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NEWS
BRIEFS : Pollution Dilution
| Living Wage | Embodying
Peace | New Neighbors | Finding
a Voice | Hope Spreads | Going
To War? | CFC Backs Appeal | Conference
In Red | Corrections/Clarifications |
News:
A Branch of Hope EMEPG holds town meeting on Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.
News:
Working for Labor Margaret Hallock tagged for policy advisor
post.
Happening
People: Jeanne Benson
POLLUTION
DILUTION
The Willamette River needs a lot of water
to dilute all the pollution that's dumped into it to safe levels,
and right now, there's almost not enough.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)
expressed concern last week that water levels are insufficient to
handle the discharges. At this time of year, the river normally flows
above 10,000 cubic feet per second (cfs). Current flows are only about
2,100 cfs.
DEQ granted cities and industry discharge permits
on the basis of at least 1,346 cfs in the Willamette. Below that level
the pollution becomes too concentrated and poses environmental and
health risks.
The local sewage plant is trying to operate more efficiently
to reduce the pollution risk. — Alan Pittman
LIVING
WAGE
The Eugene Chamber of Commerce is rallying
its troops to oppose the proposed living wage ordinance which would
increase poverty level wages for people who work in low paid jobs
for the city, city contractors and companies receiving city tax breaks
and grants.
Terry Connolly, director of government affairs for
the Chamber, e-mailed businesses this week warning that the "living
wage ordinance could affect your company."
The wage ordinance, approved in concept by the council,
is now struggling through the city Budget Committee. — AP
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FIFTY
WOMEN MAKE THEIR BODIES FIGURES OF SPEECH.
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EMBODYING
PEACE
Wearing nothing but the afternoon rain,
50 determined women laid down on the grass at Love Field near Point
Reyes Station, Calif., last weekend to literally embody peace.
"Women of all ages and walks of life took off their
clothes not because they are exhibitionists but because they felt
it was imperative to shock a seemingly indifferent nation and administration
into breaking the vicious cycle of war," reads a statement from the
group, who call themselves "Unreasonable Women for Peace."
"We have voted, we have held rallies and marches,
with little effect. Now we have taken this bold step to convey our
feelings of desperation over war. We had to spell it out for you,"
says Donna Sheehan, one of the organizers. — Ted Taylor
NEW
NEIGHBORS
In a Dec. 3 public hearing, a dozen Lane
County residents spoke out against the City of Creswell's application
to the county planning director for permission to expand its wastewater
treatment facility onto property near Camas Swale Creek, south of
Eugene.
The city of Creswell is under order from the Oregon
Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to improve its current wastewater
treatment facility. Creswell hopes to build a pipeline that will transport
reclaimed (treated) waste water from the current facility to irrigate
Creswell-owned property along Camas Swale Creek.
During the Dec. 3 hearing, West Yost & Associates
Waste Water Project Engineer Walt Meyer outlined Creswell's current
facility situation and explained that after evaluating all options,
expansion in the direction of Camas Swale Creek proved to be Creswell's
best choice.
Lane County residents in the Camas Swale Creek and
Dillard Road area expressed concerns during the hearing about how
the reclaimed waste water would affect well water and air quality.
David Monk of Oregon Toxics Alliance said during the hearing draining
wastewater is a "common practice [but] doesn't make it a safe practice…"
He explained that toxics such as PCBs, pesticides, hydrocarbons, diesel
gas, heavy metals can be found in wastewater effluent.
Several residents were also frustrated that public
input was not incorporated into Creswell's initial evaluation of expansion
sites. Besides the Dec. 3 hearing, the only other scheduled times
for discussion included a Dec. 11 town hall meeting in Creswell, and
the subsequent DEQ hearing to determine whether or not to approve
Creswell's application. Norm Maxwell of the Lane County Land Management
Division Task Force and LandWatch Lane County (and also a resident
affected by Creswell's application), sees the lack of public input
in this county decision as "a recurring pattern of deliberate obfuscation."
