2013-01-10 Eugene Weekly

28.5 MB·English

by  Eugene Weekly

Women’s Choral Society

Invites you to attend our Winter Concert

January 15, 8:00pm at Beall Hall U of O New Year

Tickets at the door: $10 General
$8 seniors/Students
New Shoes
A Program of American Composers from
toe-tapping to soul-stirring.
www.womenschoralsociety.org www.facebook.com/womenschoralsociety
Burch’s Half-Yearly
Sale ends soon.
Sale Ends
February 3rd.
· Men’s · Women’s · Children’s ·
Located at Oakway Center
™
Smart never goes out of style.
We’re cozy and
comfortable year
round without
wasting energy.
The UNESCO Chair in Transcultural Studies, Interreligious
Dialogue, and Peace at the University of Oregon presents
a talk by Randi Getsushin Brox on
Rehabilitation, not Death:
“
a Buddhist Perspective on
Capital Punishment
”
in Room 175 of the School of Law
at the University of Oregon,
4 p.m., on Thursday, January 17,
A new heat pump seemed with a reception to follow.
within reach with a rebate or
zero-interest loan from Eugene RANDI GETSUSHIN BROX founded the prison volunteer program of
Water & Electric Board. We the Dharma Rain Zen Center in Portland. Much of her practice has
chose a contractor from their been centered around her efforts with prison inmates. What started
list and EWEB did a quality as a correspondence with two inmates on Death Row developed into
inspection after installation. what is now monthly services and support for Buddhist practitioners at
the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem and Coffee Creek Correctional
Facility, a prison for women in Wilsonville.
Outsmart energy waste. Learn more
about ducted and ductless heat pump
programs at eweb.org/saveenergy This talk is the first in a series of four lectures (Jan. 17 and 31; February
14 and 28) on interreligious perspectives on the death penalty that is
part of the UNESCO Chair’s Prisons, Compassion, and Peace initiative.
This initiative will culminate in a conference March 14-15, and with
performances of the stirring opera version of Sister Helen Prejean’s
Dead Man Walking produced by Eugene Opera at the Hult Center on
March 15 and 17.
2 January 10, 2013 • eugeneweekly.com
CONTENTS
January 10-17, 2013
4 Letters
7 News
9 Slant
10 Feature: Art for Justice
10 Special Section: Weddings
16 Calendar
20 Galleries
21 Movies Wall to Wall
22 Music
25 Theater
Winter Cycling Gear
25 Gardening
26 Classifi eds
30 Personals (cid:55)(cid:105)(cid:62)(cid:204)(cid:133)(cid:105)(cid:192)(cid:171)(cid:192)(cid:156)(cid:156)(cid:118)(cid:202)(cid:141)(cid:62)(cid:86)(cid:142)(cid:105)(cid:204)(cid:195)(cid:93)(cid:202)(cid:171)(cid:62)(cid:152)(cid:204)(cid:195)(cid:93)(cid:202)(cid:125)(cid:143)(cid:156)(cid:219)(cid:105)(cid:195)(cid:93)(cid:202)(cid:171)(cid:62)(cid:86)(cid:142)(cid:195)(cid:93)(cid:202)(cid:62)(cid:152)(cid:96)(cid:202)(cid:195)(cid:133)(cid:156)(cid:105)(cid:202)(cid:86)(cid:156)(cid:219)(cid:105)(cid:192)(cid:195)(cid:176)(cid:202)(cid:22)(cid:76)(cid:105)(cid:221)(cid:202)(cid:220)(cid:62)(cid:192)(cid:147)(cid:93)(cid:202)(cid:195)(cid:156)(cid:118)(cid:204)(cid:93)(cid:202)
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RED MOLLY
WHO YOU GONNA BLAME?
EDITORIAL
Editor Ted Taylor
Assoc. Editor/Reporter Camilla Mortensen
Features & News Reporter Shannon Finnell
Arts Editor Alexandra Notman
Calendar Editor Andy Valentine
Contributing Editor Anita Johnson
Contributing Writers Anne Bridgman, Brett Campbell,
Rachael Carnes, Ulrick Casimir, Rachel Foster, Kayla
Godowa-Tufti, Anna Grace, Mark Harris, Natalie Horner,
William Kennedy, Rick Levin, Brian Palmer, Ephraim
Payne, Aaron Ragan-Fore, Vanessa Salvia, Sally Sheklow,
Lance Sparks, Mark Sullivan, Molly Templeton, David
Wagner, Jackie Varriano, Dante Zuñiga-West
Interns Nick Poust, Kevin Piaskowski, Amy Schneider
ART DEPARTMENT
Art Director/Production Manager Todd Cooper
Technology/Webmaster James Bateman
Graphic Artists Trask Bedortha, Sarah Decker
Contributing Photographers Paul Neevel, Rob Sydor
Photo Intern Athena Delene
ADVERTISING
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National Sales Manager Rob Weiss
Display Marketing Consultant Sharon Burnett,
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eugeneweekly.com • January 10, 2013 3
LETTERS
CIVILIZED SOLUTIONS action. If we make some relatively small
America: 350 million guns, 47,000 sacrifi ces now, we could make a difference.
psychiatrists. We have a constitutional right If the speed limit were reduced to 55 mph
to bear arms. We have no constitutional we would save burning one billion gallons
right to health care. of gasoline a year here in the U.S. alone,
America is the most heavily armed and if we parked our vehicles and walked or
nation in the world. America also leads biked, even better. Deforestation is second
the world in mental illness. Half of all only to fossil fuel burning in contributing
Americans develop at least one mental to global warming. We need to demand an
illness. Half of all cases begin during end to clearcuts and old-growth logging on
childhood. private, state and federal forestland.
