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Slant: Short opinion pieces and rumor-chasing notes. News: Happening Person: Diane Benner OREGONIAN SHAMED FOR MISSING SCANDAL Neil Goldschmidt isn't the only one scandalized by reports that the former governor of Oregon sexually abused a 14-year-old girl 30 years ago. The Oregonian, the state's largest and most powerful newspaper, is taking heat for missing and then spinning the story, which first broke in the alternative paper Willamette Week.
Some of the criticism is coming from inside the paper. Willamette Week published an internal memo describing a meeting of editors and reporters at The Oregonian concerning the paper's catch-up coverage. Columnist "Steve Duin felt strongly that our coverage today was too reverential. We are dealing with a child molester," according to the memo. Duin "suggested that readers might think we'd learned nothing from Packwood and that we are hands off people in power." In 1992 The Oregonian failed to pursue allegations of sexual harassment against then Sen. Bob Packwood, and that story broke instead in The Washington Post — to The Oregonian's continuing shame. The Post reported May 12 that The Oregonian "has been dogged by questions — from inside and outside the newsroom — about why it was scooped and then seemed to allow its catch-up coverage to be spun by Goldschmidt." The Post noted that Goldschmidt went to The Oregonian with an exclusive confession only after investigative reporters at Willamette Week unearthed his sordid past. "The confession that Goldschmidt gave exclusively to The Oregonian appeared to pay some coverage dividends, at least for one day's news cycle. On that first day, the paper published his version of the duration of the relationship. The benign language he used to characterize his encounters with the girl — 'affair' — appeared in the banner front-page headline. An editorial was sympathetic" and described Goldschmidt as a "tack-sharp, charismatic leader" and the scandal as "an incalculable loss" for the state, the Post reported. The Post reported on complaints from readers. "Goldschmidt dropped an interview in The Oregonian's lap so it would not be completely skunked on this huge story," Lars Larsen, a conservative talk show host on KXL-AM Portland, told the Post. "In exchange, the paper gave him the most favorable treatment I can imagine to a confessed rapist. People are calling in to complain that it was absolutely scurrilous of the paper to characterize this as an affair." The Daily Astorian chimed in May 20 with an editorial, "It's Bob Packwood all over again." The paper accused The Oregonian of "dishonesty" and for making a "fateful bargain with Goldschmidt in order to foster the illusion that they were breaking the story that he had committed statutory rape while mayor of Portland. In doing so, they printed his version wholesale, which shortened the period of sexual relations by two years." The Astorian wrote that the newspaper's failure in the Packwood and Goldschmidt stories "reveals a corporate culture whose comfort with lassitude may also be observed every day of the week as well as in major incidents." The Oregonian's inertia "leads inevitably to a culture of underachievement and a lack of intellectual rigor." The Astorian blames the paper's owners for a lack of a "sense of moral obligation" and "demand for excellence" that has lead to the "intellectual corruption" at The Oregonian. — Alan Pittman
EUGENE SUBSIDIZES NEW FEDERAL BUILDING While the federal government is blowing billions of dollars in Iraq and slashing taxes for the wealthy, the city of Eugene is spending millions on subsidizing a lavish new federal courthouse. The city spent $4.1 million buying the Chiquita cannery site for the courthouse and another $2.2 million buying and relocating the adjacent AutoCraft body shop for a total cost of $6.3 million. But the federal government paid the city only $3.9 million for the courthouse site. That leaves the city $2.4 million in the hole. The city hopes it can sell a couple acres of land the courthouse didn't want at the site for another $1.6 million. But even that optimistic scenario leaves the city about a million bucks in the hole. The city is adding to that federal reverse subsidy by spending another million on roads leading to the courthouse. That's a total subsidy of land and roads of at least $2 million. If the federal government refuses to pay for a new riverfront highway to serve the courthouse, the city of Eugene has agreed to pick up the $7 million tab. That would push the total city hand-out to the feds to about $10 million for the feds silvery new courthouse. With calls for more money for living wages for the poorest city workers, buying parkland to protect endangered natural areas, more police officers, a new indoor swimming pool, continuing library and school funding, a new city hall, etc., the city is always scratching for cash to meet community needs. But that hasn't stopped city officials from spending millions subsidizing the new courthouse, freeing up federal money for more war and wealthy tax breaks. — AP
FUNDRAISER SET FOR BIRTHING CHOICES Every month, the Oregon Midwifery Council (OMC) pays a lobbyist in Salem to help the organization fight for women's birthing choices. To continue that work, the Southern Willamette Valley branch of OMC will hold a fundraiser at 1 pm Sunday, June 6 at Secret House Vineyard in Veneta. The event will include music, organic food booths, wine tasting, activities for kids, and a silent auction including contributions from Sunshine Kesey, as well as lots of local art and glass work. OMC aims to safeguard the independent practice of midwifery through community education and political action; to increase the availability of midwifery care to more mothers and babies; to provide continuing education for midwives; and to protect the rights of parents to choose where and with whom to give birth. Direct entry midwife and OMC member Elise Hansen says, "Hospitalized childbirth has become so medicalized, you would think women could hardly give birth without machines. Fact is, planned homebirth, with adequate prenatal care, is as safe, if not safer, than hospitalized birth." By employing a lobbyist in Salem, Hansen says OMC can continue to "keep birth natural and to keep the doors open for women's birthing choices." — Bobbie Willis
HEMPFEST SETS DATES FOLLOWING COUNTRY FAIR This year's Emerald Empire HempFest is scheduled to happen over two days, July 17-18, the weekend following the Oregon Country Fair. Last year's event was held at Alton Baker Park, but this year the event is planned for the park under the Washington-Jefferson Street Bridge.
