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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 2, 1978)
Greenpeace head denounces seal hunt By KEITH NEAKRANS Of the Emerald Because politicians fear los ing votes from the eastern pro vinces of Canada, some 180,000 baby Harp Seals will be killed this year, contended Patrick Moore, Greenpeace Foundation presi dent, at a press conference in Eugene Wednesday. “The politicians are backed into a comer," he said. “Most of them would like to see the seal slaughter go, but they have no votes to gain and many to lose if they do do away with it.” Moore said the problem arises because of the mythology of the hunt in the eastern pro Leader claims politicians afraid to act vinces. “Brave men used to go out in small boats to hunt for the seals. Now giant ice-breaker ships plow through the ice, leaving virtually no physical risk for the hunters. Despite this fact it’s still consi dered a macho thing because many people's grandfathers made a living off the hunt”, said Moore, explaining the emotional factors that support the hunt. “The economic adjustment Canada would have to make to end the slaughter is minimal” he said. “The government claims they make $5.5 million from the /-World at a glance-^ From Associated Press Reports Sadat meets American rep CAIRO, Egypt — Pres. Anwar Sadat huddled with American mediator Alfred Atherton Wednesday to lay the groundwork for summit talks in Washington which Egyptian sources said would be “vital” to keeping the peace process alive. The meeting in Sadat’s Nileside villa in Giza “provided the opportunity for a broad review of a full range of issues” that the Egyptian leader will be discussing with Pres. Carter this weekend, an American spokesman said. Another satellite piece found EDMONTON, Alberta — Canadian officials said Wednesday another radioactive fragment from the Soviet spy satellite that burned up over northwest Canada last week has been found on frozen Great Slave Lake. It was discovered in the same general area where scientists found the other radioactive fragment, along with a harmless piece of the satellite, on Tuesday, the officials said. Porno and... Girl Scouts? RALEIGH, N.C. — A loophole in a new anti-pornography law is allowing adult bookstore owners to carry on as usual by adding innocent books like “Trip to Toyland" to shelves that also carry racier reading such as “Bicentennial Bondage” and “Red Hot Wives.” “It’s a loophole, there's no doubt about it,” said Lt. K. J. Johnson, head of the Raleigh vice squad. “The stores are cutting the porn down to 49 percent, with the rest being Girl Scout books, magazines 15 years old, comic books — things like that.” V J See Berg’s CANOES & KAYAKS At the 4th Annual Boat Show, Thursday thru Sunday, Feb. 2 thru Feb. 5, at the Lane Co. Fairgrounds. -ANNOUNCEMENT Berg’s is proud to announce that they have added top-quality brands of canoes and kayaks for your Whitewater, lake and ocean touring enjoyment in 1978. Attend the boat show and visit our booth featuring famous canoe and kayak names like: Easy Rider, Grumman, Mad River, Pacific Water Sports and more! See you at the boat show, at the Lane Co. Fairgrounds. At the comer of 11th A Mill; phone 343-0013 slaughter, but they won’t give out figures on how much money they spend in sending delegates to the United States and Europe trying to justify the killing.” To further underscore the senselessness of the killing from an economic standpoint, Moore pointed out that only 200 men make more than $1,000 from the hunt. Moore and other Greenpeace members have gone to the ice floes near Newfoundland in efforts to hinder the slaughter over the past three years. Methods the Greenpeace people have used to try to save seals included covering the pups with their bodies, scooping the seals up and running off with them. More effective plans Greenpeace has had for saving the seal pups have been thwarted by the Canadian government in past years, Moore said. “The first year we went up we planned to spot the fur of the baby seals with indelible green ink. This would have rendered the hide use less. The Canadian government got wind of our plan and passed a law against marking any animals without the consent of the gov ernment one week before the hunt began,” he said. The problem arises from the ability of the Canadian parliament to pass laws overnight, according to Moore. Other overnight laws the Canadians have passed have out lawed include picking up wild ani mals, landing a helicopter within a half mile of the seals or flying lower than 2,000 feet over the seals. “All of these laws have been passed to hinder the Greenpeace people, but have been hypocriti cally called animal preservation acts.” If the slaughter continues at its present rate, it has been pre dicted that the Harp Seal will be extinct in 10 to 40 years. But