(-editorial—
Protect French Pete
Congress is considering an “endangered American
wilderness” bill which would include among its targets for
protection an area in Eastern Lane County called the
French Pete Valley.
The bill’s chances are good. The Carter administra
tion, through the Department of Agriculture, has just about
decided to support it.
But a major question remains before the bill can be
brought to Congress for a vote. The Department of Agricul
ture has to decide how many acres of the French Pete
Valley should be included, under the bill, in the National
Wilderness System.
On April 18 the Forest Service released a timber man
agement plan which included the recommendation that
24,000 acres of French Pete be classified as an “unde
veloped roadless area (UDR)." That designation would
technically protect French Pete Creek itself, but it isn’t
enough. .
Two areas in the French Pete Valley, Walker and
Rebel Creeks, which have until now been roadless, would
be excluded from the protective UDR designation. If the
agriculture department accepts the Forest Service’s ad
vice, roads will be built, and Walker Creek and half of Rebel
Creek will be logged. And even though the French Pete
Creek area is protected for now, the UDR designation isn’t
nearly as secure as wilderness classification.
The congressional bill, sponsored by Rep. Morris
Udall, D-Arizona, calls for 42,000 acres of the valley, in
cluding Rebel and Walker Creeks, to be designated wil
derness.
Opponents to the bill are eager to harvest Walker and
Rebel Creeks and claim that to do so would create jobs and
stimulate the state's economy.
But in the long run, harvesting roadless areas may be
more expensive and less profitable than better manage
ment of already logged areas. Instead of spending money
to build a network of roads in the wilderness, the timber
industry could concentrate on measures like reforestation,
thinning and genetic research to increase yield from areas
that have already undergone logging operations.
Oregon needs a French Pete Wilderness Area to pre
serve natural diversity. Most of the existing wilderness
areas in the state are at high altitudes, rocky and covered
with snow most of the year. French Pete is at a low eleva
tion. Because of the three low creek beds, the area is moist
and populated with large old-growth trees.
If the Walker and Rebel Creek areas are logged, over
half of the proposed French Pete Wilderness Area would
be damaged. The entire 42,000 acres should be preserved
to provide a balance in Oregon's wilderness areas — both
for research and recreational purposes.
The public has supported protection of French Pete
Valley through lawsuits and rallies. An environmental im
pact statement drawn up with official and community input
recommended wilderness designation for the area. Few
Oregon legislators would oppose the action. Congress
man Jim Weaver says they’ll log French Pete over his
dead body.
But if public pressure dies down now, French Pete
Valley could still be lost. The logging industry has a power
ful lobby, and it doesn’t give up easily. Concerned citizens
should flood the agriculture department and Congress with
letters and telegrams. Weaver is holding a public hearing
on the bill May 14 in Eugene at Harris Hall from 1 to 5 p.m.
The environmentally aware public should turn out in force.
With the future of French Pete being decided 3,000
miles away from Lane County, Oregonians will have to
speak loudly to be heard.
Letters
Input requested
This letter is a request for stu
dent input about decisions that
must be made concerning funding
of higher education. I need to
know the priorities of students for
spending of state tax dollars.
In the last few days, a question
naire has been mailed to 300 ran
domly selected U of O students.
To those of you who receive a
questionnaire, I urge your re
sponse. Others might consider
writing me directly at the State
Senate, Salem, 97310. Please tell
me how you feel about the relative
need for:
1. $8 million of added state tax
funds used to keep tuition down.
2. Holding down tuition of
graduate students at cost of $1.6
million.
Page 4 Section A
J
3. Use of $316 million to pay for
child care costs to assist student
parents.
4. Increase student financial
aid.
5. Provide $1 million for minor
intercollegiate sports.
6. Spending $5 million for library
books and instructional equip
ment.
I would also like to acknow
ledge the substantial help I have
received from Howie Arnett, U of
O law student, in preparing and
mailing out this questionnaire.
Sen. Ed Fadeley
D-Eugene
Facts unrefuted
Well, well, my opinion column of
the 18th certainly seems to have
struck a nerve among the ASUO
administrators if ASUO Vice
President Connelly's public
temper tantrum (Emerald, April
20) is any indication. It’s interest
ing that nowhere in his column did
he even attempt to refute any of
the “facts, figures and logic' from
my previous two columns. Rather,
he confined himself totally to
name calling.
I strongly believe that the issue
of the $85.50 per year ASUO tax
on every student is an important
one and resent Vice-President
Connelly's attempt to sweep it
under the rug without any discus
sion of the real issues involved
Ping-pong anyone?
Terence M. Hines
Graduate Student, Psychology
Revamp process
We are writing this opinion in
regard to the heartaches of stu
dent programs, Incidental Fee
Committee, and the average stu
dent. We plan with this opinion to
present the problem as we see it
and a possible solution as seen by
us.
The problem with the allocation
process of the IFC is multifaceted:
a few of the problems are 1) most
of the people requesting funds for
next year will not be here next
year, 2) the IFC allocating the
funds for next year will not be in
power after Fall term next year to
oversee spending, and 3) possibly
programs which are funded may
not be around (for instance, PACE
and Graduate Student Council
this year).
