Dear CHOICES Subscribers, The lazy days of summer? Not in the Emerald Valley! Interested citizens can attend important public meetings on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week. On Monday, the Springfield City Council will continue discussing a consultant's report on nodal development. Some in Springfield question why Springfield should even pursue nodal development. For one thing, doing so was a condition of the state's approval of our metropolitan transportation plan, TransPlan. For another, as some are concerned that Eugene and Springfield are running out of developing land, it makes sense to use the land we have as efficiently as possible. Indeed, the Springfield City Council is also hearing from the Lane Metro Partnership that we are running out of sites for industrial development. Also, the Springfield City Council will hear a brief update on the LUBA appeals of the PeaceHealth decisions. On Tuesday, the joint planning commissions will continue a public hearing on proposed changes to the Eugene-Springfield Metro Plan, which specifies what kind of development can occur where and how. On Wednesday, the joint elected officials will hold a public hearing on construction of a temporary I-5 detour bridge over the Willamette River. On Thursday, there's a pair of workshops on nodal development presented by the state Transportation and Growth Management Program and co-sponsored by the cities of Eugene and Springfield (and other organizations). Meanwhile, the lawyers continue to work on the LUBA appeals of the PeaceHealth decisions, McKenzie-Willamette's antitrust lawsuit against PeaceHealth, and McKenzie-Willamette's proposal to the state Attorney General to partner with Triad Hospitals, Inc. Hospitals, land use designations, nodal development, and bridges: These issues are all bound together, like the different parts of the body are bound together by arteries carrying life-giving blood. One can't talk about the heart without talking about the lungs that provide air, the stomach that provides nourishment, or the kidneys that provides cleaning. Good doctors know that one needs to look at the whole system and how the different parts work together to ensure the health of the body. Similarly, good citizens know that one needs to look at the whole system to and how the different parts work together to ensure the health of the community. You can't transplant the (Sacred) Heart of the community without looking at how doing so would affect the different organs. Speaking of good doctors, doctor and former governor John Kitzhaber recently told the New Progressive Network in Portland: "Today there is a greater need for this kind of civic activism than perhaps at any time in the past 40 years. Believe you can change the world, because you can. When I first ran for public office in Roseburg in 1978, I was young, naive and idealistic. As you can see, I am no longer young, I certainly am not na•ve -- but I tell you I am still idealistic." Former state representative Kitty Piercy recently told Citizens for Public Accountability: "Building trust and learning how to bring diverse views to the table in order to build a common vision for our community is important. Perhaps learning how to do it well is as important or even more important that the actual decisions we make." In brief, the prescription is to look at the whole system, be active and idealistic, build trust, and forge a common vision. That's the medicine for what ails us. Rob Zako, Editor 343-5201 rzako@efn.org ================================================================================ Health Options Digest June 15, 2003 Coalition for Health Options In Central Eugene-Springfield (CHOICES) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CALENDAR Monday, 6/16 -- Springfield City Council Springfield City Hall, 225 Fifth St., Springfield, 726-3700. 6:00 p.m. -- Work session, Jesse Maine Room. Springfield Nodal Development: Continued Discussion of the Consultant's Final Report. [Mark Metzger] (60 min.) 7:00 p.m. -- Regular meeting, Council Meeting Room. Correspondence from Jack Roberts, Executive Director and John B. Arnold, President, Board of Directors, Lane Metro Partnership, 1401 Willamette Street, Eugene, Oregon, Regarding the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Area General Plan. [See staff report.] Status Report on LUBA Appeals of PeaceHealth Decisions. [Joe Leahy] (5 min.) http://www.ci.springfield.or.us/CMO/2003Council/061603%20agenda.pdf See also below: "Know your nodes" "County jumps into PeaceHealth rezoning appeal" "County's PeaceHealth appeal brought out in the open" "But it reads like only 5,000..." Tuesday, 6/17 -- Eugene, Springfield and Lane County Planning Commissions 6:00 p.m., Council Chambers, Eugene City Hall, 777 Pearl Street, Eugene. Staff Presentations: Overview of Metro Plan Diagram Amendments and Removal of Urban Reserve Designation. Lead Staff: Carol Heinkel, 682-4107. Metro Plan Diagram Amendments in Eugene UGB. Lead Staff: Kurt Yeiter, 682-8379. Metro Plan Diagram Amendments in Springfield UGB. Mark Metzger, 726-3775. Public Testimony: Metro Plan Text Amendments. Metro Plan Diagram Amendments. http://www.ci.springfield.or.us/dsd/Planning/PC%20Agenda%20&%20Minutes/2003/Joint%20PC%20Agenda/June%2017,%202003.pdf Wednesday, 6/18 -- Springfield and Eugene City Councils, Lane County Board of Commissioners Council Meeting Room, Springfield City Hall, 225 Fifth St., Springfield, 726-3700. 