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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 3, 1978)
Dogs, highways, housing issues on ballot By DAN POSTREL Of the Emerald One county and six state ballot measures, involving issues rang ing from unwanted pets to the price of gas, will appear on the May 23 ballot. State Ballot Measure No. One applies to procedures for filing re ferendum and initiative petitions in home rule counties like Lane County. (Referendum petitions are filed to bring laws enacted by lawmakers to popular vote. Initia tive petitions see^ to bring to popu lar vote laws proposed by citizens or groups.) Under measure one, after enactment of any new law, county lawmakers would have to allow at least 90 days for citizens to file referendum petitions. The current filing period is 30 days. Both re ferendum and initiative petitions would have to quote in full the law to which they refer. State Ballot Measure No. Two would amend the state constitu tion to require that joint meetings of the Oregon Senate and House be open to the public. It would also assure public access to meetings of joint House-Senate commit tees. Eugene voters to decide bond issue, school board By WANDA LAUKKANEN Of the Emerald Voters will have to choose among a field of nine candidates running for three positions on the Eugene School District 4J School Board in the April 4 election. In addition to voting for school board members, citizens will cast ballots on a $5,950,000 bond issue to finance school repair and remodeling projects. Running for position No. 1 being vacated by Ruth Shepard are Guy DiTorrice, Margaret Gontrum and Edward (Ned) Risbrough. The position is a four-year term. Gontrum, 43, is a former school teacher who has said declining teacher morale is her main con cern. She also has spoken in favor of re-establishing parent-teacher associations in Eugene and has said individual schools should re spond to neighborhood concerns, not centralized administration. The two other candidates for the No. 1 position race, DiTorrice and Risbrough, were unavailable for comment. In the race for post No. 3 are James Jeppesen Jr., Barbara Koser and Richard Paul. Jeppesen was recently ap pointed to a five-month term in the PHOTO DEVELOPING 12 exp .—$2.89 20 exp .$3.99 36 exp . $6.25 Everyday Prices * KINKOS 34 4-7894 ’• ; i 1128 B ALDER STREET 2nd floor Atrium - .485-1063 position, replacing Barbara West, who resigned. West left the post with two years of her term unex pired. Koser, a grant writer for the Wil lamette Community Design Cen ter, has indicated she supports additional funds for the commun ity school concept — opening the schools to all ages. She is also supportive of a re cent reading program evaluation and wants evaluations of the math and writing programs. The immediate past president of the Oregon Education Associa tion, Paul now works as a house husband. He has expressed a concern that “accountability” should be brought to the board and that the school body should be its own spokesman, not the super intendent’s. The third candidate for position No. 3, Jeppesen, was unavailable for comment at press time. Facing each other in the posi tion No. 5 race are Rosemary Boss, Douglas McCool and James Britton. The position has a four-year term. Boss, 27, is the marketing direc tor of Lane Transit District. She is single with no children and has reported that she wants to repres ent other people like her who have no direct link with the school dis trict except through paying taxes. A civil engineer, Britton, 48, says he is unhappy with the pres ent school system. The schools are too permissive, he says, and there is a lack of uniformity throughout the district. A 43-year-old lawyer, McCool has indicated he thinks county timber revenues should be used to reduce school taxes. He has also said school officials should become actively involved in the legislative process and policy is sues coming before the school board should be debated in public prior to board decisions. The Oregon Constitution cur rently requires all meetings of each chamber and meetings of their committees, to be open to the public. The constitution, however, makes no mention of joint meet ings. State Ballot Measure No. Three, if passed, would authorize the sale of bonds to finance multi family housing for low income senior citizens. The Women’s Legislative Council of Portland has filed a statement with the Secretary of State opposing the measure. The statement charges that money generated by the bond sale would fund House Bill 3134, a senior citi zen housing bill that it claims is so vague, it finances housing units that could be open to virtually anyone. The statement also claims Oregon already has six state and three federal low income senior citizen housing programs. No official statements in sup port of measure three have yet been filed with the Secretary of State. State Ballot Measure No. Four would authorize the sale of bonds to create a Domestic Water Fund, which would provide money for construction or improvement of local drinking water projects. A state-wide, annual tax levied according to assessed property value would pay for the bonds. In a statement filed with the Secretary of State, the Property Tax Payer’s Protection Commit tee of Grants Pass opposed the measure, charging it would “hold the entire state liable for the debts of any particular municipality.” No supporting statements have r PSYCHIC Advises on business, love & personal direction Jamil P.O. Box 10154 Eugene, Oregon 97401 Phone anytime: 342 2210 484 2441 J yet been filed with the Secretary of State. State Ballot Measure No. Five, if passed, would authorize a 2-cent hike of the state gasoline tax to 9 cents per gallon. In addi tion, the measure would increase highway use taxes paid by com mercial trucking firms. The money generated would be used for maintenance and repair of existing highways before any new construction begins. By raising commercial transpor tation costs, measure five would drive up consumer prices, said chairer Tonie Nathan of the Oregon Libertarian Party in an opposition statement filed with the Secretary of State. But Gov. Bob Straub, in a statement supporting the mea sure, cautioned that unless some money is spent on proper highway maintenance, the roads will de teriorate. Ballot Measure No. Six, (a Lane County initiative,) would, if passed, eliminate the decom pression chamber used by the Lane Humane Society to kill un wanted dogs and cats. The Committee to Ban the De compression Chamber in Lane County, which circulated the initia tive petition, claims the chamber is inhumane, and that it should be replaced with injections of sodium pentobarbital. A humane society worker said the chamber, located at the Greenhill Animal Shelter in West Eugene, destroys about 40 un wanted dogs and cats per day. A foreman at the Greenhill shelter said the society would have to find about $10,000 in additional sub sidies each year to use the sodium pentobarbital injection method. HAIR TODAY_ Now open Saturday Downstairs EMU 11 am - 5 pm 687-1347 561 E. 13th 8 am - 4 pm 485-4422 DUFFY’ Friday 4 - 6 Pitcher Sale Live Music (no cover) Friday & Saturday Scandal 9 - 2 ($1.50) Sunday Blazers vs. Bucks 1:00 13th 0 & Alder
