Friday, March 5, 1982
Eugene, Oregon
Oregon daily
Volume 83
Number 115
emerald
Extension service reaps vocal support
Photo by Mark Pynes
Melissa Rose, a sophomore at Junction City High School, spoke in
support of the county's agricultural extension program.
r
By Marian Green
Ot II># Emerald
Cowboy hats and boots were
appropriate attire at the Lane
County Budget Committee
meeting Thursday night, where
more than 300 county residents
— mostly ranchers, farmers and
4-H participants — jammed Har
ris Hall protesting the proposed
elimination of the county's ex
tension program from the
1982-83 budget
The meeting continued a
Monday night county budget
committee hearing on the
1982-83 proposed $107 million
budget
The Lane County Extension
Service which provides many
agriculture-related services, in
cluding grass seed certification,
is one of three programs target
ed for elimination in the 1983-84
year s $107 million budget. The
Oregon Coastal Zone Man
agement Association and U S
Fish and Wildlife Service for
predator control are the other
two
Under the budget proposal,
the county also plans to ask
voters to increase its $4 17 mil
lion tax base by $10 million on
May 18
The service, run by Oregon
State University, gets 15 per
cent — approximately $150,000
— from the county for operating
and administrative expenses
and receives the balance of
about $850,000 from the state
and federal -governments, said
Mike Stults, an agent for the
extension’s agriculture pro
gram
More than 50 people signed
up to give testimony in support
of the extension service —
especially its 4-H program
"It's a super discount for the
county." said Susan Chatwood,
a 4-H leader with four children
participating in the program "It
helps to keep children educat
ed
' They're keeping their heads
and their hands busy, and when
they're busy, you don't have to
put as much money in the
juvenile delinquency program.''
Chatwood said more than
8,000 Lane County children are
4-H participants.
Melissa Rose, a sophomore at
Junction City High School, said
she's gained responsibility and
self-assurance skills from her
four years in the 4-H program
She said many 4-H members are
student body leaders and class
presidents.
Scott Bender, a Junction City
County Commissioner Otto
t’Hooft, who also sits on the
budget committee, said the
decision of whether to continue
to fund the program is a difficult
one
“If we actually do face a $10
milion deficit, what would you
do if the decision comes down
to, say, law enforcement or ex
tension service9”
He added, however, "you are
high on the priority list of the
committee "
Commission Chairman Ha
rold Rutherford said the com
mittee probably would recom
mend restoring the program.
“This is the type of service the
county should be providing,
where we have the opportunity
to multiply each dollar," Ruth
erford said
farmer, said his 10 years in 4-H
started him off on his farming
and ranching career.
"I'm very proud to be a
farmer,” said Bender, attired in
a plaid shirt, Levi’s, cowboy
boots and a 'Northwest Ag
Show" hat. ”l started with a
rabbit and now my net worth is
about $20,000
“This is what they (Lane
County) get out of it. They get
me with $20,000, and I’m being
taxed "
Defense department funds finance research
By Debbie Howlett
Of the Emerald
Some research administra
tors at the University are
speaking out in detense of the
burgeoning defense budget
Pres Ronald Reagan is asking
of Congress
The big-bucks defense bud
get is a boon to the financial
situation of University re
search. say at least four ad
ministrators, because it allows
the military to increase its ex
penditures everywhere in
cluding research grants
An article in a University re
search newsletter reads. Aid
for defense research and
development climbed 22 per
cent in the last two years,
non-defense research funds
dropped 16 percent
Announcements like this
have caused University facul
ty, hungry for research money,
to sit up and take notice of the
growing availability of funds
through defense grants
We re trying to keep as
much of the Federal govern
ment's money coming in as we
can,' says Charlene Curry, the
University's research informa
tion officer
“It's not that I'm so en
amored with the defense
department,'' says Curry, "it's
just that that's where the mon
ey is.”
Out of a $2 1 million physics
research budget, an estimated
20 percent comes from the
Graphic by Max DeRungs
Department of Defense, says
Bernd Crasemann, head of the
physics department
Not only do the research
funds seem to be less con
stricted, the defense depart
ment's guidelines on applica
ble research projects also
have loosened Curry says that
the Mansfield Amendment''
was a major foothold to easing
those restrictions
The Mansfield Amendment
allows "a potential applicabili
ty'' for the research project,
rather than immediate results
Despite the looser federal
guidelines, the University has
tightened its stance on what
they will allow to be funded,
says Aaron Novick, head of the
University biology department
"The faculty passed legisla
tion in the late sixties and the
early seventies not to allow
classified research at the
University," Novick says
"It poisons the nature of the
University — you can't have a
University and have secret re
search," Novick says.
Novick also says that the
“majority" of the faculty are
opposed to "building bombs"
at the University
"There's no sympathy on
this faculty for secret research
— maybe there are one or two
that feel it's okay but not many
more "
The prohibition of classified
research, both for the govern
ment and the private sector, is
not unique to this university.
Rod Frakes.the associate
dean of research at Oregon
State University, says that he
isn’t sure if there is an actual
rule, but standard policy
prohibits classified research
for defense grants However,
Frakes says that a few people
are screened for classifi
cation of some private re
search
If not bombs, then what kind
of Department of Defense
funded research goes on at
the University?
Curry says that the grants
supplied to the University by
the defense department are
proposals that “build on
something that’s already
there ”
One example of research
“that's already there" is a
project by research associate
Dale Grace.
“Dale raises grasshop
pers," says Curry “I’m not
sure specifically what he does,
but I believe that he studies
their movements for use in
tanks. They can walk up the
sides of walls and the Army
would love to have a tank that
could do that."
Crasemann says that he
believes some people may be
opposed to grants supplied by
the defense department
because they can't justify it
morally. "I respect people's
views,” he says,"but obviously
you reduce your chances for
funding.”
"I have been here since
’53," says Crasemann, adding
that he's had a grant from one
source or another every year
since then
Outside support comes from
many areas, $30 6 billion
worth across the nation, says
Crasemann. Of that amount,
44 percent is from the defense
department.
At the national basic re
search level, which is the type
of work done at the University,
the defense department per
centage drops sharply Only
10 percent of the $4 6 billion
spent comes from the defense
department
The University’s share of
that 10 percent amounts to
about $175,000.
In 1979-80, defense grants
at the University totaled almost
$188,000, in 1980-81, the pe
riod in which Pres Ronald
Reagan stepped into office,
that figure dipped to about
$176,000