Oil price-fixing suit settled; Oregon gets $8 million
LOS ANGELES (AP) - California.
Washington. Oregon and Arizona and
thoir lawyer* will «hnr« $140 million
from oil companies in the settlement of a
price-fixing suit approved by a federal
judge
II S District Judge A. Wallace Tashima
granted the states' request Tuesday to
approve distribution of the money to pro
grams related to transportation and ener
gy use The judge had previously n< i;ept
ed the stales' argument that offering small
refunds to millions of gasoline buyers
would be impractical.
Tlie suit, filed in 1977. accused major
oil companies of conspiring lo fix ihe
prices of gasoline and other oil products
and of contriving o shortage of gasoline in
the early 1970s to justify raising prii.es
The settlement accepted by seven com
panios contained no finding of wrongdo
ing The companies involved are
Chevron. Mobil. Shell, AKCO. Unocal.
Texaco and Exxon.
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California, which was allocated $H1
million, will use it for earthquake safety
reinforcement and repairs of nridgas and
highway overpasses, said Deputy Attor
ney General Thomas Greene He said $4 6
million has been set aside for the Golden
Gate bridge and the rest will be shared
among various projects around the state
"We were trying to provide a benefit
to motorists, people who bought gaso
line." Greene said "This seemed to lie a
fairly focused and efficient way to do it "
Oregon also plans to use most of its $H
million share for transportation projects.
About S7 million will be allotted in
grants for such programs as transporta
tion of the elderly and school children,
drug and alcohol education, smog reduc
tion. road repair and public transit, sold
Attorney General Ted Kulongoski.
The remainder of the settlement, about
$.10 million, is to be divided among pub
lic and private lawyers representing the
states
Packwood claims
poll results ignored
KOSKBURC SAP) Sen Bob Packwood says ho's paying liltli!
attention to » new poll suggesting his standing with Oregon voters
has improved.
"If you live or die by the polls, you're going to die a thousand
deaths before you're out of this business." Packwood said Tuesday
during a visit to The News firvie** newspaper
As a Senate Ethics Committee investigation of Packwood nears
its second year. 47 percent of those polled said the Oregon Republi
can should resign and 4H percent said he shouldn't. By compari
son. f>2 percent urged him to quit in a poll taken last February.
The new poll was conducted by Davis and Hibbitts, Inc. of Port
land for The Oregon inn and KATll-TV and has a margin of error of
plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The Senate Elbit s Committee has been probing allegations Pack
wood made improper sexual advances to women and tried to get lob
byists to hire his ex-wife so his alimony payments would go down.
No date has linen set for a hearing on the allegations.
Packwood said poll results showing only 25 percent would prob
ably support him if he runs for the Senate again are too early to he
significant
"I don't run until he said. "Anybody who looks at the polls
a year out. let alone four years out. and says, ‘Well, that's it, that’s
what the polls say.' is more likely fooling themselves.”
Though Packwood's i urrent visit to his home state hasn't attract
ed the crowds of reporters and protesters that previous visits have,
the senator said he still doesn't have the issue behind him.
"It will not lx- over until the ethics committee is done, and I don't
know when that will be," he said.
Pat kwood also toured the Roseburg Forest Products Co. mill and
had a question-and answer session with workers None of the work
ers brought up the sexual misconduct investigation
Pm kwood did address a wide range of other subjects, including
the 1.1.S. military presence in Haiti
"I don't understand why we're there,'' he said. "If the standard is
anytime you don't like someone's government, you send in troops to
change it. there ire a number of countries that come to mind And
Cuba would be on top of the list."
He also predicted that President Clinton would become so fed up
with the threat of lawsuits over his Northwest forest plan that, by
next year, he would opt for language that would make the plan
immune from future legal challenges.
Par kwood said that if the Nov H election were held today. Repub
licans would gain control of the Senate.
Hut he noted that many rates where polls show Republicans in the
lead normally tend to tighten as election day nears
Deer overrun Oregon town,
create nuisance for residents
JACKSONVILLE (AP) — Deer
are overrunning this picturesque
town in rural southern Oregon.
Residents are demanding
ac tion, and officials an* scratch
ing their heads
"All the plants we’ve had,
they've ruined," said Corrine
HeLau. who saw her tiger lilies,
geraniums and begonias disap
pear "They'll eat roses to the
ground."
Her husiiand. Harry BoLau, cir
culated a petition last August
demanding the city council take
ac tion to remove (lie deer
The city council assigned the
job to Police Chief David To we.
Hut he's at a loss
It wouldn't he safe to bring
hunters into town to sturt shoot
ing. and the Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife isn't w ild
about the idea of trying to round
them up.
"It would Ire a dangerous and
time-consuming operation," said
Mere Wolfer, an assistant wildlife
biologist for the department
Since shooting and firearms are
banned within city limits,
"There's no way to control the
deer population," he said.
Towe said the deer pose a
public: safety problem as well.
Several deer have been hit hy
cars, and it's just a matter of
time Indore a driver is hurt
"We now have reported sight
ings of cougars in the downtown
area," he added.
beer have probably come into
town looking for food and water
because a decade of drought has
left little to eat in the forest,
Wolfer said
Ashland and Shady Cove, also
in Jui kson County, have had
similar nroblems for several
years, he added. Shady Cove
passed an ordinance prohibiting
residents from feeding deer,
which makes the deer hang
around.
Not everyone wants the deer
run out of town.
"If I have to choose between
the roses and the deer. I'd choose
the deer," JoAnnu Elias said.
Retired forester Rick Schwab
is angry he had to spend two
years building a 6-foot-tall fern e
to protect his tomatoes, roses
and petunias.
“Why should I have to protect
my property from a wild animal
in an incorporated city?" he
asked