Angling for sport, supper - where to go
By PETE SHEPHERD
Of the Emerald
“The time to go fishing,” proclaims an
old expression, "is when you’ve got time.”
Unfortunately, many students limited by
study or lack of transportation don't find
time very often. This needn’t be the case,
for within a comfortable bike ride of cam
pus is a wide range of fishing suitable for
any fisher's taste.
The closest of such spots is the Mill
Race. Denigrated, scoffed at and the butt
of innumerable jokes, the Mill Race
nevertheless affords the bike-bound fisher
with a place to test tackle and skills. Better
yet, the small bass, bluegill and sunfish
that work the weed beds and edges are
abundant enough to make the angler prac
tice setting the hook as well as casting.
Wet flies and small poppers work well for
the bass, and the panfish will rise to a float
ing fly.
Anglers on the Mill Race who find the
traffic on Franklin Boulevard too distracting
may want to get on their bikes and ride the
short distance to the footbridge to Autzen
Stadium.
This area of the Willamette River holds
many fine trout. Wherever the flow of the
water is broken by an obstruction one can
expect to find fish. Wading will enable an
angler to reach more of these pockets and
eddys, but be careful: the water is swift and
the rocks are slick.
Flies, bait and lures are all appropriate
here. Caddisfly imitations, Carey Specials
and Royal Coachmen have all been found
by this writer to be effective flies at various
times. Baitfishers might try a worm with a
couple of split shot.
The holes adjacent to the swift water
regularly produce trout, some of which
reach 18 inches or more.
Slow moving water around.the foot
bridge, as elsewhere on the Willamette,
will produce whitefish as well as trout.
Whitefish are generally scorned by Oregon
anglers, for both their taste and their fight
ing qualities. However, many other parts of
the country prize these fish for their taste,
and they tend to be larger than trout.
Upstream from the footbridge, there is
another area of accessible water. Just ac
ross the river from a pizza parlor and near
the end of the bike path, a broad area of
exposed bedrock protrudes into the river.
Again, fish will be found in backwaters be
hind obstructions in the flow of the river.
Downstream from the footbridge, near
the Alton Baker Park parking area, is a
slightly different kind of fishing. Here the
river is broad and relatively shallow. In the
late afternoon an angler who wades these
flats will find fish from bank to bank. Par
ticular attention should be paid to riffles
where the river breaks from shallow areas
into deeper ones.
The places mentioned are but a few
among many. Wherever one goes on al
most any Oregon river, one will find fish. It
simply takes a little courage to withstand
the incredulous looks of your dorm-mates
as you pedal off on your bike with your fly
jacket on and rod in hand to go exploring.
Earty-season anglers with an interest in
bass fishing should consider the ponds to
the north of Valley River Center. These old
gravel pits are classic bass ponds, com
plete with cattails, overhanging trees and
sunken logs. Right now they also feature
extensive weed growth that makes fishing
extremely difficult without a boat. Bass of 4
pounds have come from these ponds, and
divers are supposed to have seen fish well
over 10 pounds.
A more ambitious bike rider can find
some more good fishing at Armitage Park
north of Eugene on Coburg Road. Roughly
seven miles from campus, this part of the
McKenzie River can be fished from either
bank.
There is usually a tremendous hatch of
insects in the evening, and the number of
fish rising would set any angler’s blood
boiling. Both trout and whitefish can be ex
pected. There are also a couple of runs in
which summer steel head may be found.
None of this should be described as wil
derness fishing, nor are people likely to be
impressed when you tell them you’ve
fished the Willamette “under the foot
bridge.” Nevertheless the fishing in these
places is good, and dose. For someone
without a car and with little time, the fishing
has never been better.
Conservation kids are calling campus home
By ERIC MORTENSON
Of the Emerald
The University has become a base
camp for twenty Oregon youths who are
doing some vital conservation work in
Bureau of Land Management forest lands
this summer and picking up an environ
mental education while they are at it.
