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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 10, 1976)
Vol. 77, No. 95 Eugene, Oregon 97403 Tuesday, February 10,1976 Group forms quake relief fund The disaster is much worse than it looks in the papers said Colette Craig, University professor and West Coast coordinator of the Guatemalan Relief Fund (GRF). A group of linquists and anthropologists with ex perience in Guatemala, which has organized to provide aid for earthquake victims there. Co-sponsored by the AMERICAN Friends Service, the GRF funds will go to a team of experts in Guatemalan society who, Craig said, will be able to recognize the special needs of the quake victims and put the money to good use. Craig said this will give the group an advantage over larger disaster-relief organizations such as CARE be cause "CARE has a habit of sending in people who are not familiar with the language of the disaster area. Craig stressed the need for quick contributions. “People have got to pitch in in 10 days. The relief team will be going to Guatemala in two weeks and we ve got to have the money before then. Craig, chairer of the Latin American Studies Commit tee and a professor of Spanish and linguistics, says the need for aid is more urgent than media reports have indicated. Most reports talk about the city, but I'm not sure that most people realize that the city is not the worst off. The towns in the mountains have been hit very hard. I've had telephone contact with Guatemala and I’ve heard that towns of 20,000 were leveled.” Checks can be made out to Guatemalan Relief Fund and mailed to the main branch of the Citizens Bank of Oregon, 975 Oak St., Eugene. Committee readies tavern plan for Boyd By STEVE FREDERICK Of the Emerald The EMU tavern proposal is nearing final form and will be presented to University Pres. William Boyd within the next few weeks, according to Jim Fitzhenry, chairer of the ASUO Ad Hoc Tavern Committee. The committee approved the tavern plan, one of the ASUO Pres. Jim Bernau's central campaign issues, last spring. Since then it has been researching the plan and is currently writing up the proposal “in considerably more detail,’' Fitzhenry said. The proposal will contain a report by M.B.A. Consult ants Inc., which conducted a feasibility study on the tavern. Essentially a detailed market analysis, the study is based on data collected from four local taverns, Duffy's Max’s, Murphy and Me and Taylor s. Although Fitzhenry called the results of the M.B.A. study “very encouraging,’’ both he and Bernau refused to release figures to substantiate their statement. They claimed they were unable to do so because the results have not been fully incorporated with the rest of the committee's material. Fitzhenry asserted however, that results of the study “show we’re going to make a profit — no matter what scenario we use." One such plan calls for the tavern to be University owned and operated, another would have the business run by an outside contractor, the third would have it student-operated. Ftizhenry said that a University-run tavern seems to be “the most profitable" alternative, "but that's not our only criteria.” He stressed that the committee's goal is to demon strate a need for the facility, not to push any specific plan. “We won't make a recommendation; we just want to present all the possibilities,” he said. Fitzhenry says the tavern would help support the EMU food service, which is currently subsidized by the ASUO. ( Continued on Page 7) Housing rift faces Coalition, women’s group By HEATHER McCLENAGHAN Of the Emerald A landlord-tenant dispute has turned into an ideolog ical clash between a segment of the Eugene women s community and the Eugene Coalition. The Eugene Coalition, a loosely knit group of men and women who claim to support working class people around the world, served Gertrude's Silver Eighth Note Cafe an eviction notice effective February 16. The evic tion caps a four month battle over rental rights between the two groups. Gertrude's, a woman-run restaurant at 360 W. 6 th Ave., claims the Coalition has driven them from the build ing they have occupied since September 1. The Eugene Coalition declined to comment on any aspect of the issue. The rambling two story house which is the center of contention is home for the Women s Skill Center and the recently opened Womenschool. ‘Our aim was to create a business to support women,” explains Betsy, spokesperson for the ten member Gertrude s collective. 'When we opened the restaurant we wanted to establish a financial base for a women’s center.” According to Gertrude s everything looked good for the venture until the Eugene Coalition purchased the building in November. A statement issued by the Gertrude s collective claims, The Coalition secured a downpayment with the help of Gertrude s, but once the building was in the name of members of the Coalition, they insisted on holding all the power.” A series of disagreements over the terms of the lease and threat of eviction threw the issue open to the com munity. “We tried to keep the conflict internal as long as we could," says Betsy. But it was like talking to a brick wall.” A community meeting at Mama s Homefried Truck stop in December produced Gertrudes Principles of Unity." The statement outlines Gertrude's philosophy and responds to the Coalition s charge and that the cafe fails to meet the needs of Third World and working class women. "We think it is important to bear the charges in mind and to grow from them,” says Betsy. But the wounds haven't healed yet. Gertrude s re jected the Coalition's final lease offer. The Coalition suggested a community board' be set up to regulate use of the building. The collective refused to recognize the six-member board, saying the board was hand picked by the Coalition and was not representative of the community. When board members came to collect rent from the women on the night of Feb. 1. the collective refused to pay. The board threatened Gertrude's with a court order, and as things now stand the collective must be out of the building by Monday. "The Coalition does not value the women's commun ity politically,” claims the members of the collective. We think they are basically a sexist, hypocritical group. They say they're an anti-capitalistic, anti-imperialistic, Marxist group, and yet their ownership of this building gave them an opportunity to dictate the lease to us and to try to evict us. They’re landlords!" Accusing the Eugene Coalition of a patronizing at titude,” Lory, another collective member charges, “The Coalition doesn't represent the Left in Eugene...They ve demonstrated by the fact that they so easily evicted us that they consider the Eugene women's movement unim portant and petty." While the anger in the women's voices has not died, the collective members are planning a four day Fiasco Fiesta” to raise funds for a new women's center. Begin ning at Gertrude's on Tuesday, the benefit features tarot reading, folkdancing, theater, poetry readings, kung fu exhibitions, belly dancing and other activities.