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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1999)
ATM fees an issue of public interest Supporters of OS PIRG and U-Lane-O spoke Thursday in a report By Darren Freeman tor the Emerald Banks are helping themselves to their customers’ money through unnecessary ATM fees, according to a United States Public Interest Research Group report released Thursday. USPIRG surveyed 336 banks across the country and found that customers pay an average of $2.57 in fees when using ATMs not owned by the banks where they keep their ac counts. Both the customers’ banks and the banks owning the ATMs charge these fees. Representatives from the Committee to Re-Establish OS PIRG and U-Lane-O Credit Union spoke about the report at a press conference outside the University Bookstore Thursday. "The survey is no April Fool’s joke; it really happens,” said Ilysia Shattuck, Commit tee to Re-Establish OSPIRC campaign coordinator. The committee contributed to the fees report and plans to distribute it on campus. Almost all banks across the country charge their customers “foreign fees,” averaging $1.20, for using other banks’ ATMs. These fees are used to compen sate the owners of the ATMs. But nine out of 10 banks also surcharge customers from oth er banks an average of $1.37 for using their ATMs. Conse quently, customers often pay two fees per transaction. “There is no regulation that says they cannot surcharge, plus there is no regulation that says how much they can charge,” said Gordon Hoerauf, president and CEO of U-Lane O Credit Union. According to the report, which updated a similar report last year, banks across the coun try stand to bring in $2.1 billion from surcharges this year in ad dition to the compensation from the “foreign fees.” Generally, the big multi state banks, including Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank, charge more in fees than do smaller banks and credit unions, such as Washington Mutual and U Lane-O Credit Union, accord ing to the report. But the large banks own most of the ATMs, and outside account holders often pay the fees rather than travel the extra distance to their own banks’ ATMs. In the report, USPIRG said the surcharges are unfair to small banks and credit unions as well as to consumers. The double fees make it cost-effec tive to hold accounts only at big banks and penalize outside ac count holders, the report says. “Banks charge this double dipping surcharge for one rea son,” Shattuck said, “Because they can.” 006126 Of Fire Restaurant &. Catering Open 7 days Best Thai & Vegetarian dishes in town! Beers on tap • Carry-out available Voted “Best Mew Restaurant" A "Best Take Out” — Eugene Weekly 344-6475 • 1099 Chambers St. (W. 11th & Chambers) Authentic Chinese Cuisine RESTAURANT & LOUNGE 947 Franklin Blvd. 0 343-4480 g 8 Ask Anyone! But find out for yourself why more students choose Ducks Village for their home away from home! We are know accepting applications for next year. Don’t miss out—stop by today! Our offices are open M-F, 8-5 and Sat 9-1, or email us at: ducksvillage@earthlink.net, 3225 Kinsrow Ave, 485-7200 Visit our website: www.ducksvillageapts.com News Briefs Low-key anniversary marks King’s death MEMPHIS, Tenn. — One year after 4,000 marchers stretched six blocks to mark the 30th anniver sary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr., a scant 15 showed up Sunday to remember die slain civ il rights leader. The 31st anniversary rally, spon sored by the Memphis chapter of the NAACP youth council, featured chants, songs and speeches. The group stood under the balcony of The Lorraine Motel, where King was assassinated in 1968. “Society can be reborn again if we can stop violence and stop the hate," said 15-year-old Aren Cow an, the council’s vice president, in one speech. She noted this was the first year the anniversary has fall en on an Easter Sunday. The motel is now the site of the National Civil Rights Museum, where many visitors were un aware of the day’s significance as they wandered upon the after noon rally. The low-key rally was a stark contrast to the 30th anniversary, when thousands of marchers, led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Mem phis Mayor W.W. Herenton, sang “We Shall Overcome” and other standards from the civil rights movement and carried pictures of King and signs saying, “Remember the Man and the Message.” ‘Marriage penalty’ pro vision may change WASHINGTON — Most Amer icans have never heard of Vivien Kellems. But if they are married and each spouse earns roughly the same salary, they should keep her in mind while filling out their in come tax returns. Miss Kellems, who died in 1975, was a prominent Connecti cut businesswoman who success fully lobbied Congress in 1969 to change the tax code