Tug
of War?
FOLLOW-UP
Have eco-wars come to the quiet waters of the
Willamette River? Local environmentalist Don Francis isn't
sure, but he's asked the U.S. Coast Guard to investigate
an incident in which a tug boat tried to run him down in
the Ross Island lagoon. Ross Island Sand and Gravel, which
owns the tug, says he is mistaken.
Francis is co-director of the Willamette Riverkeeper,
a river watchdog group that owns a 21-foot patrol boat.
He says that on March 31, while floating in the Ross Island
lagoon, the boat was threatened by the tug Rossisle.
He says he tried to hail the approaching tug on two radio
channels and got no answer. After trying to move out of
the way at least five times, he says, he gave up, left
the lagoon and reported the incident to the Coast Guard.
"I don't know if he was trying to hit us or not," says
Francis, "but there was only one way to find out, and
I wasn't willing to do that."
Francis was on the public waterway with Elaine Jane Cole,
an environmental educator at Portland State University.
Cole says one minute she and Francis were sitting in the
boat looking toward the heron rookery on the island. The
next minute, she turned to see the bow of the 150-ton
Rossisle coming right at them. "It was obvious
to me the tugboat was right on our tails and following
us," she says.
Jim Rue, environmental director of Ross Island Sand and
Gravel, says tug captain Willie Schassran was not trying
to hit the Riverkeeper boat. The tug was moving back and
forth across the lagoon collecting depth recordings, Rue
says.
Chuck Steinwandel, manager of Ross Island, admits that
many employees at the company have become worried about
losing their jobs since it was revealed last fall that
the company has been storing toxic sludge for the Port
of Portland. Though Willamette Riverkeeper was instrumental
in raising public awareness about the issue, Steinwandel
claims there is no reason for his employees to be angry
at the group because no one is going to be laid off.
Last week Ross Island invited Francis on board the Rossisle
to meet Schassran face to face. Schassran apologized for
the "misunderstanding," but Francis isn't convinced. "There
was no misunderstanding," he says. "He was chasing us
around the lagoon."
The Coast Guard has ordered a copy of the tug's records
for the investigation, which Petty Officer Lance Lindsey
predicts will be wrapped up next week.
--Patty Wentz
Leftover
Lunch Meat
FOLLOW-UP
Last week state Sen. President Brady Adams said the "Baloney"
ad campaign, which attacked Gov. John Kitzhaber's tax
plans, had given him two bangs for the buck. First there
were the ads themselves; then there was the media attention
they received ["The Bull
and the Baloney," WW, April 7, 1999].
Now, there's a third.
Last week the state Republican Party started using the
ad in a fund-raising pitch asking for money to help "get
at the Governor."
State GOP Chairman Perry Atkinson says the direct-mail
campaign, which kicked off March 30 and went to 4,000
Republican faithful, was authorized by Adams and House
Speaker Lynn Snodgrass, who both paid for the original
ad.
That was news to Adams, who did not know about the party
pitch until he was contacted by WW last week. Still,
he's not about to complain. The important thing, he says,
is to get the message out against increased taxes. Still,
he adds, "It's interesting how much of a life the baloney
campaign had."
--Patty Wentz
You
Want Fries with That Prize?
Fred Stickel finally got his Pulitzer.
It didn't happen the way the Oregonian publisher
planned. In fact, the idea for Richard Read's award-winning
series was reportedly twice nixed by a top editor. But
considering the paper hasn't won a Pulitzer in 43 years,
no one at The Oregonian is complaining, particularly
not Stickel. Six years ago he hired the paper's first
out-of-town editor to bring prestige back to an insular
publication still feeling the sting of missing the Packwood
scandal.
On Monday, the Pulitzer Board announced that Read's four-part
series on the local effect of the Asian economic crisis
won first place in the category of explanatory journalism.
It was a triumph for Stickel, but not without a couple
of ironies.
