 |
  |
 |
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||
|
Slant: Short opinion pieces and rumor-chasing notes News: News: Shades of Green: Happening Person: Nathan Greene BRINGING THE WAR HOME Friday, March 18, marked the second anniversary of the start of the Iraq War and 32 people lined up outside the Army, Navy, Marine and Air Force recruitment offices in the Santa Clara Shopping Center holding graphic images of the war's human casualties. While approximately 40 supporters and media listened, the protesters spoke in turn, giving their reasons for opposing the war and citing lies and omissions by recruiting officers when trying to persuade young people to join the military.
"We have full faith in the essential goodness and the conscience of the American people, and if these images were shown in America's living rooms every night, the war would be over in a week," protest spokesman Peter Chabarek said. "Democracy depends on media that will inform rather than obscure. Our media in recent years has done a shameful job in that respect," protester John Bergland said. "People would not vote the same if they knew the truth." "I'm sickened and saddened that our country supports children killing children, and that's what's happening," protester Leslie Hunter said. "Americans are being lied to." An elderly gentleman passing by briefly heckled the protesters. "[American troops] died to give you suckers the freedom to come out here and do this," he said. "Bring 'em on!" The activists responded with a hearty "Thank you," emphasizing their support for the troops. In response to the protesters' presence, recruitment center staff shut down the offices for the day. Chabarek said that because law enforcement did not interfere, the activists established a precedent of their right to demonstrate on private property. The protesters were primarily members of the Civil Resistance study group, which meets weekly to discuss nonviolent opposition to the war. Faith in Action co-sponsored the event. The action received coverage on all three major TV networks in Eugene, several radio outlets and The Register-Guard. The Civil Resistance study group meets at 8 pm Monday nights at the Friends Meeting House, 2274 Onyx St. — Kera Abraham
STANDING FOR PEACE An estimated 400 people from three dozen Oregon towns gathered for the Memorial Peace Procession in Cottage Grove last weekend. The event was part of the Global Day of Action that included at least 726 communities in the U.S. alone, according to www.unitedforpeace.org Prayer flags were carried in the procession with the names of 1,854 U.S. and coalition soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and approximately 600 Iraqi children killed in the Iraq War. The program included a laying of a wreath at the Oregon National Guard Armory by a contingent of veterans, lead by Michelle and Steve DeFord, the parents of David W. Johnson who was killed in Iraq in September 2004. So far, 27 Oregon soldiers have died in Iraq. The DeFords spoke of their son's sacrifice and their loss, and "how they decided to work to give his death meaning by dedicating their lives to bringing an end to this immoral and unjust war," says Scott Burgwin of Stand for Peace. "The DeFords offered us a powerful example of commitment to peace and a challenge to each of us to do what we can and, even more, what we have to, to bring an end to this war." Stand for Peace plans to continue to hold weekly vigils from 5 to 6 pm Fridays and from 6 to 7 pm Sundays at Opal's Park in Cottage Grove. For more information, call 767-0770. FRESH AIR ON ENERGY In 2003, when West Cascade Energy LLC filed an application to construct a 900-MW gas-fired power plant in Coburg, a coalition of citizens and nonprofits organized to fight it. Concerned about pollution and questioning the need for the facility, they called on their county commissioners to reject the application, only to find that local officials' hands were tied: Authority over the plant siting decision fell to the five-member, governor-appointed Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC). A similar fight is playing out in Klamath Falls, where COB LLC has received a site certificate for an 1,160-MW gas-fired power plant — huge by industry standards — and Klamath Generation LLC has a pending application for a 500-MW gas-fired plant. Hundreds of community members oppose both plants, but again, elected county officials can do nothing; EFSC makes the decisions. Now, a state bill aims to give citizens and elected officials more decision-making power about energy facility siting. The "Oregon Fair Energy Bill" makes provisions for public input into decisions about power plants that don't meet local land use rules. In those cases, local jurisdictions would hold public hearings and share equal decision-making authority with EFSC. The bill also requires energy facility approvals to incorporate energy forecasts that consider regional electricity needs, cost effectiveness and conservation. The "need" requirement for new power plants was a part of Oregon law until the energy crisis of the 