7-6-21 Emerald Media - Tuesday Edition

JULY 6, 2021

Tuesday Edition

Emerald Media

HOMES ON THE

WAY

Massive regulatory changes and local initiatives usher in a new age of affordable housing in Eugene.

A&C

KEN KESEY PG 3

NEWS

OPINION

AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN EUGENE PG 4

HOMELESSNESS IS NOT AN EYESORE PG 6

SPORTS

EUGENE EMERALDS PG 8 T U E S D AY, J U LY 6 , 2 0 2 1

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A&C

'FURTHUR' AND 'FURTHUR' VOL. 122, ISSUE NO. 56

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(Eleanor Klock/Emerald)

A trip into the legacy of Eugene’s own Ken Kesey, the author of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and an unrivaled Beat Generation icon.

Jamie Diep Marcus Ren

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ON THE COVER

Homes for Good, Lane County’s housing authority, is developing a new, 45-unit permanent supportive housing apartment community in Eugene for 45 individuals experiencing homelessness, located at 11th and Charnelton Street. The complex has been named, “the Nel at 11th and Charnelton Street.”The city of Eugene has approved plans to convert several buildings into affordable housing options. (Ian Enger/Emerald)

–“Ken Kesey’s Garage Sale,” a collection of essays by the great American author Ken Kesey is a staple figure here in Eugene. The big dog of the Beat Generation — a post-war literary movement known for non-conformity and creativity — lived and died here. But aside from the writer’s written works, the majority of our community is yet to tip their hats to what UO’s most famous literary nerd is truly famous for: being a pioneer into a lifestyle that would color outside the lines of the late sixties and early seventies. Sure, we see him memorialized in a statue downtown — forever reading to his grandkids in front of the beloved Sizzle Pie — but Kesey's greatest adventures go much deeper than just his famous works.

Spending much of his young life in Springfield, Oregon, Kesey naturally attended UO and threw his cap in 1957. After graduation, he received a Stanford fellowship, according to Stanford Magazine.

It was at Stanford that he became experienced in every sense of the word.

According to the Stanford Daily, as a grad student, Kesey was part of a 1960 clinical trial held by the United States Army at Menlo Park Veterans Hospital. The trial holders conducted acid tests to observe the effects of the drug, and Kesey immediately realized its positive effects and healing nature. His eyes were newly opened to the world of psychedelics, and this experience ultimately led to the inspiration for his first novel: “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.” With the 1962 release of the novel, Kesey was an instant sensation, and there was a public hunger for more. The story deals with the theme of liberation of the mind, which remains an essential message from the author in his works to follow.

By the summer of 1964, Kesey was deep into his second hit, “Sometimes A Great Notion,” and his publisher wanted the now California-based author to meet him in New York before the novel hit shelves. The summer of ‘64 brought on such sweet coincidences in the writer’s life that made this trip to New York significant.

As described in Tom Wolfe’s 1968 novel “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test,” Kesey and his pals were already working on the skeleton of a movie about a journey of the mind and decided that New York was the perfect place to capture shots for their film. They decided to invite friends, fellow filmmakers and anyone else who would

volunteer for the trek. Soon it was evident the gang grew too large to pile into Kesey’s station wagon. So, they had to think bigger.

Kesey stumbled upon a tricked out school bus made in 1939 that was already retrofitted with bunks, a bathroom and a kitchen, Wolfe wrote. The trip was on. The road gang, who called themselves the Merry Pranksters, didn’t stop there. They added a killer sound system in the bus, exterior seating on the roof and painted the beast with primary colors and touches of sunshine on every inch.

They settled on the name “Further,” but a misspelling by one of the artists on the trip resulted in the bus famously being memorialized as “Furthur.” The name was a statement in itself. It wasn’t about moving across the land to cover more miles as the word “farther” would imply, but about moving together in a cognitive space, in the metaphorical sense the word “further” implies.

With beat poet Neal Cassady behind the wheel, Kesey and the Pranksters officially started their journey to New York on June 17, 1964. By the time they got to New York, the gang was on the road for 12 days and famously tied both hippies and beats together in philosophy while on the trip. Wolfe sums it up in his book: “You're either on the bus… or off the bus,” explaining that everything became allegorical and unspoken during the journey. The bus represented driving head first into the changing times.

These rejects to society spearheaded the dive into the psychedelia of the late 60s, whether they were aware of it or not. The journey’s mantra was freedom and experience: the liberation Kesey explores in his novels.

