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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 4, 1976)
Oregon erald An Independent Newspaper VoJ. 77, No. 145 Eugene, Oregon 97403 Tuesday, May 4,1976 * Davis granted retrial on new info grounds By LOIS LINDSAY Of the Emerald An ASUO presidential candidate charged with a campaign violation Sunday will be granted a retrial, election officials said Monday. According to Mike Dotten, chairer of the ASUO Elections Court, new informa tion received by the court Monday is sufficient to justify a new hearing and possibly reversal of charges brought against Jim Davis. In a unanimous decision Sunday after noon, the court found Davis guilty of au thorizing the placing of a campaign flyer on the door knob of a private residence without prior consent of the owner. During the trial, the three-member court also found ASUO Vice-president Kirby Garrett guilty of failure to report a violations complaint filed with him to the elections court. But according to information discovered Monday, the charge against Davis may be unfounded. Davis was convicted by the court on the basis of evidence supplied by the plaintiff in the case, Michael Schaefer, a senior in political science. Schaefer told the court a Davis campaign flyer placed on his doorknob at 766 E. 15th Ave. had not been authorized by Woodland Realty, proprietors of the complex. He tes tified that he had callnri thft ananrv anH mac ■ Catch me if you can Photos by Perry GasMI White Bird Clinic Kicked off its record-contesting "Greater Fris bee Marathon" today-at noon behind the EMU. The marathon is scheduled to last three weeks if enough frisbee flingers find the time. The clinic is seeking sponsors for the contest. 7 V Charges reduced in conduct case Charges of disorderly conduct against three of the eight persons arrested in connection with University Pres. William Boyd’s Jan. 17 inauguration have been dropped for two and are expected to be dropped for the third person. r-\— -\ Kent: six years later Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandy Scheuer, and William Schneider were shot and killed six years ago today at Kent State University in Ohio. Eleven other persons were wounded in the confron tation with the Ohio National Guard. The gunfire broke out as the guardsman dispersed a rally protesting the invasion of Cambodia on April 30, 1970, by the United States armed forces with South Vietnamese troops. The Kent State incident precipitated student strikes across the country. Many campuses were shut down as the student anti-war movement reached its peak emo tional and political momentum. The guardsmen accused of shooting the four stu dents were exonerated of all charges last year. Attorney Mike Goldstein, who is representing William Doolit tle, one of the arrested persons, said the original charges have been dropped, but that charges of loud and raucus behavior will be filed against Doolittle and Daniel Greenstein. Attorney Chris Hansen, who represents William Lutz the third person arrested, has no confirmed information, but says that he expects similar charges for Lutz. The three were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct inside the EMU Ballroom while participating in a protest of tuition costs, budget cuts and the use of Teamster lettuce on campus. The demonstrators yelled remarks during speeches by guests at the inauguration ceremony and were removed from the ballroom by police. At the same time, other demonstrators were shouting pro tests outside the ballroom. No indication has been made that the remaining four persons arrested will have their disorderly conduct charges dropped. An eighth defendant is charged with interfering with a police officer. informed by "someone there” that Davis had not received permission. But when contacted by the Emerald Monday, Carole Sisler, owner of the agency, denied receiving any such call. She said neither she nor her secretary had any recollection of a Michael Schaefer or anyone else inquiring about the matter. And if they had I wouldn’t have told them Davis needed to ask permission.” According to Sisler, her agency "has an open policy and does not require permis sion for hanging literature on doorknobs at 766 E. 15th Ave.” Other realtors and management firms in the Eugene area said they hold similar open campaign policies. According to Bernd Hoffmann, president of Associated Man agement, Inc., a commercial and multi family housing management firm, his agency “never has stopped anyone from hanging anything in any of our complexes." Despite Sister’s denial, Schaefer told the Emerald he will stick to his story. “All I can say is I did talk to someone at Woodland Realty and they told me Davis or no one else had received permission to post cam paign literature in the building." Davis, who filed the retrial petition late Mofiday, said he had more than one reason for requesting the new hearing. He said he was denied due process because he “wasn't given proper notice of the hearing. I also was denied the right to face my ac cuser and to prepare a more detailed de fense.” Davis was not informed of the Sunday hearing until late Saturday night and was unable to return from Portland to appear in his own defense. Jim Bemau, ASUO presi dent, was appointed by Davis to stand in as his representative. Davis denied that he or his campaign people “intended or committed” any viola tion. “I’ve worked on campaign after cam paign and I knew those buildings have al ways had an open policy. I just took it for granted that that was still the policy." He said he feels the election court was remiss in reaching its verdict. “I personally feel there was some blatant misuse and misrepresentation of information by Mr. Schaefer. I'm also a little disappointed that the court didn’t look a little more deeply into the facts before reaching a decision." Court chairer Dotten denied that the court acted irresponsibly. "The function of the court is to come in and listen to both sides and then deliberate. We are not intended to conduct legal research into the case.” But he said the case looks good for Davis if the information he has received so far is correct. If it’s true that that complex in question offers blanket prior permission to post campign literature then I would per sonally say that there is no reason for the charge against Davis.” He said, however, that the case would have to be decided by the scheduled 1 p.m. today. Announcement of primary election re sults will be with held until the court re leases its second decision. The sanction imposed aginst Davis Sunday would have required him to enter a run-off with his nearest contender even if Davis received Dver 50 per cent of the vote in the primary.