Nearly half of all Americans have at A global tax on pollution is essential.
least one gun at home. The human brain That way clean energy, selectively
controls the gun. People will fi nd ways to harvested wood and other sustainable
end their pain. options would be competitively priced and
A civilized society offers civilized industry would be on a level playing fi eld.
solutions. A violent society offers violent It’s past time to take responsibility.
solutions. It’s easier to get a gun than see Pam Driscoll
a psychiatrist. It’s cheaper to buy a gun Dexter
than see a psychiatrist. Ammunition costs
less than medication. Bullets are just a few DON’T GIVE UP ON CLIMATE
cents each. In his Dec. 27 article on global warming,
God bless America. Tom Giesen says that “international
Pamela Wible, M.D. negotiations to agree to a treaty to reduce
Eugene emissions have so far proved useless, as the
process is long on rhetoric and intention,
SMALL SACRIFICES and bereft of action.”
Tom Giesen’s essay on global warming However, a new international treaty organization with over 60 local chapters, has UNSAFE FOR ALL
[12/27] nailed it. The level of denial in the is essential, because no country can deal been building the political will for Congress The city of Eugene South Willamette
U.S. is beyond frustrating. Recently I went with the global warming crisis alone. I’m to put a price on carbon. Grassroots activity Street Improvement Plan states its goal
to San Francisco for a Climate Reality not ready to give up. The world’s poorer can convince President Obama that his as helping south Willamette become a
Leadership training. There were 1,000 countries agreed in December 2011 that, hands are not tied in the negotiations. “vibrant urban corridor accessible by
attendees from 58 different countries. unlike under the Kyoto Accord, they would People can participate in one-hour bicycle, foot, car and bus now, and in the
They had to schedule a separate meeting be willing to have their emissions limited informational conference calls introducing future.” Currently South Willamette Street
for those in other nations to strategize, by legally binding targets. But President them to CCL on Wednesdays at 5 pm Pacifi c is frighteningly unsafe for all forms of
because they do not have global warming Obama seems to believe that the U.S. time, [phone] (toll-free), pass code travel. Reconfi guring it to our needs as a
denial. should not sign a treaty that the Senate will 440699#. community in touch with its time means a
Every academy of science in the world not ratify. Milton Takei design that puts more emphasis on walking,
agrees this is happening and is urging The Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL), an Eugene taking the bus, auto sharing and bicycling.

VIEWPOINT
BY CAROL VAN HOUTEN SHELLEY CORTEVILLE
Epidemic of Abuse
movement, the military has recently made two changes.
They changed Department of Defense personnel in
charge of SAPRO (Sexual Assault Prevention and
Response Offi ce) and they plan to move reporting
WHERE RAPE IS AN OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD
from the immediate superior to the next higher offi cer.
Those are not solutions; they are tinkering around the
T edges. The only solution is to institute a system similar
he U.S. military has a well-kept and report to their rapist nor look to him or her for justice! to what civilian victims have, independent police,
shameful secret. It is called military sexual Most of all, for a commanding offi cer, an allegation investigators and litigators who represent the interests
trauma, and it is of epic proportions, of sexual assault in his or her unit will refl ect badly on of the victim, not the interests of the military.
with over 3,000 reported rapes or sexual his or her leadership and hence any future promotion Our goal is changing the military so that assault
assaults occurring each year. Because of possibilities. Consequently, in the few instances when victims will get justice. This dirty little secret must
under-reporting, it is estimated that the actual number victims report the assault, the frequent outcome is that be exposed and the system that sustains it must be
of incidents is closer to 19,000 per year or an average she is penalized and the perpetrator is absolved or even changed.
of 52 per day. promoted. To achieve this goal, both locally and nationally,
Despite previous public exposure of widespread Victims who report generally experience two many concerned groups and individuals are showing
sexual assault and despite the military stating that it traumas: the initial sexual assault and then the assault the fi lm, The Invisible War. The fi lm, using veterans’
has “zero tolerance” for sexual assault, this epidemic by the command system punishing the reporting victim. stories, exposes the pain of the assaults on both male
continues. In fact, the military allows for, and even All the incentives in such a command structure are to and female military members and the inaction of
encourages, military sexual trauma. The military is a stop the reporting, not to stop the assaults. Perpetrators Congress and the military.
command structure organization and this means the get a clear message that they can get away, even get Help achieve that goal by attending local showings
victim must report rape or sexual assault through the rewarded for raping and assaulting. of the fi lm, The Invisible War, at 7 pm Friday, Jan.
chain of command. Frequently that means reporting Congress has repeatedly failed to take signifi cant 11, at the Wildish Theater in Springfi eld; at 2:30 pm
either directly to the perpetrator or to a friend of the action to require the military to change. The court has Saturday, Jan. 12, at the Siuslaw Public Library in
perpetrator. even declared that rape is an occupational hazard of Florence, and at 6:30 pm Wednesday, Jan. 16, at the
The commanding offi cer is not a trained criminal enlistment in the military, hard as that is to imagine in Community Center, 600 E Gibbs St., Cottage Grove.
investigator. There is no separate system of police, this day and age.
investigator and litigators who represent the interests Around the country there is a small, but growing,
Carol Van Houten is coordinator of Truth In Recruiting, a program of
and well-being of the victim. This is completely voice for real change so that victims have competent, Community Alliance of Lane County. Shelley Corteville works with Veter-
different from civilian life, where survivors do not independent legal help. Seemingly in response to this ans for Peace, Chapter 159 and is an Army veteran.
4 January 10, 2013 • eugeneweekly.com
The Shedd Institute
Facilitating auto and truck volumes that DESPICABLE DRIVERS
www.theshedd.org - 541-434-7000
benefi t rather than impair our environment, I have to go to downtown Eugene about
personal and public health, and economic once a week. Over the past year I have been
needs will make Willamette safe, inviting keeping a tally of how many cars fail to
Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour
and inclusive. None of them need exclude yield to pedestrians who are crossing the
the other. Within the 60 feet of right-of- street legally in crosswalks. During each
way we have the chance to do something visit downtown, I saw at least one driver
we can all be very proud of. who made an illegal turn in front of me.
