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Green Party winds up conventions in Ashland Saturday More than 100 party members expected By Dani Dodge Pacific Greens will descend on Ashland Saturday to attend the last of a series of statewide conventions before the Nov. 7 general election. The local convention will both highlight Green Party activism among Southern Oregonians and bring prominent Green Party members to Ashland. Among those attending will be environmental activist Lloyd Marbet, who sponsored four unsuccessful ballot measures aimed at closing the now-defunct Trojan nuclear power plant, and Tre Arrow, whose protest of a timber harvest led him in July to perch on a third story ledge at the U.S. Forest Service regional headquarters in downtown Portland for 10 days. "It�s going to build the party," said George Hutchinson, the Southern Oregon Pacific Green Party spokesman. "It�s going to provide the groundwork for an ongoing organization and an ongoing political movement in Southern Oregon." This will be the first Pacific Green Party convention in Ashland. Saturday�s convention will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Stevenson Union on the campus of Southern Oregon University. Pacific Green Party members will nominate candidates for statewide and local races as well as consider which initiative proposals to endorse. Between 100 and 300 people are expected at the convention with many coming down from Portland and Eugene. There are more than 250 registered Green Party members in Jackson County. Unlike much larger Democratic and Republican nominating conventions, all Pacific Green Party members who show up at the convention will be able to vote. Non-Greens are welcome to observe, Hutchinson said. The Green Party held its national convention in June at which consumer advocate Ralph Nader was nominated for the presidential candidate and Ashland native Winona LaDuke was nominated as the vice presidential candidate. Hutchinson said he has no idea which candidates will "come out of the woodwork" Saturday. Because the Southern Oregon chapter hasn�t been too organized in the past, members don�t know which people are interested in what positions, he said. Portland-area Pacific Green Party member Andy Davis said, though, that he expects many candidates to come out of the activist mold, like Arrow and Marbet. Marbet, who is running for secretary of sate, sponsored four initiatives from 1986 to 1992 aimed at protecting people from nuclear waste from the now defunct Trojan plant. He is now working to protect Oregon�s initiative system. Arrow � who served two weeks in a forest labor camp this month for a contempt of court conviction � will attempt to unseat 3rd District Democratic U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer. Arrow, aka Michael J. Scarpitti, was convicted of contempt of court after he ignored a court order to come down from his third-story perch during his 10-day protest of the Eagle timber sales in the Mount Hood National Forest near Estacada. "Traditionally, the Green Party in Oregon as well as around the world is a place where activists and political and electoral campaigning have combined," Davis said. "It�s been a place where people very dedicated to causes have entered into the governmental process." Hutchinson said a lot of local energy is going into making the convention a success. The party�s logo is a sunflower, and local party members expect to decorate Stevenson Union with the bright yellow flower. Additionally, local Greens will set up car pools to travel to Portland on Aug. 25 when Nader and LaDuke will speak at the Memorial Coliseum. Hutchinson said this is the beginning of big things for Southern Oregon Greens. "You will see a strong Southern Oregon organization that will now have regular meetings," he said. "And will now have even more energy focused on Nader." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA