Duck's
slip again
Story on back page
Oregon daily
emerald
Monday, November 7, 1983
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 85, Number 45
Salvadorans find sanctuary in Eugene
By Debbie Howlett
Of the Emerjld
The Eugene Friends Church, with the sup
port of several other religious groups, ot
tered sanctuary to a Salvadoran family they
are sheltering from immigration authorities
at their meeting house.
Saturday night the Friends introduced the
"familia Martinez," a family of five and a
nephew who are running from the political
regime in El Salvador. The family will stay at
the Quaker meeting house for two weeks,
and then will be placed in homes of church
members.
"We gather this evening as a community
of faith," said Karen Hemmingsen-Henner,
a member of the Friends church, "to pro
vide sanctuary for our war-torn brothers
and sisters in Guatemala and El Salvador."
Hemmingsen-Henner spoke to a small
crowd gathered near the front porch of the
meeting house, just before the Martinez
family came out to greet the crowd with
faces masked by bandanas and oversized
hats. Rene Martinez, the 51-year-old father,
did not come with the rest of the family to
meet the group.
Martinez is the assumed name of the
Salvadoran family. They do not use their ac
tual names because they fear for their lives,
said Hemmingsen-Henner.
Salvadorans are usually classified by the
Immigration and Naturalization Service as
economic rather than political refugees.
Because of that classification, Salvadorans,
as many as 1,000 a month by some counts,
are deported back to El Salvador, and once
there, said Hemmingsen-Henner, many are
killed by the government.
The Friends have offered protection from
deportation through the concept of
sanctuary.
Sanctuary, the housing of people in chur
ches to protect them from law enforcement
officials, has been practiced as far back as
ancient Athens. The practice, which died
out in Europe during the 17th Century, was
revived in the United States before the Civil
War to shelter fugitive slaves, and again
during the Viet Nam war to aid draft
evaders. The United States does not official
ly recognize the concept of sanctuary
although Great Britain does.
The man who started the sanctuary move
ment for Central Americans, )im Corbett, a
retired Arizona rancher and a Quaker,
spoke to the crowd and the media Saturday
night.
"We are called as a people to serve the
kingdom right here and now," Corbett said.
"People in this country are finding
themselves deciding whether they will
stand with the oppressed or collaborate
with the oppressors."
The penalties tor harboring un
documented aliens, lines up to $10,000 and
10 years in prison, are stiff, but not often in
curred. Immigration officials in the
Portland area said they won't pursue the
issue unless it evolves into a large
movement.
Eugene, according to Friends officials, is
the only c ity in Oregon to offer sanctuary to
Central Americans. They are one of 60 chur
ches in the nation to offer sanctuary.
Representatives from several churches in
Eugene, including Roman Catholics,
Unitarians, Presbyterians, and a rabbi from
Temple Beth Israel in Eugene, gathered to
meet the Martinez family.
ACLU won't defend Solomon Amendment foe
By Doug Nash
Of the Emerald
The* American Civil Liberties Union has
der ided not to provide legal services for
Melissa Barker, the 2b-year-old University
student who was denied $3,200 in federal
financial aid by refusing to sign a selective
service form.
The decision, reached Friday by the
lawyers' committee of Eugene's ACLU
chapter, was made for "practical reasons
* rather than theoretical arguments," said
Dave Fidanque, local ACLU head.
"It's not a reflection on the issues involv
ed," Fidanque said. "It has more to do with
the fact that ACLU's resources are stretched
so much that they (the committee) weren't
convinced at this time that there was
enough of a likelihood to win the case to
justify the amount of resources that need to
be committed in order to prevail."
Barker, a graduate student in sociology,
refuses to comply with the federal Solomon
Amendment "on the basis of conscience."
The amendment requires all students
receiving federal financial aid fo certify they
have registered with the Selective Service
or are exempt from having to register.
All males at least 18 years of age and born
after 1959 must register for the draft. As a
woman born prior to 1959, Barker says she
was unfairly targeted by the amendment.
ACLU lawyers had been researching the
legal possibilities of a Barker case since she
announced her intent to fight the amend
ment in early October. The main argument
they considered, Fidanque said, falls under
Article One, Section Three of the Oregon
Constitution, which states "No law shall in
any case whatever. . .interfere with the
rights of conscience."
It would be useless to challenge the
amendment on federal grounds, as there is
already such a case pending before the U.S.
Supreme Court, Fidanque said. But he add
ed that a precedent-setting case on state
grounds would have cost many valuable
hours in volunteer attorney time.
