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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 29, 1999)
« "l"hurs(l«.tj«.«lul»x LU. NW Weather forecast Today Friday Sunny Sunny High 86, Low 56 High 85, Low 56 Tax gridlock targeted Sen. Gordon Smith supports a bill that would nullify strict tax-reporting requirements for colleges/P AGE 3 Quite a musical ride The Hollywood Taxi in Springfield offers a variety of local bands on New Rock Tuesdays /PAGE 5 An independent newspaper Volume 101, Issue 12 University of Oregon www.dailyemerald.com OPEU sends out a message Strike-prep vote shows 95.6 percent of voting OPEU members favor preparing for a strike By Sara Jarrett Oregon Daily Emerald The Oregon Public Employees Union in the Oregon University System voted Tuesday to prepare for a strike. Members of the union include office staff, maintenance workers, librarians, custodians and special-services crew. There are about 3,500 workers in the union, with 800 at this University. The other six campuses that make up the OUS are Oregon State, Portland State, Eastern Oregon, Southern Oregon, Western Oregon and the Oregon Institute of Technology. More than half of the union members voted Tues day, with 95.6 percent in favor of preparing for a strike. “You can tell by this percentage that our members are angry,” said Terry Cavannah, OPEU spokesperson. “We are sending that message to the University and higher education. ” A second vote will have to be conducted, in Septem ber at the earliest, before a strike can be authorized. The strike-prep vote came after eight months of con tract negotiations about wages and health-insurance coverage between OPEU and OUS. OUS is threatening the OPEU with a $38-pay cut, which was part of a “Flex” benefit plan created to sway the classi fied workers into choosing a lower-cost health plan. The university system is also trying to pass a six-year contract with a four-percent wage increase during the first two years and nothing beyond that, according to Cavannah. Bob Bruce, OUS spokesperson, maintains that “im proved salary equity and long-term planing will be much better with a six-year contract.” The OUS determined its budget and then worked backwards to create this proposal of a long-term com mitment, he added. To the OPEU, however, a six-year contract is un heard of, especially considering that the Legislature works on a biennium, Cavannah said. In addition, Cavannah believes that the higher edu cation system is a “big winner” with the Legislature this biennium. “We think they have funds to cover everyone,” he said. The union is subsequently fighting for a two-year contract with a six-percent wage raise during its dura tion. The next negotiations are scheduled for Aug. 8 and 9 with a mediator. “We are, of course, still hopeful for a settlement,” Cavannah said. Courtesy/EMIJ Cultural Forum “Maturity” by Benny Alba, an oil and Dutch leaf on canvas, was created in 1996. Alba’s work can be seen in the EMU’s Adell McMillan Gallery. Alba’s ‘Visions’ now a reality in EMU Benny Alba’s series of paintings, “AlbaVisionsj” implements a wide variety of cultural figures By Sara Lieberth Oregon Daily Emerald Artist Benny Alba’s dramatic and bril liantly colored painting series “AlbaVi sions,” will grace the halls of the Adell McMillan Gallery in the EMU during its run through August 22. Sponsored by the EMU Cultural Forum, the exhibit features a collection of Alba’s work cre ated during the last 12 years, ranging consider ably in form, technique and content. Employing saturated coloring, the painstak ing process of Dutch, aluminum- and gold -oil painting and a myriad of symbolic references, Alba’s work possesses a striking visual por trayal of life through the artist’s eyes. “My symbolic imagery refers to various old and new cultures, species and races,” Alba said. “My purpose is to unify and strengthen the varieties of living creatures we know. ” Alba, a longtime Southern California resi dent, was present Monday for the opening of her show in Eugene at which she delivered a short lecture on the use of Metal Leaf in her art. She said she draws many of her symbols from Native American myths and culture, though she is not of that particular heritage. “I refer to these Native American images out of respect for the ideas they convey,” she said. “Yet it’s not a homogenization, but a mutable message I’m going for. It’s a salute, not a theft. ” Symbols recognizable to one familiar with European cultures likewise exist in this series. Alba said one of her goals was an “intermin gling of the old and new world” through such synergy, but that the concept of the “new world is a veiy single-viewpoint” perspective. Another image running through her work is the allusion to an ancient Mycean figure with a triangular head that Alba believes hearkens to a time when women’s strength was not only rec ognized but celebrated. “To me, it represents this time, around 1500 B.C., when women did headstands over bulls,” she said. “A time when women had great physical strength and what I want Turn to ALBA, Page 8 New MIPS not minor in penalty Increased fines will allow Eugene judges to punish repeat offenders more severely By Sara Lieberth Oregon Daily Emerald Sending a clear message to underage drinkers, the Eugene City Council ended its Monday night session by approving a raise in the fine for a minor in possession of alcohol, or MIP, from a $100 to $250 maximum effective August 26. In addition, the council entered two new offenses into the city code, one for il legally providing misinformation to an al cohol distributor and another for possess ing an unlabeled keg. Labeling on a keg must include the purchaser’s name and an address of where the alcohol is to be con sumed. Both new offenses carry a maximum fine of $2,500. Raising the penalties allows the cita tions to be heard in municipal instead of state courts, which helps to speed up the hearings process and gives judges greater discretion to assess the fines in relative ac cordance for first-time or repeat offenders. Prior to the increase, violators were charged on average $90 for a first MIP of fense and the $100 maximum on subse quent offenses. The new provision makes repeat offenders face more severe penal ties according to their crime. In a written memo to the council, Mu nicipal Judge Wayne Allen said an in creased fine could serve as a deterrent for underage drinkers. “The ability to explain to first-time of fenders that the maximum penalty is $250 and ... they should refrain from further vi olations can be helpful in reducing repeat offenders,” Allen wrote. MIP citations are on the rise in Eugene and are especially problematic at the Uni versity, according to the Eugene Police De partment. Of the 1,001 MIP offenses dis tributed last year, 872 were issued on campus. Further, in 1998 the EPD made 93 drunk-driving arrests, found 360 individ uals in violation of open-container laws and issued 158 citations for providing al cohol to minors in the University area. Officers in the West University Public Safety Station have actively tried to edu cate and raise awareness on the perils of underage drinking, giving particular at tention to organized campus groups in cluding fraternities and sororities Police spokesperson Jan Power said the primary reasoning behind the depart ment’s support for the council’s action was that the city become consistent with Oregon state statutes on underage drink ing and to broaden the scope of sentenc ing. “It doesn’t change the way the law will be enforced by police,” she said, “but it will hopefully help deter more kids under 21 from drinking in the first place.”
