VIEWPOINTS W « Hw W w m w m ■ w ■ %•* t PlTQRlAI S OPINIONS LETTERS TO THE fOITQR Living, education limits on welfare are positive ■ OUR OPINION: Reform plan wtH work il unsafe situations are noted With half a million Iwibii** being 1mm each year la iwni, Pmidmt Clinton in taking executive action* to force states to end welfare benefit* to teen-age panuii* who refuse to finish m hoot or live with a responsible adult. The action is aimed at solving problem* of long term welfare dependency through preventing the pay ment of benefit* to these teen* who move out of their parent* homes and drop out of school. The plan would target these irresponsible teens, who are unfortunately responsible for these balms* and t ease to fund their wel fare-dependent lifestyle Clinton plans to ensure that in the future a baby won't give these teen* the right or the money to leave home and drop out of school . This new reform will require teen mothers to live with their parent* or a responsible adult There will la* a precept in the plan that will make allowances for teens in abusive situa tions at home. The only negative aspect of Clinton's plan is the pos sibility that some recipients will lie forced to live with abusive parents despite the good intentions of the abu ftivc cirtiumstam e* pres opt Il is often the cose that teens who are in abusive homes do not have the courage or the self-esteem to challenge their living situa tions. It is possible that a plan like this would only harm these exceptions to the welfare-mother stereotype. Thi» reform would unin tentionally punish these dependent teens by placing restriction* on their living situation choices that could bit detrimental This sort of legislation would be nothing new to Oregon In September lOflS. the state passed a law requiring teen-age mothers receiving welfare to live with parents or live in another safe situation. Though we cannot be c er tain that these teens are placed in safe living situa tions, at least these mothers can still be enrolled in the Oregon JOBS program. In July, Oregon will Itegsn to implement these live-at home welfare requirements mode possible by federal waivers received in March These requirements will help solve part of the prob lem of long-term welfare dependency and will encourage teen-age mothers who live off the welfare sys tem to fump back into the education system, live with their parent* and hopefully grow into responsible adults themselves After all. half of all adults on Aid to Families with Dependent Children, which totals about 2 million peo ple. had their first children when they were in their teen# Unfortunately, welfare reform will not decrease the number of teens who are having unsafe sex and bring ing babies into this world that they cannot emotional ly or financially support The solution to this prob lem lies in needed changes in America's presentation of sex in the media and sex education classes. $AcMt If V#*w j|{$ | tfttmrr u UMHik mm*mf at 9nt mmmmmm l»W< MIHIK «| • ISHB Mr JWP H Cm* t. <*M* wcr MMM)M» tn»t(w Smccmi i» > > V«* • ’«fK «Mt> Mt> Or lat MMOiMM «Mr HMMM -mmIMM* «MUR «*»-. MMMMwwm jhMwOki •MM «M ******* !wMU'>IM>p tmt*# *>*»*•» «wk*M« »Mi«nli| MMcrMMr «iki» MMtt Mint 1» Mr tCWf in— Crrut tfrrt' Omcmvnmnm 8-|»l>l« »w« (MS MM Simrurt UHf CM IMUCMC Mil*nCMC MWMr MOM irrVrt CM Mk»CM« Mh( Bm **M wjcm £j**» mm •»»***» m «, Mtfiinn, £*% wm» tmm-tmma I *MCr {*•»«* »«mm> MCCMA i**9l MNHW Otmmmt w»| MI4M 8L „*•*••* *nj t*-» **4 i ! **V Tolerate incidental fees; they serve you Jk her reading the headline in last Thurs / V day's Effiwnttd that stated Ballot mea / \ sure* will increase incidental fees 9 JL JL percent I wasn't surprised It *eerns hi* wb«nn« I begin to think anoth \ *» year of sriwol wcw t completely impoverish me. a now fee it added They are usually not the <«•* I support But that is part of the democratic pTOOMM, I will wholeheartedly stand behind and accept the student government * right to snatch money from me that I will never see again and place it into dubs that i usually either don't can* •bout, don't have lime to donate toward or just wouldn't feel quite welcome attending While l think incidental fees could be han dled a lot better in some t ames, I cannot be too strongly opposed to