Guest Viewpoint: Talking Stones' words are timeless - The Register-Guard, Eugene, Orep.. Page 2 of 3 <br /> Eugene's Human Rights Commission and a coalition of Indian <br /> and interfaith leaders who, like the stones, would simply not <br /> coy stop talking. A tangible byproduct is the display "We Are <br /> Kalapuya," now on view in the Springfield and Eugene libraries, <br /> the South Eugene High School library, and Jefferson Middle <br /> School. <br /> All because of 11 rocks in a park? What could they be talking <br /> about? <br /> Ask Lisa Ponder, the artist who engraved them. Along with <br /> Stutzman and a handful of citizens and parks planners, she <br /> took names supplied by the tribe and matched them with <br /> individual basalt boulders quarried in traditional Kalapuya <br /> territory. The results are simply beautiful. <br /> Ponder will attend Saturday's 10 a.m. dedication of the four <br /> Springfield stones at a park entrance south of Aspen and West <br /> D St., and Eugene's 2 p.m. gathering, southeast of the <br /> Cuthbert Amphitheater. <br /> Ask a Willamalane or Eugene parks planner. The Whilamut <br /> Natural Area is one of the few urban parks anywhere whose <br /> management strategy is based on natural values. <br /> Willamalane's end of the park features the highest species <br /> diversity of any site within our urban growth boundary. This <br /> park is the ideal venue in which to honor the land stewardship <br /> practiced by the Kalapuya for many thousands of years before <br /> the arrival of Euro-Americans. <br /> Most importantly, ask the Kalapuya people. Once the largest <br /> tribal group in what became Western Oregon, they now <br /> number in the hundreds. Remnants of their highly evolved <br /> culture can be found from Roseburg to Oregon City. <br /> They honor the past, live in the present, and look forward to a <br /> future where all of us will want to recognize them. <br /> This is the message of the Talking Stones. <br /> David Sonnichsen is chair of the Citizen Planning Committee <br /> for the Whilamut Natural Area of Alton Baker Park. <br /> caw <br /> http://www.registerguard.com/cgi-bin/printStory.py?name=a 13.ed.col.stones.053 0&date=2003.. 6/4/03 <br />