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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 21, 1994)
COMMUNITY Code’s revision would alter city’s discrimination law By Kim Stephenson l ot Irw Oepon l < *> l mera*cl The Eugene Human Rights Commission conducted its second and final public hearing on a proposed revision to current city law Tuesday evening. The revision, if approved, would prohibit discrimination based on sex ual orientation and source of income. The revision has been drafted primarily to update and clarify the language of the present law, which was writ ten in 1975. said HRC member and bearing chair George Russell. According to URG research, Eugene's < ivil rights laws are more limited than state and federal laws In addition, the commission conducted a volunteer survey in 1993 whi« h concluded that discrimination based on race, reli gion. color, sex. national origin, marital status, familial status, age. sexual orientation, source of income and dis ability does exist in Eugene, said Mary Feldman, n mem ber of the Human Rights Commission The current code prohibits disi rimination based on mi e. religion, color, sex. national origin, marital status and mental or physical disability The proposed revision includes additions of familial status, expunged juvenile record, ussoi iation with someone who is covered by non discrimination laws, sexual orientation and source of income. The proposed revision states. "The ini liision of fa rnilinl status, sexual orientation and soune of incoma in these code provisions is not intended to and shall not be interpreted to establish or require affirmative attion or quotas of any kind " Sexual orientation is defined by the proposed city tixfe os "actual or perceived heterosexu ality. homosexuality or bisexuality." Approximately 22 of the 50 Eugene residents in at tendance provided public testimony to the commission The majority of public comment* were in support of the proposed city code, while four to five residents opposed the revision. One of the supporters of the new city code was Oni ric Swanson C.ribskov, a i andidate for City Count il and a University of Oregon dm tornl student in special educa tion T want to live in a city where everyone is treated w itii ros[HH.l." Swanson-Crinskov said. Among the Eugene residents in Opposition to the pro posed revision was I’atti Duni an. director of the l-ane County Oregon Citizens Alliance Duncan argued the revision violates the Constitution of the United States by disallowing property owners the religious freedom to deny housing to gay men and lesbians Polly Nelson of the Ameru an Civil Liberties Union voiced her support for the passing of the cits code Nel son said her office has received many complaints con cerning sexual orientation discrimination One case in volved a heterosexual man who was perceived to lx- gas by <»-workers and consequently fired because of the image associated with hi* plan* of employment. said Nelson Another addition proposed by the commission is the development and implementation of a city mediation program When civil rights complaints i nnnot be re solved by the Human Rights Commission, it is proposed the parties involved be forwarded to a mediator before filing with the Bureau of !.abor and Industry Currently. complaints unresolved by the Commission are directly filed with the bureau, which is a lengthy, bureaucratic process Creg Kvans. a representative of the Oregon and Wash ington conferenc es of the NAAQ’. was also n supporter of the reviser! city t ode Evans only concern was the i on tinued reliance on the Bureau of Uibor and Industry for enforcement of non-discrimination laws In his ex perience as an advoc ate for the African-American com munity. he has found the bureau to he unresponsive to minority issues. The Human Rights Commission will review public, tes timony on the revised non-disi rimination city code on May 1? at City Hall. The Commission hopes to forward its recommendations to the ( itv Come il bv May .El The hearing on May 17 will be open to the public. though no public comments will lx- beard. Anyone wishing to com ment on the proposed city c ode may contact the Human Rights Commission prior to April 2‘) LPG on Campos Oeskiap fibmmng and taknora iertftn Cal 34*4381 UdKOMNIEM \ •tea Ml» S4I HoilO>«rMiy and then there were none ronrjit* of our vanishing species, a photographic presentation bv Susan Middletoi David Luttsohwagcr I riday. April 22, 7:20pm 1 15 I..ovrenvr. U of O 246-5006 Honda asks court to overturn $5.7 million judgment WASHINGTON (AP) Fighting a $5.7 million iudgmunt in an all-terrain vehicle wri*t k, Hmuia Motor Co. asked the Supreme (knirt on Wednesday to strike down an Ore gon law that bars judges from reducing juries' punitive-damage awards. 