6:00 p.m. -- Introductions. Recognition of ACTSO Gold Medal Winners from Lane County Schools. [Dennis Shine, NAACP] (10 min.) 6:15 p.m. -- Public Hearing. Metro Plan Text Amendment and Goal Exception for I-5 Detour Bridge. [Greg Mott] (30 min.) The Springfield and Eugene City Councils and the Lane County Board of Commissioners will conduct a joint public hearing on amendments to the Metropolitan Area General Plan to allow the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to construct a temporary detour bridge immediately east of the I-5 Bridge across the Willamette River. The detour bridge will accommodate all I-5 traffic while the existing bridge is replaced. These amendments were initiated by the Springfield City Council on May 5, 2003. http://www.ci.springfield.or.us/CMO/2003Council/061803%20JEO%20Agenda.pdf http://www.ci.eugene.or.us/council/agenda/S030618JEO.pdf http://www.co.lane.or.us/bcc_info/Meeting_Info/2003/OrderText/6-18/BCC_Spgfld_Eug_PublicHearing.pdf See also below: "Panel member wants to recycle bridge" Thursday, 6/19 -- Nodal Development Workshops Eugene Public Library, Bascom/Tykeson Rooms, 100 West 10th Ave., Eugene. 3:00-5:00 p.m. -- "Nodal Development in the Real World." This workshop will focus on questions we have heard from the development community -- builders, developers, architects, realtors, to name a few. 6:00-8:00 p.m. -- "Nodal Development in Eugene & Springfield: Opportunities and Challenges." This workshop will focus on the questions we have heard from the community and lessons learned from smart developments in other Oregon communities. Presented by the Transportation and Growth Management (TGM) Program, a joint program of the Oregon Departments of Transportation (ODOT) and Land Conservation & Development (DLCD). Co-sponsored by the City of Eugene, the City of Springfield, the City Club of Eugene, the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, the Springfield Chamber of Commerce, and the Home Builders Association of Lane County. For more information, contact Jan Childs, Eugene Planning & Development Department, 682-5208, or Mark Metzger, Springfield Development Services Department, 726-3775. Tuesday, 6/24 -- Oregon Attorney General The Attorney General has scheduled a public hearing on the proposed partnership between McKenzie-Willamette Hospital and Triad Hospitals, Inc. for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 24th, at the Willamalane Adult Activity Center in Springfield. The public record will remain open for a week following the hearing and a decision may be rendered as early as July 9. (more...) http://www.mckweb.com/News/JointVentureAgreement.htm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PEACEHEALTH County jumps into PeaceHealth rezoning appeal By Jaime Sherman Springfield News, 6/11/03 The Lane County Board of Commissioners will vote today to ratify a decision by the county's legal team to appeal the rezoning of PeaceHealth property along the McKenzie River. The county has already joined 1,000 Friends of Oregon, the Coalition for Health Options in Central Eugene-Springfield (CHOICES) and John and Robin Jaqua in filing a motion of intent to appeal the city of Springfield's land use decision. Commissioner Peter Sorenson said the county has joined the appeal because Springfield didn't allow the county and the city of Eugene to participate in the PeaceHealth land use process. "We have a pretty long history of land use law in Oregon, and one of the things that's in our land use law is, that within metropolitan areas, cities and counties have to work together when they make land use decision," he said. The Springfield City Council approved PeaceHealth's land use requests on a portion of 165 acres between Game Farm Road and the McKenzie River. PeaceHealth plans to build a $350-million regional medical facility and accompanying Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend on the property. "In this instance, we have Springfield making a major decision about a regional medical center, and they are making the decision solely by themselves without involving the county or the other cities," Sorenson said. Springfield Mayor Sid Leiken and the city's legal counsel said they believe Springfield had sole authority to decide the PeaceHealth matter. The city of Springfield has until June 23 to compile all the documents that were reviewed during the public hearing process. The documents