David H. Gizara Once I saw a driver attempting to make a
Eugene left turn from 13th onto Willamette in front
of Chase Bank.
CONGRATULATIONS A disabled woman was crossing
Thank you Eugene City Council legally with the walk sign and the driver
members George Brown and Paul Conte sadistically leaned on his horn and honked
for setting a legal precedent for a group of at the woman relentlessly. When she fi nally
Dee Dee Bridgewater
affected and concerned citizens to stand reached the curb she was shaking and crying
up to a large developer like Capstone and so I stopped to console her. She kept saying; Christian McBride
force them to include the safety of people “I can’t walk fast, I can’t walk fast.” It was Benny Green Friday
and the environment involved so that the despicable! Lewis Nash Student 01.11
shareholders’ dividends refl ect the price On Christmas Eve downtown, six cars
Chris Potter discounts
of doing business, and to have a citizen- failed to yield to me while I was crossing
Ambrose Akinmusire Hult Center: 541-682-5000
controlled watchdog committee doggin’ legally at a crosswalk. They were either
their paper trail. running a stop sign or making a turn onto
Vince Loving a one-way street at a red light without
Eugene looking for pedestrians. Today a driver not
only failed to stop at a stop sign, but when
AVAILABLE SHELTER I stood my ground in the crosswalk where I
This is a letter of concern for the people had the right of way, and pointed at her and
of Eugene who are at this time homeless. said “You have to stop!” she hit her gas and
By no fault of their own but because of the swerved around me recklessly to cut me off,
commercial confl ict that is happening in driving on the wrong side of the road.
our economy. Eugene is supposed to be a town for “arts
Their immediate need is for a place to and outdoors” but if you are walking you
sleep, and I think there is an answer. If the risk your life, and now even the bicyclists
City Hall, which is vacant, could be opened are speeding down sidewalks, afraid to
to these folks for a sleep-over, there are a share the road with cars.
number of rooms available. There is a pernicious culture of selfi shness
Also there are 350 beds vacant in the that has pervaded life in this town. People
Lane County Jail that could be used by who own three-ton gas-powered missiles
these folks. No need to have a warm have “gun control” — it is called a driver’s
building go to waste when there are bodies license. However, this does not give them
that need a place to rest and sleep, in a dry free license to use their vehicles as weapons
area. to intimidate pedestrians.
Food is not a need at this time Eileen Polk
because there are a number of volunteer Eugene
organizations that have programs for
helping the people with meals. We would OUR WILD RIDE
be providing a place where the food “Fire all of your guns at once, and
could be delivered to a central spot for explode into space” [lyrics from the song
distribution — solving a problem for these “Born to be Wild”]. The lines to get in gun
volunteers. shows are blocks long. The price of semi-
The people paid for these buildings in assault weapons (my word for them) has
the past with their tax dollars and now is doubled in one month. Permits for concealed
the time to show that there is a heart in weapons permits are skyrocketing.
Eugene that returns a favor when a fellow The $633 billion military industrial
neighbor is in need. Camping out is fi ne in complex budget has doubled in the last 10
the summer and good weather but in the years. Billions are spent to militarize space.
cold, wet weather that frequents this area The daily death count from drone strikes is
there is a real problem of fl u and of course growing.
pneumonia that is always a worry for those Like apes using bones to kill, I guess we Loudon Wainwright
less healthy. are really “born to be wild.”
Robert Mueller Michael T. Hinojosa Dar Williams
Veneta Drain
Wed. Jan 16
The Shedd
10 am
& 1 pm
Moombah! Saturday Jan 19
EW-Shedd-2013-01-10-HalfVertical.indd 1 eugeneweekly.com • January1 /91/200,1 32 0111:436:11 A5M
NEWS
munity and around the state (or out of town).” She continues, for improvements to the areas around the student housing
“Fortunately or unfortunately, the current misunderstandings project.
UO DIVERSITY have created a heightened focus on the offi ce and issues of Conte says that he’ll keep $50,000 to reimburse himself
equity and inclusion.” for legal fees, a professional transportation analysis and
OFFICE DEBACLE When asked if Gary, Ball or Hernandez might be retained fi ling fees, but $210,000 will be deposited into an escrow
under the new structure, Alex-Assensoh writes that “I cannot account for community benefi ts managed by Conte, City
A recent Register-Guard article about restructuring the discuss the status of the administrators because it involves per- Councilor George Brown and Carolyn Jacobs of the South
University of Oregon’s Offi ce of Equity and Inclusion set off sonnel issues. Employment law and decency toward my col- University Neighborhood Association. Conte says that he
a fi restorm among students, many of whom were gone for leagues prevent me from offering any comment at this time.” turned down an offer to take money directly and never
break when they heard the restructuring involved ending the Alex-Assensoh scheduled a student town hall meeting for intended to benefi t fi nancially from his appeals. “I spent
contracts of three popular administrators. 3 pm Jan. 11 in the Ben Linder Room of the EMU and she somewhere at about $55,000 on this thing plus or minus a
The blog UO Matters, which often takes the school to task writes, “We are also looking forwarding to hosting a series of thousand or two,” Conte says. “At the end of all this, I will
for its administrative issues, said that while the R-G’s story fo- community-related forums to invite input on the next phase of be out a few thousand bucks.”
cused on “complaints from local minority leaders about lack the strategic planning for inclusion and equity. Any updates With the money, Conte says that the escrow managers
of consultation. My view to the meeting places will will try to accomplish the recommendations that Eugene
is very different. This of- be noted on ‘Around the Community Advisory Team wanted written into Cap-
‘Fortunately or unfortunately,
fi ce has been horribly mis- O.’” “Around the O” is the stone’s Multiple-Unit Property Tax Exemption (MUPTE)
managed for years.” the current misunderstandings UO’s newly launched in- when the Eugene City Council passed it in May 2012. He
There was a rally on ternal news service, oper- says that helping Olive Plaza residents who will need air
campus in support of the have created a heightened focus ated by the Strategic Com- fi ltration during the summer construction is at the top of
administrators on the fi rst munications Offi ce. his list. “One of my fi rst priorities is to work with residents
on issues of equity and inclusion.’
