Yesterday the Register Guard performed its required duty as an Oregon newspaper by printing another scary story on the so-called “meth epidemic.” How scary, you say? The front-page headline reads “New fear for parents: candy-flavored meth”.

That’s right, folks. Meth is coming for your kids in delicious fruit flavors. According to the article, the street name for flavored meth is “strawberry quick.” Hmm, why not “very berry crank” or “watermelon felon?” A police officer in the article claims the new fruity meth is an attempt by dealers to branch out. From the article:

He said drug traffickers want to attract younger customers, and to do so, have devised a “package and label” that will appeal to youths.

Yes, I can imagine the local meth barons holding a board meeting and deciding they needed to “reach a new demographic” and “expand their market share,” etc. Personally, I wouldn’t get worried until the meth dealers start doing movie tie-ins and children’s toys.

An over three month investigation has led to the arrest of 23-year-old Aaron Vernon Heyer of Coos Bay, who was booked yesterday on a felony charge (Failure to Perform Duties of Driver to Injured Persons) for a March 4 hit-and-run at the corner of 15th and Hilyard that killed 22-year-old University student Brian Sanford Reams.

The suspect vehicle was “quickly identified” by investigators. A press report says the car, a Cadillac sedan, was driven to Eugene by one in a group of friends that came to hang out for the weekend. Heyer, through his attorney, agreed to come to Eugene yesterday afternoon to meet with primary investigator, Officer Ben Hall, and was then arrested.

UPDATE: The ODE picked this up and put a story online, although there is not more information being given out.

DPS and EPD both have been looking into adding tasers to their respective force programs. I think I have found the perfect models for them. Check out these new tasers making crimson waves in the blogging world. I think even the female officers will enjoy carrying them.

The Register-Guard has a front page story in today’s paper about Springfield’s efforts to host the Simpsons Movie premiere sometime in July:

City officials have accepted an invitation from 20th Century Fox to compete against other Springfields across the country in a contest where the winner will host the premiere screening of “The Simpsons Movie,” due out in July. The film is one of the most highly anticipated releases of the year.

“If we’re selected, that’s nationwide and even worldwide exposure for us,” said Springfield Mayor Sid Leiken - not to be confused with Mayor Joe Quimby, of the Simpsons’ fictional hometown of Springfield.

Worldwide exposure! This could be the start of a golden age for the Springfield tourism industry!

Today’s Register Guard reports that the Eugene City Council took steps yesterday toward regulating drinking at tailgate parties on privately owned parking lots near Autzen Stadium. Currently, the consumption of alcohol is allowed on the massive parking lot next to Autzen on the days of home games. Drinking is technically illegal, but is tolerated in the private lots along MLK Jr. Blvd. This may all change soon as city councilors are considering putting limits on drinking in private lots, but they are putting off making a decision until they know how the University will respond.

Councilor George Poling, who represents the area that includes Autzen, favors expanding the allowance of alcohol to private lots if the University decides not to support any limits on drinking. Of course, the Eugene Police Department and Mothers Against Drunk Driving are against any sort of expansion. EPD stated that the number of brawls and alcohol-related brawls is on the rise, while MADD espoused its typical neo-prohibitionist message.

At least one private organization that provides parking is against any sort of regulation or permits. The Eugene Masonic Lodge manages a 10-acre lot across from Autzen and allows alcohol consumption and just encourages drinkers to dispose of their bottles before crossing the street to Autzen.

(Photo: pete4ducks)

Barbara Handley, a local self-described “hardcore enviro-hippy-anarcho- primitivist-poet-goddess” steps outside of the standard Eugenian hippie dogma to support shopping at Wal-Mart. Well, to be more precise, she doesn’t endorse satisfying all your consumer needs at the big box retailer, but rather she points out that the local Wal-Mart Supercenter on West 11th Avenue provides a wide variety of organic and local foods. More importantly, these products are available at affordable prices, which is ideal for families living on limited incomes:

On[e] of my pet peeves, which I’ll be ranting about one of these days, is the way sustainability and healthly food are luxuries for the affluent in the U.S. Organic food is terribly expensive, bicycles and trailers for a family cost far, far more than an old beater car, and supporting small local shopowners may not be a realistic option for families who truly have no slack in their budget. Wal-mart makes it possible for people with lower incomes to buy locally produced organic food at prices that are comparable to conventional food. I’m quite honestly in favor of anything that makes sustainable options available to a larger group of people.

Barbara also provides a categorized list of all the organic and local foods found at our local Wal-Mart.

It seems like capitalism and radicalism can find some common ground here in Eugene.

(Photo: Dystopos)

Nathan Baker’s letter to the editor in the ODE today is good stuff. He remarks about the incidental fee, student services and succinctly depicts the ASUO’s distorted perceptions towards fiscal responsibility. Submitted by simg.

The local branches of the SS have decided to turn their attention to protecting ourselves from ourselves. As Ted noted earlier, arbitrary enforcement of smoking bans has begun, and in Pittsburgh smoking outside is criminal. Dare not resist good citizens or face the wrath of the state!

“An Armenian national who apparently didn’t think much of anti-smoking laws blew cigarette smoke at a Pittsburgh police officer and ended up on the receiving end of a stun gun, arrested and jailed after a scuffle at the Greyhound bus terminal over the weekend.”

” He was taken to the Allegheny County Jail. Police also contacted the Armenian Consulate in Washington, D.C., and notified the Joint Terrorism Task Force.”

The Happy Shiny Democratic Peoples Republic of Eugene has gone too far this time. In yet another attempt to deny its citizens the right to make any choices for themselves, city inspectors have declared that the covered portion of Rennie’s upstairs smoking deck no longer conforms to Eugene’s smoking ban. At first glance, this might seem to not make sense, considering that the ban was enacted in 2000. Well guess what, sucka? It’s been toughened.

The original ban defined “enclosed area” logically enough as “A space between a floor and a ceiling that is enclosed on all sides by solid walls or windows.” Apparently people were still dropping like flies in smoking areas which “conformed to the letter but not the spirit of the law,” because in November of last year, City Manager Dennis Green issued an administrative order requiring smoking areas to be “at least 75% open.”

The covered portion of Rennie’s smoking deck has a ceiling, a floor, and three walls. It is completely open, smoke has nowhere to stagnate, and airflow is brisk. Regardless, this draconian new definition requires them to ban smoking on that portion of the deck, forcing smokers to the uncovered edge of the deck, with only a pop-up tent for covering. Unbelievably, Rennie’s was also told that “they were lucky” that the downstairs smoking area (which has only one wall) stayed open because the wrought iron fence could constitute a wall under the new rules. That’s right, a completely permeable wall that couldn’t stop smoke from going anywhere nearly shut down most of the remaining smoking area.

This situation seems out of control. The city seems to have completely lost sight of its priorities, and is engaging in a campaign to systematically eliminate its citizens freedom to smoke in a manner that is not harming anyone. The 75% rule means that there can be only one wall in a smoking area, making it nearly impossible for bars who want to allow their customers to smoke, to create an area in which to do so which also complies with OLCC regulations which require that alcohol be served only in areas divided from the public. City government clearly doesn’t care that bars want to give smokers the opportunity to drink and smoke in such a way that prevents harm to employees and bystanders. This is not a campaign to keep non-smokers safe: it is a neo-prohibitionist assault on personal freedom, and responsible free enterprise. For shame.

As Sho pointed out earlier, it snowed in Eugene today. Now snow is something that most people take for granted: it’s an everyday part of their lives for three to five months of the year. But here in Eugene, snow is unusual and frightening: it looks like rain and it’s supposedly made out of the same material as rain, but it’s all weird and white and cold and causes us to slip and fall and ache for days and oh the humanity.