The movie they intended to make wasn’t released until decades later in 2011 — due to a drug possession charge on Kesey’s end in 1965, according to The Village Voice. But that just hammers in the philosophy all the more: The final product wasn’t the centerpiece to this famous story; it was the connections made along the way.

So, next time you’re in downtown Eugene enjoying some doughnuts from Voodoo or sharing a slice of pizza with your sweetheart, visit his statue and raise your glass to Ken Kesey. Not just for his fervor as a writer, but as the most Eugene-esque man this little town of ours has ever offered up to the world.

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NEWS The previous building at 1100 Charnelton St. in Eugene was torn down the last week of June 2021 to begin the construction of the permanent supportive housing apartment community that Homes for Good, Lane County’s housing authority, has planned. The City of Eugene has approved plans to convert several buildings into affordable housing options. (Ian Enger/Emerald)

A Lane Community College building in downtown Eugene, located on 1059 Willamette St.,, is in the process of being converted into mixedincome housing called the Montgomery. The City of Eugene has approved plans to convert several buildings into affordable housing options.

(Ian Enger/Emerald)

EUGENE PREPARES FOR A NEW AGE IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING

On the heels of sweeping statewide housing legislation, affordable housing initiatives arrive in Eugene, bringing both hope and controversy over downtown development.

BY ALEXIS WEISEND

In the wake of numerous municipal zoning code changes and an influx of state funding, several ambitious affordable housing initiatives recently kicked off in Eugene. The projects aim to cater to Eugene’s diverse housing needs, but not everyone agrees on whose needs should be prioritized.

A myriad of recent state housing legislation paved the way for expansive affordable housing efforts.

In the 2021 Oregon legislative session, representatives invested over $896 million in addressing Oregon’s housing crisis.

Eugene faces a housing crisis of its own due to a combination of expensive housing and low wages in comparison to state averages, UO architecture and urban design instructor and Better Housing Together founding director Kaarin Knudson said.

According to a report by the National Low Income Housing Commission, a minimum wage PA G E 4

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worker in Eugene must work 67 hours per week to afford a one bedroom apartment. As of 2020, 1,606 people are homeless in Lane County, according to Lane County’s Point-inTime report.

Knudson said a lack of middle housing, like duplexes and cottage clusters, also contributes to the crisis.

The local projects come just before stark changes to zoning codes across the state, allowing for more middle housing.

The Oregon legislature passed Senate Bill 8 on June 23, which requires municipal governments to allow affordable housing in lands not zoned for residential use.

Oregon House Bill 2001 requires cities with populations over 25,000 — including Eugene — to allow duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, cottage clusters and townhouses in residential areas typically zoned for single family homes. The bill gives municipalities until June 30, 2022 to incorporate

housing diversity into their zoning codes.

According to its zoning map, Eugene is mostly zoned to accommodate single family homes.

The city’s current zoning code limits middle housing — including duplexes and corner lots.

Knudson said Eugene’s community is more diverse than its zoning code allows for. “Our housing needs to be equally diverse,” she said.

The current housing projects in Eugene focus on supporting affordability while implementing HB 2001, Kundson said.

Mixed feelings on mixed income housing The Eugene City Council voted 6-1 to begin a project that will turn a Lane Community College building downtown into mixed income housing called the Montgomery at its June 9 meeting.

The city will begin negotiations

with a private development team to sell the building, which sat vacant for almost a decade, according to the project’s website.

There are few opportunities for residents with moderate incomes to find housing, according to the city’s website. The city said the Montgomery will provide easy access to downtown and the transit network.

The City Council approved using the federal Community Development Block Grant to buy the site on Jan. 29, 2020. The grant requires that 51% of the housing units are affordable to households earning 80% of the area’s median income (AMI), according to the city’s website.

The city originally asked for the units to be priced based on HUD Fair Market Rents — a method of determining affordable rental rates for local housing markets.

