dailvremerald
Wednesday, May 13,1981
Eugene, Oregon 97403
1
Vol.82, No. 153
I
City assumes
medical duties
By RICHARD WAGONER
OJ the Emerald
The City of Eugene probably
will be in the ambulance bu
siness for at least six months,
City Manager Mike Gleason
told the city council Monday
night.
Gleason said the city should
continue to provide ambulance
service through the fire
department for a few months
until a well-informed decision
can be made on whether it
should stay in the business
permanently.
The cities of Eugene and
Springfield took over ambulan
ce service in the metropolitan
area last week when Medical
Services, Inc., succumbed to a
long financial crisis and abrupt
ly shut down its emergency
service.
It went very,
very smoothly,
Gleason said.
‘‘A lot of people have been
asking me, ‘Are we in the
business?’ ” Gleason said.
“That was answered about five
days ago — we are in the bu
siness.
"The question now is Are we
going to stay in the business?'
We'll have to decide that some
time down the road.”
Councilors praised Gleason
and the ambulance task force
that put together in less than
two hours the city-sponsored
ambulance service that covers
1,000 square miles after MSI’s
demise.
“It went very, very smoothly,"
Gleason said.
The service the city provides
is the same and in some cases
even better than that previously
provided by MSI, Gleason said.
Because the city has fire sta
tions located throughout the
city, response time in many
areas is less now than when MSI
was in business, he said.
Councilors agreed to operate
the service at least six months
before deciding to continue city
ambulances or allow another
private company to take over.
The council will hold a public
hearing on the matter before
that decision is made.
In other business, the council
tabled a request to expand the
Westside Neighborhood Quality
Project until a compromise can
be worked out between bu
sinessmen and residents.
Councilors heard more than
two hours of public testimony
on the pros and cons of
expanding the neighborhood
borders into areas of mixed bu
siness and residential property.
The neighborhood now in
cludes the area bounded by
13th Avenue on the south,
Chambers Street on the west,
Washington Street on the east
and Seventh Avenue on the
north.
The expansion would move
the eastern boundary to
Charnelton Street — an area
that seceded from the neigh
borhood eight years ago.
Businessmen in the area said
expanding the neighborhood
would mean more residential
development and less concern
with business.
W¥<
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Photo by Dennis Tachibana
Bureaucracy prevents
cemetery maintenance
It isn’t the cleanest place to spend forever.
That’s because the Pioneer Cemetery,
located across from McArthur Court, suffers
an identity crisis — it’s all messed up, literally
and figuratively.
The almost 700 people buried in the
cemetery may deserve better than to lie among
the roots, but their salvation is caught up in a
tangled bureaucracy.
Problem is, three groups control the
cemetery.
Topping the list is the Pioneer Memorial Park
Association, responsible for burial records and
other cemetery business.
But Lane County, by virtue of a deed granted
it from the original owners in 1943, owns all
roadways and pathways within the cemetery.
To complicate matters further, the individual
plots within the cemetery are owned by the 700
families that originally purchased them.
So who is supposed to keep up the grounds?
W.N McLaughlin, the secretary-treasurer
for the park association, says that responsiblity
falls on the families of the buried. The as
sociation can't afford it.
The families have their own group, the
Eugene Pioneer Cemetery Association.
Member Ruth Holmes says the families do the
best they can to keep up the grounds, but she
complains they have very limited funds to do
so.
Taking up the slack are volunteers, such as
fraternities and scout troops.
But back to the bureaucracy
To clear up the mess, Holmes petitioned
Eugene’s Historic Review Board in 1978 to
declare the cemetery a historic monument.
That would make it eligible for funds to help in
grounds maintenance, says board member
Judy Rees.
Fine enough, but the petition died when the
park association protested.
And although Rees says the cemetery cer
tainly merits historic consideration, the review
board was unable to decide who the rightful
owners were — even with an investigation
made by the city attorney.
Budget draws varied opinion from faculty
By GREG WASSON
Of the Emerald
. SALEM — Faculty of the state system of higher
education had a chance Monday to tell the Legislature
how the higher education budget could possibly be cut.
However, members of the education subcommittee
of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, which is
considering the budget, received little direction.
Typical of the testimony was the exchange between
University political science Prof. Larry Pierce and Sen.
Ed Fadeley, D-Eugene. Pierce outlined the dispropor
tionate support the state has given other areas of
education in the past decade and said priorities ought
to be reexamined
"The thing you seem to say with the most force is
that you want us to support the governor’s revenue
package and cut back on the property relief program,"
said an exasperated Fadeley, co-chairer of the com
mittee.
"I want you to support the governor s revenue
package and cut back the property tax relief program,"
Fadeley said. "There, we both said the same thing with
some force Now, assuming that that doesn't happen,
the committee would like to know if you have any
guidance to offer.”
You should cut the weakest programs in the system
legislative
issues
II
rather than cutting all programs by a proportional
amount, responded Pierce But he didn’t list the pro
grams he thinks are weakest.
Few subsequent witnesses were any more specific.
The head of the University's economics
department, Jim Tattersall, said he opposed cutting
faculty salaries by 4 percent, a proposal that would
generate $7 million.
Okay, said subcommittee head Sen. Jim Gardner,
D-Portland, but what if you had to choose between the 4
percent cut and the alternative of terminating 107
academic and 77 classifed positions?
"I can’t answer precisely yes or no because our
association has taken the position that if such a
financial situation should come about, we will consult
with the appropriate administrators,” replied Tattersall,
president of the Association of Oregon Faculties.
At this, an irritated Sen. Frank Roberts, D-Portland,
said that perhaps lawmakers should become the ap
propriate administrators.
"In the past," said Roberts, "the state board was in
charge, and the Legislature didn't interfere. But your
own lobbyists indicated that in that period, higher
education had been led down the garden path with the
board constantly adding programs without sufficient
funds."
Most witnesses who addressed the subject agreed
with Bob Davis, lobbyist for the AOF. Davis reiterated
that any cuts should come from specific programs
rather than across the board
"Let me hasten to add that we recognize that this
would mean fewer students and fewer faculty members
But those faculty members who are left will be paid
adequately, and those students who remain will be
receiving a quality education with sufficient libraries
and books.”
Davis emphasized that the Legislature shouldn’t
make the cuts itself
"It is essential that the decisons on minute
specifics be made at the institutional level "