includes thousands of pages. "It's a little tedious," said Colin Stephens, a planner for the city. The groups who oppose the city's decision will then have three weeks to file their legal briefs with the state Land Use Board of Appeals. The city and PeaceHealth, which has agreed to pay the city's legal fees, will then have another three weeks to respond. Oral arguments could be scheduled for August with a decision by October. (end) http://www.springfieldnews.com/articles/2003/06/11/local/news2.txt County's PeaceHealth appeal brought out in the open By Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard, 6/12/03, Page D1 In the government equivalent of a shotgun wedding, Lane County commissioners officially "married" themselves to a land-use appeal Wednesday -- nearly two weeks after their lawyers got involved in the case without benefit of a board vote. On May 30, the county counsel's office informed the state Land Use Board of Appeals that the county intended to join an appeal challenging Springfield's approval of PeaceHealth's new $350 million hospital in Gateway. However, the "decision" to join in the legal proceedings came in a nonpublic executive session three days before. State law requires public agencies to make decisions in open session. The county's lawyers said they believed the closed session discussion -- plus a letter sent to Springfield in February indicating the commissioners' concerns about the hospital project -- gave them sufficient direction to proceed. Three of the commissioners -- Chairman Peter Sorenson, Bill Dwyer and Tom Lininger -- indicated during the executive session that they would favor joining the appeal filed by John and Robin Jaqua, who own property in the area of the proposed medical center. Commissioner Bobby Green participated in the meeting via telephone and said he wouldn't favor the move. Commissioner Anna Morrison didn't attend the meeting. When the public vote finally came Wednesday, Sorenson, Dwyer and Lininger voted "yes" on the appeal, with Green and Morrison opposed. "Technically, this probably wasn't a violation (of the open meetings law) because we didn't make a change from previous direction," Dwyer said. "But there is a lesson to be learned -- if we do give direction, we need to do it in an open and conspicuous manner." County officials have said the location of the hospital and its development should be subject to regional approval. (end) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/06/12/d1.cr.appealvote.0612.html But it reads like only 5,000... Pity Colin Stephens -- the Springfield planner must collect the information that will be submitted to the state for the appeals of the PeaceHealth hospital project in the Gateway area. The state Land Use Board of Appeals will rule on the appeals later this year, but not before studying the record of testimony for and against the project ... all of the testimony. That means by June 23 Stephens has to present to LUBA every piece of paper -- e-mails, reports, letters -- that has been collected on the subject since July, in reverse chronological order. Last he checked, Stephens was on Page 5,560 -- and he guessed the final document would top out at 5,600 pages. Makes "War and Peace" look like a comic book. Stephens figured, in fact, that if every page were laid out end to end, they'd cover almost a mile. And he's got to make seven copies, for all the parties involved in the appeals. "Luckily we have a copier that does pagination," Stephens said. "Otherwise everybody in the city would kill me for hogging our big copier for four days." (end) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/06/14/b1.cr.spcitybeat.0614.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- COST OF HEALTH CARE Small-business health cuts get OK SALEM -- Small-business owners could include less coverage in the health insurance they offer under a bill passed by the House on Monday. Backers of the measure, which was approved 32-25 and sent to the Senate, say eliminating required coverage of some services could save small employers up to 15 percent in premium costs. Foes of the bill, however, say it would strip basic needs from health policies and penalize women. (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/06/10/d2.cr.health.0610.html Health plan proposal falls short By Bill McCabe, Springfield Letter to the Register-Guard, 6/15/03 A June 9 Register-Guard article describes a proposal by state officials to remove hospital services from the Oregon Health Plan standard population. This decision came as a surprise with very little public discussion. As a McKenzie-Willamette Hospital board member, I wholeheartedly disagree with the proposed OHP changes. The change would take hospital services away from 100,000 low-income Oregonians -- ignoring the fact that the OHP was created specifically to provide health care to these Oregonians. What this change says is: "You're covered, as long as you don't