News: Page 424

Activist Alert 8-15-2013

Activist Alert

• Mobility International USA in Eugene will launch its new Brilliant & Resilient Photography Book, featuring profiles of 50 disabled women activists from 41 countries, at 6 pm Thursday, Aug. 15, at the Ford Alumni Center, 1720 E. 13th Ave. Email sdunn@miusa.org or call 343-1284 for more information. • Groundbreaking for Opportunity Village Eugene will be at 10 am Friday, Aug. 16, at 2nd Avenue and Garfield. Councilor Claire Syrett will be one of the speakers. Continue reading →

Biz Beat 8-15-2013

Biz Beat

Too many cohousing projects in the works? Oakleigh Meadow, a cohousing community planned along the Willamette River in north Eugene, is making progress on city approvals and hopes to break ground soon, but home sites are still available. Until Oakleigh sells out, we probably won’t see much happen at an earlier cohousing site — the big empty lot at the corner of Lincoln and 11th Avenue. Martin Henner owns the Lincoln property and actually had a groundbreaking ceremony for cohousing apartments in October 2007, and then the economy tanked. Continue reading →

Maggie Matoba (revisited)

Happening People

September 2003: On a hot August afternoon, master gardener Maggie Matoba shares a patch of shade with Willamette Oaks Retirement Center residents who raise veggies and flowers in the therapeutic garden Matoba maintains as part of her Healing Harvest program. “Maggie’s been such a blessing,” Evelyn Higgins says. “She put in new soil and a watering system.” Matoba witnessed the healing potential of gardening when her father came to stay after a stroke. “Gardening added 15 years to his life,” she says. Continue reading →

Trainwreck

Trainloads of oil and toxics in town

News

Trains smack of progress, freedom and adventure. It’s said that railroads revolutionized America. The Association of American Railroads (AAR) touts the safety record of the rails: “In 2012, North American railroads safely delivered more than 2.47 million carloads of hazardous materials.” But sometimes trains leak, derail or just plain explode.  Continue reading →

Poop Argument Defeated, Free Speech Upheld

News

Alley Valkyrie said from the beginning that closing the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza was unconstitutional, and a recent ruling in Eugene Municipal Court has proven her right, she says. The arguments in court centered on poop, which makes for giggles, but Valkyrie’s attorney, Lauren Regan of the Civil Liberties Defense Center, says it’s no laughing matter when someone’s free speech rights are being taken away. “Whenever anybody’s constitutional rights are diminished, everybody’s rights are harmed,” Regan says. Continue reading →

Closing The Forest To Protesters?

News

The Bureau of Land Management has issued a “finding of no significant impact” on its order to close the White Castle timber sale to public access, but the protesters currently occupying the trees in opposition to the planned logging project beg to differ. They say cutting the native trees hurts the ecosystem and doesn’t solve the root problems of lack of money for counties and a lack of jobs. A comment period on the closure ends Aug. 30. Continue reading →

Stuff Your Face For Womenspace

News

Fill your stomach for the good cause on Saturday, Aug. 17: Dishcrawl introduces “Neighborfood,” an afternoon celebration of food, family and community in downtown Eugene. Dishcrawl will give a portion of the proceeds to Womenspace, a nonprofit organization providing support to women and children in situations of domestic abuse. Continue reading →

Small Farms Vs. Gmos And Canola

News

Efforts in Oregon to protect small farmers and organic growers are coming from the ground up at the county and state level these days. An initiative to ban genetically modified (GM) crops in Lane County has been resubmitted to the county clerk, and small farmers came out ahead in the Oregon Legislature this session.  Continue reading →