Activist Alert 7-3-2013

Activist Alert by EW StaffPosted on

• Civil libertarian Raymond Brown, a recently retired educator with the Bethel School District, will be celebrating Independence Day in period costume, reciting the Declaration of Independence by heart at 1, 3 and 5 pm July 4 at the top of Skinner Butte. He will also be flying 25 full-sized flags atop the butte. “After teaching for 36 years, I can guarantee you that the best guardian of freedoms is education,” he says, adding he is inviting people to “put down their beer and hot dogs for a moment and appreciate the true meaning of the day.” He says he is not associated with the Tea Party or other conservative causes. He can be contacted at sonoflibertywalk@gmail.com. 

• More big events at Buford Park? A survey asking for public opinions about the adjacent Emerald Meadows, formerly called the “North Bottomlands,” can be found at wkly.ws/1i9, put online by Friends of Buford Park & Mt. Pisgah, 344-8350.

• No City Club of Eugene this Friday, but Chuck Sheketoff of the Oregon Center for Public Policy will be the speaker July 12 and we hear Sen. Jeff Merkley has been booked for Aug. 9.

• A free dance party and day of political action for human rights will be from 5 to 9:30 pm Monday, July 8, at Kesey Square downtown. The event is part of Creative Maladjustment Week, and is sponsored by MindFreedom International. Call 345-9106 or visit mindfreedom.org.

• The next Conversations on the Forest free public forum is 7 pm Monday, July 8, at Cozmic, 199 W. 8th Ave. Organizers says the focus will be on “burning forest biomass for energy, timely as we are in the public comment period of Seneca’s application to be a major source and get grandfathered in under the current, weaker regulations than the regs we think will be enacted in 2014.” Speakers will be former county commissioner Rob Handy, forester Roy Keene and County Commission candidate Kevin Matthews. Email rob@robhandy.com or visit conversationsontheforest.org

• Industrial Workers of the World will meet at 7 pm Tuesday, July 9, at New Day Bakery, 449 Blair Blvd. Contact iconoclasmo.scott@gmail.com.

• The Lane County Fair Board meets from 7:30 to 9:30 am Tuesday, July 9, at the Lane Events Center, 796 W. 13th Ave. Contact is Marsha Miller at 682-6910.

• Lane Area Commission on Transportation meets from 5:30 to 7:30 pm Wednesday, July 10, at the ODOT McLane Room, 644 A St. in Springfield. Contact is Stacy Clauson, 682-3177 or sclauson@lcog.org.