need to go to the hospital." That's no coverage at all. The proposed changes will mean an ever-increasing population coming to emergency rooms (where law requires they must be treated) for crisis medical care. The cost of treating these patients who cannot pay will be passed along to businesses and individuals who can in the form of even higher medical insurance and costs. Hospitals already operate on very slim margins. This new burden comes on top of the latest 12 percent cut in Medicaid reimbursements. In the short term, hospitals will have to cut services. In the long term, this is a proposal with the power to close hospitals. I don't believe balancing the state budget on the backs of hospitals and their patients is acceptable. A "health plan" without hospital services is not a health plan. (end) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/06/15/ed.letters.0615.html Doctors meet amid turmoil in health care CHICAGO -- The nation's largest doctors' group is meeting this week amid turmoil in U.S. medicine and efforts to maintain its membership and political clout. Nationwide calls for malpractice insurance changes, a Medicare overhaul, and health concerns ranging from the West Nile virus to bioterrorism are the backdrop for the annual meeting of the American Medical Association. Some of these issues are sure to be raised during the six-day meeting, which opened Saturday, along with dozens of proposals seeking an AMA stand on topics ranging from cloning to car lights. (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/06/15/a6.nat.ama.0615.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEARBY DEVELOPMENTS Know your nodes In a city that likes to consider itself development- friendly, nodes are getting a hard look. The City Council wants to make sure that green-lighting a plan to build more of the mixed-use, urban villages won't hamstring developers in pursuing their projects. At a meeting last month, the council shifted the question of how to pursue nodal development to why are we doing it? Planner Mark Metzger will present his case for nodal development Monday by arguing state law: Springfield must find strategies for reducing car trips, and nodal development has been deemed more palatable than raising gas prices, reducing parking or placing a toll on busy bridge crossings. City staff seek only feedback -- not a formal vote of the council -- on how best to implement nodal development, Metzger said in his report. (end) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/06/14/b1.cr.spcitybeat.0614.html LTD files lawsuit Seeking to acquire land to build a new bus station on South A Street, Lane Transit District has filed an eminent domain lawsuit against Les' Service & Canopy Sales. The lawsuit was filed in Lane County Circuit Court last week, asking property owners Lester and Modesta Swaggart to sell a portion of their land to the district for the planned Springfield Station. LTD had the land appraised by two companies and determined the property is worth $346,000, but the Swaggarts disagree, according to the district. (more...) http://www.springfieldnews.com/articles/2003/06/13/local/news3.txt Cannery site has a date with demolition The transition from cannery to courthouse is set to begin this month. Demolition of former Agripac facilities southeast of the Ferry Street Bridge, expected to get under way in about two weeks, will clear the way for a $70 million federal courthouse and a surrounding neighborhood that is still being planned. (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/06/12/a1.agripac.0612.html Arlie & Co. develops plan for West 11th retail center Land dealer Arlie & Co. is working on a plan to create a retail center on West 11th Avenue in west Eugene that would feature a Big 5 Sporting Goods store and an Applebee's restaurant. (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/06/12/e1.bz.arlie.0612.html Arlie says it isn't behind center plan Somebody is thinking about building a retail complex on land owned by Arlie & Co. on West 11th Avenue in Eugene, but Arlie says that somebody isn't Arlie. (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/06/13/c8.bz.arlie.0613.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRANSPORTATION Panel member wants to recycle bridge Heard the one about the two cities and the bridges? It goes like this: Question: Why will it take less than two years to build a temporary bridge over the Willamette River, but seven to build the permanent structure? Answer: The temporary bridge will be built in Springfield, the permanent one, at least partly, in Eugene. But seriously folks, Springfield Planning Commissioner Greg Shaver has an idea about what to do with the temporary bridge once the permanent one is built: Use the temporary structure as a bike or bus bridge. Shaver plans to pitch the idea Wednesday at a meeting of the local governments. The state Department of Transportation needs an OK from