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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 28, 1994)
' EDITORIAL Site at Civic better for homeiess camp Although it may be scuttled by a classic caso of "Not In My Backyard" syndrome, a proposal opening a win ter car camp for the homeless at a site in South Eugene should be given serious consideration. The camp, which would be located on the grounds of the Eugene School District’s bus barn alongside Civic Stadium, would be intended to replace the car camp that has boon operated the past two winters in a corner of the Autzen Stadium parking lot, on Centennial Boulevard. The Centennial site, never quite ideal, has nonetheless provided a much-needed service for area homeless who otherwise have nowhere else to go. Many individuals, couples and families havo benefited from the camp, which provides a placo for them to legally pitch their tents and park their cars — a place which provides at . least a minimum degree of permanency, and for some, a sense of community as well. But the Centennial site was never intended to bo per manent, and local residents have been promised that the car camp would be moved as soon as a more suitable site was found. That more suitable site is the bus barn sito at Civic Sta dium. The bus barn location is superior for many reasons, particularly its proximity to the services most needed by homeless individuals soeking to get back on their feel. A short distance away is thaSt. Vincent do Paul First Place Center, a job referral service that also provides day care services to the homeless. Public transit, schools and laundry facilities are much more accessible at the Civic site than at Centennial. And with the possibility of using existing buildings on the sito, the bus barn location might also offer permanent showers and heated central areas for cooking and gathering. I hero are a number of obstacles which may delay or oven prevent the relocation of the car camp to the bus bam site. The school district is not obligated to allow the city to use the space, even though it plans to move its bus maintenance and storage facilities to another loca tion in January. If 4J balks at the Idea — Superintendent Margaret Nichols has said that the car camp could move to the bus bam only temporarily, If at all — then the plan is dead in the water. And. according to the deed, the land in question may only be used for recreational purposes, which the car camp admittedly is not. But neither is the bus bam, and nobody raised a fuss about that before. Some neighbors of Civic Stadium have expressed opposition to the plan, predictably. Some undoubtedly perceive the homeless as dangerous or destructive or otherwise undesirable. That stigma has been largely dis pelled by those campers who have lived at the Centen nial camp in the past two years. During both years of operation at Centennial, the car camp experienced no significant police problems and no physical damage was done to the site. There is no reason to believe that the Civic Stadium location would experi ence such problems, either. Neighbors of the proposod site at Civic who oppose the camp's relocation should get out of the way and just lot it happen. A car camp is needed this winter, and after that’s established, year-round. Bemoaning the fad that it’s going to be in your neighborhood is selfish and mere ly ignores tho real need for the camp — a need which would be bettor served by the bus barn location than the site at Autzen Stadium. Oregon Daily Emerald p O BO i n-.-i f uuf »«f 0«f GO* • 4.1 ’he Oagon Oally tm»« « pubirshed cvM> Monday ihrough F-rdsy during m« school y«a> and Tuesday and Thursday during lha summe' by lha Oregon Daily ffmeraid Pubkah.nn Co Inc . at lha Urvverarty ol Dragon. Eugene. Oregon The I mo.aid ope.ales ndependenny ol (ha ltn.vers.ty wih oltcas at Suae 300 ol lha tit) Momonal lireon and i a mamba, ol the Assocudsd Press Tha Emerald i» private property The uivlawlul .amovai ouwol papery » prosacutaW# by lav. Editor: Kaly Solo Aaaoclata Editors Mag Dadoiph U Sstacca Dawi Thom Photo Editor: AAchoai Slender Night Editor: Kaly Soto General Manager: Judy Red Advertising Director Mart Wane. Production Manager: AAcheie Row Advertising Brian Davis. Tony Tor, Jen Mar,on luhchaai AAitette Classified Becky Merchant. Manager Business: Kathy Carbone. Supervisor Distribution: John Long, f aranc Rwrocn Production: Dee McCobb. Prmuclw Coordnekv Tara Gaultney Newsroom..—.