CETA workers lament employment losses
By DAWN GARCIA
01 the Emerald
More than 70 Eugene
residents found the real mean
ing of federal budget surgery
this month when their jobs dis
appeared — some with only two
weeks notification.
These workers, along with
thousands of others across the
country, were employed under
the Comprehensive Em
ployment and Training Act, a
$3.7 billion-a-year federal pro
gram founded in 1973.
CETA was designed to help
train people for jobs in the
private sector.
The program has been help
ing support many private, non
profit agencies in Lane County
by paying the salaries of some
of their employees.
CETA saw the beginning of
the end when one category of
CETA workers was terminated
on March 31. Another group will
follow on April 15.
"I was real angry about this,”
says Gail Weimer, crisis pro
gram manager at the Rape Cri
sis Network in Eugene, one of
the many private, non-profit
agencies affected by the CETA
cuts. "We had only two weeks
notice we were going to lose our
jobs.”
Weimer was one of six CETA
workers at RCN. Unlike the
others, Weimer will continue
Non-profit organizations take
brunt of federal budget cuts
working because the agency is
scraping together enough mon
ey to pay her part-time salary.
“Somebody needs to do the
job,” Weimer says of her work
coordinating the agency’s 35
volunteers. “Especially in such
stressful situations.”
Another CETA worker, who
was in charge of a community
education program at RCN, was
on welfare before getting her
CETA position last January.
Now that her CETA job is cut,
she says she is forced to go
back on welfare.
"It's ludicrous,” she says.
“It’s the lower-income people
and students who are being
hurt. It doesn’t look like pro
gress to me.”
A 30-year-old sociology
graduate of the University and
mother of two, she says welfare
is the only way she can support
her two children with the tight
job situation in Eugene. But she
doesn’t like having to be a
“welfare mother."
"With all the connotations, it's
really hard being a welfare
recipient. I have a college de
gree, I’m intelligent, I have tons
of energy. It’s not like I just want
to hang out.’ ’’
“With the CETA job, I was a
real person for a while," she
says. ‘‘On welfare, you don’t feel
like a real person."
The drop in her income
doesn't help those frustrated
feelings.
"I was getting $580 per month
with my CETA job, and now I am
supporting myself and my kids
on $320 per month."
"I wrote home telling my par
ents I’d been dropped to $320
per month, and they said, ‘You
must mean $320 per week.' ”
Eugene’s job market doesn't
look much better than CETA’s,
according to officials in the
Eugene employment office.
Lane County’s unemployment
rate of 11 percent is traditionally
higher than the 7-percent state
or 6-percent national figures,
but the rate hasn’t dropped as it
usually does at certain times of
the year.
"We re not expecting things
to improve, and we have 5,000
people collecting unem
ployment in Lane County every
week," says John Moore, man
ager of the Eugene employment
office. “The CETA cuts are go
ng to effect us badly, and we
are anticipating stringent cuts in
regular jobs in Eugene also.”
There is hope for the future of
the Rape Crisis Network, how
ever, if it can hang on until the
beginning of the fiscal year in
July. Weimer expects to get
some revenue-sharing funds
and state mental-health money.
Grant backlog holds up aid distribution
By GABRIEL BOEHMER
Of lh« Emerald
University students should be
notified of their 1981-82 finan
cial aid awards by May 1, ac
cording to Ed Vignoul, Univer
sity student financial aid direc
tor.
But only if the Department of
Education is able to process its
backlog of 2 million financial aid
applications this month.
Vignoul says his staff will work
the April 25-26 weekend to
process students’ applications
if the education department
sends his office a list of the
University’s financial aid ap
plicants.
The education department’s
backlog resulted from a dispute
in Congress over the Reagan
Administration's proposed cuts
in the Basic Educational Op
portunity Grant program.
The outcome was a
$600-million cut from the grant
program, Vignoul says. The
students with the "greatest"
need will get full support, while
students alloted smaller grants
will receive less money.
