• This week’s issue welcomes Eugene Weekly’s newest columnist, Christian Wihtol, who will cover real estate in an ongoing “Bricks and Mortar” column. Wihtol worked as an editor and writer at The Register-Guard in Eugene from 1990 – 2018, much of the time focusing on real estate, economic development and business. Got a real estate or business-oriented tip? Reach him at Christian@EugeneWeekly.com.
• Some local folks have a wild and crazy idea to try to honor local jokebook writer and icon Frog with a statue! Three previous Eugene Saturday Market managers (Bill Goldsmith, Beth Little, Kim Still) tell us they “are working to create a durable, permanent public art memorial for David Miller, who we all knew affectionately as ‘Frog’ and who served as a popular cultural icon in Eugene for over 35 years.” Frog died Nov. 2. The idea is for a life-sized statue located by the University of Oregon Duck Store or some other appropriate location. The goal is to raise $25,000, “which will be used to create some kind of permanent public art piece honoring Frog’s memory.” Find it at GoFund.me/a745c96d.
• White Bird Clinic is closing its Front Rooms program before the year’s end, citing the loss of $3.6 million in annual federal funding from President Biden’s 2021 American Rescue Plan Act. The Front Rooms program provides food, warm clothing and mail delivery services for their unhoused clients. White Bird Executive Director Jeremy Gates tells Eugene Weekly, “The government was throwing a lot of money, and, of course, you stick your hand out and the money sticks to it.” Closing the Front Rooms program is making the best of a bad situation, he says. “Here’s a program that loses almost a million dollars a year that we are not legally required to have open or do, and most of the services that they offer are either duplicated within our own organization, or somewhere else,” Gates says.
• This week in news of the true: Satire news source The Onion announced that it was buying Alex Jones’s right-wing conspiracy website, InfoWars, via a bankruptcy auction. Jones defamed the Sandy Hook families by calling the 2012 massacre of schoolchildren and educators a hoax and was ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion in defamation lawsuits. The Onion plans to turn the InfoWars site into a parody site. Just throwing it out there — anyone want to help Eugene Weekly buy Sam Bond’s Garage? It’s not as noble as buying InfoWars, but a newspaper-bar sounds like it could be fun.
• For those following the controversy over the proposed gravel mine near Oakridge, opponents are holding a *No Thanks-*giving to Ed in front of Ed King’s King Estate Winery on Territorial Highway at noon, Nov. 30. Organizers say that “the city governments of Oakridge and Westfir, the Oakridge Chamber of Commerce and the Uptown Business and Revitalization Association are united in solid opposition to this project, which threatens their air, water, economy, safety and big game, and returns nothing to their community.” UBRA vice-president and Oakridge business owner Mick Garvin says, “To get all mankind on one page, marching to a common goal, you’d need invaders from Mars. To get Oakridge together, we needed Ed King.” He adds, “That’s not a thanks. We’ve beaten them back three times in the last nine years, and we will do it again.” For more information on shuttles to the rally or the campaign for TV Butte, call Sabrina Ratkowski, 503-886-9489, or Mick Garvin, 541-968-4623.
• Nationally known writer and housing researcher Gregg Colburn will talk about solutions to homelessness on Thursday, Nov. 21, at the 2024 Housing Summit at the University of Oregon’s Ford Alumni Center. A member of the National Alliance to End Homelessness Research Council, he is co-author of Homelessness is a Housing Problem: How Structural Factors Explain U.S. Patterns. Colburn will speak at 5:30 pm following a 4:30 pm reception; a moderated Q&A session will follow the talk. The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required through EventBrite.com.
• Convicted felon and President-elect Donald J. Trump handpicked Dr. Mehmet Oz, aka TV personality Dr. Oz, to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — the federal agency that runs Obamacare. This might be another one of Trump’s attempts to deliver on his eight-year-old promise to dismantle Obamacare, because Oz has zero experience working in government. Another recent pick is Linda McMahon of World Wrestling Entertainment for Education secretary, which is strangely appropriate because the far-right has turned public education into a wrestling match.