REGIONAL BRIEFS
AuCoin closes House account
PORTLAND (AIM After news reports
that lie ysas one of the members of < (ingress
who bourn cd ( he( ks .d tlic House of Reprc
sentatives' bank. Kep Irs AuCoin has dc
( idl'd lo pay a fee fill the ( hecks and ( lose
(he a( ( otint an aide* said Wednesihn
Hob ( ram- said Aid mn inadvertently
liouIK ed seven < lie) ks over a tyvo day pen
oil in August of lftft!t He said Aut oin
promptly i overed the defn it when he found
out about it
Hut the Oregon Democrat has dei ided to
voluntarily pay a $2ri fee for eai h bourn .ed
check and will (lose the act mint, Crane
said
T/ie Stiilrsmmi-loiininl newspaper in Sa
him reported Wednesday that Aid oin was
one of the members of Congress who
Imiuiii ed i hei ks ,it the bank The i her ks are
automat M a 11 v ( overed .mil no fee is
charged
A Oeneral A( (minting Office report re
leased Sept lit disclosed that House mem
hers bourn ed H 111 ( hei ks written on ac
counts at the House bank during the i alen
dar year l'dto I he report said l i t members
wrote illt bad ( hei ks of $1 (Hid or more
I he largest bounced ( hei k AuCoin
wrote Crane said. was for SHITi
Health care receives support
WASHINGTON (AIM Citing broad
support from labor business and health
groups the i hairman of a I louse i ommiltee
offered his influential support Wednesday
lor Oregon's effort to revamp its health iaie
lor the pool
"We w ill want to lake a i loser look at the
(Iregon Plan hut it is i lear from our invest!
gat ion that it is at a minimum, a promising
concept. Kep John Dingell I) Mil h said
"In light of Oregon s strong i ommil
melds lo adequate Imam mg and protei
lions lor vulnerable populations tins plan
is a reasoned effort to deal wdth the limits of
what is a< tually needed and w hat we i an
atloid to pav
llmgell is i hairman id the House I nergy
and Commune Committee as well as its
soIm ommiltee on oversight and investiga
lions whuh held a hearing Wednesday on
stale and loi al perspet liyes on Med it aid
Ills support is i rin ial to ( begun s leques!
that the federal government grant the state a
yvaiver from existing Medii aid guidelines
said an aide to Kep Kim W y den I) f Ire
Oregon yyants the waiver so it can ill
i ri'iisf the numlier of (ample eligible for
medic ,il care .it public expense by restru I
mg lfi<‘ types ol i* hI serve <■ they re
i trivi'
Washington jobless rate climbs
Ol.VMIMA | AI * i Washington's unem
plovmrnt r.ilr m August jumped In 1 7 per
ccnlage points hot lln* same month last
year. a po«erf ill signal that the s!«it<• s on< e
Inrru) economy has i nnled significantly of
I u lais said \\ edncsday
rhc August rati- of '< -) peri ent was dow n
hv half a pen outage point from fills hut
this drop was seen by tin- slate I mployment
Security Department as tvpual tor the
month when the number of seasonal jobs
falls
Idle highest jobless rate tor the month
was hi Skamania County at In 7 pen ent
I he lowest was in (airfield (anility at 1 per
i ent
I he unemployment leap from a sear ago
when Ihe rate stood .it -1 7 peri ent shows
that the state s prosperity has dimmed sig
min antis said an economist with the de
purtment I tennis l ust o
AVliat it (the annual drop! represents is a
tremendous slowing in the r.ite of employ
ment expansion. I usc o said Ihe drop in
|ob gloss III began to shoss up in l ebruars
he saui
BP fined for safety violations
OIAMI’IA | AI * j Civil penalties total
mg S7H.■!'>() have been assessed against HI1
\inerita lor more than ’no alleged health
and safety violations .it the company s fern
dale refiners the Department ol Labor and
Industries reported Wednesday
Idle sis month mspei tion that resulted in
Ihe penalties s\as not related direc tly to an
explosion at the refinery in lanuary but the
plant ss.is < hnsen tor the < omprehensive in
sestigation tiei ause ol ha/ards identified
during investigation of the blast depart
ment \ssistant Direi tor Nil k Km hoff said
(tile worker svas killed and six others
were inpired in the explosion HI’ ss.is fined
Sir. ’ It) for that as c ideii! Kin iioff said the
i oiiijianv lias appealed the penally
I he department issued tsso i datums fol
lowing tin- most recent inspection pmpos
mg Sf>H. 1.1(1 m penalties tor safety viola
lions and S-tli l.M) in penalties for health
s inlations
Oscar the Freshman
Neal Skorpen
■ , kh rl 1
O V/IS/C
K.ARf '
I *1. '*/
v f |
man ‘ rc> prahkih
I mviALIZA I ION*
Of 1 Rl I! I If I
rJo h iPPiti Vl<f H1
epn .■■
jf n
fin ‘ .I'f < lAi
our Mosy
. >t-u ; hi It •' .•
AtJi ‘ -tit f < 11 ‘ • Of y
1 T j > '.'I . > , I I •'
£ • ’ll l*
/u-t v ■ •
* / t>> «. AMj
/(.**<* F7f‘, Jht
MU A, \ ht „a h
*oK /A| hi- I
■M
Weasel's World
Kraig Norris
/tusic
V/ORLD
usat* ,nr>*
CVCT THl IWitfa.
