Oregon Daily
TUESDAY. OCTOBER 26, 1993
EUGENE, OREGON
VOLUME 95, ISSUE 40
A different perspective
AN THONY t G«Nt y t
Marie Raney, a graduate student in architecture, uses a pen to gam perspective while
working on an assignment to draw doors and vestibules lor her media class
Police arrest man
for abducting girl
j OPS cites a man
for trespassing hours
before he kidnaps a
2-year-old girl
By Rebecca Merritt
Ac all to the University Of fit r
of Public Sitfetv late Friday night
may have stopped a man who
kidnapped a Z-year-old girl m
south Kugene from committing
additional i rimes on t atupus, the
()PS direr tor s.ntl
A 1 hmersity t uslodi.tn i ailed
OPS at 11 17 p ill Friday after
spotting a suspicious looking
man using a restroom in the edu
cation building, OPS director
Carey Drayton said I he man,
Christopher Rav Hare, -1. was
cited for trespassing and was
forced off campus by public safe
Iv offit iats
Drayton said Hare has a con
siderable t riminal record and
apparently entered the hnilding
through doors left unlocked by
custcHlians
"If he hadn't been identified,
lie may have committed some
crime on campus,” Drayton said
H;ire was arrested hv Kugene
pole o offii it' si\ hour1. Inter fur
ahituclmg n two year old girl
from her home ue.it tilth Avenue
.mil VVillmnette Street, s.iiil I'mi
Hirr. inforniiition director for the
Kugelio < Mix e ol Puhlit S.detv
Ai i ordiug to polo e reports.
I hire broke into the south I ugeoe
home .irourul I a in , taking the
girl, a jar lull ol coins and a hlan
ket I he girl s parents awoke to
find their daughter missing and
both the front door and a will
dins open
Short I v after the girls lather
reported the kidnapping. Hirr
said polii e offn ers found a dllf
lei hag near Nth Avenue and
Donald Street i ontaming the fam
ily's i om jar. pu lures of naked,
pre adolesi on) girls and Hare s
identifii alum Offii ers stopped
a pedestrian on ,'t5th Avenue and
Willamette who said his name
was C ihnstopher I hire hut said In
ditin'! know anything about the
kidnapping
Polii e dogs'that wore let loose
hi Ihe area found the girl in a
vacant lot lying on the ground
one hour after she was abducted
Turn to KIDNAPPING. Page 3A
Tozer will not appeal
jury’s verdict for city
□ Former University student won't continue
efforts to hold city responsible for accident
By Freya Horn
For irm Oregon Oatly C merau.1
When Tiano Tozer filed a lawsuit against the city of Eugene, she
wanted justice, she said. Instead, she said she faced an uphill battle
against "a bunch of bunk."
Tozer said she does not at this point plan to appeal last Friday's
Lane County Circuit Court jury verdict. The 12-member jury found
the city not guilty of negligence in its inspection and maintenance of
traffic sign visibility, and absolved it of any liability for a vehicle acci
dent that left Tozer severely injured.
"Right now, I'm just relieved it's over." Tozer said from her home
in Point Richmond, (alif. "It's been five-and-a-half years (since the
accident), and now I just want to get on with my life."
In May 1988, Juan Mejia's tar crashed into the Volvo station wag
on in which Tozer was a passenger after he ran a stop sign at the inter
section of Harris Street and East 23rd Avenue. Tozer. who was not
wearing a seat belt, was injured when at least one of the vehicles
ran over her logs after she was thrown from the car
Both had just attended a University rugby game. Mejia as an on
looker in the bleachers and Tozer as a player on the rugby team
Mejia was arrested in August 1988. He pleaded not guilty and
was convicted in April 1989 for assault and drunken driving He has
repeatedly claimed he did not see the stop sign in time to halt because
a tree's branches were obscuring it.
Tozer filed her lawsuit against the city in the spring of 1990, the
same year she named u bachelor's degree in political science and
romance languages from the University, despite undergoing exten
sive surgery.
While relieved the three-week trial has ended, Tozer said she is
disappointed by the jury's decision
"I still hold Mr. Mejia accountable and always did,” she said. “1
even hold myself accountable for not wearing a seat belt. But I think
the city should share in the responsibility for this accident."
In representing the city. Eugene lawyer Jens Schmidt said the ac
cident was caused solely by Mejia's intoxication and excessive speed
He told the jury Mejia was not a credible witness because he had
repeatedly lied to police officers and had two prior drunken dri
ving convictions.
The city "can't make our streets safe for alcohol-impaired drivers,"
Turn to TOZER. Page 4A
Barred IFC member to file complaint
□ IFC official is asked to leave
curriculum committee meeting
By Edward Kloplensteln
Oogu i Otwy Emerald
An Incidental Fee Committee member plans
to file a complaint for being barred from an (Jet.
13 meeting of the Assembly Committee on Mul
ticultural Curriculum.
A week later, an assistant to the president
suggested committee meetings should be open.
Preston Cannon, appointed two weeks ago
and new to the University this term, was asked
to leave the meeting because the group was now
and needed privacy to get to know one another,
said Professor Davison Sopor, president of the
University Senate
Soper, though not u member of the group,
filled in as acting chairman for the Oct. 13
meeting because no chairman had yet been
selected.
Cannon disagrees with Soper and believes
the meeting should be open, especially for such
important issues as the multicultural curricu
lum.
"If I don't know as a person of color what the
committee is about, then that’s a problem,"
Cannon said. "That was not the reputation (of
ethnic diversity) that I was sold on (when I
came to the University)."
Cannon later said. "I didn’t go looking for
this. It just hit me in the face. (Soper) never said
anything personal to attack me, but he wasn’t
cordial. I felt like he was saying, Who is this
guy?' and Get him out of here ' I am not happy
with what happened and I want an apology."
The IFC member also said he wants to see a
greater emphasis on advertising if the meeting
is open or closed. Cannon said he is planning to
file his protest with the Office of Student Advo
cacy within the next few weeks.
Last week, an adviser to the University
provost said future meetings should be open.
Peter Swan, assistant to the president for
legal affairs, looked up state law and found
ACMC’s meetings do fall under the Oregon
Open Meetings luuv Ho was asked to look at
the policy by the University provost.
The ACMC will meet Wednesday at 11:30
a m. in Room 100 Friendly.
Cannon was invited to the meeting by Diane
Collins Puente. ASUO vic e president and mem
ber of the committee. Collins Puente will he
adding a statement to the complaint as a wit
ness.
"When I walked in that room, mouths
dropped in that meeting." Cannon said.
All of the members of the committee were
quiet when the pair walked in. with Soper star
ing directly at them. Collins Puente said.
" 'So what you’re saying is you're asking him
to leave?' ” Collins Puente quoted herself as
saying.
Soper then said, "Yes." (jjllins Puente said.
Cannon was then quoted by Collins Puente ns
wishing the members a good, productive meet
ing and then leaving.
None of the other committee members said
anything during die argument.
"The committee is not responsible for what
Dave Soper said But if they had on issue with
it. they should have looked up at what hap
pened (and said something).” she said. "There
wasn't a lot of distractions."
Collins Puente invited Cannon because he
showed interest in the committee's work, she
said.
Collins Puente has been part of the Universi
ty's curriculum changes since the first adhoc
committee (the Multicultural Curriculum Com
mittee) met two years ago to discuss a more eth
nically diverse curriculum.
Collins Puente also was part of last year's
committee, "when all the chaos broke out,” she
said, referring to arguments last year over
whether there should be a multicultural cur
riculum at the University.