VIEWPOINTS
iPllOHMUS OPtmONS IfTIIRS to tHf {OlTOR
Student benefits, perks
are definitely not free
■ OUR OPINION Most
students do not question
who pays tot free items
Ah, the (Mirks of being a
University student Every
where you turn, someone
swims to be giving you
something for nothing That
student body card swims to
encompeM certain freedoms
and privileges
For starters, the LTD
•ticker you receive each
term enables you to ride the
bus without having to worry
about how much change is
in your Dockets,
A flash of your identifica
tion can! ai Autzen will get
you football tickets With a
temporary surrender of your
student identification card,
you can use the EMU Cora
puling footer's facilities —
one* again for no apparent
cog,
Dorm residents might
remember m wiving Univer
sity mug* and key chains «l
the beginning of the year
and plugging in their televi
cions to seemingly free
cable.
But ail of those apparent
porks am being paid for by
you, the student. From the
University Day T-ahirls to
the Ememld, you foot the
bill
Next lime you encounter
some "free stuff." lake into
consideration how “free” it
actually is Housing expen
ditures are more than $4
million per year — nothing
is free.
Folk Festival muddies
more than EMU lawn
■ OUR OPINION: Schools'
graduations cannot be
moved off campus
The Willamette Valley
Folk Festival has placed
more in danger than the aes
thetic quality of the KMt !
Fast lawn The muddy con
dition of the lawn, created
by a mixture of rain and
hippie*, is threatening three
events — two involving
graduation.
Tito Oregon Grind, a rock
(estival scheduled to take
pl»*:e this weekend, will
moat likely be canceled. The
giant mud pit in front of the
stage needs to heal before
another event can take
I dace Odda are. the entire
awn needs to lie replanted
The journalism ami archi
tecture and allied art*
school*' commencement
caramon ie* am currently
scheduled to take place on
that lawn, if the lawn is still
a muddy mess in three
weeks, these schools may
have to graduate off-campus
with a ridiculously small
ticket limit as a result of a
weekend of mud-covered
fun. all because no one pre
dicted that it might rain
hard in Eugene in May.
We cannot let the Univer
sity do this. The right of stu
dents in these schools to
graduate on their own cam
pus must be protected,
It is unjust and unfair for
the University to expect
thes*’ students to accept
anything less than what the
previous graduating class
received. The University
must move the ceremonies
to another on-campus loca
tion.
:
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. -TUAT'S
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ARCTIC KATK3NM
OftDUFt REFUGE
Once upon a time... there were forests
Once upon • time. fairy tale* warn read
by mom* *nd dad* lo little kid*
Otwm upon • time. environmental
fairy tala* about famtlie* who lo*t their
rancho* to the Endangered StMdM Ad went
told by anti environment poilticiana and then
duly relayed by ran*!*** reporter*
Now comm a new environmental fairy tale,
thi* time relayed by environmental group* and
politicians claiming them i* no f»*rw*t health
problem and that all the talk of dead and dying
timber la —■ Ju*l talk
A* lhe Umber salvage traua head* far
a vut# Mure a Senate (mum) thto week,
the ditcuttton of farott health it heating
up in Washington while Ami rage in the
.Southwest
Senator Bill Bradley a New Jersey
Democrat with Onl-Offioi ttpiraUum.
to damaging hit own credibility and that
trf iwnservtliun groups with hit fairy
«ai* claim that theta to no forest health
crisis
~Dat« noil*, ted by the U S, Farast Service my
ihw l* no crisis,- Bradley recently Mid. “All
lh» major environmental group, mv them is no
crisis .*
Bradley claim* that the problem U a manufac
lurtd un», put forth by umber industry lobbyists
who favor increased lwm*n
Though I won't vouch for lire ethn. of indu*
try lobbyists I've met I am assure you that the
fomt With emu it nut their invention
if you drive Highway S« amt of here or High
way 12* west to the coast, you'd think the only
foraei health criait it the landslide* earned by
record rain* and swollen s Imams Where am ait
tha dead and dying tmet they keep talking
•hout? Do they exist. or la it a fairy tala?
industry lobbyists ought to put Bradley on a
plana and fly him over the Blue Mountain* in
eastern Oregon I've flown over moat of tha
Umatilla and Wallowa Whitman National
Forests, and I’ve worked on wildfires in Oregon
and California and Montana.
I've ridden horseback along ridges in aastern
Oregon, where you can aaa for a hundred miles
or more, and tha sight of miles-lung expanses of
dead grey trees made the hair on the back of my
neck stand up.
Tha long, deep canyons wind down bom
wind-blown ridge*, with hawks drifting above
thick stands of tightly packed dead trees — it
sends shivers up your spine Flying over rtdg*
after slope after ridge of dense, dead timber
stands is enough to make you cry.
Believe me. the forest health crisis is for teal.
lust writing about it gives me the chills But
remembering the howling winds and raging
wails of fir* and billowing columns of smoke
I've seen in wildfires, and then reading
Bradley * claim* that there it no form! health
aist* — well, that infuriate* mo
If you haven't teen any dead and dying tim
ber. p take a look tmagme tree# and under
brush to thii k you can't walk through it Some
of it (usually found on the ea*t tide of forusis) it
to thick you can't drive a D-4 Cart bulldozer
through it.
Old-timer* there refer to it at "dog hair" tim
ber —• tree* to closely spaced that it look*, like
hair on a don't back. Now imagine that it'* ail
• isiuvf* tuy «»u ijMi wo re m
another drought lumow Add light
ning and you have a prescription for
disaster.
I know it’* hard to handle the word
'drought” with the record rainfall and
flooding we’ve suffered recently
But if you look at the last hundred
years or so. you’ll find that early heavy
rains and flooding allow for a strong
green up and heavy growth of vegeta
“W*m wn«.n *u<n < omniums are tol
lowed by a hot dry mmmw are invariably
rwunrd year* for wildfire*
Tb» dead and dying timber is for real The fire
hazard i* real Widespread damage bom insect
infestation* and forest diwaiM i* real The newl
to deal with il is also real But the claim that the
forest health crisis is a figment of the industry's
imagination is a fairy tale Claiming that ih# Fur
ast Service has denied a forest health c risis is
just a bald faced lie
Senator Bradley and the environmental
groups should recognise that such propaganda
does not help their cause Despite its flaw*, the
Forest Service is the best thing we've got going
for us in term* of forest management.
Perhaps we'll live to see the day when every
one's happy with the management of our public
lands it's mg Ulely, though Consider this
quote from the president .
* We ate coming to recognise as never before
- f»* essential matter of natural resources The
time has come for a change As a people we
have the right and theTSy „ to pmtL our
selves and our children against the wasteful
development of our natural resources. *
Teddy Roosevelt said that — eg years ago last
— *• the Governors' Conference on Con
servation in 1908 We've been arguing about this
for a long time and aren't Ukaly to solve it to
everyone's satisfaction
In the meantime, wo need to listen to state
menu such as Bradley'i with a critical ear —
and beware of (airy tales
k*f/y Andersson, a senior motoring in joumaiUun.
it a coJumniMt for the Emerald E-mail:
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