day of winter classes led Earlier this month Pro- there to do what we can to mitigate the kinds of impacts
by UO Native American vost Jim Bean posted on that may arise from dust and noise during construction,”
 YVETTE ALEXASSENSOH, OEI
student body representa- the “Around the O” blog he says.
tive Ada Ball. Ball writes that the R-G story “claims Conte also wants to help make nearby Charnel Mul-
in a statement that “Native American students were dismayed that the UO has decided to ‘gut’ the former Offi ce of Insti- ligan City Park (at 16th and Charnelton) better. “There’s
to learn that Vice President Dr. Tom Ball at the UO was told tutional Equity and Diversity. Nothing could be further from been a lot of abuse of the park through people spending
his contract would not be continued on account of restructur- the truth.” time there and urinating, defecating, breaking things, ex-
ing of the Offi ce of Equity and Inclusion.” She wrote that the About 50 students attended the rally and march organized changing drugs, using drugs and leaving drug parapher-
Native American students “had to learn about this through by Ball on Jan. 7 and delivered letters for UO President Mi- nalia — serious stuff.” He says that the city is working on
their community without any announcement from the UO.” chael Gottfredson. They are recommending that the UO “cre- getting grants to improve the design and layout of the park,
The contracts of Emilio Hernandez and Carla Gary will ate an Offi ce of Native American Affairs with a director posi- and the escrow account might be used to get the commu-
also be discontinued. Black Student Union Co-director Olivia tion at the assistant vice president level that reports directly to nity, including the nearby students, engaged in activities at
Manwarren said of Gary, “She has been a strong and tireless the president, with the responsibility of budgetary authority of the park, deterring drug-related usage.
advocate for African-American students in and outside of the the Many Nations Longhouse and the position of leadership The third purpose of the funding is to look at bicycle
Black Student Union. Dr. Gary makes the UO feel safer for for the UO Native Strategies initiative.” — Camilla Mortensen and pedestrian safety and any changes the Capstone proj-
us as students, and makes us feel welcome here on campus.” ect might necessitate, he says.
UO Matters has taken the UO to task for what it calls CAPSTONE AND Conte says that the city manager, mayor and city staff
“administrative bloat” and cites a recent Wall Street Journal rushed the MUPTE process, which unfairly tilted it in fa-
article that put the school as the “fourth highest of 72 public CONTE SETTLE vor of developers at the expense of the community. He says
‘high research category’ universities in the percentage of total that other communities dealing with Capstone got more
spending that goes to administration.” FOR $260,000 community benefi ts than Eugene did, and the city should
Yvette Alex-Assensoh, vice president of the Offi ce of Eq- have slowed down and negotiated. “I can’t say this for
uity and Inclusion (OEI), responded to questions from EW via That’s not rain outside; it’s the 1,200-resident Capstone certain, but from early discussions I had with Capstone’s
email. She writes that “since I arrived on campus in August student housing development moving full steam ahead principal and learning what they’ve done for other com-
2012, I have been carrying out my work that has been cut now that the company has settled with neighborhood advo- munities, I think they would have gladly done that as part
out for me, yet I have also been on a virtual listening tour, cate Paul Conte for $260,000 in exchange for Conte drop- of doing business,” Conte says.
whereby I have actively engaged in active discussions with all ping land-use and planning-related legal appeals. Conte The city manager did not reply to a request for com-
of my staff at OEI, numerous people on campus, in the com- and two other fund managers will use much of the money ment by press time.
lighten up
Good news for a change. Scorecard on Duck football post season:
Oregon 35 — Kansas State 17, Oregon 1 — NFL 0.
BY RAFAEL ALDAVE
IT’S ABOUT TIME

BY DAVID WAGNER
M
igration is the word for this month. The ponds and reservoirs in the valley are teeming with winter residents. Nothing
makes having nice binoculars pay off more than feasting the eyes on the intricate patterns of a male green winged
teal, shovelhead or bufflehead. I never get over the flash of amazement at how quickly a bufflehead can spin over
and disappear under the water on a dive. Similarly startling is a cormorant suddenly coming up like a submarine
periscope breaking a glassy surface.
Out at the coast another migration is under way. Gray whales are passing southbound at rates reaching 30 per hour in early
January. Promontories like Yaquina Head are excellent viewing spots. Many coastal overlooks will have volunteer naturalists
providing information about the whales. The next big wave of migration will be in May when the cows and calves pass northward.
Keeping the suet cages and seed feeders well stocked invites regular visitation of little birds. The bushtits tend to stick together
in large, coherent groups. It is hilarious to watch a dozen or so trying to crowd onto one suet feeder. The backyard feeders are
tended by mixed feeding flocks that also may include juncos, nuthatches, pine siskins and, my favorite, the chickadees. I think I BLACK
like the chickadees best of all because they keep up with cheery calls even in gloomy weather. CAPPED
People who miss my Willamette Valley Nature Calendar can download calendar pages for 2013 from the link provided on my CHICKADEE
website, listed below.