Moore is optimistic the wholesale slaughter may be coming to an end. “The political climate is a lot bet ter this year than last year,” he said. Greenpeace has planned a major press conference in Ottawa just before going out on the ice around March 10. Moore plans to have influential people from the United States and Europe on hand to increase the public oppo sition of the killing. Despite an improved climate for ending the hunt, it still will take a bold move by some members of the Canadian parliament to make it happen, Moore said. Canadians in the eastern provinces still regard it to be mas culine to buy a seal hunting license, Moore said, even if most of them get licenses just so they can wear the seal hunter badge. “Some politicians will be hurt and bitter feelings will last in east ern Canada for many years if the hunt is ended,” Moore said, adding,“the price seems small to save the species.” Field burning increase nixed In an unexpected ruling Tuesday, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) upheld the City of Eugene’s position against the increased field burning acreage for 1977-78 enacted by the state legislature. The EPA held the state to its original 50,000 acre burning limit, denying the state’s revision request, which asked for the 180,000 acre limit authorized by the Legislature last July. City Attorney Ttm Sercombe says the EPA de nied Oregon’s request because of procedural de ficiencies in the legislature’s action and because the state had not justified its request by showing that the increase in burning would not harm the Eugene Springfield area air quality. The EPA will issue a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act for the increased burning last summer, Sercombe says, but the state will probably not be penalized. The problem now rests in the lap of the state’s Department of Environmental Quality, which can either meet the 50,000 acre limit in 1978 or submit a temporary, one-year plan with an outline for meeting the Clean Air Act requirements. Such a plan will probably allow less than the 180,000-acre limit, according to Sercombe. The Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority (LRAPA)) greeted the EPA ruling as a “long-needed recognition that all sources contributing to air pollu tion in the Willamette Valley must be expected to roll back their fair share in cleaning up the valley's airshed.” LRAPA expressed concern that reduction in pol lution from other sources in the Eugene-Springfield area not be used as a reason for increasing field burning. Police seek $700,000 in defamation suit Fifteen Eugene police officers have filed two lawsuits in Lane County Circuit court seeking nearly $700,000 in damages for statements made by two local Teamsters Union officials and a Teamsters Union newspaper. The suits, filed late last month, name L.B. Day, secretary treasurer of the Teamsters’ Local 670 and Joe Edgar, president of the Joint Council of Teamsters Treat a sweetheart to Better Days Choose from our hand-picked line of women’s clothing - up to 50% off retail prices. Gift certificates available, too. 61 W. 8th, Eugene No. 37, as the defendants. The officers charge they were de famed by statements made by By KEVIN HARDEN Of the Emerald Day and Edgar to the local news media and in a letter written to Gov. Bob Straub. (PSYCHIC ^ Advises on business, love & personal direction Jamil P.O Box 10154 Eugene, Oregon 97401 Phone anytime: 3422210 4842441 V_J Hark! Who Throbs for Thee ? Pluck a few heart strings February 14th 15 great words for a measly buck. \ According to Detective Randy White, a representative of the Eugene Police Patrolmen’s As sociation, the law suit grew out of statements made by the defen dants concerning an incident in which several Teamster members were arrested while picketing the Eugene offices of Chef Fran cisco, Inc., during a strike against that corporation last March. Statements by Day to the Eugene Register-Guard and KASH radio accused the 15 offi cers making those arrests of mis using their authority and attacking the picketers without provocation, the law suit says. Both Edgar and Day wrote let ters to Straub, Pierce Brooks, Eugene police chief, and Mayor Gus Keller, making the same charges and asking that full-scale investigation be made of the inci dent, the suit says. No charges were brought against the officers involved, the officers contend, and the state ments by Day, Edgar and an ac count of the incident carried in a local teamster newspaper were defamatory and may have injured the officers’ reputations. “Police officers are all too often the brunt of inaccurate accusa tions and it’s about time they stood up and made the people making those statements responsible for what they say," White explains. Both of the suits, against Day and Edgar seek a total of $675,000 in damages for defama tion of character.