According to the city’s proposal, a studio apartment would be rented at $773 a month based on these

NEWS

Ibrahim Coulibaly is the CEO of Human Rights, Human Stories, a non-governmental organization which sent a setter to Eugene City Council expressing their concerns and opposition to the creation of the housing apartment complex at 11th and Charnelton. The city of Eugene has approved plans to convert several buildings into affordable housing options. (Ian Enger/Emerald)

Eugene City Council member Emily Semple was the only councilor to vote to halt the conversion of a vacant Lane Community College building into an affordable housing option in a 6-1 vote, due to concerns about equity and private ownership. The City of Eugene has approved plans to convert several buildings into affordable housing options. (Ian Enger/Emerald)

standards. However, the development team’s proposal said it would need an additional $2 million from the city in order to achieve returns required to secure equity.

In turn, the development team’s proposal said 51% of the units will be designated for those earning 80% AMI. This would eliminate the $2 million deficit but raise rents, making a studio apartment $894 a month.

In response to the proposal, 27 community organizations and eight prominent members of BIPOC communities in Eugene submitted a letter to the City Council. The letter asked councilors to reconsider the project, citing equity concerns around giving “publicly held real property to a for profit corporation controlled by White, cis men.”

Instead, the community leaders asked the city to allocate 90% of its Community Safety Initiative funds — which support various services including the Eugene Police Department — to housing. The letter

asked the city to use the property to support the development of a community land trust: a nonprofit that would serve as the steward of affordable housing.

“You can’t convince me that a studio in Eugene for $894 a month is affordable,” Ibrahim Coulibaly, CEO of the nonprofit Human Rights, Human Stories, said. His organization helped submit the letter.

Coulibaly said he thinks the city is throwing public money away by giving the building to a private development team.

“You cannot buy the building from LCC to give it to someone for those people to make money,” Coulibaly said. “You’re not solving any problems the community has.”

Councilor Emily Semple was the only city councilor who voted to halt the project. She said it was a hard choice because she supports the project, but wants to consider the concerns of the community before

moving forward.

Semple said she recognizes the letter's concerns about giving public land to a private development team.

“Half of this stuff is going to be market rate, which means they’ll make bank on it,” she said, “and the other half isn’t all that cheap.”

She said giving publicly owned land to a private development team poses equity issues and that public money should be used to help marginalized people.

Still, Semple said the project provides desperately needed housing downtown. “If we turn this project down, we will have that empty building for even longer,” she said.

Knudson said she is excited to see underperforming sites becoming homes.

“We are absolutely pro-housing solutions,” she said, speaking about her work with Better Housing Together, “and that is a great new housing solution in our community.”

A new kind of affordable housing SquareOne Villages creates self managed communities of cost effective tiny homes for people who need housing.

According to its website, the organization plans to build the Peace Village Co-op, a village full of affordable houses, as its next project in Eugene. The village will be a limited equity co-op and community land trust, meaning residents share ownership and contribute hours to maintaining the village.

The Peace Village Co-op will consist of 36 units on land previously owned by Peace Presbyterian Church.

The village's target population is those with low incomes of 30-50% AMI, according to SquareOne’s website.

SquareOne community relations director Amanda Dellinger said the villages can tighten community bonds and dignify residents’ housing experiences. She said the villages create these bonds more than apartments do because the villages provide “smaller homes that aren’t just rooms in a gigantic building.”

Knudson, whose organization partners within SquareOne, said the villages have many advantages because Eugene needs smaller options than traditional, single family homes to accommodate smaller households.

Andrew Heben, project director for SquareOne, said the group recently learned that it will receive $750,000 for Peace Village from the American Rescue Plan Act local community investments and $2 million from the Oregon Housing and Community Services. Dellinger said she thinks these types of developments are going to be much easier and more common after HB 2001 is implemented.

Addressing the homelessness crisis Homes for Good, Lane County’s

housing authority, is developing a new, 45-unit supportive housing apartment community in Eugene for individuals experiencing homelessness. The site is called “the Nel at 11th and Charnelton Street.”

The Nel will provide on-site case management and supportive services — including assistance with independent living skills, money management and connections to employment and educational services.

Coulibaly said he thinks the Nel is a great project because it’s a “onestop-shop” approach to help Eugene’s homeless population. Knudson said the Nel is an exciting project and a great complement to Eugene’s diversity of housing needs.

According to the proposal, Homes for Good received funding from OHCS for low income tax credits in July of 2020, which helped fund the project.

The leases will be given to people from Lane County’s Coordinated Entry Central Wait List, which ranks those who need housing with need-based criteria, according to the Homes for Good website.

Construction began in May, according to the project’s proposal.

The project's website said Homes for Good hopes to start moving residents in by the summer of 2022.

