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News: True American Hero CITY TO TRY AGAIN WITH POLICE STATION The city of Eugene has twice failed to convince voters to pay for a new police station. The last time a bond measure failed by a 24 percent margin. But that's not stopping the city from asking the voters again. The city staff and council last month moved forward with plans to put a new station before voters next fall. The building will cost at least $34 million, not including
millions of dollars more that the city plans to spend on an adjacent
parking garage to serve the building. The new cop shop will be double
the size of the old police digs but will cost the average taxpayer more
than $1,000 to repay loans for the structure. The city plans to kick
in millions of dollars more into the fund for the police headquarters
by saving money through reduced services to taxpayers The campaign to convince voters to pay for the building has already begun with a renewal of shaky arguments that the existing police station/city hall could collapse in an earthquake and can't be renovated. But the arguments for a police station may have only grown weaker with time. The city is already building a spacious new $4 million police building to move workers from the basement of City Hall. — Alan Pittman
DECLINE TO SIGN, SAY CHILD ADVOCATES Stand for Children, the grassroots child advocacy organization key to pushing through local tax measures to support schools both in Eugene and Portland, is urging people not to sign the petition to repeal HB 2152. Oregon conservatives are petitioning to put a measure on the ballot that would undo the Legislature's bipartisan three-year tax hike to support schools and human services. "Stand for Children is an army of doers which up to now in Lane County has been working under the radar but has produced incredible results," says Steve Barnes of the group. Barnes says the organization banked 10,000 phone calls during the campaign to pass Measure 20-67 last year, which will generate $31.4 million over the next four years for local education programs. Stand for Children state Director Joy Marshall calls the two-year-old non-partisan group the "AARP for children's issues" and hopes the group's grassroots organizing will help build pressure to find permanent solutions to Oregon's underfunding of education and human services. "We're doing the right stuff," she says. "We're doing concrete things, we're organizing, we're bringing these issues to the people." As part of its outreach program, the group recently sponsored the appearance of Joshua Redman and his Elastic Band jazz trio at The Shedd. OFAM sponsored a reception for the musicians after the concert, and an opportunity for Stand for Children to pitch its work. Redman is a Harvard graduate, law student and civil rights advocate in addition to being a top-rated jazz musician. "Joshua is a wonderful example of what's right when the investment is made in kids, education and particularly music education," says Barnes. Local high school music students were involved in promoting the concert, and OFAM CEO Jim Ralph made half-price tickets available for students. The group's latest campaign is called Decline to Sign and is focusing on educating voters on the importance of supporting the tax increase that's needed to keep classroom sizes reasonable and keep schools from cutting days or weeks of instruction. Decline to Sign literature notes that public schools have already lost millions in recent years, high quality education is needed to generate and keep jobs in Oregon, opponents have no alternative plan to fund schools and human services, and "it is affordable — most taxpayers will pay $3 a month." For more information about the campaign and Stand for Children, contact Marshall at 912-2921 or joy@stand.org or visit www.stand.org — Ted Taylor
CIA Director George Tenet came to the UO last week to address attendees of the Association of American Universities, who met at the UO for the first time. Approximately 40 of the 62 member campuses from across the U.S. were represented, says Harry Battson, UO associate vice president for strategic communications, a position formed a year and a half ago. The UO is the only Oregon university affiliated with the organization, which comprises the top research universities in the U.S. But no one knew Tenet was coming. University personnel were told not to tell — so they didn't. The R-G reported that AAU President Nils Hasselmo said Tenet addressed "larger policy issues" rather "than offering specific direction for research efforts." The only person from the UO, however, who knows what Tenet actually said is President Dave Frohnmayer, who was at the meeting, but out of town this week and could not be reached for comment. Battson says he doesn't know what Tenet spoke to the attendees about, only stating strategically, "It was my understanding that he was invited to discuss the role of universities in the international context. I don't know what he said. I wasn't there." International students comprise 7 percent of the UO student body. Perhaps Frohnmayer will reveal Tenet's points when he returns to town. —Aria Seligmann