them What surprises me most, though, is how many students seem to b* willing to shoot themselves in the foot to save a few dollars — lew being rel •live of course an in state student will spend over $10,000 In a year of schooling, only about 4 percent of which covers Incidental fees’ The one incidental fee that receives the most undeserved critic i*m Is the lame Transit Ihstric t bus pass Every term l hear students exclaim, “We re paying for the busses I don't even ride tin busses I'm paying for someone else to ride the bus’ I want my money back'" I can't forget hear ing these students asking, “Gosh, what do they think we ro made of? Money?" I used the bus pass all last year without toalia mg exactly where the money was coming from When I heard that it was absorbed into our stu dent fee* I eagerly searched every hill for some thing stating transportation costs' as $100 ! never found it. When it came on the ballot last year, the cost was not $100 or even $50 it was right around $6 50 The 19961997 fee will be $6 65 I could n't help but wonder what all the fuss was about How could people be so adamantly opposed to a mere six dollar fee? That is barely over 10 percent of the usual throe-month adult fee of SliO Rarely do you find something with a cost of 90 percent off. like the LTD term long bus pass LTD delivers passenger* to their doorstep* and offices all over the Eugene-.Springfield arm I can get virtually anywhere with my bus pass — I have gone to restaurants, movie theaters and even a tattoo parlor I have ridden the bus during the beat of spring when the air conditioning is going full blast and the chill of winter when the healer warms my toes Sever om e did I think it was a waste of money Only after catling LTD did I actually dis : cover how fortunate the average student is. LTD not only extensively cover* the metropolitan area, bul travels 55 mile* out of town. Travel that far on Greyhound and you're talking at least $10 "But you don't have a car." anti-bus fee pro ponents toll cm. "You have to ride the bus." 1 don't have a car because 1 don't think I need one. Kugtme ii home to the best local transporta tion system 1 have ever encountered. 1 have taken mass transit systems in Kugene, Portland. Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. Because in# city of hugene is smaller. LTD easily in'iiis the larger cities in relation In conve rt ien« :t> and the number of routes available In the Portland Metro area you always have to go down town lo gel anywhere, and downtown can be far away depending on where you're going. Going to school by bus in the summer takes a good two hour* The commute i* about 30 minute* by a*r. There wa* no contest — I ended up driving Seattle tries to be at accaatrfhle as Eugene, and the mult is that they stop at what seems like every driveway, taking about an hour to get three miles Fun. fun. fun. The longest bus ride l have ever heard of in the Eugene area was a little over an hour, taken by my roommate. She went htm» the University station to the Eugene Station. This trip usually takes about 5 minutes, but she decided to get on the bus that went to the Eugene Station via Springfield Maybe not a bad idea, but definitely not a time saving one My only complaint about LTD is the unfortu uate lack of bike racks on their busses 1 love the fart that Portland busses have racks so you can ride as far as you want and then hop on dm bus if you get tired or wet. Also, bike rack* on busses can enable you to you reach your bikeriding.dastination still fresh enough to enjoy the country scenery. But even this complaint will soon be outdat ed According to Andy Vnbora. LTD marketing employee, busses will be being equipped wilh bike rack* starting June 16. Bt the time school starts in the fall, they should fee well past the introductory period Best of all, if you really don't use the buses, you can get a refund Just by turning in your sticker, you get that entire $6.65 back Instead of having transportation all over the county for the entire term, you can spend it on five gallons of gas 1 hat bargain fails to appeal to me. I'm keep ing my sticker. kuy kmutahrtd, a sophomore tnajtxnig in bwlo g>- and psychology, it q columnist for the Em«» ala.. E-mail w*e/come kayk&gladstonr