VIEWPOINTS
EDITORIALS. OPINIONS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Mother Nature can kill;
need laws to save lives
■ OUR OPINION: Outdoor
enthusiasts, taxpayers
need mountain climbing
regulations
As this goes to print, two
University students are still
missing somewhere on the
North Sister
()nlv a month after bad
weather kept searchers from
combing Ml I loot) to find
the relative of a Nike execu
tive. storm conditions atop
the Sisters mountains have
search organizers clinging to
hope but fearing the worst
for HI year-olds Frank Allard
and Michael K Gases
For lunprepared out
door sports enthusiast, and
even for professionals, the
constantly changing moods
anti weather patterns of
Mother Nature make the
mountain a most unforgiv
ing foe
Mt ifood has a reputation
for being as treacherous as it
is beautiful The formidable
mountain reaches some
10.400 plus feet into the
oxygen-thin air above the
valley floor around Portland.
About two vears ago a
Corvallis man tried to climb
a six tion of Mt flood all In
himself.
Attempting to asi end the
mountain solo was his first
mistake
lie knew lie was in trouble
when just putting one foot in
front of the other bei ame an
exhausting chore.
I in situation detailotated
to the point that he could go
no further. It looker) as if the
de< eptively beautiful mimn
tain might c laim yet another
victim.
That is. until he r ailed his
wife and the sheriff's office
on his cellular phone.
He was rescued In ground
searchers and a military
helicopter.
All hough thu climber
used poor judgment in trv
ing to conquer the mountain
by himself, he saved his life
by pai king his phone.
As mountain climbing
and other potentially dan
gerous outdoor sports con
tinue to grow in popularity,
so does the related number
of accidents. Injuries and
deaths,
The sad reality is that
many of these situations
could be avoided through
the mandatory implementa
tion of life-saving tec hnoio
gy sue h as cell phones and
personal lot ator devices.
Hut the time for talk has
passed.
It's time to make cell*
phones, (rat king devices,
and survival training
mandatory for climbers of
all skill levels These are
solid ideas that will, most
importantly, save lives The
added benefit is that tax
payers will not be required
to repeatedly foot the
search-ami rest tie bill every
time someone is lost on one
of Oregon's many moun
tains
Currently, forest services
for several mountains have
personal locator dev ices (bat
c limbers and hikers c an
choc k out fur their outing.
Hut the equipment is issued
on a "use it if you want to"
basis.
It's time for the forest ser
vice to enfori e a polic y of
"use the trai king device if
you want to experience the
mountain."
With technology suc h as
infrared sc aiming (used by
military and law enforce
ment agencies) that can
detect body heat, locator
devices that transmit a sig
nal during emergencies, and
cell-phone availability,
there is no longer an exc use*
for the loss of a life.
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Activism better than voter registration
It's amazing how the trials and tribulations of
Huh "( oim* on I-wannalove-va I’m kwood are
being turned into an advantage for so many peo
ple The latest beneficiary appears to he student
government Were it not for the January election
to fill Pack wood s wh ant seat, the ASUO would
not have an ext use to mount a "last’s all register
to vote and feel good” campaign
The voter registration campaign is a no-hram
er when it comes to making students fuel like
they at tually have a voit e in government. It
t osts nothing hut a few minutes to register, it
makes the person registering leel good about
themselves and the total numimr registered can
l>e displayed by the ASUO os proof that it is
actually doing something (resides giving away
money from student fees.
Personally. 1 would rather the ASUO office
focus on giving away the money or on looking
for programs that at tually have some useful hen
Bin aua< nea voter registration
drives, as pnw ticed on this
campus, are worse than a fan o,
they are deceptions Please
note that 1 limited my com
ment to drives on this campus
Voter registration drives in
the South and in the inner
ones of the North played an
important part in the civil
rights struggles of the 1950s.
fiOs ant) 70s. Such drives went
« nil nilllip UVJIIC7 iU IllN
lorn allv disenfranchised minorities Along with
registration came political education and pro
motion of minority candidates Were it not for
such drives, many of those i nadidates would
never have Ix-eu elm ted to of fit e and Amern .1
would have been the poorer for it.
In comparison, the ASUO voter registration
drive targets University students, the over
whelming majority of whom are not ethnic or
racial minorities Nor are they historically dis
enfranchised Worse yet. the ASUO drive offers
no polite al edui at ion None Not even the most
minimal and non-partisan evaluation of the i an
didates The emphasis is on getting as many
people registered as possible It s as if the very
act of registering is supposed to improve soci
otv
Sorry folks, d just doesn't work that way. To
bring about real change requires an on-going
dialogue with our elet ted representatives. Vot
ing onee every two years is little more than an
ineffet tual feel-good exert ise If you doubt this,
look at the real differences the 1994 national
elections have made.
The Repuhlit ans got to la- the majority in both
Houses of f.ongress. took over the reins of power
and prompth set out to reward all their sptx.tai
interest contributors with government give
fifi
Voter registration drives, as
practiced on this campus, arc
noise than a farce, they are
deceptions.
-
aways. Tint
Democrats
used to give
their special
interest con
tributors a lot
of goodies, and
now it's tlH>
Republicans'
turn. And
while both parties publicly battle over the
crumbs spent on social programs, they both go
on giving away enormous grants to their sp<x ial
interest contributors. Oh-blah-dee oh-blah-da.
life grass on.
No matter whom you elect, the net result is
going to 1m* very much the same They are going
to spend a lot of their time working on getting
re-elected or in raising money to get re-elected
And they are going to be part of a system that
will continue to give huge chunks of money to
special interest groups The best you can hope
for. il you are not one of those special interests,
is that whoever get-s elected will at least listen t<>
vou if you speak up on any issues. And that is
w here the on-going dialogue comes in.
"Special interests" are people and organiza
tions that have the money to hire lobbyists to
continually deluge elected officials and their
staffs with information, l-obbyists essentially do
little more than talk to elected offu nils at ovorv
opportunity in an effort to get those offic mis to
vote on Dills that favor the lobbyists' employers
The latest lobbyist tactic is to hire telemarket
ing firms to call registered voters and sell the
voters on calling their representatives to pro
mote the lobbyists' uses Apparently, it is a
very sun essful tactic, and while there seems to
1m* something inherently wrong about it. the tac
tics success offers a possible tool to affect
change.
*
Instead of focusing on voter registration, why
not focus on voter organization ' Why not help
people form telephone circles that engage in on
going communication with elected representa
tives about issues' Why not help form a student
issues calling clique? I know that student gov
ernment cannot directly engage in partisan poli
tics. but that doesn't mean they can't tell others
how to do it.
Let's face it. Turnout in last year's student
government elei lion show s just how active stu
dents are when it comes to actually voting.
Despite a m ord registration, voter turnout was
less than 14%. and that was for an election that
had an immediate impact on every student's
finances So stop wasting time on a useless voter
registration drive and start spending it on pollti*
1 *>: ''din ini. Mas Ik- the. vcai student luriiimt
w ill get up to a whopping 15%.
harry Hafll, a senior majoring in journalism, is a
columnist for the Emerald.