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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 8, 1987)
Oregon Daily Emerald Wednesday, April 8, 1987 Eugene. Qregon For the latest activities during Peace Week See Page 6 Volume 88, Number 97 r a . . , _ . Photo by ylicU As contract negotiations continue late Tuesday. Eugene School District spokeswoman (lav ( amphell stays busy answering questions from media representatives and concerned parents. 4-J teachers begin strike By Janet Paulson Of the KmrralH Eugene School District schools won’t be opening their doors for students today. District spokeswoman Gay Campbell read a prepared statement at 9 p.m. Tuesday announc ing Superintendent Margaret Nichols’ decision to close 4-J schools as a result of stalled contract negotiations. ‘‘We are hoping we can reach an agreement before the Wednesday, <> a m. deadline," Nichols said in the statement, "but we can't be absolutely certain of that, and we realize parents need to know definitely whether or not there will be school. Therefore, I’ve decided that there will be no school for students tomorrow (Wednesday) Turn to Strike, Page 3 IFC grants funding of lobbying group; hears other appeals By Carolyn l.amherson Of thr Kmrralri I'he Incidental Fee Commit tee on Tuesday granted the ap peal of the United States Stu dent Association and allocated the lobbying group $‘).000. IKC member Ron Munion again expressed concern about IJSSA and the issues it deals with as he did in the original budget hearing Feb. ;t. Following a presentation by Donna Cooper, tin* ASIJO events coordinator, and Caitlin Cameron. ASlJO vice president, both of whom are on the USSA board of directors, the 1FC listened to a brief testimony by Shannan Meehan. Meehan, the current ASIJO Project Saferide coordinator, recently returned from a legislative conference in Washington. DC., held by USSA and said the experience was invaluable. ASUO Finance Coordinator )ohn Thoma gave tht? Kxecutive recommendation and took the opportunity to show the Kx ecutive’s support for the group. “This is a great tool to help student government make better things for students," In* said. Thoma recommended the IK! allocate the $9,()()() budget as re quested with a budget note at tached outlining the procedure for selecting delegates to the legislative conference. During committee discussion Munion questioned whether USSA was really representative of students nationwide and ex pressed concern over the actual amount of students affected by the organization. The committee voted 5-1-1 to grant the appeal. Munion voted against, and katy Howard removed herself from the voting because of a conflict of interest. She serves with Cameron and Cooper on the USSA board of directors. The II C also heard an appeal from the i’anhellenic Council. When the committee originally held the I’anhellenic budget hearing on Feb. 19, it allocated the group $450 for publication of Newsgreek. a newsletter for sororities and fraternities. When the IFC heard from the Interfraternity Council on Turn to IFC, Page 3 Senate defeats three versions of bill that would change liability statutes By B.J. Thomsen Ot Ihr Kmcrald The Oregon Senate on Tuesday defeated three different versions of a bill relating to liability laws and the exorbi tant cost of liability insurance. Senate Bill 323 and two minority ver sions of the bill went before the Senate, and all three were voted down. This was the second time SB 323 has been presented to the Senate; the bill was defeated the first time by an 18-12 vote March 2t> and was referred back to committee. The bill, as written, would have created a state liability insurance ad visory board to assist the insurance com missioner in reviewing changes in in surance codes and insurance rates. The most staunch opposition to the bill has come from Oregon’s insurance industry. Legislative issues The first minority version of the bill would have imposed a $300,000 cap on non-economic damages and also would have provided for periodic rather than lump-sum payments of awards in per sonal injury suits. The second minority version of the bill, favored by Sen. Grattan Kerans, D Eugene. provided for an exception to the $300.000 cap on non-economic damages in the case of “severe disfigurement or severe physical impairment.” Kerans had predicted before the vote that SH 323 would be passed and ap peared surprised by the results of the vote. He said he wouldn't be surprised now if a special committee were conven ed to deal with the bill. Sen. William Frye, D-Eugene, chair man of the Senate Judiciary Committee that has worked on the bill since the beginning of the session in January, said his committee had gone as far as it is go ing to go with the bill. He said he believed the hill might have passed earlier in the session but failed now because of pressure from the Citizen Initiative for Equity in the Legal System, a coalition of business, insurance and medical professionals actively lobbying for defeat of the bill. The main reason for the failure of the hill was a section of the bill making a provision for a "pure comparative stan dard for liability," Kerans said. This pro vision would allow a jury to decide both the amount of damages to be awarded and the percentage of fault attributed to both sides. Frye said he was "blind-sided" by Republicans on the committee who had said they would vote for the hill if Frye made certain concessions. Those conces sions included dropping a "long needed increase in the liability limits of govern ment in Oregon," he said. Frye removed the legislation in hopes that the hill then would gain the Republican support it needed to pass, he said. Republican committee members agreed to vote for the hill in committee and opposed the hill on the floor of the Senate, he added. Turn to Insurance, Page 3 Law student faces charges of simulation and forgery By Scott Maben Or Uw Rawrald According to a Feb. 27 police report, Willy Bernard Bils, a Universi ty law student, allegedly paid a Eugene free-lance researcher $500 to write a class paper for him. Bils, 31, pleaded not guilty to two counts of criminal simulation and one count of forgery II at a March 12 district court arraignment. He is scheduled to stand trial by jury in Lane County District Court on May 29. Oregon Revised Statutes defines criminal simulation as an attempt to defraud — to make or alter an object to have antiquity, rarity, source or authorship that it doesn’t have. A March 5 complaint signed by Assistant District Attorney Darryl Lar son accused Bils of the three class A misdemeanor offenses for which he was arrested on March 9. The report, written by Eugene Police Sgt. Chuck Til by, who is in charge of the investigation, said the following: •Maurice Holland, dean of the University School of Law, advised Deputy District Attorney David Nissman earlier this year of a ' possi ble problem” with a class paper that Bils turned in for credit. • 'The information was that Bils had submitted a paper for a class on the administration of justice taught by U S. Attorney Tom Coffin that had . been authored by someone else," Tilby wrote. •Bils allegedly paid a free-lance legal researcher living in Eugene $500 last November for researching and writing a paper on a proposed federal Money laundering Act. which Bils thought was in effect. •Gwendolyn Louise Nichols, a University law student, told Tilby she lived in Eugene with Bils as his girlfriend during a period beginning early last October. •Nichols said after she and Bils moved in together. Bils decided he did not want to write a paper for Cof fin’s class. •Bils contacted Janice Eccles Skillings-Goff, formerly of 2105 W. 18th Ave., to research and write a paoer on the laundering act and the legal ramifications of laundering money, allegedly telling her the paper was for a friend of Mils’ "who wanted to dump money off shore to avoid taxes." according to Nichols, who said she overheard Bils’ side of numerous conversations about the research he wanted to pay Skillings Goff to do. •Skillings-Goff told Tilby that Bils had told her, "You don’t need to know the facts of the case." Bils said the research on money laundering was for a friend who owned a casino and was having "trouble" and who Turn to Bils, Page 3
