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Slant: Short opinion pieces and rumor-chasing notes News: Commentary: News: Hapening People: Christina Salter and Chris Peck AMAZON APPRECIATION DAY SATURDAY Eugene's Stream Team is pulling together its annual Amazon Appreciation Day Saturday, Oct. 23, and this year's event falls right in the middle of a time when a lot of folks who normally participate are caught up in last-minute election activities.
"We're urging people to take a break from politics and come out and play in the stream," says Lorna Baldwin, Stream Team environmental volunteer coordinator. "This is a fun family affair. Now that the event has been relocated to the fall, we can not only clean up the creek but create healthier habitat by planting native plants." Baldwin says three sites will be set up for volunteers to gather this year: Amazon Park, Chavez School and the stretch of Amazon Creek between Oak Patch and Acorn Park that was widened two years ago. Bird walks begin at 7:30 am, work parties run from 9 to noon, followed by a gathering at the Hilyard Center for lunch and door prizes. The Stream Team will provide tools, gloves and instruction. Eugene Weekly will have a booth and offer refreshments. The work parties will be cleaning debris from the creek, removing invasive species, and planting native vegetation along the creek and on the Chavez School grounds. Students and parents from schools near Amazon Creek are expected to show up, along with volunteers from neighborhood groups, local restoration groups, government agencies and non-profit organizations involved in environmental work. More than 21 square miles of land within Eugene city limits drain into Amazon Creek as it flows northwest from the Spencer Butte area to Fern Ridge Reservoir and the Long Tom River. One of the leading sources of volunteers for Amazon restoration through the Stream Team is the Rachel Carson program at Churchill High School. For the past six years, about 30 students in the program have been doing water quality monitoring and hands-on restoration work year-round. Students from the Village School have planted willows along the creek banks and collected camas seeds to cultivate for replanting. Students from Eastside School planted a butterfly garden near the footbridge at 34th Avenue and will be weeding the garden and doing more plantings on Amazon Appreciation Day. Numerous local neighborhood groups and businesses have adopted sections of the creek over the years, says Baldwin. The Eugene Metro Rotary and the Miracle on 33rd neighborhood group are currently among those involved in the creek adoption program. More information on the Stream Team can be found at www.ci.eugene.or.us— TJT
JOURNALIST EYES TAX INJUSTICE David Cay Johnston, New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner, will share his insights into the gross injustices of the American tax system in a lecture at 2 pm Saturday, Oct 23, at the Knight Law Center, UO. The lecture is free to the public, and light refreshments will be provided by the Wayne Morse Chair for Law and Politics. The New York Times hired Johnston in 1995 to conduct running investigations of how this country's tax system actually operates, as opposed to what politicians say about it. His work has shut down tax dodges and loopholes valued by Congress at $258 billion. In 2001 he won the Pulitzer Prize and he has been a finalist for that award three other times since 2000, a record unmatched by any other journalist. Johnston's recent book, Perfectly Legal, exposes the ways the American tax system has been rigged to benefit the super-rich. Johnston broke the story that corporations were using Bermuda mailboxes to escape corporate income taxes. He wrote the stories that caused General Electric CEO Jack Welch to give up his retirement perks. He exposed the huge untaxed fortunes that CEOs have built up — and how the way those fortunes are created forces companies to cut health insurance and pension benefits for employees. His expose of President Bush's $252 billion tax cut for the super-rich stopped it from becoming law. "We know that Oregon's state tax system has many of the same hidden loopholes that Johnston was able to find in the federal system," said Lucy Lahr, a state caseworker and co-chair of the Eugene-Springfield Solidarity Network. "Is it really a priority for our state to offer tax breaks for yacht owners, when our schools are forced to cut days off the academic year because of lack of funds? The unfairness in the tax system that Johnston demonstrates so clearly is the cause for the cuts in public services that we are all facing."
JOHN EDWARDS ENERGIZES UO An estimated 5,000 people attended a rally featuring vice presidential candidate John Edwards at the UO on Oct. 13. The event followed recent visits from other high-profile politicians such as Dick Cheney, Howard Dean, Teresa Heinz Kerry and Ralph Nader, all courting Oregon voters for the Nov. 2 election.
