World News
Magnate buys paper
to bolster venture
1 TORONTO — Conrad Black,
who already controls more
than half of Canada’s daily news
papers, acquired the nation’s No.
1 business daily Monday to re
duce the competition for a new
national newspaper he plans to
start in October.
Black’s Southam Inc. an
nounced it will obtain the
Toronto-based Financial Post
from Sun Media Corp., which
will get four Ontario daily news
papers in return.
Southam said the deal would
strengthen the prospects for its
new, as-yet-unnamed national
newspaper, but did not elabo
rate. Some analysts suggested the
Post might be incorporated into
the new paper as its business
section.
Four Ontario dailies owned by
Southam — the Hamilton Spec
tator, the Kitchener-Waterloo
Record, the Guelph Mercury and
the Cambridge Reporter — will
become Sun Media papers. In
exchange, Southam gets Sun Me
dia’s 30 percent interest in the
Financial Post and $101 million.
The Financial Post also circu
lates nationwide, as does the
Toronto-based Globe and Mail.
Military leader plans
democracy transition
2 ABUJA, Nigeria — Mapping
out his plan to return Nigeria
to democratic rule, the nation's
new military leader on Monday
announced plans for elections
and a civilian president by May
29, 1999, ordering a purge of the
country’s political structure.
Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar,
who took over Africa’s most pop
ulous nation when military dic
tator Gen. Sani Abacha died in
June, swept aside the flawed
transition program begun during
Abacha’s rule.
He ordered the dismissal of all
charges against political prison
ers and the dismantling of the
previous regime’s electoral com
mission, and dissolved the five
state-sponsored political parties
created to support Abacha. He
also said he would give indepen
dence to the judiciary, which
was often criticized for its close
ties to the previous regime.
‘‘Nigerians want nothing less
than true democracy in a united
and peaceful country,” he said in
a nationally televised speech.
In his speech, he promised
elections would be held in the
first three months of next year.
Man charged in
fatal firebombing
3BELFAST, Northern Ireland —
A 23-year-old man was charged
Monday with killing three young
brothers in a firebombing that
stunned Northern Ireland and
prompted Protestant leaders to
tone down efforts to hold a divi
sive march.
The suspect in the July 12 at
tack in Ballymoney, 40 miles
northwest of Belfast, was not
identified. He will appear in a
Belfast court on Tuesday, police
said, giving no other details.
Police investigating the slay
ings of the Quinn brothers —
Richard, 11, Mark, 10, and Jason
9 — said the attack was linked to
tensions caused by a violent
standoff outside Portadown, 25
miles southwest of Belfast.
Protestant marchers faced off
against armed authorities block
ing them from parading down a
largely Catholic road for nearly a
week.
Stunned by the killings, some
leaders of the Orange Order frater
nal group that organized the
march called for an end to the
confrontation. The standoff quiet
ed down, and efforts to continue
the march have now virtually
ended.
Initiative could cost state millions
The proposed ban
on clearcutting would
cause a drop in tax
revenue, officials say
The Associated Press
PORTLAND — A ballot mea
sure that would ban clearcutting
and pesticide use in Oregon
forests would reduce the state’s
annual timber harvest by more
than 60 percent, according to a
draft analysis prepared by state of
ficials.
The document, prepared by
state forestry and revenue offi
cials, estimates the financial im
pact on Oregon’s timber industry,
which harvests $1.5 billion worth
of timber each year and employs
more than 50,000 people.
According to the analysis, the
initiative would require a host of
new regulations costing the state
at least $4.9 million annually to
administer, and requiring 95 full
time positions.
At the same time, state and lo
cal tax revenues from logging
could be cut by $75 million, in
cluding a $33.2 million drop in
school revenues.
Late last week, the state treasur
er, the secretary of state, and direc
tors of revenue and administrative
services signed the document.
State law requires a financial
analysis for each ballot measure.
A public hearing on the analy
sis is set for July 30; the final docu
ment must be approved by Aug. 5.
A summary will be included in
the State Voter’s Pamphlet for the
Nov. 3 election.
The ballot measure was devel
oped by a statewide conservation
coalition called OLIFE, Oregoni
ans for Labor Intensive Forest Eco
nomics.
Joshua Binus, an initiative coor
dinator, disputes the state analy
sis. It overstates the effect on har
vests, he said, while ignoring the
economic benefits, including
healthier soils, cleaner water and
strengthened populations of fish
and wildlife.
