Off the Wally
$10 worth the gamble
-editorial
Burning bill lacking
On Tuesday, the Oregon House of Representatives pas
sed a field burning bill which is neither a long-term solution to
the field burning question nor an acceptable compromise on
the issue.
The bill, HB 2196, calls for a limit of 195,000 acres on the
number of grass seed fields in the Willamette Valley to be
burned this summer. The bill contains no provision for reducing
open field burning over future years.
Gov. Bob Straub has already vetoed a field burning bill, SB
535, which would have allowed 235,000 acres to be burned
annually with no scheduled reductions. He says he will veto HB
2196 if it reaches his desk without a phase-down plan. Neither
chamber had enough support to override Straub’s first veto and
the vote Tuesday indicates the House will sustain a veto of HB
2196.
Straub proposed the bill as a compromise last week. As
originally drafted, the bill included a phase-down to 150,000
acres in 1980 and an escalating fee for open field burning
permits. The Joint Trade and Economic Development Commit
tee removed both provisions in spite of the assurance of a
Straub aide that the action will bring a veto of the bill.
The grass seed industry’s unwillingness to compromise on
field burning forced Straub to alter a position he had previously
adopted — a 165,000-acre limit for this summer. Straub com
promised to the 195,000 figure after vetoing SB 535 and in
cluded a compromise phase-down plan.
Eliminating that phase-down provision is no compromise
at all on the part of the grass seed industry supporters. The
1975 Legislature voted to cut field burning to 95,000 acres this
summer and to no more than 50,000 acres after 1977. That
phase-down compromised a 1973 ban on all open field burn
ing. The removal of a phase-down from HB 2196 is not consis
tent with decisions made by two previous legislative sessions.
Without a phase-down plan, grass seed growers have no
real incentive to continue the search for alternatives to open
field burning. Without that incentive, the growers will do the
easiest and cheapest thing — burn. Legislation containing no
phase-down increases the likelihood that no permanent solu
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The 1975 Legislature based its decision in part on the
development of mobile field burning machines designed to re
duce smoke output. Most legislators now recognize that those
machines have so far been unsuccessful and some increase in
the number of acres allowed to be burned is warranted. Field
burning machines may hold some potential for the future, how
ever, but other alternatives such as different crops, burning on
alternate years and using straw as an energy source or for
cattle feed have still been inadequately explored. Another pos
sibility is draining fields to make them suitable for other crops.
Burning proponents argue that tight smoke management
programs will eliminate the need for acreage limitations. But the
suggested system of allowing burning on an hourly and daily
notice depending on weather predictions is as yet untried and
unproven. The 1975 Legislature based a phase-down on faith
in unproven machines. This year, the Legislature may approve
a burning increase on faith in a system equally untried and
unproven.
Another argument made by pro-field burning legislators is
that scientific data does not conclusively prove that field burn
ing smoke affects the health of Eugeneans. Slash burning, au
tomobiles and other industries, it is said, contribute more to the
total pollution in the area.
It is, however, no coincidence that smoke in the Eugene
area thickens during the field burning season. A large hole in
the argument against field burning this session is that affects of
field burning cannot be demonstrated by statistics. If the Legis
lature is serious about reducing pollution, funding for a study of
what affects field burning has on Eugene would seem to be a
common sense proposal. There is no such proposal in HB
2196.
Statistical data gathered during the interim session may
provide valuable information when the issue arises again,
which will unquestionably be next session. Such data may help
the legislators find a permanent solution to the issue that would
save the taxpayers money in extended legislative sessions and
on long debates over an issue which comes before the Legisla
ture as regularly as the tide comes in at the seashore.
Until the suspected health and environmental effects of
field burning on Eugeneans are known, a strong phase-down of
field burning is a necessity for any field burning bill penned by
the Legislature.
Letters, opinion column policy
The Emerald will accept and try to print all letters contain
ing fair comment on ideas and topics of concern or interest to
the University community. Because of space limitations, letters
must be no more than 250 words, typed in a 65-character mar
gin, triple-spaced, dated and signed with the writer's major. No
unsigned letters will be published. Longer opinion columns will
be published whenever possible after being submitted to the
editorial page editor. The limit on opinion columns is 800 words,
using the same format as letters.
