounted by a coalition
of farm organizations, grocery industry interests, and the Oregon
Restaurant Association.
The Money Is Not Democracy (MIND) campaign finance
reform initiative has succeeded in gathering 114,710 signatures. Since
this initiative proposes an amendment to the Oregon Constitution,
the signature requirement is higher at 89,048 valid signatures, so
the margin for error is 29 percent. MIND would ban contributions to
campaigns for public office in Oregon by for-profit corporations and
limit the amount of individual contributions. Oregon is currently
one of only six states in the nation with no restrictions on corporate
contributions. The road to getting this initiative on the ballot has
been fraught with difficulties, the latest being the brief arrest
of chief petitioner Lloyd Marbet for attempting to gather signatures
at a 4th of July picnic in a public park, ironically enough leased
to the city of Estacada by PGE. — Hope Marston
UNGREEN
GREEN
The Seattle City Council, with the support
of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, passed a resolution July 1 to reduce
the purchase and use of persistent bioaccumulative toxics (PBTs, or
persistent chemicals) by the city of Seattle. The vote renders Seattle
the first city in the nation to adopt such a policy.
The resolution, introduced by City Councilwoman Heidi
Wills, instructs the city to purchase products that don't contain
persistent chemicals or result in the release of persistent pollution
during their manufacture. Such products include non-chlorine-bleached
paper, polyvinyl chloride (PVC)-free building materials and office
supplies, and non-mercury auto switches.
"We are delighted that the City of Seattle is taking
this very important step to do its part to protect human health and
the environment from persistent pollution," says Brandie Smith of
the Washington Toxics Coalition. "Persistent chemicals like mercury
and dioxin have created a toxic legacy around the globe. Seattle is
leading by example to show that local governments can take meaningful
action to create a healthy future for our children."
After receiving notice of the resolution's passing,
Lane County Commissioner Peter Sorenson on July 2 e-mailed other members
of the commission, Eugene City Council members and Mayor Torrey.
"I hope Lane County and the city of Eugene could do
the same," he wrote.
But Sorenson's hopes won't be realized so easily.
On July 5, County Commissioner Bobby Green replied via e-mail, "I
think how the city of Seattle chooses to conduct their affairs is
unique to Seattle. I am not interested in duplicating any similar
ordinances for Lane County." — Aria Seligmann
LABOR
NOTES
Ç Music and social change have always gone
together, particularly in the labor movement, and the collusion continues.
Pittsburg songwriter Anne Feeney and poet Chris Chandler will appear
at Sam Bond's at 9 pm July 17 and have invited Eugene Newspaper Guild
representatives to talk briefly about their labor struggles with The
Register-Guard, where workers have gone more than three years
without a contract. Feeney learned of the Guild's troubles from a
Eugene fan. Chandler is known for his "acrobatically poetic observations
on contemporary life." Cover is $5.
Back to Top
Hence
a Fence
Storm-struck
cedar gives new life.
BY JACQUELYN LEWIS
Many people erect fences to keep others
out. However, Catherine Inocencio's brand new
fence has done just the opposite.
"This fence has brought me closer to the community,"
says Inocencio. The grandmother of two smiles as she mixes red paint
for a sun shade she and her daughter are constructing in her backyard.
The shade will replace the shadows of four giant cedar trees that
cooled the yard until five months ago.
The posts of her recently completed fence are made
from parts of one of those 100-year-old cedars, which crashed into
Inocencio's driveway during February's destructive windstorm.
Since the fence's completion, Inocencio's yard has
become a gathering place for curious onlookers and admirers. Inocencio
says at least 350 people have stopped by to talk about the fence and
the tree it came from. Some revelers even caress the rich, honey-colored
wood. Inocencio says they do it because they are amazed that such
wonderful creations could come from such a great loss.
"What a tragedy to lose such a beautiful tree," she
says. "I'm sad about the loss of the tree, but it has brought so many
other things to be grateful for."
Inocencio has lived in the house for five years and
says she originally bought the home because of the tree. "It didn't
matter that the house was old and not well-constructed — the
tree made up for it," she says.
