Vol. 78 No. 156
feugene, Oregon 97403
Tuesday, May 31, 1977''
Graphic by Sieve Sandstrom
Growin' your own
Senate says it’s not a crime
By TOM JACKSON
Of the Emerald
SALEM — The Senate voted by a slim margin
Monday to reduce the criminal penalty for cultiva
tion of not more than two marijuana plants.
Under a law passed by the 1973 Legislature,
less than an ounce of marijuana is punishable by
not more than a $100 fine. The bill, SB 904, would
reduce the penalty for growing two plants from a
felony to the same status as possession of an
ounce or less of the weed.
The bill would also establish a rating criteria for
controlled drugs based on the potential hazard
ous consequences of their abuse. The bill also
stipulates that penalties under the act are effec
tive after July 1, 1978, but they will apply im
mediately if less than the existing law.
Debate on the Senate floor revolved around the
decriminalization of growing marijuana plants.
Sen. Steven Kafoury, D-Portland, who carried the
bill to the Senate, said law enforcement officials
are now handling first offenders of laws prohibit
ing the cultivation of small numbers of marijuana
plants as minor violators and not as felons.
Kafoury said the bill ‘brings the law into con
formity with itself and into conformity with present
police practice.
We re not making any drastic changes," he
said.
Kafourv said the bill will impose a more severe
V.
penalty for the use and selling of some hard
drugs, and will also be more severe than present
law for the sale of drugs to minors.
Regarding marijuana, Kafoury said that in ear
lier years, marijuana use was associated with
“long hair, youth rebellion, free sex, and running
off to San Francisco. But those days are gone. It
' isn't a big deal, and nobody out there in the real
world cares anymore.”
Sen. Vic Atiyeh, R-Portland, disagreed. He said
the decriminalization of possession of marijuana
plants "should not have been raised in this bill.”
He added, “I believe we have a role to make a
determination about what are the right things for
our citizens to have."
Also opposing the bill was Sen. Jack Ripper,
D-North Bend, who said that Oregon is “known as
a loose state in regard to drugs." Ripper said with
cultivation decriminalized, the state may become
a supplier for other areas.
Favoring the bill was Sen. Ed Fadeley,
D-Eugene, who said that while he does not favor
the use of marijuana, “no one believes it is such a
morally reprehensible act that it deserves a crimi
nal record.”
Fadeley also pointed out that police would be
able to concentrate on hard drugs. He also said
the bill could result in a decrease in the sale of
marijuana because people would be more in
clined to grow it without fear of a criminal recorj
than to buy it with the possibility of a criminal
record. The bill now goes to the House.
j
Rent hike termed
unfair by official
A memo from Sally Smith, as
sistant director of University mar
ried student housing, to married
student housing director, has
shed new light on the current
Amazon Housing issue.
Smith outlined three major con
cerns with the 1977-78 married
student housing budgets in the
May 3 memo. She first charged
the housing department with "in
equitable” distribution of costs in
By LORI PETERSON
Of the Emerald
relation to the services offered to
the different projects.
She cited Amazon Housing as
an example. Smith stated, “It ap
pears that the Amazon project is
being asked to assume partial fi
nancial responsibility for the com
plete grounds-care program of
fered at Westmoreland (married
student housing) while yet suffer
ing themselves from a lack of such
services in their own area.”
Smith pointed to a recent sur
vey which showed Amazon ten
ants basically dissatisfied with
“lack of any improvements to and
the general stand of care of the
grounds at Amazon.” Approxi
mately 46.7 per cent of the tenants
expressed dissatisfaction, she
said. In the budget Amazon resi
dents are charged $6.27 each for
labor costs, “very near the $6.41
that a Westmoreland resident will
pay."
“To be fair,” she concludes,
"we should either supply the ser
vice or withhold the expense from
Amazon's budget.”
Smith also questioned the re
cent addition of $5,000 to this
year’s estimated expenditure for
classified wages at Amazon. She
said it “was not included in the
draft that was handed to myself
and members of the budget com
mittee, and therefore needs some
explanation.’’
Westmoreland should never be
made to pay to support the opera
tion of Amazon housing, but
neither should Amazon residents
pay to keep Westmoreland s rents
low, according to Smith.