Organizer Dan Koozer says the one-day educational and entertainment event last year was "so successful; we decided to extend the event to two days. The Emerald Empire HempFest we have envisioned for this year promises to be a blast for all ages. We plan to have three stages, a food court, art booths, non-profit booths as well as great musical bands." Several guest speakers (to be announced) will give presentations throughout the day about "the hope Cannabis Hemp provides and the ways it is becoming legal." The event is free to the public, but will include a food drive for FOOD For Lane County. Prizes will be given for 2, 5 and 10 can donations. For information on performing and vending at the event, call 434-2377 or e-mail emeraldempirehempfest@hotmail.com
ALAN SIPORIN TALKS ON RACISM, HATE CRIMES Eugene author and former KLCC commentator Alan Siporin will read from his book Fire's Edge, speak about hate crimes and racism, and lead a discussion about actions people can take to help put an end to hate crimes and racism.
The discussion, to be held at 7 pm, Thursday June 3 at Barnes and Noble, is a benefit for Community Alliance of Lane County (CALC). CALC will receive 15 percent of purchases made at Barnes and Noble from June 3 through June 10. The event is being organized by Back to Back, a program of CALC that tracks hate crimes and works against racism, sexism, homophobia, and anti-Semitism. Siporin is an award-winning writer and former commentator and reporter for KLCC News and NPR. Fire's Edge is a novel that probes the dark underbelly of racist and homophobic hate in the Pacific Northwest, providing a terrifying peek into the troubled souls of angry young skinheads, the people they prey on, and the neo-Nazi leaders who prey on these alienated youth.
Commitment
& Compromise
"The Faith Center is committed to maintaining a good relationship to the neighborhood," said Faith Center (FC) Four Square Church Executive Pastor Jim Thomas to the city, at a pre-development conference April 6. But compromise does not appear likely as the church goes head-to-head with protesting neighbors. Faith Center's planned expansion includes removing 10 houses from 15th Avenue on the south side of FC property, in a neighborhood organized against the changes FC development would mean to their lives. The church plans on moving, rather than bulldozing, nine of 10 houses it has acquired over the years; only one would be razed. In a meeting with concerned neighbors on May 25, Four Square head Pastor Steve Overman agreed to look into alternative options for expansion. In a conversation with Eugene Weekly shortly after the meeting, Overman admitted, "About slowing down and looking into creative options; I'm going to check into that, but I believe we've got takers for every house. I think the soonest that any will be moved will by August, maybe July." Currently, houses on 15th Avenue look out at one another. Children bike back and forth. "Neighbors on both sides of the street keep an eye for each other," says one neighborhood organizer, Garth Cheff. Behind the houses on the north side of 15th Avenue, the Four Square campus includes numerous structures and more than 500 parking spaces. An extra 100 spaces used by FC are located across 13th Avenue, and additional parking will soon be available on a sharing basis with the new Caesar Chavez school being built nearby. Plans for removal of the 10 houses call for two-thirds of the entire cleared space, according to Overman, to be used for more parking lots. At the pre-development conference, the city told the church that "residential neighborhoods did not have parking lots," and therefore the conditional use permit (CUP) should "consider landscaping an important factor in meeting the CUP criterion for compatibility with the neighborhood." Furthermore, according to a land use analyst in the city Planning Department, the church, existing in a residential neighborhood, must show "the compatibility of its plan with the neighborhood." The church has a congregation of about 3,000, according to one Four Square employee. During the two Sunday services, she says, about 1,000 attend the first service at 9 am, and 2,000 attend the second service at 11:30 am. During the earlier Sunday, May 30 service, the parking lot was not full. Before the second service, however, cars were lining up. "We're as much of a part of the neighborhood as they are," says one young church-goer. "Have you seen our children's building? We need a new facility. You can't use the bottom floor because it floods. They wouldn't ask us if they wanted to develop their property. I think it's good we're even talking to them." But unhappy neighbors in the area say the church could repair its failing facility instead of taking out the houses, wait and expand in the direction of the Armory, or work with the new Caesar Chavez school in sharing their parking and their brand new gym. FC could also add more Sunday services or urge members to bicycle to church to avoid the need for more parking.
DIANE BENNER Soon after she and her family moved to their west Springfield neighborhood 12 years ago, Diane Benner took a job delivering the Register-Guard's weekly ad circular. "I knocked on doors and said, 'I'm your paper person,'" she says. "I like to know everybody. I'm a listener, too."
Years later, when elderly neighbors were threatened with eviction by the city after a fire damaged their home, Benner brought in a TV crew and the harrassment ended. When unruly kids roamed unsupervised at all hours, she went door-to-door to get adults to take responsibility. Raised near Harrisburg, Benner bussed to school at Cal Young and Sheldon. She has three grown children from an early marriage and three school-age kids living at home, along with her husband of 25 years, Jay Benner, and an adopted grandson. She works as a custodian at Bethel's Home Source School. Early this year, Benner called police to report odors coming from a nearby house in her neighborhood. "Diane busted a meth house," says Head Start family advocate Chava Kronen. "She put herself at risk to make her street safer." -BY PAUL NEEVEL
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