Emerald
Vol. 82, No. 117
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Tuesday, March 10, 1981
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Photos by Erich Boekelheide
Making a beeline to spring
This bee took advantage of Monday's warm weather to get an early start on gathering nectar.
Monday's high was 61, and the low was 31. The National Weather Service expects the warm
weather to continue for the rest of the week. Highs of 55-65 are expected with lows in the
low-to-mid 30s. No precipitation is expected through the weekend.
Bandit suspect
held for murder
Randall Woodfield, suspected by police to be the “Band-Aid
Bandit,'' is in Marion County Jail today after being charged Monday
with the murder of a Salem woman.
Woodfield, a 30-year-old Springfield resident, was arrested by
Marion County police for the Jan 18 murder of Shari Hull, 20, and
the attempted murder of Lisa Garcia, also 20. Woodfield also has
been charged with sodomy in connection with the cases.
Hull and Garcia were both sexually assaulted and then shot in
the head while working in the Transamerica Title building in Salem.
Hull died immediately, but police said the bullets glanced off
Garcia’s skull, not seriously injuring her.
Woodfield was moved to Marion County late Monday morning
after being held in the Springfield jail since Thursday He was being
held by police for an alleged parole violation while officers
determined what charges could be brought against him.
The "Band-Aid Bandit" is suspected in at least 27 crimes
including four murders, rapes and robberies along Interstate 5 from
northern California to Washington. The bandit got his nickname
from a piece of medical tape he wore across the bridge of his nose
while committing crimes.
Sheriff’s officers in Shasta County, Calif., are still investigating
Woodfield’s possible connection to the Feb. 3 murders of a
37-year-old mother and her 14-year-old daughter in a small
community north of Redding, Calif.
Ballistics tests show the mother and daughter were killed with
the same revolver used in the Salem murders, detectives have said.
Woodfield also is a suspect in the Feb. I5 murder of an
18-year-old woman in Beaverton.
No charges have been filed in either the Redding or Beaverton
murders, and authorities involved in those cases say they will not
contest Marion County’s move to hold the first trial in the case.
Meanwhile, Eugene Police are still investigating at least five
robberies of local convenience stores attributed to the bandit.
Police Chief James Packard said the department is not yet ready to
file charges in the robberies.
Gass: Moral Majority has strong backing
By MIKE RUST
Of the Emerald
It’s time for the majority to rule, the director of
Oregon’s Moral Majority told a University history
class Monday.
Speaking before Eckard Toy's "Recent
American Conservatism” class, Mike Gass, who
heads the controversial lobbying organization,
said that various “immoral minorities” are trying
to impose their views on the rest of the country.
However, the Medford minister says he
encourages people who hold beliefs other than
his to speak out, just as he does.
“I’m not trying to change you — I don’t think I
can do it,” he told the students. "But allow me to
express my opinion.”
Gass believes that if all Americans get poli
tically involved, the majority of them will support
the views espoused by Moral Majority.
He cited a "Christianity Today” study that
said 70 million adult Americans — 53.7 percent of
the adult population — claim to have had a
“born-again” experience.
"Moral Majority is a majority, in fact,” Gass
said.
While the Oregon group is independent of the
national group, they share the same philosophy
and values.
Those values are “pro-life, pro-God, pro
family and pro-American,” Gass said. The orga
nization deals primarily with moral issues,
advocating positions they claim are derived from
the Bible, which they regard as "the inspired word
of God.”
"Without an authoritative base for decisions
of morality, you’d have chaos,” Gass said.
High rates of crime, divorce and abortion
show the values of the majority are being
threatened, Gass said
Around the country, 73,000 pastors are
involved in Moral Majority, he said. While the
majority are Nazarenes, Baptists and charismatic
denominations, people of all faiths and even some
non-churchgoers also support the group, Gass
added.
In Oregon, there are between 2,000 and
3,000 pastors involved, Gass estimated. One-third
of Oregon's 3,000 churches are active politically
in some way, he said.
Moral Majority is currently concentrating on
several bills in the state Legislature. They support
a House bill that would mandate the teaching of
scientific creationism as well as Darwinian evolu
tion in the schools and oppose Senate bills
involving sex education, allowing the home
growing of marijuana and prohibiting discrimina
tion against homosexuals in hiring and renting.
Gass, who taught in public schools at the
junior high level, says he doesn’t object to sex
education but believes it should be confined to
biological functions, rather than human sexuality.
“Value judgements are being made in public
school systems. We don’t feel that’s right.’’
Concerning gay rights, Gass said that while
the constitution protects the right of homosexuals
to practice their lifestyle, he should not be forced
to expose his children to gays by renting a house
to them or hiring them.
In California, the Internal Revenue Service
has put 63 churches up for auction after they lost
their tax-exempt status because they “refused to
sign a piece of paper saying they wouldn’t say
anything about homosexuals,” Gass said.
A “program to reach poor people" was
recently established by Moral Majority, he said.
However, the “liberal press" rarely covers
such activities, Gass added.
Moral Majority is a special interest group just
like the steelworkers or the National Organization
for Women, Gass said He suggested that Moral
Majority has been controversial because of what
he feels is the group's success
“The problem is that we did a lot of things in
November ”
Photo by Ken Sands
Mike Gass