"Because there have never been any
rights of conscience cases we're aware of,
the case from start to finish would just re
quire an awful lot of time for whoever did
the work."
Fidanque emphasized that the ACLU
decision does not mean that a Barker case
would ultimately fail.
"I'm not saying it's not a winnable case.
Personally I think it is.
"From a policy standpoint, I can say on
behalf of ACLU that we believe it would be
perfectly appropriate any effort to get the
University to set up a special fund" for
students who refuse to comply with the
amendment, he said.
Though she was disappointed" by the
ACLU decision, Barker said she will con
tinue considering her legal options.
"My feelings haven't changed toward the
issue at all," she said. "My approach is go
ing to have to change as a result of the
ACLU decision. I don't know what my ap
proach will be."
While she still seeks voluntary legal ser
vices, Barker recognized it will be difficult
to find an attorney willing to take on the
case for free.
"Clearly I'm not in a financial position to
be able to go out and hire a lawyer," she
said. "It's a case that involves a certain deal
of risk. Any lawyer who takes the case
would have to be deeply devoted to the
issue."
Barker, who has managed to stay in
school by cutting her course load from 12 to
three credit hours this term, said she may
be able to stay in school if she gets a GTF
position only available winter term. She
said she would not have the necessary
funds to continue spring term.
Loud classtime noises
are illegal, police say
Citizen involvement tan be the key to stopping noise distur
bances during a noontime class, says Officer Mike Larion of the
Eugene Police Department.
"We want to balance freedom of speech with the right to an
education," says Larion in reference to the lunchtime preachers
who frequent the knoll in front of the EMU at 13th and University.
"The warnings are over, and we may have to start citing
people."
Larion says that the city has an ordinance that prohibits noise
levels from carrying over 50 feet.
That means a student or professor who is disturbed in 150
Geology by someone across the street can report that individual,
Larion says.
"We apologize for disturbing classes and are trying to make
some changes," says Bruce Lidler, director of Maranatha, the
Christian organization responsible for many of the noontime
preachers.
Lidler says his organization has worked with police to resolve
the problem but argues that open mikes and bands in the EMU
courtyard also cause noise.
The knoll is an area designated on campus for free speec h,
Lidler says.
Larion said enforcement action can be taken against loud
speakers by calling campus security to complain. The complai
nant must give his or her name and phone number.
Police seek suspect in assaults
By loan Herman
Of the Emerald
Eugene police believe the man
who attempted to rape a Universi
ty student on Wednesday is
responsible for two other recent
sodomy cases in the University
area, Sgt. Rick Allison said Friday.
On Wednesday, a man fitting
the same physical description as
in two previous sodomy incidents,
attempted to rape a 21-year-old
University student in her home on
Moss Street near campus, Allison
said.
Police said the man entered the
student's home through an
unlocked front door and found
the student in her bedroom about
8 p.m. He ordered the woman to
disrobe, but she refused, police
said. When he threatened her
with a knife, the student began
screaming for help, alerting her
roommate from an upstairs room.
When the roommate came
downstairs and confronted the in
truder, he ran out the front door,
police said.
"She is a lucky young woman,"
Allison said.
"We have two additional cases
where the physical description is
too similar to discredit another
party from being responsible,”
Allison said.
On Sept. 13, a University stu
dent was attacked in the pre-dawn
hours by a nude man in her Smith
Hall dormitory room. The man
fled when the student screamed.
Then on Oct. 30 a Carson Hall
resident said she was attacked
about 5:30 a.m. Both she and her
roomate said their dormitory door
had been locked, and neither one
had heard the man enter their
room.
Police describe the attacker in
all three cases as a white male in
his early 30s, 6 feet 3 to 4 inches
tall, about 165 pounds, with
brown hair and a "heavily pock
marked face."
Unlike the first two instances,
the man had a moustache in the
most recent case, police said.
In the latest incident, the man
was wearing a dark-colored long
sleeve shirt with its tails sticking
out of his blue jeans. He also was
wearihg brown leather shoes.
Police “strongly urge University
area residents to start taking bet
ter precautions” in locking doors
and windows. Allison suggests us
ing dead bolts, door stops, door
alarms and door chains. Some of
these devices are available at the
University Bookstore, he said.
Police are closely "looking at"
three suspects, Allison said, "but
nothing is definite at this point.
Allison urges anyone with infor
mation relating to these cases to
contact him at the University's
Public Safety Office, 686-5444, or
call the Eugene Police Depart
ment.
Allison will teach a rape
prevention class on Tuesday night
at 7 p.m. in Hawthorne Hall's
lounge, which is located in
Walton complex. Allison invites
students to attend the class.