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Since the evening of Dec. 17, 2002, I've been pondering a gaping hole in Eugene's culture: We don't yet know how to live together, as a community, within the natural world of the Pacific Northwest. We instead insist, much more readily, on our rights to obliterate it. On Dec. 17, the Eugene Planning Commission held a public hearing. Its focus was 44 tiny to modest-sized parcels within our urban growth boundary. Each contains a significant remnant of wildlife habitat that once abounded in our area along creeks or streams ("riparian habitat") and on land ("upland habitat," such as oak savannahs or prairie). Since 1981, Eugene has been required by state land use rules to first identify such remnants, and then to consider what arrangements might be worked out for keeping them from disappearing. We undertook our first inventory in 1987, but here we are, in 2003, with many of the 1987 remnants gone, and still no wise plan worked out for treasuring (let alone restoring) the still-existing parcels. While some of these parcels include parts of some private property, Oregon's rules provide for full consideration of social and economic factors that would allow for new and future uses of these lands by the owners. A few days prior to the hearing, however, each landowner had received what felt like an ominous letter notifying them that part of their property had been identified as "significant" wildlife habitat under state land use rules. You would have thought, from their response, that the letter had reported that a methamphetamine lab had been found on their property. Landowner after landowner walked up to the microphone on Dec. 17 to deliver thoughts along the lines of four major themes: My property does not have wildlife habitat (as in, "That's a ditch, not a creek, on the north side of my property"). My property is no longer wildlife habitat because I'm surrounded by developments on three sides (at least since 1987). I've eliminated my wildlife habitat (as in, "Lawn is planted all the way to the ditch"). I'm going to eliminate whatever wildlife habitat remains (as in, "I want to develop that part of my property"). Only one landowner reported actively protecting native habitat on his property. But he spent most of his allotted time criticizing the disincentives that exist for doing this. This led me to wonder what types of incentives (monetary and non-monetary) would lead Eugeneans to take pride in claiming wildlife habitat on their land. What combinations of innovative community planning, tax incentives, public conversations, mutual support, and knowledges would result in our community seeking ways to increase creek life; restore native grasses; and grow native oaks? What would make us want to have young, middle-aged, and elderly Pacific Northwest creatures and plants thriving in our neighborhoods, on all our school grounds, and even on church properties (most of which strike me as unusually barren of the Creator's natural handiwork)? Denver offers an intriguing contrast to Eugene. There, residents and agencies have recently created a 50-year vision for Denver as a "City in a Park," including "measurable steps to achieve that vision, and a mandate for new, more responsive city policies that address both social needs and financial realities." The plan aims to include more natural areas with native plantings, water, and wildlife habitat. It also focuses on building a regional web of trails and waterways; increasing community gardens and open space; and paying attention to how everyone can readily reach parks and trails. In short, Denver envisions "the city itself [as] a large park, with streets, buildings and people as integral elements of a rich and varied landscape." I'm interested in what it will take for Eugene to see itself as a city within the rich, wild park we call the Willamette Valley and the Pacific Northwest. I know it will take far more than state land use rules. Anyone care to step forth with communitywide leadership that will help Eugeneans welcome, rather than fear, the existence of meaningful habitat, close by, for Eugene's first inhabitants? Mary O'Brien lives in Eugene and has worked as a public interest scientist for the past 20 years. She can be reached at mob@efn.org
Salva
Vida When last we spoke, it was just before the election, I was reading chicken entrails trying to guess what would happen on Nov. 5. Two days after the election Jeannie, our son Simon, and I took off for Honduras to meet up with our friends Maureen Smith and Eric Gunderson, who are traveling in a Volkswagen van from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to Tierra del Fuego, at the tip of South America. (This caused my friendly mechanic, Crank, to muse: "We lose more Eugeneans that way; they'll probably break down, order a car part in Belize, and end up buying land before the part comes.") But Eric and Mo are now 13,000 miles into their trip and met us at the airport in Tegucigalpa. We had a great time together; Simon got his diving certification, Jeannie renewed hers, and I enjoyed some good books, a Caribbean beach, and a few sips of the national beer called Salva Vida, or "life saver." We came home to some bad news and some