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‘)
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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.
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