— Bobbie Willis
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SLANT
Congratulations to the organizers of the
Dec. 7 "We Refuse to be Enemies" fund-raiser at LCC. The
gathering of local Jews, Muslims and others celebrating common
cultures and advocating peaceful solutions in the Middle East
drew a crowd estimated at 500. Peace in the world begins at
home and such gatherings are key to building bridges of understanding
strong enough to withstand the hate and violence that divides
us. Another worthy event is coming up Dec. 16 with a town hall
meeting to examine the underlying beliefs and emotions that
surround the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (see story, page 10).
We know we still have work to do when local Jews, Muslims and
other minorities express fear for their safety in our peace-loving
little town.
The West Eugene Parkway has been out of the
headlines recently, but work continues behind the scenes
both for and against the wetland highway. The legal challenge
to stop the WEP is wending its way through the state Land Use
Board of Appeals, and a federal lawsuit may be filed if the
LUBA appeal is not successful. The Federal Highway Administration
reportedly has the WEP on its agenda for decision-making next
August. Will lack of funding and legal action stop it? Like
athlete's foot, this ill-advised and wasteful project keeps
coming back to irritate us. For an excellent site on the status
of the WEP, check out www.efn.org/~wep
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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FINDING
A VOICE
A panel discussion titled "Voices of the
Ducks: Campus Climate, Community and Broadcast Media." is planned
for 5:30 to 7:30 pm Thursday, Dec. 12, at the EMU Gumwood Room on
campus. The event is sponsored by the UO Center on Diversity and Community
(CODAC). Panelists will provide information and perspectives on UO
campus climate and community relations concerns, as well as complex
legal and economic issues.
The panel will include Steve Bender, law; Matt Garcia,
history and ethnic studies; Julie Novkov, political science; Paul
Swangard, Warsaw Sports Marketing Center; UO administrators David
Hubin and Dan Williams, as well as student and community leaders.
Annie Bentz, Associated Students of the University of Oregon Conflict
Resolution Services, and Robin Holmes, University Counseling and Testing
Center, will facilitate the discussion and ensuing forum.
John Shuford of CODAC says with regards to recent
campus events and smaller discussions on campus affiliations, that
much of the discussion has focused on more abstract legal and economic
considerations. "What tends to be overlooked is the impact on campus
climate and interpersonal relations," he says. He adds that CODAC's
place in the discussion is "to promote public education and dialogue."
For more information about the panel discussion, contact
CODAC at 346-3168.
— BW
HOPE
SPREADS
Eugene's recent debate and City Council
resolution against the USA PATRIOT Act is garnering nationwide attention,
including a 1,000-word news story by Scott Martelle in the Dec. 8
Los Angeles Times.
Quoted in the story (online at www.latimes.com)
are local activist Hope Marston, Eugene attorney Brian Michaels, Councilors
Betty Taylor and Gary Papé, and local bookstore owners Jeremy
Nissel and Linda Ellis.
The legislation broadens the government's ability
to use secret searches, wiretaps and other covert surveillance techniques.
The resolutions call for either a repeal or modification of the act.
So far, 17 cities have passed resolutions, and campaigns are under
way in at least 50 cities in 25 states.
"While the law's defenders say average citizens have
nothing to fear, civil libertarians like Marston believe the law opens
the door for government agents to resume the kind of domestic spying
that flourished under J. Edgar Hoover, when affiliation with radical
ideas was enough to get someone a place in the FBI's secret files,"
writes Martelle.
Papé is quoted saying the anti-terrorism legislation
is "overly broad, overbearing and overly intrusive." Pape says he
took little notice when Congress passed the PATRIOT Act after 9/11
but became troubled by some of its elements after Marston's group
began lobbying for the resolution.
The story describes Eugene as a "left-leaning college
town" and home to a "cross-section of liberal political groups." —
TJT
GOING
TO WAR?
