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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 1981)
dailyemerald Vol. 82, No. 77 Eugene, Oregon 97403 Tuesday, January 13, 1981 Mayor: Urban pains won’t hobble city By RICHARD WAGONER Ot the Emerald Diversifying employment to help offset Eugene’s sagging wood products industry will be a top priority of Eugene city government, said Eugene Mayor Gus Keller Monday night in his annual State of the City address. “We realize economic prob lems are present even in Eugene,” Keller told an almost full city council chambers at the council’s first substantial meet ing of 1981. "What we are ex periencing on local levels is be ing experienced in every condo, apartment and house — difficult economic problems.” In its recent goal-setting ses sion, the council set em ployment campaigns to bolster the city’s teetering economy as one of its highest priorities. But employment isn’t the only problem facing the city this year. Effective land-use planning, energy conservation and local governmental cooperation are all difficult tasks facing the city, Keller said. These problems are common among cities throughout Oregon and the nation, Keller said, and they mean that Eugene has plunged into a modern metropolitan future. “And unlike some cities that are drowning, we’re swimming very nicely," Keller said. Planning issues will become increasingly important if Eugene hopes to maintain a “town-sized” livability as the city reaches urban proportions, he said. Alluding to a mandatory home weatherization plan now being considered by the council, Keller said energy conservation legislation is necessary to en sure a healthy energy and economic future. Keller also called for more local government cooperation in the future, adding that as the urban area grows, local governments have more prob lems in common. In addition to outlining prob lems ahead, Keller also praised the city for its accomplishments in 1980: • Eugene negotiated the construction of a new 12-story Hilton hotel to be built down town next to a new conference center. The city also established a visitors and convention bur eau in conjunction with Spring field and local chambers of commerce. • The city is now a prime sponsor for the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act program that Keller said will ex pand employment and training opportunities for city residents. • The council passed a smoking ordinance to regulate tobacco smoke in public places. • Eugene, Springfield and Lane County engineered a me tropolitan plan update to help guide local governments in land use planning decisions. • Eugene voters approved a new tax base that will give the city three years to build core budgets on already approved amounts of money. In addition to giving his thoughts on Eugene’s past and future, Keller also said goodbye to two former city councilors and welcomed two new members. Keller praised former coun cilors Jack Delay and Scott Lieuallen for their four years of service to Eugene. Delay and Lieuallen will be replaced by Mark Lindberg and Cynthia Wooten who were elected to the council in November and sworn in as councilors last week. Mayor Gus Keller Photo by David W Zahn No suspect in dorm rape Police request ‘lock-in’ at University dorms By BILL MANNY Of ttw Emerald Campus Security and Eugene Police have stepped up 24-hour dormitory security in the wake of the third cam pus rape this academic year. “We’re asking for a com plete lock-in,” says Eugene police Sgt. Rick Allison, requesting that students lock all doors and windows in the dormitories. A University woman was raped in her Walton Housing Complex room early Saturday morning. “We have some leads,” says Allison, the director for cam pus iaw enforcement. He says police are conducting inter views in their investigation, but have turned up “nothing con crete.” The weekend rape was the second such incident in a University dormitory and the third on campus since the fall term began. In late fall term, a rapist at tacked a woman watching television in the basement of the Bean dormitory complex. Earlier, a University woman was raped near the physical plant. In the 1979-80 school year, there were no campus rapes. The previous year there was one. The rising incidence of on campus rape has women alarmed and local law enfor cement and crime prevention officials worried. Police believe the rapist, described as a stocky white man with short, curly brown hair, climbed into the woman's upper-story room through the window by way of the Walton Housing Complex roof. He woke the woman at about 3 a m., raped her under physical threat and fled the room through the window. The accused rapist was thought to be in his early 20s. He wore a light shirt or jacket and dark pants — possibly jeans. The third rape on campus is frustrating for those whose job it is to provide protection for the Univeristy’s large popula tion. “Every time there is a major crime on campus, it brings it home,” says Allison of the campus crime problem, “Initially, they (worried students) take precautions. Then eventually they let their guard down, and it happens again." STOP 02 Allison attributes much of the problem to the attitude that "it can’t happen to me.” But, says Allison, that atti tude is remiss. Rape is a crime of opportunity, and can hap pen to anyone at any time. Marcia Morgan, a crime and rape prevention specialist with Lane County, concurs. “Rapists, as well as most criminals, are looking for an opportunity,” she says. She urges her audiences to “think like a criminal” — in an effort to outwit potential rapists or thieves. She recommends that both men and women keep dorm windows and doors locked — Graphic by Sioux Anderson because they can be prevent ed. “Because the rooms are so small, it's easy to make them safe," says Allison. Putting a simple dowel in the window and checking windows and doors to make sure locking mechanisms work are ways to stop rapists. Dorms and nearby Universi ty neighborhoods represent an area with a large number of young women, says Allison. They make “easy pickin's" for sex criminals. Allison said each dormitory receives a “personal safety/ rape prevention’’ lecture each term, in order for officials to contact new students. ‘Every time there's a major crime on campus it brings it home. ’ to prevent both rape and theft. Morgan said people may have breathed a sigh of relief at John Schroeder's capture — but when rapes continued they realized there were other rapists who were still at large But Allison believes that, for various reasons, women are lax preventing rape. “People have other con cerns beside crime preven tion,” he says, be it studying or partying. “People have always been lax.” Rapes in dormitory rooms are especially regrettable, Winter term lectures will be given next week. Allison stresses the neces sity of reporting any sus picious activity. "We may get 20 false alarms," he said. "But that one time...” "Don’t be afraid to report it,” says Morgan on the same theme. “Even if it doesn't pan out." Rape on campus is not the only problem. Crime activity is up nation-wide, Allison says, and continues to worsen as the economy continues its dismal slide.