“I feel that Amazon should con
tinue to operate on a self-sufficient
budget until the time it can no
longer be considered safe and
sound housing for families,” she
continued.
Smith said her second major
concern was with “the logic of
charging Amazon residents an
amount of the debt service that
was not convincing, particularly at
this point in time. I, too, can argue
that Amazon can be asked to pay
$80 per month and still be in a fair
market-value situation to West
moreland, but in such an argu
ment I would insist that the in
creased income that will be
realized should be spent to im
prove upon the deficiencies within
Amazon and not support the
superior facility of Westmore
land.”
Finally, Smith said the housing
department had done little to try
for new efficiencies to break the
pattern of “spiraling inflationary
costs." She cited the waste in
using separate craftsmen for each
repair, and added “it wastes the
tenant’s repair dollar,” and it also
“wastes the time of the profes
sional who is asked to do menial
repair jobs."
Smith submitted a plan, based
on observation and research, that
she stated “will cut repair costs on
both projects,” to the housing de
partment in winter. She estimates
$12,000 could be saved during a
year’s time for each project's
budget, translating into approxi
mately $5 per month in rent pay
ment.
(Continued on Page 3)
Increased enforcement
reminds drivers to slow down
By DAVID KENSLER
Of the Emerald
Fifty-five miles per hour.
May has been the 55 m.p.h.
month, and drivers who received
speeding tickets over the Memor
ial Day holidays were just part of a
state-wide campaign to get driv
ers to slow down.
Using the slogan, "It’s not just a
good idea, it's the law,” state
police launched a massive attack
on speeders. However, issuing ci
tations for speeding is only part of
the program. The other part deals
with informing the public through
lectures and presentations about
the value of driving slower.
According to Corp. Russell
Thiess, traffic supervisor for the
Eugene office of the Oregon State
Police, the publicity campaign
began in mid-April. He explained
that the state police have con
tacted all local radio and television
stations and delivered speeches
to such groups as the Forest Ser
vice. Eugene Water and Electric
Board, Eugene 4-J School District
and Pacific Northwest Bell. State
police in other areas are doing the
same.
The emphasis of the publicity
program has been the safety fac
tor of driving at slower speeds.
"Statistics show that death and in
jury rates are lower when the
speed limit is lower," Thiess said.
He explained that the death and
injury rates for Oregon in 1976
were approximately the same as
in 1973 (last full year of the 70
m.p.h. limit), but in 1976 there
were more vehicles on the road
and total miles driven had in
creased. This is a good sign, ac
cording to Thiess.
Thiess is also pleased with
another fact. According to studies
done by his office, 85 per cent of
the drivers on Oregon highways
and freeways are driving at 55
m.p.h. or less. He said seven per
cent of the drivers are driving be
tween 55 mph and 65 mph and the
other eight per cent are driving 65
mph and faster.
“We are dealing with 15 per
cent of the public," Thiess said.
"Most of the drivers are complying
with the law.”
Then why the need to step up
enforcement of the law and launch
a publicity campaign?
Thiess explained the program
was implemented because for the
first couple months of this year
their studies showed that the av
erage speed of drivers was in
creasing. “We had to do some
thing. I don't think that some of the
public is ready to accept driving at
slower speeds," he said.
Thus, in some areas near
Eugene and other parts of the
state, the number of citations is
sued has been four times the
normal amount. Thiess again
pointed to statistics. In 1976, al
most 202,000 citations for speed
ing violations were issued in the
state. The figure for 1973 is about
66,000.
If all people drove 55 mph or
less there would be 191,000 less
citations, issued, which would
save people about $4 million,” he
said, adding that the police would
much rather spend more time on
other areas of law enforcement.
(A ticket takes, on the average, 15
minutes to issue.)
"We don't want to write that
many tickets but when that many
people are breaking the law, tick
ets must be issued,” Thiess said.
One complaint that Thiess
hears often is that truck drivers
never are stopped for speeding.
“We will stop them like anyone
else,” he said.
"When we are out on the roads
we are fighting CB’s and radar de
tectors," he said. "That makes our
job more difficult in terms of being
fair.”
Thiess does feel that the pro
gram is having a positive impact.
He said his department has done
numerous radar checks in un
marked cars and found that the
average speed is decreasing.
In the meantime, Thiess ex
pects the state police to get the
okay to continue the publicity and
enforcement program past May.