Page 4
I just moved into a three-bedroom house
on Willamette Street with a couple of bud
dies. We have wall-to-wall carpeting in the
living room and in my bedroom; we have
electric baseboard heaters, a garbage
disposal and a nice front yard, though it is
rather overrun with weeds at the moment.
We also have a $280 monthly rent bill.
Plus about a $9 phone bill, probably a $20
EWEB bill and another $7 for cable TV
service. And I’m not sure what we ll do with
our garbage.
That’s a total of about $316 per month,
or $105.33 each.
You may understand, then, my curiosity
at hearing the Amazon Community Ten
ants (ACT) complain about the University
proposal to raise rent for a two-bedroom
apartment to $80. Surely they must realize
how cheap $80 a month is compared to
the local Eugene-Springfield market. You
can’t even get a one-bedroom apartment
for $80, unless you move into a match box
with Fearless Fly.
But it is the written policy of the housing
department not to compare rental rates of
the Eugene-Springfield market area with
University housing, although John Thorpe,
then-director of married student housing,
did on several occasions make such com
parisons to justify the rent hike.
The University wants the $10 increase to
“meet current and future maintenance
costs and to pay off debt service." This
latter payment has raised the ire of ACT
members more than once. They complain
they are having to pay the debt incurred
when the much more modem Westmore
land complex was built, while their own
complex is all paid off. That, however,
turns out to be a minor component of the
increase.
Kirby Lusk, a member of the University
Married Student Council, said last month
that rent at Amazon would go up $8 just for
maintenance costs alone. So let’s confine
ourselves to that issue — University
maintenance at Amazon.
Since the shipyard barracks now called
Amazon were moved here in 1947 from
Vanport, they obviously need repair from
v.
time to time. Anything that old does. The
University has done things occasionally,
like improving the fencing around a
children s play area and installing roadway
speed barriers. But much has been left to
the tenants, such as last October when
they had a two-day cleanup of the com
plex, which included painting picket fences
with paint supplied by the Physical Plant.
Much more remains to be done and,
though the rent hike itself has grabbed
much attention, maintenance is the main
thrust of ACT complaints.
Tenants like Bill Groesz still complain
about “buckling floors, sagging walls and
windows that refuse to close." Not to men
tion “leaning refrigerators" and "deteriorat
ing fences.” And the fact that part of these
problems are caused by “improvement” in
the foundations done by the married stu
dent housing department make the incon
veniences all the harder to swallow.
A $10 rent increase really isn’t that
much, considering inflation and what the
Amazon tenants now pay. The tenants
realize this. They don't want a free ride;
what they want is a comfortable place in
which to live. If the University feels it needs
ten extra dollars a month to give them that,
so be it. But wanting the money for “cur
rent and future maintenance” leaves the
University married student housing offi
cials standing on shaky ground, as their
immediate past shows a dismal record at
doing just that.
But very recent management changes
in the married student housing depart
ment, as recommended by a recent inde
pendent management firm's study (story,
page 1), seem to indicate that the office
has a new commitment and is ready to get
down to the serious questions of effective
and responsible maintenance at Amazon.
For this reason, the rent hike of $10 is jus
tified. If the married student housing office
really intends to improve the quality of the
Amazon units, $10 would be a small price
and easily worth the gamble. But if they
get the rate increase and maintenance
does not quickly follow, the department
deserves to be raked over the coals.
Letters
Beautiful prose
It’s too bad that the New Yorker
has abandoned its “high, beauti
ful prose” department. Otherwise
the Daily Emerald would have an
excellent chance of placing with
this sentence from its leading
news story of June 2: “Sporting
the svelte tongue that aided in
precociously establishing his lofty
position, Boyd chanced to quote
Thomas Jefferson in the course
of his arguments for ROTC.”
Other sentences include worthy
phrases such as “The anticipated
plethora of faculty" and “several
University governors staged a
successful upheaval,” but failed
to maintain the obfuscatory tur
gidity of the specimen quoted in
full.
Kenneth Porter
Professor Emeritus, History
Seeking fresh air
I am an American Indian wish
ing to correspond with a female of
any race. I'm from Ontario,
Canada, I'm 28 years old, don't
know anyone in the area and
would appreciate fresh air from
out there.
William Waboose-39244
2605 State St
Salem, Oregon 97310