The youngsters are working within a
federally-funded Youth Conservation Corp
(YCC) project which has them clearing
brush, establishing nature trails and clean
ing streams in the rugged timber land
around Eugene.
The project got its start in May when
Pres. Carter authorized additional funds to
enlarge the YCC program across the coun
try. The Bureau of Land Management
(BLM), one of many federal agencies
which directs YCC camps, asked the Uni
versity to bid on a contract budget for set
ting up a base camp on campus.
Faculty members in the University's re
creation and park management depart
ment found themselves too busy to pre
pare a bid proposal in the middle of spring
term and attempted to turn the job over to
graduate students. No graduate student
could be found who had the time for the
project, and the task of writing the bid fil
tered down to University senior Elaine
Powers, a recreation and park manage
ment major.
Powers, who was looking for a summer
job, wrote a bid for the project in four days
and included herself in the program outline
as camp director.
Recreation department professor Phyllis
Ford noted that Powers dropped two of her
spring term classes to work on the project
and indicated that the senior took a risk in
doing so. “She took a chance that the Uni
versity of Oregon wouldn't get the con
tract, Ford said, adding that if the Univer
sity had not been awarded the contract
Powers would have interrupted her educa
tion for nothing. “It was king of a brave
thing to do,” Ford said.
With the $25,928 grant Powers arranged
food, transportation, and housing in Decou
Hall for the 20 youths who began the ten
week project June 27. The 11 girls and
nine boys, all between f5 and 18 years
old, awake early each weekday, eat break
fast and then head out in trucks and vans
to their work sites on BLM land. The work
ers labor 30 hours per week and go
through a minimum of ten hours of en
vironmental education each week also. In
addition, the youngsters have completed
what Powers described as a “multi-media
Red Cross first-aid program and tool
safety courses.
Because of state labor laws, Powers
said, the youngsters are not allowed to op
erate motorized equipment such sis chain
saws nor ere they allowed to fight forest
fires.
There are three primary goals for such
YCC projects, Powers said. The programs
create gainful employment for the workers,
needed conservation work gets done in the
woods and the youths gain a sense of im
portance about their work through the en
vironmental education courses.
“It’s not like welfare,' Powers said, “it
gives the kids good work experience. The
public benefits from having the work done,
the kids benefit and the staff benefits.”
Powers said that she found that writing
die bid and following it up by directing the
YCC camp to be a rewarding if demanding
experience.
“I’m having a good time,” she said, “but
it's amazing that you can get so wrapped
up in a thing like this. The University has aH
this incredible amount of stuff you have to
do to get a grant. It’s a high energy thing,
all of us are having fun but it’s a heck of a
lot of work."
High baseball salaries affecting Eugene fans
By MICHAEL CONNELLY
Of the Emerald
sport noun 1a: a source of di
version: RECREATION b: a
particular activity engaged in
for pleasure.
ITEM: Joe Morgan, the person
who plays second base for the
Cincinnati Reds professional
baseball team, earns $3,000
more per month than the chair
person of Exxon Corporation.
(Morgan's salary is somewhere in
the neighborhood of $630,000.)
There isn’t an overwhelming
majority of people who would
consider that the Chairperson of
Exxon does what he does primar
ily for diversion, leisure or recrea
tion. Why should we assume that
anyone would actually gain more
economic gratuity for a pleasura
ble and diversionary activity than
for one which entails labor, re
sponsibility and a certain amount
of anxiety? According to the great
American work-ethic, such ac
tivities are downright unpatriotic!
Yet this seems to be exactly
what is happening in Major
League athletics, 1977. And, be
cause of the intricate network of
professional sports in general,
and Major League Baseball spec
ifically. sports patrons in the
Eugene-Springfield community
are actually being asked to sup
port a select circle of high-priced
individuals who have either (a)
never heard of Eugene, Oregon
or (b) could care less if Eugene,
Oregon even exists.