So, in order to keep the hospitals relatively clear of bodies most Eugene schools simply shut down at the first hint of snow sticking. This morning, for instance, nearly every public school in the area closed for the day. The exception, of course, is the University of Oregon, whose administrators have such a callous disregard for human life and comfort that they almost never cancel classes because of weather. Well, at least that’s what I was grumbling to myself as I slid to campus this morning.

But as I shuffle past the outdoor tennis courts I notice that there are people running around the track. At 8:00 AM. In ~26 degree weather. And they’re smiling and laughing as they jog next to each other.

Clearly, these people are insane.

Anyway, I continued walking past the courts and the two artificial turf fields until I came up to Coach (and marathon guru/running legend/magazine editor/author) Joe Henderson, whose class the happily jogging students were taking part in.

Coach Henderson’s students are training for 5K and 10K marathon races. None of them had to go out running this morning– today’s class was voluntary and they received extra credit for coming in. According to Henderson, 27 of his 40 students showed up to run, which was a far better attendance ratio than in any of my classes in the toasty Lillis Complex. And in the six years he’s been a coach here they’ve never canceled class and only retreated indoors twice. I suppose most people would call these runners determined and motivated. I call them crazy– but that’s probably because I’m the sort of person who considers 65 Fahrenheit cold and walking to my car exercise.

So if you’re the sort of person who enjoys running, enjoys being cold, and enjoys receiving extra credit for it, then you too should be a long distance runner. Hell, you probably already are one. Me? I’ll wait for a 2008 Olympics game to hit the Xbox.

The high is supposed to be 31° tomorrow and they don’t have running classes scheduled on Fridays, but I suspect Coach Henderson will be out there bright and early regardless of what the mercury reads.

More random, low-quality snow pictures from around campus after the jump.

(more…)

There’s a pretty funny letter in the Eugene Weekly today from one James Johnston. Johnston, who participated in the 1995 campaign to prevent logging at Warner Creek, took issue with EW Reporter Kera Abraham’s previous article. I’ll let him give the details:

Kera Abraham’s article (11/2) about the Warner Creek campaign was the worst piece of reporting I’ve ever read. For the record, absolutely nothing that was reported about me is accurate. There was never any such thing as a “Monty Python Forest Engineering Division.” I didn’t build the fort. Abraham got my age wrong, my past job wrong, my current job wrong — she got literally every single detail about me wrong.

The vast majority of facts as reported in this story, including dates, times, and who did what, where, when are similarly just plain wrong.

I was proud to play a minor role in the Warner Creek campaign. Everyone involved took full responsibility for committing misdemeanors — including physically affixing ourselves to a logging road. It was a very conscientiously crafted response to a timber sale that could only be sold because Congress had suspended all environmental laws.

Warner Creek had absolutely nothing to do with orgies, arson plots, or hairy armpits. The Warner Creek campaign was made up of a group of smart, serious and strategic people taking radical but carefully measured action against a government that thought it could break its own rules and get away with it.

And no, I never “made love, as free wild creatures do” at Warner Creek. For one thing, it was cold as hell most of the time and I wouldn’t have taken off my clothes for sex or money.

I have been a working locally on forest issues as a volunteer and paid professional for almost 15 years. Most of the people reading this probably know me as a guy who knows what the hell I’m talking about. Anyone interested in Warner Creek should know that Abraham’s characterization of the people and events of that time are flat wrong. After communicating with her at length about her piece and her sources, I am convinced that she is an extremely sloppy reporter who relied on other peoples’ reporting for a third of her story, second-hand gossip for another third of the story, and simply made up the remainder.

[My emphasis]

To be fair to Abraham, Johnston was probably pretty high he was making sweet, sweet beastial love and just can’t remember.

But wild animal sex aside, how many factual errors in the story does EW fess up to? Meh, only six or seven.

There’s a great letter in the Ol’ Dirty today from one “Dorothy Bucher”. Ms. Bucher is upset about all you damn drunk kids, and she knows that the best way to deal with it is to have the University step in:

We citizens of Eugene, who pay the taxes for the sheriff’s department and their men, and for the police department, are getting very upset at having to pay for huge amounts of police force action, when at Halloween, (or any other time of the year) the police and all their men have to go into drunken, rioting parties done by the students of the University, break them up and restore peace and order.