Many Americans on active duty or in military
reserves are facing a likely war on Iraq, regardless of what might
be found by weapons inspectors. In response, local organizations are
offering counseling and an information hotline.
The joint program of Community Alliance of Lane County
(CALC) and Eugene PeaceWorks provides information and support to people
in the military, in the reserves, those who have signed up for delayed
entry into the military and/or those considering joining or leaving
the military.
The program includes information on conscientious
objection, dealing with changed circumstances, hardship cases, medical
issues and other concerns. The program is connected to the GI Rights
Hotline, a network of non-governmental, nonprofit organizations which
can be reached at (800) 394-9544.
"We expect an enormous call up of reserves in early
January, so we want to get the word out now as people have options,
not necessarily easy ones, but options do exist," says Carol Van Houten
of CALC. The local contact is 485-1755 or vanhoute@onlink.net
CALC and PeaceWorks are also involved in countering
government efforts in our public schools to recruit young people into
military service. — TJT
CFC
BACKS APPEAL
Citizens for Corvallis (CFC) has gone on
record in support of the appeal to LUBA of the Corvallis City Council
decision to allow the proposed OSU Kelley Engineering Building to
be built on top of the People's Park and an off-street parking lot.
"Bulldozing the People's Park flies in the face of
significant student, community and Faculty Senate support for the
park, and loss of badly needed parking spaces exacerbates existing
unresolved transportation problems generated by the university," says
Corvallis attorney Blair Bobier, representing the CFC. "In granting
its approval for this project, CFC believes the City Council effectively
ignored multiple key land use issues."
For more information, or to assist with the legal
costs of the appeal, call 753-7940, or e-mail qz4@attbi.com
CONFERENCE
IN RED
The recent Peace, Justice and Civil Liberties
Conference at UO wrapped up with expenses exceeding income, according
to organizer David Zupan of the Justice Not War Coalition. Among the
biggest expenses for the week-long event were printing and distributing
45,000 conference programs in EW and the Oregon Daily Emerald.
To pledge a donation, contact Eugene PeaceWorks at
343-8548 or e-mail eugpeace@efn.org
or mail a check made out to "Eugene PeaceWorks for the PJ&CL Conference"
to EPW, 454 Willamette St., Eugene 97401. Those donating $35 or more
can receive a free conference T-shirt. Videotapes of activist Kathy
Kelly in Iraq are available for $75 pledges.
CORRECTIONS/CLARIFICATIONS
In a short news item "Backward Drive" Nov.
21, the projected savings of driving a fuel-efficient car is actually
$4,000 to $6,000 over the life of the car, rather than per year.
In last week's music story about Rooster's Blues Jam,
the late, great radio show host known as Rooster should have been
identified as Gavin Fox.
Back to Top
A
Branch of Hope
EMEPG
holds town meeting on Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
BY
ARIA SELIGMANN
An old man was planting an olive tree,
bent over, working hard, when suddenly he heard laughter.
He turned around to see a bunch of children pointing at him.
"What are you laughing at?" he asked. "You," they cried.
"Don't you know
you will never see that tree bear fruit?"
 The
old man pointed to the field behind him. "Do you see those trees?"
he asked. "They were planted so that I might eat."
Café Soriah owner Ib Hamide called his
sister in Bethlehem on Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks
the end of Ramadan. She was down. "Now when someone dies, we envy
them," she told him. "The feeling is that they've escaped."
Hamide says he was too depressed to call the rest
of his family.
Eid al-Fitr is traditionally marked by brothers bringing
gifts to their sisters, such as money, clothing for the children or
other gifts that help out the family.
"It's obligatory," says Hamide.
Because of a major bus bombing two weeks ago in Israel,
a curfew was imposed in many Palestinian areas — residents of
those places now only get four hours per week to move about. That
meant on the day after Ramadan, brothers were not able to bring their
sisters gifts.
On the Israeli side, it meant putting a stop to scores
of men boarding buses carrying wrapped packages.
