• ICE Box: According to the Portland Immigrant Rights Commission’s Dec. 1 update, 67 detentions were reported to the hotline from Nov. 24 to 30. The total reported detentions in Oregon for November is 373, and 26 of those were in Lane County and 41 in Marion County. PIRC’s hotline is 1-888-622-1510, and the immigrant rights group asks you to call if you witness ICE activity or an ICE detention, or if you are looking for a missing loved one. Text with non-urgent questions or photos of possible ICE sightings, such as license plates (call first if urgent). Locally, join the Lane County Immigrant Defense Signal group for updates and mobilizations at Linktr.ee/psleugene during ICE activity.
• Gavin McComas of Sundance Natural Foods died Nov. 25, surrounded by close friends and family, the community food store announced. In addition to providing Eugene with a healthy, quirky and fun place to shop, he made sure that the community resource that is Sundance “would carry on beyond his passing by donating Sundance to a Perpetual Purpose Trust, which will ensure Sundance’s continued presence in our community for the foreseeable future.”
• This week in news of the weird is former Lookout Eugene-Springfield columnist Mark Baker, who, according to Eugene police, allegedly committed assault in October during an altercation over dog poop. Baker was a longtime writer for The Register-Guard (he is part of the Baker family that owned the RG until 2018) and, most recently, wrote a column for digital startup and RG competitor LOL. Baker is known for his interviews with luminaries such as Sam Elliott and, most recently, his sports columns. His most recent LOL column ran Oct. 5. On Oct. 9, according to court records, police cited Baker, 63, for assault, second-degree criminal mischief and harassment. According to an EPD statement, Baker was arrested after he was “suspected of instigating a physical altercation with two people (punching one, and damaging property) when he was walking his dog and was confronted about not picking up after the dog defecated on the lawn of Churchill Estates.” Churchill Estates is a retirement community in southwest Eugene, not far from Baker’s home. Baker disappeared from LOL’s masthead without explanation shortly after reports of the incident surfaced on social media. Baker did not respond to EW’s request for comment.
• Will the Lane County Board of Commissioners make garbage hauler Sanipac pay a price for its hardball political tactics? As EW first reported in April, Sanipac and an affiliated company, EcoSort, want to kill a proposed Lane County trash recovery center, called CleanLane, that promises to reduce the flow of garbage into the county’s Short Mountain Landfill and cut emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Sanipac and EcoSort lost their bid to operate the CleanLane project. After that, both companies started diverting trash from Short Mountain to a landfill in southern Oregon run by EcoSort’s and Sanipac’s corporate owner, rubbish conglomerate Waste Connections, Inc. (Waste Connections collected $8.9 billion in revenues last year.) Sanipac’s actions risk cutting the trash flow needed to make the CleanLane project viable. The haulers’ actions also threaten to shift costs onto Lane County residents. County records show the trash diversions by Sanipac and EcoSort have cost Lane County $5 million a year in lost landfill tipping fees. That’s money Eugene and Springfield residents might be forced to make up through higher trash bills. As it turns out, though, Lane County has the power to recoup some of that money. County rules require haulers to pay hefty fees when they collect trash in Lane County and then haul it elsewhere. Sources tell EW that Sanipac and EcoSort have ducked paying the fees so far. Commissioners have scheduled a Dec. 9 hearing to make public Sanipac’s tactics — and perhaps take the first steps toward forcing the trash hauler to pay up.
• We were overwhelmed with the response to our request for authors to review! We were so excited that we decided it’s time for a Eugene Weekly books column for literary updates each month. Rick Levin, a longtime EW writer and local author, will helm the column and can be reached at Books@EugeneWeekly.com. We will also put short reviews here in Slant!
• Local author! Eugene writer Elizabeth Engstrom has long been a master of creepy horror. Unrequited Loss (IFD Press, $11) is a collection of her short stories that are guaranteed to make it hard to sleep after an evening of reading. Consider the first sentence of “Anything,” setting you up for an unexpected ending: “Marty drove around with the dead baby in his trunk for three days before he decided on a course of action.” Need we say more? Enjoy at your own peril.
A Note From the Publisher
Dear Readers,
The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.
That’s because of you!
Not just because of financial support (though that matters enormously), but because of the emails, notes, conversations, encouragement and ideas you shared along the way. You reminded us why this paper exists and who it’s for.
Listening to readers has always been at the heart of Eugene Weekly. This year, that meant launching our popular weekly Activist Alert column, after many of you told us there was no single, reliable place to find information about rallies, meetings and ways to get involved. You asked. We responded.
We’ve also continued to deepen the coverage that sets Eugene Weekly apart, including our in-depth reporting on local real estate development through Bricks & Mortar — digging into what’s being built, who’s behind it and how those decisions shape our community.
And, of course, we’ve continued to bring you the stories and features many of you depend on: investigations and local government reporting, arts and culture coverage, sudoku and crossword puzzles, Savage Love, and our extensive community events calendar. We feature award-winning stories by University of Oregon student reporters getting real world journalism experience. All free. In print and online.
None of this happens by accident. It happens because readers step up and say: this matters.
As we head into a new year, please consider supporting Eugene Weekly if you’re able. Every dollar helps keep us digging, questioning, celebrating — and yes, occasionally annoying exactly the right people. We consider that a public service.
Thank you for standing with us!
Publisher
Eugene Weekly
P.S. If you’d like to talk about supporting EW, I’d love to hear from you!
jody@eugeneweekly.com
(541) 484-0519