good news: Democrats got beaten nationally, so we're now a minority in both the U.S. Senate and Congress with Dubya as our leader. The only thing saving us now is that, unlike the Oregon Senate, the U.S. Senate has a filibuster rule that will allow 41 votes from the Democratic minority to stop the worst of the Republican agenda of permanent tax breaks for the wealthy and right-wing attacks on everything from family planning to Roe v. Wade to cuts in social programs, not to mention some crazy foreign policy decisions — maybe. The Oregon House ended up 35 Rs and 25 Ds — definitely bad news. The new Speaker, Karen Minnis, immediately moved her party further to the right — hard to imagine — by appointing Randy Miller to replace Ben Westlund as co-chair of Ways and Means. Over the past six years Westlund, who came in as a "firebreathing conservative" (as Bill Lunch described him), moderated his views once he saw what horrible damage the cuts to human services, K-12, higher ed, and public safety would be under the "no new taxes" mentality of the majority of his House Republican colleagues. Apparently having a conscience is verboten in the Republican House caucus. Minnis also created a special House PERS committee to, surprise, surprise, attack public employees. And she re-appointed that biological miracle, Jeff Kruse, born without a heart or a brain, to head the Health and Human Services Committee. On the other hand, Ted Kulongoski beat Kevin Mannix. I would have changed my Honduras ticket to one-way if we had lost the governor's race. I'm very hopeful that a stronger Democratic Senate and Teddy will hold off the worst of the Republican agenda. The Oregon Senate ended up 15 Rs and 15 Ds. It's hard to tell how that will play out, but it's a hell of a lot better than the Republicans being in control. And, yes, I squeaked by in my senate race 58%-42% (depending on your personal view that's either good news or bad news). I lost by a 2-1 margin in Douglas County and won by a 2-1 margin in Lane County — fortunately 75 percent of my district is in Lane. But this schizophrenic result is a classic example of the Two Oregon theory — not to mention what it says about my personal mental health. (But if EW is still willing, at least you'll get another session of bad writing and "Insider Baseball.") The next session of the Oregon Legislature convenes on Jan. 13, but as of now the Senate is not organized. (Duh! you might say.) Senate Democrats have had several caucus meetings the last few weeks and we're in negotiations with the Republicans on how we'll run the Senate. With a 15-15 split, everything's up for grabs. The Rs have chosen Bev Clarno and Roger Beyer as their leaders — not a good sign — the Ds have chosen Kate Brown (despite my concerns). But I'm pretty happy with the solidarity in our caucus, especially now that Mae Yih is gone, we have 15 real — sorta real — Democrats. Now we have Kate and Peter Courtney and Jennie Burdick negotiating for us. The Senate Rs, on the other hand, are so distrustful of each other that they have six of their 15 members on their negotiating team. We could even end up with co-presidents of the Senate! Where's my Salva Vida? Sen. Tony Corcoran of Cottage Grove represents portions of Lane and Douglas counties in Senate District 4, which includes the UO area. He can be reached at corcoran.sen@state.or.us
Media
Myth In the Dec. 19 issue of The Register-Guard, right-wing political columnist and editor of the Atlantic magazine Michael Kelly predictably used his soap box to once again bash the "media" as "liberal." Yes, many reporters in the U.S. are indeed liberal. Being generally well educated, curious and brave, these journalists care about people, community and democracy. They want to tell it like it is. They want to report the news. However, the "media," those plutocrats like Rupert Murdoch and many nameless, faceless others who control corporate newsroom content, won't publish "the news." Instead they censor the reporters and publish their own views as "the news." (Isn't Fox News an oxymoron?) The reporters can't get their stories out and after a while they quit trying. That's why American journalists and politicians must go to Europe to get their work published. For instance, multimedia investigative reporter Greg Palast and former labor secretary to President Clinton, Robert Reich, are both featured in the United Kingdom press. More about the "liberal" media, case in point, in the same issue of the R-G: The dominant story on page 3 was about Louisiana politician David Duke, who pleaded guilty to felony charges of fraud and filing a false return in 1998, claiming income of $18,831 when he actually made over $65,000. He could get up to 15 months in jail and a $10,000 fine. Because he will not have to repay the fraudulent funds, he will reap a net profit of $36,169 and will probably get community service and probation. Not a bad haul. Duke ran for the Senate in 1990 and for governor in 1991. Funny, but neither the Associated Press nor the R-G bothered to mention that Duke, the former Imperial Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, is a Republican. For a truly "liberal" and different view about the suppression of legitimate news, here are some