Editorial
Vote down ASUO
health insurance
I lerc art' the final four <fregon l)ail\ Fnwrald en
dorsements of ballot measures for Thursday's and I ri
des s ASl () general election
Measure <> would give graduating students the op
tion of signing a pledge of serial and em ironmental re
sponsibility The pledge would be entirely voluntary,
and would continue to be part of graduation ceremo
nies e\erv veer
Urging students to fie socialU const ions is some
thing evervbodv needs to do. but we wonder if the
measure is n ails nei essars The pledge asks students
to “investigate and lake into ac count the so< lal and en
vironmental < onsequem es of anv job (lies might con
sider Hut liov\ serious will students lake Ibis:’ I hose
kind of pledges are currently ill vogue Will students
really follow the pledge s guidelines^
However, the above reservations don I detract from
what Measure o is Irving to do The reasons for the
pledge are good, even it a hit naive We urge students
to not only vote yes on Measure 6 hot to sign the
pledge ,md take it seriously
The ASl!Q health insurance plan. Measure 7. is by
now familiar to most students especially to readers
of these pages. Of all the ballot measures, it is the one
that has garnered the most pre-election discussion and
generated the most controversy.
In short. Measure 7 will ask voters to choose one of
four options for the ASUO Student Health insurance
Program. Thu first would require mandatory enroll
ment in tlu‘ insurance plan Next would be a mandato
ry plan with a restrictive waiver. Third would be a
mandatory program with a loose waiver, and the final
option is voluntary enrollment in the insurance plan.
Our stance on the ASUO health insurance proposal
has not changed. A mandatory health insurance plan
of any kind is too much to swallow. Forcing students,
who are already shackled with tuition burdens, to ac
cept an insurance plan just to go to college is unaccept
able
No matter what the potential gains, students
should have the choice about their own health insur
ance. Getting an education and acquiring a health in
surance policy have nothing to do with each other, and
should not be linked in any sort of way.
Put simply, vote Option D for Measure 7.
Measure 8 is another incidental fee allocation; this
time for the University Counseling Center. Students
an: asked to support a self-imposed increase of $1.50
per term to fund staff increases for next year.
In general, a 60 percent increase from last year for
a student group would probably be unpalatable. How
ever. given what the Counseling Center can accom
plish and where the money is going, it’s hard not to
fund the increase.
What makes Measure H even hetter is the s/z.OUU
in matching funds (50 percent of the total Counseling
Center budget) the University will kick in if the ballot
measure passes. The administration is finally realizing
thev have a responsibility to the students outside of the
classrooms, especially international students and mi
norities The University cannot ask students to fund
the Counseling Center on its own. and thankfully, it
does not.
Vote yes on Measure 8
The final measure on the ballot is an incidental fee
request for the KMU Child Care and Development (’en
ter Students are asked to approve an additional HO
cents per student, per term (for a total of $2 80) to cov
er state-mandated wage increases.
The type of student attending the University has
changed over the last two decades. Now there are more
nun-traditional students on campus; many of them are
older students with children. The only way they can
go to school is to have some sort of an affordable on
campus i hiId care facility.
Unfortunately, students again are asked to shoul
der the burden for what should be a national, state, lo
t al and I (diversity problem. Parent fees currently cover
82 percent of the cost of the KMU center. Students pay
:u> percent of the costs, while USDA meal grants pay
for the remainder
Clearly, the government and University adminis
tration need to contribute, but in the meantime, it's up
to us Vote yes on Measure 9
S.
I Gl)KS,.-HUH.HlM
TM YOU COULD
SM THKI THINGS
^IDOWNSUP...
