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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1976)
-editorials The politics of altruis II Following a laborious weekend of speculation on what’s best for the residents of the Fourth District, inde pendent candidate Tonie Nathan came to the conclusion that incumbent Democrat Jim Weaver must be defeated even if it means her own withdrawal from the race. That’s an emormous amount of altruism for a political candidate. She was even prepared to ask independent Jim Howard to join her in the political suicide for the common good. But wait. Why suicide when murder will serve the same purpose? Nathan thinks she has found the lethal ammunition in the form of proposed legislation concerning conflict of in terest pending in Congress. And she has located the suita ble victim: Republican candidate Jerry Lausman. The legislation, proposed by Common Cause, would disallow anyone with personal or financial interest in a specific area from serving on committees dealing with that topic. Lausman has interest in some topics. Therefore, she feels that since this legislation could pass, Lausman should withdraw from the race, leaving guess who—Tonie Nathan to lead the cause of defeating Weaver. Without arguing the pros and cons of the Common Cause proposal at present we would like to take this opportunity to express our wonder and delight that at least in our District, there are still politicians whose priorities place our interests above even their own desire for office—or their opponent’s. Fill those idle hours So now you’ve registered, paid your fees and put in your token class appearance. What are you going to do the rest of the term? Past generations of students have amused them selves by doing such things as seeing how many goldfish will fit in a phone booth or how National Guardsmen re spond to rifle fire. But today’s Duck wants new thrills. Here is a sampling of ways active quackers can fill those idle hours between now and finals week. • Organize a student program, apply for ASUO fund ing and pay yourself a salary. • Hijack a jetliner and threaten to blow it up unless everyone in Cafifomia signs a statement promising to stay there. • Bum down the EMU and see if anyone notices. • Find enlightenment and inner peace and be obnox ious about it • Go to a UofO football game and enjoy the solitude. • Start an environmental group that does nothing but use huge quantities of paper. • Find out why the University’s founding fathers hated moles so intensely they chose “Mens Agitat Molem” as the University motto. • Spread rumors about openings in the plumbers’ union among graduating seniors and make a fortune sel ling pipe wrenches. • Go to faculty meetings and take part in the voice votes. • Offer a SEARCH class in Whoiistic Algebra of Natural Phenomena and see if anyone ever discovers you’re a fraud. V. Letters Holierthanthou I find your holier-than-thou at titude towards sexism in the Register-Guard to be especially hypocritical when you publish an obviously sexist cartoon "Duck Soup" on the same page (Tues day, September 29 issue). This cartoon, which shows the duck being caressed by a woman whose sole purpose in ife seems to be to serve her man, points out ttie sexist attitudes in the Emerald staff. I personally find your hypoc risy much more distasteful than the Register-Guard's mere "ding ing to sexual stereotypes" — you don’t even have the excuse of ig norance. Rick Johns Graduate, Biology Touche - ed Pat on the back Chris Junkins' article about the Eugene Water & Electric Board in Tuesday's, September 28th, Emerald was an excellent com prehensive and responsible re port. Although we, the people of Eugene, own our utiSty, few of us seem to understand the complex ities and scope of the energy prob lem locally, let alone nationally. The article gave a good pers pective of some of the benefits EWEB customers now enjoy as a result of good planning in the past and pointed out important deci sions which must be made in the immediate future relative to the development of alternative sources of energy generation. I wish that aH of EWEB's cus tomers could have an opportunity to read this article. We would aH benefit and hopefully think more about ways of conserving energy in the future. Chuck Pressman Candidate for Commissioner EWEB Wards 2 & 3 Costly structure Some fiscal responsibility is sorely needed in Lane County Government. They need some one who will try to see how much they can get for a dollar rather than how many dollars they can spend. A good example of fiscal irresponsibility that resulted in waste of tax dollars is the con struction of the new parking struc ture. The new County parking struc ture, exclusive of land which the County owns, will cost the Tax payers approximately $1,200, 000.00. Without building this structure, land is suitable for ground level parking of approxi mately 190 vehicles, or only 45 vehicles less than the 235 vehicle capacity of the new structure. By simple mathematics it is clear that by dividing 45 into $1,200,000 the cost to provide each extra parking space is $26,666.66. This is almost the cost of a home. How can such extravagance be justified: If, in fact, it was mandatory to provide 45 extra spaces, it could have been dona for less than $2,000.00 a space, by securing land within a block which could have been purchased — a saving of over $1,100.00 and there would not be the annual