These three elements contri
bute to the guessing game played
by thefFC. Also, it raises the ques
tion, “Does anybody care in the
system?' We already know the
average students don't care (15
per cent turnout at elections). In
concluding the problem section,
we would just say how can these
people fairly and intelligently re
quest and make the allocations.
For the proposed solution we
would submit this proposal: fund
projects, not programs. This sys
tem would entail keeping a re
serve account for the IFC to delib
erate on and release funds to
worthy projects. For example,
programs putting on one or two
projects a year would not have
salaried personnel all year round.
They would just receive funds for
their projects. If the system incor
porates a requirement, which it
must, that each project must have
a budget worked out in detail
down to the cents and including
every paper clip to be needed,
budgeting would eliminate half
baked ideas and would promote
go xJ planning that might keep
some bombs from going off.
Obviously there are going to be
arguments against this system
because it might save students
money or somebody won t be able
m there haw ipuKiicNs5
to receive a salary when they are
not doing anything. There will be
good arguments also, but re
member, this is a proposed basis
for allocating money, not a rigid
structure but a starting point (one
that we think is better than the one
we have now) Remember, peo
ple who will be affected by the al
location should make the deci
sions, not people who are leaving
and are guessing.
Anthony DeFazio
Scott Dunbar
Keith Tabor
ASUO Comptrollers
Serve as censor
I am truly grateful to Michael
Connelly for so clearly identifying
the rhetorical ping-pong and
"tripe of writers McDonald and
Hines. It would seem to be to
everyone s advantage that so
omniscient a reader as Mr Con
nelly has been able to separate
objective fact from personal bias
After all. personal opinion should
not be printed in an objective
newspaper, let alone on the editor
ial page.
I regret that I have apparently
been unable to assimilate the
skills of unbiased information pro
cessing that Mr Connelly has so
adeptly displayed In view of my
judgmental disadvantage (and I
must assume others suffer simi
larly or Mr. Connelly would not
have felt the need to pen his let
ter) would the eminent ASUO
Vice-President please consent to
writing a daily column separating
the fact from opinion in the previ
ous day's ODE? Or even better
yet, maybe you would serve as
censor for the ODE, thereby re
moving the need and opportunity
for highly impressionable persons
to read and learn what others
think.
Verne Gallup
Graduate Student — Business
Administration
Arbitrary editing
I would like to comment upon
the Emerald s treatment of my re
view of the 'Photoworks' exhibit
printed in the Thursday, April 21
edition.
It being my first experience with
the Emerald I was greatly disap
pointed by the paper s lack of pro
fessionalism. The act of deleting
words and phrases only to replace
them with others of the editor's
own choosing was less than re
sponsible. Given this arbitrary
editing I take no credit of author
ship for the review, despite the
otherwise kind inclusion of my by
line.
The greatest disservice, how
ever , was to the exhibiting photo
graphers themselves. Not only
were titles and credits transposed
for the artists two featured repro
ductions but, one on your staff as
sumed parts of both submitted
photographs to be extraneous
and so felt justified in cropping
them to fit the space Had these
been paintings would they have
been cropped to simplify your lay
out problems7 I hope and think
not
The powerful medium of pnnt
has been abused by this ignorant
and peremptory example of jour
nalism One can only hope the in
cident was a rarity and not indica
tive of a standard for Emerald pro^
cedure t
Andrea Thorsen/Sundberg
Senior — Architecture and
Allied Arts
Senate setback
Last Friday the Oregon Senate
passed Senate &li 535 and sent it
to the House of Representatives
For those of us in Eugene the
Senate s vote was a setback of
our efforts to end the smoke that
our community suffers in the
summer due to the burning of
grass fields to the north The pas
sage of the bill was especially dis
couraging because it eliminates
any incentive to the seed industry
to seek alternatives and reduces
research and development to ak
most nothing Indeed, the bill, i(^
our opinion, eliminates any poten
tial the problem will be solved
The purpose of this letter is to
thank those senators who stood
up to the seed industry s lobbying
efforts and voted against SB 535 I
especially want to thank Senators
Jan Wyers of Portland, and
George Wmgard and Ed Fadely of
Eugene in their personal efforts In
addition, those senators who
voted against the bill were
Senators Ted Haliock, Steve
Kafoury, Bill McCoy, Frank
Roberts, Mary Roberts and Jan
Wyers of Portland; George Wmg
ard and Edward Fadeley, Eugene:
and Betty Browne of Oakridge I
would encourage readers who
want to express their own per
sonal thanks to write the above
senators in care of the State
Capitol Building, Salem. Oregon
97310
R. A. “Gus" Keller
Mayor
Emotional attack
In reference to Michael
Connelly s opinion article. Why do
you attack the argument and the
person? In emotionally attacking
the individual you may fail to see
any value in the argument It is a
fallacy in reasoning and a disser
vice to your fellow man. Opinions
are debatable, not people in
themselves.
Clay Smith
Senior - Economics
Thuritday, April 2H, 1977