excerpts from "How the Democrats Assess Their Election Debacle" by Barry Grey, published Dec. 11 on the World Socialist Web Site (www.wsws.org): New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, one of the more forthright liberal critics of the Bush administration, expressed the mood of despair that grips what remains of American liberalism in a Nov. 8 piece entitled "Into the Wilderness." The blame for the election defeat, he argued, rested with Democratic leaders who insisted "that the party must play it safe — don't criticize the Bush administration too much, don't propose anything drastic that will offend corporations and the wealthy." Instead, he wrote, the party had to be bold and "stand for something." Democrats had to be "the defenders of ordinary Americans against the power of our burgeoning plutocracy." Even to speak of a "burgeoning plutocracy" places Krugman on the outer fringe of the Democratic Party. What did Krugman propose to combat the plutocracy? He counseled Democrats to "hammer" the Republicans for backing off on corporate reform, while defending the environment and "coming out forthrightly" against the Bush tax cuts passed in 2001 (with significant Democratic Party support). He did not mention the growth of unemployment, the crisis in health care, the decay of public education, or the overall decline in working class living standards. He passed over Bush's warmongering and his assault on democratic rights. He did not suggest that the vast redistribution of wealth from the working population to the rich of the past two decades should be reversed. For decades, the two-party system permitted only the most limited expression of the genuine feelings and aspirations of working people. Over the past two decades, however, the decay of American liberalism, the lurch to the right of the Democrats, and the banning of even mildly left views from the media have rendered the political system incapable of giving any expression to the sentiments of the masses. Jimmy Carter, M.Ed., is retired and has worked in adult and community education, television advertising and as a newspaper cartoonist, sports columnist, reporter and editorial page editor. He writes political commentary from his home in Eugene.
NO
CHILD LEFT ALONE Every high school student and their parents should become familiar with this aspect of the law. Section 9528 of the law requires all high schools receiving federal funds to turn over the names, addresses and telephone numbers of their students to the Armed Forces recruiters. Many local high schools have already complied with this law. The law also requires school districts to allow military recruiters on campuses. Districts like Portland, which have prohibited military recruiters form their campuses, will not be allowed to continue with that policy unless they are willing to forfeit federal funding. This is a direct assault on student privacy rights and is directly linked to the need for fodder for upcoming wars. Because there was no rise in enlistment since Sept. 11, the Pentagon is scrambling to find new young bodies to fight their wars. Students and parents must demand that their school boards come up with policies that will publicize this law and allow parents to opt out of this plan or better yet opt in (signed permission of parents and students authorizing the schools to turn over this info to the Pentagon). Pete Mandrapa, Roscoe Caron,
BUM
VOYAGE We were forced to get out of the hot spring and get dressed while three forest rangers stared at us putting on our underwear. These three rangers escorted us to our vehicle and gave us tickets. Ranger Ledgewood asked us very personal and demeaning questions, i.e., "Don't you have a credit card?" and asked us for our phone and social security numbers. She also peered through the front window of our car and asked what kind of vehicle it was. Does this sound like appropriate behavior to deal with collection of a $3-fee? It is completely inappropriate. We have been coming to this hot spring for 15 years. We are not people who cause trouble, and we are horrified to learn that this is the current policy to deal with people who did not pay a $3-use fee. On our visit this year, we found that on cleaning days the springs are in good shape, but other days we cleaned up much hazardous material, including glass, dirty underwear, shampoo, cigarette butts, etc. My husband slipped on the lagoon side of the trail and injured himself where it is very steep and treacherous. Why aren't the rangers taking care of these hazardous conditions instead of harassing people? We worked very hard for our vacation, spent all of our vacation money in Oregon, including campground fees, and the use of the hot spring fees. This was a very disturbing end to our vacation, because besides not paying the fee this one last day, we have never caused any trouble, and we were mistreated. Tara Beeman SHARING
