Friday; October 2. 1998
Weather forecast
Today Weekend
Showers Showers
High 64, Low 49 High 65, Low 45
Pre runs again
'Without Limits, filmed
in Eugene, hits Portland
screens today/PAGE 15
Volleyball match
The team looks to its four ranked
players as they try for its second
conference win /PAGE 23
An independent newspaper
Volume 100, Issue 24
University of Oregon
Eugene, Oregon
Common
horror
legends
The man in the
backseat-A
woman driving
alone at night stops
alagas station,
where the creepy
attendant tries to
draw her out of the
car. She resists,
but when he finally
does, (retells her
he saw a man with
an axe hiding in the
backseat
The room mate-A
student returns to
her dorm room late
one night, and she
leaves the light off
sosheasnotto
disturb her sleep
ing roommate. The
next morning she
awakens to find her
roommate dead
and the words
"Aren't you glad
you didn't turn on
the light?" written
oo the wall.
Kidney heist-A
student meets a
girl at a f rat parly,
and she invites him
to another party at
someone's apart
ment. She offers
him a drink, and
soon he passes
out. The next
morning he awak
ens in a bathtub full
of ice with both his
kidneys missing.
SQURCE:TheSan
Fernando Valley
Folklore Society
(www.snopes.com)
By Nicole Garlon
Oregon Daily Emerald
Darkness. Silence. The
flickering glow of a camp
fire — or a fireplace, or a
flashlight shone on some
one’s face.
The storyteller speaks.
"This is a true story. It happened
to my roommate’s boyfriend’s sister.
One night she was driving alone on
Highway 99...”
Captivated, the listeners shiver as
a tale of horror unfolds, grotesque but
undeniably true in its detail. It hap
pened nearby. It happened to a
Made popular
by movies and
the Internet,
urban legends
abound on
college
campuses
friend of a friend. And the teller
swears it’s true.
Which means it’s probably an ur
ban legend.
Urban legends, made famous re
cently by the slasher flick of the same
name, are contemporary folk tales that
originate in the city and are told and
retold, with the names and places
changing but the basic story left intact.
Although sometimes told as ghost
stories, urban legends are often
passed off as fact, said Sharon Sher
man, director of folklore and an Eng
lish professor at the University.
"An urban legend starts with, ‘You
know, this really happened.’ The
teller tries to convince you the story
is true, and they make aside remarks
to make you believe it,” she said. “It
always happens to 'someone who
knows someone you know.”’
Murder, marriage, mayhem and
Disney all provide fodder for these
tales, but one of the more fertile
breeding grounds for urban legends
remains college campuses.
At universities across the nation,
classroom tales, dorm horrors and
campus superstitions dominate the
folklore scene. Some legends crop up
Turn to TALES, Page 7 j
t
Cio Salinunui/F.nierald
Police cite 86 minor students for possession of alcohol
During the
first week of
school, new
students
often test
their limits,
University
officials say
By Michael Hines
Oregon Daily Emerald
At least 86 students are still paying the
price for partying a little too hard last week
end.
Police issued that many citations to mi
nors in possession of alcohol last Friday and
Saturday, according to the University Office
of Public Safety.
University Student Conduct Coordinator
Elaine Green said that this year’s high num
ber is not a shock for the first week of
school.
“Some years it’s a very busy week, and
some years it’s not,” Green said.
Students who are cited on campus and at
University events must go through the
school conduct system.
“What I’m going to look at is the circum
stances,” Green said. “Do they have prob
lems with [alcohol]?”
The student will eventually receive a
sanction from the University that, according
to Green, could range from a warning to
community service. Currently, federal laws
prohibit the University from notifying par
ents about students’ conduct problems.
There are alternatives to drinking, OPS
Lt. Joan Saylor said. The EMU recreation
center, for example, is open late and offers
a variety of activities, including billiards
and foosball.
But often students choose to drink on
campus, she said, and OPS officers have to
intervene.
What does OPS do?
“The OPS officer is going to stop and ad
vise them that it’s illegal,” Saylor said. If the
situation is out of control, officers may call
the Eugene police for assistance, and the
student will be issued an MIP, which comes
with a $115 fine and a court date.
If students cooperate, Eugene police are
not always called in. However, students
will probably have to go through the Uni
versity conduct system. OPS has a contract
with the Eugene police to have two officers
available, so police are usually available if
they are needed, Saylor said.
Saylor said the high number of MIPs
handed out last weekend was “fairly typi
cal.”
'“It’ll probably drop off as the year goes
on," she said.
Many students can consider themselves
lucky.
“The city indicated they could have writ
ten a lot more tickets,” Saylor said. High de
Turn to MIPs, Page 11
u What I’m
going to do is
look at the
circumstances.
Do they have a
problem with
[alcohol]?
Elaine Green
Student conduct
coordinator