David Wagner is a botanist who has worked in Eugene for more than 30 years. He teaches nature drawing and moss identifi cation classes. Visit his website: fernzenmosses.com
6 January 10, 2013 • eugeneweekly.com
TOMO TSURUMI
One objection to the deal emailed to the mayor and City DRUNK BASHES
Council compared the settlement to extortion, and another
decried the power of neighborhood organizations. Conte SAX IN THE CITY
says his actions weren’t as a part of any neighborhood or-
ganization. At bar close in the Barmuda Triangle on Tues-
MUPTE could be changing in the near future. Conte day, Dec. 4, Tomo Tsurumi — saxophonist for Voli-
says, “Looking forward, however, Councilor Brown has fonix and origami artist — was attacked by a twen-
indicated an interest to other councilors in an ordinance ty-something Caucasian male with fair, long curly
that would suspend MUPTE entirely for new applications hair. Tsurumi, who has been busking with his alto
until council can really carefully examine what they can saxophone in downtown Eugene for the past seven
get out of these very large tax exemptions.” years, says he had stepped into Jameson’s for one
Conte cites Portland as a place that uses tax breaks to beer before bar close. Upon exiting, Tsurumi was
accomplish community benefi ts by capping the exemp- approached by a “drunk and happy” man.
tion and requiring benefi ts such as low-income housing to “He tried to mosh pit me,” Tsurumi says, whose
qualify for the exemption (see wkly.ws/19j for more). “If saxophone case was strapped to his back. Tsurumi
we can’t do those, one alternative is to just get rid of it. dodged the attack and says he then tried to explain
I don’t think we’re getting the benefi ts out of the current to the man that he was carrying a valuable instru-
program, especially not being used to produce more stu- ment. “Without saying anything, he lost his smile
dent housing when the market’s already fl ooded,” he says. and pushed me against the Jameson’s cement wall.”
— Shannon Finnell The attack broke the saxophone case and caused
$1,000 in damage to the saxophone. Tsurumi has
BOARD DISCUSSES DINGLE raised $100 and is hoping to raise more to fi x the
instrument at Pacifi c Winds. He is hosting fundrais-
The Lane Board of County Commissioners had sched- ers on Jan. 15 at Cozmic and Jan. 26 at The Granary.
uled a vote to appoint Senior Assistant County Counsel Tsurumi will be performing with his tenor sax and
Stephen Dingle as the new county counsel at their Jan. 8 will be giving away origami art.
meeting, but postponed the issue of Dingle’s contract, voting “Without my saxophone, I would have been
instead on another part of the agenda item — to re-create the hurt,” he says. Tsurumi only remembers the offend-
Offi ce of Lane County Legal Counsel as a separate county er hopping on a truck bed after the attack because he
department. left immediately, not wanting to be attacked again.
Alex Gardner, the Lane County district attorney, has been He reported the incident to the police but he says
simultaneously serving as the acting county counsel, and there’s little they can do besides take down informa-
when the decision was made to appoint him in November tion. Tsurumi has returned to busking but says he’s
2011, the county counsel’s offi ce was added to the DA’s of- more suspicious of people now.
fi ce and called the Civil Division. “People shouldn’t use their power for harass-
The County Commission voted to transfer control of the ment,” he says. His message for Eugene? “Drink
county counsel’s offi ce back to the board’s control. “I’m glad R responsibly.”
E
P
the board transferred back the function,” Sorenson said. He OO Tomo Tsurumi plays 5 pm Tuesday, Jan. 15, at
C
and former fellow progressive commissioner Rob Handy DD Cozmic and 9 pm (opening for Garin Reese) Satur-
O
T
had previously voted against transferring the functions of the BY day, Jan. 26, at The Granary. — Alex Notman
O
>>> CONTINUED ON P. 8 HOT
P
Office visits starting at $99
Same Day Appointments
Justin Montoya, MD
1410 Oak St, Ste 102 in the Keiper Spine building
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eugeneweekly.com • January 10, 2013 7
NEWS
The Fun with Fermentation Festival is from 11 am
to 4 pm Saturday, Jan. 12, at the WOW Hall, 291 W. 8th
Ave. in Eugene. The fourth annual event is a fundraiser
for FOOD for Lane County and the Willamette Valley
Sustainable Foods Alliance. Admission is on a sliding
scale, $10-$20 per person or $5 with two cans of
food. Kids 12 and under are free. The event focuses
on the many ways fermentation is used in making
foods and drinks. Businesses involved include
Coconut Bliss, Cousin Jack’s Pasty Co., Falling Sky
Brewing, Grateful Harvest Farm, Herbal Junction, Holy
Cow, Hop Valley Brewing, Kombucha Mama, Master
Food Preservers, McKenzie Mist, Mountain Rose
Herbs, Ninkasi, Oakshire, Premrose Edibles, Pure
Peppers, Vanilla Jills, Viva Vegetarian Grill and the
local chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation. See
www.wvsfalliance.org
Womenspace, the “primary provider of intimate
partner violence services” in Lane County, has closed
its walk-in advocacy service at its Crisis and Support
Center on Pearl Street in Eugene. Domestic violence
services will still be provided through the 24-hour
Crisis Line. Executive Director Peggy Whalen says she
hopes to reinstate walk-in services in the future. She
says Womenspace provides services to more than
4,500 adults and children annually, but has seen big >>> CONTINUED FROM P. 7 Occupier and activist Alley Valkyrie, whose citation for pro-
cutbacks in both government agency funding and
offi ce out of board control. Pat Farr now replaces Handy on testing in the Free Speech Plaza in December spurred this
private donations. See www.womenspaceinc.org
the board’s North Eugene seat. protest, would be unable to attend Eugene City Council or
Local cycling enthusiasts will be gathering for a Gardner said the 5-0 vote shows that the county counsel Lane County Commission meetings as a result of her tres-
bike event at 1 pm Saturday, Jan. 12, at the David “is working better than ever before.” pass citation.
Minor Theater, 180 E. 5th Ave. in Eugene. Suggested
Sorenson was dubious over the original agenda item that The Eugene Police Department reported about 100 peo-
donation is $10 and all proceeds will go to Trips for
called for appointing Dingle as the county’s attorney without ple came to the late-night protest, 18 were cited and two were
Kids-CAT, a mountain bike group for youth. The biking
a full search. “We should be interviewing people that want to arrested. The protest was broadcast live on Ustream and the
film Premium Rush will be shown and prizes will be
be the legal counsel; there’s a certain degree of fairness, you interactions between cops and activists appeared amicable
given away from REI, Blue Heron Bicycles, Co-Motion
advertise and interview. You don’t just appoint someone,” he and at times jovial. Arrestees were swiftly cited and released.
