Minister’s secret
surprises church
k u c ! •: n k
(Al') The
minister of a
p ro m i n o n t
!•; u g e n e
• hurch led a
secret Iifir as a Imexual who
tried to seduce clergymen and
others before he suc.i :umljed to
AIDS, church loaders say
The Rev William () Walker,
(>0. asked friends to tell others
that he was dying of lymphoma
before he passed aw.iy from
complications related to AIDS
on July t
The disease also was blamed
for the 1'1'MI death of Walker's
wife, Carol, al age f>H
The truth has left many First
United Methodist Church mem
bers hurt and angry, including
members of a Corvallis congre
gation where be had served
from 1‘IIIH to He had been
at the l-lugene t hurch sine e
1982
Church leaders said that
mote than .1 dozen men, in
eluding at least six ministers,
told them that Walker had
made sexual advances toward
them
The information was not
shared with the Lugenc emigre
gallon for more than a year
while (hurch leaders wrestled
with the problem
Hut on Nov -I, too parishion
its were 1 ailed to an unprei e
dented meeting to learn the r ir
cumstaiu.es surrounding their
minister's death
First came a reading of a lei
let from Hill and < and Walker's
four children, who relut lantly
confirmed that their parents
had died from AIDS related ill
nesses
The Walkers had kept their
illness .1 secret, the children
said, beta use of their "great
love for the church and their
desire to avoid perhaps hurtful
controversy"
A second statement was read
by Tom Whitehead, superin
tendent for the church's south
ern-Oregon district, on behalf
of Bishop William Dew The
statement said VV.ilknr had re
cently been accused of making
sexual advances loward two
main teen-agers at a Methodist
church ramp 17 years earlier
Siniii Walker's death, more
allegations about Walker's past
have surfaced Hut Whitehead
emphasized that "we have no
allegations of behavior that
would plat e another person at
risk for tin- transmission of
AIDS from Bill."
Whitehead admitted that
Walker's secret sex life was
'clearly outside the boundaries
of Christian ethical behavior
Hut tie defended Walker's
long career
"We must be honest with the
whole of who Dill Walker
was," Whitehead said "We
must also remember the posi
tive influence Bill had upon
thousand* >>f people,"
Walker previously served
churr hes In Dillard Winston.
North Bend and Salem
He was elei ted an unprer e
denied six times to attend the
national t hurt h's quadrennial
(ieneral (amlen-nce
Three times a i andldate lor
bishop. Walker also w>ai pi,use
lor Ills work on behalf ol guvs
and lesbians, and bis (ommit
menl to the church's African
Methodist University in Zim
babwe.
The Key Tim Stover, a fami
ly friend, dftscrilred Walker as a
man who was warm and gener
ous with people hut dilfu nil to
know
" There are prubuhiv hun
dreds ol people who would de
scribe Bill Walker as a close
friend, even though Bill probe
hlv wouldn't have described
them that way." Stover said
Jim lluletl. pastor at Lake Os
wego United Methodist
( liurch, worked with Walker
when Hulett served two Port
land churches and Walker was
a district superintendent Hu
lett said lie believes Walker was
devoted to his career and ins
sexuality was kept in < her k
For the forests
w
Prmio by Pal
Adam Hanawergjr of Cascaclia Earth First' and about 30 other people gathered in
the EMU Courtyard Monday to protest the proposed salvage of timber in the Warner
Creek fire area Speakers at the rally condemned the salvage operation, saying it
would reward arson
JL
Nutritional info to appear on ale
YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — Bert Grant wants to
take the guilt out of drinking boor
His Yaklina Brewing and Malting (io. Is go
ing to offer nutritional information on six
packs of its Grant's Scottish Ale. Grant said
Monday, about a week after the federal govern
ment announced that now food-labeling rules
to make it enslor for consumers to evaluate
products.