"There has been a constant stream of exciting and inspiring speakers that students have been able to meet," says Gabriel Zitrin, a member of the UO College Democrats. Ben Lenet, a volunteer recruiter for Carry Oregon, hoped that Edwards' visit would inspire more young people to participate in politics. "Voting is great, but I'm hoping that this will motivate people to volunteer and become involved in the democratic process," he said. Edwards' speech was consistent with his rhetoric throughout the campaign. He said that George W. Bush is "out of touch" with the war in Iraq, the economy and the environment. He mocked Bush's allegiance to drug and insurance companies, asserting that Kerry would make health care more affordable to middle-class Americans. Edwards asserted that a Kerry administration would aggressively protect Americans but also "end this politics of fear" characterized by the Bush administration. He promoted Kerry's plan to reduce dependency on foreign oil and develop alternative energy sources. Addressing the mostly college-aged crowd, Edwards said that Kerry would offer college students free tuition to state schools in exchange for two years of community service. "The great thing about this democracy is you," Edwards told the crowd. "Your country needs you." After the speech, Edwards shook hands with his supporters, the sun glinting brightly off his glossy cap of hair. When One 2 Many's "Man on the Run" came through the speakers, Edwards pumped his fist in the air. The crowd cheered. "He reminds me of JFK," said Eugene activist Perry Patterson. "He speaks so directly, with so much courage and integrity." "Both Kerry and Edwards are too intelligent for Bush to even understand," said English professor Ed Coleman, who volunteers for the Carry Oregon campaign. UO student Kathryn Lowrey had a more basic reason for
supporting Edwards. "He's sexy," she said with a Not everybody in attendance, however, was a big Edwards fan. "He's a politician who's going to tell most people what they want to hear, but whether he comes through on those promises only time will tell," said UO student Sha Shebert. Still, Shebert plans to vote for Kerry. "I'd vote for a pet rock over Bush," he said. — Kera Abraham
MADISON GROUP GAINING GROUND Organizers of the Save Madison Meadow campaign report this week that the neighborhood open space is "well on its way to being saved," thanks to an anonymous donor who promised a matching contribution of up to $100,000, and a "tremendously successful" benefit concert and silent auction at Cozmic Pizza Oct. 2 that raised more than $5,000. The group is still actively seeking donations, which are tax-deductible, as they approach the Dec. 31 deadline to exercise their option to purchase the land and "keep it open and natural forever." For more information call 683-3430 or visit www.madisonmeadow.org
PROTESTERS TELL OF BUSH RALLY Two activists/musicians from Eugene, Carol Melia and Peter Chabarek, traveled to Medford Oct. 14 to attend the rally for George W. Bush at the Jackson County Fairgrounds, and joined protesters later in Jacksonville where Bush was staying the night. The two had been removed from the Dick Cheney rally in Eugene a month earlier, and again wore a layer of clothing with anti-war statements written in large letters underneath street clothes.
"We were planning on revealing them during Mr. Bush's speech," says Chabarek. "I was hoping our action would be filmed by the media to increase the effect of our action. We were not planning to shout, 'Stop the war!' to Mr. Bush at this event, as we had done at the Cheney event; we were only planning to reveal the anti-war message to the cameras and those in the crowd who could see us." But security personnel at the event were checking people who appeared to be wearing two layers of clothing, and asking them to remove the outer layer to check for "unacceptable messages." Chabarek unbuttoned his shirt, displaying the message, "9/11 Families Against the War." A security supervisor looked at the shirt and said, "No! No way are you coming in. … Leave! Now! Or we'll have you arrested for trespassing. This is a private event and we decide who gets in." Melia's message was "Stop Killing People." "Security had to walk us out along the line of people queued up behind us," says Chabarek, "2,000 to 3,000 enthusiastic Bush supporters I would guess, and all of them were able to easily read what was written on our clothes." Later the two went to nearby Jacksonville and joined the protesters who moved downtown to gather on the sidewalks on both sides of the street. "People were waiting for the presidential motorcade to return from Jackson County Fairgrounds after it got dark, when the police dressed in riot gear appeared," says Chabarek. "They lined themselves across the street, including the sidewalks, and started making announcements over a public address system. It was impossible to hear what they were saying clearly and people in the crowd were confused. They started advancing slowly on the crowd, stopping every three or four paces and repeating the announcements…. At some point, probably about 5 to 7 minutes after they first appeared, the police opened fire with pepper ball guns. The crowd was terrified by the sound of the blasts, which came in rapid succession, a total of perhaps 15-20 rounds fired. The first three rounds hit an elderly man who was standing about 10 feet from the police with his back turned toward them. The force of the impact knocked him down, and as he struggled to get up, a young man in the crowd jumped in between the man and the police, with his back turned to the police, trying to shield the fallen man. The younger man was then hit at very close range (six feet or less I would estimate) with most or all of the other dozen or so rounds of pepper balls; he reported numerous bruises from the attack. "Carol and I were close to the action and witnessed what happened, and we both inhaled a good dose of the pepper spray. An elderly woman was standing next to Carol and also inhaled a big dose. People were choking and wheezing from the gas. "The crowd was angrily expressing their outrage. Carol and I were carrying our portable amplifier, so we turned it on quite loud and started chanting 'This is what democracy looks like.' This seemed to have the effect of focusing the crowd and giving the police pause at what they were doing." A second group of riot police moved in to encircle a group of about 25 protesters in one area against a wall, and also penned in a second group across the street from the first group. No one was arrested, but the police did not allow anyone in the groups to leave. Chabarek and Melia avoided the round-ups and were interviewed at the scene by a crew from NBC News, including reporter Shane Bishop. "Off camera, he later told us that the Sheriff's Department had recently acquired new 'toys' as he put it, probably from federal Homeland Security funds, and he thought it was outrageous, and he said 'That's what this is really all about — they have to try out their new toys.'" — TJT
