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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 6, 1996)
ELECTION ’96 Pater Sorenson 62% Peter Bartel 37% 29 percent reporting Betty Taylor 56% Anne Marie Levis 43% 29 percent reporting (FloydProzanski 81°/ George Boehnke 19°/ 29 percent reporting Current election results can be found on our World Wide Web page at dartnving.uoregon.edu/-ode. We will continue to update numbers on ballot measures and candidates through Friday, Nov. 8. Torrey leads in mayor race Mayor candidate says if win becomes official, he wants to work with Weaver to help city By Kristin Bailey Student Activities Editor Early election numbers indicate the bat tle of “The Jims” is over, with Republican Jim Torrey winning the title of Eugene City Mayor. Torrey led Jim Weaver, his Democratic opponent, with 11, 643 votes, as opposed to Weaver’s 10, 026 as of 11:30 Tuesday night. Final results and an official outcome are not expected until after the absentee ballots have been counted. Results are due in no later than Friday. But Torrey said the past week on the campaign trail had already given him a sense of victory. “In the last week, we have been out in the morning and in the evening at various comers around the city of Eugene waving at people and waiting to see what they’ll do back,” he said. “We’ve gotten a lot of waves back, which really means they’re sorry for us or they support us. I feel pretty good about out chances.” Weaver didn’t attend the elections activ ities at the Lane County Fairgrounds. How ever, a few supporters voiced disappoint ment over what they said appeared to be a loss for their candidate. Mike McCarthy said he avidly cam paigned for Weaver throughout the may oral elections. He said Torrey’s personal beliefs may be misleading Eugene citizens. “I see him as more of a right-wing, very religious person,” he said. “There’s noth ing wrong with having your own beliefs, but he puts himself in moderate clothing.” Torrey campaigned to expand police services, saying the city should get tough on crime. McCarthy said Torrey’s hard line on legal infractions could pose a threat to civil liberties. “He’s a real good friend of the police,” he said. “I think you’re gonna see a lot more police activity up there in the cam ANDREW BRACKENSICK/Emerald (fi The first thing / want to do is make sure the citizens understand that when / said / listen to all elements of the community, Ido. — JimTorrey -33 Jim Torrey leads the election with 11,643 votes, putting him ahead of Jim Weaver. pus area witn Jim uorrey] in tne mayor s seat. I think it’s unfortunate there’s not gonna be any moderation on that issue.” Torrey said he’s already thinking about a plan of action if he wins the election. “The first thing I want to do is make sure the citizens understand that when I said I listen to all elements of the community, I do,” he said. “If it’s a 50/50 race, I’d want to sit down with Jim Weaver and see if there are some things he would suggest that I might be able to help get passed. This community is too important to let bicker ing get in the way. For some voters, the decision to vote for Torrey was not an easy one. Jill Hansen, a senior at Churchill High School, voted in her first election today. She said Torrey’s last-minute campaigning definitely swayed her decision. “Most of the signs I saw were for Jim Torrey,” she said. “I’m not really a politi cal-type person, but since it seemed a lot of people were voting for him — my par ents, my aunt — he seems more for the people and more for the schools.” ELECTION ’96 \ V / , I / Voters favor local Toxic Right to Know measure Election figures at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday showed Lane County voters were 58.5 per cent in favor of the local Toxic Right to Know measure. Measure 20-75, which would require certain compa nies to report use of toxic or hazardous substances, had 13,082 votes in favor and 9,248 in opposition. This measure would create a seven member quasi-independent Toxics Board responsible to enforce the requirements. The measure would also require auditing of chemicals not disclosed because of trade secret concerns. The information would be consolidated L and made available at the Eugene public li brary. Opponents, including the Committee for Re sponsible Regulations PAC and Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, said the measure will be costly and confusing if ft passes. It will du plicate some reports already required by agen cies, require the companies to pay fees and singles out large chemical-using operations. Supporters of the measure, including the Toxic-Right-to-Know PAC and local environ mental activists, said the measure, if passed, will mandate the public’s right to know about harmful chemicals. Lane County voters reject Measure 47 Late Tuesday night it looked as though Mea sure 47, the property tax limitation, would not pass. As of 11:30 p.m., Lane County elections had counted 21,078 votes in favor of Measure 47 and 31,399 in opposition. If the measure were to pass, opponents fear a loss of local control and cuts in state-funded programs, such as education. Proponents say the measure is a simple and modest tax cut that would control spending by local govern ments and keep low-income taxpayers from losing their homes. That is a major reason Santa Clara resident John Dotson voted for the measure. “We have a couple of things happening in Oregon — a growing older population on a fixed income who have to retain their homes, and younger people wanting to buy homes,” said the 46-year-old in industrial sales. “If we let things go as they are, we’ll never have change." But students like Enjoli Womack would be happy to see Measure 47 go down in defeat. “There’s already such a low budget for the schools,” said the senior at Churchill High School. “I have two little brothers in school, and I know how many limits there already are. In class we were talking about how many teachers would be cut [if the measure passes]. Nine teachers would be cut. The elective choic es we have are so small." —Sharia Cohn Local reaction ti election results cc It’s a terrible, terrible measure. I agree that homeowners need help, but (his will kill public schools. 1r)<ztpnrl nf attacking schools, some alternatives for property tax breaks are giving people an exemption tax break on purchasing their first home or give a property tax break to people who really need it. Or even, God forbid, get a sales tax. — Julie Novkov Volunteer with the Democratic Party on Measure 47 CC ippi! > qnj hnsmg PHJOW 55 Out-of-state corporations killed the bottle bill. It’s devastating. They came in with $4 million to oppose this bill, saying it was unclear or confusing. Hell, just read the beverage label. How confusing can that be? — Mustafa Kasubhai Volunteer for Bottle Bill Campaign on Measure 37 99 fifi Right now, citizens i tun l jiriu uul what kind of toxics go in land or air. This measure allows us to find injormation more easily and put more pressure on manufacturers to reduce emission of toxics. This measure was all based on immense citizen effort. — Bob O’Brien Toxic Right to Know Committee University sociology professor on Measure 20-75 -jj