1990s, when it was eliminated, opening the door for plants in Oregon to produce surplus energy for out-of-state consumers. Currently, Oregon has an energy surplus, and demand is projected to hold steady with supply through 2011. The Fair Energy Bill would also prioritize wind, solar and co-generation projects over fossil-fuel facilities, a move that could encourage windmills on farms in Eastern Oregon. Lisa Arkin of the Oregon Toxics Alliance in Eugene says she was inspired to draft the bill when she heard directly from frustrated citizens living near proposed power plant sites. "They had angst about what seemed to be a rubber-stamp process," she says. "When we build power plants that we don't need, we're putting excessive pollution into the airshed. Let's get our laws aligned with our goals." Lane County Commissioner Pete Sorenson says that the bill's biggest strength is its bi-partisan support. The bill's co-sponsors in the Senate are Bill Morrisette (D–Rural Lane and Linn) and Doug Whitsett (R–Klamath Falls). The companion bill in the House is co-sponsored by Reps. Bill Garrard (R–Klamath Falls) and Phil Barnhart (D-Central Lane and Linn). "The reason we have a representative republic is that those elected should be the decision-makers," Whitsett says. "I do not oppose building industry and creating jobs for Oregon, but this particular plant [the COB facility in Klamath Falls] is in the wrong place, and it has been stuffed down the throat of the local community." The bill (SB 527) will have its first public hearing on March 28. Arkin encourages citizens to contact their state representatives to encourage their support. — Kera Abraham
IRISH DEBATE The UO Debate Team plans to hold an exhibition debate jointly with the Irish National Champion Debate Team at 7 pm Monday, March 28 at Lillis 182 on campus. Topic of the debate is U.S. foreign policy regarding pre-emptive military action, according to professor Frank Stahl. "We hope to have a good turnout," says Stahl in a note to his colleagues, noting that it's a rare opportunity to have an international debate on campus. The resolution for the debate is "Pre-emption is justified."
CORRECTIONS/CLARIFICATIONS In a music story last week, the name of Ferron's 1994 album should have been called Driver. Our story last week on Eugene Cannabis TV listed dates
and times, some of which have changed. The new schedule on cable Channel
29 is 8:30 pm Wednesdays and Thursdays, and 11:30 pm Mondays and Tuesdays.
Times and dates are subject to change. The schedule is online at
Stand
Up Bill Maher, former host of "Politically Incorrect" and the current host of "Real Time with Bill Maher," is one of America's last standing progressive TV pundits. He'll be in Eugene on March 25 for his standup performance at the Hult Center. He spoke with EW by phone from Los Angeles.
You had been critical of the Iraq War until you recently said, "I've been supportive of President Bush now that I think Iraq is turning around." Can the U.S. impose democracy through occupation? I think it's a bigger issue than just Iraq. No one is hurt more deep inside by saying something nice about George Bush than me. I don't like the guy; I never did. I've gone out of my way to point out that he is also leaving behind as a legacy several huge bombs that are going to explode in everybody's face, perhaps literally, because one of them is crappy homeland security. Another one is a crummy record on the environment, and of course the ridiculous, staggering debt. But come on. His idea to get democracy started was to start a brushfire and see if it spreads. It looks like the Arab world was more ready for democracy than the rest of us thought, and if that's the case, then you gotta be a big enough person to admit it.
You had Ward Churchill on your show a few weeks ago. Here in Eugene, organizers of the upcoming "Homeland InSecurity" conference canceled his scheduled presentation due to the controversy. Where do you draw the line between encouraging free speech and giving wackos a forum? Well, I don't think he's a wacko. If you read the article, it's radical and it's intensely critical of the U.S., but it's not crazy. The one thing that I think was wrong was his comment about people who worked at the World Trade Center being "little Eichmanns." To compare someone who purposely instigated and carried out genocide to people who are guilty, at most, of a sort of passive-aggressive violence on the rest of the world is a whole different ball of wax. But I think he does deserve to be heard, and I think it's awful that people cancel speeches when they just don't like the content.
You are a self-professed heathen. Do you think that organized religion, by nature, leads to twisted dogma? [Chuckles.] To say the least. I'm not a fan of religion, that's true. Once people feel like there is one book that has all the answers, they don't need to keep thinking. I also think it justifies crazy people. Flying planes into buildings was a faith-based initiative. And perhaps even more dangerous, it skews the answers that we might come up with for troubling questions.
