Thursday, February 11, 1982
Bjgene, Oregon
Oregon daily
Volume 83
Number 100
emerald
Tempers flare
in SUB lawsuit
400 ratepayers hit the streets
By Harry Esteve
Ot (ft* £mtrakl
SPRINGFIELD - Angered
by sky-high electric bills,
about 400 Springfield re
sidents took their complaints
to the streets Wednesday
night in a spirited protest
against the Springfield Utility
Board and the Washington
Public Power Supply System
Bundled in heavy clothing
and holding candles in chilly
hands, protesters stood out
side Springfield city office^
and listened to several rate
payers explain charges they
have leveled in a lawsuit
against SUB and WPPSS
So far at least 26 people
have joined the lawsuit that
claims SUB's agreement to
pay for nonexistent power
from the abandoned WPPSS
nuclear power plants in
Washington is illegal
More were expected to join
the suit after Wednesday s
demonstration, said Leslie
Ratley. one of the original
three plaintiffs in the lawsuit
After several brief speeches,
including one by Rep Jim
Weaver. D-Ore the protesters
marched three blocks to
t
where SUB members were
holding their weekly meeting
Chanting "2-4-6-8, lower our
electric rates,'" and Whip
WPPSS.’ demonstrators
marched around SUB's offices
until the board members
agreed to move their meeting
into the larger city council of
fice chambers.
Meanwhile several demon
strators used their candles to
light up January's electric bill
Several one-month bills, in
cluding ones for S98,$102 and
S217 went up in smoke
Our highest electric bill
was S90 last year." said
Springfield resident Bill Lowry,
after burning his family's S217
January bill And we've been
conserving more!" he added
angrily
Lowry said he has used less
total kilowatt hours of elec
tricity this year due to con
serving, but his bills have dou
bled
Bob Ackerman, the lawyer
who is representing the plain
tiffs in the law suit, said in
creases such as Lowry's are
due to SUB's agreement to
help finance the WPPSS
power plants
Springfield ratepayers es
Grim Springfield Utility Board customers marched Tuesday to protest rising electricity costs.
sentially owe $124 million on
their contract to buy power
from the unsuccessful WPPSS
plants — power that never will
be used by a single Springfield
resident, Ackerman said
Ratley, a University jour
nalism and political science
student, said the "hell or high
water" agreement SUB en
tered into with WPPSS is
illegal because it exceeds debt
limits set by Springfield's city
charter
"SUB signed away Spring
field ratepayers money,” with
out getting their consent, Rat
ley said.
It will take roughly 35 years
to pay off the debt to WPPSS,
Ackerman said.
While marching toward the
SUB meeting, Springfield
resident Dian Broz said she no
longer can afford to heat her
house. "We leave the heat off
for 10 hours a day," she said
Most of the marchers were
either senior citizens or young
families, and all who spoke
said they were having prob
lems making payments on ris
ing electricity costs.
Weaver brought cheers
from the demonstrators when
he said he has proposed a jobs
program “to put 1.200 unem
ployed people to work putting
up insulation and weatherizing
homes in Oregon."
He said he had asked SUB to
let ratepayers vote on whether
to buy into WPPSS but “they
were contemptuous and ar
rogant. They said no."
Chancellor candidate visits
Rainsford talks to board;
says he believes in risks
PORTLAND Ore (AP) — Accepting
the position of chancellor of Oregon's
State System of Higher Education would
be a personal risk for George Rainsford,
the candidate for the post said Wednes
day
The president of Kalamazoo College in
Michigan said he believes in taking risks,
however, as one who has climbed some
of the nation's highest mountains and
rafted wild rivers He said he would leave
Kalamazoo only to accept a new chal
lenge in his life
Rainsford, 54. was the first of five
finalists to be interviewed for the position
by the State Board of Higher Education
on Wednesday at Portland State Univer
sity
Following a 214-hour interview with the
board, Rainsford said the salary and
fringe benefits he receives from
Kalamazoo — a 1.400-student liberal arts
college in southwestern Michigan — are
about the same as those received by
Oregon's current chancellor, Roy
Lieuallen
Lieuallen's salary is $69,516 a year
plus a $4,776 expense allowance, a
home and state car. Lieuallen, 65, is
resigning July 1 after a 20-year career as
chancellor
Rainsford acknowledged that he
wouid probably have to deal with funding
reductions in Oregon's eight state col
leges and universities, but he said the
state legislators have to understand the
consequences of cutbacks
Shutting down one or more of the
smaller schools, as some have
proposed, would be a symbolic gesture
that might not necessarily gain sig
nificant financial benefits, he said Such
closures also would likely penalize those
seeking college degrees in another five
years, he said
Rainsford said Oregon's three major
universities — University of Oregon,
Oregon State and Portland State — have
national reputations for good scholar
ship and research
"It’s a better system, the institutions
are better than the resource (funding)
base provided them," he said about the
universities, following his tours of state
campuses between Eugene and Port
land this week
He is a member of the board of trustees
of the Colorado Outward Bound School
in Denver and teaches rock-climbing in
the summers
Rainsford was one of three finalists
last year for the presidency of Lewis and
Clark College in Portland, where his son
graduated and his daughter is a junior.
He said he is also being considered for a
campus presidency elsewhere in the
country, but declined to identify the
institution
Faculty group plans
long-range strategy
By Ann Portal
Of the Emerald
A faculty committee developing a
long-range plan for the University's
academic future wrangled Tuesday with
just how involved it should become in
changing the University's structure.
Robert Albrecht, vice provost and
head of the committee, said he felt com
mittee members hesitated to go into a
department or school and make changes
that affect that unit's faculty.
But he said there are certain areas
where the committee can at least raise
questions.
Meeting for the second time, the com
mittee decided its next move will be to
extensively compare items on planning
'lists recently submitted to the provost's
office by each department and school.
Committee members agreed that while
the reports were compiled "in good
faith,” some reports are not quite "in the
spirit" of instructions given by University
Pres Paul Olum However, many
departments and schools heads sug
gested ways to strive for excellence in
their academic areas
At his October inauguration, Olum
directed deans and department heads to
prepare the lists, which outline where the
deans feel their academic areas should
be headed in the next five years.
Responding to a request made by a
faculty group, the committee decided
that faculty should be able to read the
lists, after the lists' authors have been
notified that the contents will be made
public
Albrecht said after the meeting that
students also will be able to see the lists,
but not for a couple of weeks
Notes first must be sent to each
department, he said, then the lists will be
available in his office in Room 103,
Johnson Hall.
The committee members discussed
possible goals and limitations of the
planning team, which may present its
work to the faculty for review as soon as
May. Several members said there seem
to be some misconceptions about the
committee s purpose
"Important decisions are not going to
be made by this group," said mathema
tics professor Charles Curtis Rather, the
group will discuss academic options,
such as getting rid of duplicate courses
offered in two or more departments, and
send suggestions to the Faculty Assem
bly.
Robert Gilberts, education college
dean, said the committee should limit its
scope and decide on specific areas to
study
"We probably can't do them all," Gil
berts said He also urged the committee
not to get involved in budget matters and
distributing resources. “You don’t solve
problems with committees," he said.