Federal timber plan might work for best Listening Oregon Rep. Hob Smith, you’d think Northwest environmentalists have scored a knockout in the ongoing timber-spotted owl bout. Smith’s call is early; this is a decision that will have to go to the judges. On Saturday, the Senate approved legislation that would allow for more logging of Northwest old-growth forests while also protecting the spotted owl. The bill, part of an $11.2 billion Interior Department appropria tions, had already cleared the Mouse (where Smith ac cused his peers of caving in to "radical ’ environmen talists) and is now headed to Pres. George Hush for signing. The timber plan is a one-year setback for environ mentalists. Over the next fiscal year, the plan will pro vide for the sale of 9.B billion board feet of federal for est timber and also requires that half of the environ mentalists' legal injunctions be dropped. The rate of timber cutting and selling approved by Congress cannot be maintained very long; the state's old-growth forests simply won't be able to sustain this. Hut when this plan ends on Sept ;t0. 1990, envi ronmentalists can look to a more level playing field. At that time, the OS Forest Service is required to have completed 10-year management plans that will set a more reasonable logging pace. The legislation also requires (hat federal agencies strive to preserve adjacent plots of old-growth forest, rather than allowing logging in fragmented patches. A seven-member advisory board has been established to review timber-sale programs in national forests in Washington and Oregon These changes might lead to me protection at criti cal spotted owl habitats in the future. Of course, we will only know after a year's wait, and that year may he crucial for the endangered bird. The wait is not the only downside to the congres sional plan For better or worse, what was once a re gional issue has now moved up to the national level. When future entanglements come up. the Senate will have the precedent to move in and set policy. Moving the dispute to the federal level was a gam ble that paid off for the environmentalists, because, at present, there is a strong environmental lobby. On going discoveries of greenhouse effects and ruined coastlines have finally gotten people to move. But whether that environmental lobby can retain its muscle in the face of big business is debatable, especially dur ing a span of governmental conservatism. For the answer to that question, like the answer to future harvest levels, we will have to wait a year. Open minds Sc hool IS hill k ill session And nr studiMils. thi* futurr of Amerii .1 have returned In the i hissroom In k.iiii knowledge In improve our lives iind our world l )r have ive' No support The other night. I attended .1 demonstration of I’rojei t Safe Kun I was amazed. impressed and believe wholeheartedly in what that program is Irving to ai 1 omplish When I asked one ol the chapter house leaders if any student organization sup ported them, or if any universi ty monies were donated to them she said no In the lust week ul ( lass, ev er\ professor and graduate teac lung fellow was bombarded not bv questions ol what the course would tr\ to anmn plish. but "what will we be tested ini'" The whole attitude ol just wanting to know what will win a person good grades is vers dangerous When a person signs up for .1 ( lass, the\ should be there to learn some thing, not to manipulate tile material into a neat pac kage ol lac ts roach to be regurgitated tor good grades lad s open our minds to more than the import.mi e ol a good grade point a\ erage kirk Kinaldi Student i risked wny not. ana sue guessed th.it tnavlie no one had thought to do it I hope that's the only reason. be< ause Safe Knn is a program yyhii.h pro \ ides diri'i t serviie to a needy population, and. more impor lanth to those who have a sa\ over shared funds, it works Safe Kun has provided ca nine esi orts tor women runners and walkers lor several years In the University area, probably thousands of women are in need of pist sut h a program, and yet no student organization lias moved to support them and to my knoyvledge, no mem ber of the student government has i h,unpinned sin fi an effort Is it merely bei ause no one Dix should continue to aid investigation With the national politi( al scene focus ing on ( Congressional ethics reform and il legal campaign spending, it shouldn't come as am surprise that Oregon Democrats are i timing under fire lor the same things The controversy (.enters on the House Demur rats' I0H8 campaign tin,mi mg report. Apparently, the document, filed with the Sei rotary of St.ite Harhara Roberts' office in November, is rile with errors, omissions and mistakes The report is under heavy scrutiny from ,i House committee, and three auditors from Roberts' office have joined the hunt It will he no easy t.isk to silt through the records, as apparently numerous hank statements and i hecks are missing In the last week of September, the con troversy took on .1 new twist when (lari Wie deraenders. .1 chief aide for House Majority Leader David l)i\ (D-Kugene), resigned be cause he "at i identally " tore out a page from .1 campaign finance document. The page Wiederaenders took failed to list a $10,000 contribution to the (.aliens from Rep Hedy Rijkin 11)-Newport). Since then. I)i\ has come under intense tire from Democrats. Republicans and state officials alike. I )ix contends he had no knowledge U'iederaenders had taken the page The story goes that l)i\ was told a page was missing, confronted VYiedei .lenders and returned the page. I'd prove his innocence. I)ix reportedK underwent a two-hour polygraph test. I)ix said the test proved he he did not know about the missing page until later in the da\ We're inclined to believe him Dix has gone out of his wav to cooperate in the in vestigation. and no concrete evidence of his guilt has turned up vet. IJniversity-area residents have a special interest in the investigation. Dix is the Uni versity's representative in tin House, and is one of the staunchest supporters of higher education Anybody who has ever seen him at work on the House floor knows he is a major player in the legislature. Kven if Di.x isn't involved in the W'ie deraenders scandal, he and his fellow Demo crats have a lot to answer for. They cleark need to clean up their campaign spending ways, and deal with all the nagging ques tions brought up in the investigation. -Letters. thought ol it. or no out* cares for tt program that actually works, no matter liovv desper ate its need for funds'' I < hallenge the student txidv and student government to ill roi't collet live effort in moving to support this program Stu dents join with your elected representatives and make the svsteni work for you; make it accomplish some good Don't settle for ext uses from the s\s tern or yourselves You .ire all too resourceful and creative to fail l.ogan Dhonuu Student sitV students might he interest ed in import nut theater produi - lions and or Native American matters? I Ion you were able to ignore the Wednesday night perfor mance of "hires on the Water." a dramatization of Tlingit raven stories, is beyond me While the ballroom was packed even standing room was hard to find the Emerald appar ently didn't even know (or didn't can*) what was going on I'he Register-Cuard and What's Happening had pictures and ar tit ins. while the Ol)F. — the "campus paper" — had abso lutely nothing Students who depend on the ODE for their information missed an incredible evening The audience was hushed and intent on every work and move incut from the five Alaskan per formers At the end. the hall erupted in a standing ovation Onlv two other stops are si hed tiled on this "tour" Portland and Washington 13.(1 Add these questions how relevant, how alert, how impor tant. how helpful is the /me; aid? |efl Harrison Knglish department Fans in groves The fans "are coming to Aut zen in groves? [ODE. ()