Oregon daily emerald., October 02, 1978, Page 3, Image 3

Whittenburg
alone hurt by
check conviction
When Jim Whittenburg was convicted Friday of writing bad
checks in Lane County, the only thing to suffer was his reputation.
Although many Oregonians felt that Whittenburg’s legal
problems would hurt the property tax limitation measure he
helped to foster, those fears are not likely to come true, a leader of
the property tax limitation campaign says.
Whittenburg, the 36-year-old author of Oregon’s Measure 6,
which would limit state property taxes to a 1.5 percent increase
per year above the 1975 assessed value of the property, was
found guilty Friday of writing two bad checks to a downtown
clothing store and a Cottage Grove motel earlier this year.
But that conviction probably won’t hurt the pro-Measure 6
campaign at all, Ed Sparks of Roseburg claims.
Sparks, a leader of the DO CARE committee that worked to
gather nearly 250,000 petition signatures to put Measure 6 on the
Nov. 7 ballot, says Whittenburg’s legal problems wouldn’t have
troubled the campaign even if they had happened at the height of
the petition drive.
“The measure belongs to the people now,” Sparks says. “It’s
not Whittenburg's measure and it’s not our measure. The people
have it now and it will be up to them to decide what to do with it.”
Although Whittenburg originated the petition that led to the
ballot measure in July, the statewide committee formed to cam
paign in favor of the measure severed all connections with him
several months ago.
The measure was virtually a photocopy of California’s con
troversial Proposition 13, which cut that state’s property taxes to
one percent above the 1975 assessed value.
After the petition drive's success, Whittenburg found himself
in the Lane County Jail, following his arrest for writing bad checks
in several stores in Eugene and Cottage Grove.
But, says one opponent of the tax measure, Whittenburg was
already discredited before the arrests.
“He's (Whittenburg) probably got more credit for being the
father of this whole thing than he really deserves,” says Stafford
Hansell, co-chairer of the Oregon Tax Relief Committee. “He has
been pretty well discredited already by a lot of the newspapers
around the state.”
Hansell, a Hermiston rancher who has been fighting Meas
ure 6 since last summer, debated Whittenburg on the property tax
issue last week.
Whittenburg was late for a Eugene court appearance be
cause he missed a bus connection from Pendleton after that
debate.
Hansell says even though the statewide pro-Measure 6
campaign has disowned Whittenburg, the bad check charges
should have been settled after the election.
“I would prefer that this whole check thing would be done
after the election so the measure could stand on its own merits,”
Hansell says.
Although Sparks agrees, he says Whittenburg's legal prob
lems may actually be helping the pro-Measure 6 campaign. As of
last week, the final petition signature count reached 236,000 and
people are calling every day to express their support, in spite of
the bad publicity, he says.
AN OPEN LETTER TO
PRESIDENT WILLIAM BOYD
Dear College:
On behalf of the U. of O. Federation of Teachers (A.F.T.
Local 3209), we wish to express our approval of your
decision to re-open negotiations with the graduate
teaching fellows represented by the G.T.F.F. (A.F.T.
Local 3544). It is time, we think, to re-examine some of
you negotiators’ positions, which, after the fact-finder’s
report, may not appear as reasonable or justifiable as
they previously did. Although in your statement reject
ing the factfinder’s recommendations, you concentrated
on the financial issue, there are other key issues—such
as workload, re-appointment procedures, grounds for
disciplinary action—on which there should be room for
further negotiation.
Above all, if the money to meet the teaching fellows’
very modest financial demands is not available in our
budget—and you state that it is not—we urge you to
seek aid from the Chancellor and the State Board of
Higher Education. The initiative rests with you, and we
urge you to take such action as will further the interests
of both students and faculty by reaching an equitable
agreement with our teaching fellows.
T.A. Brady, Jr. (HST)
M. Goldman (SOC)
J.P. Maddex (HST)
D. Pope (HST)
C. Ryan (PHIL)
M. Simeral (ECON)
N. Teich (ENGL)
for A.F.T. Local 3209
Tax relief measures may crunch
state education budget if passed
Higher education wilt be hit hard
by passage of either of the prop
erty tax relief measures currently
on the ballot, according to Oregon
State System of Higher Education
Chancellor Roy Lieuallen.
Lieuallen expects a cut of at
least $14 million from the
OSSHE’s budget, even though
the state system does not depend
upon property taxes for its re
venue. Unfortunately, the state
may divert some of the funds orig
inally intended for higher educa
tion to other programs which
would be crippled by the loss of
property tax monies.
“I really don’t know what we ll
do,” said Lieuallen Sunday. "It
would be improper for me to say
what we would do if the budget
were cut by that magnitude, but
even so, I wouldn’t be able to
speculate.’’
Ballot Measure 6 would limit
property taxes to V/2 percent of
assessed valuation, while Meas
ure 11 would compel the state to
pay half of all residential property
taxes up to $1,500 per home
owner. Measure 11 would also
place additional limits on govern
ment spending.
Measure 11 would force the
state to cut its spending to 95 per
cent of the level during the
1977-79 biennium, and would
allow that figure to rise only in ac
cordance with the growth in per
sonal income in Oregon.
Lieuallen expects the state ex
ecutive to cut all state budget re
quests along lines dictated by
Measure 11, even if that measure
is not passed by voters in
November. The state system, like
all state agencies, is required to
submit its biennial spending plans
to the governor through the state
executive department near the
end of each even-numbered year.
The governor then sends his
budget proposal to the Legislature
for final approval.
• In other action, the state board
agreed that admission standards
at state schools need to be up
graded in order to to improve the
quality of students being admitted.
Though no action was taken at
the Friday meeting, the board di
rected its staff to look into various
admissions standards — high
school curricula, grade-point av
erage, test scores and rank in
class — and report back within
one year on how the state system
compares with other states.
The board's subcommittee on
academic affairs had recom
mended last month that high
school students be required to
take certain courses of study (e.g.
four years of English and three
years of math) to meet admission
standards beginning in 1983. The
board defeated that proposal by a
5-4 vote, feeling that such a move
would be too concrete.
Tutors offered for vets
Free tutorial services are offered to veterans at the Center for
Self-Development, 207 Emerald Hall, according to veteran Gary Scott.
Scott, who is also a tutor, says many veterans are not aware the
sen/ices are provided as part of their benefits. “Veterans should come in
for help before they run into problems,” Scott says.
Veterans can contact Scott at 686-3232.
EVERY
NIKE
MADE
...from $17.95
Sports shoes for every need.
(/att-lftic DEPARTMENT)
Original NIKE headquarters
We have every NIKE made
10th a Olive
In the Atrium Bldg.
Monday-Saturday 10-6
Phone 342-5155
Cultural Forum
DIRECTIONS
Featuring
Eddie Gomez
John Abercrombie
Jack De Johnette
Lester Bowie
With Special Guests
The Bill Sabol Trio
Tuesday, Oct. 10th EMU Ballroom 8:00 pm
UO Students $4 General Public $6
Day of the show $4.50/$6.50
Available at the EMU Main Desk, UO Bookstore, Odyssey Records B
Backstage Dancewear and Theatrical Supplies.
V