EW reader Carrie Donovan asks: If current trends in the opinions of American high school students continue, what do you think the country will be like in 40 years when they become the ruling generation? I think she's referring to an editorial we did on the show about a report telling us that the First Amendment was in a great deal of jeopardy as far as high school kids go. Kids, in astounding numbers, thought that free speech was not very important and that the government should have say over what gets published in newspapers. That says to me that nobody has ever taught these kids basic civics, and that's a real danger. I hope before they become the ruling class, someone straightens them out.
You recently said that you oppose vaccinations, and that what's really making us sick is the modern food industry: pesticides, hormones, and pasteurization. What would happen if we eliminated those practices? We'd be a lot healthier if we greatly reduced the toxicity in foods. Look, I'm not a doctor and I'm not a scientist; I don't even play one on TV. [Laughs.] But I know that if you just start reading about this stuff, it becomes painfully evident that the essential health factor in our lives is how much you keep out the poison that's everywhere, and mostly it's in the food. I'm talking about an aggregate toxicity.
That toxicity is a by-product of capitalism, which is held dear to both the Democrats and the Republicans. If we're going to try to make this country a healthier place, do we need institutional reform or all-out revolution? That's a good question for Ralph Nader. He would say all-out revolution, because obviously institutional reform isn't getting us very far. This is why many people like myself were disappointed in yet another election where the candidate who was supposed stand up for our side of things didn't really do it. John Kerry never made an issue of the environment, never even brought it up. Am I supposed to be so sad that this guy lost the election?
Do you think it'll be Hil versus Condi for president in 2008? No! Definitely not Condi, and I don't know if it's going to be Hillary Clinton. I like her a lot, but she's the worst of both worlds for the Democrats. I think she's gonna disappoint the people on the left because she's really more of a centrist, like her husband was, and the people on the right will never vote for her. You could put a gun to their heads, and they'd still see her as a radical feminist married to an adulterer.
Board
Blinks on Choice The Eugene School Board dodged the thorny question of whether to close, move or merge alternative schools as part of the superintendent's proposed school choice reforms in a muddled March 9 meeting. Superintendent George Russell had earlier issued a report finding that alternative schools had creamed off wealthy and white kids and left neighborhood schools struggling to teach "poorer and browner" children. Russell recommended that the board consider the feasibility of in three years doing away with co-located alternative and neighborhood schools, merging the administration of remaining co-located schools, co-locating alternative schools together, and relocating some alternative schools out of the south region where they are concentrated. Russell's recommendations on closing, merging or moving alternative schools met with fierce opposition from wealthy and/or higher educated alternative school parents. Hundreds flooded a hearing last month to speak for four hours against any changes that would affect their schools. But school principals, the teachers union, the Eugene Human Rights Commission and editorials in both local newspapers supported Russell's recommendations. On March 9, the school board voted unanimously to amend the recommendation to add the word "consider" in front of each proposal, so each was left undecided. The motion passed was to consider considering the feasibility of the changes. That's about the same place the board was before the three-hour meeting. The vote left Russell confused and without clear direction. "Could somebody just tell me what you did?" he asked. A motion to adopt Russell's recommendation to encourage alternative schools to voluntarily discuss mergers with neighborhood schools was only supported by one board member, Virginia Thompson. The board also rejected Russell's central recommendation of reviewing alternative schools for possible program modification or discontinuation if they fail to meet diversity goals, have insufficient enrollment, or lack a distinctive curriculum. The board voted unanimously to review alternative schools, but left details up in the air regarding that review process and any consequences of failing a review. Most board members have spoken against including closure or merger as an immediate possible outcome of a failed review. "If the possibility exists that we're going to close our own schools and not work with them, then I don't support this," board member Tom Herrmann said. The board voted 6-1 to give school lottery preferences to poor kids so they could have a good chance of getting into higher-income alternative and neighborhood schools. The board did unanimously approve Russell's recommendations that the district strengthen struggling neighborhood schools with a little additional funding and staff. But two board members indicated the extra money was uncertain and would have to compete with their priorities in the budget process. The board also unanimously agreed to hire someone to educate poor families about school choice. Other non-controversial reforms Russell recommended were also passed unanimously, including