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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 17, 1997)
University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon An independent newspaper Volume 99, Issue 8 THURSDAY, JULY 17,1997 INDEX Stranger Than Fiction News Sports Classifieds Crossword Horoscope C\J CO ifl CD N N TODAY Mad Duck Repertory The atre presents “The Com plete Works of Shakespeare —Abridged. ” tonight. Call 346-4192 for information. INSIDE Ridgeline Mountain Bike Trail offers a beautiful ride Jor even the most novice mountain biker Royce Saltzman was named full-time executive director of the Oregon ‘Bach Festival WEATHER Scattered showers. High 75. Low 58. Cultural Forum gets funds ■ ASUO. Summer senate met and approved a request for money to aid in funding next year’s Oregon Grind By Cart Yeh Associate Editor On Wednesday evening, the ASUO Sen ate met for a second time this summer to discuss two special funding requests and an ASUO Executive summer project. The first request was made by the EMU Cultural Forum for $3,000. Jonathan Zwickel, national music coor dinator for the Cultural Forum, said the money would be used to help fund the Oregon Grind, a concert tradition ally held in the Spring. “This free, all-day con cert has recently come into its own as a wonder ful event for students of all ages to enjoy,” Zwickel said in his hand-raising re quest. Over 5,000 people attended Spring ’97 Grind.” “We want to keep [the Oregon Grind] successful by getting a national act like G Love and Special Sauce,” Zwickel said. In order to do that, he needs to have money to negotiate with band managers, he said. Sen. Dave McGee pointed out that the summer senate would only have $2,000 re maining in their budget if they were to ap prove the Cultural Forum’s request. McGee suggested going to KWVA and the Univer sity music department to seek additional funding. The senate unanimously approved $1,500 for the music event and made a sug gestion to the fall senate to give an addition al $1,500. Turn to ASUO, Page 3 Break time CHAD PATTESON/Emerald Fine and Applied Arts senior Luke Freeborn beats the summer heat in the fountain at Cascade Hall while he works on pencil sketches for a digital illustration. Students to attend Cuba’s World Festival ■ FESTIVAL: Students will be staying with families in Cuba because the Helms-Burton Act does not allow them to spend money in the country By Carl Yeh Associate Editor Approximately 12,000 students from 133 different countries will be going to the 14th World Festival of Youth and Students in Ha vana, Cuba. Among those students, 11 will be from the University, said sociology instructor Julia Fox, who is organizing the trip for the stu dents. What that festi val has been is one of peace and Inter national solidarity,” Fox said. “It grew out of the ashes of WWII. Thousands of youth and stu dents assembled in Prague, Czechoslo (C [The festival] grew out of the ashes of WWII. Julia Fox Sociology Instructor vakia, m 1948. During that festival, there was a commitment to never allow the horrors of fascism to happen again. ” July 28 through Aug. 6, the students will engage in international educational forums. “There will be sessions on democracy and participation, anti-imperialist struggles and national liberation,” said Fox, who opted to donate enough money for a student to go to the festival instead of going herself. “In Cuba, we’re going to be talking about grass-roots action, forging peace and solidar ity between the countries beginning with the representatives,” said one of the students who will be attending the festival, but de clined to be identified. In addition to their education in the fo rums, “the students will be staying in homes of Cuban people,” Fox said. “They will get a chance to talk and discuss with Turn to FESTIVAL, Page 2 Beverage container tax may hit November ballot as an initiative ■ LEGISLATURE: The tax could would raise about $30 million a year if applied to the containers covered by the 5-cent refund The Associated Press SALEM — The idea of taxing beverage contain ers to pay for state parks may have fizzled in the Legislature, but that doesn’t mean it has lost all its fizz. Advocates are talking of taking the issue direct ly to Oregon voters. “I think there’s broad-based support for some kind of dedicated fund for parks,” says Gov. John Kitzhaber, who urged the 1997 Legislature to put a 3-cent tax on beer and soda bottles and cans. The governor wanted to use the revenue for parks and salmon habitat restoration. Kitzhaber drummed up prominent support for his bottle tax, including endorsements from former U.S. Sen. Mark Hatfield and former Gov. Neil Goldschmidt. But the Legislature’s Republican leaders wanted no part of new taxes, so the beverage tax never was seriously considered during the just-concluded 1997 session. Secretary of State Phil Keisling, who began men tioning a beverage tax two years ago, thinks the public remains concerned about the 220-park sys tem. “There is a wide recognition that the Legislature cobbled together a medium-term fix, and a costly one,” Keisling says. Lawmakers authorized $105 million in bonds for park maintenance needs, but the interest on those bonds, over 14 years, will run as much as $70 mil lion, Keisling says. “Using bonds is not a vision of what parks ought to be,” the Democratic secretary of state says. Kitzhaber says that just providing bonding au thority and enough operating money to keep parks open for another two years is not enough to put the system in good shape. "They left them vulnerable,” he says. A 3-cent tax would raise about $30 million a year if applied to the containers now covered by the state’s required 5-cent refund value. Taxing ad ditional beverages, such as fruit-based drinks, would raise more money. However, the governor says a beverage contain er tax of 2 cents or maybe even a penny could raise enough money to make some major improvements. He says he readily would support such a proposal. One player in any bottle tax initiative might be the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group, which last year put a measure on the statewide bal lot to bring more beverages under the refund law. But the measure was defeated under a barrage of beverage industry advertising, and OSPIRG is non committal so far about any role in a beverage tax measure. “We wouldn’t shut the door on us being in volved in” the tax proposal, says Randy Tucker of OSPIRG. “We think it’s important to find a dedi cated source of money for parks. But the tax mea sure would not be a be all and end all for us.” THE NUMBERS ■ THE PLAN: A 3 cent tax applied to the containers cov- j ered by the 5-cent i refund value ■ WHAT WOULD ! HAPPEN: $30 mil lion a year would be raised to pay for maintenance of state parks ■ ALTERNA TIVES: A 2-cent or 1-cent tax could raise enough mon- j ey for significant improvements, Kitzhaber says