Today's Emerald is the last of the
term. We will resume publication
March 28, the second day of regis
gration. Good luck with your finals.
Vol. 79, No. 118
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Monday, March 13, 1978
Audit ordered
for University
Housing Office
By MARY BETH ALLEN
Of the Emerald
In response to pressure from Amazon residents,
University Housing Office employees and numerous
state and University officials, Secretary of State Norma
Paulus has ordered an audit of the housing office
scheduled for next week.
Gov. Bob Straub has requested Paulus to review the
office, in the wake of a letter signed by 30 anonymous
housing office employees, which states that an investiga
tion of the office may reveal "many irregular if not illegal
practices.” Amazon residents have sent numerous let
ters to the governor, also urging that an audit be per
formed.
In Straub’s letter to Paulus, he said that an audit is
appropriate "considering the questions which have
been raised about Housing Office accounting practices,
and the potential effect this could have on rent in
creases.”
Paulus has refused to list specific allegations made
against the office, saying, “When the report is final, it will
be made public.”
"I just hope that this is going to be a performance audit
and not just a fiscal audit,” says Judith Barker, Amazon
Community Tenants president and Amazon Family
Housing Policy Board member.
"The problem with the books reflects the type of policy
decisions that are being made,” she continued. She
hopes the audit will discover more than just whether the
books are accurate, calling for an examination of "the
decision making process, as to how money is being
spent.”
Barker says that last year's Hasking and Sells audit
was incomplete in that it only reviewed the office’s
books. The report did allude to the desirability of exam
ining the dorm system as well as the housing projects
for fiscal and managerial weaknesses.
The Amazon demolition fund issue is particular
reason a performance audit is vital, according to Barker
She said that for the past years, the housing office has
budgeted $7,005 tor the demolition fund and reported it
to the State Board of Higher Education. At a Dec. 2,
1977 meeting of the Amazon policy board the housing
office reported a total of $28,005.13 in the fund.
Later in December, after attempting to follow a state
board directive that the demolition fund be discontinued
and the funds transferred to the Amazon reserve fund,
housing office accountant Bob Minshall discovered that
the fund was nonexistent. Apparently at the end of the
fiscal year no money was left over to actualize the
budgeted figure, although the office reported it an in
creasingly large figure year after year to the state board.
1
Door opens
Photo by Patrick Sullivan
LCC women need a place to go when they're working in non-traditional vocational programs and Friday
they got it when Carol Eliason from the Center for Women's Opportunities opened the door to a new
women's bathroon.
Doctoral student suing UO Bookstore
By RICHARD SEVEN
Of the Emerald
A $1.65 package of 24 file fol
ders, its crumpled wrapper, a Uni
versity Fulbright scholar and the
University Bookstore are the cen
tral ingredients in a false arrest
and malicious prosecution suit
currently being conducted in
Eugene.
Flora Banuett, who is now a
University doctoral student and at
tended the University on a Ful
bright grant between 1964-68, is
suing the bookstore for $136,000
in damages to compensate for the
financial, professional and emo
tional damage she claims to have
suffered when she was arrested
by bookstore detectives for al
legedly shortchanging the store of
45 cents, Nov. 5, 1975.
Ken Morrow, Banuett’s attor
ney, told the court in his opening
remarks that even though the
second-degree charge was dis
missed before it went to trial,
Banuett was photographed, fing
erprinted and given a permanent
criminal record. She feels the re
cord will hamper her teaching fu
ture.
William Wheatley, the attorney
representing the bookstore, told
the jurors in his opening statement
that the main issues are whether
the store detectives had probable
cause to arrest and lodge a com
plaint against Banuett and
whether the detectives acted with
actual malice.
Wheatley denied Banuett's
charges, claiming that the detec
tives saw the plaintiff remove the
cellophane wrapper from a pack
age of folders and crumple it in her
hand while purchasing the item.
Wheatley continued, saying the
detectives knew the price of the
folders was $1.65 and followed
Banuett when they noticed the
clerk only rang up $1.20.
The store detectives believed
Banuett committed “theft by
deception.”
Banuett claims she removed
the cellophane that contained the
price tag, to make sure that there
were indeed 24 folders in the pac
kage.
She said she then placed the
wrapper on the cashier's counter
with the package of folders while
the clerk rang up $1.20.
The folders cost 5 cents apiece.
However they cost 45 cents more
when packaged.
One of the arresting detectives,
Dan DeHaven, told the court Fri
day, that Bauett concealed the cel
lophane in her hand while buying
the folders.
However, when asked why he
had left the incident out of the ar
rest report he was required to fill
out, »he 19-year-old DeHaven
said, “I couldn't tell you."
DeHaven said he first became
suspicious of Banuett when she
removed the wrapper from the
box.
"It’s not something that an ordi
nary shopper would do," DeHa
ven said. He also told the court
that he did not notice "any count
ing going on."
Banuett, a native of Costa Rica,
said the arrest caused her to post
pone her preliminary doctoral
exam and drop the research pro
ject she was working on at the
time.
She told the jury she was
“humiliated, degraded and ter
rified,” by the arrest process.
Wheatley, however, said
Banuett is trying to "exaggerate
the lawsuit.” He said she made no
effort to exonerate herself by for
feiting bail or by paying the book
store the extra 45 cents. Also, she
made no effort until this week to
have her arrest record erased.
Wheatley continued.
The Bookstore's attorney also
told the jury that the detectives
had been ordered to watch for
petty thefts because the store had
been losing $40,000 to $50,000 a
month from such thefts. Most of
those thefts involved items of a
dollar or less, Wheatley con
cluded.