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Slant: Short opinion pieces and rumor-chasing notes News: FULL CONTACT, WITH BEER Bikers, babes and brawls filled the Springfield Regional Sports Center Saturday night at the Emerald City Cage Fights, sponsored by Brass Knuckles Promotions. Outside about 2,000 fans waited in a five-person-thick line stretched across the expansive parking lot while inside, tall thin babes in bikinis greeted audiences from atop six-inch heels. Once the beer-stenched arena was packed with rowdies and tracks off White Zombie's Astro Creep: 2000 had permeated the air, the first round's horn sounded. Half the crowd faced the ring and the other half faced impromptu brawls erupting despite the previously announced threats to anyone caught fighting: "You will be prosecuted." The only skull-cracking allowed was inside the cage — a 6-foot tall, octagon-shaped chain link fence surrounded by photographers, coaches, and merciless urging fans. The Regional Sports Center, whose mission "is dedicated to the youth of Lane County," hosted fight clubs from around the state including cities in Northern California and Vancouver, Wash. Officially named "mixed martial arts," cage fighting blends wrestling, jiu-jitsu, and kickboxing. Competitors are allowed to use punches, kicks, knees, takedowns and submission holds. There are three three-minute rounds for regular fights and three five-minute rounds for title fights — all won by tapout, knockout, decision or referee stoppage. Fifteen fights were scheduled in all. Half of the competitors were trained locally from Eugene clubs such as Northwest Martial Arts, Dogpound, Team Kaos, and Team Samurai while many others traveled from Vancouver, Wash., to Hoopa, Calif., where one of the only two female competitors hailed. Jason Georgianna, head of Brass Knuckles Promotions, assured that the next event scheduled for Jan. 21 will include a "two-layered security plan" where bigger, buffer, and tougher guys will be there, ready to dismantle any scuffles in the crowd. — Julia Carr
OPB FORESTRY FILM SLANTED Oregon forestry has always been controversial. U.S. Forest Service officers, timber industry managers, scientists, small-scale tree farmers, forestry professors and conservationists hold a sweeping range of opinions on how to manage the region's forests, and one would expect an objective snapshot of the state's forest management to include perspectives from across the board. But an upcoming Oregon Public Broadcasting documentary, "The Oregon Story: Rethinking the Forests," may only reflect opinions across the board-feet, so to speak. The program was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the U.S. Forest Service. Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey, a former timber lobbyist, has come under fire for his industry-friendly approach to public forest management. When EW questioned OPB about the film's roster of speakers, which does not include any conservationists, OPB's public relations manager sent us a preview copy. EW shared the DVD with representatives of several local conservation groups and asked for feedback by e-mail. Doug Heiken of the Oregon Natural Resources Council wrote that the video "perpetuates several damaging myths about Oregon's forests and forestry," including the misconceptions that fire, insects and disease are always unhealthy for forests and that federal lands are "virtually off-limits" to logging. Heiken wrote that the film unfairly blames environmentalists, rather than state agencies and the timber industry, for poor forest health. "This video confuses folk knowledge with scientific knowledge. And confuses tree farming with sustainable forestry," he wrote. Native Forest Council President Tim Hermach criticized the film as a mouthpiece for the timber industry. "This pseudo-documentary … has little if any journalistic, let alone scientific, credibility," he wrote. "It is a skillfully-crafted piece of industry propaganda designed to deceive." Cascadia Wildlands Project Director Josh Laughlin faulted the film for failing to differentiate between public and private forests or acknowledge the distinct forest management challenges east and west of the Cascades. "A common theme throughout was that there is a crisis on Oregon's public lands and to solve it, we need to log the forests," he wrote. "Well, this is nonsense." In Laughlin's view, the real crises are the looming threat of extinction for species that rely on mature Oregon forests and the poisoning of watersheds by timber companies that spray herbicides. Laughlin credited the film for highlighting opportunities for collaboration, like putting more people in the woods to harvest small-diameter wood. "There is a need to create innovative markets for the use of small-diameter trees that have resulted after 100 years of fire suppression," he wrote. ONRC Director Jay Ward said that the film's omissions are telling. "We have significant concerns about the lack of balance in this show," he said. "We believe that OPB has a history of doing really good journalism, and we're concerned that this might telegraph a trend. The right wing has been exerting its muscles to change the nature of [public broadcast] programming at a national level. Has that worked its way down to the local level?" Producer Eric Cain defends the film, saying that he intentionally chose its speakers to provoke viewers to "think a little differently about some of these issues." "It's not conservationists versus timber barons," he said. "It's the stuff that's happening in the trenches, the people who are doing the work and trying to get groups of people together to talk about these things in different sorts of ways. I was going for the middle." OPB will air "The Oregon Story: Rethinking the Forests" at 9 pm on Monday, Nov. 21. — Kera Abraham
HIGH-SPEED WEEKLIES A couple thousand EW readers in Springfield were not able to get their papers last week. A delivery car carrying the papers was stolen around 1 pm Thursday with nearly a full load of newspapers in the back seat and trunk. The car was stolen near Albertson's on 58th and Main. A high-speed chase through Springfield Friday led to the crash of the car and its recovery by police. The owner of the delivery car, Tim Risch of Eugene, says the wrecked car, a 1997 Oldsmobile sedan, was impounded and he still hasn't heard if the newspapers were recovered. EW delivers about 5,000 papers a week to Springfield. Ironically, the photo illustration on the cover of EW last week shows a car crashing off the I-5 bridge between Eugene and Springfield. Anyone who finds a large pile of EW papers is asked to call the police, and also call Circulation Director Danica Stiles at the EW office, 484-0519.
FROM PALMS TO POLISHED The location that once housed the nightclub and music venue The Jungle has once again changed hands and undergone an extreme makeover. Belly Up, as 23 West 6th St. is now called, will open on Nov. 19 with a benefit for the local Multiple Sclerosis Association. Partners Jeff Gaulton, Steve Jaffe and Jeff Lowe sealed the deal to buy the venue from Doug Renner and Alexandra Sianis on Oct. 27. While Gaulton won't reveal the selling price, he said both parties seem happy with the deal. Gone are the faux palm trees, the camo netting and the black paint. "We completely remodeled it," says Gaulton. "I raised the PA, created better sight lines throughout the room, redid the dance floor, replaced the carpet and lots of other stuff. It's a little brighter and a lot cleaner." Gaulton, who did the booking for The Jungle, said they're planning to continue bringing in reggae, surf folk like Donovan Frankereiter and rock, but that they also plan to work with local musicians and use the venue as a place to nurture Eugene's scene. "We want to bring in local bands, pay them and give them a piece of the door so that they're profiting musically and financially," Gaulton said. "We're looking at bringing in some local blues, and, well, I hate to frame it as indie pop, but a lot of the new, vibrant young musicians in town." He also mentioned possibly working with local promoter Evin Marshall, who does most of the booking for McShane's and The Wetlands and recently added Jaxx Locals Lounge. — Melissa Bearns
EARLY DEADLINES The holiday season brings early deadlines for EW's Thanksgiving week paper, which will be on the streets Wednesday instead of Thursday. EW offices will be closed Thanksgiving Day and Friday. An early advertising deadline for reserving display space in the Nov. 23 issue will be 5 pm Thursday, Nov. 17. Classified ad deadline will be 5 pm Friday, Nov. 18 . Deadline for reserving display ads for the Dec. 1 issue will be 5 pm Wednesday, Nov. 23; and classifieds will have its normal deadline Monday, Nov. 28. For more information, call 484-0519.
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