CORRECTIONS/CLARIFICATIONS Last week in our profile of Corvallis herbalist Harold Keith, we edited out the website of his family business, Zenith Advanced Health Systems, since the site (www.zenith4theplanet.com) was not running, and continues to have technical problems. Zenith can be contacted by e-mail at zenith4@peak.org
A "Voter's Guide for the State of Oregon" appeared in millions of mailboxes this week. The "guide" looks official. It's stark printing, font and formatting closely resembles the state's official Voters' Pamphlet. But it's not. It's from the coalition of doctors, hospitals and insurance companies spending millions of dollars to push Measure 35 — a constitutional amendment to allow negligent or reckless doctors and hospitals to inflict pain and suffering and not have to pay more than $500,000 in non-economic damages. Unlike the official state Voters' Pamphlet, the look-alike contained only arguments in support of Measure 35 and the claim that personal injury attorneys were "the only opposition" to the initiative. But Measure 35 isn't just about doctors and lawyers clawing at each other for cash. It's health care consumers that are under the knife and have the most at stake. The biggest health care consumer groups are opposed to Measure 35. The American Association of Retired Persons, with half a million Oregon members, and the Grey Panthers are among the many senior citizen groups opposed to Measure 35. The AFL-CIO and other unions for firefighters, teachers and government workers say the measure will also hurt their hundreds of thousands of members. Oregon's major newspapers, including The Oregonian and The Register-Guard, have also editorialized against the measure as bad for health care consumers. The state and nation's largest public interest health advocacy groups oppose Measure 35, including Common Cause, the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG) and Public Citizen. Public Citizen, a 150,000 member consumer advocacy non-profit, has researched the issue of capping doctor liability extensively. There are too few malpractice lawsuits, not too many, according to the consumer group's reports. Preventable medical errors kill between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans a year, costing society from $17 billion to $29 billion annually, according to a Institute of Medicine Study. In Oregon, that amounts to an estimated cost to society of $207 million to $353 million for the 535 to 1,191 people killed each year by preventable medical errors. Although hundreds die and countless others are maimed or in pain, doctors face few serious repercussions. In Oregon, only 44 doctors had their medical licenses revoked, suspended or restricted in 2002. Studies by Harvard University, Utah, Colorado and Florida researchers have found that only one in six to one in eight medical errors results in a malpractice claim. The medical profession could keep the malpractice claims away by tossing out a few bad apples, but enforcement is secretive and lax. Five percent of the doctors in the U.S. are responsible for 54 percent of malpractice payouts, Public Citizen found. But state medical boards have disciplined only 8 percent of these few, worst doctors. One doctor paid more than $10 million for injuring 13 different people in Nevada and California in 10 years but was never disciplined. The dangerous doctor's name is kept secret in a National Practitioner Data Bank. In Oregon, the state will provide information on how many people have complained about a car dealer you're thinking of buying a used ride from, but not about a doctor you're thinking about paying to cut you open and handle your vital organs. By law, the 11-member Oregon Board of Medical Examiners is in charge of handling complaints against doctors but includes only two members representing health consumers. The medical profession is so poorly regulated that doctors with patients' lives in their hands are allowed to work up to 36 hours without sleeping. Mistakes happen. During 2001 in Florida hospitals, doctors committed 54 surgeries on wrong parts of the body, 16 wrong procedures and nine operations performed on wrong patients. Doctors and hospitals argue that Oregon needs Measure 35 because high malpractice insurance premiums are driving away doctors, especially in rural areas. But a study by Public Citizen and OSPIRG of state data found this year that there are actually more doctors moving to Oregon. The number of active doctors in Oregon rose 12 percent in the last four years, the consumer groups reported. Increases were even higher in higher risk specialties like obstetrics and in rural areas, according to the report. To help rural areas attract doctors, the Oregon Legislature last year set up a $40 million program that will cut rural doctors' malpractice premiums by up to 80 percent. In any case, doctors don't decide where to live based on state liability laws. "Like anyone else, doctors want to live in places where they can earn high incomes, enjoy cultural and leisure activities, and send their children to good schools," OSPIRG and Public Citizen reported. The two consumer groups also pointed out that limiting non-economic damages will hurt the poor and women, children, minorities and seniors the most. These people can't show big paychecks to demonstrate the lost income required by substantial economic awards. On the other hand, doctors do have fat paychecks—averaging $175,000 a year. But Public Citizen reported medical malpractice insurance costs amount to only 3.2 percent of the average physician's revenues. That's not enough to cause much pain and suffering.