so it would not discriminate against unmar ried adults. Single people had been at a tax disadvantage to mar ried couples since 1948. But when one group gains from tinkering with the progressive tax code, another loses. Such is the case with the “marriage penalty” now affecting 21 million couples who pay an average of $1,400 more than if they had not tied the knot. Congress is weighing at least one proposal to help some mar ried couples, hoping to tap the budget surplus to cover the re duced revenue. Miss Kellems, founder of War Widows of America, noted that millions of women in her genera tion were unmarried because of a post-World War II shortage of po tential husbands. Three decades later, Congress is wrestling with a polar-opposite dilemma: the entry of millions of women into the workforce is exac erbating the marriage penalty in the tax code. Arab, African delegates to witness handover CAIRO, Egypt — Arab and African dignitaries began arriving in Libya on Sunday to witness the handover of two suspects in the 1988 Pan Am bombing, a sign their extradition is imminent. A delegation led by Ahmed Ben Heli, the Arab League's assistant secretary-general, flew Sunday to Tunisia. From there, the delegates were driven to the Libyan capital, Tripoli. “It is good news for the Libyans — indeed, for all Arabs — that this quandary is finally over," Ben Heli told The Associated Press be fore leaving Cairo, where the Arab League is based. Jakes Gerwel, an aide to South African President Nelson Man dela and key broker in arranging the suspects’ transfer, arrived in the Libyan capital late Sunday. Gerwel was joined in Tripoli by Said Ibrahim Saleh Bakr, assistant secretary general of the Organiza tion of Africa Unity. The convergence of officials on Libya followed reports that the chief U.N. legal counsel, Hans Corell, had left for Europe on Fri day on his way to Libya to arrange the handover. Lamen Khalifa Fhiinah and Abdel Basset Ali al Megrahi are to be tried under Scot tish law in the Netherlands. The Dec. 21, 1988, bombing of the Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, killed 270 people — mostly Americans and Britons — on the air and the ground. The two Libyans, allegedly former intelli gence agents, were suspected of planting a suitcase bomb on the plane. Libyan leader Moammar Gad hafi has promised to hand over the suspects by Tuesday for trial. Two Scottish prosecutors, Nor man McFadyen and Jim Brisbane, arrived Sunday in the Nether lands. More than 100 Scottish po lice and prison guards are already at Camp Zeist, the Dutch air base where the trial is to be held. Ben Heli said he would repre sent the Arab League’s secretary general, Esmat Abdel-Meguid, who could not make the trip be cause of other commitments. — The Associated Press ENROLLNOW.t ENROLLNOW.! ENROLLNOW: CRAFT CENTER -I NINULUNU V V .ENROLLNOW ENROLLNOW Fiber Arts Beginning Weaving Wed, April 14-May 19 $45 Spinning Sun, April 18-May 9 $32 Coil Baskets Sat, May 8 & 15 $26 w/term pass Mapuche Weaving Mon, April 19-May 24 $48 w/term pass Beginning Knitting Mon, May 3-24 $40 w/term pass 6:30-9:00pm Term pass required 1:00-3:30pm Term pass required 10:30-1:00pm $30 w/out term pass 6:30-9:00pm $52 w/out term pass 6:30-9:00pm $44 w/out term pass Beginning Jewelry Tues, April 13-May 25 $50 Enameling Sun, May 9-23 $32 Flint Knapping Tues, April 13-May 4 $32 w/term pass 3:00-6:00pm Term pass required 1:00-4:00pm Term pass required 6:30-9:00pm $36 w/out term pass Whole Bike Health Tues, April 13-May 18 6:30-9:00pm $40 w/term pass $44 w/out term pass Wed, April 14-May 19 6:30-9:00pm $40 w/term pass $44 w/out term pass Mark Chatterley- Ceramic Sculpture Lecture: Room 11s Lawrence ( No charge) Tues, April 22 7:30 pm Workshop: Fri-Sat April 23-24 9:30 am-5:00pm $25 for student $45 for all others Wood Working Wooden hand planes Sat, April 17-May 1 1:00-3:00pm $28 Term pass required 11:00am-6:00pm Term pass required VHH Raku Firing Sat, May 8 $25 Adv. Ceramic Sculpture Mon-Wed, May 24-26 6:30-9:30pm $30 Term pass required Cont. Wheel Throwing Wed, April 7-May12 3:00-6:00pm $48 Term pass required Photo Refresher Wed, April 21 & 28 6:00-9:00pm $20 Term pass required Handcoloring B&W Photographs Wed, May 5 & 12 6:00-9:00pm $21 w/term pass $25 w/out term pass Polaroid Image & Emulsion Transfer Sun, May 16 & 23 1:00-4:00pm $46 w/term pass $50 w/out term pass Advanced Drawing Thur, April 15-May 20 $38 w/term pass Papermaking Sat, April 17-May 1 $22 w/term pass 6:00-8:30pm $42 w/out term pass 10:30am-12:30pm $26 w/out term pass Ceramic Clockfaces Sun, May 16 & 23 5:00-8:00pm $25 w/term pass $29 w/out term pass Fireside Footstools Sun, May 16 & 23 $22 w/term pass 12:30-4:30pm $26 w/out term pass For more information please call (541) 346-4361 or visit our web site at: www.craftcenter.uoregon.edu