Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012, August 02, 1990, Page 2, Image 2

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    Editorial
Daily Emerald
Defense cuts: a step
in the right direction
It's defense budget lime for Congress again, but
thev are still unable to do what average Amnru an
boust'lmlds do live v\ dliin then moans
Tin* House Armed Services Committee approved a
$2H.t billion defense bill on Tuesday that is $2-4 billion
less than what President Mush ashed lor Hut it s still
wav too nun h
The committee wisely cut all funding for the B-li
stealth bomber. Hush wants the government to pay for
75 ol the radar-evading aircraft at the ( list of approxi
mately $Hlir> million per plane a total cost of almost
$04 billion.
The committee also slashed Si! billion out of the re
quested $4 7 billion Star Wars budget. Because of the
thawing of the Cold War. and because many scientists
believe the Stars Wars plan will never work anyway,
this program should be eliminated completely.
The IIA SC killed all funding for two nuclear mis
siles — the MX and the Midgetman. Elected represen
tatives are finally realizing the futility of overpriced,
never-used weapons.
However, there is still support tor some ol these
programs in the Senate, whose own Armed Services
Committee has vet to meet and present its recommen
dations. While the House cuts are meager compared to
the dictates ot a sane society, it is a small step in the
right direction The biggest obstai le HASC has to hur
dle is to cut 120.000 military personnel. While it must
be done, any recommendations that entail job loss
must also provide new opportunities for those affected.
People of the Northw est know that all too well.
On a scarier note, the full House voted on Tuesday
to let the government fall $222 billion deeper in debt
If the proposal is adopted by tin* Senate and signed
into law. the federal government's deficit will soar to
an unfathomable $.i,44 trillion by Sept .10. 1091.
With Congress ready to go on its August recess,
auv dealings with budget balam ing will wait until
September But there is pressure to deal with the debt
extension before Congress' summer vacation or the
government may run out of money by Aug 15
Defense still consumes an inordinate amount of tax
dollars ( amgress still i annot balance a budget
Congress arts like someone with a gold card and
an unlimited amount ol credit Eventually bad spend
ing habits lead to bankruptcy
Perhaps it's time to consider hiring an average
American family living within their means to educate
our elected representatives about spending only wbat
lliev earn
Stay away
As ,1 ( iti/iMi (l)V bulb) ol the
1'mil'll Si,ill's .mil mu' who has
lu'i'ii around enough years In
havr si'i'ii many fundamental
rights v\i' used In lakf fur grant
i'll hi'romt' eruili'd. 1 would 1 ik••
to express m\ opinion on ihi*
new l adversity policy of arrest
mg non students not lot am
i rimes or misdt'mi'anors but
merely for treing "on campus
letters
I rei «»n11 \ rei etvrii a letter
Irom .1 friend. .1 retired tear her
expressing .1 desire to (><i\ me ,1
visit, ami to walk oiu.e more
aromid the campus from whit h
she rei eived her decree some
to years ago
l’i'rhaps l should tell her not
to 1 ome she might gel arrest
eil tor being a non-student
Ruth Wilks
hugene
_Letters Policy_
The Emerald will attempt to print all letters contain
iiiK comments on topics of interest to the I'niversitv
community Comments must be factually accurate
and refrain from personal attacks on the character of
others
Letters to the editor must be limited to no more than
250 words legible, signed and the identify ation of
the writer must lie verified when the letter is submit
ted.
The Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for
length or style.