Grant plans to list the fat and cholesterol
content, as well as vitamins and othur nutri
ents in 12-ounce bottles of the ale. which is
sold in much of ihe West and in major cities
from coasi to roust
"While (ho data on our beers indicate that
none of them is a complete meal in a bottle,
one or two Unties a day would make a signifi
cant contribution to the udull diet," Grant said.
The move is part of a crusade against what
he culls "neo-prohibitionists," who oppose all
consumption of alcohol.
The U S. Food and Drug Administration and
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
have no problem wiih Grant's labeling plans as
long us there is no reference to alcohol con
tent, which is prohibited by law for tieer.
Les Stanford of ATP said the bureau will
take a close look at the label
"Wo would look with some skepticism at
anything that might l>o related to a health
claim." Stanford said from Washington, D.C
He said be can think of no other brewery
with such labels, though so-called light beet is
required to tarry a luliel showing Information
on ca lor I os, fal and carbohydrates.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving, based in Ir
vington. Texas, supports warning labels noting
that alcohol nan impair one's motor skills and
can cause birth defects. The group has no post
(ion on nutritional labeling, said spokeswoman
Ann Russell
Grant claims that his Grant's Rub is the na
tion's first brew pub — combination brewery
and pub — since Prohibition. Ho has been
making and soiling beer in this central- Wash
ington City for 10 years and helped launch the
Northwest's microbrewery fad.
Most of the nation's hops, used in beer fla
voring, are grown in the Yakima Valley.
The nutrition label for Scottish Ale says a
12-ounce serving contains 145 calories, no fat
or cholesterol, 2.24 grams of protein and 12 7
grams of carhohydratus.
The label says each bottlo provides 4 percent
of the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance of
protein, as well as 4.6 percent of the vitamin
B-2, 14.6 percent of Niacin, 62.5 percent of
Folacin and 170 percent of vitamin B-12.
The labels cannot appear on the tKittles be
cause of federal regulations, but they will Ik;
printed on the cardboard containers of six
packs and on store signs and displays.
Sherry Grant, the brewer's wife, said the goal
is to counter negative publicity about alcohol.
“There is a group of neo-prohibitionists at
work out there, and they confuse alcohol use
and alcohol abuse," she said.
Snow and ice lead to
trouble throughout state
PORTLAND (AP) — The
morning rush hour was more of
a (TawI for some Portland com
muters Monday as snow foil
atop already icy roads
U S highway 26, the main
route through Portland's west
hills, resembled a parking lot
early in the morning commute
The highway finally closed af
ter numerous (airs spun out of
control on the steep Sylvan
Hill
Slippery roads also slowed
the rush hour in Salem and liu
gene, where many fender-bend
ers — but no major accidents —
were reported.
In Corvallis, |>olicc broke up
un early morning snowball fight
that left two people injured
near the Oregon Stale Universi
ty campus
Police said 200 to 250 people
were involved In the melee in
front of the Sigma Phi Epsilon
fraternity. Two people wore
hospitalized after being hit by
snowballs packed with rocks
and tomatoes Ten windows
were broken at the fraternity
house.
freezing rain coated roads
with ice Sunday in the Portland
area, and up to 2 inches of
snow fell on top of that early
Monday.
Schools opened late or not ut
all.
'"I guess I'll go outside and go
sledding and have snowball
fights,'' said Adam Kauh, 10,
whose school was closed in the
suburbs west of Portland.
In the Cascade Range, ski
area operators hoped the snow
would bring them a txman/.u of
fresh powder.
"It sounds worse down there
than it is up here," said Lea
Stance I, spokeswoman for Tim
berline, a ski resort on Mount
Hood.
A winter storm watch was in
effect for the Cascade Range
and Siskiyous, with heavy
snow expected above 3,000
feet.
Snow is expected to spread
today across La stern Oregon,
where a winter storm watch is
also in effect.
However, temperatures were
expected to remain above freez
ing Monday night in the val
leys, turning the precipitation
to rain