BOUNTY The question they ask is a tough one. Our financial bounty is indeed modest. At every level — city, state, national, and also personal — available resources seem to be shrinking. We're all faced with difficult choices about how the things that are important to our own personal well-being and the well-being of our community and society will be financed and supported. I appreciate that Laurel and Hannah have reminded us how important it is for each of us to identify our personal priorities and to be clear about how we can share our bounty to create a better community. Each of us has something to offer. Some of us have vast financial resources to share, some of us only modest. Others of us have resources such as talents, skills and time to share. Giving something from our modest bounty does make our community a better place! I would like to personally thank Laurel for her years of committed service to the arts and culture of Eugene, and to specifically thank her for her dedicated service and financial contribution to the Jacobs Gallery. If not for Laurel's efforts, and others like her, the Jacobs would be but a memory in the minds of those who love it. When city funds were cut to the gallery five years ago, many people banded together, including Laurel, to save it. The Jacobs is a gem in our community and a wonderful resource for local and regional artists. This year's Mayor's Art Show, our community's annual juried exhibition, drew a record number of entries — more than 500 artists from Lane County sought to be selected for one exhibition! Each of us has the power to contribute to the success of those things that are important to us, whatever they may be. Thank you, Laurel and Hannah, for reminding us of that. Tina Rinaldi
MILITARY
MEMO Let us not be in fear of the Bush war machine, but let us become the home of the brave. To be a refuse-nik and say, "Hell no, we won't go," is a very courageous and brave thing to do. Jack H. Myreng, Jr.
FUND
SERVICES Jim Ekins
BLACK
HOODS They trash three houses and find no plants. Well, better luck next time. Since we're moving headlong into a national security military government, why don't we just speed things up a bit? How about adopting that great Israeli army practice of making Palestinian families watch while the military bulldozes their "suspect" homes? We could have National Guard bulldozers follow the National Guard tanks into the Whiteaker neighborhood. While we're at it, how about extending Camp X-Ray, the U.S. government's off-shore torture camp, to the new mega-National Guard base that they want to build near LCC? We could then have our own local torture camp — complete with lots of black hoods, of course. Roscoe Caron
STRONGER
STATEMENT While I appreciate people taking time to gather to protest war, I see this as an expression of opposition, not nearly strong enough to stop the Bush Administra-tion's rabid drive to bomb Iraq. Caruso and others who advocate only peaceful demonstration don't seem to feel strongly enough about war to commit an act of civil disobedience as simple as blocking streets. Perhaps this is deemed too violent as well. Two assumptions that are erroneous, if not naive, which hold people back: One is if you obey the law, no harm will come to you; only criminals are harassed by law enforcement officials. If you are a law-abiding protester no harm will come to you. The other is that if you let your elected officials know that you oppose this war, they'll put a stop to it. When the trouble gets closer to (your) home or simply when you find it revolting enough, perhaps you'll get out and revolt. Sherry Franzen
OH,
DA TOILET At that time the DEQ had an "experimental program" designed to find alternatives to the septic tank. This program was created by the Legislature but was not funded. I applied for an experimental permit and on first request was denied. After quite a bit of effort, I received a permit, and then an Oregon law was passed allowing for the installation of composting toilets. Doesn't it seem logical that if we can treat our human waste and garbage on site, that this would be a good thing? We would not then have to concentrate it and then dilute it again, potentially spoiling our local river. Composting toilets have been used for more than half a century in Sweden. I have installed and used one in my passive solar green house for over 25 years. The DEQ has never been to see our toilet. One of the biggest engineering firms did send a couple of visitors some two decades ago — perhaps to check the competition. Consulting engineering firms get paid big public money to consult on and design sewage treatment systems that use rivers as the ultimate dumpsite. It is not just the river that is affected. Sewage plants, and the pipes that feed them, are easiest to build in flat agricultural land. Oregon only has 10 percent of its area in that kind of soil. So the growth pressure is on the prime agricultural lands for new city expansion. In addition, the minerals from our food are flushed into the rivers or mixed with toxic industrial wastes. The rivers become overfertilized, and the soils become mineral deficient. However, the consulting engineering firms and construction firms do quite well and the taxpayers get to pay more taxes. Ron Davis P.S. You might want to give the local DEQ office a call. Ask them how you go about getting a permit to install a composting toilet. I have had a couple of people tell me recently that they were told the toilets are not legal in the state of Oregon.
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