LETTERS SENT TO SUPPORT BARRY'S Concerned Eugene residents have undertaken a letter writing campaign to keep Barry's Espresso and Bakery at the Willamette Plaza site through PC Market of Choice's expansion and Rite Aid's redesign over the next few years. The letters have been sent to several Eugene city officials, including Mayor Jim Torrey, as well as to Trond Ingvaldsen, assistant vice president of real estate for The Standard Insurance Company, owners of the Willamette Plaza property. Ingvaldsen, in an e-mail response to Torrey regarding residents' concerns, writes, "Barry's Espresso and the other tenants located in the Rite Aid building are subtenants of Rite Aid, and Barry's has never leased space from Standard Insurance Company. Rite Aid will downsize ….. Unfortunately, the new store will not be able to accommodate the existing subtenants, including Barry's Espresso." Regarding a national coffee chain replacing Barry's, Ingvaldsen writes, "Barry's is not being replaced by a national coffee tenant. Standard Insurance Company has not negotiated with, nor entered into any leases with any national coffee tenant." However, Ingvaldsen does include, "Although it is our prerogative to talk to any tenant interested in the Willamette Plaza, our own local coffee tenant Supreme Bean, who has been a tenant in our center for more than 10 years, will have first right to negotiate lease terms for a full service coffee store in the Willamette Plaza when space is available." Barry's will remain in the Willamette Plaza Rite Aid at least through next summer, and owner Barry Siegel has opened a second shop on campus. — Bobbie Willis
TWO 9/11 EVENTS IN THE SPOTLIGHT A free public symposium on "the other Sept. 11" (the coup in Chile in 1973) began this week at UO and continues with a keynote address at 7:30 pm Thursday, Nov. 6, at the Knight Library Browsing Room. The speaker will be Peter Kornbluh of the National Security Archive. The topic "The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability." The title of the symposium is "Democracy and Human Rights in Latin America: Lessons from the Past and Prospects for the Future (30 years after Sept.11, 1973)." The symposium includes a series of lectures on Latin American politics, human rights and culture, and runs all day Thursday and Friday with both local and national speakers in English and Spanish. Music performances and art exhibits are also included. The complete program is available online at http://babel.uoregon.edu/LAS/news.htm On Sunday, Nov. 9, the Eugene Forum for Peace Education will sponsor a discussion about Sept. 11, 2001, the peak of petroleum, and permaculture solutions. The event, originally planned at EWEB, will be held instead from 2 to 5 pm in the EMU Fir Room at the UO. Jerry Russell of www.911-strike.comwill discuss some of the evidence that 9/11 was an "inside job," with U.S. government foreknowledge and even complicity. Mark Robinowitz of www.oilempire.uswill discuss the political context and its relationship to the imminent peak of world oil extraction. Sustainability activist Jan Spencer will conclude, with practical suggestions how individuals and neighborhoods can work toward community food security through permaculture. From 7 to 9 pm Tuesday, Nov. 11, the 911 Film Series will sponsor more films at UO's Willamette 100. This episode will include footage not previously shown in Eugene, including film excerpts about Pearl Harbor, the assassination of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., and outtakes from the film Aftermath: Unanswered Questions from 911. The film The Great Deception will also be shown. Both events are free to the public.
Forty-three Oregonians, including Guadalupe Quinn, Mary Martinez-Wenzel, Jorge Salic and John Cuff of Eugene, participated in the Immigrant Workers' Freedom Ride Sept. 23; 18 buses from 10 major cities crossed the U.S., visiting over 100 communities in 41 states. The Freedom Riders converged in Washington, D.C., to lobby for immigration policy reform, focusing on legalization, worker protections, family reunification, and civil liberties for hard-working, tax-paying immigrants. Moving north, they held a massive rally in New York. The Eugene Freedom Riders will share experiences from the road and discuss local, state, and national initiatives for advancing the immigrant rights movement in "On the Road for Immigrant Rights: A Report from the Freedom Riders" to be held at Adams/Hillside Elementary Schools (950 W. 22 Ave.), 7 pm, Wednesday, Nov. 12. Martinez-Wenzl, coordinator of the Network for Immigrant Justice, explains that immigrant farm workers and volunteers/activists work together in the fight for farm workers' rights. She says, "Organizers of the Immigrant Worker Freedom Rides sought to include immigrant workers primarily, but the inclusion of immigrant rights advocates and allies was essential to demonstrate just how broad-based the movement for immigrant rights is." In a September 24 journal entry during the Freedom Ride, Martinez-Wenzl writes, "After breakfast we went to a rally at the Whitman College campus. Students spoke eloquently of the need for students to organize in solidarity with workers. One speaker, a recent Santa Cruz graduate originally from Cambodia, spoke of love and hope. I was nearly moved to tears. Not only are we building a movement and mobilizing people for immigrant justice, but … we are also living the vision of the change that we want to see." Martinez-Wenzl says, "Whether people acknowledge it or not, immigrant issues impact us all. Immigrants pick the food that we find on our tables, care for our elderly relatives, and perform myriad other important jobs that are often taken for granted. Immigrants contribute to our community culturally and contribute millions of dollars to our economy in taxes and Social Security. Yet current immigration policy renders it nearly impossible for immigrants to live and work in the U.S. legally." For more information on immigrant workers' rights, or on the Nov. 12 presentation, contact Mary Martinez-Wenzl with Community Alliance of Lane County, Network for Immigrant Justice at 485-1755.–BW
In last week's short news item on the Lane County Cannabis Initiative, erroneous information was provided to EW. Co-directors of the initiative Eileen Erdelt and Chris Wise say marijuana eradication on federal lands will continue if the initiative passes. For more information, visit http://sensiblelanecounty.tk
The
R-G and the Ramp Jon Kvistad, regional head of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), charged that The Register-Guard engaged in "deliberate misinformation" in editorials pushing for a wheelchair ramp at the new federal courthouse.