Cycles, Rolf Prima, Hutch’s Bicycles, Dianne Davis,
LMT, Willamette Mercantile and Pauls’s Bicycle Way of said. Among those cited was a recent Army veteran (82nd Air-
Life. Sorenson had also expressed concerns when Gardner was borne Division) who said he was getting arrested for the right
appointed acting county counsel in November 2011 because, to free speech that he had gone to war for. Two 16-year-olds
Local yoga teachers are offering Yoga Day 2013, a
he said at the time, he had concerns over possible confl icts were also cited and the group ranged from students to a pro-
day of classes and demonstrations from 9 am to 2 pm
of interest. For example if the county legal department were tester who celebrated his 68th birthday by getting arrested
Saturday, Jan. 12, at Willamalane Center, 215 W. C St.
in Springfield. Suggested donation for the day is $10 to turn down a public records request, the appeal goes to the for his free speech rights.
and beginners are welcome. Instructors include DA’s offi ce. Earlier that day in his prepared remarks, Commissioner
Justine Halliwill, Christen Bradshaw, Kate Hirst, Erik Gardner said via email that he had “agreed to accept the Leiken said: “I am happy to report that Lane County as a
Lovendahl and Suman Barkus. The event is a benefit extra work without additional compensation, so I could apply government, Lane County as a people and Lane County as
for Suman’s brother in Mongolia who was injured in a the resulting savings to our looming budget defi cit.” He said a growing, thriving community, chose to use these hardships
car accident. See www.taichiyogacenter.com he was stepping down because the year he agreed to serve we were presented with to refi ne us, to shape us and to bet-
Feet First! is a new kind of massage studio in the was up and that before taking on the functions of the county ter us.”
back of Studio 508 at 5th and Blair in the Whiteaker counsel he ran “several potentially challenging scenarios” by Those hardships have included the recent closing of Wo-
neighborhood. Michelle Wallace practices Ashiatsu or the Oregon attorney general’s offi ce. He cited several other, menspace’s free walk-in and referral service for victims of
barefoot massage therapy. She tells us she uses smaller, Oregon counties that had dual DA/county counsels. domestic violence, loss of funding to key county programs
“bars overhead for balance and gravity for pressure,
At the same meeting the board voted that Sid Leiken and the weekly releases of prisoners from the Lane County
the feet provide broad, even strokes that are
would be chair for a second year and Jay Bozievich to serve Jail due to lack of funds. Conservative board members have
therapeutic and relaxing.” Call 543-0290 or find Feet
a second year as vice chair. Sorenson voted against Boziev- advocated for more logging to boost county funds.
First! on Facebook.
ich. — Camilla Mortensen Commissioner Pete Sorenson, newly elected to a record
Lord Leebrick Theatre has received a $50,000 fi fth term, said in his prepared remarks that he would work
grant from the Collins Foundation for its new West
STATE OF THE COUNTY: to protect “our veterans, seniors, the unhoused, crime victims
Broadway theater downtown. The gift brings the total
and those with disabilities.” He also said he would work to
raised to $2.15 million, close to the fundraising goal
UNDERFUNDED, PROTESTED end “systemic discrimination against Native Americans, Af-
of $2.3 million. The new theater will open Jan. 25 with
rican Americans and Latinos — as well as any other group
the Pulitzer Prize winning musical Next to Normal.
Sid Leiken, chair of the Lane County Board of Commis- who’s traditionally suffered from discrimination,” and work
Last fall the theater also got a $10,000 grant from
James F & Marion L. Miller Foundation. To help wrap sioners, put a positive spin on hope for the poor state of the for for gay and lesbian rights. Sorenson said he would “work
up the campaign, contact Artistic Director Craig Willis county’s fi nances during his State of the County address on to defend freedom of speech and assembly and advance ani-
at 684-6988 or email [email protected] Jan. 7. Leiken focused on the positive improvements in areas mal welfare and public health. I will work to protect our cli-
such as community health, while members of SLEEPS (Safe mate and to reverse the warming trend and damage — doing
The Coalition of Land Trusts has received an
unprecedented grant of $4.5 million from the family Legally Entitled Emergency Places to Sleep) protested out- all I can to get jobs created and restore the environment.”
of John Gray, who died Oct. 19, 2012, according to side Harris Hall to advocate for the homeless. The County Commission’s list of committee and agency
Joe Moll, executive director of the McKenzie River Later that same night a protest was held to call attention to assignments that range from public safety to housing was
Trust, one of the beneficiaries of the Gray family’s Yarg County Administrator Liane Richardson’s controversial de- posted on Jan. 8. Out of 38 committees and agencies, So-
Foundation. Gray was a prominent Portland developer cision to shut down protest in the Wayne Morse Free Speech renson, the longest-serving and most experienced commis-
and business leader who created the resorts at Plaza. Holding signs that said, “free speech has no curfew,” sioner, was listed as being on only two: liaison to the Long
Salishan, Sunriver and Skamania Lodge, along with a group of 20 protesters chose not to leave the plaza when Tom Watershed Council and the Law Library Advisory
the John’s Landing redevelopment in Portland. The
police arrived to enforce the 11 pm curfew. Many protest- Committee.
foundation plans to invest a total of $10 million over
ers, who had originally planned to get arrested for their First Though he is listed as serving on the Housing Policy
10 years to support the land trust movement in
Amendment rights, left the plaza because they found out that Board, Leiken did not mention the issue of homelessness in
Oregon. See mckenzieriver.org
as a result of a trespass citation they, like SLEEPS advocate, his address. — Camilla Mortensen
8 January 10, 2013 • eugeneweekly.com
New Year’s Resolution… WE’VE MOVED!
SLANT
Learn another language!
For 15+ years the UO’s
Yamada Language Center
• A critically important message to American educators, and all the rest of us, came from Dr.
has offered small group instruction in
Yong Zhao Jan. 4 at the City Club of Eugene meeting at the Hilton. He’s the UO College of
the world’s emerging languages
Education associate dean for global and online learning. Zhao said American education is
classic. inspired.
copying Chinese education while the Chinese are moving in the opposite direction, copying to adults in the local community.