First, it was a victory for the old guard. Since coming
to the O in 1993, editor Sandy Rowe has been assembling
a team aimed at winning a Pulitzer. "It's no secret that
she's been dying for this thing," says one reporter. "There
was a tremendous amount of pressure to win this."
Rowe pushed out some longtime staffers and went on a
nationwide talent hunt, bringing on reporters such as
Andrew Schneider and Mark O'Keefe and editors such as
Jacqui Banaszynski and Peter Bhatia. (Schneider and Banaszynski
have since left the paper.)
Read, however, is one of the veterans; he came to work
for the paper in 1981. Similarly, the two editors he worked
with most closely, Jack Hart and Therese Bottomly, also
predate the Rowe regime. The same goes for feature writer
Tom Hallman, a Pulitzer finalist this year.
In addition, Read was not the reporter whom Rowe &
Co. seemed to have pinned their Pulitzer hopes on this
year. That burden fell on O'Keefe, the O's religion reporter,
who was recruited from Rowe's former paper, The Virginian
Pilot-Ledger. In October The Oregonian published
his five-part series examining the persecution of Christians
abroad. That project, like many in journalism today, seemed
crafted with judges as much as readers in mind. It was
ambitious and hyped, with only a thread of a local connection.
Read's story, on the other hand, came from the ground
up--much like the potatoes he used to tell his tale.
Read came up with the idea for his series about a year
ago. He says fellow business writer Peter Sleeth was pushing
the staff to help readers understand how the global economy
was affecting Northwest residents. Sleeth put together
a brainstorming session in Bhatia's office, and Read's
thoughts turned to fast food.
"I always wanted to follow a local product all the way
to Asia," Read told WW Tuesday. "The French fry
was perfect because I knew it was targeted for the middle
class." He then spent months following 20 tons of spuds
from the fields of a Hutterite community in Washington
"halfway around the world" to a McDonald's counter in
Singapore.
Interestingly, Read's idea met with initial skepticism
from Bhatia, Rowe's chief deputy and the paper's executive
editor. Oregonian staffers told WW that
on two separate occasions Bhatia rejected Read's idea
for the series. Bottomly finally convinced Bhatia to supply
the time and resources, and Read was on his way to a great
story--and a well-deserved prize.
--John Schrag
Why,
There Oughta Be A Law...
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OREGON:
SECTION 1: Whereas even clerks have rights:
(a) It shall be unlawful for anyone to take his
or her personal problems out on a service-industry worker.
(b) As defined by this law, service-industry workers
include any restaurant server, movie-theater worker, grocery
clerk, fast-food crew member or any other service job
paying $7 an hour or less.
(c) Acts that violate this law may include:
* Belligerent language such as "Can't you go any faster?"
* Bestowing guilt on the aforementioned worker for things
he or she has no control over by complaining about the
food, the parking, the movie or the prices.
* Blatant acts of selfishness including refusing to wait
in line, paying a bill of $5 or less with a credit card
and ignoring the fact that the worker may have a dozen
or more other customers to worry about.
SECTION 2:
(a) Any person convicted of breaking the "Minimum-Wage
Warrior Protection Act" shall face a minimum of 18 hours
hard labor over the course of one weekend working at a
restaurant, movie theater, fast-food joint or grocery
store.
(b) The offender will be required to wear a polyester
uniform that at least a dozen other people have worn before
and will not be permitted to sit down for the first five
hours of his or her shift. His or her wages will be donated
to a scholarship fund and are not tax deductible.
(c) The offender will be required to smile at
customers at least five times per hour.
(d) Repeat offenders shall be required to spend
a weekend washing dishes while wearing uncomfortable shoes
and ill-fitting gloves and listening to the greatest hits
of the Steve Miller Band over and over.
This week's amateur legislator, Megan Denny of Vancouver,
Wash., wins dinner for two at Sweetwater's Jam House.
Send your proposals to WW Law Contest via fax
([503] 243-1115), e-mail (jschrag@wweek.com)
or snail mail (822 SW 10th Ave., Portland OR 97205).
