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PICADO Therese M From: PICADO Therese M TCent: Wednesday, March 27, 2002 12:36 PM o: JONES Eric R; RHAY Tim W; MEDARY Sarah J; ROBERT Michael J PA 8.. Subject: Cc: FOERSTLER Kevin J; MEDLIN Johnny R; OLSHANSKI Tom H 14- Subject: RE: climbing the wall O.K. I retract my statement that we shouldn't respond to the Register-Guard. I like Eric's approach that we communicate directly with the beat reporter and make our concerns clear. I think we can keep the communication positive by encouraging them to feature the city's rock climbing wall and direct rock climbers to this appropriate alternative. I think we could use Tim's summary response and just add a pitch for them to cover this potential story. ### We were very concerned about the picture of a man climbing the wall of one of the bathrooms at Hendricks Park on the first page of the paper this morning and the caption, "The restrooms at Hendricks Park are indeed closed which might lead passers-by to infer a certain desperation in Solomon Rothman's behavior Tuesday. Of course, it was only the loo's rock construction that attracted Rothman, 20, and a couple of his rock-climbing friends. Real rock and absolutely no danger make for a perfect climbing experience." The"...perfect climbing experience" line troubles me (seems like an invitation). And, "absolutely no danger," is quite subjective; we are very concerned about people's safety. In addition to the potential of falling onto concrete from a height of XXX, the roof is metal and walking on it is not only dangerous but will dent the roof and reduce its life. Further, the information is inaccurate. There are two restrooms in Hendricks Park. Only one is closed seasonally. The restroom in the main garden area is open year-round. We do not want to encourage this kind of activity on the Hendricks or any other park restroom walls. The City provides an area in Skinner B ark(historic quarry site)where citizens may practice rock climbing (at their own risk, of course). I am informed by IN tall with experience and expertise in the sport that the Skinner Butte site offers a full range of climbing challenges, rom beginning to advanced. Few communities provide such facilities, but Eugene does. This is where we want people to practice rock climbing, if they are so inclined. Naturally, we encourage appropriate safety measures be taken. bark restrooms or the walls of other public buildings are not an appropriate place for this activity. It is dangerous and could cause serious damage to the structure as well. We are confident you will promote responsible rock climbing and suggest you talk to-)00X at , - -: '- - : : _. • - e - , to discuss the City's unique recreational rock climbing program. RoFr r ga (, 3 23 Thank you. c i"ar6< c�';, L> di recr�a-14 of lce--k-X�Kecit,r �-4- Original Message From: JONES Eric R Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2002 10:17 AM To: RHAY Tim W; MEDARY Sarah J; ROBERT Michael J Cc: FOERSTLER Kevin J; PICADO Therese M; MEDLIN Johnny R; OLSHANSKI Tom H Subject: RE: climbing the wall I'm out of town and haven't had a chance to see the photo/article in question. Assuming it was run as a spring break "bright" (i.e., look at the fun we're having), I'd recommend that someone send an email to Diane Dietz (ddietz@guardnet.com) and cc the city editor, Margaret Haberman (mhaberman@guardnet.com) asking the newspaper to clarify-- preferably by doing a short follow-up story) explaining that the behavior is inappropriate, unsafe and (if true) illegal. If there's any reluctance on the part of the R-G to clarify its photo, I wouldn't hestitate to contact local TV(Rick Dancer at KEZI, Dawn Marie at KVAL) and let them know about the problem. EricJ Original Message From:RHAY Tim W To: MEDARY Sarah J; ROBERT Michael J Cc: FOERSTLER Kevin J; PICADO Therese M; JONES Eric R; MEDLIN Johnny R Sent: 3/27/2002 9:16 AM Subject: RE: climbing the wall L `m surprised it took until 9:00 AM for this discussion to take place! My first thought upon seeing the paper this morning was, "Michael isn't going to like this". (I didn't like it either.) 1