"Both sides have been wounded. Both sides are right.
Both sides have been wrong," says Hamide. But standing there waving
fingers back and forth deciding who has been more wrong isn't going
to solve anything, he says. Instead, seeing each other as human and
listening to the others' tales of suffering may help both sides move
on and establish lasting peace.
"Maybe not in our lifetime," says Hamide, but at least
for some future generation.
He stares out Café Soriah's front window, says,
"We're just two old fools sitting in our corner of the world thinking
we can make a difference," and points to himself and Gary Reiss, each
sipping at spoonfuls of vegetable soup. "Perfect, nice and spicy,"
says Reiss. A plate of bread to share sits between them.
Both are members of the Eugene Middle East Peace Group
(EMEPG), which is sponsoring a town meeting Dec. 16 to focus on the
impact of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the local community.
Reiss, along with Hamide, LMFT and conflict facilitator
Sharon Emery and family therapist Aura Solomon, will moderate the
meeting. The format, like previous ones that have focused on Hyundai,
school violence and racism, is based on process work developed by
Dr. Arnold Mindell. Anyone is welcome to come and air their feelings
on any side of the issue.
Reiss, who has led such meetings around the world,
says he is concerned that people may be holding their feelings in,
which will only lead to emotional "explosions" later. When those feelings
and fears are expressed, it helps not only the individual, but also
alleviates community tensions, say he and others who do process work.
Hamide and Reiss believe that establishing peace here
in Eugene will have an affect on what happens in the Middle East.
"It's energy work," says Reiss. "It's a field thing."
Hamide nods. "That energy doesn't go away."
In Eugene, people have been raising that energy for
a couple of years. The EMEPG was founded by local Arabs and Jews in
response to the Al Aqsa uprising in September 2000. Its membership
has grown steadily since then, with people coming to air their feelings
at monthly potlucks. With the help of a grant from the McKenzie River
Gathering Foundation, EMEPG decided to host a town meeting to bring
this process to the broader public.
Many local people have relatives and friends in the
Middle East, or are just deeply concerned, with emotions running high.
Other locals have been harassed. Anyone with a darker-than-average
complexion has been targeted since 9/11. "I get these looks I never
got before," says Hamide, and several weeks ago, the local synagogue
was vandalized. "The rocks had swastikas on them," says Reiss.
Reiss believes the process work can heal people here
and in Israel. He hopes to air on Israeli television some of the town
meetings that he has held there, where both Arabs and Jews have talked
about their suffering.
"An old man who didn't even know me approached me,
tugged at my arm and said 'Do you know what happened to me in the
Holocaust?" says Reiss.
Hamide says his sister wants to sell her property
and "get the hell out of Bethlehem" but "who's going to buy it?"
"There is an alternative to silence, war and debate,"
says Reiss, "it's dialogue."
Hamide adds, "Even if tomorrow, the leaders were to
say 'Let's have a truce and stop fighting,' the people would still
be bitter — they can't change that fast. We need to get the
agony out, to address the hurts in the presence of the other. You
can't legislate love or peace."
The feeling of hopelessness now in Bethlehem has Hamide
upset. "No one there says 'Things will get better' anymore, but you
can do your little piece. We will not sit still while wrong goes on."
"They're still over there arguing like children,"
says Reiss.
"No," says Hamide. "The children are smarter."
The free meeting will be held from 7 to 9:30 pm Monday,
Dec. 16, at Westmoreland Community Center, 1545 W. 22nd. All are welcome.
Back to Top
Working
for Labor
Margaret
Hallock tagged for policy advisor post.
BY
BOBBIE WILLIS
After his election to the governership this
fall, Ted Kulongoski approached his labor and union supporters and
asked who they wanted to see as part of the administration. The name
they gave was Margaret Hallock, current director of the Wayne Morse
Center for Law and Politics. In the next few days, the governor-elect's
office is expected to formally announce Hallock's appointment to the
position of senior policy advisor on labor, economic development and
human services.
Hallock says she is ready to work with the Legislature
to create policies that will support good jobs, as well as strong
education and training programs. "The labor movement and Kulongoski
are very much in agreement that good jobs are a high priority," Hallock
says. "I will make that my full-time priority, to assist and develop
policy to attract and retain good jobs for all Oregonians."
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MARGARET
HALLOCK
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Hallock believes that having good jobs with good incomes
is the basic issue for most Oregonians, and she plans to work within
the administration on policies that will encourage and support this
idea. "Oregon has a number of sectors and industries that offer good
jobs. We want to be sure we can retain those jobs and do what we can
on issues of fair trade; and to be sure that we don't lose those jobs."
Regarding new sectors for economic development, Hallock
says, "We're moving into more transportation and distribution, high
technology, high level research, biotechnology and health care."
Before taking the directorship with the Morse Center,
Hallock worked for 13 years as director of the UO's Labor Education
and Research Center (LERC), which provides educational and research
services to labor organizations and their members, as well as to other
practitioners in the field of labor and industrial relations.
Tim Nesbitt, president of Oregon's AFL-CIO says, "She
did a great job in building the Labor Education and Research program,
which is known for the breadth and quality of the rank and file leaders
it created." With regards to her appointment, Nesbitt says, "She's
extremely well qualified … There are a lot of people in this
state who know labor, but [Hallock] has been able to make extensive
contacts and do intensive work with unions. She knows workers, work
and their unions."
Hallock hopes to start her work with the Kulongoski
administration by addressing problems of immediacy and immensity —
namely issues surrounding the Public Employees Retirement System.
PERS has suffered from the tremendous decline in the stock market,
as well as from previous, well-intentioned policy decisions that,
with the current recession, are just not sustainable. "We have a shortfall
and the system is not sustainable at its current level," Hallock says.
"It needs major attention very quickly."
Hallock is also concerned about the safety net for
workers, specifically regarding unemployment insurance benefits. "Congress
adjourned without renewing unemployment insurance … 800,000
people have their last benefits on Dec. 28 … I think it's irresponsible
that they would adjourn without extending unemployment insurance benefits
in the middle of a recession."
She also looks forward to addressing issues of gender
equity. "Gender equity has been a major theme in my professional career,"
she says. "I did the pay equity struggle here in the state of Oregon,
and it'll be interesting to check in on that and see how gender equity
is faring after this recession."
Hallock will take a leave of absence from the Morse
Center as she pursues the policy work in Salem. Following the formal
announcement of her appointment, the Morse Center will begin a search
for an interim director, who will serve for the next 18 months. Hallock
will begin her appointment when the state Legislature convenes Jan.
13.
"I'm looking forward to being of assistance in framing
key policy decisions," Hallock says. "We face in Oregon immense challenges
and exciting opportunities. I'm happy to participate in discussions
around both."
Back to Top
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Jeanne
Benson
In 1966, with three sons under age 5 and
pregnant with a fourth, North Dakotan Jeanne Benson traveled by train
to join her husband in Eugene. "I had every intention of just raising
kids," she recalls, but her youngest son was born with profound handicaps.
"A handicapped child changes your life," observes Benson, who started
volunteering at Pearl Buck Center, where her son was being treated.
At the urging of Pearl Buck staff, she enrolled at LCC. Seven years
later, she completed a UO degree in community service and public affairs,
then continued on at Pearl Buck as a case-development specialist.
"I was there for 20 years in all," she notes, "as volunteer and staff."
In 1988, Benson left Pearl Buck to become executive director of Catholic
Community Services of Lane County, an agency that provides a variety
of services to low-income and disadvantaged people. "When I started,
there were two of us — now we have around 30 employees," she
says. "We serve well over 2,000 households a month." On Jan. 31, 15
years to the day after she began, Benson will retire from CCS. "I've
had incredible good fortune in this community," she reflects.
— Paul Neevel
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