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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 6, 1978)
Vol. 80, No. Eugene, Oregon 97403 Thursday, July 6, 1978 Country Dancin’ By ERIC BENJAMINSON Of the Emerald Craftspeople, entertainers and members of the Northwest’s al ternative community will converge near Elmira Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the eighth Annual Oregon Country Fair. The three-day gathering claims to offer the finest in homemade, homegrown and hand-gathered wares, and has scheduled enter tainers from San Francisco to Seattle to participate in a Cultural Arts Festival. Goods will also be displayed in 250 homemade booths. About 20,000 attended last year’s fair, recognized as a major cultural event. For the second consecutive year, a special feature of the gathering will be the Community Village, an exhibition of alternative lifestyles and techniques. Dis plays will focus on such areas as environmental awareness, human services, and appropriate technology. Exhibits will include a portable sawmill, a solar shower and a working composting toilet. "The area will be made to look like a true alternative village -rea,” says Barbara Stem, the fair’s publicity director. “The at mosphere will be incorporated The Annual Country Faire returns Friday near Elmira this weekend with music, dancing, entertainment and homegrown and handmade Emerald Photo wares. About 20,000 people are expected to attend this year's faire, which will feature an exhibition of alternative lifestyles and techniques. into the handmade booths, some of which are quite unique.” Ballad singers, circus acts and jazz musicians will contribute to the varied crowd-pleasing plans of the Festival. Five separate stage locations will feature such diverse entertainment as Chamber Music and Country Rock; Sword Swal lowing and Belly Dancing; and Contemporary jazz and traditional Irish ballads. Many well-known Eugene area bands will perform, in addition to the great number of “foreign” musicians. A circus area will be highlighted, featuring all-day per formances by troupes from San Francisco and Seattle. Stem likens this section to the successful Renaissance Faire of the San Francisco Bay area, while Student challenges ASUO By JOCK HATFIELD Of the Emerald A student has filed a formal complaint against the ASUO Affirmative Action Hiring Plan because, he says, it is unworkable. Loren Simonds, who applied for the position of ASUO Vice-President of State Affairs, says he was discriminated against because he is a paraplegic. ASUO Pres. Ramon Herrera gave the job to Jeff. Warren, an unsuccessful ASUO presidential candi date. Simonds calls the decision to hire Warren “polit ical appeasement,” while admitting Jeff is capable. “I’m not questioning that. But I’ve had four sessions of experience to Jeff’s one.’’ Simonds says he thinks Herrera had hidden criteria up his sleeve during the selection process. Herrera denies it, saying Warren is more knowledg able about University affairs and has a thorough understanding of the Legislature. Simonds says his real complaint is that the Af firmative Action plan offers him no reasonable way to challenge the choice. “Under the guidelines of the present affirmative action plan I have no recourse. I want the guidelines themselves changed.” Simonds sees several problems with the pres ent system. For one, it requires him to register his complaint with the man who didn’t hire him: Herrera. The persons who wrote the guidelines apparently didn’t expect complaints to crop up within the execu tive, says Simonds. Secondly, says Simonds, the present system does not require the employer to tell a prospective employee exactly what criteria will be used in filling a job. The system is ambiguous,” Simonds com plains. “The employer can use five questions as a criterion.” Written criteria would let prospective em ployees know what the employer is after, he sug gests. Simonds also discovered the ASUO has no af firmative action committee. He says that is because no one wanted to serve on it. But the ASUO is looking for volunteers and, the committee would get right to work if it would find a staff, according to Herrera. Herrera says he is in sympathy with Simonds’ demands. “It’s crazy,” he says. “How can I objec tively receive complaints against my own decisions? It’s a dead-end in a way.” After talking with Herrera, Simonds gave up try ing to challenge the Warren choice in particular. In stead, he went after the affirmative action plan as a whole. That complaint may have been filed too late, according to Herrera. Even if his complaint is rejected, Simonds hopes to take the issue to the voters. "If necessary we can make executive positions elected,” he says. “This is a drastic action. But if the student government doesn’t make affirmative action changes, I’ll have to go to the student voters.” describing the Country Fair as “more modern, and unique in its own way.” She plays down rumors of fric tion between patrons and police. “Some people just forget that the fair is a public place,” says Stem. “The deputies are helpful in traffic control and security, and the area residents appreciate this.” The site can be reached by fol lowing West 11th Ave. to Territor ial Road between Veneta and El mira. Buses will serve the Fair, open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. each of the three days. Schedules are available by calling 687-5555. A $3 admission fee will also be charged and patrons are re minded that no camping is al lowed. Further information can be obtained by calling 484-0422. ‘-Toda/-: Affirmative action pro grams at the University may be in no danger from the recent Bakke reverse discrimination decision, but a historical analysis of minorities in Eugene puts that decision in perspective for Eugene and the University. S$e Page 3. When protestors occupied the Trojan Nuclear Plant in Rainier, Oregon last November they expected to be arrested. Many of them didn’t expect to be convicted though. The story on Page 4 explains what happened. California’s tax revolt seems to have moved north ward as truckloads of tax limita tion petitions move to Salem today to meet Friday’s filing deadline for November’s elec tion. Story on Page 8. Blood is the commodity in a new business recently started in Eugene. Special deals, dis counts and coupons offer up to $20 for the patron’s juices. See the story on Page 9.