"Some in the community were confused and misinformed," Kvistad said of proponents of the ramp during an Oct. 24 press conference in which the GSA announced it would build a ramp. He charged that that confusion was "fueled by what I believe was deliberate misinformation by some at the local newspaper." "It was the editorials that really drove them up the wall," said Jack Wilson, editorial page editor for the R-G, in an interview with EW. Wilson said R-G editors had several "unhappy" meetings and communications with the GSA complaining that editorials pushing for the ramp were not even handed. But Wilson said the editorials were urging the government agency to do the right thing. "I make no apologies for that." At the press conference, Kvistad declined to elaborate on his allegation of "deliberate misinformation" from the newspaper. "Far be it for me as a public official to criticize our media," Kvistad said, but referred to a complaint letter he sent R-G Editor and Publisher Tony Baker. After checking with Baker, Wilson provided a copy of the GSA's letter. "I find the editorial board's actions unacceptable, irresponsible and unethical," Kvistad wrote Baker on Sept. 16, charging that the editorials were engaged in "misinformation and politically correct posturing" in criticizing the GSA for providing an elevator at the front of the building instead of a ramp. Kvistad appeared particularly bothered by a Sept. 16 R-G editorial inviting Kvistad and other federal officials on a wheelchair tour to demonstrate the importance of disabled access to public buildings. "I consider the editorial to be irresponsible and unacceptable and I would like a retraction and clarification to that effect," Kvistad wrote. "Given your editorial board's past rhetoric, I am doubtful that the tour would be informative or balanced and I am just as certain that they publicly announced the tour — without having made any effort to learn if the invited guests could participate — so as to be able to get a photo of three empty chars and further inflame some in the community." Three days after the Sept. 16 letter was sent, the GSA announced that it was putting the courthouse project on hold, questioning public support for the project. The R-G's news coverage of the announcement focused on speculation by ramp advocates that the building was hung up on the wheelchair access issue. But Kvistad said at the news conference that the ramp wasn't the cause. "There's just no way" the ramp would have shut down the $70 million building, Kvistad said. "The timing is coincidental," he said. "The hold is not related to the ramp." The project was put on hold to urge the city to guarantee money for construction of infrastructure to serve the courthouse, according to Kvistad. "We cannot build a $70 to $80 million pubic building in an area where the public infrastructure, and that includes the transportation infrastructure, is not settled." Construction of a new $8 million highway through the courthouse district near the river has been a controversial issue in the City Council and in the community for years. The GSA's abrupt turnaround on the ramp issue appears to illustrate the power of the R-G's editorials on the issue. But Wilson downplays the impact of his work. "I wouldn't want to put our editorial at the center of this." The R-G editorials did not "single-handedly turn them around," Wilson said. The paper was just part of "a really united community telling the GSA that we wanted to do this right," he said. "There was near unanimity of support for a fully accessible building," Wilson said. "If we had any part in that, that's great." Reading the GSA's letter, it's apparent GSA saw the R-G as having a major part of "inflam[ing]" public opinion for the ramp. "Your editorial board's public baiting will not sway our process nor adversely influence my decision," Kvistad vowed Sept. 16. On Oct. 24 he announced, "We have decided to add this additional entry option for this select project in order to meet strong Eugene community demand for ramp access."
True
American Hero In late October, Georgia lawmakers honored U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) by introducing a bill in Congress to name an Atlanta civil rights educational center after him. Sens. Zell Miller and Saxby Chambliss and Reps. David Scott and Denise Majette proposed bills to designate a building purchased by the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site as the John Lewis Civil Rights Institute.
