Oregon daily
emerald
Monday, October 3, 1983
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 85, Number 21
Celebration rekindles city businesses
By Michele Matassa
Of (he Emerald
The barbecue smoke from the First Annual Eugene
Celebration has cleared, and city officials and downtowrr
merchants are hoping the three-day festival rekindled a
flame that will continue to burn.
Several people involved with the downtown area and
the "Celebration" admit that business hasn't been so hot,
lately. But business apparently improved during the event
as several booths sold out their merchandise.
Perry's on Pearl ran out of baked potatoes to stuff
Saturday, after selling about 1,000 of them. They managed
to find more for Sunday's crowd, however.
A souvenir and information shop at the mail's center
fountain kept reordering T-shirts and mugs, trying to meet
the crowd's demands. Kathryn Cox, in charge of souvenir
sales, says she had to reorder T-shirts Thursday before the
event started because the shop almost sold out as clerks set
up the shop.
"The sales have been phenomenal. We re real pleased
and now we wish we had more merchandise to sell," Cox
says.
The city will establish a time in about two weeks when
people can order items they were unable to purchase at the
Celebration, she says.
Cynthia Wooten, a Eugene City Council member who
coordinated the "53-hour weekend of fun," estimated Sun
day that about 30,000 people already had wandered
through the festival, seeing the sights, smelling and eating
food and listening to music.
"This has just been a huge success. It's bringing
Eugene Downtown out of the mothballs," says Ray
Moreland, part-owner of Rosewater Deli. Moreland's food
booth sold "close to 1,500 pounds" of spare ribs during the
weekend.
Managers of the Danish Imports Center giftware and
furniture store welcome the change of pace.
"The traffic has been fantastic. This has been a wonder
ful party for Downtown Eugene and for all of Eugene," says
Charlie Fletcher, manager of the store's furniture
department.
Marilyn Priore, manager of the giftware section, says
the store may do things differently next year because they'll
"know more what to expect." They might stay open later or
increase staff or advertising, the managers say.
Celebration organizers and downtown merchants are
Photo by Ken Kromer
Red and jean Currie of Myrtle Creek compete in the double-bucking competition during the first annual
Eugene Celebration.
hoping the event wilt give new meaning to the jingle pro
moting "a special place: Eugene Dowtown."
Wooten says a major goal of the project was
“demonstrating the traditional nature of cities."
“For centuries, the heart of the city has been its
downtown. Lively downtowns are essential to the develop
ment of cities," she says.
By providing an atmosphere comfortable for congrega
tion, the celebration should help rebuild that liveliness,
Wooten says.
Some liveliness was evident Sunday as spectators pack
ed the Eugene Conference Center at the Hilton Hotel for a
cake-baking contest.
The Excelsior Cafe took first prize with a sheet cake
made of butter, eggs, coffee and (jhiradein cnocoiate wun
whipped-cream frosting. Several cakes included the
University as part of their themes.
But food wasn't the the event's only attraction.
The Celebration opened Friday night with a fireworks
display at Skinner's Butte.
There was music for every taste imaginable: rock, jazz,
reggae, Big Band and Dixieland, to name a few. Several
shows were part of a free day of entertainment at the Hult
Center for the Performing Arts, celebrating its first
anniversary.
The University Children's Choir even performed on the
mall, pleasing spectators as the choir sang "Eugene,
Eugene, we celebrate you."
Olum meets Salvadoran educator
By Brooks Dareff
Of the Emerald
Thousands of students are lugging their
own chairs to makeshift classrooms in
buildings scattered through San Salvador.
The students must contribute to the cost
of rent, because the university's budget on
ly covers teachers' salaries. Medical and
engineering students look forward to using
limited lab equipment — precious as
gold here — much of which they have had
to buy themselves.
But these inconveniences and expenses
pale beside what awaits many students at
tending the University of El Salvador when
they get to or out of class, said Manuel
Parada, the university's president. Parada
met with University Pres. Paul Olum, facul
ty, student representatives and the press
Saturday as part of a nationwide trip to
universities to explain the university's
crisis, solicit written support from the
University and start discussions about ex
change programs.
A law school class doesn't start because
the professor is one of three educators
recently kidnapped and pronounced
murdered by a paramilitary organization,
Parada said. When another class breaks and
students exit the building, several are grab
bed by soldiers and detained at a prison as
"subversives," he said.
Thousands of students survive the daily
ordeal and graduate, but the equipment
shortages and severely curtailed registra
tion (60,000 students are waiting to enroll)
delay their graduation dates.
And there is further delay for the latest
graduating group because their degrees
must be signed by the university's general
secretary, who has been jailed since June.
At the ceremony, the students are told,
"You are receiving a diploma which itself
has been jailed," Parada said.
This is the current situation for students
who have been denied access to their cam
pus for more than three years, he says. The
university has continued to function legally
on a budget 25 percent of its former level
since the university closed June 26, 1980.
The army — with helicopters, tanks and
900 troops — invaded the campus after
government officials complained that it was
a center of subversive activity. The
American Embassy estimates that almost 50
people were killed in the attack.
Several people associated with the
university were and continually are ar
rested, Parada says. He was jailed February
10, 1981, less than a month after being nam
ed university president.
Parada says his U.S. visit is part of his two
pronged program to obtain equipment and
to achieve the reopening and general nor
malization of his university.
He estimated about $25 million in
damages to equipment — independent of
building destruction — in the looting, sack
ing and burning that followed the takeover.
Many volumes of books were sold — by
weight — on the black market, Parada said.
Olum, who commended Parada's bravery
and wrote a support letter (as did ASUO
Pres. Mary Hotchkiss), told Parada that he
would explore the possibility of sending
books to the university and that "we will
write."
Parada, who spoke in EMU Room 337
through interpreter Colette Craig of the
linguistics department, acknowledged that
the university opposes the government's
policy to keep the university closed, but not
the government.
"We oppose ignorance, not the govern
ment," he said.
The government said rebel weapons were
stored on the university campus. None
were found by the army following the
takeover, Parada said.
In January, El Salvador's legislature voted
to reopen the university, but the executive
branch has failed to fulfill the directive,
demanding a guarantee that no student
organizations except for athletics be allow
ed to exist for a period from six months to
two years.
Parada said it would be impossible and
unrealistic to enforce such a condition.
Latin American universities have a tradition
of "critical thought" and a status in military
dictatorship countries as "the only bastion
of free thought," he said.
Parada said an exchange of North
American professors and students would
have "an impact you could not imagine" on
reopening the university. An agreement on
an exchange of equipment, books, students
and professors with a Los Angeles universi
ty has been made, he said.
The University of El Salvador recently
received a six-ton shipment of books from
Canada, which ironically looked like an ar
maments shipment, Parada said.
He said American faculty would be safe in
the country because the government is
"very careful with American officials."
Parada remained cautiously optimistic
about a gradual normalization of his univer
sity. He said the university has graduated
more than 2,700 professionals during the
past three years and that the most recent
registration was open, the first since the
campus was occupied.
Parada said he is "very surprised" by the
support he has received around the United
States. He said, "We never imagined the
kind of welcome we have received on
university campuses," adding wryly, "And
we did not come to conquer Rome."