Wednesday, October 21,1998
Weather forecast
Today Thursday
Sunny Fog
High75,Low36 High71,Low42
Jewish renaissance needed
Edgar Bronfman says a Jewish
renaissance would solve the crisis in
Ametica/?k(pL 3
Linebacker anchors defense
Chris Claiborne tries to live up to the
Trojans ’ legendary No. 55 against
the Ducks this Saturday/PAGE 9
An independent newspaper
Volume 100, Issue 37
University of Oregon
Eugene, Oregon
. d Photos by Matt Garton/Emerald
(Top) Chase Brennan, 1, plays with one of the six pumpkins his family picked Sunday at the Herrick Farms pumpkin patch in
Springfield. (Bottom) Marshall, Marlon, Coral and Denise Kanafsky gather around a potential jack-o’-lantern Sunday.
A local farm offers students the
autumn delights of hayrides
and pumpkin picking
By Nicole Garton
Oregon Daily Emerald
The crisp air carries only the occasional
bleat of a goat until the faint roar of a trac
tor engine approaches. Moments later, a
hay wagon pulls up to the rustic scale at
Herrick Farms in Springfield, and autumn
revelers spill out, their arms stretched
around plump, orange vegetables.
Pumpkin season is ripe for the picking,
and patch-goers have begun the search for
those Halloween diamonds-in-the-rough.
This weekend will be one of the busiest
of the season, says Jennifer Wallstrom, a
Linfield College student and helper at the
farm. The best time to find the perfect
pumpkin is in early October, when the
field is full and not picked over yet, she
says.
But the patch is still bursting with plen
ty of shapely selections to meet the
strictest criteria, and pickers all have their
own standards by which they choose.
Springfield resident Jeanette Balthrop
and her family pile pumpkin after pump
kin onto the old-fashioned scale, barely
finding room for all 15 of their future jack
o’-lanterns.
“We have four kids," she explains.
“Everybody gets a big one, and then each
of the kids picks a little one. ”
After a morning spent wading through
the orange-speckled patch, the Balthrops
found plenty of pumpkins that meet their
criteria — just the right size with a shape
good for carving — and they weigh in at
152 pounds.
Not a bad yield, but Wallstrom, who
mans the scale, has seen bigger.
“I think the most I’ve seen is up in the
200s. One of the big ones once weighed
about 250 pounds,” she says. “Those ones
can get pretty big.”
Bend resident Mandi Brennan will
vouch for that. Her biggest prize, a 219
Turn to PUMPKINS, Page 4
“It
wouldn’t fit
in anyone’s
trunk, and I
wasn’t going
to leave my
pumpkin. We
had to seat
belt it in.
Mandi Brennan
Bend resident
Window open to
consolidate loans
New federal legislation
allows combining loans
into single-lender loans
with lower interest rates
By Teri Meeuwsen and
Kristina Rudinskas
Oregon Daily Emerald
Students can now consoli
date their loans during a four
month window and pay less in
terest when they pay off their
loans after graduation.
“It’s really frustrating to stu
dents to have to pay back so
much,” ASUO Vice President
Morgan Cowling said. “I’ll have
$20,000 of debt when I leave,
and now I can save up to
$1,000.1 haven’t [consolidated
loans] yet, but I plan on it.”
When the Higher Education
Act passed earlier this month, it
included dropping the federal
aid interest rate from 8.25 per
cent to 7.46 percent. ASUO and
OSPIRG worked last year to ex
tend the lower interest rate to
apply to old loans as well as
new student loans.
“We all worked really hard to
get this,” said C.J. Gabbe, ASUO
federal affairs coordinator. “It
was really a fight, and we’re
Turn to LOANS, Page 8
Direct Loan
Consolidation
When: The deadline for applica
tions is Jan.31,1999. Processing
applications generally takes 60 to
90 days.
What: An opportunity to combine
some or all of your student loans
for a lower interest rate. OSPIRG
estimates the lower rate will save
students $50 for every $1,000 of
debt.
Why: Consolidating loans gives
students one monthly payment,
may extend the repayment peri
od, eliminates dealing with multi
ple lenders and can give student
loans the 7.46 percent interest
rate.
Who: Students must have one di
rect or FFEL loan included in the
consolidation request.
Where: Students can apply for
loan consolidation through the
U.S. Department of Education or
private lenders participating in the
department's government guar
anteed (FFEL) loan program. Call
the Direct Loan origination Center
at 1 -800-557-7392 or check it out
on the web at www.ed.gov/Di
rectLoan.
Kitzhaber, Sizemore
agree on higher ed
The governor and his
Republican challenger
want a tuition freeze
and accountability
By David Ryan
Oregon Daily Emerald
In the wrestling match of the
campaign for governor, some is
sues set the Democratic and Re
publican contenders clutching
at each other’s throats, but high
er education is not one of them.
Both leading candidates for
governor, Democrat incumbent
John Kitzhaber and Republican
challenger Bill Sizemore, want
more funding for higher educa
tion. Both candidates feel in
creased taxes are not a way out.
Both candidates want changes
in the way universities are man
aged.
“I do know that [Sizemore]
wants to hold down tuition,”
said Kathy Eply, press secretary
for Bill Sizemore’s campaign.
“He thinks higher education is
the one area of government that
is underfunded.”
Sizemore was unavailable for
comment.
Eply said Sizemore knows
where he
can get the
money to
fund higher
education
without
raising tax
es.
“ [ S i z e -
more] be
1 i e v e s
there’s al
KITZHABER
ready
enough
money in
the general
fund and
enough
money to
pay for a tu
i t i o n
freeze,” she
said.
“We’re
flushed
with cash.”
SIZEMORE
Gov. John Kitzhaber, like
Sizemore, planned on putting a
tuition freeze through the Legis
lature, but he had concerns
about the way Oregon’s budget
is increasingly dependent on in
Turn to CANDIDATES, Page 8