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White smoke rolled out of the chimney in the Oregon Senate a day after the session started — a pope was named. Republicans and Democrats agreed on a shared power structure. The gray-haired eminence, Democrat Peter Courtney, was elected as Senate president. Republican Lenn Hannon was elected president pro-tem, with veto power over the assignment of bills to committees. Lenny and Pete have worked together before, and even though I've not always been happy with the outcome, this is better than having the Republican conservatives have their way. Each committee in the Senate has equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans and we split the committee chairmanships — this is a power-sharing arrangement unique in Oregon history. Locally Bill Morrisette will chair the Senate Health Policy Committee, Vicki Walker is vice-chair of the Senate Business and Labor Committee and I'll chair the Senate General Government Committee — otherwise known as the Hodgepodge committee. Over the past few sessions this committee has heard bills on pro wrestling, greyhound racing, the Municipal Debt Advisory Commission (whatever the hell that is), seismic rehabilitation, electric deregulation, baseball, raffles, cemeteries, the State mushroom, and— oy veh!‚ — PERS. It's the perfect committee for an eclectic guy. I was also named to Senate Revenue, Ag and Natural Resources, and the Senate Rules Committee. Already Lars Larson is attacking me for chairing General Government, the committee that will probably hear the PERS changes. I'm the "fox guarding the henhouse." Little does Lars know (ain't that the truth) that the fox and the henhouse feature armed guards from the Republican House. Lars is a fool, that's why I won't go on his radio show, even though DeFazio told me I should do it "just for practice." Teddy Kulongoldschmidtoski is making organized labor nervous as hell — after he constantly told his supporters during his campaign that he would not attack PERS. "A promise is a promise," said Teddy — then. It appears he also forgot to let his public employee friends know that his budget contained the triple-whammy of pay freezes, salary step freezes, and health insurance cost increases. Oops. I just hope this is the normal poor communication that accompanies the transition from one governor to another — so I'll keep an open mind — for now. Kate Brown emerged as a true Democratic hero, she's our Joan D'Arc, she sacrificed her rightful place as Senate president to get another Democrat elected to that position. The Republicans could not tolerate the fact that her selfless work got Democrats from a 20-10 Republican edge in the 1997 Senate to a 15-15 draw today, it just pissed off the Republicans to the point that they took an "anybody-but-Kate" attitude. Sometimes true leadership means stepping aside for the greater good. Kruse-Doyle Measure 28 idiocy. The charade continues. It's one thing to hammer on Jeff Kruse for being heartless and mindless, but Dan Doyle has no excuse — he's a lawyer and should know better. But there he was on Friday, in the Capitol pressroom, with a sea of blue state police uniforms behind him, telling the public that he knew a way to stop the hemorrhaging in public safety. Doyle, who is considered by his own colleagues as the most partisan Republican in the Capitol signed on to this statement: "Your NO vote for this unnecessary tax increase will not turn prisoners loose, will not increase the size of our classrooms or force our senior citizens to choose between rent and food. Such scare tactics are not true." Really? If that's the case, then why haven't Republicans, who had eight years of control of both chambers, cleaned up this inefficient mess of state government? Oh yeah, I forgot, it's all Kitzhaber's fault. Re-prioritize, he said, that's all we have to do — we'll just cut human services, K-12, community colleges and higher education — then we'll have plenty of money to stop the state police cuts. Doyle's in the Voter's Pamphlet, not once but twice, arguing in opposition to Measure 28 and touting the Kruse-Doyle plan. Somehow he thinks privatizing OLCC, gutting the Oregon Health Plan, and selling the state motor pool will solve our budget crisis. What a crock! Oh yes, did I mention? Please vote "yes" on Measure 28, and save us from these bad people. 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
California is looking for more cheap power, but Lane County shouldn't give a dam. Specifically, we shouldn't give up the Fall Creek Dam as a site for a proposed hydropower project developed by out of-state-speculators. We should fight the application that these speculators have filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), seeking a license to build a massive plant at one of Lane County's favorite outdoor recreation areas. The applicant calls itself Fall Creek Hydro, LLC, but don't be fooled by the local-sounding name. Closer inspection reveals the "applicant contact" is the same corporation that has filed more than 100 applications for hydro projects at dams across the U.S. All these applications have used the same boilerplate language. It's evident that the applicant intends to win approval for as many projects as possible, and then sell the licenses to the highest bidder. I think FERC should approve Fall Creek Hydro's application subject to on one condition: hell freezing over. This month I'm filing a motion to intervene in the FERC proceeding as an opponent of the project. (I'm filing this motion as a private citizen, not on behalf of the Board of County Commissioners; the BCC has no jurisdiction over the Fall Creek Dam.) Here are a few of the reasons why the Fall Creek hydro project would be a bad idea for Lane County. Salmon pate, anyone? Fall Creek has an evolutionarily significant unit (ESU) of Chinook salmon both upstream and downstream from the dam. There's a good possibility that the turbines of a hydropower plant would grind up these fish like a Cuisinart. Moreover, the intake and expulsion of water at a hydro project could cause turbidity that might threaten fish populations. The FERC application for the proposed Fall Creek hydro project does not indicate that the applicant would take any measures to protect the fish in this area. By contrast, EWEB has spent millions protecting salmon runs on the McKenzie. Boatin' is verboten. Construction of the project would require that the reservoir be drawn down while workers assemble the 650-foot penstock, the intake structure, the generator, and other necessary facilities. In the meantime, boaters would be unable to use the reservoir. The tourist economy of east Lane County would suffer, as it did when Cougar Reservoir was drawn down to refurbish Cougar Dam in 2002. At least you'll know how to find the reservoir. In the future, when you need to give your friends directions to the reservoir, just tell them to follow the massive transmission lines that will be connecting the new power plant to the interstate power grid. Or at night, just roll down the window and follow the buzzing noise. California dreamin'. Now that power is traded freely on the national grid, there is virtually no local benefit to producing power at a nearby facility unless that facility is owned by a local utility. We should discount any argument by out-of-state speculators that a new Fall Creek power project would somehow help Lane County's self-sufficiency or reduce our electrical bills. The power from this plant will be heating swimming pools in California. Fall Creek isn't exactly the Columbia River. The low flow of Fall Creek won't generate much power. The applicant predicts that the plant would only generate about 10 GWh of power per year. That's a small output by comparison to other hydropower projects. Enron — the sequel. A study of 500 private hydro projects using public lands revealed that their owners paid the government just .07 percent of the revenue from these projects. Approval of the Fall Creek hydro plant would really amount to a public subsidy of the private power company that buys the license. The hydro project would be piggy-backing on the dam that our tax dollars built. The applicant has good reason to be optimistic, because the current chairman of FERC, Pat Wood, has announced his strong interest in increasing the number of hydro projects. Vice President Cheney has stated that a new power plant should be added every five days for the next 20 years. The poor snowpack in the Northwest this year (75 percent of normal) foretells rising costs for BPA's power. On the other hand, the "buckshot" approach of filing 100 applications indicates the applicant has little attachment to the Fall Creek site in particular. Our goal should be to point out the pitfalls of this project as soon as possible, so the applicant and FERC understand that that the Fall Creek proposal is one of the least viable options among the many proposals that the applicant has submitted. I'm reminded of Jeff Goldblum's quote in one of the Jurassic Park movies: "This is the worst idea in the long history of bad ideas." Tom Lininger is the county commissioner for the East Lane District, which includes the Fall Creek area.
I am the luckiest person in the world. OK, maybe the guy who won the $360 million PowerBall is pretty lucky, but now that poor guy (aka "that rich guy") will never know if his friends like him for who he is or because they want a ride in his new helicopter. I, on the other hand, having won by a landslide the title of "Most Unlikely to Ever Own a Helicopter" am therefore lucky enough to completely trust the sincerity of my friends. I am definitely lucky to have absolute trust in my sweet wife's love. For example, I know that when she steps out of the bathroom still steaming from her morning shower, drops her towel and shouts "Ta Da!" she's not gold-digging for a chopper excursion. When she comments that "someone" opened the blinds while she's still naked as a jay bird, I assure her she looks nothing like a jay bird, which is the honest truth. That inspires her to jump into a rousing rendition of Rockin' Robin, punctuated by a dance step you'll just have to imagine for yourself which perfectly expresses the concept and rhythm of "Tweedle-ee-deedle-ee-deet." While she's singing about all the little birdies on Jay Bird Street, I'm thinking how lucky I am to have this wowie zowie dance show just for me, right here in the comfort of my own home. Throughout all his "Bandstand" days, Dick Clark himself never saw such great moves. Speaking of dicks, last week we went to see a movie starring Jack Nicholson about a man's self-discovery after his plump, and therefore supposedly unappealing, wife dies suddenly while dust-busting spilled flour off the kitchen floor. I would just once like to see a movie about a woman's self-discovery after her unappealing husband suffers an untimely, dust-busting death. And here I thought women's liberation would have caught on by now. But fortunately, the picture was not a total loss. For one thing, Wifey and I got to spend a couple of hours in a dark theater holding hands — another perfect example of that good luck thing. Granted, the theater was so crowded that we had to sit in the front row and crane our necks back to root canal position. However — and here's my good fortune again — from that perspective the actors appeared to have gigantic torsos and heads the size of a common rutabaga, a distortion which in itself makes good enough entertainment to more than make up for our mounting chiropractic bills. Unlike all the other theater-goers whose legs were cramped by the pesky seat in front of them, my good luck landed us in seats where we had plenty of room to stretch our legs. Laid out like that we could simultaneously watch Jack Nicholson learn that life is what you make it, while we trained for the luge. Another lucky bonus: Kathy Bates comes in so late in the film that our brains had time to compensate for the optical illusion rutabaga heads. By the time Goddess Bates walked on the scene, the actors' heads now appeared to have grown to the size of large kohlrabi. Speaking of large, and I refer back to the lucky aspect of my life again, in the unexpected best part of the whole movie, Wifey and I were thrilled to catch a sensual-yet-fleeting glimpse of filmdom's Supreme Being, Kathy Bates, disrobing for the hot tub. Who knew we'd have the sensuality of size affirmed and promoted at the theater that day? Wow. What luck! Finally a real, voluptuous woman on the big screen. Victoria's Secret could gain a huge (literally) market segment if they would hire models built like Kathy to do their skimpy underwear commercials. You don't need an Audubon field guide to know there is nothing in the world that looks less like a jay bird. Except — lucky me — my own private dancer. "Tweet, tweet. Tweedle-ee-deet." Sally Sheklow has been a part of the Eugene community since 1972 and is a member of the WYMPROV! comedy troupe. Her column, which began at EW in 1999, also runs in several other newspapers and magazines around the country and Down Under.
