Ferry Street Bridge expansion needed For nearly five years. city officials have debated ways to combat traffic congestion on Ferry Street Bridge. It's time to stop talking and start building. Voters will decido whether to support an expanded Ferry Street Bridge on Nov. B Measure 20-23 would authorize the city to expand the bridge to six lanes, with an additional two lanes reserved for pedestrians and bicyclists. About $41 million in state, federal and coun ty money has been earmarked for the $73 million pro ject. Expanding the bridge is a logical wav to utilize public money while making room for Eugene's growing popu lation. in the past to years. Eugene's population nos increased by more than 16.000. With companies such as Sony and Semantic locating in Eugene and Springfield, the population is expected to soar. More people means more cars that Eugene highways can not handle. The Ferry Street Bridge can not accommodate current traffic levels or make room for any population growth. Alternative solutions to an expanded bridge — such as the Mill Street Bridge alternative which would leave the bridge as is but would add a connector for buses, pedes trians and bicyclists — ignore Eugene's increasing pop ulation. Opponents say their solutions would work if we could maintain traffic at its current level. That would moan tolling anyone who moves here to ride their bikes to work, walk to school or ride the bus to the mall. Ide alistically. it would be a great way to halt urbanization. Realistically, it wouldn’t work. People won’t change their habits because a city doesn't want to grow. An expanded bridge is critical for the city to meet police, fire and medical needs. Ambulances traveling over the bridge have difficulty reaching Sacred Heart General Hospital in an adequate respouse time. Traffic congestion is a terrible excuse for poor emergency ser vices. A larger Ferry Street Bridge could improve the vitali ty of downtown, which has lost soveral key businesses during the past 10 years. Businesses would be less like ly to relocate if customers had hotter access to the down town area, which the expanded Ferry Street Bridge would provide. A city of 119.000 people can not continue to function with an inferior infrastructure. We need to recognize this opportunity to expand before it slips away. The fed eral government has devoted $24 million for this pro ject, while tho state and Lane County are chipping in $14 million and $3 million, respectively. That money could disappear within the next year if voters don't pass this measure. It would bo much more painful to fund this expansion, which is going to have to happen soon er or later without earmarked funds. Eugene can not afford to turn its back on growlh if we don't accommodate change, traffic congestion will just be tho start of our problems. Vote yes on Measure 20-23. Oregon Daily Emerald *»0 t»« f UGCht 0«fG0ht’SCj the OtQQOtf /'«■’> Lmurwi tft puN«sl»*vervty o» Or ago-n, f uger>®. Oregon The l aid operates independently oi me Urwarwfy wm offices at Suie 300 of me t rt> Memorial Linton and >» a member of the Associated «»» The [ marakf 1% prrvatn proparty The unlawful removat or uh of papers * preset utaue by t«w Editor in-Chief Kaly Soto Managing Editor Editorial Editor Graphic* Editor F reelence Editor IrvDepth Editor David Thorn Joe Harwood Jtffl Paslsy Aiana Baum Ed Kkjpienstem l Editor Sports Editor Photo Editor Supplements Editor Idght Editor Rebecca Mamn On* Mat/ Met'** SfttfY** T rtsia Noet Kn* Harvy Aaaoctata Editors, Friedahch von Carp. Shxiorn Govmvn*ntActr#b*s. Uarceiene Edwards Commondy-. Trftany Smah. fSgher EdUcahorv Admvusfrahon Maws Staff: Lon Betimes* t. WJson Chan. Amy Columbo. Tasha Eichentehar. Abe E stoned*. Pnmo Fontana, Ciayte Forman. Christopher Foi. Mar Gallon. Gary Gras*. Sarah Henderson. Km Henry. Trevor Kew/ney Adam Kmch*». Mar* Me Tyro Ben Moefru*. Ann® Momt KornhScl. Sherry FWwy Robt-e (Wa, l Advertising Director Mark Walter Production Manager kfccheto Boss Advertising: Marco Ch*ng. Tony Fo*. Er»n Harsher. N fee! 11 inches tall with dark brown to almost black hair that is somewhat long I would like to hear from all those with n sincere heart Please write: * Sean It KunningKagle #71847 Arizona State Prison-Florence P C) Bos 8600 Florence. A7. 