adjusting neighborhood school boundaries, providing transportation for moving kids so they can finish the year at their school, and reconsidering the placement of multiple special education programs in struggling neighborhood schools. Russell had earlier proposed providing transportation to poor kids so they could attend alternative schools, but that recommendation was dropped without explanation from the meeting agenda and did not go to a vote. Some board members had earlier questioned whether such transportation would be effective or too costly, although the idea was widely supported in public hearings. The state would have paid at least 70 percent of the cost. The board inaction on the review and move/closure recommendations raised important unanswered questions. Russell recommended and the board agreed that the district continue to give alternative schools the privilege of capping their class sizes. The caps provide a powerful advantage of stable, small classes with few new children during the year. Neighborhood schools aren't allowed to cap classes and must take whoever shows up. Many neighborhood schools suffer from crowded classrooms and/or struggle with high turnover during the year. As a result of caps at alternative schools, many neighborhood schools have larger class sizes and more of the difficult-to-teach kids who are frequently moving. Russell told the board he struggled with deciding whether to continue to give alternative schools the capping advantage that neighborhood schools were denied. "This is such a significant advantage," he said. Russell said keeping the capping advantage was integral to his proposal to review alternative schools to see if their programs justified being given the advantage. Without meaningful reviews, "I don't know" whether the alternative schools should keep their capping privilege, he said. Another question is whether the board now wishes to hold alternative schools immune from district plans to start another phase of school closure and consolidation in a year and a half. In the past, the district has only considered closing and merging low-income neighborhood schools as part of efforts to increase efficiency and replace older buildings with new schools. Russell said the board will soon have to decide whether to only consider closing/merging neighborhood schools. "Some of this may be on us much faster than we think." After the meeting, Joe Thornton, a leader of an alternative school parent group, said he was pleased that the board "didn't take any action that damages alternative schools." But he said he wasn't happy that the board took the "political move" to defer a decision on the controversial issue of closing, moving or merging the alternative schools. The non-decision "perpetuates this climate of uncertainty and division" that is damaging to the community, Thornton said. Nancy Willard, a neighborhood school parent and leading voice for reform, said that while she is concerned that some of the board members "didn't get" the problem, she is pleased that few reform proposals were outright rejected. She said she's concerned that the review process for alternative schools could lack meaningful change. But Willard says that the reviews will likely reveal that many of the alternative schools don't mesh with district goals and policies around discrimination and efficiency and lack a distinctive curriculum. "The handwriting is on the wall for all the small alternative schools." Willard says regardless of the board vote, two alternative schools are already discussing the possibly of merging with neighborhood schools. With plans to put more resources into neighborhood schools, "that's where the new energy is going," she said. Betsy Boyd, a neighborhood school parent who supported Russell's recommendations, said she was disappointed but not discouraged by the board inaction. "I'm deeply disappointed that the weakest children in our school district are still going to have to shoulder the greatest burden," said Boyd, describing the unstable class sizes, student mobility, special education students, and unstable funding that plague low-income neighborhood schools. Alternative schools have less-crowded, wealthier, more stable classes because that instability and poverty have been concentrated in neighborhood schools, according to Boyd. The alternative schools "get significant privileges that are hurting other schools, and more importantly hurting disadvantaged kids." Ironically, alternative parents complained about the disruption that moves and mergers would cause their children, but with the instability concentrated in neighborhood schools, kids at those schools "experience that kind of change and loss every year." The board displayed "a real lack of leadership" in putting off reform, Boyd said. Boyd said neighborhood parents continue to consider a formal discrimination complaint in the courts or to state and federal regulators. But Boyd said she was encouraged that the debate had educated the community. Russell "firmly embraced" reform, and "there was clear recognition on the part of the school board that there was a problem." With the unfairness now recognized "the genie is out of the bottle" in terms of doing something about it, Boyd said. "While the district really blinked, they haven't closed the door."
Dry
Summers Ahead With eight inches of rain since the rain season started in November, and this year's snow pack the lowest in 30 years, drought-tolerant plants make sense. Rainfall has been below average for six years, and even in years of heavy winter rain, Willamette Valley summers are long and dry.