MU.I *NtU I .
bl** cmmls.
MACOMA
3
li.
►€! rue. is THAT 0X1*0
vtRSJAl t INC C«EW
C>
POP
AOCK
Timber coalition proposes
spotted owi compromise
U ASHINC n >\
(At*) A Imihci
mdustrv (oiilition
said U rdlit-stlav
the northern spoiled owl < .m tie
saved from extinction without
signifit ant i utbaiks in l ores!
Service logging plans (.ailing
lor I H billion board feet in nil
Huai Northwest sales
l ive biologists representing
timber companies and the
Amerir an Forest Resouri e Alii
am e said they have come up
with their own recovery plan to
maintain the threatened owl's
population
"Over time, this strategy has
the ability to increase owl pop
ulation." said l.orin tin ks.
manager of wildlife and fish re
sources tor Plum Creek Timber
(:o Int of Seattle
"It strikes a much-needed
halam e between the needs of
the owls and the needs of pen
pie in the region." added Ross
\ 1 u key western Oregon man
ager tor the Northwest Forestry
Assoi latum based in Eugene
The plan temporarily would
prohibit logging on about 1 H
million acres of public forests
1 urrently open to harvests in
Oregon. Washington and north
ern (California
Hut the major source of ow l
protec tion would l>e 2 2 million
in res of national parks and per
manent wilderness areas al
ready established and another
2 1 million acres of federal
lands already temporarily pro
let ted from logging under ex
ixtmg forest plans and agency
decisions
The proposal would i route
no permanent owl reserves on
lands not already off limits to
logging
( 'intent Forest Service plans
i all lor t H billion board feet ol
timber to tie < ut annually in ()r
ogon and Washington Those
harvests would fall to about 0
billion board feel under a con
servation strategy otfered in
\pril 1*1*10 by Forest Servile bi
ologist |.it k Ward Thomas and
.i panel of government si ien
lists
Mil kes s.mi the industry s
recovery plan could yield the
full t 8 trillion board feet annu
alls h\ continuing logging on
most forest lands, tint provid
ing more sensitive management
and selei tive cutting of areas
inhabited !>v ovvIs
He said the low end estimate
of harvests under the proposal
would he .3.2 billion to 3 4 bil
lion hoard feet
The 1 H million acres where
logging temporarily would be
banned under the industry plan
are divided into 940.000 acres
of 'deferred areas" and
8 11,000 acres of "research
areas. ’'
The deferred areas are neces
sary to fill in gaps between
suitable habitat found in na
tional parks and wilderness
areas said lames Sweeney, di
ret tor of wildlife ecology for
the Amerii an Forest Resource
AlliaiH.o.
Logging would be allowed in
the deferred areas "only if and
when it ( an he shown it is fully
compatible with the owl." he
said adding that could be a
matter of years or decades.
The research areas are be
lieved to be places where some
selective logging practices
could be conducted without a
threat to the owl. he said. He
sc an h proposals would be es
tablished for sin h experimental
logging
I'he coalition presented its
proposal to the Department of
the Interior's recovery team,
whii h is scheduled to release
its proposed woven' plan by
the end ot the year
Hob Anderson, wildlife re
scan h biologist for the Weyer
haeuser do. of Federal Wav.
Wash and Steve Self, wildlife
biologist tor Sierra I’at ific In
dustries ol (nlitomia. also
helped prepare the industry
plan.
Men win in toxic water case
SAl.i \1 (AIM I'lu- Oregon
(lourt (it Appeals on Wednes
(ia\ upheld awards of more
Ilian SI fi million in damages to
two men who claimed they suf
lered severe prohlems due lo
toxii metals in an apartment
complex's hot water
The court a f f i r in e d a
Multnomah ( ouiitv ( mint
(lourt jury 's awards in luHO to
Verne Huger and Monte Irwin
who lived at the Halsey Station
Tow nhouses in Troutdale
They presented evident e that
they suflered brain damage and
other ailments they claimed
were caused by concentrations
of toxii metals in hot water
heaters and hot water at the
complex
T h e a w a r d s i n c I u d e d
$850,000 in punitive damages.
The jury awarded $012,000 to
Irwin and $718.000 to Huger
Defendants to the lawsuit in
clude the Norris & Stevens Im .
Portland, managing agent for
the ( omplex. and )im and M.ir\
I .on l)av. the resident manag
ers.
One argument by the manag
ers was that evidence that alu
minum and other metals are
toxic enough to produce the in
limes suffered by Huger and Ir
win lacked enough acceptance
in the s< lentific community to
he admitted as evidence
The appeals court said the
evidence was sufficiently reli
able to be admissible
The appeals also rejected an
effort to challenge the expertise
of two of the plaintiff’s wit
nesses and disagreed with a de
fense argument that the jury
shouldn’t have considered the
claim for punitive damages.
Musique Gourmet
Catering to the
Discriminating Collector
CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED
CLASSICAL MUSIC A OPERA
ON COMPACT OISC
A CASSETTE
CD's FROM S5.95
TAPES FROM $2.95
In the Fifthpearl Building
207 E Dlh Avenue 343-9000
OPEN 7 DAYS