Oregon daily emerald., May 25, 1978, Section A, Page 3, Image 3

Emerald photo
...Like other unwanted animals in the county, this canine won’t
face a decompression chamber.
Voter statement clear
on animal measure
By KEVIN HARDEN
Of the Emerald
The overwhelming victory of Tuesday’s ballot measure which
eliminated the controversial decompression chamber in Lane County
was a "statement” by county voters, an animal welfare activist said
Wednesday.
That statement may now be carried statewide.
Diane Yeager, head of the Progressive Animal Welfare Society
(PAWS), says the victory of Measure #6 by nearly a three-to-one
margin shows that county voters wanted their unwanted animals killed
as humanely as possible. It may also show that people in the county are
ready to accept responsible pet ownership.
“I think the tremendous margin shows that people are really seeing
what the problem is and that they want humane euthanasia for their
animals,” Yeager said.
The decompression chamber was defeated Tuesday night as vot
ers approved the measure 55,072 to 14,741.
The chamber, a large cylindrical machine that kills unwanted ani
mals by suffocation, became the focus of a county-wide controversy last
September when several citizens, including the machine’s operator,
questioned its humaneness.
The chamber has since failed mechanically and, because of the
measure's approval, won’t be repaired for use in the Green Hill Animal
Shelter (formerly the Lane County Humane Society).
The measure was placed on the ballot after PAWS and the Com
mittee to Ban Decompression Chambers in Lane County gathered
several thousand voter signatures. A last minute door-to-door canvass
by the groups was also part of the campaign.
The overwhelming approval of the measure that replaces the
chamber with injections of sodium pentobarbital as the only method to
kill unwanted animals, may be a good sign for animal welfare activists,
Yeager said.The next step may be taking the issue to the entire state.
“I think that it sure would be nice," she said, “but right now the
legislature isn’t convened so we’ve got a lot of time to think about it.”
If the measure is pressed statewide, the legislation “probably won’t
be as strict as the one we passed here,” she said. "We made ours here
for a specific set of circumstances.”
Yeager and other PAWS members were "stunned” by the large
number of voters who turned out to vote on their measure. Of the
winning votes, only six percent didn't vote either for or against the
measure.
The group's victory may be short-lived, however. There is specula
tion that several local veterinarians, who opposed the measure to the
end, might challenge the new ordinance in the courts.
“I think they really have no reason to be uptight about the whole
thing," she said. “I think that if they just gave it a chance they’d find that it
works better than before. But if they jumped the gun and tried to
challenge it next week, then I think they'd be going too far."
• * • * •»«< ••• • « rnmW'M
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Measure No. 51 opponents
ask for court battle funds
By ANN TRENEMAN
Of the Emerald
Although ‘‘Vote No on 51” but
tons are now campaign relics, op
ponents of the successful human
rights ordinance repeal an
nounced Wednesday they would
start collecting money to fight
court battles.
The measure to repeal a clause
in Eugene’s human right ordi
nance prohibiting discrimination in
housing and jobs for reasons of
“sexual discrimination’’ won by a
2-1 margin Tuesday.
Douglas Huneke, campus Pres
State Board to hold
tuition, fees hearing
The State Board of Higher Edu
cation will conduct a public hear
ing 11 a.m. Friday on proposed
tuition, dormitory room and board
and other fees for the 1978-79
academic year.
The hearing, to be held in Room
338, Smith Memorial Center on
the Portland State University
campus, will be followed by the
board’s final assessment of fees.
The following tuition schedule
has been recommended by the
board’s finance committee and
modified by the state’s
Emergency Board:
Resident undergraduates:
$194 per term, a $13 increase,
non-resident graduates, $810 per
term, a $46 increase; resident
graduates, $333 per term, a $10
increase and non-resident
graduates, $441 per term, a $69
increase.
The finance committee, in com
plying with the Legislature’s in
tent, has set tuition rates for next
year: non-resident undergraduate
students will pay 100 percent of
the cost of their instruction, non
resident graduates will pay 38
percent, resident undergraduates
will pay 23.5 percent and resident
graduates will pay 28.5 percent.
The board will also decide
whether to adopt recommended
student building fees, student
Health Service fees and incidental
fees.
As it stands now, the building
fee is set at $12.50 per term for
full-time students to a minimum of
$6 for students taking from 1 to 6
hours.
If all fees are adopted as re
commended, total tuition for resi
dent undergraduates would total
$263 per term.
If proposed dormitory room and
board rates are adopted, a stu
dent living for three terms in a
standard, multiple occupancy
room and eating approximately 19
to 20 meals a week will pay $ 1,484
a year at this University, an in
crease of $84.
byterian minister and an ardent
speaker against the repeal, said
churches and organizations will
be asked to contribute to a “fund
for justice” to take violations of
gay rights to court.
Huneke called on VOICE, the
organization which led the repeal
effort, to contribute money to the
fund.
Larry Dean, VOICE campaign
manager, said although the group
is against unfair treatment —
against bigotry and prejudice of
any kind,” he didn’t think VOICE
had any funds “left to give.”
Dean added that VOICE sup
porters believe homosexuals
enjoy the same laws that protect
the rights of all citizens and that a
special ordinance was not neces
sary.
Dean said he thinks the fund is a
good idea because there are iso
lated instances of discrimination
against homosexuals and those
should be dealt with in court.
Anita Bryant, the Bible-quoting
leader of a successful drive to re
peal a similar ordinance in Miami,
sent VOICE a congratulatory tele
gram.
Bryant praised VOICE “the
Christian public and all the citi
zens of Eugene who worked and
voted against legalized immoral
ity.”
The telegram continued: “Let
us continue to reach out in Godly
love to all homosexuals who want
deliverance, while opposing at the
threshold every attempt of the
militant homosexuals to represent
their lifestyle as normal’ and to
impose it on us and our children.”
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Appearing May 30th
at The Place
and available at Odyssey Records