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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 2, 1988)
Inside: •Salaries for mayor and city councilors? Page 2 Oregon Daily _ ■_ Emerald Wednesday, March 2, 1988 Eugene, Oregon Volume 89, Number 112 Jury awards Seyler $30,500 in damages By Will Holbert Emerald Contributor A jury awarded Robert Seyler $30,500 in damages on Tuesday in his lawsuit against the local Beta Theta Pi fraternity and two other defendants. Seyler originally asked for $700,000 in damages. But after listening eight days to testimony and deliberating for eight hours, the jury chose to give Seyler $30,000 in punitive damages and $500 in general damages. “Right now I’m not too sure what my reaction is,” Seyler said after the verdict. But Seyler's lawyer, Douglas Haldane, declared the jury’s ruling will serve as a warning to University fraternities that are, as he previously argued, "out of control.” “We achieved our primary Robert Seyler purpose,” Haldane said, adding a disapproving community has sent a message to fraternities about excessive alchohol use and unruly behavior. The trial centered on an inci dent on Oct. 27 and 28. 1984. when Seyler attended a party at the Beta house. Seyler alleged Beta members forced him to drink alcohol, beat and robbed him. spat and urinated on him. and then abandoned him naked in front of the Alpha Phi sorority. Fraternity members and party guests were angry with Seyler for taking part in selling them diluted cocaine, according to testimony. Seyler sought damages for mental anguish, extreme emo tional distress and physical in jury. The fraternity was also charged with negligence for ser ving alcohol to minors and visibly intoxicated people. Defense attorney William Wheatley, who represented the Beta house and the Beta alumni association, said he does not plan to appeal at this time pen ding consultation with his client. Wheatley said awarding punitive damages against frater Greg Halvorson nities is a "simplistic" solution to alcohol problems in fraternities. Robert Smith, jury foreman, expressed a view similar to Haldane's about the intended effect of the verdict. "The object of the punitive damages was to get a big enough two-by-four to get their attention." Smith said. The verdict stated the Beta fraternity was guilty of negligence and defendants Richard Geiser and Greg Halvorson were guilty of assault and should pay part of the $500 in general damages along with the fraternity and the Beta alum ni association. However, both Geiser and Halvorson were found innocent on the severe emotional distress charge and were not included in the punitive damages. Turn to Trial, Page 3 Parking group requests 1,200 new campus spaces By Betsy Clayton Emerald Reporter For years students, faculty and com munity members have wondered why the University’s parking problems have remained unsolved. The questioning can stop soon, according to Willy Hart, a University Parking Structure Feasibility Group member. After its final meeting on Tuesday, the group is ready to send a recommenda tion to the Campus Planning Committee calling for phased-in construction of up to 1,200 parking spaces over the next decade. ’’It’s the first concrete decision we’ve iqade on parking in a long time,” Hart said. Although the feasibility group was formed in spring 1987, Hart has worked on the problem for two years. The site construction will be done in four parts beginning with a 310-space structure on the 15th Avenue side of the instructional sports field behind the Esslinger tennis courts. The first phase also calls for development of 100 spaces on the backside of Howe Field. Plans call for the' instructional sports field to be replaced with an artificially surfaced sports field on top of the parking structure. Phase two of the recommendation outlines construction of 585 parking spaces on the tennis courts at 16th Avenue and Alder Street and replacing the courts on the site or in another loca tion, Hart said. The final steps include adding 300 spaces to the instructional sports field structure, either vertically or horizontal ly, and building a structure on the Prince Lucien Campbell parking lot at 14th Avenue and Kincaid Street. "Our need estimates about 1,200 spaces, so at each point we will look at what effect construction will have on parking demand,” Hart said. Parking must pay for itself through permit in creases, but with 300-space increments, group members said they believe the parking demand won’t be dampened. Phasing could be delayed depending on the response to each phase. Hart said. An operational fund will provide $3.6 million in available bonding for the first phase of the plan. An additional $8 to $11 million will be needed to fund the next three phases. Hart said predicting a date for construction is difficult because it depends on how long approval of the recommendation takes. ASUO President Kasey Brooks, who is a feasibility group member, said she hopes the Campus Planning Committee approves the plan. The recommendation also calls for an increase in parking permit 4fees in fall 1988 to amortize the $3.6 million ban ding and build a reserve to fund the next three phases. However, the permit cost ratio will re main the same. Brooks said she wants to ensure students’ fees will still be about half of what the faculty/staff fees are. Both Brooks and Hart said they did not know much parking permit fees would increase. Currently, students pay $21 for 7 a full-year permit and faculty and staff pay $39. The 15th Avenue site will offer addi ional revenue for the parking fund iccause when the instructional sports ield is in use. people will be charged for larking, Hart said. In winter 1986, the University asked lart and his collegues to evaluate the larking situation. Mail developed a itudy of 16 possible structure sites and lata analysis of the spaces available. Campus parking problem old nemesis Reduction of spaces over past five years intensifies drought By Betsy Clayton Emerald Reporter Editor's Note: This is the first story in s two-part series on the campus parking problem. Today’s story ex plores the history of the problem while tomorrow's story examines communi ty and campus concerns. Parking has been a chronic problem at the University since "people began driving cars to campus," joked Willy Hart, member of the University’s Park ing Structure Feasibility Group. But the joke concerns a serious pro blem the University has been facing for the past 30 years, said Physical Plant Director Harold Babcock. "There is never enough parking and if you do have enough, it’s not located in the right places," he said. The University currently has 2.200 regular parking spaces and 400 metered spaces, according to Randy --- -.- ■"-1 I Graphic by Lorraine Rath Stamm. Office of Public Safety parking clerk. The number of permits issued last year totaled 8.767 for faculty, staff, student, commercial, temporary, and motorcycle and scooter permits. “Never are all those 6,000 to 7,000 permit holders vying for the spaces at the same time.. . granted we do have a parking problem, but if you go strictly by the numbers, it's inaccurate,” Stamm said. Currently, there are about 4.5 University students per parking space, said David Rowe, a University plan ner. Washington State University has 2.3 students per slot, the University of „ Washington has 2 9, the University of California at Davis has 1.7 and Oregon State has 2.4. Rowe said the University needs 1,200 to 1.500 additional spaces. The increases in parking problems over the last five years is partly due to reductions in small lots around cam pus, Babcock said. Parking space has been lost to other interests, he added. The relocation of the Museum of Natural History eliminated spaces in the Bean complex parking lot, the shift of Hayward field stands took away some of its parking and construction work has currently eliminated some spaces between Oregon Hall and Science II, Babcock said. Turn to Parking, Page 3