dailyfemerald
Vol. 80, No. 30
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Friday, October 13, 1978
Church mailing
of political pitch
may break law
By KEVIN HARDEN
Of the Emerald
An endorsement of Congres
sional District challenger Jerry
Lausmann may please God, but it
doesn’t please the Eugene Post
Office.
A September letter endorsing
Lausmann as “the Lord's choice
in the coming congressional elec
tion may have violated the regula
tions governing non-profit second
class mailing, Ken Haley of the
Eugene post office said Thursday.
Eugene s Faith Center church,
a member of the International
Church of the Foursquare Gospel,
mailed the endorsement to church
members Sept. 22. The letter,
written by Faith Center Pastor Roy
Hicks, Jr., also contained a re
quest for contributions to
Lausmann’s campaign. An en
velope to mail those contributions
to Lausmann campaign head
quarters in Medford was included.
That letter could have violated
postal regulations because it con
tained the contribution envelope,
Haley said.
Non-profit organizations, such
as churches, can mail their own
material by the non-profit rate of
less than three cents a letter. If
those letters contain material from
organizations that are not granted
non-profit status, they would cost
nearly nine cents each to mail, he
explained.
Although the regulations gov
erning political mailings are not
specific, Haley said the use of the
non-profit rate for envelopes for
political contributions could be
“questioned” by postal au
thorities.
“That envelope should not have
been enclosed at the non-profit
rate,” he said.
If the church violated postal
regulations, it could be forced to
pay the balance of the mailing rate
for the letters.
In the letter, Hicks said although
he normally wouldn’t have been
involved in the campaign, he felt
Lausmann was the candidate for
his church members to support.
‘‘He is my choice, and I believe
he is the Lord’s choice,” Hicks
wrote.
Hicks also said this election is
important because the “Democrat
who has been holding this office
has done damage to the country in
his voting policies during the years
he has been in Washington.’’
“We understand that the Re
publican Party of the United
States has rated this particular
election as the fifth most important
election in the entire nation this
year,” he wrote. “I am asking you
to not only vote, but to pray.
The letter also contained a plea
for financial help for the Laus
mann campaign, which Hicks said
was not at Lausmann’s request.
Although Hicks was unavailable
for comment, one of the leaders of
the Foursquare Church said that
endorsement was unusual.
Dr. M.E. Nicholls, general
supervisor of the Foursquare
Church organization in the U.S.
and Canada, said that political
endorsements of any kind are
against an unwritten church pol
icy.
“We have never made it a prac
tice to endorse anyone in a politi
cal campaign,” Nicholls said. ”1
think it’s something that we would
not normally do."
Nicholls, who has been with the
church for nearly 45 years, said he
had not heard of another political
endorsement of any kind before
now. Ministers of the church
would be “out of line” if they en
dorsed one candidate over
another in an election,” he said.
“It would not be right to per
suade them (church members)
how to vote.”
today_
Oregon conservationists react bitteny at the chance that the
U S. Senate may consider a bill which creates only 75 million
acres of Alaskan wilderness, while the House bill would protect
124 million acres. See Page 8.
Remember paraquat, that extremely toxic substance you
feared was sprayed all over your Mexican marijuana? Well, you’ll
never know. Most labs have stopped testing for it. Is paraquat
passe? Find out on Page 12.
It’s getting tougher and tougher for students to get a square
meal. Now, a new rule will force students who receive food
stamps to get a part-time job. For details, see Page 20.
Rick Streiff, a 23-year old University student whose study of geology extends
beyond the four walls of a classroom. For almost a year he has worked to extract
some of the gold he knows is hidden somewhere in his mine claim southeast of
Cottage Grove. Story on Pages 10 and 11.
Petitioners near signature goal
in attempt to recall Weinstein
The committee to recall Lane County Commis
sioner Archie Weinstein handed more than 15,000
petition signatures to county elections division head
Don Penfold Thursday afternoon, which could put
the recall issue on the Nov. 7 general election ballot.
The committee gathered 15,600 signatures dur
ing a two-week petition drive that covered most of
Lane County. The group needed 15,333 to put the
recall on a ballot.
The committee tallied the signatures Wednes
day and Thursday and presented them to Penfold to
begin the verification process.
Penfold said the elections division would begin
the verification process as soon as the signatures
were tallied. Penfold met with recall leaders Tues
day morning to discuss the possibility of putting the
measure on the November ballot.
The recall effort began more than a week ago
when Jan Newton and Roscoe Caron, both of
Eugene, filed the necessary petitions with the elec
tions division. Since that time, more than 2.000 peti
tions with a potential tor 24.000 signatures, nave
been circulated. Newton said.
Although the group has enough signatures to
put the measure to a vote, the committee will con
tinue to circulate petitions until Monday morning.
Petitions will be circulated at Autzen Stadium
during Saturday's football game, said Ray Nelson.
University coordinator for the drive. The group hopes
to collect 2.000 more signatures at that time to make
up for any discrepancies in the petitions.
Drop day
Today is the final day that stu
dents may add and drop classes
without a w being recorded. It is
also the final day to apply for fall
term graduation.