America. That means more standardization, more centralization and more testing for American
kids, practices in China that have hurt innovation and entrepreneurship. “Everything has Winter term course offerings
focused on passing tests ... no intrinsic interest in education, only what you know to pass for LT 199 include:
tests,” according to Zhao. Chinese (3 levels), Dutch, d7e6l9i mcoinoruoes.
Modern Greek, Modern Hebrew,
• We like these Conestoga huts that are being built as emergency shelters for homeless (next to sweet life)
Persian/Farsi, Turkish, Vietnamese
folks in Lane County. Perhaps this clever design could be put to good use elsewhere around the
Wolof, and Lushootseed (online). noliitaliancafe.com
country and the world where people need waterproof, lockable shelters. A group gathered at the
Episcopal Church of the Resurrection Jan. 5 to assemble two of the huts to be used at the church 541.844.1663
property. The biggest need now is for more places to site dozens of the huts, according to Dan Interested?
Bryant, pastor of the First Christian Church and board chair of Occupy Village Eugene (OVE). We do takeout
Orientation is Jan. 10, 5:30-7:00.
“Lots of folks are giving to build them, not so many are offering places to put them,” he says. Two
2 hours per week, 9 weeks, $125.
business leaders spoke at the gathering, Tim Laue of Essex Construction, and Sue Scott of Scott OPEN FOR LUNCH
and Sons Towing. Both talked about the benefits of having people camping in vehicles or huts Tues-Sat 11:30am-2:30pm
on their properties. In addition to sites, donations of labor, building materials and money are still Yamada Language Center DINNER:
needed. Each hut costs about $400 to $500 to build. Checks can be sent made out to St. Vincent Pacific Hall 121, 346-4319
Tues-Thurs 5pm - 9pm
de Paul, designated for OVE and mailed to CALC, 458 Blair Blvd., Eugene 97402. Cornbread Cafe’s http://babel.uoregon.edu
Fri-Sat 5pm-10pm
fundraiser is 4-9pm Jan. 13. Call 606-3480 or visit www.conestogahuts.org
• Good! It should be a sure thing that Chips Kelly will stay on the menu at the Wild Duck Café
on Villard. Great chips. We’d hate to lose them.
• The fight to preserve Waldo Lake’s quiet, wilderness ambiance and clear waters is back
and it might not go so well this time. Gas-powered motor boats are banned from the lake, thanks
to a vote of the Oregon Marine Board last spring, but much noisier, more dangerous and
potentially more polluting seaplanes are expected to get a friendly nod for Waldo, with some
restrictions, from the Oregon Aviation Board. The OAV will meet, hear testimony and likely adopt
recommended rules when it meets from 6 to 8 pm Tuesday, Jan. 31, at the Willamalane Center
in Springfield. Complicating the issue is Oregon’s odd and inconsistent statutory language: A
seaplane is a boat when it’s on the water and taxiing, but it’s an airplane when it’s landing or
taking off. But is it a motor boat? What about the 10 mph speed limit on Waldo? Jurisdiction is a
gray area, and the Marine Board is deferring to the Aviation Board.
The big issues here are super noisy take-offs and the fact that seaplanes can crash and sink,
causing huge pollution in a highly sensitive environment. Seaplanes have also been blamed for
transporting invasive species. And back in 1994 a landing seaplane’s pontoons killed a mom
and dad out for a family canoe paddle on the Willamette River, sparing their two children’s lives
by inches. The email addresses of Aviation Board members can be found at http://wkly.ws/1eu
• Not that we need any more lurid descriptions of pedophiles ravaging small boys in this
country, but the January issue of Harper’s magazine has a memoir too powerful to miss. It must
have been an agonizing decision for Barry Lopez to tell the terrible story of his own brutal
mistreatment from ages 7 to 11 in this national magazine. But he tells it with his usual precision
and fine fidelity to detail. Lopez, who lives up the McKenzie River and is certainly the most
famous writer in our region, has authored 13 works of fiction and non-fiction. In this piece, he
really forces the reader to vow to do everything possible to prevent, expose and punish such
crimes and their enablers. He also forces himself to confront the trauma of sexual abuse. Both
are huge accomplishments.
SLANT INCLUDES SHORT OPINION PIECES, OBSERVATIONS AND RUMOR-CHASING NOTES COMPILED BY THE EW STAFF. HEARD
ANY GOOD RUMORS LATELY?
CONTACT TED TAYLOR AT 484-0519, [email protected]
ACTIVIST LERT • Death and Taxes, a film about war tax
resisters and their motivations, will be shown
at 7 pm Thursday, Jan. 10, at CALC, 458 Blair
• The Eugene Bicycle and Pedestrian Blvd. Contact Peg Morton at 342-2914.
Advisory Committee meets at 5:30 pm
• The Streets Food Cart at 6th and
Thursday, Jan. 10, at the Atrium Building, 99
Lincoln in Eugene opened as a way to
W. 10th Ave. New member orientation is on
integrate former prisoners back into society,
the agenda.
and is celebrating its one year anniversary
• The Eugene Police Commission meets with a fundraiser from 9 am to 2 pm Saturday,
at 5:30 pm Thursday, Jan. 10, at EPD Jan. 12. All proceeds will go towards paying
headquarters, Kilcullen Room, 300 Country off the health expenses of Drew and Michelle
Club Road. A public forum will be followed by Wattier of Eugene who were struck by a hit-
a discussion of domestic violence policy. and-run driver outside their hotel in Los
Cabos, Mexico, Nov. 30. Both remained
• Eugene could use more good cops.
hospitalized. Drew Wattier is a member of the
Police Officer Career Night is at 6 pm
Lane County Sheriff’s Department.
