Editor in chief: Laura Cadiz
Editorial Editors: Bret Jacobson, Laura Lucas
Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
Room 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: ode@oregon. uoregon.edu
On-line edition: www.dailyemerald.com
Emerald’s Endorsements
State Ballot Measures
Measure 68; YES. The measure would protect private-sector, certain
government and nonprofit jobs from competition with prison labor programs.
Measure 69: NO. The measure would infringe upon the rights of the ac
cused by allowing “victims" the right to refuse deposition; deposition is key to
any person’s right to face his or her accusers.
Measure 70: NO. This measure would too strongly enhance prosecutori
al power by giving prosecutors the right to demand trial by jury in criminal cas
es; the right to a trial by jury is the right of the accused.
Measure 71: NO. This measure seeks to limit the offer of bail to persons
accused of violent crimes in order to protect victims and the public, but in do
ing so presumes guilt instead of innocence.
Measure 72: NO. The measure would allow people to be convicted by a
non-unanimous vote (11 to 1); but if any member of a jury doubts the guilt of
the accused, the prosecutor has not proven guilt beyond reasonable doubt, the
standard to which our courts have long been held.
Measure 73: NO. This measure would limit immunity for persons who
testify about their own criminal conduct, but such immunity is often key to in
vestigations and compelling someone to testify against themselves (& la Ken
neth Starr) is a blatant disregard for the Fifth Amendment.
Measure 74: YES. This measure would require people who are convicted
to fulfill their full sentences, by limiting parole discretion to judges and not to
parole boards easily swayed by the reports of “good behavior” of prison in
mates.
Measure 75: NO. This measure would bar people convicted of “certain”
misdemeanors (involving violence or dishonesty) from serving on grand juries
or criminal trial juries; “certain” is quite ambiguous and not all “dishonest" mis
demeanors are severe enough to warrant barring such criminals from doing
their civic duty. (A dishonest misdemeanor could be as silly as a Minor in Pos
session —think about that.)
Measure 76: NO. This measure would amend the Oregon Constitution to
require light and heavy vehicles to share highway costs; this is not a constitu
tional issue, and the measure would not change current practice.
Lane County voters
smart to slay away
tram Measure 20-25
How many times do we have to say “no”?
Lane County voters may experience ddja vu when
they open their ballots this week. Measure 20-25, the
sole issue on the county ballot this year, is eerily fa
miliar to a measure defeated last year. Both hoped to in
crease community resources against crime, with drug
courts, jail beds and at-risk youths being at the forefront.
Think, then, that you already know the issue? Think
again. New, careful wording and sneaky advertising may
have you believing that Measure 20-25 different enough
from 1998’s measure. Well it’s not new, and it’s not im
proved.
First up, the funding has shifted. Last year’s voters
turned down a measure that would have increased your
taxes. This year, voters will see that the tax has been
changed to an 8 percent state personal income and corpo
rate excise tax surcharge. Careful working, indeed. Because
while a 51 percent voter turnout for a tax-increase measure
is required, the “surcharge” does not have such stipula
tions.
A few number of voters have the power to increase taxes
for all.
What’s more, the Legislature can make the surcharge per
manent before 2006, when the measure would be up for re
newal. Now an even smaller number of people would have
the power to increase taxes for all.
Secondly, proponents for Measure 20-25 have tried to
appeal to public sympathy and empathy for at-risk youth
and safety concerns. The pro-measure advertising has
come from county resources, and it hasn’t given die whole
story. The at-risk youth referred to in the ads will not get
the majority of the money, by a margin of 10-1. The majori
ty would go to funding additional jail beds, the currently
unfunded juvenile justice center and 40 new police offi
cers.
Honesty has not been the policy.
The proponents of Measure 20-25 have tried to force this
safety measure down our throats. Last year it failed. No re
wording and confusion of its effects should help it pass this
time.
Vote NO on Measure 20-25.
This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial board. Responses may be
senttoode@oregon.uoregon.edu.
Quoted
"They're ail autistic
in some form or
fashion. I don't
mean to say that as
a snide remark to
ward a certain pop
ulation in our soci
ety, but they have a
limitation of their
attention span; a lot
of it is probably due
to too much rap
music going in their
ears or coming out
of their being. So,
they need to get a
focal point that lasts
longer than a TV
commercial or one
short, 15-second
span."
— Los Angeles
Lakers’ head
coach Phi! Jackson
on the "maturity" of
his new team. Ore
gon Live, Oct. 25.
“Our creative team,
headed by Vincent
McMahon, devel
ops soap opera-like
story lines employ
ing the same tech
niques that are
used by many suc
cessful dramatic TV
series. The interac
tions among the
characters reflect a
wide variety of con
temporary topics,
often depicting ex
aggerated versions
of real-life situa
tions and typically
containing ‘good
versus evil’of‘set
fling the score'
themes...”
— From the text of?
the World
Wrestling Federa
tion’s initial public
offering of stock
last Wednesday.
Sports Illustrated,
Oct. 18,1999.
"It's a very helpless
feeling to pull up
alongside another
aircraft and realize
the people inside
that aircraft are po
tentially uncon
scious or in some
other way incapaci
tated. And there's
nothing I can do
physically from my
aircraft—even
. though I’m 50 to
100 feet away—to
help them at all.”
—Air Force Cap!.
Chris Hamilton on
how he feit tracking
the late Payne
Stewart's doomed
airplane. The golfer
and at least four
others died In the -
airplane on Mon
day. Oregonian,
Oct 26.