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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 11, 1978)
Inspector rebuffs corruption claims in stove industry By KEVIN HARDEN Of the Emerald Charges that the city's Merhanical Inspection Division has subjected several area wood stove manufacturers to “unreason able and capricious" inspections are completely untrue, Lyle Lamont a Eugene mechanical inspector said Wednesday. Explaining that all inspection and regulation of wood stoves have been done to protect the public from the dangers of impro per installation, Lamont denied he had treated any manufacturer unfairly. Lamont, who was cited by seven area wood stove manufac turers as inconsistent in his inspections, with a conflict of interest because of work he allegedly did for a Springfield wood stove manufacturer, said at a news conference Wednesday morning he has treated all firms involved in the conflict fairly and consistently. The charges against Lamont stem from complaints by seven Eugene wood stove manufacturers who claim the inspection division and Lamont are trying to "force local businessmen out of business" through inconsistent inspections and regulations re garding wood burning stoves. Reading a prepared statement, Lamont explained that any variation in treatment of persons and firms in contact with him was based on the regulations established by the International Confer ence of Building Officials (ICBO) and not on personal bias. Lamont also denied receiving any payment for consulting services for Schrader Stoves Inc. of Springfield. According to Chuck Schrader, owner of the firm, Lamont worked as a consul tant for his firm two years ago, but wasn't paid. Lamont's wife, however, was paid $25 for typing she did for the firm. Most of the charges, Lamont said, are a continuation of similar charges made seven months ago by the same people. At that time Lamont was suspended for three days without pay because of a suspected conflict of interest involving Oregon Steel Fabricating. That charge, Lamont said, was brought after he sold a book to the head of Oregon Steel Fabricating for $50. The sale came at the request of the company president and was done after busi ness hours, Lamont said. The charges against Lamont were made three weeks ago by Mike Duval of J & J Enterprises, Ken Hussey and Doug Johnson of Mannan Building Supplies, Thomas Lichty of the Oregon Woodstove Company, John Orlando of Oregon Steel Fabricating, Fred Wingham of Radke Stove Distributing and G.M. McCormack of McCormack Consulting Engineers. According to the group, misleading statements by Lamont about stoves manufactured by their companies and other incon sistencies in his handling of wood stove permit procedures may have injured the wood stove industry in the area. All those statements are untrue, Lamont said. "They're based on wishful thinking on the part of people who didn't fulfill the bargains that they needed to sell their stoves.” Those regulations, which include subjecting each wood stove model to nearly six weeks of ICBO testing, weren’t met by the stove manufacturers who asked for an investigation of the inspection division, Lamont said. "I think the manufacturers have a good product, but they don’t know what to do about the regulations," Lamont said. They see the dollar out there and they want to make it. But they must know what the parameters are." Of about 4,000 stoves built in Lane County each month, Lamont estimated that 200 are installed without proper permits and without ICBO approval. No legal action against the seven stove manufacturers is planned until the results of an investigation by the city manager's office and the police department are released, Jim Jagger, Lamont's lawyer, said. "We haven't received any information on the investigation yet, so we won't make a decision on any action for a while," Jagger said. "But we won t rule anything out." Herbicide use cancelled SEATTLE (AP) — The her bicide 2,4,5-T won’t be sprayed on Northwest forests this year de spite permission to use the chem ical from the regional forester, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman says. Joe Nadolski, a public relations specialist for the Mt. Bader Snoqualamie National Forest here, said officials have decided not to use the chemical on about 1,050 acres. The herbicide is used to kill un wanted alder, willow, vine maple and cottonwood trees which grow faster than conifers and dominate new seedlings. To be effective, the herbicide must be applied in the spring, but experts think spring growth has progressed too far for 2,4,5-T to be of any use this year. “We just ran out of time,” said Lee Boeckstiegel, a silvaculturist for the national forest. Altogether, about 10,000 acres in the Northwest were to be sprayed with the herbicide. Environmentalists opposed use of the herbicide and delayed the decision to spray it for months, until Friday. The herbicide is an ingredient of the Vietnam defojiant Agent Orange, and it has been linked with cancer and birth de fects in laboratory tests on ani mals by the National Institute of Health. The Environmental Protection Agency has the chemical under special review. Nadolski said some thinning of the forest may be done by hand. Arabs criticize ceremony A routine University administra tion decision to raise the Israeli flag in honor of Israeli foreign stu dents here and the 30th anniver sary of Israel has come under at tack. The Arab Student Organization s protesting today’s planned flag raising and has called a press con ference at 11 a.m. today In Room 101 EMU to discuss their views. The flag salute is part of the University's Flag of Nations Pro ject. Flags of eight nations have Deen raised so far outside the EMU to honor foreign students on their homeland’s national celebra tion days. The Arab student group asserts that University Pres. William Boyd's decision to raise the flag provokes the Arab people and that he has chosen to “insult their dig nity.” “The administration has clearly taken an official stand in the Arab Israeli conflict against the Palesti nian people and for Zionism,” the students wrote in a prepared statement . "We condemn Pres. Boyd's Zionist and racist pre judice.” In a prepared statement of his own, Boyd said he regrets the de cision to raise the flag has stirred a protest. “Last November, consulates and embassies of 97 nations cur rently represented in our student body were invited to send us flags for these displays. To date, 20 have provided flags. A schedule for display was routinely or ganized. It was our decision to administer the program in an even-handed manner, knowing that all nations which chose to par ticipate would be honored.” The Arab students claim that Boyd’s decision to raise the Israeli flag ‘ makes a sham of the University’s purported political neutrality.” The students plan a protest demonstration in front of Johnson Hall today, after assembling at the EMU, at 12 noon. Openings ‘unlimited’ for women in engineering industry program By LAURY MASHER Of the Emerald In early April, the U.S. Department of Labor is sued a new directive, requiring that 3.1 percent of construction workers on federal projects be women by May of 1979. In 1980, that figure will increase to five percent, and to 6.9 percent in 1981. According to Harold Pritchett, construction co ordinator for Oregon State University’s Construction Engineering Management Program (CEM), only one woman has graduated from the CEM program during its 11 years existence. She is now the manager of public relations for the International Harvester Cor poration in Illinois. Pritchett says although opportunities are ‘excel lent’’ for both men and women in the CEM program, “opportunities for women are unlimited.” OSU presently has 175 students enrolled in the program, of whom only five are women. One of those women presently holds the position of vice-president of the student chapter of the Association of General Contractors (AGC). ✓ The OSU program is designed to prepare graduates for middle management positions. OSU’s program has been recognized as one of the top five construction schools in the nation. Pritch ett says a good portion of its credibility is due to the program's strong ties with the construction industry. The program involves job placement for sum mer jobs as well as graduates. According to Pritchett, all students of the CEM program are placed in sum mer jobs. “The ones who aren’t are the ones that don’t want to work.'' he says. Pritchett points out that most of this year’s June graduates have already taken jobs. There are no women graduates this year, but Pritchett says the men are being placed in jobs with salaries beginning at $1,400 a month. The CEM program requires 204 quarter hours of credit. Two-thirds of the program is in engineering and one-third in business and economics, says Pritchett. Pritchett describes the construction industry as “the last of the free enterprise." 1 Bit tenstodc ■ssure feet in the the verv Feet in Btrhenstoch t« ' ‘ The Birkenstock k b and become 35%xs>xs*z barefoot m the ^nu, difference. BirWenstoA Mj** ** You can walk m o — t.t y Let your feet make a place for themselves. 2 nd Floor Atrium 1 Oth 8c Olive Mon.-Sat. 11-6 687-0065 Page 3 Section A
