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• Great egrets with their all-white plumage are drifting back into the Willamette Valley for the winter. We see them around Fern Ridge, in oaks and wetlands along the Long Tom River, about the same size as the great blue heron. Wildlife biologists tell us more have been coming here, but they don’t know why. Plume hunting for women’s hats nearly wiped out this beautiful bird, but the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1913 saved them. Continue reading
As we celebrate and reflect upon another year “back to school” and brace ourselves for the upcoming election season, we are reminded of George Washington’s words in his 1797 farewell address: “… as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion be enlightened.” Ours is a much different world, but Washington’s logic is just as sound today as it was then. The government we have reflects the state of public enlightenment. Continue reading
In her Sept. 15 column entitled “Quarry on Native Lands,” Kayla Godowa-Tufti argued that the Old Hazeldell Quarry (OHQ) site, which is currently the subject of a public land use process with Lane County to allow quarry mining, is culturally significant to local Native American tribes. There are a number of factual inaccuracies that merit a response. Continue reading
VOTE SEMPLE For the past several years, as a member of the Eugene Human Rights Commission, as a volunteer at Occupy Medical and as a community activist, I have worked to protect the rights of people who are homeless. I have also often heard about the work of another advocate for those who are homeless, Emily Semple. I am pleased to endorse her for Eugene City Council, Ward 1. Continue reading
• Donald Trump’s run for the presidency happened largely because the Republican Party strategically sold the American people on distrust and hatred for their government and attempted to destroy public education. Trump demonstrated all those values and worse in the Sept. 26 debate against Hillary Clinton. The media has enabled Trump through false equivalencies, such as trying to portray Clinton as just as prone to being untruthful as the Donald. Continue reading
What do you think when you see someone with bad teeth — big gaps or the disturbing discoloration of decay or the sunken-jaw look of too many missing teeth — someone who covers his or her mouth when talking, someone who seems afraid to smile? Dangerous? Criminal? Drug addict? Well, in some cases that might be true, but in most cases it’s not. And the judgments that you and I — often unwittingly — make about people with visibly bad teeth can be a barrier to those people overcoming difficulties in their lives. Continue reading
PARKS AND WRECK Thanks for your article on parks, but there is much more to this story. The history of Scobert Park in the heart of the Whiteaker illustrates a severe disconnect at the city. Scobert Park is tainted by bad juju, and is a perfect case study of mismanagement and long-term malfeasance by the city of Eugene. Continue reading
• If you are desperate to do something, anything, to defeat Donald Trump and elect Hillary Clinton, here’s an avenue: Start phone-banking for Hillary, especially to critical swing states Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, Ohio and Nevada. Plug in by stopping at the coordinated campaign office, 131 E. 11th Avenue, or phoning 541-623-0330, or emailing Chris@forwardoregon.org. We’re lucky to live in Oregon, which will not be a Trump state, but the tech allows us to work across state lines. All signs point to a perilously close race. Every phone call will help. Continue reading
Few are aware of Ed King’s (King Estate Winery) unsustainable investment in the Old Hazeldell Quarry mine in Oakridge. Currently forestland, TV Butte is set to be rezoned to open a quarry. Aggregate rock will be extracted from TV Butte for road paving projects for 50 years. Once U.S. Forest Service land, the property of the proposed quarry site is known as TV Butte on Dunning Road. This is the original location of the town of Oakridge, once called Hazeldell. Continue reading
The city of Eugene has morphed a neighborhood initiative to improve pedestrian and traffic safety on south Willamette Street into an intrusive rezone of neighborhoods in that area. They call it an “up-zone.” From the perspective of many who live there, it is more appropriately called a “down-grade” — of property values, the environment and their quality of life. Continue reading