-MB-Mtt Display Advertising .MMTtl Business OHtce..........MB-U12 Ctaesmed Advertising.)B MU &XX> MBS to **> V^EUMC 46 XW KNOKM IT AMQ qShVM V***** M V* KMO* «tL OPINION Custody case evokes 1950s Gayle Forman Welcome lo the wonder ful world of the 1950s It's such a nice place for a family to he Every day, professional hubby sets off to work to earn a living while mommy stays home and watch es the kids Home was where mommy belonged. That's what everyone said. She went to high school and even college so she could be well-educated and thus make a good wife She didn't study physics in college because young women wens discouraged from studying such academic subjects as they wore seen as "manly." and an unseemly thing for a future wife and mother to do. While in college, the young woman studied home econom ic s and child psychology It was imperative that she leave college with the skills that would make her the housewife supreme. Once married and a mother, the wife was told over and over again that her place was at home with her family. She was fed helpful tips on how to Iwittle her children's bed-wetting problems or how lo serve up the perfect dinner party It was drilled into her pretty little head that her life should revolve around hor fami ly. and that nothing else could or should matter as much. But those days of June Cleaver are thankfully liohind us. In our modern times, many a woman works in whatever field she chooses. No longer tied to the kitchen, we can go where we want and do what we want. We have even found a way to marry our careers and families. With the wonders of day care, today's family woman can have kids and bring home some bacon of her own. But on Monday. July 26. a cir cuit judge in Michigan made it dear that the 1950s feminine mystique is still upon us. Jen nifer Ireland, a 19-year-old col lege student, lost custody of her 3-year-old daughter. She didn't lose custody because she heat her child or left her home alone. She was not found to l>e an unfit parent in any way. She lost cus tody of her daughter Maranda because the child attended day care while her mother went to classes The judge granted cus tody to the paternal grandmoth er. who is a self-described housewife The child's parents were never married. With the pound of a gavel, the judge has erased 30 years of the female struggle to reconcile her role as both mother and profes sional. During the 1960s. women fought to establish their roles in society as more than the baby-maker. It wasn't that women preferred children over careers; they wanted both. But historically the role of childhoarer has carried with it the responsibility of child rearer Women found themselves in a paradoxical situation. They wanted children but they also wanted the freedom to do more with their lives than raise chil dren. Women had to sever the leash that hound them to their duties as mother. Children need ed care Working mothers could not provide care. Out of the women's liberation movement grew the revolutionary idea of child ( are. Women could work and they could have a family. Day care centers started popping up and today they have become a necessity for many families This decision negates so much that women have strug gled for and sends a dangerous message: Mothers should stay at home with their children. Moth ers who choose to do otherwise will lose their children. By living with her mother and attending child care, the judge wrote that Muranda would be "in essence raised and super vised a great part of the time by strangers." Never mind that Maranda sees the same children and caretaker daily, thus build ing relationships with them. Never mind that studies have found that day care centers can help children to better develop their social skills. The scores of psychological studies touting the benefits of day care wore conveniently forgotten as the judge planted his foot firmly in 1950s family values. But the real travesty here is the message being sent to young women across the country. Ire land had her child when sho was in high school. She didn’t drop out of high school and become a welfare mother. She finished school and got herself a scholarship to the University of Michigan. She balanced her studies with her family by enlisting the services of a day care center. Some conservatives in this country are wagging their fat fin gers at welfare mothers. It is the young, unwed welfare mother who is sapping off the country's welfare system, they say. They claim that these unwed mothers prefer to remain unmarried and have children for the sole pur pose of mooching this country's wealth. Jennifer Ireland is a young unwed mother who is not on welfare but in college, trying to make a life for herself and her child. And her reward for her efforts' She loses her child. Talk about a double edged sword. What Jennifer Ireland is trying to do for herself anil her child deserves applause. She should bo put on a pedestal and parad ed around in front of all young welfare mothers as an example of what they can accomplish. She can help show young moth ers that having a child does not have to mean a dead-end life of poverty. She is the shining example of what a successful welfare system would produce. Instead of encouraging single mothers to better their lives and the lives of their children, the judge's order sends the opposite message. This decision presents women with an either or choice — child or job. That is a choice no woman should ever have to make again. Gayle Foreman will be a columnist for the Emerald in the fall
