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.

Haven’t heard enough whining lately? Check out the letter from Ellen Furstner in today’s Register-Guard:

As long as the Commentator, a UO-funded publication, encourages alcoholism in its annual “Back to the Booze” issue; as long as the UO shuts its eyes to fraternities that, although their houses are supposed to be dry, nevertheless don’t seem to balk at buying alcohol for the students in the dorms, students will believe that getting drunk is a normal and healthy part of college life.

College students will stop drinking if the Commentator stops printing BttB and the fraternities are squeezed dry? I never knew he had so much influence on campus!

Alcohol abuse affects young people’s emotional and physical health, their education, their relationships and their decision-making skills. The UO, to whom we send our children when they first leave the nest, should take its role as guardians of these young people on their new and confusing journey more seriously.

Here’s an idea, Ellen: how about parents teach their kids to drink and behave responsibly rather than expect a University or fraternity to do it for them. Drinking is normal for a majority of students at nearly every public university in the western world. If you’re upset with this, I suggest sending your kids to Haverford.

The EPD sent along the following press release today:

A man robbed a bank shortly after opening time this morning, then sat down and waited for police to arrive and arrest him.

On Friday, August 12, 2005, at about 9:25 a.m., 28-year-old Douglas David Rowland of Cottage Grove entered the Washington Mutual Bank at 1100 Willamette Street in downtown Eugene, presented a demand note to a teller, then sat calmly in the lobby and waited for police to arrive.

Rowland was taken into custody by Eugene Police patrol officers, who also ensured that the employees were safe and that there were no other suspicious subjects in the building. The suspect was then transported to City Hall for questioning by detectives. Information about charges will be available later today. The FBI has been notified.

Bill’s guess is that the guy just wanted a hot meal. I really can’t think of another reason, except perhaps a sensible realization that robbing a bank was probably a terrible idea.

Also, comments don’t appear to be working on new posts atm. Yay MT 2.6! Look for an upgrade to MT 3 or (more likely) WordPress in the coming week or two.

From Today’s ODE: Renters may be required to cover cost of new code.

Money Quote(s):

Theyre building it into their rents, Rasmussen said. Any landlord who says theyre not is lying to you.

{snip}

Rasmussen said taking a landlord to court is not necessary under the existing protections.They just withhold it from the rent and fix the problem, Rasmussen said. And its illegal for the landlord to retaliate or kick them out. Rasmussen said the only reason to have a new housing code is to provide more jobs for city employees.

Aside from the mouth-breathing headline, the article doesn’t say anything that those of us who have even a basic understanding of economics didn’t say when the housing code was being debate. In fact, the headline is really sort of a lie. Renters will pay for the fee, one way or another.

Notice especially that Keystone is raising prices more than just the fee, so that they can cover the cost of collecting the fee in the first place. Sure, $1.25 a month might not seem like a lot, but if you operate any number of units that’s going to cut significantly into your margin. In an already economically depressed area, the marginal cost of this regulation severely obviates any potential marginal benefit.

Given that tenents are already protected under existing landlord-tenent law, and that the three new positions created will “For the work they do that is not related to the new housing code, they will be paid out of a separate fund that is not funded by the $10 per unit annual fee,” the city has succeeded in expanding its bureaucracy while not achieving the ostensible goals of the new housing code. Congratulations, Eugene, you’re the very model of how not to succeed.

Anybody want to take bets that soon they’ll be taking the crappy, run-down homes that comprise the bulk of housing in the city so that they might turn them over to developers and raise revenues through the $10/unit fee?

It looks like there’s going to be a new newspaper in Eugene that’s probably going to stir things up. If anything, he’ll at least be a better read than the Eugene Weekly.

Eugene continues to distinguish itself on the AP wire:

EUGENE, Ore. - The signs marking High Street have become a hot commodity and coveted dorm room decoration in these parts.

But what might seem like a sophomore prank is turning into a costly problem for the city, home to the University of Oregon. In the last decade, officials say they’ve had to replace the sign nearly 350 times.

Besides High Street, the University Street and Westward Ho Avenue signs are also frequently stolen.

Okay, Tim, to make up for dropping the ball on Howard Dean’s visit, here’s so much advance notice you could even fly in from Texas in time:

Monday! Monday! Monday! Michael Moore, Lane County Fairgrounds, October 18! The “Slacker Uprising Tour” is hitting Eugene! One day only!

He’s not even here yet, and already he’s giving us Spew, from the press release:

“The non-voters are the poor, the disenfranchised, the single moms and young people.”

Yes, Mike. The “disenfranchised,” literally, “those who cannot vote,” are indeed non-voters. Good luck getting out the 8-year-olds-and-felons vote.

Chase has added a comment to the previous post on the closure of Max’s Tavern and gave a detailed update on the whole situation, which I am sure will be appreciated by many thirsty individuals. More details after the jump.

Okay kiddies, here’s the poop straight from the horse’s ass (as it were)….
We’ve never done any major renovations of the plumbing in my tenure (since ‘93). There were two separate drain systems under the floor. One for the restrooms, installed circa 1970 and tied to the primary building sewer which runs under Little’s. This is in working order, and aside from a few obstructions, was not the problem. What was the problem was an independent drainage system that had been installed under the bar some time in the early 1980’s. You’d probably need to call your eighth grade science teacher to understand what happens to iron pipe when years of beer and (especially) Soda pop run through them. For those of us who do not need a primer in chemistry, suffice it to say there wasn’t much left of that plumbing to be found.
What we did find was about six and a half feet of sludge once we opened the floor, which had finally given into the bog. Now when I say ’sludge’, Imagine the term ‘quickmud’ (relative to ‘quicksand’) and almost seven feet deep!
The next question is obviously, “what about the rest of the building?”
Ever hear of Helical Pier Technology? (research that one)
We had to shore up and restabilize the load bearing wall between Max’s and Little’s. They sunk (8 or 12) piers sixteen or so feet down until they found solid earth, then releveled the foundation.
Meantime the swamp was cleared, leaving a crater, where once there was a fine watering hole.
In this process,everything not at least three feet off the floor was quickly and forcibly removed, lest the swamp eat the whole building before we could stabilize it.
and there we are…
The state of the art drainage we have now installed is pretty much overkill and would be the pride of any submarine commander. It is also constructed of materials that do not succumb to petty chemical taunts such as Dr. Pepper or Red Hook. This system is built for speed and volume, and will (hopefully) not reek anytime during my life.
As to the rest of the room: I don’t want to give you any secrets or false hope, but we’re working on something, well, nice. I’m certain that term and Max’s seem mutually exclusive, but while we’ve got the opportunity, we’re working off the dream sheets we’ve compiled the last ten or more years…you can research your own dirty little rag to figure out what I’m insinuating…
Say ‘hi’ to the Oh Man for me, and if you’re looking for the exclusive on this story, all the fotos and the facts, and perhaps a play by play preview before the rebirth…I’m sure we could negotiate something.
You little jackals always have been entertaining.
Write on!
sincerely,
the asshole formerly known as chase

Brought up in the comments on the previous post, there are rumors that the popular East 13th Avenue bar is now closed. Others say that it is closed for renovations and will reopen next year. Because I’ve never been a part of its scene, I’ll leave it to other OC alumni to discuss the fate of the bar. Autumn and Brandon have thoughts on the situation.

(Curiousity satisfied Courtney?)