Springfield, Eugene and Lane County to build a detour bridge for I-5 traffic over the Willamette River while the permanent bridge is being replaced. Shaver would hate to see a temporary bridge with a price tag in the millions of dollars be mothballed. He also believes keeping the temporary bridge might come in handy if an emergency rendered the permanent bridge unusable. Assuming the transportation department gets a green light next week for the temporary bridge, design work on the permanent structure might begin later this year, Shaver said. That would be the time to consider his suggestion. "It would be the world's largest bike bridge," Shaver speculated, "but how fitting, for this community, to have the world's largest bike bridge?" (end) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/06/14/b1.cr.spcitybeat.0614.html Springfield goes calmly into King street issue SPRINGFIELD -- Springfield's take on the controversy surrounding its sister-city's recognition of Martin Luther King Jr.? Mayor Sid Leiken politely declined to stick his toe into those swirling waters. "This is Eugene's business, and I don't really want to comment on the reasons why (the Eugene council) reversed themselves," Leiken said this week. Leiken's work is still ahead of him, after all. Eugene's tumultuous saga presumably ended Wednesday with the decision to name its share of Centennial Boulevard for the slain civil rights leader, less than 48 hours after its council had voted not to. But Springfield won't consider whether to recognize King until next month: The City Council will hold a public hearing July 7 on affixing King's name to a yet-to-be-built roadway, the Pioneer Parkway extension, running from the parkway at Hayden Bridge Road north to Belt Line. (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/06/14/a1.mlkspring.0614.html Ferry Street Bridge toll increases $2 million The Ferry Street Bridge renovation -- finished more than two years ago -- just got $2 million more expensive, but it could have been worse. (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/06/14/b1.cr.settlement.0614.html Building bridges: Wildish buys firm Sensing a business opportunity in Oregon's aging bridges, the Eugene-based Wildish construction firm has bought a bridge builder based in Vancouver, Wash. (more...) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/06/10/b1.bz.wildish.0610.html Wildish acquires bridge builder Eugene-based Wildish, a highway contractor and sand and gravel company, has acquired F.E. Ward Inc., a Vancouver, Wash., bridge builder. When combined, the companies will employ 450 people, which increases Wildish's size by 25 to 30 percent at the peak of the construction season. Both companies operate in Oregon and Washington but hold contractors' licenses in several western states. The Washington company will retain its name and location. (end) http://www.springfieldnews.com/articles/2003/06/11/business/news2.txt County matches street funding for courthouse The Board of Lane County Commissioners Wednesday reallocated $325,000 in Capital Project Partnership funds to the first phase of transportation improvements for the new federal courthouse to be built in Eugene. (more...) http://www.springfieldnews.com/articles/2003/06/13/local/news2.txt -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OTHER NEWS Building Trust: Is Eugene really as polarized as we believe? By Kitty Piercy Commentary in Eugene Weekly, 6/12/03 EDITOR'S NOTE: The below remarks were given as a keynote address at the Citizens for Public Accountability annual meeting May 14. We are in a world of hurt economically here in Oregon and the human toll grows daily. Our schools are under-funded, our health care system is in disarray, and our unemployment rate is the highest in the nation. Our most vulnerable citizens are losing the support that provides them housing, medical treatment or other basic needs. We find ourselves mocked by "Doonesbury" and discussed in major editorials across the nation. One part of me thinks we deserve the mocking and the other part of me laments the current national portrayal of Oregon. For more than a decade too many of us have been bystanders to the steady erosion of all that makes Oregon special. We stand on the laurels of the past, when Oregon led the nation in quality of education, protecting our beaches, recycling our bottles, land use planning and the Oregon Health Plan. We now find ourselves mired in short-term crisis and unable to move forward with long term visionary planning for our state and its people. Our Legislature is in the hands of those who were elected on an anti-government platform. Those who aim to destroy government have, for all practical purposes, succeeded in immobilizing it, making it essentially unable to adequately respond to the needs of everyday citizens. This immobilization only reinforces the growing distrust of government. Eugene is better off than many