A fitting tribute to a true American hero. At 23, Lewis was the youngest of the keynote speakers at the 1963 March on Washington. It was a year when people were beaten, jailed and even killed while participating in nonviolent protest. African Americans simply wanted the right to vote. In Birmingham, the commissioner of police — Eugene "Bull" Connor — used attack dogs and fire hoses on peaceful protesters. Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers was assassinated. Lewis himself was beaten by police on Bloody Sunday, yet went on to chair the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Learning from MLK, he has tirelessly worked toward The Dream for the past 40 years, preaching peace and nonviolence as the only means toward the just end of civil rights for all. Today, Congressman Lewis, now in his ninth term as representative from Atlanta, is the last remaining survivor of the 10 civil rights, religious, and labor leaders that led and spoke at the March on Washington. Congressman Peter DeFazio arrived in the House at the same time as Lewis 17 years ago. Together, he says they've fought for progressive causes. "At a time when Congress if full of midgets, Lewis is a true giant for his role in history," says DeFazio, adding, "For example, he's as passionately opposed as I am to NAFTA, WTO and all those trade agreements." DeFazio remembers one late night several years back when the Republicans were working out a trade agreement with China, being the "most abusive they'd been, until now," he says, with special offices set up within the Capitol for high-powered lobbyists, with access "to strongarm people" and public resources available to them. "John and I decided to visit those people, and went down and burst through their office door. John was in front — he's a stocky guy — and he shouted 'We've come to throw the money lenders out of the temple!'" Pandemonium ensued. The lobbyists even dropped their cell phones. "The next day, the room was empty," says DeFazio. "It had been a clear violation of federal law, anyway." The respect DeFazio has for Lewis is apparent in his help in bringing him to Eugene. Sponsored by the UO Office of the President, Lewis will speak at 5:30 pm on Monday, Nov. 10 in the EMU Ballroom, UO, delivering the lecture, "Peace, Social Change and Justice." His lecture will touch on the changes that have occurred during the past 40 years, the positive inroads made to "fulfill the promise of the dream," he says, adding, "it's time to build on that." Lewis looks to the current climate in the U.S., specifically, the USA PATRIOT Act (UPA), as having a most adverse impact. "It's a violation in my estimation of basic civil liberties — that's why I voted against it and why I think we should strike it," he says. Lewis also has strong words for universities that have adopted UPA legislation on campuses. This past summer, the UO rewrote the Oregon Administrative Rules to conform with UPA legislation, which would allow the university to divulge students' information — without their permission and without notification — to a government agency that asked for it, and would also force libraries to hand over students' Internet and other library research information if asked. "I think that's a violation of basic decency," says Lewis. "Of simple constitutional rights. It shouldn't happen. In the name of protecting the country, we're violating human beings. We're slowly but surely reverting back to another period." To fight that backward slide, Lewis wants to see more young people step up and take action. "Many people today think the civil rights techniques and tactics of the late '50s and '60s are old hat and obsolete. But they're still relevant," he says. "We need to regain passion. We have a need for nonviolent direct action. I speak about the right to protest what is right. You have an obligation to do what I call 'Get in the way.' Move your feet. When I was growing up in Alabama in the '40s and '50s, my parents said, 'Don't get in trouble; don't get in the way, but in the '60s I got in trouble — good trouble. I got in the way. "Today as citizens, we're too quiet, too patient. We have to find a way, to make a way, to dramatize the issue. It's still so relevant. I tell young people today … During the '60s we didn't have a website, we didn't have a fax, we had no cell phone. We had our bodies and literally put them on the line. We must do that today to turn this country around — to take it back." But Lewis has always preached nonviolence. "I happen to believe in nonviolence not simply as a technique, a tactic, but a way toward what I call 'the beloved community.' To gain peace, we must use it as a way of life. The way must be one of love, of peace, of nonviolence. You come to the point where the means and the ends are inseparable and somehow the way is caught up in the end, and the way is caught up in the means. You have to believe in the idea that hate is too heavy a burden to bear. There is a better, more excellent way." As to those protesters who have laid their bodies down for the good fight, but have been attacked by police with pepper spray and rubber bullets, Lewis says, "I would say to those protesters, 'Hang in there. Don't give up. Don't give in. Don't become bitter. Don't get lost in despair. Keep coming. In doing so you will educate the police and the larger community. You have to keep doing it.' We kept sitting in and going on freedom rides. We didn't stop and we won. We prevailed."
Acting for Affirmative Action Earlier this year, Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) applauded the U.S. Supreme Court decision in upholding the University of Michigan's Law School affirmative action program. To encourage other universities to keep such programs alive, Lewis says, "Affirmative action is still needed. We need to affirm the inclusion and the participation of all young people in higher education. For so long people have been left out because of gender, color, race … There should be a real move to make the university look like America when it comes to faculty and the student body.
America University of
Oregon Students University of
Oregon Faculty America Source: U.S. Census American Community Survey Change Profile 2002. University of Oregon Source: UO Resource Management. 2002 UO Profile. UO declined to respond: 7% students, 5% faculty –AS
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