Friends of Civic Stadium

Here it is, allready the bottom of the first inning.

Jim Crabbe started this movement in the 2006 season. He was out at the Ems games talking with fans and collecting signatures for the Support of Save Civic Stadium. That is when I (Dennis Hebert) met him. I spoke with Jim during that season and signed on. In the spring of 2007, it became evident that 4j was serious about the sale of Civic. Jim and I set up a table with our Save Civic Stadium banner and collected signatures at the Main Entrance to Civic for most all of the season’s games. We collected over 3,500 signatures and spoke with thousands of people that were in support of Save Civic Stadium. They did not want 4j to sell the property and build condos. They want to keep the Ems at Civic as our favorite Home Team. Many spoke of offering different venues to add more entertainment value to Civic. Some wanted the City of Eugene to buy it and others to have the U of O play there. During this time Tom Halferty joined in with his efforts. Along with a growing group, monthly meetings have been held to discuss what could be done to help Save Civic Stadium. Over time, our strategies have changed monthly due to the complexity of the issues at hand. If you were in attendance at the Eugene Celebration Parade, that was us in the ‘Slugger King’ entry to promote Save Civic Stadium.

This past fall we spoke to the 4j board and superintendent at the October 3, 2007 meeting and presented the signature list along with a brief statement about our group, Save Civic Stadium. We were met with mixed results, but made the statement that we had support from the Citizens of Eugene and they wanted to keep Civic Stadium going. We have met with Mayor Piercy and she stated that we needed some momentum in our pursuit to SCS. We have met with Mr. Dave Hauser at the Chamber of Commerce and he wants to Save Civic. We have met with Mr. Bob Beban, General Manager of the Ems and he would like to stay at Civic. We sent an email and a USPS letter to Mr. Dave Elmore of Elmore Sports Group, owner of the Ems, and asked to meet with him when he came to town in the fall. We haven’t heard from him. We have contacted Coach Horton at the U of O to welcome him to the baseball community of Eugene and would like to meet with him but did not receive a response. We have spoken with Mr. Killkenny and asked he consider Civic as the new Home of Ducks Baseball...well, we know where that is. For all of the collective meetings that have gone on between themselves, the players at the table know of our existence and choose to ignore us. LET'S BE HEARD!!!