News Briefs

“I had a 2-year-old son, and I was concerned. I became one of those parents who worries about these vaccinations.”

Catherine Clinton, a local naturopathic doctor, is just one of countless parents who’ve experienced misgivings related to the risks associated with vaccinations — and with forgoing those vaccinations — particularly in regard to immunizing infants and children against preventable diseases.

Clinton has created a supplement called VacciShield to help with vaccinations. 

Oregon’s mustangs and their trainers are in Hines this weekend, as part of an adoption event that includes more than 500 animals in an exhibition of trained horses that, a mere three months earlier, were completely raw and utterly wild. 

As Lane County prepares to turn running its animal shelter over to a nonprofit agency — Greenhill Humane Society submitted the only proposal — local animal advocates remain concerned about keeping the county’s focus on saving, not euthanizing, adoptable animals.

 When it comes to euthanizing dogs and cats, “there needs to be an oversight committee and people from various rescues involved with that oversight committee,” Lisa Warnes of Save the Pets says. 

The Arts and Business Alliance BRAVA Breakfast will be at 7:30 am Friday, June 1, in the lobby of the Hult Center. The Maude Kerns Art Center will be given the 2012 Fentress Award recognizing excellence in performing and visual arts groups. Ceramic artist Betsy Wolfson of Woof Works Studio in Eugene will also be awarded the 2012 Bishop Endowment’s Eugene Arts and Letters Award “for her nontraditional ceramic creations that speak of human feelings and of ageless wisdom.” Register for the breakfast event at www.eugenechamber.com

What runs and jumps and yells and plays all over? A human child, of course. Bev Smith, executive director of Kidsports and former UO women’s basketball coach, will speak at 6 pm Thursday, May 31, at the downtown library about physical literacy, the social values of team sports and Kidsports.

Pot smoked other issues as the hot topic in the May 15 Oregon attorney general primary race, in a sign that Oregon voters don’t see enforcement of marijuana prohibition as a law enforcement priority. It’s continuing as an issue thanks to petition drives asking voters to put legalizing pot on Oregon’s November ballot.

While Lane County’s administrator and conservative board majority moved quickly to release the public records that may have contributed to progressive Commissioner Rob Handy’s defeat in last week’s primary election, the county is dragging its feet on releasing public records relating to the “emergency meeting” it held as well other information surrounding the case.

• ODOT District 5 plans to spray Hwy. 99 between Eugene and Junction City, I-5, Beltline and I-105 shoulders and ramps and connecting highways such as Hwy. 99 South, Cloverdale and the lower end of Hwy. 58. Call (888) 996-8080 for more detailed information.

• ODF, 935-2283, is hiring Nick’s Timber Service, (503) 910-1120) to ground spray state forestry roadsides on their land throughout Lane County. Chemicals include Element 4, Element 3A, Oust XP and Forester’s with Agri-Dex surfactant. See notice 2012-781-00363.

There will be no animals at this Saturday’s Bingo Beach Dance Party, the second-annual celebration of the Willamette Animal Guild (WAG), “just party animals!” says Vanessa Wells-Horner, outreach coordinator at WAG. She is hoping to get lots of tails wagging out on the dance floor as the nonprofit celebrates the more than 20,000 spay and neuter surgeries it has performed on pets and feral animals since January 2008. 

• Volunteers are needed for the AIDS Walk at 9 am Saturday, May 19, at Alton Baker Park, sponsored by HIV Alliance. Call 342-5088, ext. 116 or email volccord@hivalliance.org or info@aidswalkeugene.org or visit www.aidswalkeugene.org to register or donate.

• The Whiteaker Community Garage Sale is from 9 am to 3 pm Sunday, May 20, throughout the neighborhood and CALC is one of the groups participating. Call 485-1755 to donate good used items.

Summer is near and in Oregon that means it’s treesit season. And apparently it’s flagpole-sitting season, too. Last week a Cascadia Forest Defenders (CFD) activist was arrested after hanging a protest banner from a flagpole at the state capitol in Salem. And with the warmer weather, Occupy Eugene is not only protesting but also occupying again. They’re at the old Federal Courthouse with a permit in hand. 

In Eugene, the Maude Kerns Art Center is hosting a one-week exhibit of poetry and photographs, “Silent Witness: Parvin Butte,” calling attention to the destruction of scenic Parvin Butte by developers. Out in Dexter, the mining of the butte continues, and in county and agency offices the question of just what to do about the butte lingers.