Vignoul estimates University
students will receive
$300,000-$500,000 less in basic
grants next academic year. But
the student financial aid office
will attempt to compensate ap
plicants who are denied basic
grants with other forms of aid,
Vignoul says.
Still, he only can guess how
much aid the University will
have to give students until the
federal budget is completed.
"All the information we have
now is garbage," Vignoul says.
Vignoul estimates financial
need for 4,550 University
students at $15.8 million. But he
says the student financial aid
office only has $14.1 million.
Who will that more than $1
million disparity affect?
Student financial aid will not
be cut across the board, but
some students may be cut off
entirely, Vignoul says. The
student financial aid office’s
policy is to meet the students’
needs entirely or not at all.
In reality, the University can
award students only about $9
million in financial aid, but Vig
noul estimates 25 percent of the
students receiving aid will not
accept the University’s offer.
Vignouls says his office over
commits aid in each financial
aid program, counting on attri
tion of a portion of the ap
plicants.
Although this uncertain for
mula results in some students
getting different kinds of aid
than they requested, Vignoul
says the books always balance
in the end.
‘ I’ve been guessing right for
12 years,” he says.
Student financial aid reduc
tions may result in more student
applications for University
Internal Revenue Service wants
federal returns mailed by midnight
WASHINGTON (AP)-The final
countdown is under way for
Americans to file their 1980
federal individual income tax
returns with the Internal Reven
ue Service.
The deadlline is midnight to
night.
The IRS expects about 13
million tax returns in the last
week of the filing season. It es
timates about 94 million returns
will be filed this year.
Most large post offices that
provide 24-hour service are ex
pected to accept tax returns up
to the deadline and affix a post
mark so that it meets the dead
line, says Jeanne O’Neill, media
relations officer with the Postal
Service.
For those who can’t meet the
deadline, the IRS provides a
two-month automatic exten
sion, to June 15, with the filing
of Form 4868, “Application for
Automatic Extension of Time to
File U S. Individual Tax Re
turns’’ That should be filed by
midnight tonight along with a
check for at least 90 percent of
the estimated taxes owed
If a taxpayer owes more than
10 percent of his or her taxes
when the completed return is
filed, the IRS can levy an “un
derestimated tax penalty" and
possibly a late filing penalty of 5
percent for each month it is
overdue, says IRS spokes
woman Ellen Murphy.
Extensions are not given to
taxpayers filing the single-page
1040A short form or those who
want the IRS to compute their
taxes.
The IRS also has advice for
those who have completed their
returns but do not now have the
money to pay their tax liabilities:
Mail the return by midnight
tonight and include any amount
possible. Also enclose a letter
telling the tax agency you don’t
have all the money now. The IRS
CASH
For Textbooks
Mon.-Fri.
Smith Family
Bookstore
768 E. 13th
1 Bl. From Campus
Ph. 34S-1651
scholarships, says University
assistant admissions director
Maryan Anderson.
University scholarships are
divided into two groups — those
based on need and those in
dependent of need. The
scholarships range from $300 to
$3,300 for an academic year.
Although University admis
sions are 8 percent higher now
than last year, Anderson says
financial-aid cutbacks could af
feet future enrollment.
University enrollment relies
heavily on out-of-state students
who are faced with much higher
tuition than resident students.
But because of rising out-of
state tuition, the admissions of
fice may have to concentrate
harder on recruiting Oregon re
sidents, she says.
“Costs will force folks to look
closer to home,” for a college
education, Anderson says.
jo.mu
Fishbowl
DELI
located in
the Fishbowl
Peppered Beef
Ham
Raft Salami
Pastrami (turkey)
Salami (turkey)
Ham Stick (turkey)
Ham (turkey)
BREADS
Cracked Wheat
Onion Rolls
Light & Dark Rye
Wheat Berry
CHEESES
• Cheddar
• Provalone
• Swiss
• Jack
SALADS
• Bean
• Macaroni
• Potato
• Cole Slaw
BAGELS
Make your own sandwiches
from a variety of meats and
cheeses, salads available too
Open 11-7 Mon-Sat
12-6 Sun
Page 7 Section A