Ralph
Alone Ralph Nader is late. So was Teresa Heinz Kerry when she came to the McDonald Theater on Oct. 7, but for her it was fashionable. While Heinz Kerry's plane taxied in Eugene, nubile college women sang a Joni Mitchell song a capella to a packed audience. Star-spangled Kerry banners and Kerry-Edwards T-shirts colored the theater. Media people scribbled and flashed. The air was optimistic. But with Nader, it's different. It's a chilly Sunday evening, Oct. 10, and Nader, too, is coming to Eugene's McDonald Theater. About 400 people sit on folding chairs, waiting. Press photographers yawn in the aisles. A couple of hand-scrawled signs are taped to the stage: "Kerry for War Lord." "Democrats Betray Public Trust." Travis Diskin, Nader's frazzled Oregon campaign coordinator, says that Nader is "just past Salem" in his volunteer Greg Kafoury's car. To fill time, Diskin rants about John Kerry's support of big entrees on Bush's neoconservative menu: NAFTA, Plan Colombia, the Iraq War, right-wing Supreme Court judges. Nader alone, says Diskin, stands up for true liberal values. "Ralph is in this for life," he says. "He hardly has a life. He reads these law briefs. He doesn't have a wife. He doesn't even have a girlfriend." Diskin's voice heaves with admiration. Instead of enjoying the fruits of his retirement, 70-year-old Nader is still on the crusade. He's founded 40 organizations and he's launching more. He's running for president for the fourth time. He keeps on the Democrats like a fly on shit. Finally, at 9 pm, Nader's crew arrives. Kafoury takes the podium and says that the man everyone's been waiting for will be right up. "Ralph's suit is being pressed," says Kafoury, "with him still in it."
Nader's decision to run for president in 2004 has made adversaries of many of his former allies. Michael Moore, who stumped for Nader in 2000, went down on his knees with Bill Maher to beg him not to run for president this year. And a new organization called Repentant Nader Voters calls for people who voted for Nader in 2000 to go for Kerry this time. In open letter to Nader published as an L.A. Times op-ed on Jul. 6, Repentant Nader Voter founder Jason Salzman wrote, "as time has passed, it is clear to us — as people who voted for you — that your campaign was a mistake and it's time to switch from being 'unrepentant' Nader voters to being 'repentant' ones. Why? Tweedle Dee is still Tweedle Dee, but Tweedle Dum has turned into a global tyrant. In other words, you were right about Tweedle Dee but wrong about Tweedle Dum." Although his support today is only a shadow of what it was in the 2000 presidential race, Nader clings to the outskirts of the limelight. He regularly appears on television and radio talk shows. His campaign tour has taken him through all 50 states. No matter how many people criticize him, plead with him, heckle him and laugh at him, Nader refuses to bow out.
