Activist Alert 3-3-2016

• The 34th annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference on the UO campus begins Thursday, March 3, and runs through Sunday with numerous local experts on panels and participating in discussions. For example, Beyond Toxics is involved in a panel on “Fighting Aerial Pesticide Sprays and Water Quality Violations on State and Private Lands” at 9 am Saturday, March 5, in LAW 184. Find a schedule at pielc.org. Last-minute changes in the schedule can be found listed in the lobby of the UO Law School. Free.

Affordable housing is the topic at City Club of Eugene at noon Friday, March 4, at the Baker Downtown Center, 975 High Street. Speakers include Terry McDonald of St. Vincent de Paul, and Jacob Fox of HACSA, the agency that facilitates housing for about 4,300 families a year. $5 for non-members. 

• A Eugene mayoral candidate forum will be from 6 to 8 pm Thursday, March 3, at First Christian Church, 1166 Oak Street. Sponsored by CALC, NACP, GLAD and AFL-CIO. Email phil@oraflcio.org

• Ward 1 City Council candidate Josh Skov will be available to meet from 11 am to noon Saturday, March 5, at Hot Mama’s Wings, 420 W. 13th Ave. Find the event on Facebook. 

• A rally to “Ditch Racism, Build a Better Future” will be at noon Saturday, March 5, in the Park Blocks, 8th and Oak, in response to an announced Confederate Flag Day event happening at the same time across the street at the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza. “The Confederate battle flag has become a preeminent symbol of racism for many,” reads a statement from Community Alliance of Lane County. “It honors not Southern heritage, as many proclaim, but segregation and slavery. For many residents of Lane County, displays of the confederate flag cause intimidation and fear.” The rally will be a safe, peaceful, family-friendly event. For more information call CALC at 485-1755.

• “Rebel Revelry” is a fundraiser for the Civil Liberties Defense Center from 7 pm to midnight Saturday, March 5, at the Eugene Garden Club, 1645 High Street. Sliding scale with suggested donation of $20. The event is expected to draw climate and social justice activists in town for the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference.

Jesse Hagopian of Black Lives Matter and author Dr. Wayne Au are discussing the issues of “Institutional Racism and Standardized Testing” at 7 pm Friday, March 4, at the First Christian Church in downtown Eugene. Free and open to the public.

• The Canadian documentary To Make a Farm will be shown at 7 pm Sunday, March 6, at Spencer Creek Grange on Lorane Hwy. The showing is part of the Up Up Farm Film Festival and looks at the future of local food and small-scale farming. The event is organized by Huerto de la Familia, the UO Food Studies Program, Rogue Farm Corps and the Greenhorns. Locavore pot luck begins at 6 pm. Suggested donation is $5-$10.