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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 20, 1983)
Oregon daily emerald Thursday, January 20, 1983 Eugene, Oregon Volume 84, Number 83 Commissioners ‘execute’ recycling facility By Harry Esteve Of the Emerald Saddled with an expensive and useless high-technology recycling facility, the Lane County Board of Commis sioners Wednesday approved an appropriate way to get rid of it They unanimously voted to recycle it The $2.1 million “resource recovery” facility, located in Glenwood. will be dismantled and sold piecemeal to the high est bidders. The bidding should begin within six months, county officials said Sales from the salvaged recy cling equipment should net more than $400,000, according to Craig Starr, manager of the county's solid waste division Starr admitted the estimate may be "optimistic.” The money from the sale would not go into the county's coffers. Starr said, but would be used to pay back the state for bonds it bought to help finance the ill-fated project In the final analysis. Lane County will have lost between $600,000 and $700,000 on the facility, he said The decision to salvage the facility came after the county failed to find a private company that would operate the facility More than 100 letters were mailed to companies around the country, but none showed e nough interest. Starr said To continue mothballing the giant garbage sorter, which hasn’t worked since it was completed four years ago. would cost the county $32,000 a year, Starr told county commis sioners Commissioners Scott Lieual len and Jerry Rust, the two sen ior members of the board, seemed to be the most anxious to be rid of the facility Lieuallen called garbage burning "dino saur technology .'* Board chairer Rust referred to it as Lane County's WPPSS " During the discussion. Rust said it was "time to execute the beast " "My rifle is loaded, Mr Chair man." Lieuallen responded Lieuallen stressed the need for continued recycling to prolong the life of the county's Short Mountain landfill site, but he said recycling should be ac complished by small-scale community efforts. The Glenwood recycling facility was built to separate and shred garbage so it can be processed into fuel But within The mothballed Glenwood recycling facility will be auctioned within six months. cmeidia rnuio the first months of test opera tions, the facility exploded and serious doubts were raised over its worth Periodic test burns have in dicated the refuse-derived fuel” produced high levels of ash and air pollution Last year, the University became interested in the fuel as an alternative to the wood chips or "hog fuel” it uses to generate electricity. The plan to use the garbage-based fuel was dropped because it would have cost the University $1 million to install the necessary air pollu tion and ash filters. Photo by Kevin Clark Light turnout doesn’t mar fair; ‘critical’ career advice offered A “light to medium" student turnout didn 't mar the annual career fair Wednes day, which Gail Hemsoth of University career planning and Francisco Chin, a business junior, participated in. Panels of professionals in different career areas discussed their careers and gave students “critical” advice, according to event coordinator Debbie Chereck. “The amount of information and ex posure (to professionals) available on a day like today would take students six months to find on a job search," Chereck says. “But this is not a negative exper ience. I just wish more people were ben efitting." Bell survey rings with positive notes By Sandy Johnstone Of the Emerald Bells are ringing in favor of the status quo, according to the results of the informal Emerald survey that let students chime in their opinions about when the Carillonic bells should toll. Some 72 respondents prefer the current hours of bells between 7:30 a m. and 9 p.m., while 36 people want 24-hour chimes. Five people called for the elimination of the bells. The Emerald conducted the survey twice within the last week to determine how many people object to the bells. Last year, when Prof. Donald Swinehart first repaired the chimes, there were some complaints from dormitory residents who were disturbed by the chimes ringing late at night. But public opinion is strongly in favor of the bells. In fact, Swinehart got a personal "hooray" from one participant who encourages him to "keep it up." Several answers included scrawled notes appealing to the campus community to run them at least from 7 a m. to midnight. "Why not start (the chimes) at 7 a m. and run through midnight?" queries Barbara Petura, director of the University news bureau. "Light sleepers won't be aroused at 2 a m., but the chimes can be heard later in the evening." Many survey responses expressed hopes that the bells will not be discontinued. "They are marvelous,” and "I especially appreciated the return of the Christmas carols,” are typical of positive comments included with the survey response. Other people appealed to the collegiate image they want the University to maintain. "It's a tradition — wouldn’t be the same without them.” "Let's have a little romance, pizazz, color,” writes one par ticipant who endorses 24-hour chimes Sharon Gordon, assistant dean in the law school, agrees. “I grew up in Eugene and appreciate the chimes as part of our mellow ambience," she writes in a memo to the Emerald. "They are particularly pleasant and useful on hot summer days.” But to some people the chimes are resounding reminders of other places in other times "They are great — like Eastern colleges." One person who voted for 24-hour chimes wants them because they are "like clocks in Europe.” But one person's opinion reverberates against the majority concensus. "Quiet Please."
