Ventura sworn in as Minnesota governor
By Rochele Oison
The Associated Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Former
professional wrestler Jesse Ventu
ra took the oath of office Monday
as Minnesota’s 37th governor af
ter a two-month honeymoon as
the country’s most unlikely politi
cal star.
In his 11-minute inaugural
speech, Ventura sought to reas
sure Minnesotans that they didn’t
make a mistake in electing a hald,
boisterous radio host, former
Navy SEAL and actor known as
“The Body.”
"Now we move forward to do
Minnesota’s business, and we
will do it to the best of our abili
ty,” Ventura said to about 800
people watching in the Capitol ro
tunda.
Chief executives were also
sworn in Monday in Arizona, Cal
ifornia, Idaho, Nevada, Wisconsin
and Wyoming.
But none of them had generat
ed as much attention or amaze
ment as Ventura, the Reform Par
ty candidate, who got 37 percent
of the vote in November, good
enough to stun two political vet
erans, Republican Norm Coleman
and Democrat Hubert Humphrey
III.
As he did through the cam
paign, Ventura spoke mostly
without notes , with people
standing three and four deep on
two balconies overlooking the ro
tunda floor.
He doled out thank-yous and
talked about his hopes but did not
touch on any plans he might have
for tax relief, a central theme of
his campaign. He did reach out to
the young, disenchanted voters,
who provided much of his sup
port at the polls.
"We must put down the parti
san party politics and look at the
bigger picture,” he said. “We
must not fail, because if we do,
we can lose this generation.”
Ventura, 47, replaced Republi
can Gov. Arne Carlson, a 30-year
public servant, who was state au
ditor before becoming governor.
Ventura’s only political experi
ence was as mayor of the Min
neapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park
from 1991-95.
Ventura made several refer
ences to his four years in the Navy
in the 1970s. He wore a gold Navy
trident in his lapel and read from
a letter sent to him by Master
Chief Terry Moy, who oversaw
his training in Coronado, Califor
nia, and stood behind the podium
Monday in Navy dress blues.
The letter urged Ventura to
draw on the strength he found in
the brutal SEAL’S training to get
him through the rough parts of his
four-year term.
After he was sworn in, Ventura
hugged his wife, Terry, and their
two children, Jade, 15, and Tyrel,
19.
He scheduled an invitation
only reception at the governor’s
mansion, but he planned to be
back in the office Tuesday to
work on the state’s two-year, $23
billion budget.
He decided to forgo a black-tie
ball in favor of a “people’s cele
bration” bash at the Target Center
on January 16 with live music.
Jane Tee, 52, a communications
worker from St. Paul, said she
votes infrequently but got excited
by Ventura’s plain-spoken ap
proach to politics.
"I hope he can do what he says,
get people involved,” she said. “I
think people will storm the Legis
lature if he doesn’t get what he
wants.”
Peace Corps increases college recruitment
By David Briscoe
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Peace
Corps is preparing to recruit more
volunteers this year than at any
time in the past 25 years but won’t
meet President Clinton’s goal of
10,000 by the turn of the century.
“With an 8 percent budget in
crease, the organization intends to
sign up nearly 4,000 volunteers
this year,” Peace Corps Director
Mark Gearan said in an interview
Monday. Currently, 6,700 are
serving two-year stints in 80 coun
tries. With about half those ending
terms, the year-end total is expect
ed to exceed 7,100.
"The Peace Corps, whose bud
get is $240 million, expects to
have the highest number of volun
teers since 1974,” said Gearan as
he released the names of colleges
and universities with the largest
number of graduates serving over
seas.
The University of Wisconsin
topped the list with 116, followed
by the University of Colorado at
Boulder with 91, and the Univer
sity of Washington with 75.
