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Slant: Short opinion pieces and rumor-chasing notes Happening People: Cynthius Scanlon and Susan Schneider ARRESTS AT STAND DOWN Eleven local residents were arrested and charged with criminal trespass Friday, Nov. 18 as they peacefully protested against the war in Iraq. Seven protesters were arrested for blocking the entrance to the UO ROTC building, and later in the morning four individuals were arrested for refusing to leave the Army recruiting center on Bailey Hill Road across from Churchill High School.
Nov. 18 was "National Stand Down Day," a day of direct actions at recruitment centers and government facilities supporting the war. The coordinated protests were sponsored by the Iraq Pledge Of Resistance, which organized the civil disobedience at the White House Sept. 26 in which Cindy Sheehan and 374 others were arrested. "Supporters gathered in solidarity while holding photos which graphically displayed the human cost of the war," said Michael Carrigan of Progressive Responses. "Both actions were carried out without incident." All were cited and released on their own recognizance and will appear at 1 pm Dec. 2 at in Eugene Municipal Court. Supporters are encouraged to attend. Carrigan said with the death and suffering continuing unabated in Iraq, local activists decided it was "time to put their bodies on the line and take decisive action against the faltering Bush administration's Iraq war." Mental health social worker Jacque Travis was arrested and said, "Increasingly, the best I can do is admit in shame and rage that resources are not available no matter how many 800 numbers we call and wait and call again. This war is a betrayal of our responsibility to our children and our neighbors," said social worker Jacque Travis who was arrested at the recruitment office. Organizer Peter Chabarak added, "We forced the government to show their hand and repress peaceful dissent by force of arrest, we gained much public sympathy for the cause and we ignited excitement in the movement."
FILM BASHES WAL-MART A standing-room-only crowd packed into LCC Nov. 17 to see Robert Greenwald's documentary Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. The film screened in more than 7,000 other locations nationwide last week, and Greenwald himself attended the LCC screening.
Greenwald's other muck-raking documentaries include Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism, Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War, Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties and Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election. The filmmaker said that he didn't know anything about Wal-Mart one year ago, but his research led him to discover a filthy-rich company that methodically drives small retailers out of business, under-pays and mistreats its workers, exploits international sweatshop laborers and lays waste to land across America. Despite Wal-Mart's propensity to suck the economic life from downtowns, local governments regularly reward the company with hefty subsidies. Greenwald's "Wake Up Wal-Mart" campaign has found allies in scores of community activists, progressive nonprofits and politicians. On Nov. 15, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) attacked the corporation, saying "Wal-Mart sells itself as an all-American company, but it violates American family values every day by mistreating its workers." The documentary drew scathing criticism from the right. Wal-Mart spokesperson Chris Gallagher denounced the film, calling it "a sensationalized and one-sided view of our company." Fox anchor Bill O'Reilly blasted Greenwald, saying, "He's a radical progressive who blames America first … This guy is just to the right of Fidel Castro." In the conversation following the LCC screening, some audience members thanked Greenwald and commended him for the documentary, and others offered constructive criticism. One man called the documentary a "nice, liberal film," but questioned whether it would speak to people who weren't already opposed to Wal-Mart. Greenwald replied that his intention in making the film was to reach "outside the choir" to every-day, red-state Americans as well as urban liberals. For more info, visit www.walmartmovie.com— Kera Abraham
BOOK FOCUSES ON KIP KINKEL Eugene author and EW free-lance writer Joe Lieberman's The Shooting Game is being published by Seven Locks Press at the end of January. "The book reveals the synchronous nature and common roots of school shootings from the most recent to those going back 30 years and more, along with how those relate to workplace rampages and suicidal terrorist acts," says Lieberman. "It is global in scope, including such things as a dozen school knife attacks in East Asia where guns are less available to the public." The book's special focus is on the dramatic story of Kip Kinkel, Oregon's only school shooter, who murdered both his teacher-parents before he attacked Thurston High School in Springfield in May 1998. Liberman has been following the case over the years and wrote a cover story on it for EW (see archives for 8/29/02). See more about the new book at www.theshootinggame.com
MILLEGAN MISTRIAL The federal case against local publisher Kris Millegan held on Halloween ended in a mistrial when the lead attorney for the plaintiffs became too ill to continue, according to Millegan. "We won the battle, but we are still in a war," says Millegan, who expects the trial in South Carolina to be rescheduled for January. Millegan and his Walterville publishing company TrineDay are defendants against a lawsuit filed by former members of the Special Forces (see "Sinister Forces" cover story, 8/25). The lawsuit sought compensatory and punitive damages in excess of $100,000 for each of the plaintiffs, who it says were "libeled and slandered," and portrayed in a book published by TrineDay as "loose cannons." The book in question, Expendable Elite: One Soldier's Journey Into Covert Warfare, documents illegal Special Forces incursions into Cambodia in 1966, as well as assassination missions.
CYNTHIUS SCANLON & SUSAN SCHNEIDER
Since they began taking in foster children seven years ago, Cynthius Scanlon and Susan Schneider have cared for more than 60 kids awaiting adoption or return to their families. "Usually we have two babies, three to five kids in all," says Scanlon. "One of our goals is to keep siblings together. We try to make it 'one stop,' until they are adopted or taken back." The couple provides a "tier 3" home, capable of serving the most medically fragile children, some of them damaged by exposure to meth in utero. Scanlon and Schneider had a successful business making herbal aromatic products when they moved from Boring, Ore., to Eugene in 1994. "Our number-one seller was refillable organic catnip slugs," says Schneider. "We got fan mail from cats." They sold the business after they adopted Chris, an 11-year-old whom Scanlon had tutored in a foster home. They began their foster care career as respite providers, offering weekend breaks to regular foster parents. "It's good work for the heart," says Scanlon. "The kids come in tough — they don't trust anyone. They drop that and learn to laugh and play when they don't have to worry about food and safety."
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