communities, yet we are known for endless bickering and polarization in our public debate and policy making. Every day someone talks to me about this polarization and their dislike of it. I sometimes wonder if we get talked into thinking we are more polarized than we really are. There are many things most Eugeneans agree on. We want to manage our growth in a way that we can continue to have a community we are proud of. We want jobs with good benefits and decent wages. We support human and civil rights. We want high quality education opportunities for our children, from pre-school through higher ed. We want a sound social service infrastructure to care for our most vulnerable citizens. We want a health care system that is accessible to all. We want prevention of crime and justice for all. We want clean air and water. There are more that you could add. Certainly we don't all agree on how to achieve these community goals, but we could pause and acknowledge that most of us -- no matter our politics -- want these things for our community. There are things that we think and do, though, that get in the way. There is a general distrust of policy makers from all sides. This comes to us be cause of the political messages we hear and the way we go about working together. We too often vilify those with whom we disagree. We believe we are cheated if we do not get our way. Money plays too heavy a role in decision-making. We feel frustration in a fast-moving world where we have few ways to impact decisions. We too seldom put all the community pieces together. We just look at the separate parts, the ones we are most interested in. We do not tout our successes at working together and build on them. We too often don't honor past agreements. We feel compromise is "giving it away" and not standing by our values. We don't listen to each other with the intention or possibility of hearing something that will alter our thinking. We worry that the game is already being played on the other side of the court and any movement only supports a further move in that direction. In short we lack trust. Building trust and learning how to bring diverse views to the table in order to build a common vision for our community is important. Perhaps learning how to do it well is as important or even more important that the actual decisions we make. I invite you to think about this with me. Kitty Piercy of Eugene is a former state representative and current public affairs director for Planned Parenthood Health Services of SW Oregon. http://www.eugeneweekly.com/views.html#view2 http://www.eugeneweekly.com/archive/06_12_03/views.html#view2 Citizen Kitzhaber speaks: Ex-governor has advice for young Oregonians A Register-Guard Editorial, 6/10/03 John Kitzhaber never was much for the public life, even when he was in public life as a two-term Democratic governor of Oregon. There's an old joke, variously told, about a child who grows up without ever saying a word. Years later as an adult, while eating at an exceptionally bad restaurant with his wife, he glances up from his plate and says, "This food stinks." "You've never spoken all these years," his astonished wife replies. "Why didn't you say something before now?" His reply: "Never had anything to say before." When Kitzhaber emerges from his cherished cocoon of privacy to speak out as a private citizen, it behooves Oregonians to listen. The man has something to say. Last week, Kitzhaber accepted an award from the newly formed New Progressive Network in Portland. He used the occasion to speak his mind about what's wrong with Oregon's -- and this country's -- political system. Kitzhaber said people have come to view government as an entity separate and, in many ways, irrelevant, to themselves. As a result, he said, money and special interests have moved in "to fill the vacuum." "The evidence of this problem is all around us," he said. "It's shortened school years. It's rising tuition that is putting a college education beyond the realm of many high school graduates. It's a crumbling physical infrastructure. It's unprecedented hunger. It's a growing population of at-risk children. It's a social safety net, including the Oregon Health Plan, that is near collapse." Speaking with the clarity that comes only from fresh first-hand experience, Kitzhaber attributed this dilemma to a skewed and cynical political system that puts winning elections and holding on to public office above addressing the issues that are near and dear to the electorate and that motivate people to seek office in the first place. He also cited a system of governance that relies on laws and regulations to manage conflicts between competing interests, rather than "bringing people together to solve problems." On the matter of bringing people together, Kitzhaber's critics will point out with justification that this was one of the former governor's key weaknesses in dealing with the Oregon Legislature. While adept at