But Cordy Jensen, owner of the
Eugene Emeralds Baseball
franchise, does not view the
Major Leagues as entirely nega
tive when it comes to financial
support.
"Baseball actually brings
money into the Eugene
SpringfiekJ community," Jensen
says. “I cannot lay the blame on
the tng-league owners for what is
happening to the sport of
baseball itself."
Jensen goes on to explain that,
while there are certain dangers to
being affiliated with the Big
Leagues, the benefits far out
weigh the gamble. For example,
Cincinnati pays the full salary of
each ballplayer in the Emerald's
organization, which averages out
to between $500 and $575 per
month. Likewise, the parent dub
pays about $3.50 per day to each
player for eating expenses. For
Savina energy? Bills will tell
Customers of the Eugene Water and Electric
Board (EWEB) will soon see something new on their
next utility bill. New information printed on bills be
ginning next month will show each customer how
successful they have been in their conservation ef
forts.
The information, which will be a percentage
comparison between monthly bills this year and the
same months last year, will be provided for EWEB
customers who have lived at the same address for
more than a year.
According to John Scofield. EWEB Conserva
tion Center manager, the comparison is provided
only for the customer's information. "We aren t
IWnn Dailv Emerald
monitoring anyone, he said.
The conservation information is part of EWEB’s
voluntary power curtailment Droqram. If the drought
continues into the fall, Scofield said, mandatory cur
tailment may be necessary. The projected cutback
would probably be ten per cent a customer per
month, he said.
If customers conserve better than ten per cent
now, Scofield explained, the mandatory program
may not be needed.
The latest monthly conservation figures re
leased by EWEB show that Eugene customers have
cut back electricity use seven per cent from last
year.
these budget aids, Jensen and the
Ems are happy. Yet how long can
this happiness exist?
How long can Jensen and the
Emerald staff keep a stiff upper
lip when Civic Stadium is in need
of nearly $37, (XX) of repairs within
the next three months? Is it realis
tic to expect the taxpayers of
Eugene to foot the bill for these
repairs entirely out of their own
pockets? The amount of money
Joe Morgan receives for playing
15 games would be enough to
pay for the entire repair bill.
It is somewhat of an injustice to
place the full burden of stadium
repairs on Jensen and the com
munity, yet the young Ems owner
is reluctant to knock the parent
dub Reds.
‘‘We are thankful to get the
money that we do get from Cin
dnnati," he says. “Sure.. it's
getting tougher and tougher for
the Minor Leagues to survive, but
it's the same with the Majors.
They, too, are in a tight money
squeeze.”
What options are available to
the players, the owners and the
patrons of Minor League
baseball? If the Em ownership
puts pressure on the parent Cin
dnnati dub, the Reds are likely to
move the franchise to another
dty. Minor League Baseball is a
big sport in many cities; cities
without franchises are drooling at
the opportunity to get a working
agreement with a Major League
ball dub.
The people who attend Ems
games are likewise reluctant to
put any pressure on Cindnnati to
take some economic pressure off
their local area for the very same
reasons: baseball is a good, fun
form of entertainment. As Jensen
points out, “Where else can you
see hundreds of kids having
hours of decent entertainment for
less than a dollar a game? We've
got a good thing here and we
don't want to risk blowing the
whole thing. ’
The most logical choice seems
to be for the Major Leaguers to
stop the fast-buck hustle and
begin to realize that eventually
the salary chase will level off and
the impad of their rich tastes wiB
begin to be felt at the Minor
League level.
Yet, when the leveling off.
period does happen, it is not the
ball players on the Major League
dubs who will feel the pinch; it’s
the Minor League systems which
will be cut back. No longer will
Cincinnati be willing to pour hun
dreds of thousands of dollars
each season into a Eugene
franchise and still show a dear
profit for their entire operation. At
that rate, the leyel of competition
becomes higher, faster and more
anxiety-ridden with each step up
the ladder. No longer is baseball
considered a sport (recall our
original definition), but it becomes
a business profession.
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