85232 I don’t have much of an income, and I would really appret iate a little help with the postage stamps so that I will In* able to respond to your letters Sean B RunntngEagle Death Row Inmate Big bad money On Friday, the Environmental Quality Commission voted 5-0 to adapt a set of rules which will determine the implementation of the 1991 Oregon Recycling Act. Even though the act had support (it passed unanimously through both houses of the Leg islature). the plastics industry has been lobbying to weaken the proposed rules. This victory for recycling in Oregon was celebrated by OSPIRG. which delivered more than 800 “messages in a bottle" to the commissioners from peo ple all over the state. The mes sages stated that Oregon should be a national leader in plastics recycling, not creating loopholes for an industry. They urged commissioners to resist the self interested demands of the plas tic industry. The messages were put into plastic bottles to sym bolize the plastics issue. Many students rallied before the meeting nt Portland State University. Joining the rally was Dick Springer, state senator. About 35 OSPIRG students attended the meeting, and some let the commissioners know how they felt. It goes to show that voices tan lie stronger than big money. Brie Malarkey Eugene Paying the price This letter is in response to Gayle Forman's column [ODE , Oct 25) indicating that profes sors can "prevent students' buy back woes." How I wish this were more true. I have had to select several textbooks, and it is a difficult procedure made more difficult by incomplete informa tion and publishers' habits. Much of the information giv en us by the publishers makes no mention of the cost So. wo may read a dozen reviews, then select two or three for further review The sample copies come, again with no price. We select the text that seems best for the class. What happens to the rejected texts' Too often they sit unused in our offic es because the pub lisher has no easy return policy. The end result is that YOU pay for other people's unused texts! When the selection is given to the Bookstore, again there is no price given. The whole proce dure can happen with the pro fessor having no idea how much the book costs. I'm not trying to limit our responsibility for textbook choice. However, the best way to get people to make better decisions is to make it easier for them to do so. Pressure on the publishers to provide return postage and informing professor of the prices would help. Being able to use the Bookstore for information about changes in the new editions would help. There are a lot more of you than there are of us. If you want change, help us help you by pushing and nudging businesses and institutions, not professors. Barbara DoFlhppo GTF Psychology Cyanide works Larry Haftl's commentary on Ballot Measure Ifi demonstrates a limited understanding of 1 assisted suicide. The argument I hear most often from propo nents is related to the "right” to die and the idea that this mea sure would ensure that basic right to everyone. What this measure would do is grant immunity from Oregon homicide laws for a certain class of professionals. What most peo ple don’t realize is that doctors are not now, and have never been, trained to assist patients in ending their lives. Currently, the only drugs available to physicians to pre scribe in aiding suicidal patients are barbiturates and a substance called Sercolen. The body's reaction to these drugs does nothing to provide the patient with a peaceful exit, as they commonly cause profuse vomit ing and convulsions and, occa sionally, death. Many who attempt to over dose on these drugs will vomit the poison and will, at best, experience abdominal cramp ing. At worst, they will lx; loft in a vegetative state. Ballot Mea sure lf> doesn’t even give us the option of ending life "graceful ly and with dignity." as Larry llaftl writes. Those who seek suicide are better able to do themselves in than a doctor is. Though suicide is an unfortunate occurrence, any person can obtain lethal gas from a welding supply shop, or a mask and tubing from a home medial supplier. If people really want their death wish to l)e legitimized by a class of professionals, perhaps they should consider veterinari an-assisted suicide. At least vet erinarians are trained to dis pense with large mammals quickly and efficiently. Until the government allows doctors to dispense cyanide tablets to the population (don't count on it), the peaceful death envisioned by many as the promise of this measure is sim ply misleading. If you have any questions about this issue, please attend the public forum Thursday at 7 p.m. in Room 302 Gerlinger. Kirsten Parmeter Sociofogy