Oregon court strikes down
pot paraphernalia ordinance
By GREG WASSON
Of the Emerald
The Oregon Court of Appeals ruled Monday
that a Brookings city ordinance banning the sale
of drug paraphernalia is unconstitutionally vague.
'In its ruling, the Court cited the United States
Supreme Court standard for determining when a
law is so vague that it must be thrown out.
“It is settled that, as a matter of due process,
a criminal statute that ‘fails to give a person of
ordinary intelligence fair notice that his contem
plated conduct is forbidden by the statute' ’’ is
void.
The ordinance defined paraphernalia as “any
instrument, device, article, or contrivance used,
designed for use, or intended for use in ingesting,
smoking, administering, or preparing" drugs.
The decision will affect fhree bills in the
Oregon Legislature that^eek to establish a state
anti-paraphernalia law, predicts Rep. Tom Ma
son, D-Portland, who heads the House Judiciary
Committee to which the bills have been as
signed.
“In the long run, people will look at these
proposals and evaluate them from the standpoint
that if you're going to go after drugs, go after
drugs,” Mason says.
“The first time we outlaw a testing kit for
cocaine by outlawing a certain chemical in the
testing kit, two weeks later there will be another
testing kit with a different chemical. That’s just the
nature of the process.”
The ordinance was challenged under a
procedure of seeking a declaratory judgement.
An individual seeks the court’s advice as to what
will happen before being subjected to arrest — a
sort,of preventative justice.
When a statute or ordinance is challenged as
unconstitutional on its face — that there is no fact
situation where the law could stand scrutiny by
the Constitution — the court is obligated to search
for an interpretation narrow enough that the law
can stand.
"But that obligation," wrote the court, “does
not require us to engage in tortured analysis or to
amend the law. The testimony indicated thatlhere
are myriad items that can be and are used by drug
abusers. The range of items that can be con
sidered drug paraphernalia is limited only by the
ingenuity of illicit drug users.”
In other legislative business, a Senate com
mittee considered a bill giving official approval to
any school district that wants to teach human
sexuality.
There are currently districts with sex educa
tion classe^, but the sponsor of the proposal, Sen.
Frank Roberts, D-Portland, said this bill would
give the districts protection.
The bill says any school district that wants to
offer the class may, but parents must be notified
that the subject is being taught and be given the
opportunity to request that their children be
excused from the class.
"Although this bill has the wording of being a
voluntary sex education bill, it seems to be the
precursor to mandatory sex education, teaching
such areas as homosexuality, beastiality, self
abuse and premarital sex, just to name a few,"
said a member of Moral Majority who testified
against the bill.
Plant closure bill sparks debate
The Legislature is considering a proposal —
commonly known as the Plant Closure Bill —
which would help small communities cope when a
major employer closes down.
Requested by the AFL-CIO, the bill requires
owners of plants employing more than 50 persons
to give advance notification of an impending
closure or lay-off.
The bill also requires the employer to pay
maintenance salaries and relocation expenses to
employees and a one-shot payment of property
taxes to the taxing district the business is leaving.
Oregon’s business community is outraged at
the proposal. Although th6 bill isn’t scheduled for
hearings until April, speeches condemning it have
already been made on the Senate floor.
Rep. Jim Chrest, D-Portland, says many bus
iness leaders are becoming concerned prema
turely. Opponents of the bill should give the
legislative process a chance to work, says Chrest,
who is chairer of the House Labor Committee.
Committee member Rep. Eldon Johnson,
R-Medford, says the prior notice provisions in the
bill must be deleted before he can vote for the bill,
but that the concept has strong merit.
The bill also requires state agencies to give
special assistance to communities suffering from
the impact of a plant closure and that employees
be given an opportunity to buy the plant.
The state's Economic Development Depart
ment would be required to help the workers
secure financing.
A similar bill was introduced last session by
Sen. Ted Kulongoski, D-Junction City. Kulongos
ki says it’s time to change our thinking about an
owner’s right to pull up stakes and leave.
"Employees are entitled to some dignity and
respect. They aren’t fixed assets in the process,
like a log that goes through a sawmill,” Kulon
goski says.
Health program
begins class
SelectCare, Lane County's
health maintenance organiza
tion, is sponsoring a series of
free programs on women’s
health issues.
For the first session on Wed
nesday, local doctor Dennis
Schuelke will discuss "Con
traception — State of the Art"
and “Toxic Shock Syndrome."
The programs are open to the
public and will be held from 7:30
to 9:30 p.m. in Conference
Room 3 of the Eugene Hospital
and Clinic.
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ESCAPE can’t duck
IFC budget slash
By STEPHEN KNIGHT
Of 1h« Emerald
The Incidental Fee Committee cut more than $3,000 from
the ESCAPE program's 1981-82 budget request Monday night.
Anticipating a hefty budget cut, ASUO Pres. Dave Eaton
praised the group as cost-effective aqd cautioned the IFC to be
be "extremely careful” in considering the program’s budget.
Despite Eaton s praise, a dispute arose early in the meeting
when ESCAPE director Jim Doty refused to reveal how much
money the group receives from sources besides incidental fee
funding.
ESCAPE receives funds from the education college and the
community service and public affairs school. Doty feared the IFC
would excessively cut the group’s budget if the outside income
was known.
But IFC chairer Jon Neiderbach said the committee could
not make any budget decisions without knowing other sources
of income.
Doty relented and said ESCAPE received $8,000 for
stipends from the education college.
The committee voted 5-2 to fund the ESCAPE director at
$1,260 for the coming year, $540 less than the group’s request.
Other staff salaries were cut by $2,025, bringing the group’s
stipends to a total of $6,574.
After 20 minutes of haggling over the cost of paper clips,
book rings and hole-punches, the committee allocated $1,500
for the group’s office supplies.
Before the committee discussed the group’s telephone
budget, Eaton said “every second was documented.”
When the IFC cut $16 from the group’s telephone budget,
Doty said, "What is the use of documentation if you’re going to
be arbitrary?"
The IFC sliced away $'1,541 from the group’s printing and
duplication budget, including $733 for the the volunteer’s
manuals that have been a subject of committee controversy for
several years.
‘You’re cutting quality out of our program and it’s going to
be felt,” Doty said of the budget cut.
The group’s total allocation came to $15,493, $4,540 less
than requested and almost $6,000 less than its 1980 budget
In other business, the Council for Exceptional Children
received $273 for the coming year.
Talk for disabled begins
The University affirmative ac
tion office is sponsoring a
“workshop today on hiring han
dicapped and disabled in
dividuals
Shalini Reilly, from the
University office, and Mike
Goldhammer, from the Oregon
Vocational Rehabilitation Divi
sion, are putting on the work
shop.
The workshop will be 9 a m. to
11 am.
Scheduled are a discussion of
an Oregon Senate bill that out
lines procedures for hiring the
severely handicapped, and a
panel discussion with represen
tatives of the personnel division
of Adult and Family Services.
The film “A Different Ap
proach" also will be shown.
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