PARVIN BUTTE
DEXTER, OREGON

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2013

Quarry foes lose state appeal

A land use board decides that gravel mining on
Parvin Butte can proceed without more conditions

Published: February 19, 2013 12:00AM, Today


Story photo and/or graphic

Brian Davies/The Register-Guard

Heavy equipment claws at the top of Parvin Butte as seen from Dexter Lake on
Jan. 31. Mining continues as challenges go on.


Lane County developers Greg Demers and Norman and Melvin McDougal
have emerged as the victors in the latest legal battle over their mining of gravel
at Parvin Butte, off Highway 58 near Dexter.

The state Land Use Board of Appeals, in a decision earlier this month,
agreed with Demers and the McDougals that they don’t need a site review
permit from Lane County in order to carry out their mining plans.

For the rest of the story, click on:

PARVIN BUTTE MINING


LOSING THE HIGH PLACES
Article in The Eugene Weekly, January 3, 2013 by By Camilla Mortensen, John Bauguess

“The mountains once were people, our grandfathers used to tell us,” begins
a Warm Springs legend . . .



it was for a few hours quiet On this wedding day, without the noise of trucks
and earthmovers.

For the rest of the story and more photos by John Bauguess, click on:


BUTTES
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2011




Today, the county hearings officer said the McDougal brothers don't
need a site review and can begin mining Parvin Butte in the middle of
the community of Dexter, Oregon. He also dismissed the fines levied
on the brothers for mining without a site review. Greg Demers, who
is on the mining team, said, "Like good neighbors we would be willing
to sit and listen to any of their concerns." He doesn't live anywhere
near the mining operation. No noise, dust, pollution, gravel trucks up
and down the road in his neighborhood. The Dexter Lost Valley
Community Association will appeal the county hearings officer's decision.

photo by John Baugues



photo of Parvin Butte by John Bauguess

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
EUGENE REGISTER GUARD

Demers makes things happen

The recent Register Guard “Demers file” articles — especially the one appearing on the cover on Feb. 20
— paint a blatantly skewed picture of the personal character of Greg Demers. I have known Demers for
years and have always found him to be a good man. His generosity to the community has been enormous:
in addition to single-handedly building a church and school in Veneta, he has supported many organizations
 such as Relief Nursery, Sacred Heart Foundation, and Children’s Miracle Network.

Additionally, I remember how Demers stepped up to rescue the Campfire Girls’ Wilani Camp from
bankruptcy in 1999. He bought most of the camp for over $300,000, leased it back for a pittance, and
also donated $300,000 to refurbish the camp — all of which were instrumental in allowing the decades
-long tradition of kids’ camping to continue.

Despite that history, the reporting painted Demers as if he were nothing more than a financial “speculator”
with secretive business entities. By contrast, the person I know is investing in visionary ventures
including an intermodal facility that has the potential to bring much needed economic activity to Lane County.

Yes, successful entrepreneurs sometimes have sharp elbows; however, they are also human beings
who have their own challenges and adversities. The difference is that a person like Demers makes
things happen — which is exactly what Lane County desperately needs now. At a minimum, fairness
demands that Register-Guard readers hear the “rest of the story.”

Janice Standeford

Eugene


Afflictions, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters are hardships caused by forces beyond our
control, but hardships caused by humans trashing other people and their lives while in pursuit of riches is
another thing altogether.

The letter to the editor praising Demers as a philanthropist and humanitarian doesn't hold water
when you consider the damage he and the McDougal brothers are willing to inflict on the families
living on and around Parvin Butte. Demers may be generous to the people of Veneta but he doesn't have an
iota of concern for the well-being of the people in Dexter. All for the sake of easy money. As if there weren't
plenty of other places in Oregon, away from homes and families, where rock can be mined to be used for a
railroad bed over on the coast.

"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"

Ken Babbs

Dexter



WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT US AND OUR
EFFORTS TO SAVE OUR AREA




Al Lewis

From the business section of the eugene register guard's sunday paper, a column by Al Lewis, a great writer

who nails the wrongdoings and wrongdoers in the financial world:

In  CFA Magazine, trade mag for chartered financial analysts, an article by Sherree DeCovny, former investment
broker who claims one out of ten people working on Wall Street are psychopaths, saying the estimate comes from
researchers, including a psychologist who treats wall street professionals.

DeDovny defines them this way: "Back when were were little children...and we were learning right from wrong,
they didn't get it."

In her 2005 book, The Sociopath Next Door, harvard psychologist Martha Stout defines sociopath as a person
with no conscience. Plus other anti-social traits, including a lack of empathy, no regard for consequences and
unbridled risk taking.


When Krassner was asked, "What do you consider the world’s biggest problem of the world?"
Krassner said, "Greed combined with the lack of compassion."



MCGONIGLES, A MORALITY TALE







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