“We’d like to see a sustainable
forestry model,” Binus said. “We
can’t sustain this rate of ecological
devastation.”
If the measure gains voter ap
proval, it would force fundamen
tal change in the Oregon logging
industry, which depends on
clearcutting to harvest more than
80,000 acres a year; coastal forests
are almost exclusively clearcut.
After the harvests, the industry
then sprays herbicides on much of
that acreage to help spur the
growth of the next generation of
trees.
Industry leaders say clearcut
ting is essential to modern
forestry, and can be done without
harming the environment. They
say the ballot measure is extreme,
and will be rejected by Oregoni
ans.
But they’re not taking chances.
They’ve formed a group called the
Healthy Forests Alliance to
launch a high-powered effort to
defeat the initiative.
“This is important enough that
if substantial resources are need
ed, they’ll be there,” said Ray
Wilkeson of the Oregon Forest In
dustries Council, a trade associa
tion that is part of the alliance.
The ballot measure strikes at
one of the timber industry’s most
controversial practices.
Public concern about clearcut
ting was heightened two years ago
as landslides emanating from
logged areas killed five people and
destroyed more than a dozen
homes.
The legislature last year passed
a temporary ban on clearcutting
slopes at high risk of sliding.
The initiative would ban
clearcuts on all forest lands,
sloped or flat. It encompasses pri
vate, state and federal lands,
though federal land managers al
ready have shifted away from
clearcuts.
DOS: Vans c<
running by v\
■ Continued from Page 1
said.
The situation became com
pounded, though, because the fi
nal budget signed by University
President Dave Frohnmayer and
Oregon University System offi
cials contained both the PFC allo
cation and the ballot measure
money, giving DDS control over
$76,212.
Although it was generally
agreed that DDS would tap only
$50,000 of the money, Cowling
said she urged Smith to be "cau
tious" with his spending to avoid
any appearance of fiscal irrespon
sibility.
During the first week of July,
however, the ASUO Executive
blocked two purchase attempts
by Smith. The DDS director had
filed paperwork for the purchase
of a $1,500 computer laser print
er and a $16,383 nine-passenger
van. In a letter to DDS, the execu
tive said DDS did not need its
own printer because the program
used a common printer in the
ASUO office along with several
other programs. The executive
ctiMj saiu in me
letter that the at
tempt to pur
chase a van “di
rectly violates
the wishes of the
students" be
cause a separate
DDS ballot mea
sure asking vot
ers to fund a new
SMITH
van had tailed in the April elec
tions.
Smith said that the printer sit
uation could be “negotiable,” but
he and the executive differed on
interpretation of the failed mea
sure for a new van. Smith
claimed the measure was intend
ed to fund a third van as an addi
tion to the DDS fleet. The vehicle
he attempted to purchase was
meant as a direct replacement for
the oldest van, not as a third vehi
cle, he said.
“The steering is shot, the trans
mission is shot, and it needs en
gine work,” Smith said of the 12
year-old, nine-passenger van. "It’s
not safe.”
On July 12, the ASUO Execu
tive indefinitely froze the original
$26,212 PFC allocation and di
rected Smith to submit an item
ized budget in order to access the
$50,000 ballot measure funds.
According to Cowling, $26,212 of
the ballot measure money was
freed immediately in order to al
low DDS to function while the
funding situation was sorted out.
The amount was determined in
large part because the ASUO Con
troller had already created ledgers
based on the $26,212 PFC alloca
tion.
The student senate retains the
power to transfer the remaining
$23,788 to DDS. On Sunday, sena
tor Selena Brewington made a mo
tion to approve the transfer of
funds, but after a long discussion,
the Senate voted 4-1 to table her
motion until its next meeting on
Aug. 1.
“I don’t think any of us were
prepared to go through a $50,000
budget tonight,” Brewington said
at the senate meeting.
The senate and Smith still need
to resolve some issues centered on
a recent switch from stipend pay
to hourly pay for DDS workers. On
Sunday, the senate debated the
large boost in pay that would re
sult for the top program positions.
In response, Smith told the senate
he was concerned about legal is
sues that may arise if the program
is forced to revert to stipends.
)uld be
weekend
"I hired people at $7 an hour
and they’re going to be pretty up
set if I have to tell them in the fall
that their pay has been cut,” Smith
said.
According to Smith, DDS is not
currently operating because of
safety concerns about both aging
vehicles. However, he said he
hopes that at least one van would
be running by the weekend.
"We’re going to shoot for this Fri
day and Saturday,” he said.
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