CAUGHT
IN CROSSFIRE As members of a small rural school district, it is our children who are feeling acutely the devastating effects of budgetary cuts. Without the ability to raise general funds in any appreciable way, our educational program has been eroded to the point where only those subjects at the core of a basic education are now being offered. We must not allow our educational system to slip back into complacency and ignorance in a world where keen minds will be required to solve the complex problems of our society and environment. Continuing to reduce the general funds of Oregon's rural school districts will suffocate the very life from Oregon's working class by removing the viability of their one hope for the future, an education for their children. We cannot afford to sacrifice an entire generation of Oregon's children while we carefully direct our economy toward recovery. Clearly we must find stable funding for education in this state. The overwhelming majority of Oregonians support stable funding for education as a top priority. It is vital that the people of Oregon remain vigilant that we do not forget that the future of Oregon is in education, now. Please support no further reductions in K-12 educational funding, vote for Measure 28, and support stable funding for K-12 education. Nicholas P. Russo
CHOOSE
COMPASSION The first path would be rugged individualism, where everyone is left to fend for their own needs and use their resources for individual purposes, taxes continue to dwindle away and the rate of gun ownership probably climbs. Those who don't survive are just unfortunate casualties. The Bush administration is following this path, both domestically and internationally, which rewards the already powerful and requires huge resources to be devoted to protecting what's "ours." The second path, and the one I would choose, is a softer, more openhearted path in which we recognize that we're all in this together and when any of us falters, we all lose something. Moderating individual desires for stuff and a willingness to help our neighbor in need are hallmarks of this approach. One form of this help is government-run programs supported by taxes. This is what Measure 28 is about. The fat in government services was carved out long ago. We're now cutting into muscle and bone in education, services for children, poor seniors, the mentally ill, etc. Please help them out and support this modest, temporary tax increase. Overall taxes in Oregon are only in the middle of the pack of all states. Choose compassion. You might be in need of help yourself someday. Michael Wherley
INTEGRITY
PROBLEM Shawn Boles
OUR
MOST VULNERABLE My program serves those who are homeless and mentally ill. Most of the time their experience with the "system" has left them disenfranchised, so they have either no income at all or General Assistance which is $314 per month. These mentally ill citizens, who are our most vulnerable, will lose access to psychiatric services and psychiatric medications. This will have a larger impact on the jails, emergency rooms and inpatient psychiatric units than ever before. This is a much more costly way of caring for these citizens than the community services that are currently in place. Many of these cuts have already happened. More will happen if Measure 28 fails to pass. None of us wants to pay higher taxes, but it will cost the taxpayers of Oregon even more to provide the only treatments that will be left. These citizens, by virtue of living in this country, deserve the best we have to offer them so that those who can recover have the opportunity to become tax-paying citizens. Sharon Durham
SHOCK
& SHAME The news media has failed over and over to adequately confront the abusive powers in our country. It is disappointing to see you try to marginalize someone courageous enough to take that job on single handedly. Michael Moore is a public servant of the highest order. The vast majority of film makers in this country have worked so hard to build a vocabulary of film making tools and tricks, but seldom end up saying anything with them. We're given codependent love stories, lightly veiled military ads, mindless comedies and even more mindless action movies. Moore has used his vocabulary to ask questions that we seldom hear — real questions about the way we live our life, real comparisons to the rest of the socialized world. He's more than a visionary film maker; he's a true investigative reporter unlike any in the corporate news world. Shame on you for not giving his work the respect it deserves. Weston Tracy
GO
FURTHER If we hope to maintain our safety at home and save the lives of thousands of civilians abroad, we must, right now, raise such a clamor that the current administration doubts it will be able to hold onto its ill-gotten power, and will encounter serious obstacles on the all important logistical homefront if they continue their current sacking behaviors. We have reached a point where our financial, social and personal safety, not to mention our human rights, are far more threatened by the plans of our own government than by any losses we may or may not engender by speaking out against their outrageous behavior. There are far too many parallels between the rise of the Bush administration and Hitler's rise to power for denial and avoidance to be the safe choices any more. It is therefore imperative that each citizen go one step further than we have dared before. Write letters, go to rallies, talk to those in power. Civil disobedience was never more appropriate or more necessary. Our nation and its prosperity do not exist in a vacuum. The people in nations all over the world pay the price in many ways for our comfort, and it is racist to think that somehow we deserve it at such a cost to them. Let's "turn it up" now, before the mad man — no mad men — in Washington put us all at greater risk for huge losses. Craig T. Miller