More housing assistance for students “My rent is $625 a month, which I, at first, thought was affordable,” UO senior Haylee Frame said. “But what I didn’t account for was the cost of groceries and general living expenses.”

Frame works as a student employee at UO. She makes $12.75 per hour, but UO guidelines limit her to a 25-hour work week. She said her job is “nice for balancing school and work,” but that it’s not a large amount of money.

UO is growing programs that provide assistance to students in an immediate crisis, according to Dr. Jimmy Howard, assistant dean of students for prevention and response. These include the Students in Crisis Fund, which students can apply for through the Office of the Dean of Students, and a developing emergency housing network.

To help students find long term affordable housing, ASUO’s new basic needs program will provide two basic needs coordinators starting this fall.

According to the basic needs program proposals, ASUO also earmarked $150,000 of its 2021-22 budget for a housing subsidy to help students with rent.

Knudson said she encourages students to advocate for their affordable housing needs.

“It is important that our student body be engaged in conversations about our housing needs,” she said, “because there are so many students negatively impacted by the absence of efficient and alternative housing.”

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OPINION

EUGENE'S HOMELESSNESS IS A HUMANITARIAN CRISIS, NOT AN EYESORE

BY JAKOB HOLLENBECK

Hollenbeck: Homelessness, exacerbated by the pandemic, has increased by 50% since 2019. The City of Eugene is using your money to make the problem worse.

In 2019, Eugene had the highest homelessness rate of any city in the entire country. In a supposedly progressive city — without the insane housing prices of New York or Los Angeles — thousands weather the elements on our streets.

Since then, homelessness in Lane County has skyrocketed by about 50% to 3,245 people actively experiencing homelessness, the Register-Guard reported. As a UO student, this increase is hard to miss. Overcrowded tent communities greet me on my way to work. Children ask me for money on the street. And now that the federal eviction moratorium is set to end on August 1, experts warn that thousands more could lose their housing.

A humanitarian crisis is unfolding in front of our eyes. Instead of solving the problem, the city criminalizes the homeless at the behest of Eugene’s businesses.

Eugene’s businesses have long argued that homelessness jeopardizes their livelihoods. At an April City Council meeting, for example, business-owner Sahara Valentine implored the city to address the Ferry St. Bridge homeless community.

“We have to deal with the homeless population impacting our businesses,”

she testified.“It should go without saying that we do not feel physically safe.”

The danger that some homeless people pose to her business is, to some extent, real. But it should also go without saying that the thousands of homeless people do not feel physically safe either. Eliminating homelessness would solve both problems. But, instead, many of Eugene’s businesses call for the city to pursue aesthetic changes, not tangible ones — to remove the homeless without eliminating homelessness. And the city chooses the former every time, prioritizing businesses over human lives.

Last Thursday, Eugene police cleared the Ferry St. Bridge homeless community — just like business owners have suggested. Signs posted by the city claimed that the site hosted up to 15 tents, but I see the community every day, and it hosted upwards of 50.

The sweep violated CDC guidelines, which discourage clearing encampments to avoid spreading COVID-19. Mayor Lucy Vinis also acknowledged the “trauma” that clearing encampments causes campers. The city did it anyway.

Instead of listening to these guidelines, they listened to business owners.

The very next day, the city targeted homeless people again. In a 7-1 vote,

EDITORIAL CARTOON:

(Emerald Archives)

the City Council passed new parking regulations that discourage homeless people from sleeping in their cars in commercial areas. Starting on July 24, the city will ask Eugene police to harass homeless people sleeping in their cars.

The city argues that the change will encourage more traffic to Eugene’s businesses — but, again, this requires the city to displace and harass homeless people.

To be fair, business owners have legitimate grievances. Valentine, for example, cited multiple incidents of people harassing her clients. Those are real concerns, and the city should take them seriously. Displacing homeless people, though, only makes the problem worse. How can we expect homeless people to gain stability if the city constantly disrupts their lives?

Put simply: The city is spending your money to push more people deeper into homelessness.

Growing evidence reveals a better path: Give homeless people resources.

For example, Canadian researchers designed a randomized controlled study where they gave 50 homeless people 7,500 Canadian dollars and compared their progress to 65 control subjects. The results were remarkable.

The cash transfer group found stable

PRIDE MONTH AT UO

housing faster. They ate more and healthier. By the end, all but three escaped homelessness. Their progress was so significant that they saved the community money because they no longer used costly emergency shelters.

