Inside:
•Sprinkling students, Page 6
•Things to do, page 8
•Sky-high media, Page 10
——Oregon Daily- -
Emerald
Thursday, July 21, 1988
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 90, Number 10
City seeks volunteers to
work on ballot statement
By Aaron Knox
Emerald Editor
The City of Eugene is seeking
volunteers to serve on a committee that
will draft a neutral explanation of the
ballot measure to create a recrea
tion/natural resource zoning district for its
voters' pamphlet for the Nov. 8 general
election.
Applications were distributed during
the Riverfront Research Park Commis
sion’s monthly meeting Wednesday after
noon by Cathy Briner, the city’s project
representative.
The measure, which would amend the
city charter if approved, is aimed primari
ly at the research park project, where pro
ponents hope to zone about 35 acres of the
existing site plan to prevent development.
A petition is already being circulated to
designate that area under the new zone,
Briner said.
If approved, the rezoning could be ap
plied to any land within city limits upon
receipt of 7,000 petition signatures.
Mayor Brian Obie will select four peo
ple for the five-member committee, but a
city ordinance requires the proponents he
two of the chief petitioners of the measure.
The ballot measure is sponsored by
Citizens for Responsible Land Use, and
the group lists three members — Dan Stut
ter, Catherine Larsen and Thomas Lester,
all of Eugene — as chief petitioners.
Opponents of the measure need to state
under oath that they oppose the proposed
charter amendment.
The four members selected by Obie will
Turn to Riverfront, Page 5
OSPIRG says car dealers
don't promote safety bags
By Douglas Fuchs
Emerald Contributor
Most automobile dealerships in Oregon
are ignoring important safety features
when explaining options available in new
cars, according to a report presented Tues
day by the Oregon State Public Interest
Research Group (OSP1RG).
The report, titled “Selling Safety Short:
Auto Dealers Undersell Air Bags,” recom
mends that auto manufacturers and
dealers stop disregarding safety features
and make an increased commitment to
equip and actively market all automobiles
with air bags.
An air bag, or vehicle crash cushion as it
is technically called, is designed to inflate
in the event of a front-end collision of 12
mph or more, protecting front seat
passengers from slamming into the wind
shield or steering wheel.
Joel Ario, OSPIRG executive director,
said at a news conference Tuesday that the
report is the result of a two-month survey
of 34 automobile dealerships across the
state.
Ario said that air bags are the most effec
tive safety device ever designed, and that
automobile dealerships do very little to
market them.
“More than 62 percent of the
automobile dealers were either completely
indifferent or actively hostile to the air bag
option,” Ario said. "Oregon dealers
should stop selling safety short.”
Jon Stubenvoll, co-author of the report,
said that customers have a right to gather
all necessary information when deciding
Turn to OSPIRG, Page 5
Flying Pickle
Rebecca Perez of San Francisco's Pickle Family Circus dazzled au
diences at Eugene's Amazon Park on Wednesday■ The circus was in
town for three shows.
Photo by Scott Maben
Project Safe Run stretches legs to Los Angeles
Photo by (iinny Slinian
Rigger, a doberman pinscher, may look vicious, but
he has never had to bite anybody to protect Project
Safe Run founder Shelley Reecher.
By Kelvin Wee
Emerald Managing Editor
Shelley Reecher believes women should not have
to worry about being assaulted if they choose to run.
walk or hike — at any time of the day.
So in 1981, Reecher started Project Safe Run, an
organization that offers women well-trained dogs to
take with them on runs, walks or hikes to serve as deter
rents against assaults.
In 1988, Project Safe Run has logged more than
6,000 runs without a single case of assault. Its success
has led to nationwide praise for the Eugene-based non
profit service, which plans to open a Los Angeles
chapter in October.
Reecher’s cause is a personal one. She was attacked
by four men in an incident unrelated to running more
than 10 years ago.
"It took me three years before 1 could tell anyone 1
was attacked," Reecher said. "It was like a nightmare,
but 1 am not a rape victim. If 1 were a victim, I would be
dead.
"I'm angry at the violence, hut I am not angry with
men or women,” said the 32-year old. "1 am doing
something more than complaining. 1 decided to take
destructive anger and put it to constructive use.”
Reecher said the Los Angeles chapter will open up
a whole new avenue for women there, as the home of
fice in Lane County has, because it will offer women an
alternative to running alone or not running at all.
When she visited Los Angeles earlier this year,
Reecher met many women who told her they had given
up running because there was just too much harass
ment there.
“Society protects women but we don’t teach them
how to survive," she said. “Women have to put power
back into their hands and say 'It's my responsibility to
take self-defense classes and to learn how to survive in
this world.’ ”
When Project Safe Run began in 1981, Reecher had
only one dog. Today, the program boasts seven run
ners, or dog escorts. The dogs serve as a visual deter
rent but are not dangerous unless provoked.
Despite its attempts at providing an alternative to
women, the program's road to success has been paved
with some sharp pebbles.
Many people lashed out at first, labelling the dogs
as attack dogs. In the more than 6,000 runs made with
Reecher’s dogs, not a single dog bite has occurred.
“They are not attack dogs." Reecher said. “If you
don’t bother the dogs and you don't bother me, there's
no problem.’’
She said society has been lured into thinking of
working dogs as attack dogs by the media and film
makers who attempt to make the fast buck by producing
low-cost movies on terrorist dogs.
“These movies spurred on idiot owners to guard
meth labs with poorly bred dogs,” she said. “Those are
the people who should not have the dogs to begin
Turn to Dogs, Page 5