ONE
VOTE FOR NENA Sylvia Hawley Springfield
REPAIR
ROADS However, I'm disappointed that none of the area media have taken the time to look at the examples of other communities all over the country who are facing very similar street repair funding issues (and choosing similar solutions). I moved to this community from Spokane, a city the size of the Eugene/Springfield metro area, a city where voters have consistently and repeatedly rejected any measure to raise new revenues and solve their street problems. And now, because of their inability to look at the benefits, and not just the costs, Spokane is a statewide joke of potholes. City officials' hands were tied by the "anti-tax-no-matter-what" crowd, and now their road repair backlog has grown to more than $200 million. And yet, they complain constantly about the damage to their cars as well as the traffic conditions. Spokane officials have discussed a utility-type street fee of up to $7 to $9 per month per household, which makes Eugene/ Springfield's look pretty reasonable. We are going to pay either way — either through damage to our cars and growing road repair in the future, or by biting the bullet now and accepting our elected city offcials' decision on a road fee. I, personally, think better schools, fire/police protection, and roads are all worth the money asked of us as taxpayers. Rachael Dillman
LIFTING
THE LID George Grier
IN
RECOVERY Finally, we spoke the truth of our recovery publicly. We paraphrased an earlier president to speak of the current one: "We have nothing to fear, not even the fear-monger himself." Vip Short
WHERE'RE
THE WOMEN? Shame on the Lane Arts Council for such an oversight. (And I'm being generous to call this an "oversight.") The situation needs to be rectified. I understand there are still more funds for public art at the library, and I, for one, want to see the works of women artists when I walk through the halls of my library. Jewel Murphy
SPEAKING
FOR STONES Four of the recently installed Talking Stones were defaced the day after their placement in the park. The perpetrator or perpetrators and their intent are unknown, and the act itself is reflective of racist and bias acts of intolerance. These stones have been placed in the Whilamut Natural Area to serve as educational tools. They feature words of the Kalapuya language — and accompanying English translation — which highlight cultural, historical and physical aspects of the park landscape. The stones were also intended to adorn this area of the park and provide a reclaiming of this natural area for the enjoyment of all people who visit and live in this community. The last and most significant message of the talking stones is to honor the indigenous people, known as the Kalapuyas, who were the first people to reside in the Willamette Valley and to recognize present day Native American community members who are descendants of the Kalapuya. As human rights advocates in this community, it is crucial that we respond publicly to intolerant acts such as this. The members of the City of Eugene Human Rights Commission wish to help speak out on acts that show disregard and contempt for human rights. We appreciate the many community people who have brought this to public attention and applaud them for speaking out and for their continued support. May we all together continue to work towards tolerance and respect, so all human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear. Marcy Middleton &
James Dean
CHRISTIAN
DIALOGUE Whatever occurred within the confines of the college, it was not understood and accepted in a Christian manner or it would not have been labeled "only a misunderstanding and had already been resolved." In the process of Christian dialogue based on "love your neighbor as yourself," the concerns and sensitivities of our brothers and sisters are the primary component of the process. As Franciscans, we are committed to see the face of Christ in all our brothers and sisters. If you do see and hear their pain and you are not working , listening and taking action to acknowledge and respect your fellow human beings., then you are not working as a Christian community. I ask the administration of NCC to engage in constructive dialogue to resolve the issue of alleged racism in the spirit of true Christian love and respect. Kate Wallace, SFO
ECONOMIC
UPRISING True, there are various factions of Arab and other Asian and African zealots who want no part of our imperial extensions and have brought the point home to us with vigorous drama. Still, the jails are full and growing, not all defined or limited by steel, concrete, sham overt justice or mere geography. Where's the rub? When not too dispirited, I still have a wonderland of great books, good film, novel art, consuming and sustaining romance before me. It's not enough. Only the end of the nightmare will be enough. That's why I become appreciative when I read of economic boycotts such as that proposed by Shannon Wilson (12/12). In massive tax resistance and committed economic non-participation there's hope. The problem is, Wilson needs to realize more fully that there's a world of difference between the mass economic uprising that led to imperial India's independence and the practice of simple living in which many EW readers already indulge. Thoroughgoing economic disruption is a great irritant to imperial tyranny, but it needs to move far beyond the self-satisfied frugality of very local centers of resistance. John A. Hickam
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