County tests new service
Have a home to share?
By A Use Ref son
Ofth* BmmnU
A service aimed at finding
homes or roommates tor those
who want companionship is be
ing tested by the Lane County
Housing Authority and Com
munity Services Agency
A similar idea has already
proved successful in Seattle
where elderly residents were
matched with college students
In Eugene, "Project Share"
serves the senior population
primarily, but the project also
matches different age groups
For example, the project
recently placed an Arabian
Lane Community College
student in a home with three
other young people The
student said he wanted a
stimulating environment in
which to make friends and learn
English
Intergenerational matches
have many advantages, says
Sharon Leggett, a housing
counselor aide
i
Eugene has a fairly large sen
ior population, Leggett says,
and many seniors lack compan
ionship. With fixed incomes,
many have a hard time making
house and heating payments.
Sharing a home can make
sense, she says
For students, an intergenera
tional match would be more
conducive to a home-like at
mosphere. While the rent might
be lower for an apartment, the
home may have domestic lures
such as a yard, a kitchen or a
pet
"A lot of people like to come
home and have a couple of
lights on," Leggett says
Unlike most rental referral
agencies, Project Share
charges nothing for its service
The workers put no pressure on
the participants to make deci
sions, Leggett says
The project works through a
number of stages, beginning
with the screening process — an
interview during which the aide
fills in a questionnaire The
questions are designed to help
ensure a complementary match.
The interview covers such par
ticulars as smoking habits,
noise or music tolerance levels,
overnight guests, rent contribu
tions and what the participant
hopes to get out of the new
arrangement.
Next the aide tries to find a
suitable match with records al
ready on file and, if successful,
arranges for a meeting between
the two parties. The aide acts as
a mediator during the initial in
troduction If all goes well, the
aide suggests a trial period of a
few days.
Phase three is a follow-up
during the first three months,
which Leggett says is when
most problems arise. Once a
week, the aide makes contact
with the parties to see if any
friction points need to be re
solved
Anyone interested in the
project should contact Leggett
at 343-6081.
Anti-crime programs win
By Richard Burr
Of tha E mar aid
Rapes and burlaries have declined substan
tially in the West University area because of the
neighborhood's crime .prevention program,
says a Eugene Community Officer Patrol team
officer
While other neighborhoods show slight in
creases or no changes in those crimes since
1978, in the West University Neighborhood
burglaries dropped 43 percent and reported
rapes dwindled from 11 to one, says Officer
Skip Stokes
The reason is the West University neighbor
hood crime prevention program, Stokes says
Two neighborhoods — West University and
Whiteaker — are the only Eugene areas where
crime rates have fallen that substantially — and
they are the only neighborhoods with crime
prevention programs, says Charleen McLean,
the director of the program
A lock program and a community education
program are two elements responsible for the
crime decline in the West University area, she
says
The West University neighborhood associa
tion subsidized a lock installation program for
low-income people as well as other neighbors,
Stokes says Neighbors are required to have a
home security check before a lock installation
to encourage prevention awareness, McLean
says
Since the program began, 350 locks have
been installed and 50 more are scheduled for
installation this year, McLean says.
The crime prevention program receives
funds from the city's Community Development
Block Grant program.
The dead-lock bolts installed in the neigh
borhood also help deter some rapists, Stokes
says
"Many rapes occur because residences are
being entered very easily," he says.
The neighborhood's rape awareness pro
gram also offers self-defense classes and rape
and assault workshops, McLean says A West
University safehouse program, where neigh
bors volunteer their house as a refuge for
emergencies, is in the steering committee
stage and will be designed to aid in rape
prevention, she adds
She says an organized community is a sub
stantial deterrent to the burglar or rapist look
ing for an easy mark because isolated neigh
bors are the most frequent victims of crime
"I think the program has the potential for
more impact," McLean says "With more peo
ple involved, the neighborhood is not as vul
nerable "
Prosecution of non-registrants
to begin on the first of March
When Ronald Reagan was
running for president, he cri
ticized then-president Jimmy
Carter for reinstating draft
registration Reagan called it an
invasion of personal privacy and
another example of government
bureaucracy
Now Chuck Boyer, of the Na
tional Inter-religious Service
Board for Conscientious Objec
tors, is criticizing Reagan for the
same reasons
When Reagan was elected,
registration continued, and on
Monday prosecution of non
registrants begins
"In this nation we've never
had a registration that didn't
lead to a draft," Boyer says
"Registration and the draft go
hand-in-glove."
"Some people say, ‘Why get
so vexed over registration? It's
just a registration,' " Boyer
says. "But any time you have the
machinery all primed and ready,
the government is less likely to
negotiate and mediate to reach
a peacetul settlement."'
Boyer is an ordained minister
in one of the three "peace
churches," the Church of the
Brethren. They, along with the
Mennonites and Quakers,
sponsor a national organization
called New Call to Peacemaking
and the local chapter is in turn
sponsoring Boyer's visit here
According to the Selective
Service System about 800,000
eligible young men, or 23 per
cent of those born between
1960-64, have not registered, an
estimate Boyer says is conser
vative
Boyer thinks that initially stiff
sentences will be handed out to
a few in order to persuade
others to register. Failure to
register is a felony punishable
by up to five years in jail or a
$10,000 fine. Boyer says the
government believes most non
registrants are just apethetic.
Once conscription begins,
potential c.o.’s can go before
their local draft boards to con
vince them of their "sincerity."
But Boyer recommends filing a
form with an agency like New
Call now, stating one's reasons
for requesting c.o status
Estimates of registrants
claiming c.o status in late 1972
run as high as 45 percent.
"That's why we got out of
Vietnam," Boyer believes "If
the registration now is stopped,
it will be because the president
and the legislators think it is
politically wise to do so."
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