forming commissions and task forces to analyze issues ranging from salmon recovery to health care, Kitzhaber lacked the patience, personal touch and everyday people skills necessary to bring together disparate ends of the political spectrum. It's an ability that, at least so far, his successor, Ted Kulongoski, has shown himself to possess. Kitzhaber also had a poignant exhortation to the young adult membership of the New Progressive Network, an outgrowth of last year's Oregon Bus Project, which campaigned for legislative and congressional candidates. The former governor, who was first elected to the Oregon House a quarter century ago at age 31, recalled how he had been inspired as a college student by the examples of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., and by the movement to oppose the Vietnam war. "Today there is a greater need for this kind of civic activism than perhaps at any time in the past 40 years,'' he said. "Believe you can change the world, because you can. When I first ran for public office in Roseburg in 1978, I was young, naive and idealistic. As you can see, I am no longer young, I certainly am not na•ve -- but I tell you I am still idealistic." When private citizen John Kitzhaber speaks, citizens of Oregon, young and old, would do well to pay attention and reflect on what government would be like if idealistic people no longer felt called to public service. (end) http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/06/10/ed.edit.kitzhaber.phn.0610.html County Commissioners seek questions for new commissioner Lane County Board of Commissioners invites residents of District 5, East Lane, to provide input on possible questions for application to the appointment now held by Commissioner Tom Lininger. Lininger has announced his resignation, which takes effect on Aug. 16. Draft questions must be received by 5 p.m. Monday. They can be sent by mail to: Ethel Mashaw, County Administration, 125 E. Eighth Ave., Eugene, OR 97401; or by e-mail to ethel.c.mashaw@co.lane.or.us Lininger's resignation triggers an appointment process for a replacement, who will serve until a May 2004 primary and November 2004 general election can be held. The appointed replacement will serve from the time of appointment through December 2005. An elected replacement will serve the remainder of Lininger's term of office January 2005 through December 2006. In naming an appointed replacement to serve through next year, commissioners are interested in knowing what issues and concerns East Lane District citizens have. Later this month, commissioners will review forms used in 1989 and 1994 to appoint interim commissioners, as well as the input from citizens and commissioners. They may also set a timeline for the application and interview processes. An applicant for the position must be a legal voter of the state, a resident of the county for two years before taking office and a resident of the district for at least two months before taking office. (end) http://www.springfieldnews.com/articles/2003/06/11/local/news6.txt Process Begins to Replace Lininger The Board of County Commissioners invites East Lane County citizens' input on possible application questions for the district's replacement commissioner. This position will become vacant Aug. 16, when current Commissioner Tom Lininger will leave to teach at the UO Law School. Lininger's resignation triggers a replacement appointment process, which will be overseen by the BCC. The replacement will serve from the time of appointment through December 2005. After the 2004 primary and general elections, an elected replacement will serve the remainder of Lininger's term of office, from January 2005 through December 2006. Applicants for the appointed position must be legal voters of the state, residents of the county for two years before taking office, and residents of the district for at least two months before taking office. In naming an appointed replacement to serve through next year, the BCC is interested in knowing what are issues and concerns of East Lane District 5 citizens. Later this month, the board will review forms used in 1989 and 1994 to appoint interim commissioners, as well as the input from citizens and commissioners. They may also set a timeline for the application and interview processes. District 5 citizens' draft questions must be received by 5 pm, Monday, June 16. They can be sent by mail to: Ethel Mashaw, County Administration, 125 E. 8th Ave., Eugene 97401, or by e-mail to ethel.c.mashaw@co.lane.or.us (end) http://www.eugeneweekly.com/news.html#shorts4 http://www.eugeneweekly.com/archive/06_12_03/news.html#shorts4 From the Editor's Desk: After 50 years, it's time to retire By Anne Hill Thomas This is my last column as editor of The Springfield News. After 50 years in the journalism field, I am shutting down my computer and going home. (more...) http://www.springfieldnews.com/articles/2003/06/13/opinion/news2.txt