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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 1981)
daily 'em e ra Id Vol. 82, No. 94 Eugene, Oregon 97403 Thursday, February 5, 1981 -1 Little top It had only one small ring, three performers, a couple of trained dogs and an indepen dent-minded cat billed as “wild animals’’, but what the Royal Lichtenstein Circus lacked in size it made up in enthusiasm. The show, called the world's smallest quarter-ring circus, made its annual appearance Wednesday in the EMU cour tyard before an overflowing crowd of students, professors and excited little kids. The performers proved their talents in a variety of circus skills as they juggled, jumped and joked their way around the tiny ring, shooting one-liners at the audience between fast paced tricks and pranks. Director answers lumberman’s charges By MIKE RUST Of the Emerald Opponents of the University's Environmental Law Clinic stepped up their attack against the clinic Wednesday, drawing a quick response from clinic supporters. Eugene lumberman Aaron Jones claimed that documents obtained by the Foundation for Oregon Research and Educa tion under the Freedom of In formation Act show that the Na tional Wildlife Federation has "veto power over the protests, appeals and litigations initiated and handled by the law school environmental clinic.” However, at a Wednesday af ternoon press conference, clin ic co-director John Bonine de scribed Jones' accusation as "a lie." The University law profes sor says the documents used by Jones dealt with old proposals that were never enacted. Bonine also spoke out against charges Jones made against the clinic to local labor officials. Lane County Labor Council leader Irv Fletcher made availa ble to the clinic a list of 18 timber sales and land-management programs that were supposedly opposed by the law clinic. Bonine said the law clinic had never heard of half of the timber sales that allegedly produced protests from them. In another case involving an Alsea Land Management Program, the ap peal had been made by a timber company. In a case involving a Bureau of Land Management timber sale plan in the Coos Bay dis trict, Bonine said a student had testified independently. The clinic was not involved. Jones charged that Bonine’s salary is half-paid by the Na tional Wildlife Federation and that Pacific Northwest Re sources Clinic co-director Te rence Thatcher's salary is entir ely subsidized by the Federa tion. "This is completely false,” Bonine said. “My salary is entir ely paid for by the University of Oregon. It’s a half-truth because he’s talking about half my salary, but it’s a half-lie.’’ Bonine disputed Jones’ contention that the clinic and the Federation were damaging the state’s economy by at tempting to eliminate the timber supply to mills. Bonine pointed out that in current litigaton in Idaho, the clinic is protecting salmon runs the coastal economy depends on. “This clinic has never caused cancellation of a single timber sale. Period Paragraph,” he said. Only three lawsuits have been filed by the clinic in five years, Bonine said. A press release issued at the time of Jones’ press conference charges that there are only three environmental law clinics in the United States, all spon sored by the National Wildlife Federation. However, Bonine displayed catalog listings from nine schools with law school operated environmental law clinics. The University’s environmen tal law clinic is also "entirely independent,” Thatcher said. The clinic “makes no commit ment to serve any particular clients,” he added Clinic standing challenged in Idaho suit By GREG WASSON Of the Emerald SALEM — The University’s Environmental Law Clinic may be violating an Oregon statute if it continues to represent an Idaho wilderness group in a suit against the federal government, an Idaho timber firm claims. The firm, Evergreen Forest Products, Inc., claims the clinic is acting as a plaintiff — not as representing attorneys — in a suit challenging government plans to allow substantial logging in a portion of the Snake River drainage area. The drainage area is an im portant salmon spawning area. Evergreen has asked the Idaho Federal District Court to declare the clinic, along with the Idaho Wilderness Foundation, as the real party of interest in the suit. And if the clinic is ruled a plaintiff, it could be violating an Oregon statute that requires any litigation brought in the name of the state, with a few exceptions, be brought by the state attorney general’s office. A district court judge dis missed the original suit Jan. 28, ruling that the foundation represented by the law clinic had not claimed sufficient injury to justify bringing the suit. In the same ruling, the court refused a motion to strike the claim that the clinic could not be con sidered a plaintiff in the case, leaving the door open for further litigation. The foundation now has 12 days to refile an amended com plaint against the government to block the planned logging. The foundation also will have to ar gue before the court that the clinic is not the real plaintiff. However, opponents of the clinic, such as Wilson Hulley, executive director of the Foun dation for Oregon Research and Education, have been heralding the court’s refusal to strike as a major victory. Hulley said what the ruling means is that when the amended complaint is filed, the University will have to be listed as a plaintiff. Assistant Attorney General Jerry Casby disagrees. Casby admits that the court refused to strike the defense that the University is the real party. “But that doesn't mean that the defense is granted. The ruling of the court is ‘no, I won't do that as a matter of law,’ but that doesn't mean he won't do it later,” Casby says. "Any denial of this type can’t be read as an affirmative.” Even if the clinic is con sidered a plaintiff in the suit, Casby said that won't automat ically mean the University is violating state statutes. "That’s a judgment that will have to be made when it oc curs,” he said. "Again, there is so much in this area of civil procedure that depends totally on the context in which the order is made. I just don’t know what the effect of that will be.” If the judge does eventually rule that the clinic is the real party of interest, John Bonine, co-director of the clinic, promises to appeal the decision to the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