[…]

I am aware of several groups, right now, who are very angry about this and may start to take legal actions against the University and its dean, because they are not handling drunken students properly, and are not throwing them out of the school, or at least paying for their discipline themselves. This may result in the citizen groups actually suing, or demanding in some legal way, money from the University to pay for the huge amounts of taxes we have to spend to provide police and sheriff’s men to discipline the drunks who get “cranky” from the University.

I really do suggest that you actively inform a lot of your student groups that this may eventually come down, and their students who act out, will be thrown out of Eugene, or have their parents pay a lot of money for police actions. I am only warning you about this because it would be much better to nip this action in the bud, rather than have lots of costly legal work and a lot of conflict between the University and many of its taxpayers’ groups.

Well, this Dorothy Bucher lady is quite the concerned Eugeanean. Let’s do two Google searches for some other comments and letters of hers, shall we?

‘Talk to us‘ (Sep. 9, 2006):

I have only been back to Eugene,OR,which is my home town,for about 3 months,and already I see developers wanting to turn it into the wrecked California I just left.Ok,guys,if 37 is that bad,get your friends,voters and radicals together,and overturn it!!NOW!

So, she’s lived in Eugene for about five months.

I didn’t see this until today since I haven’t been reading local news sources lately, but the Westmoreland sale has been approved by the OUS board and will move forward:

Student residents will not have to move out; O’Connell has said he will continue to market the complex to students and plans to keep rents below market level. He also plans to put $1 million into improving the property.

The vote came after UO President Dave Frohnmayer told the board the university will increase the compensation it will pay to current and former Westmoreland residents. Students who left after the plan to sell the 404-unit complex was announced in October or who leave before the deal closes will receive $300 to help cover moving expenses, up from the $150 previously offered.

That’s on top of the two-year rent freeze for students who stay at Westmoreland under the new owner, waiver of application fees to move back into the complex and assistance with child care costs for former Westmoreland residents.

The UO appears to have compensated the students affected abotu as well as anyone could hope for. Personally, I hope they build a Winco on the property after the two years are up.

According to a May 24 UO press release, Michael R. O’Connell Sr. of Eugene has placed a $18.45 million bid on Westmoreland. Incoming ASUO President Jared Axelrod and a number of other student officials first learned of the bid only a few hours ago.

The timing is suspicious, to say the least. This bid comes on the last day of this year’s ASUO and the second to last meeting of the University Senate. In previous interviews, both Axelrod and current ASUO President Adam Walsh had mentioned the likelihood of a Westmoreland bid coming when University governance was in such a transitionary phase. In a hurriedly created motion, the University Senate voted 15-14 (with President Peter Keyes casting the tie-breaker) to send someone to the OUS Board to voice opposition to the sale.

So what does the future hold for Westmoreland if the OUS State Board approves O’Connell’s bid? For the next academic year current tenants will be allowed to remain, albeit under the management of noted slumlord management company Bell Real Estate. The University has guaranteed that it “will provide financial assistance to eligible current residents who wish to remain” until June 2007 if rent costs increase. After June 2007, O’Conner will be free to do whatever he wishes with the property.

One question remains: if the current Westmoreland situation is financial untenable, then why does O’Connell plan “to operate close to the status quo?” If Westmoreland remains managed in a similar fashion as it was under the University, then hasn’t O’Connell made a terrible investment?

D’oh:

The home of the popular drag show “Shebang” will be closing on Feb. 28. The bar, Neighbors Bar and Bistro, has been open for nine or 10 years, owner Cindy Hill said. Hill said the building was sold, and the new owner plans to open a new restaurant.

Hill said she is currently not planning on relocating.

Until its final day, Neighbors will continue to hold “Shebang” on Friday nights at 10 p.m.

I’m quite surprised the owner isn’t considering relocating. Most distressingly, this means I’ll never be able to hear “some of my very best friends visit Neighbors!” again.