■*&</. MV. ««r,\ y
z /* * «r«r
V> ‘ ~ o
P
ML
,'!'< >f
"NOW I HAVE A STEALTH PAVCRECH... .IT DOESN'T SHOW UP IN W BkM ACCOUNT I'■
Forum
Campus strongly favors more recycling
By Karyn Kaplan
Kim cnth ,i questionnaire re
garding 11 ret yi ling at the I'm
versrlv .md 2) use of lei vi led
.uni unbleai lied paper was
sent out to l.u nil', st.itt and ad
ministration dins question
naire evolved Imm a group o(
students Iroitl the Survival (den
ter (a student environmental
group). ASl t) ni\ eisit\
Hook store and supportive fat ul
t\ and stall members, who are
verv ( om erned about the future
ul rei vi ling at the I niversitv
Commentary
Die (last \ ear has been a
challenge for the IhriversiU in
terms ot rei \i ling l or the first
time, rei vi ling ai tually bei ame
integrated into the I'niversity
on a measurable level Pearl
Itui k Keryi ling approai bed the
administration to handle all the
paper rei vi ling at no cost to
the l ’ n i vers it \ or to the Pin si
i a I Plant
W itliin months )on l)a\ is
from Pearl Huck escalated pa
per rei vi ling to im lode more
than 200 drop sites mostly
w ithin offices and i ampus
buildings, (lardboard and metal
Inns for recycling newspaper
white and colored paper and
i omputer printout bet ame part
ot the s< rner\ around i ampus
At the same time after main
years of recycling cardboard
its market prii e dropped so low
that the hauler i eased this prat
tire
Thus, cardboard has once
again become a major part of
the I'mversitv wastestream Af
ter many months of integrating
Pearl Hut k's recvi ling pro
gr.un people began to want
more ret ti ling I received nu
merous i alls throughout the
1‘IH‘MH) school year inquiring
about expansion into the
dorms. Amazon student hous
mg. greek houses and in class
rooms and offices Recycling
had i aught on at the l adversity
just ,is it h.ici <it Oregon St.it**
Meanwhile IVarl Hu* k was
doing all it could, through the
dedication of Jon Davis, cam
pus ret vcler. to sustain itsi*ll
As ret vi ling coordinator at the
Survival Center. I felt it was
i ritical that a strong Inundation
in paper reeve ling he laid be
fore expanding into more mate
rials 1 'nfortunateh . due to low
salvage prices. Pearl Buck
i ould no longer sustain its set
vice to the University without
some funding Consequently.
Pearl Bin k terminated its set
vice at the end of Mav lor
now the Physical Plant has re
tained the services of Jon Davis
until it i an determine how it
will i ontinue the program
Cnfortunately. the Physical
Plant w hic h has a limited staff
and a tight budget, has not
looked toward rec vc ling sen
ouslv until now Pearl Buck
was removing as many as lt>
tons ot paper a month by the
end ot the school year That fig
ure does not include all the
i ardboard that i ould he rec v
c led and all the paper on cam
pus that does not tind its way
into a limited availability ol
bins
The dorms have begun .1 pi
lot program and 1 ould he a
large source of paper and
that's just paper Including
glass tin plastic and food
waste in a recycling program
could potentially keep til) to 7a
pert cut of our garbage out of
landfills If we learn how to
conserve, the possibilities are
endless and would become eco
nomic.ally luc r.itw e tor the Uni
versity 1 he money saved in
landfill and laboi costs alone
m,ikes this program cost-effec -
tive*
In order to assess the situa
tion a recycling questionnaire
was distributed throughout
campus and received an over
whelming response, complete
with page-long comments sup
portive of the program. At the
present time, a report is being
compiled and the findings will
be presented to the I'niversitv
in the ne.ir future Preliminary
findings indii ate the following
i onsensus opinion
• Ke( v. ling sliould ( onlinue .it
its present level .it .1 minimum
More paper rei yi ling and in
i reusing the program to include
i ardboard, plustii tin. and
glass is desirable Some sug
gested using HKlNtl to facilitate
this process Establishing r.en
trah/ed locations on campus
w as suggested
• Kdui ation and promotion
was strongly recommended
Respondents want better signs,
(dear instructions on separa
turn, ini entives. a question and
answer i olumn in the Emerald
education on preevcling, ret a
1 led paper and awareness
Main agreed that this would
make the program a suci ess
• l se work study students in
collet turn .mil projet ts
• Purchase a shredder for confi
dential material
• The I'niversitv must he dedi
( atetl to recycling as much as
possible
• We generate too much junk
mail! This is a major com
plaint, hut keep in mind that
the printing department re
spends to customer needs It is
the responsibility of individu
als and departments to cut
down this overuse Suggestions
generated by respondents t’se
Inside Oregon to advertise
events use computer mail and
limit fliers to one per depart
ment
• Many people have begun us
mg rei y< led unbleached paper
but a number ot people sav
their department budgets can't
afford it Since tills paper must
be imported, shipping costs
force the price to be higher
than virgin paper Hut it we
create enough of a demand in
this country, mills will lie build
here to accommodate the mar
ket and the price will drop. It
we conserve our memos and
paper use. well have more
Turn to RECYCLING, Page 4