Among small colleges — those
with fewer than 5,000 undergrad
uates — American University in
Washington, D.C., led with 36
alumni serving as volunteers, fol
lowed by the University of Chica
go with 23, and Carleton College
of Northfield, Minnesota, with 21,
“But accelerated Peace Corps
recruiting will look well beyond
college campuses this year,” Gear
an said. The average age of Peace
Corps volunteers is 29, with sev
en percent over 50 years old.
“A lot of our volunteers come
right out of college, but increasing
ly many now take time to work a
bit, gaining some experience be
fore serving,” Gearan said.
The director said he is confident
that the Peace Corps can meet its
immediate recruitment goals, be
cause it has had an increase in ap
plicants in recent years, with its
slogan, “The toughest job you’ll
ever love,” and a new campaign
theme, “How far are you willing to
go to make a difference?”
“The 10,000-volunteer goal,
with more budget increases from
Congress, should be achieved ear
ly in the next century,” Gearan
said.
I see in your future...
/fh
head, hands
& heart
I see in your future...leadership, learning and long life. I perceive
you having a great capacity to help others. I envision you as a
leader of great things. I picture a gathering of people around you.
If you follow your current path, I predict you will lead us into the
next millenium.
University Housing is looking for students who are strong
leaders, have great senses of humor, enjoy helping
others and like to plan events to serve as Resident and
Program Assistants for the 1999 - 2000 academic year.
H Applications and information are available at all Area
Desks and in the Office of University Housing in the
Walton Complex.
Resident and Program Assistants must be full time
students at UO and live in the residence hall where they
are employed. Compensation is a single room and
board.
Completed applications are due
5:00 pm, January 28, 1999
at University Housing.
University Housing is an AA/EOE/ADA employer committed to cultural diversity.
Student
Continued from Page 1
consideration to racial mi
norities,” he said.
Ultimately, Tollenaar be
lieved tire ASUO would win
its appointment to the police
commission even if a specif
ic ASUO representative was
not written into law.
“I think [the members of
the City Council] are going
to leave it up to the mayor,”
he said. “I think when the
time comes, the ASUO is
going to have to take their
case to the mayor.”
On Nov. 23, students
from the ASUO took their
case to the mayor and the
City Council.
Melissa Watson, a Univer
sity senior who is lobbying
for ASUO representation on
the commission, said she
wanted city councilors to
think of University students
when they consider groups
that need representation on
the commission.
“I’m trying to get them to
include students on their
laundry list,” she said.
Watson said she also
wants the council to change
the length of a police com
mission appointment from
four years to two years be
cause a two-year appoint
ment would be more man
ageable for a student.
Councilman Bobby Lee
said he fully supported the
ASUO’s efforts.
i think it s a perfectly
reasonable idea,” he said.
“There’s rarely been a stu
dent involved in anything
relating to the city.”
Lee said University stu
dents are important enough to
be represented on the police
commission because they
contribute community ser
vice, ethnic and racial diver
sity and make a large econom
ic contribution to Eugene.
“Students are essentially
the heartbeat of Eugene,”
said Lee.
But interim Police Chief
Jim Hill said if students were
nominated to the commis
sion, he would want them to
be concerned about more
than the relationship be
tween students and police.
“I’m concerned that the 12
people that get on the com
mission have a broad number
of interests,” he said.
Hill said the commission
would — by law — look at
many different issues rather
than just police misconduct.
Hill said students already
have other ways to address
issues of their relationship
to the police — such as the
Campus Community Task
Force. The task force in
cludes ASUO representa
tives, East Sector Patrol
Lieutenant Carolyn Me
Uermed and Sgt. Rick
Gilliam, campus supervisor
for the Eugene police.
Hill said when the task
force met in mid-October, the
police outlined its strategies
for dealing with loud parties
and other disturbances.
“The other thing is that if
there are complaints about
a particular officer’s con
duct, a citizen can register a
compliant with the police,”
Hill said. “Basically any cit
izen can complain about
how a particular officer han
dled a call and then we in
vestigate it.”