Thursday, Jan. 10, at the city’s Emergency
Services Training Center, 1705 West 2nd Ave. • A community meeting on public safety
EPD is currently accepting applications and in Lane County is being planned for 6 to 8
the pay range is $54,808 to $69,888 per pm Thursday, Jan. 17, at the Hilyard
year plus “comprehensive” benefits. See Community Center, 2580 Hilyard St. in
www.eugene-or.gov/jobs Eugene. See more information next week.
eugeneweekly.com • January 10, 2013 9
THE ART OF and-gown collaboration including the Eugene Opera,
Sponsors, Inc., Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts
(DIVA) and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.
The sentiment from The Brothers Karamazov strikes at
the heart of restorative justice. In a state whose prisons and
RESTORATIVE
jails are overflowing, many want an alternative to the
current U.S. penal system, which focuses on the crime, the
criminal and a punishment. Restorative justice focuses on
the healing of victims, offenders and the community and
JUSTICE their common agreement on how all parties can move
Eugene conference forward in the aftermath of an offense. Beyond
collaboration, this conference illustrates how the arts via
illustrates how
exhibits like Visions from Within, featuring artwork from
the arts can teach prisoners or former prisoners, The Last Supper, a painted
study of death row inmates’ last meal requests, and the
B Y A L E X N O T M A N and heal opera Dead Man Walking itself, can inform and heal a
community more than criminal justice.
M Visions from Within
ore than 130 years after Fyodor along with what Dostoyevsky was saying because I’m
Dostoyevsky wrote The Brothers responsible for the suffering brought to my victims.” Later Joey Hampton wraps his hands around a cup of coffee
Karamazov, UO professor and UNESCO in private, Shankman discussed the inmate’s own at Noisette Pastry Kitchen on a blustery winter morning.
chair Steven Shankman explored the victimization with him, and how the student-inmate had “I’ve been doing artwork for most of my life,” he says.
meaning of the Russian novelist’s text within the walls of endured years of physical abuse at the hands of his parents. Hampton was released from the Deer Ridge Correctional
Salem’s Oregon State Penitentiary. Shankman describes it “I’m willing to grant the guy next to me a break,” the Institute on July 18 after spending two and a half years in
as “one of the extraordinary moments in class,” or the inmate said, tears streaming down his face. “But when it prison for possessing and delivering heroin. Since his
Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, in which Shankman comes to me, I did it, I’m responsible.” release, Hampton has been living at Sponsors’ Roosevelt
brought students from the UO to discuss literature and The Inside-Out Prison Exchange is part of a three-year Crossing transitional housing location. Sponsors provides
ethics with Salem inmates. One passage in particular left a UO and UNESCO initiative “Prisons and Peace” that re-entry and transitional services to people released from
lasting impression on the students: culminates with “Prisons, Compassion, and Peace,” a Lane County jails and prisons.
“Remember especially that you cannot be the judge of citywide conference that begins this month and ends with Hampton is participating in Sponsors’ Visions from
anyone. For there can be no judge of a criminal on earth the Pacific Northwest March premiere of Jake Heggie’s Within exhibit that will show artwork by incarcerated or
until the judge knows that he, too, is a criminal, exactly the opera, Dead Man Walking, preceded by a meet-and-greet formerly incarcerated artists at DIVA, the Eugene Library
same as the one who stands before him, and that he is with Heggie and with author and restorative justice and the Eugene Airport’s Gallery at the Airport. “It was a
perhaps most guilty of all for the crime of the one standing advocate Sister Helen Prejean, who wrote the book Dead way to have this population be represented in our 40th, to
before him.” Man Walking about her firsthand account of being a have this demographic be there when they really can’t be
After studying the quote, Shankman says one of the spiritual adviser to inmates on death row. The conference, there,” Sponsors Executive Assistant Trish DeJohn says,
inmates, or “inside” students, told the class: “I can’t go which features over 20 events, is an unprecedented town- sitting next to Hampton. Visions from Within is also a
celebration of Sponsors’ 40th anniversary this March. The
only requirement for contributing artists was that their
work expresses their experience in prison.
“If one person walks by a painting at any of the three
galleries and has some sort of new awareness about
Sponsors or a conversion in their heart … that this is not an
‘other,’ this is someone like me who appreciates something
beautiful. That could do a lot to healing some of the
wounds in our community,” DeJohn says. “These people
who come back to Sponsors are coming home. It’s actually
a law; they have to be released to the county where their
crime happened. These people are not other, they are us!”
DeJohn goes on to say these offenders have victims, but
“they, too, were victimized.”
Hampton nods. He grew up in Eugene, off River Road
in a “hippie” neighborhood where he was exposed to drugs
and alcohol by age 11. His mother, who was addicted to
diet pills, and his stepfather, who was an abusive alcoholic,
raised Hampton. As a child, he witnessed his stepfather
molest his sister and then his sister molested him. “After a
while, when you’re told that you’re a piece of shit so many
times, you start to believe it,” Hampton says. He turned to
drugs to escape how he was feeling. And while drugs
helped him escape the pain, art helped escape the prison of
his own experience.
“Art can be a real positive outlet for me, especially
dealing with my disease,” Hampton says. Hampton, 48, is
a longtime survivor of HIV, diagnosed in 1998. “It’s a way
for me to get away from everything, focus on something,
and not have to worry about that for a little while”
Hampton says he’s been in and out of prison his whole life,
and sharpened his hyper-realist graphite drawing techniques
while behind bars. “That’s why prison produces such
amazing artists,” he says, “because you have all that time
A to hone your skills.”
H
T “Art is one of the few things that people can engage in,
R
O
D in prison, that’s constructive,” Sponsors Executive Director
E
B
K Paul Solomon adds. He hopes the exhibit and conference
S
RA will break down barriers between Eugene citizens and
T
Y re-entry participants through the lens of art. “Re-entry is
B
TO critical. Without support, it makes it difficult.”
JOEY HAMPTON O
H Hampton, who can no longer work due to his health, is
P
10 January 10, 2013 • eugeneweekly.com