Many drought-tolerant plantings combine native and non-native plants. These plants often have similar leaf colors and textures — gray-greens and blue-greens, furry and glossy leaves — which blend well in garden designs. And since many drought-tolerant trees and shrubs are evergreen, gardens stay bushy and shelter birds year round. In spring and early summer, native and Mediterranean plants bloom in profusion. In different areas of your garden, you can group plants according to summer water needs. In our Crow garden, we have drought-tolerant borders inside part of the deer fence, and also plants here and there in the meadow, harassed by browsing deer and antler-rubbing elk. Inside the fence, our most successful plants have been many varieties of ceanothus, cold-hardy Cistus corbariensis and C. skanbergii, strawberry bush, red-flowered currant, garrya, Hebe pimeleoides, rosemary, lavenders, sages, pineapple broom, Fremontodendron, and matilija poppy. These last two are borderline hardy and we mulch them heavily in winter. Out in the meadow, native oaks, Douglas fir, incense cedar, true cedars, manzanita (Arctostaphylos columbiana), rosemary 'Tuscan Blue,' cistus, oceanspray, bay laurel, and Pacific wax myrtle are splendid. Unfortunately, local deer consider ceanothus, garrya, Indian plum, and red-flowered currant delicious. And elk have girdled so many young ponderosas that we have begun substituting dense-needled Scotch pine. We dug out butterfly bush after we learned it is invasive in Lane County. Surprise stars have been crabapple, forsythia, evergreen huckleberry, and pie cherry. Huckleberries and cherries grow (slowly) and bear well in partial shade with no water. Soggy soil in winter is the greatest danger to most drought-tolerant plants. Some gardeners add liberal amounts of gravel and/or organic matter to improve aeration. Others change soil contours to increase drainage, adding walls, slopes, berms, or low mounds. If your site has an existing slope or sandy soil, you have a head start. Compost and bark mulches packed tightly around drought-tolerant plants in winter can rot woody stems and crowns of herbaceous plants. Because of this, many gardeners keep mulches slightly away from crowns, or mulch with several inches of quarter-ten gravel, which combines good aeration with fine, even texture. Gravel mulches heat up the surrounding air, so they are not ideal close to summer sitting areas. Even drought-tolerant plants need regular water to get established. In our garden, we water them deeply every seven to 10 days the first summer, every two to three weeks the second summer, and every month or so thereafter: frequency varies with temperatures. In the meadow, we provide absent-minded watering for two years, then nothing. When we plant, we add mycorhizae and slow-release organic fertilizer high in phosphorus to each hole, then mulch heavily. Plants adapt most easily when planted in fall or early spring. Many drought-tolerant plants grow best in full sun. Red-flowered currant, oceanspray, native dogwood, and pie cherry tolerate partial shade. Many familiar shade plants, such as rhododendron and camellia, thrive with little water once established, as long as they are shaded and well-mulched. Ernie O'Byrne at Northwest Garden Nursery advises, "Try many different plants. You'll be surprised by how little water they need." Marietta O'Byrne thinks Asian pears in their dryland garden ripen extra-spicy because the pear tree gets no summer water. She and Ernie grow a wide range of dwarf evergreens, yuccas, euphorbias, phlomis, unusual native oaks, species peonies, perennial flowers and bulbs in sandy native soil mulched with six inches of gravel and never watered. Cindy Weiss waters "once a month at most" in her small Marcola garden, soaking individual plants for 20 minutes when they look stressed. She finds aucuba, lilac, daphne, yew, and Japanese maple quite drought-tolerant, along with hardy fuchsias that she grows in shade. When Karen and George Sprague bought land near Spencer Creek, they planted a drought-tolerant garden to save time and well water. Groves of ceanothus flourish with vine maple, Oregon grape, serviceberry, and water-thrifty grasses: blue oat grass and various Miscanthus. My top recommendations for beauty and drought tolerance are ceanothus, with diverse leaf textures and bright blue flowers; cistus, with white and pink flowers like single roses; and matilija poppy, with bluish foliage and fragrant six-inch flowers, silky white with tufted yellow centers.
Every Thursday afternoon, shoppers at Eugene's Growers Market Co-op will find Nathan Greene behind the cashier's counter. "Anyone can become a member — just show up and shop," says Greene, who puts in 40 to 50 hours per month of unpaid work as a board member and volunteer coordinator. Founded in 1972, the market offers local organic produce and other natural foods at low prices. Hours of operation are 2:30 to 7:30 pm Thursdays and 3 to 6:30 pm Fridays. Members volunteer one half-hour per week or pay a 15 percent surcharge. "It may be the only totally volunteer-run co-op in the nation," says Green, who discovered the market shortly after moving from Newport in 2000. Twelve offices above the market at 454 Willamette St. are rented out at low cost to local environmental and social-justice groups. "That's how I got my job with the Walama Restoration Project," says Greene. "I love the work." WRP bids on habitat restoration projects throughout the Willamette Valley. "We do educational programs with schoolkids," Greene reports. "We focus on children as future stewards of the land." -BY PAUL NEEVEL
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NATHAN
GREENE
