Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1982)
Track athletes may have broken NCAA rule By Mike Riplinger and Steve Turcotte O! th« EimtiM Three University track and field ath letes may have violated National Col legiate Athletic Association rules by ac cepting equipment from two shoe com panies, and in one instance, accepting money for consulting work The athletes may lose their collegiate eligibility as a result of the possible violations, according to a letter written on Sept 17 by Curt Simic, vice president for University relations Simic, the administrator in charge of the athletic department, wrote that the athletes received shoes and clothing from Adidas and Nike, and one athlete received $450 from Nike for consulting on a shoe design. Although the athletes' names were deleted from copies of the letter released Wednesday, an article in the Oregonian named athletes Jim Hill, Brian Crouser and his brother Dean Crouser as the ones involved In the alleged violations Simic’s letter was addressed to former University track coach Bill Bowerman and seemed to be a response to allega tions made by Bowerman that University athletes were accepting equipment Simic said in the letter that he had investigated the matter and found sever al instances of athletes receiving shoes or clothing from the two companies But when Bowerman was contacted at his son's ranch near Antelope, he said he had no knowledge of the conversation to Simic, or of the letter “I really don't know what you’re talking about,” Bowerman said when asked about the letter "I think you are going to have to talk to Mr Simic I think it is possible that you have something that somebody has fa bricated Barbara Petura. University News Bu reau director said the letter revealing the investigation was from Simic. Both Simic and athletic director Rick Bay were out of town Wednesday and unavailable for comment University track coach Bill Dellinger called the possible violations "unfortun ate." "I think it's unfortunate because shoe companies have been giving away shoes Related story on page 9 to athletes for a long time," he said "To single out three people is really unfor tunate "Nike and Adidas had rooms right next to us in the dorms at BYU last spring (at the NCAA track and field championships at Brigham Young University) and ath letes were going in and getting free shoes "The NCAA is aware of what is going on, and so is every coach,' Dellinger added Jim Muldoon, Pac-10 Conference public relations director, said he is un sure whether the athletes or the Univer sity will face sanctions The only thing we've heard about it Is from someone who called us a couple of days ago." said Muldoon, who declined to identify the caller "We haven't done anything about it yet." Nike officials had not heard of any allegations before Wednesday or seen Simic's letter, according to public rela tions director Tim Renn Our track and field representatives are in New York (for the New York Ma rathon), so it is difficult for us to deal with this We are working with something that we haven t seen and aren t really sure of, ' Renn said of the letter Oregon daily . - emerald St. Louis 6-3 Page 8 Thursday, October 21, 1982 Eugene, Oregon Volume 84, Number 34 ‘If you’re not involved, you gotta sit back and admire what they did. If you’re emotionally involved, you cuss the sonsabitches.’ The Selling of Antelope Story by Randy Malat Photos by Bob Baker Editor s note This is the first half of a two-part series that looks at the changes the town of Antelope has gone through since the coming of the Indian guru Bhagwhan Shree Rajneesh and his followers. ANTELOPE — In the cradle of sagebrush-spotted hills, yellowed poplar leaves fall one by one to settle on lawns and dirt sideroads in this Central Oregon town A tourist bus groans away from the Rajneesh reception center and heads toward Rajneeshpuram, 18 miles Rajneeshis have ‘really upset this community.’ The bumper sticker on this car, sitting in front of Antelope's main business, carries one of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's teachings Some Antelope residents question whose way they are getting out of. away. In Antelope's only business of note, the Zorba the Buddha Rajneesh restaurant, customers drink coffee from mugs wrapped with photographs of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh Occasionally, a Rajneesh disciple dressed in shades of orange, red, or purple disturbs the monotony of the surroundings seen from Donna Smith’s porch Smith, who recently sold her home in Antelope, says the sight of a Rajneeshee symbolizes the change in a place where many people settled to live quietly and not worry about change When the center of Rajneeshism moved last year from Poona, India, to the high desert of Central Oregon, townspeople were retrieved from their quiet existence to face an uncertain future “I would compare it to a small steamroller attacking an anthill," says Jon Bowerman, a nearby rancher. “You take a bunch of elderly people that just want peace and quiet and suddenly they're overrun by press and lawyers and writs of mandamus and they just weren't ready for it." The locals would just as soon retreat to a past that is more easily defined, more representative of their beliefs and with their kind of people. In the early 1970s, Donna Smith says she “came out of the high dry desert and found this oasis. I found it very charming.” A few years later, she returned to settle. Then enters a frail guru from India who drives a Rolls Royce and doesn’t speak in public, a couple hundred of his disciples who wear clothes the colors of the sunrise, and rumors of "free sex and violent group therapy practices. Members of the religious movement, filled with the righteousness of conviction and fueled by a sense of urgency, had wealth and the will to use that wealth to achieve the group’s objectives. "If someone is in their way, they’ll sue them," says Bill Bowerman, former University track coach Bowerman's roots are in the Antelope country, and earlier this year he purchased a trailer park in town to "establish a beachhead" to block the Rajneeshis’ expansion. "If someone opposes them, they’ll destroy them,” Bowerman says “They've employed the best lobbyists they can get. There are no dogs on their legal staff. They are very well organized with city planners. " Bowerman says Rajneeshis scared townspeople into making peace by filing several lawsuits. The suits were dropped when townspeople agreed to recognize Rajneeshpuram. Don Smith, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel, shows a visitor a town zoning map. About 20 percent of the lots are shaded red These lots are Rajneesh property, including the trailer park, which Bowerman sold last month after the settlement. "They’ve really upset this community," Smith says. "The older-time residents feel very threatened. All they've got is tied up in real estate. They don't know whether to stay. Antelope's comprehensive plan talks about maintaining the Western atmosphere of a retired community. These people need some kind of assurance Continued on page 3