Letters
Nukes
I believe i! is .1 mistake to put
the controversy over the pro
posed nui tear free /one in
terms of growth vs no growth
Idle issue is vsh.it type of eco
mimic development in our
I (immunity and how last do
we want it
More importantly I believe
the people of luigeiie are roll
cerned about who has a sav m
our et nnomic growth
Traditionally those types ol
dei isions have lieen left to an
elite levs business leaders and
i losely allied politn inns, and I
think the people ol Eugene are
more than ready for a change of
' business as usual
The same lo< al ballot meas
ure for a strong nut tear free
/one that is up tor a vote May
1 ri was approved twice before
in lotto and again in I0HH
e.u h time passing by a majority
of more than ret percent ol the
vote However, in prior years,
that measure was dramatic ally
watered down hy the mayor
and i ity count il
This time around, the meas
ure (20-01) will be a charter
amendment so when the voters
speak, the city gov ernment will
not he able to thwart the w ill of
the people
The vote this May IS will be
a i ham e lor people to express
their freedom of i hon e on an
issue of economic develop
ment The question is simple
do we want the nuc lear vveap
ons or nut leal pow er industries
to be allowed to set up shop in
Eugene7
II we do not speak out now in
favor of our right to c hoose the
type ol industry we want in our
community, our power will In
diminished in the future
|nhn Iordan
Eugene
No more trees
So environmentalists .lo
calising timber workers to lose
their jobs by creating a limber
shortage, are they :' Well. I have
a little story lor all believers of
this in\ th
Once upon a time, back in
the loads, the forest Service
dec ided to allow a temporary
ini rease in the timber harvest,
knowing that this above-sus
tainable yield harvest could not
hr t oiititnied for more Ilian a
few years without devastation
tlir Northwest's forests In
those rears new jolts were ere
ated and the economy boomed
But w hen the I SI S called lot
a decrease bat k to previous h.tr
rest levels, the timber industry
t ried foul and t omplained ol
all the poor workers who
would lose their jobs I 'ruler in
dustrr pressure, the I 'SINS sot
(.umbed and allowed the Ion
nmn to < ontinue. year after
year
Now wore in the 1‘1‘lOs. and
few sinmfuant patches of old
growth have esi aped the t ham
saw Meanwhile, the timber in
dustry greedil\ argues for even
more trees
So what if we allow the till)
tier industry to log our remain
ing old-growth? Jobs will be
maintained tor a while, but
soon there will be no big trees
left to t ut As .1 result, jobs will
be eliminated and am lent for
ests w ill exist only in our mem
ories.
Thirty-five years of overcut
ting In the timber industry now
threatens the Northwest's for
ests. its wildlife, its economy
.md its residents So let's stop
blaming environmentalists lor
timber industry problems bet's
stop old grow th logging now
Scott l.add
(ieography
TRASH
With the 20th celebration of
Karth Day over, we are once
again reminded of the some
times ruthless effect our behav
iors have on Karth (beat
i hange is necessary so that our
planet and the species on it
may continue to coexist Kach
individual has the responsibili
ty to promote this coexistence
One simple way to improve
this situation is to promote the
concept of precycling, reusing,
reducing and recycling Pack
aging is responsible for taking
up fill percent of all landfill
space Consumers can change
this by demanding environ
mentally sound packaging that
is effectively reusable, recycla
ble or made of recvi led materi
als.
The Kei yc ling Advocate Stu
dent Harbingers, a student
group, are dedicated to envi
ronmentally sound pai kaging
thorough tin1 ()rogon Rut vt ling
At I For mure information. call
TRASH at 244-0812 or
(>83-‘)(Mt>
Kyle Anderson
Stephanie Haver
Students
Peyote
The ruling has been handed
dou n and it isn't at all surpris
dig
I am referring to the U.S Su
preme (Court's decision that pe
vole use by Native Americans
is not protected by the Consti
tution Tbe ruling was lead In
Antonin Sealia. a Reagan ap
pointee (gee. what a surprise)
I bis is truly fitting. After all.
when has the white man ever
done anything to preserve the
dignity and rights of this conn
try's indigenous people?
Kvery other vestige of Native
American culture has been
trashed; why not go for what's
left' Isn't that right. Dave
Frohnmayer?
That's right, Oregon Attor
ney Ceneral and COP guberna
torial candidate l-'rohnmavei
was instrumental in having the
i ase reviewed
Tbe reason that he didn't
want two fired drug abuse
counselors to be eligible tor un
employment was based on the
tai t that they used pe vote in a
i turn h ritual. He was so deter
mined that be got on an air
plane and flew all tbe way to
lit! to testify before tbe high
court.
Frohnmayer seems to believe
that allowing Native Amerii ans
to use peyote would set a prec
edent for any group that tried
to form and receive rights for
drug use as a religious practice
The fait that peyote rituals
have been continued for hun
dreds of years obviously meant
nothing to him.
Please be reminded that this
petty man is running for gover
nor of Oregon. I only hope th.it
people concerned about Native
American rights will "just say
no" to Dave Frohnmayer.
Tim Webber
Student