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Abuse: Community help needed II Continued from Page 1 can be easily fixed, ” Morrisette said. Few at the meeting would argue against the cre ation of such a task force, but some people placed their emphasis in other areas. Ray Brodarick, who works with the Lane County district attorney’s office, thinks it will be important to evaluate the group’s progress after six months. Brodarick believes such community responses are common. “This is a reaction I’ve seen often,” he said. While Brodarick supports the effort, he is busy working on another plan to combat abuse. Currently, according to Brodarick, a “multi-disci plinary team" works to track and combat child abuse in much of Lane County. This team includes mem bers from law enforcement agencies, local schools and hospitals, the district attorney’s office and Ser vices for Children and Families (SCF) — the agency charged with intervening to protect children from abusive parents. Brodarick hopes to expand this team to include so cial service and child welfare charities that could help counsel and educate parents identified as abusive. Currently, once the team has tracked and identified potentially abusive situations, only SCF is available to help counsel. When the child abuse discussion shifts to SCF, many problems arise. Even those who felt passionate enough about child abuse to speak at the meeting of ten expressed opposition to the agency. Several speakers told stories about how the agency had failed to respond to calls about abuse. Much of the blame for such complaints lies with tight budgets and a misunderstanding of the agency’s function, according to SCF worker Lois Day. Addi tionally, Day hopes increased community involve ment will help eliminate complains. “Without com munities we’re a bunch of government agencies trying to impose things on people,” Day said. Day believes the task force can be an important part of building community involvement by soliciting ideas from individuals. “They’re the experts on how to bring people in,” ((If the community is united we can solve some of these problems. Bill Morrisette Springfield Mayor she said. At the same time, Day thinks a considerable amount of interest in child abuse already exists with in Lane Country. Christensen has a goal for the task force as well. She believes members can suggest ways to improve ser vices for abused children and families, note what groups are currently not doing, identify high risk ar eas of the community and help implement preventa tive education programs. All those involved agreed uniting the various groups involved with child abuse was important. “The purpose [of the task force] is to enhance ex isting service providers, not to create a new agency,” Morrisette said. The question Morrisette and others still grapple with is how to get these diverse agencies to work to gether. Brodarick, meanwhile, believes his proposal is an important step in unifying the agencies and could be a model for deeding with other community problems. Not everyone at the meeting pushed primarily for community involvement. Springfield Councilman Stu Burge was met with heavy applause when he sug gested another problem. “There is a common denom inator,” Burge said. “It’s drugs.” Most agency representatives at the meeting ignored Bulge’s proposal of mandatory capital punishment in cases of death by abuse, choosing to focus on commu nity building instead. Not everyone was sure how to unite the community or what role the proposed task force would play, but nearly everyone agreed in creased awareness had to be an objective. “If the community is united we can solve some of these problems,” Morrisette said. “This is the time to act.” University groups have own abuse policies ■ CONCERN: Students, as members of the community in general, need to be aware of and willing to report abuse By Mike Schmierbach Oregon Daily Emerald Compared to final exams and term papers, child abuse might seem a distant concern to many University students. However, as community members, they need to be aware of abuse and be will ing to report it, according to Lois Day of Services for Children and Families (SCF). Day encourages students and others to report situations where they suspect abuse. “If their gut feels wrong, then something is wrong,” Day said. Not every phone call leads to an arrest, but Day explained that a series of calls can often be used to build a case proving neglect by a parent. “I hope people don’t get frus trated and upset because we can’t go out on every call,” Day said. Sometimes members of the University community do not simply witness child abuse. Den nis Reynolds, coordinator of the EMU child care services, said he probably sees two or three inter ventions on behalf of students in University child care each year. Reynolds said the child care center is legally required to report suspected child abuse. Regard less, he said workers are careful to look for signs of abuse. “If we have to ask the question [is there abuse], there’s only one answer to that question,” Reynolds said. In addition, Reynolds