expense of maintain ing a structure. It was V>e same 2 to 1 vote, the Wood, Hayward combination political bloc, wasting another mill ion of your Tax dollars I, as Lane County Commis sioner, will curtail the expendi tures of elaborate structures and facilities and Tea Gardens, when it is clear that the expansion as to new buildings, that may be re quired, can be provided on more business and practical methods and at less expense, particularly on a competitive bidding with a bond, time limit and cost. Archie Weinstein 1315 Willamette Street Eugene, Oregon 97401 Candidate for County Commissioner Position No. 1 Carter oo liberal A vote for Carter is a wasted vote Carter, since his nomination, has veen shrewdly abANDONING HIS "old" liberal beliefs. He's an opportunistic politician who's try ing his damnedest to appease conservative. military establshment voters. I'm fed up with him. I’m voting for Eugene McMcCarthy on November 2nd. David Richardson 1291 Hwy 99 N Eugene, Oregon 97402 Opinion columns The Emerald welcomes reader submitted opinion columns. All copy should be typed in 65 character lines and double spaced. The Emerald asks readers to limit opinion columns to 800 words, or about 75 typewritten 65 character lines. lonopuiionopinioiiopinioiiopiniofiopiiiioiiopiiiionopii Oregon exploited Hopefully many young Oregonians are getting hip to the fact that we in the Northwest are in fact an economic and natural resources colony to the corporate structure that runs the United States. If this sounds fike nationalistic rhetoric emanating from Africa or South America, tire similarities are striking. Consider these factors: A large percentage of the timber that has been cut here is exported as raw logs to Japan and often re-imports as finished lumber. The lumber companies that do this show no concern for the economic welfare of the people in our area, they are basically concerned with their own profits. Otherwise they would mill the lumber here to provide sustenance for the local economy they so loudly bewail the plight of whenever regulation of timber management practices by Congress threatens their exploitation of the pubic re sources. Their philosophy is basicatiy to strip mine the timber from the forest and move on, creating a temporary reg ional economic boom followed by a permanent bust and chronic depression after the resource is depleted. If we let them continue Oregon will be “Ap palachianized," if you know what I mean. That is why the even-flow principle that Congressman Weaver has been fighting to have included in the current national timber legislation is so important Without it only the courage of individual rangers and the Forest Service will stand be tween the companies and the strip mining of remaining old-growth timber. I can take you right now and show you thousands of acres in Lane County that have been so mined that the soil has been eroded and Douglas Fir will never grow again. Appalachia? A second area where our resources have been col onized is the publicly developed and subsidized hydro electric power of the Bonneville Power Administration, which has been gobbled by the aluminum industry in direct violation of the laws that created it to provide low cost electric power to the people of the region. The artificially low rates paid by these aluminum companies ironically subsidize their propaganda cam paigns to subvert Oregon’s progressive bottle bill and the same sweetheart arrangements create pressure for un wise nuclear power development by creating artificial regional energy shortage projections. When our Congressmen or other crtizen's groups organize opposition to these rip-offs they are basically coming from the same place as any indigenous move ment to Sberate a region or a nation's resources for the benefit of their people. The deference lies in the fact that we are still operating within a nationally established legal and political structure. The same analysis could be applied to many other regional resources such as fishing or farm land. The important thing, I think, is that we see the context within which these conflicts are developing. Despite the rhetoric about unemployment and the national welfare the facts indicate that these resources are being ripped off by what are in effect foreign com panies and are not being developed for the welfare of the people in harmony with our other resources on a national scale so that we may all live a balanced and ecological life in an economically stable society. I urge young people who care about Oregon’s future to register and vote for Congressman Jim Weaver who. to me anyway, has become somewhat of a symbol of the resistance by Oregonians to this kind of exploitation. He seems to be the only public official in Oregon of a national or state-wide character who is willing or able to identify the interrelation of these conflicts and has the courage to place his career on the ine by standing toe to toe with the big boys of the timber, aluminum and nudear industries, the BP A and electric utilities. They are out to get him because they know he is a troublemaker. If we cannot ensure his re-election by or ganizing our political power and voting, we will be sending forth a dear signal to anyone who dares follow in his footsteps that they do so at their own risk. That is why I urge all of you to get out and vote for Jim, not for his benefit but for your own. Bob Zagorm c/o Land of Oz Box 466 Maple ton, Ore.
