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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 8, 1971)
Mac Court concert injunction possible An injunction may be filed soon by the City of Eugene against future concerts in McArthur Court because of smoking problems. But how soon has not been determined yet. “Certainly an injunction is a possibility,” City At torney Art Johnson said late Tuesday afternoon, “but I haven’t had time to consider all the alternatives. There are many possible approaches to get compliance with smoking rules.” He said since the next concert in Mac Court is scheduled for Jan 21, he doesn’t have to decide on a course of action right away. “I don’t see a decision on this coming out tomorrow (today),’’Johnson said. “It’s something that we’ll pursue carefully. I feel clearly that the Fire Marshall’s responsibility for public safety is to Voter registration note in progress Registration of students which will enable them to vote in the upcoming special election for the cigarette tax got off to a good start yesterday, with students lining up at several registration tables around campus. No final totals were available when the Emerald went to press last night, but estimates of the day’s total registration went as high as 500. “From all appearances, it was going very well,” said Dean of Student Personnel Services Robert Bowlin. “I only wish we had had more registrars.” In order to be eligible to vote in the Jan. 18 special election, students must register before Dec. 18. Registration booths will be open today and tomorrow at: The Co-op: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; EMU lobby: 10a.m.to5p.m.; Library: 7a.in.to 10p.m.; 180PLC: 10a.m. to 3p.m.; 150Science: 10a.m. to3 p.m.; and dorm dinner lines: 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Registration booths will also be open before and after the basketball games this weekend, and during halftime; and at 2:30 p.m. Friday in the EMU. when Senator Ernest Groening (D-Alas.) will speak. see that fire rules are enforced. And this office will see that assistance is given as is necessary.” Johnson had just talked with Eugene Fire Marshall Wendell Wick, who presented Johnson with » written report on Monday night’s Arlo Guthrie—Ry Cooder concert. Tlie report was written by Eugene Fire Department Captain Neal Cannady, who attended the Guthrie con cert. Regulations set by Wick that smoking is prohibited in the center area of Mac Court were “seriously violated,” Cannady’s report said. Warnings about smoking throughout the concert were “largely ignored,” it said. “In fact, many cigarettes were ignited while the announcements were being made.” Cannady’s report continued, “It is conservatively estimated that at least 100 persons were smoking in the prohibited area of the court at anytime during the performance. (An Emerald reporter at the concert took three five minute counts of the number of times persons struck matches or used lighters to begin smoking. For the first five-minute period, 51 lit up, for the second, 32, and the third, 43.) “While more announcements probably should have been made,” Cannady's report went on, “it is doubtful that they would have been any more effective in gaining the cooperation of the audience.” Wick estimated that smoking at the Guthrie concert exceeded that of the Heidelberg Blues Festival, held Nov. 20 in Mac Court. He explained that under the Eugene Fire Protection Code, he, as fire marshall, is authorized to set fire regulations at specific places—including Mac Court, a 44-year-old, all-wood facility. Smoking is allowed in the “outer court” area, which is equipped with ash receptacles and an automatic sprinkling system. “But the center court has no sprinkling system,” Wick said. “It wouldn’t take a whole lot to start a fire in Mac Court,” he added. “We’ve been lenient by allowing smoking even in the outer area.” Smoking was a problem at last month’s Heidelberg Blues Festival, Wick said, but he decided to wait until the Guthrie concert to report to the city attorney’s office. “My decision then (Nov. 20) was that we can’t judge by just one concert. But now, the matter is the respon sibility of the city attorney.” City attorney Johnson said he will confer with Wick again today and also contact University officials to find a solution to the smoking problem. Earlier Tuesday, ASUO Cultural Forum director Rob Gruber released a statement calling for a moratorium on the planning of all future concerts in Mac Court — Mose Allison-Kenny Burrell jazz concert Jan. 21, and the Youngbloods Feb. 13—but “we will not negotiate or commit ourselves to further McArthur Court con certs," Gruber said. “We will closely observe behavior at these two remaining concerts and make a decision in late February as to whether or not the forum will sponsor any further concerts,” he said. There are also problems other than smoking, Gruber said, such as drinking, crowding of aisles, gate crashing and damage to the building. “Each of these problems has caused difficulty for the forum in terms of its ability to continue to present such events," Gruber said. “Gate crashing has had the effect of spiralling security costs to a point that breaking even financially is nearly impossible. Smoking and crowding of the aisles constitute a grave safety hazard. “In spite of many attempts to successfully alleviate these problems, the situation has only grown worse. Time after time we’ve asked people to cooperate and help us solve these problems. The response has been generally negligible and sometimes hostile." Smoking at Mac Court concerts has not only been a problem this year. Last February, Fire Marshall Wick warned the University that the City of Eugene would seek an injunction against Mac Court concerts unless smoking at the concerts ceased. Wick’s warning came immediately after the Neil Diamond concert. After his warning, smoking at concerts diminished sharply. Because the problem is back again this year, University officals have considered several courses of action among them a smoke-sensing device which would sound an alarm when the smoke level at a concert gets too high. Another proposal is to eject those smoking from the concert. For the Guthrie concert, the Cultural Forum had an “advance warning” printed on the backs of tickets sold for the show. The tickets read: “Friends: Smoking in concerts endangers thousands of lives. Please do us all a great favor and refrain. Thanks. The ASUO Cultural Forum.” Emerald interview Arlo Guthrie: before the concert By STEPHEN GOODLAD Of the Emerald It was around 3 p m Monday that I called the ASUO people and was told to be at McArthur Court at 7 p.m. and that I might get an interview with Arlo Guthrie. Nothing was definite, everything was unclear. I went to the building at 7 and shortly thereafter, Arlo, accompanied by his back up people and Ry Cooder, walked on stage and began tuning up and balan cing the monitors for the concert. I took this opportunity to pursue the interview through the right channels by talking to one of Arlo's people about getting an in terview. I was told that it might be possible and that this fellow would see what he could do. I realized that this was not the right approach and that I was getting nowhere. So I sat down and watched until Arlo decided that everything sounded all right and got up to leave. Then I ap proached him and asked for the interview. He wasn't too keen on the idea at the time but said maybe later. Again I went and sat down and infer he came over and sat down and said all .;ht so we did it. Here it is as it took plat'. SG: What are you trying to do on stage? Are you trying to communicate anything in particular? AG: Well, what 1 don’t try to do is in terpret it. SG: How do you mean? AG: Well, I don’t interpret what I do...for other people, you know, I do it for myself certainly and I think other people should do it for other people but... SG'- Yeah. What have you been doing lately? 1 haven't heard an awful lot about you. AG: Not too much. Doin’ this kinda stuff. SG: I see...What about uh, television? You've done a couple of shows. What do you think of it? Do you like television? AG: No, I don’t really...1 don’t really think it's great. SG: Uh, “Highway In the Wind." you’ve done a lot of things, uh. songs about motorcycles and that sort of thing. AG: 1 only wrote one song about a motorcycle. SG. Well. “Highway In the Wind" is that not influenced by a motorcycle? AG: No, I never thought of it like that. SG: You like riding motorcycles though? AG: I used to, I used to ride 'em a whole bunch. + + + + + SG: You did "Percy's Song" on your Washington County album. Why did you choose that one? AG: . It's a good tune. Not enough (Continued on Page 6)