said the center is careful to avoid the risk of abuse by staff members. “We certainly don’t take an attitude that it can’t happen here,” he said. Child care is not the only place where the community includes the students of University mem bers. Frank Ghaddini, area direc tor at Spencer View family hous ing, also sees parents interacting with children. Ghaddini said the policy in housing is to only report cases where workers have direct knowl edge of child abuse. In cases where other residents report their suspicions to him, Ghaddini said he encourages them to call SCF themselves. Workers at SCF don’t simply respond to calls from community members and people like Reynolds. They also conduct community outreach programs, including speaking to University classes. More important than training for child care workers and phone calls from people who work di rectly with children is a general level of community awareness, Day believes. “We’re all members of this community,” she said. Budget: DeFazio, ASUO combat tax benefit cuts ■ Continued from Page 1 Miner said DeFazio and the ASUO are drafting a letter giving several suggestions for how to make up the lost tax money. “This is a very cruel blow,” De Fazio said. “I’m hoping that we can bump this out.” DeFazio wrote a letter to Presi dent Bill Clinton urging him to oppose any budget that takes away tax-exempt status from graduate student benefits. The letter states, “Substantially increasing taxes on graduate stu dents would negate the already inadequate benefits for higher ed ucation provided by the commit tee’s bill.” DeFazio gathered the signa tures of 75 state representatives in two days to support the letter. Several Republicans signed the letter, he said. DeFazio hopes that enough of a backlash will be made against the provision that it will be returned to its original status. ((Substantially increasing taxes on graduate students would negate the already inadequate benefits for higher education provided by the committee’s bill. Peter DeFazio Oregon Representative, in a letter to Bill Clinton Both DeFazio and Miner be lieve the provision will eventual ly be changed. “We have fighters like DeFazio, Wyden, and [Elizabeth] Furse that will fight for us,” Miner said. For now, Miner and DeFazio are in disbelief that anyone would try to tax graduate students. “We see that as an attack on higher education,” Miner said, “and access to higher education.” Program: School draws broad range of participants ■ Continued from Page 1 This year, the work is con centrated on Camp Silver Creek’s log buildings. Materi als and tools are donated by the Oregon State Parks Depart ment. Because the school is not limited to University students, there is a broad range of partici pants, Pinyerd said. During his week this summer, there were a few people from the National Park Service, Georgia, Mon tana and even someone from Okinawa, Japan. “It's for anyone who has an interest in preservation and conservation of buildings,” Pinyerd said. Besides working on the buildings, which at Camp Sil ver Creek are used by the Salem YMCA for a youth camp, Field School partici pants can also attend lectures C£It’s for anyone who has an interest in preservation and conservation of buildings. Dave Pinyerd Field School Student and discussions about build ing preservation at the site. The Architecture Depart ment offers a Historic Preserva tion major for graduate stu dents and a minor for undergraduates. The Field School is not required for the major and minor sequences. Field School officials have not decided on the exact site for the summer of 1998. It will probably be in Eastern Oregon, they say. ▼EMERALD The Oregon OaityBrmratdis published daily Monday through Friday during the school year and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer by the Oregon Dally Emerald Publishing Co. Inc, at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. the University with offices at Suite 300 of the Etb Memorial Union. The fmeraWis private property. The unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable by taw. ▼NEWSROOM *(541) 346-5511 j Editor-In-Chief: Sarah Kidder Associate Editors: Ryan Frank, Cad Yeh Editorial Editor. Mike Schmierhach j Photo Editor Chad Patteson Reporter Michael Hines ▼ BUSINESS • (541) 346-5512 General Manager Judy Riedl Supervisor. Kathy Carbone Teri Awaya, John Long, Ferenc Rakocd ▼ADVERTISING *(541) 346-3712 Director Becky Merchant Yujin Chi, Chris Erickson, Lindsay Knaak, Randy Scheiss, Rose Soli. Matt Solomon, Chris Suydam ▼CLASSIFIEDS • (541) 346-4343 Manager Tara Sloan ▼PRODUCTION • (541) 346-4381 Manager Michele Ross Coordinator Ingrid White Laura Oaniel, Melissa Lebahn H fluffs restaurant Korean & Japanese Cuisine Low Fat Low Calories Brown Rice Available: 1219 Alder St. Across the Street from Sacred Heart Hospital FREE DRINK with coupon and (fOFF ALL DISHES OVER $3.99* excluding special menu •Expires July 21, 1997 Cash for books Everyday. Always buying texts, paperbacks, cliff notes, current magazines . . . Smith Family B o o k s t o r c 768 East 13th • 345-1651 1 Block front Campus