In fact, the tree had so much sentimental value that
Inocencio opted not to have the tree disposed of in the traditional
way — by milling or chopping for firewood. She felt the tree
was too beautiful to be destroyed and wanted to do something else
with it.
The fence was designed and built by Bradley Cook of
Huckleberry Fence. The project took months to complete. "When I first
met [Inocencio]," says Cook, "she was heartbroken. It was like a piece
of her died. The storm just yanked so much from her. But when we showed
her the pictures of what she would be getting, I saw the joy replace
sadness on her face."
Cook's fence design is an original, because he says
Inocencio's attachment to the tree made him "want to do something
special, really make it pop." However, now that so many people have
seen the fence, Cook has been inundated with requests for the same
design.
Kurt Hupé, a local wood artist and owner of Sacred
Woods, created an additional design for Inocencio's yard. He is currently
using a chain saw and other tools to shape the remaining cedar stump
into two garden seats and a support for her grandchildren's slide.
Hupé will also add river bark, soil, ferns and possibly a hemlock
tree between the slide and one of the garden seats. He says his design
is intended to work with the aesthetic of the stump, not interfere
with it.
Hupé only works with fallen trees that would
normally be milled or used for firewood. Each of his projects is unique,
but he says this one is special because although he normally offers
his clients inspiration, in this case, his client was inspired by
the tree. Hupé also says sharing his vision with his customers
and receiving their input is a very personal process, since most of
them have a sentimental attachment to their trees. "It's a momentous
occasion when a tree comes down," he says.
Other community members have also incorporated parts
of the tree into their own creations. According to Inocencio, David
Holmes of McKenzie Millworks milled the posts for the fence builder
and kept half of the wood to make what Inocencio calls, "beautiful,
thick picnic tables." Other products include hand-made paper and sunburst
trellises. Additional scraps were burned in a Native American sweat
lodge.
Inocencio compares her tree to the one in Shel Silverstein's
children's book, The Giving Tree. In it, an apple tree gives
a man everything he asks of it throughout his entire life, including
branches, leaves and food. At the end of the story, the tree's stump
gives the man a place to sit — just as Inocencio's has done
for her. "I think it was a tree like this one," she says. "This tree
has given me so much and to others before me."
The cedar has also given her some new friends. Inocencio
has always wanted to travel, but didn't know whom to take with her.
Because they came to look at her fence, she has met women her own
age to travel with.
In fact, there has been so much community involvement
in the tragedy-turned-opportunity, Inocencio says she felt guilty
about building a fence — a barrier between herself and her neighbors.
The fence, however, has proved to unite rather than divide.
"The concern of the neighborhood has been touching,"
says Inocencio. "I almost felt guilty about keeping the community
out, but then I built the fence and the community came to me, and
it was amazing. I loved it."
TOP
RIGHT: HOMEOWNER CATHERINE INOCENCIO WITH HER NEW FENCE.
CENTER:
CRAFTSMAN KURT HUPé WORKS ON GARDEN SEATS.
LOWER
LEFT: THE FALLEN TREE.
LOWER
RIGHT: SECTION OF THE COMPLETED FENCE.
PHOTOS
BY JAMES BATEMAN
 |
Sarah
Cantril
Marin County native Sarah Cantril
studied Spanish at the UO and later went to Mexico for six months.
"I've been determined to keep up, to get better," she says. Returning
to Eugene, Cantril volunteered at Centro Latinoamericano while she
finished her MSW degree. After graduation in 1995 she did social work
with several local agencies. She now spends most of her time at home
with her two young children (that's Elena in the photo). In 1999,
Cantril launched Huerto de la Familia (the Family Garden), a volunteer
project to introduce Latino families to organic gardening at the Whiteaker
Community Gardens. "I combined my interests in gardening and in working
with Spanish-speaking people," she says. "In four years, 17 families
have been involved. This year we have six gardeners in a 100- by 30-foot
space." Certified as a master gardner by the county Extension Service
in 2000, Cantril solicits donations of plants and other materials
from local businesses. "Sarah is a resourceful person," says Pat Patterson
of the Lane County Extension Service. "It's handy for us to have someone
who speaks Spanish — she has added another dimension to our
programs."
— Paul Neevel
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