'F.ven a well-meaning |ury can make a mistake," Andrew Frey, representing Honda, tolil the justices during oral arguments Wednesday "Thu question is whether you have a right to judicial review of a jury verdict that is viewed excessive'" ho said "It is a right that has existed for centuries." The case involving Karl Oberg of Salem, Ore., marks the third time in recant years the high court has been asked to n>in in multi milliondollar punitive damage awards in civil suits. The i ourt refused to do so in 1991 and 1993. Oberg was granted $5.7 million in dam ages from Honda after his three-wheel all terrain vehicle overturned on an embank ment in October 1985. The vehicle landed on Oberg's head. < ausing multiple broken bones and brain damage The award included $5 million in puni tive damages intended to punish Honda and two of its II S subsidiaries for selling an unsafe product Hondo appealud, but a state appeals court said it hod no authority to redui <> the award ami the Orison Supreme Court agreed Honda argues Oregon has been violating tlie U S Constitution for 84 years by refusing to allow state judges to reduce big |urv ver dicts — including the award to Oberg already upheld by Oregon courts. The auto- and motorcycle maker says bar ring |udges from reviewing the size of puni tive damage awards violates its federal due process rights. "We get no judge to examine whether the verdict conforms with substantive law." Trey said Wednesday. Hut 1-nurence Tribe, a Harvard law profes sor representing Oberg, told the Supreme Court, "No argument whatever has been offered to show they hove a right to review by a judge after a verdict to ensure compli ance with state law." Tribe said damage awards are reviewed if a judge determines there was no evidence to support the award or if the instrui tions to the jury were faulty. The Oregon law only stipulates that a judge "won't re-examine a fai t found by a jury." he said In addition, Tril*- said that a judge has the option of instructing a jury beforehand to limit damages at a certain level Hut Justice Antonin Scalia said it was much more difficult to tell a judge to "pick a number" before the verdict than it was to review a verdict and "say afterwards this is too much. "You’re asking them to define obscenity rather than rocogni/.e it when they see it." Srelia said. Tribe said the Oregon judges acted cor re< tly in leaving the damage award in the hands of the jury. "They don't want to substitute their judg ment as long as the jury was acting lawful ly," Tribe said. "How much is too much?" he said. “Cross excess is relative... Excess comparod to what? Nothing is excess in itself." No payment has been made to Oberg, but the money is gathering 9 percent interest in escrow, which will make the jury award sub stantially larger if Oberg prevails. At the trial. Honda tried to suppress Con sumer Product Safety Commission docu ments saying that throe-wheeled all-terrain vehicles were to blame for 1,000 deaths and 300,000 injuries in five years. ATVs are now available in the United States only in four-wheeled models. The issue now. however, is not the safety of the machines but the right of a state to decide how much trust should be placed in a jury. Tribe said ‘Let’s Do Lunch’ offers dating service for Seattle’s lonely and hungry SEATTLE (AP) — Whal to do for lunch? You have to eat. but you don't really want to l** alone in a crowded restaurant or wan der downtown streets in the ruin. "Lunch is a lonely time." says Evan Shopper, founder of a new dating servir o that may offer a solution to single business peo ple crying into a soggy tuna sandwich when it's that time of day. The six-month-old company, Let’s Do Lunch (The Non-Daie Lunch Date), is on the cutting edge of the ‘90s doting scene, said Shopper. His service sets up lunch dates for downtown business people looking for someone nice. and something long term, but aren't up for the pressure of a "meat market." After all, lunt h is i usual, by daylight rather than i andlelight. noncommittal and only an hour long. "You don't have to think of graceful exits when you have to get back to work," the 26 year-old St. Louis, Mo trans plant said. And Let's l)o Lunch is run by someone who isn't far out of the dating trenches himself, who tan offer advice on the '90s dat ing scene to men and women who often haven't been on a date in 10. 20 or 30 years. "These people are in their 30s and 40s or older and they’re jus! as confused about these things as everyone else." Shopper said "They think of me as some kind of dating expert." he said. Shopper makes no promises about finding true love and fire works for his clients My philosophy is that no one can predict the chemistry that exists between two people." he said "I just try to determine if they're even going to t>e friends to start with,” Shopper avoids getting involved in the romantic fum blings of his clients, although he will steer the bewildered in the right direction, he said. Clients invariably call Shopper after a "good lunch," wondering; if they should call the other per son how long they should wait before calling how many times should they call before getting the hint? The credentials of this match maker who has never used a dat ing service himself? Merely the brains behind a good idea. The college English major was hav ing lunch downtown with a friend a year ago when inspira tion struck He figured lots of people are lonely, lots of people eat lunch alone, and decided to combine the two. After all. everyone has to eat lunch. GRAND OPENING OFFER IBM CLONES • 486 DX-33__$1,459 • 486 0X2-66 Rocket ...$1,929 Special Orders Available including Mac. IBM Amiga Softwaie, Ha/dwa/e AoownonM DOUBLE EAGLE CUSTOM COMPUTERS 953-0016 $10 For 18 holes with current UO Student I.D. OAKWAY GOLF 2000 Cal Young Rd • 484 1927