He stands alone at the podium behind a solitary sign: "Nader/Camejo 2004. VoteNader.org." The lights are dim and the stage is bare. His suit is nicely pressed. Nader seems to be in good health, sharp and logical, but irate. Much of his anger is directed at Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, who kept him off the state ballot on a technicality. Nader calls Bradbury a "political crook" and demands his immediate resignation. He then directs his wrath against John Kerry and the liberal Democrats who support him. "Who's pulling Kerry-Edwards in the progressive direction?" he asks. "Just Nader-Camejo. It's not the liberals. The liberals have basically proceeded on the following mantra for Nov. 2: 'Anybody but Bush. Leave Kerry alone. Make no demands on him.' That means Kerry can take for granted the entire liberal wing of the Democratic party and move to the right." Nader lists the many ways in which Kerry's platform mirrors Bush's. Both want a bigger military budget; both support the Iraq War. "John Kerry, in the first debate, out-hawked George W. Bush!" Nader seethes. "He should be landsliding this giant corporation masquerading as a human being in the White House. He should be landsliding the messianic militarists who think that the invasion of Iraq was fulfilling the Providence's will. Instead, he's in a tight race." Issues off the table in the race between Kerry and Bush, says Nader, include the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the drug war and corporate crime. "There is no end to the cowardliness of these two parties," he says. "It's like they're in a race to the bottom, and they're dragging our country down with them, and the Republicans are a little bit closer to Hades, and the Democrats are just behind them saying to the liberals, 'Come on! Come on! You got no choice! We haven't reached the Republican party yet!'" Nader's voice is clowny, dripping with sarcasm and frustration. He segues from criticizing Kerry to blasting environmental groups, the AFL-CIO and Howard Dean. He says that America is under complete commercial control. "It's now a corporate government," says Nader grimly. "It is now a government of the Exxons by the General Motors for the DuPonts. And that alone. The surrender of our elections to big corporate money, the surrender of our politicians and government institutions to corporate power, that alone provides the rationale for resistance against both parties. Or shall we call them one corporate party with two heads wearing different makeup." Nader is personally offended. "Our government is fooling us under their corporate control, and the corporations are laughing at us!" he says. "Most people want health care for all. Who says no? The HMOs, the drug companies and the health insurance companies. And who do the politicians obey? They obey the corporations'." Nader lowers his chin and levels with the audience. "Don't let yourself be trivialized," he says. "It's very easy to be trivialized. It's very easy to be trivialized. It's very easy to be trivialized." A sympathetic laugh ripples through the crowd. "It's very easy to be trivialized," Nader says again. The crowd falls silent. "It's very easy to be trivialized," he says a fifth time. It's either a joke or a nervous breakdown.
After Nader's speech, Kafoury returns to the stage to pump the crowd for money. "There is nothing in the world that is more fulfilling than giving Ralph Nader more than you can afford," says Kafoury, whose law firm donated $31,000 — the biggest contribution to the Nader-Camejo campaign. "Who can give $1,000?" Meanwhile, Diskin paces backstage. He tells me that his work for Nader has become a part of his spiritual journey. "I eat breakfast with him sometimes, and I see him mechanically shoving in energy," says Diskin, pantomiming Nader wolfing down food. "I get the idea that he's a vessel channeling a higher spirit. It takes a toll on the vessel, but he's sacrificed his life to fight for what he believes in. That's what we call a patriot." It's nearly midnight by the time Nader wraps up the question-and-answer session. He plans to drive back to Portland, sleep, and then get to UC Berkeley in the morning — but he still makes time for an interview. He tells me that he's running not to win, but to "affect the content and the tone of the conversation between the candidates" and to "encourage and give heart" to progressive voters. Despite records showing that he's received several tens of thousands of dollars from Republican donors, Nader insists that none of his $3.5-million campaign funding comes from Republicans. I ask him why the Green Party broke with him. "To be charitable, they have low expectation levels," he replies. "They don't represent the underdogs." I ask him why former allies like Michael Moore and Howard Dean have come out against his 2004 presidential campaign. "They don't understand that the corporations are already in," he says. An aide signals that time is up. Nader nods and stands to leave. It's late. He's got work to do.