Critics of cash transfers often suggest that homeless people will become dependent on the government and spend the money on drugs and alcohol.

Researchers find the exact opposite. The Canadian study — like 30 other studies on cash transfers — found that they reduce spending on drugs. As psychologists have found, when people have the resources and hope that they can escape poverty, they make better decisions.

This is the fundamental contradiction of our insistence on homeless people’s self-reliance. In trying times, we rely on one another. We turn to friends and family. We ask our professors for extensions. We cash stimulus checks and Facetime our moms. Our support systems allow us the security to make good decisions. Why not afford homeless people the same?

By not doing so, the City of Eugene is worsening homelessness. It is costing taxpayers money, straining businesses and ruining lives. Homelessness is not an eyesore that the city can sweep away. It is a humanitarian crisis that it must address.

For the LGBTQ community, June is a time for pride and celebration.

For the UO, it's a time for pandering and exploitation. (Eleanor Klock/ Emerald)

Eleanor Klock is an illustrator and editorial cartoonist at the Daily Emerald.

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HOT -OR NOT?

HANDLES ICE CREAM Inside of 5th Street Public Market is the Mecca for staying cool in the summer heat. The line spills out the door, which is a testament to their mouth watering ice cream that is sure to alleviate the heat wave blues. –Merril Buczek

SECURITY DEPOSIT DEDUCTIONS

This online marketplace offers broke college students some great finds, but also some great disappointments when sellers become unresponsive.

While the Eugene OfferUp plant scene goes hard, proceed with caution. –Cale Crueger

Around OR

REGIONAL & STATE NEWS

From the Emerald Opinion Desk

THE OFFERUP APP

QUICK HITS

Paying an extra month's rent for simply adding flavor to an apartment is a scam created by landlords. What do you mean by "permanent carpet stains?" I gave it a lived-in look!

–Eleanor Klock

OREGON REACHES 70% VACCINATION RATE: Oregon reached its vaccination target, as set by Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, on July 2. The milestone means 70% of Oregonians ages 18 and older received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The state fully reopened two days prior to reaching the target, per Brown’s executive order.

With the reopening, Oregon lifted most mask mandates and capacity limits. —LEO BAUDHUIN

Emerald Recommends

“A QUIET PLACE PART II” The sequel to the horror movie that left viewers scared to make noise as they left the theater is here and arguably better than the first movie. Regan, a deaf teenager, must protect her family in a world where noise attracts aliens. Anyone who likes horror movies will enjoy “A Quiet Place Part II” and be left wondering if a third part is likely to come out. —NIKA BARTOO-SMITH

THE HAYWARD MAGIC SHOE COMES ALIVE! STORY BEGINS

(Maddie Stellingwerf/Emerald)

Hayward had a fascination with shoes that began long before he arrived in Eugene. Before one of his professional races, Hayward came out for his warmups wearing striped socks over his shoes. As soon as the gun went off, Hayward ripped off the socks, revealing a new pair of shoes with spikes on the soles — one of the first known pairs of spiked shoes to ever be used in a track meet. He won by a landslide.

From the first spiked shoes to record breaking moments, read all about Hayward’s rich history in Hayward Field: Legends and Legacy

During the race, a number of nearby retail stores were robbed by a suspect who’d climbed in through the roof. Because of his spiked shoes, Hayward was briefly held and questioned by the local police. He was released soon after, free of any charges.

ORDER TODAY!

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SPORTS

‘THE GOLD STANDARD OF BASEBALL’

DURING MANAGER DENNIS PELFREY’S FIRST SEASON, THE EUGENE EMERALDS HAVE ONLY LOST ONE SERIES AND PLAYERS ARE FLOURISHING.

BY MOJO HILL • TWITTER @MOJOHILL22

first-place Emeralds to a 33-20 record, while creating a culture held up by a sturdy foundation — one preticated on intelligent risk-taking and success.

Pelfrey joined the Giants organization in 2020 after spending nine years When I talk about winning, coach and manager and when the Giants talk about asfora hitting the Florence Freedom of the winning, it is not the scoreboard Independent Frontier League. There he posted a 261-218 managerial at the end of the day… It is more record. about, when we leave the field “It was one of those things that I that day, were we the better wanted to prove to myself first that I could have some success,” Pelfrey team fundamentally… were we said.

