' 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
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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