Decision on state prison budget won’t come easily SALEM (AP) — Is the Oregon Legisla ture going soft on crime? It's a question thiit’c hiMttu ikLix{ in some circles as committees go to work on budgets for corrections and public safety agencies. And policy differences, especially over prisons, appear to have the House and Senate on a collision course. Oregon has gotten tougher on crime over the past several years, completing a massive prison construction program and adopting sentencing guidelines intended to make sure the time behind bars fits the crime. Among the state’s worst criminals. 48 percent were sent to prison in 1992. up from 34 percent in 1988, according to fig ures compiled by the Oregon Criminal Justice Council. Among the worst crimi nals sent to prison in 1992, the average stay was 49 months, up from 34 months in 1989. But the consensus among those moni toring crime and prisons issues, said Rosennna Creighton of Citizens for a Drug Free Oregon, "is that nothing is happen in# to move us forward/' "I think wp ow'd to clarify there’s spac e in prisons that isn't being utilised." she said ”1 think the public needs to know that." There is indeed space in prisons. Two small prisons have been c losed House smoking ban will focus on minors SALEM (AP) — Smoking would bo banned in virtually all places where minors can be present under a bill approved Monday by the House Judiciary Committee The measure was endorsed on a fi-2 vote and now goes to the entire House. The bill, HB3086. would be the broadest expansion of the state’s Indoor Clean Air Act since it was passed in J981. "This is something we can do to help kids now." said the committee chairman. Rep. Del Parks. R-Klamath Falls. He said the tougher taw could ease peer pressure to smoke as well as reduce chil dren's exposure to second hand smoke. Under the bill, smoking would not be permitted in such places as restaurants, airports, arenas, bowling alleys, colleges and business es where minors are employed Smoking still would be allowed in liars and taverns, including bars in restaurants and airports, and in business es that do not employ minors and where minors are not present Stores selling primarily liquor and tobacco also would be exempt from the smoking ban Hotel and motel operators could continue providing rooms for smokers as long as they also had a "reasonable number” of non-smoking rooms available. The ban would not apply to any private residents, includ ing one that also is used for a business. Violators could be fined up to $100. Dick Kosesan. the Oregon lobbyist for the Tobacco Insti tute. said the organization opposes all of the bill. "We've got an Indoor Clean Air Act that works." he said. "This goes too far." Teen doing well after freak accident RICHLAND (AP) —The temperature hart soared into the 90s that day last summer Steve Sharp was working alone on a ram h near this small Pastern Oregon town Something became i logged in the ha\ baler he was operating, so he turned the ix|utpmtmt olf and climbed off the tractor "I was working on the tinier, trying to get the hav out." said Sharp. 1H "All of a sudden, it kicked on and sucked both my arms in." The old hay Iwler that gnawed off his arms still is in the meadow not far from Sharp's home But he barely spares it a glance now. •‘It's just something that happened," he said "It wasn't its fault That's the way it is " Sharp fought the rollers and belts that were moving thousands of revolutions per minute, but he couldn't break free IBs only chance was to allow the machine to cut off his amis, then walk for help "I had to do er," he said "I had to keep turning them so it cut. so I could get loose " Surrendering to the machine never seemed to cross his mind. "No reason to.” Sharp said. "I was still alive and kicking. I was pretty scared, but it was more I was really serious. I knew if I didn't get out of there and up to the house. I'd go the rest of the way through " Finally free, he staggered 300 yards to the house of rancher Steve Saunders. 65 "I lost so much blood, my sight started going." he said. "I started really feeling drowsy. I was hav ing a hard time walking and a hard time seeing." He found Saunders dozing on the couch. "1 kind of hid my arms behind me and woke him up.” he said. “He's kind of old. and I didn't want to scare him too much. I told him. 'My baler chewed my arms off, call 911.'" The Richland Volunteer Ambulance arrived within minute* The < rew sped Sharp to Baker City. about 45 miles away Lmergency room iittendants stabilized the teen liter's condition find in jet led pain killing drugs, then put lum on .1 too mile flight to ()regon Health Schmc es University in Portland for treatment Now. the junior at Pine l.ugle High School is on the mend In Novemlwr. he was lilted with pros thetit arms that have steel rotator hooks for hands Most of the i ost was paid by the slate workers' compensation program Other money < ante from neighbors' donations. "The community has been terrific to stand by us financially in every way possible." said his moth er. Hetty Sharp. 46. Sharp's positive attitude and lack of emotional trauma initially worried experts at Shriners Hos pital. where the teen undergoes physical therapy. They thought he might let repressing his feelings before long, though, everyone agreed Sharp was merely a resilient, stoic young man "He is really incredible," said Kristin Gulick. his occupational therapist. She figures it has something to do with his strong family. "They fish. They hunt. They jump off cliffs into rivers." she said Betty Sharp says her son "is strong headed He's been that way ever since he was born, I guess. Get him aimed in the right direction and it turns out pretty good." The family is also devoutly religious and attends the nearby Nazarene Church that his grandmoth er founded and preached in for years. Lately, Steve Sharp has been thinking about his future. He may become a farm mechanic, like his father, or perhaps a computer graphics ortisl. "I'm still looking around.'' he said. "I'll find some thing I can do. It shouldn't lie too much of M)0 prison bods to the system by reopen ing the closed prisons, keeping the ones targeted for closure by Roberts open, phasing in the 323 empty lieds at Snake River, and funding up to 319 temporary bods. The projected state budget shortfall does mean there won't Ihj any "extras" on the corrections and crime front in 1993. Mamux said. Rut he warned the get-tough-on-< rime i rowd to bo careful in its analysis of the Legislature's achievements. With the budget i rum h. Mannix said, legislators are being "softer on higher education, softer on i omimimtv i olleges. softer on education, softer on human resources "So in that context. I guess we're lieing softer on crime, too. Mannix said Rut. he said. If we bat k away, then I’ll lie the first to si ream, to yell