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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 1981)
defy emerald Vol. 82, No. 95 Eugene, Oregon 97403 Friday, February 6, 1981 Law clinic draws further appraisal By GREG WASSON Of the Emerald The University law school’s environmental law program may have a good reputation throughout the country, but a portion of the course and its funding sources have been receiving less than favorable attention from some quarters. The complaints center on the Pacific Northwest Resources Center, an enterprise funded mainly by the National Wildlife Federation. The resources clin ic is one arm of the Environ mental Law Clinic, and operates under the joint direction of Ter rance Thatcher, a staff member of the foundation, and Universi ty professor John Bonine. One vocal opponent of the clinic is Wilson Hulley, execu tive director of the Federation for Oregon Research and Education, which first gained recognition for its attempts to dismantle the Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG). Hulley is quick to characterize FORE as a neutral organization whose purpose is “to ensure that the tax dollar available to the state of Oregon is spent in the most effective manner.” According to Hulley, this isn’t being done at the clinic. He called it "totally inappropriate” that tax dollars be used to provide Thatcher with office space, supplies and support. In short, Hulley charges the University is being used as a pawn by the wildlife federation. Hulley began his complaints last year in letters to then University Pres. William Boyd, the secretary of state, and the attorney general. His concern incited a letter from the secre tary’s office asking about the propriety of the clinic and why Thatcher was allowed to estab lish a base in a school. Acting-provost Richard Hill responded that the University gained the most from the ar rangement. “Given the availability of his (Thatcher's) services, the law school is able to increase the enrollment and faculty re sources in a program where demand has been heavy and where supervisor-student ratios must necessarily be low," Hill said. “Without the addition of Mr. Thatcher s energy and exper tise, operating the clinical pro gram would have placed severe burdens on law school re sources.” The secretary of state hasn’t given Hulley his desired con demnation of the clinic, and ac cording to Assistant Attorney General Jerry Casby, the AG's office can be no more obliging. "I'm aware of no phase of what I see at the present time that suggests to me there is a legal violation.” But Hulley’s still not con vinced. The controversy now centers on a lawsuit filed by the Idaho Wilderness Foundation challenging government plans to open the Snake River drain age area to logging. The area is an important salmon-spawning region, and the suit alleges the government hasn’t adequately addressed how the logging will affect fish populations. The Pacific Northwest Re sources Clinic is representing the Idaho foundation, with Thatcher and Bonine listed as the attorneys of record. Bonine says the suit provides a pretext for Hulley and other Continued on Page 3 Ex-hostage returns to Springfield area Former hostage Victor Tomseth, a Springfield native, will discuss his experiences as a hostage Monday at 3 p m in the EMU Ballroom A 1963 University graduate, Tomseth will arrive in the Eugene area Friday night and will be honored at a reception at the Springfield Rodeway Inn Saturday from 8 to 8:30 a m The reception will include a speech by Springfield Mayor John Lively and music by the Springfield High School Band Tomseth graduated from the high school in 1959 On Tuesday from noon to 1:30 p m.. Tomseth will be honored with a luncheon at the Inn Featured speakers will include Lively; Lane County Commissioner Vance Freeman, state Sen Ed Fadeley, D-Eugene: state Rep Vern Meyer R-Springfield; and U S. Rep Jim Weaver. D-Ore Tomseth. who was the political officer at the United States Embassy in Tehran when it was captured in November. 1979. was held in the Iranian Foreign Ministry Tomseth's campus appearance will be sponsored by the EMU Cultural Forum Photo by Erich Boekelheide Gov. Vic Atiyeh A tiyeh: Oregon needs diversified economy By MARIAN GREEN Ol the Emerald Oregon and Lane County should diversify to save the state economy from the "dramatic” depression that hit the lumber industry, says Gov. Vic Atiyeh National economic trends "hit hard Lane County’s lumber and wood products industry," Atiyeh said Thursday night, "and the industry, which is Oregon’s largest, has yet to recover.” Atiyeh’s speech to a group of local business leaders was part of an "Employment in Lane County” meeting sponsored by the Eugene, Springfield and Junction City chambers of com merce. In Oregon’s wood products industry alone, Atiyeh said, unemployment reached over 17,000 early in 1980. In small communities, where wood products is the major employer, the effects "were almost devastating.” To remedy the ailing economy, Oregon and Lane County should diversify — even more than it has in the past, Atiyeh said. As an example of Oregon diversification, Atiyeh noted that state-wide employment in high technology industries increased 13 percent from 1955 to 1979, while employment in the forest products industry declined by 15 percent. “This is a very favorable trend, and one we should encourage.” However, Atiyeh stressed the need to attract "new and developing” industries that are clean, and said his appeal is “not a call to the smokes tack chasers.” Still, Oregon state and local governments should not forget the importance of the lumber products industry — "our number one industry” — and the government’s responsibility to continue employing Oregonians and utilizing Oregon’s resources. . “Economic development does not need an in-rush from outside the state,” Atiyeh said "Oregonians should be able to find jobs in their own state." Atiyeh said although the wood products industry looks bad now, "the long term outlook for Oregon is bright for wood products.” “The demand for housing, while held down by interest rates, remains,” he said. “The housing units that are not being built today will have to be built tomorrow." And its productivity has increased with the use of computerized saw mill equipment, he added. "Employment in the forest products industry depends on a variety of federal government policies, largely beyond our control — for example timber harvesting policy on federal lands," Atiyeh said. "On the other hand, the technology-orient ed industries depend on the national and inter national market demand for their products. "This points out the dependence of Lane County on wood products and the desirability of continuing to focus energies on achieving balanced economic and industrial development ”