In all his idealism and sincerity, Nader strikes a refreshing contrast to Bush and Kerry. But he is no longer the powerful third-party crusader he was in the 2000 presidential race. Now, Nader seems frustrated and diminished — an alienated progressive victim complaining to other alienated progressive victims. Just days before, Teresa Heinz Kerry stood onstage in Eugene and offered answers in her charming South African accent. She promised that under her husband's presidency, children will learn the arts in well-funded public schools. A reformed health care system will lower premiums, and Oregon's depressed economy will recover. The government will support the development of alternative energy sources, recognizing the vital connection between a clean planet and human health. The scheme to pay for it all while halving the debt, said Heinz Kerry, is outlined in Our Plan for America, available free through the Kerry-Edwards website. Heinz Kerry is so confident, her husband so presidential, that I want to believe her. But something makes me wonder if the state of the nation is really hopeful or easy to fix, or if Kerry is corrupt like the rest. And I really do believe what Ralph Nader says about America. I believe it deeply, in that shuddering doomful part of me that only sees absolutes: the blackness of reality, the bright light of idealism. I believe Ralph, because he's still courageous and alone after all these years – unrelenting, unrepentant, making so much dismal sense. Insisting that "surrender is not an option." And it reminds me of George W. Bush. Nader is the uncompromising, bullheaded believer of the left, even if the left thinks he's right. And although Heinz Kerry's smile is just a bit forced when she promises that her husband will bring health care and free education and fabulous hair to all Americans, one thing she says rings sincere: "Enjoy complexity. It is a treat. We need a president who enjoys complexity and embraces it."
Moore
on Nader Documentary filmmaker and progressive icon Michael Moore, who supported Ralph Nader's bid for the presidency in 2000, is now one of Nader's most vocal antagonists. During Moore's Oct. 18 visit to Eugene — the 31st stop on his "Slackers Uprising" tour — a group of hecklers interrupted his speech to demand that he debate Nader. "Let's talk about Ralph for a second. He's not on the ballot in Oregon," said Moore, eliciting cheers from the sold-out crowd of 4,000.
"When the primaries were starting, there were nine Democrats running, and I said, 'Look, Ralph, look at the nine who are running. Eight of them — not counting Lieberman — are more to the left of Al Gore in 2000. That's incredible.'" The Nader supporters heckled louder. "Nya nya nya nya nya!" mimicked Moore. The crowd hooted with laughter. "I said to Ralph, 'You know Ralph, one of the traits of a great leader is the ability to listen'," Moore continued. "'Ralph, you're not listening to the people this year! You're not listening to your own party! The people don't want you to run!'" The audience cheered in agreement. "I say this as a friend of Ralph's. I say this as someone who's voted for Nader twice!" shouted Moore. "I know the feeling, my friends! You go to the voting booth, and you pull the little curtain, and there you are, all alone with Ralph." His voice became a sarcastic sexual croon. "Ralph! Ohhhh, Ralph. Oh, you're so pure. You're so good, you're so pure! Oh, you're so pure!" Then, more seriously, Moore continued: "Ralph is right! Ralph is right on all the issues! And your point is —?" He turned from the hecklers to the rest of the crowd. "For those of you who share the political end of the spectrum that I'm on, of course the eight Democrats are not everything we want them to be. But we're not being asked to compromise in the way we were being asked to compromise in 2000," he said. "You know what? As soon as President Kerry is inaugurated on Jan. 20th, on Jan. 21st, everyone in this room is gonna be on his ass to make sure he's doing what's right for this country! Aren't we? Aren't we?" he asked pointedly. Moore's comments reflected what he told the press before taking the stage. "We need to have coalition politics with our Democratic brothers and sisters if we're to push this country in a progressive way. We can't be constantly just flipping the bird at them," he said. "And to Ralph, I just say, 'There's anger management classes for this. You don't need to work it out on the American people. This is not the time or the place to do it.' "And on a personal note, it's very sad for me, as a friend of his, to see him take a match to his great legacy. If Bush gets another four years, the name Ralph Nader will just go down in history."
CHRISTINA SALTER & CHRIS PECK
"Pies for Social Change … Step Up to the Plate!" Thus read the headline on the flier that Christina Salter and Chris Peck brought to their respective workplaces early last month. It continued, "We're baking back America one pie at a time. For a $25 (or more) donation to Moveon.org, the DNC, or United for Peace and Justice, we will deliver a homemade, freshly baked pie to your home or office." A native New Yorker, Salter moved west in 1985 to study counseling at the UO. She met Peck in '88 when both worked at Harry's Mother, a youth shelter in his hometown of Portland. Since '92, the couple has lived in Eugene, where she is now a counselor at LCC, and he works with youth and families through Lane County's Developmental Disabilities Services. They brainstormed their pie project in response to a "fun-raising" challenge from Moveon.org. "Christina's pie crust is great," says Peck, who peeled and cut apples and peaches. "I rolled the dough out!" adds 3-year-old Caleb. Over three weeks, the family baked 15 pies. "It was a nice opportunity to connect with people," Peck reports. "We raised more than we could have come up with personally."
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