“And just like a player, hoping the better group of guys that someone took notice of what I going to battle?" was doing, what my teams were doing.”

Pelfrey’s talents have translated well –Dennis Pelfrey to the High-A West, where the Emeralds The Eugene Emerald's Manager lost just one series all season in a tight race with the Everett AquaSox for first place. Despite the increase in talent and Everyone in PK Park collectively competition, Pelfrey’s philosophy from froze on June 22 when they thought the when he was managing his independent Eugene Emeralds had blown a 4-2 lead ball teams hasn’t changed. with a two-out triple in the top of the “What I was trying to do in ninth. But it was Emeralds fundamentals independent ball was develop players coach Lipso Nava who noticed a and get them better and have them miniscule detail: the runner had missed prepared so when they do get picked third base. up by an affiliate team, they were fully Manager Dennis Pelfrey wasn’t fully prepared and ready to go,” he said. “At convinced, but Nava was adamant. The this level, it’s really the same concept. I Emeralds appealed, and, to the shock of want to develop players and make sure everyone, the runner was called out and that they’re prepared for the next level the Emeralds won their seventh straight when they go to Double-A or Triple-A or game. even the big leagues.”

The moment was indicative of an While this team has been operating overall theme for the Emeralds this year: like a well-oiled machine, one of the More often than not, things go their way, most notable storylines of the season and more often than not, they come has been the strikeout numbers the through in the clutch. pitching staff has put up. They lead the “It doesn’t matter who it is,” Pelfrey High-A West with 582 punchouts in 465 said. “It’s somebody different typically 2/3 innings, good every night.” for an 11.25 Pelfrey is in the midst of not just his K/9. first season in the Giants organization, but his first season in any affiliated baseball organization. He’s led the

Sean Roby celebrates after his two-run homer in the third inning to give the Eugene Emeralds a 5-0 lead. (Mojo Hill/Emerald)

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While strikeouts are up not only league-wide, but throughout the sport, what the Emeralds are doing is undeniably impressive. Since 2005 — as far back as minor league stats go — the highest full-season team K/9 is 11.11, set by both the 2018 Quad Cities River Bandits and the 2019 Fayetteville Woodpeckers.

“The talent is what’s doing it,” Pelfrey said. “And I think the mentality that we give them and… showing that we have faith in putting them in big spots.”

It hasn’t just been one or even a few pitchers leading the charge, either. Both the rotation (10.53 K/9) and the bullpen (11.94 K/9) have put up dominant marks, with contributions from players up and down the roster. Pelfrey credits this to the variety of arms that his team features.

“We have a lot of different types of arms, which is really nice,” he said.

“Different arm angles, different velos, different best pitches for each guy. It’s really like a buffet option for us.”

Another overall theme for the Emeralds this year has been holding each other accountable, Pelfrey said.

He described them as often giving constructive criticism, as opposed to coming down too hard on anyone. More than anything, these players just have high expectations for each other.

But to Pelfrey, winning isn’t just about the score; it’s

about the way they play the game on a daily basis.

“I just want to keep progressing,” Pelfrey said. “When I talk about winning, and when the Giants talk about winning, it is not the scoreboard at the end of the day… It is more about, when we leave the field that day, were we the better team fundamentally… were we the better group of guys going to battle?”

But with the Emeralds enjoying a first-place season, the team has made sure not to stay too serious and to have a little fun on the side too. The atmosphere at PK Park has been energetic, with mascot races, dance-offs and general manager Allan Benevides’ regular interactions with the fans.

“It’s really cool to be around these guys because they’re a bunch of different personalities, they get along really well, they joke with each other,” Pelfrey said.

The Emeralds are in the midst of their first year as a full-season, 120-game club, so there's still a lot of baseball left, but Pelfrey expects his squad to hold their lead through the summer and prove that they’re the best team in the High-A West.

“I’d really like to win 80 games and really set ourselves apart from everybody,” Pelfrey said. “And let everybody know that the Giants, not only in High-A, but our entire organization from the big leagues all the way down is top notch, and we’re the gold standard of baseball.”

LEFT: The Eugene Emeralds (Los Monarcas de Eugene) line up for the playing of the national anthem in recordbreaking 109-degree heat.

(Mojo Hill/Emerald)

Eugene Emeralds manager Dennis Pelfrey walks into the dugout as he prepares for their game on June 27.

(Mojo Hill/Emerald)