Calendar
Tuesday, Jan. 11
The Solar Information Center pres
ents “Diet for a New America,” a
video on the environmental im
pact of the meat industry. 7:30
p.m. 177 Lawrence Half. For more
information call 346-3696.
Programs Finance Committee
hearing. 5-9 p.m. EMU Board
Room, 1222 E. 13th Ave. For more
information call 346-0623.
National Student Exchange Pro
gram sponsors the last orientation
meeting for students seeking
placement for the 2000-2001
school year. All students welcome.
3:30-4:30 fim. EMU Umpqua
room. For more information call
Jessica Nelson at Academic Advis
ing & Student Services center at
346-3211.
ALL DAY
TUESDAY
ALL
YOU
CAN
EAT
EVERY
TUES!
includes
Garlic Bread
11:30 am-10pm
$025
with
student ID
PIZZA
?E.T£j
g>673 Willamette • 484-0996
“this location only*
Wet weather characterizes The Emerald City
■ The rain is once again
upon us, or rather, all over
us, soaking us to the core
By Sara Lieberth
Oregon Daily Emerald
It’s relentless. Stubborn. Crafty.
It gets in your shoes, on your
clothes, sneaks into your back
pack unnoticed and onto the
floors of classrooms and hallways
throughout campus. And after
days on end of waking and falling
asleep to its pitter-patter on win
dows and roofs, it becomes ubiq
uitous.
Yes, the rainy season is upon us
in Eugene, made only slightly
bearable by the consequence of
the city’s emblematic title of The
Emerald City. To appreciate our
excessively green surroundings,
residents live with gray skies and
precipitation downfall more
months of the year than not.
“It’s miserable,” said senior Bi
ology major and Eugene native
Brian Greenough. He said al
though living in one of the wettest
areas of the country his entire life
might have helped him get used
to it, sloshing through campus on
a day like Monday never gets any
easier.
“After a workout it’s pretty
nice, but that’s about it,” he said.
More complicit in his response,
Jason Amis said the incessant wet
§ CRIME
WATCH
(Reported Jan. 2 through Jan. 9)
Jan. 2, Burglary t, 1800 block of
Alder Street, apartment burglar
ized, window broken.
Jan. 6, Burglary!, 1800 biock of
Harris Street, items stolen.
Jan. 7, Assault IV/Attempted Rape,
1400 block University Street, fe
male assaulted.
Jan. 8, Criminal Mischief II, 700
block of East 16th Avenue, tires
slashed.
Jan. 8, Burglary 1,3100 block of
Kinsrow Avenue, items stolen.
Jan. 9, Disorderly Conduct/Crimi
nal Mischief II, 700 block of East
16th Avenue, residents threatened
with axe handle.
weather conditions are par for the
course in choosing to live in the
Northwest.
“It’s just the way it is,” he said.
“I’ve been here for over four years
and you get used to it. It’s no big
deal.”
George Taylor, the state’s offi
cial climatologist since 1991, said
residents of the Willamette Valley
should take comfort in the fact
that the area actually does not
necessarily get more rain than an
average East Coast or Midwest
city. The difference, though, is
that west of the Cascade Moun
tains we experience a lot of rainy
days each with a little bit of rain,
relatively, as opposed to huge
thunderstorms that characterize
other parts of the country.
“Certainly we live in a wet val
ley,” he said, “but Eugene is actu
ally below normal in rainfall for
the year to date.”
Taylor referenced the average
to be 22.7 inches of rainfall meas
ured from Oct. 1 through Mon
day. So far, a mere 15.96 inches
have graced the city since last fall.
The long-term average for Eugene
is 49.36 inches per year of rain
fall.
Decreasing temperatures often
result in the valley of green being
transformed into a valley of
white, as snow dusted the tops of
South Eugene and Coburg hills
Students hurry to class under a sea
Scott Barnett Emerald
of umbrellas outside of Knight Library.
around the city Monday. Oyer the
last few days snowfall has in
creased dramatically, according
to Taylor, and numerous traffic
advisories are in effect through
out the state.
ASUO voting
continued from page 1
open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Duck
Web is open all hours and stu
dents can access it from the com
puter lab or from their dorm room
at midnight if they want,” Best
said.
Best also thinks Duck Web will
make the elections more fair and
make sure voting remains accu
rate, which has caused problems
in previous years.
“With paper ballots, we could
swipe students’ cards to see if
they can vote. But with Duck Web
we can also make sure that sci
ence majors don’t vote for the law
school [Student] Senate seat, for
example,” Best said.
The tentative polling locations
will be the Knight Library lobby,
the UO Bookstore lobby, the Car
son Hall lobby and in the EMU.
“We’re hoping to please both
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crowds for those who want to
vote on-line and those who want
polling booths as part of the vot
ing experience,” Best said.
As a trial of the system, students
were able to vote on Duck Web for
last year’s primary election only.
Although Best said the computer
option didn’t increase voting ex
cessively, he thinks the conven
ience of and confidence in the sys
tem will boost voter turnout this
year.
Junior journalism major Brian
Boone agreed. He said he used
Duck Web to vote in last year’s pri
mary for tho convenience and will
definitely use it this year as well.
“It’s a good way to get those who
don’t ordinarily vote, vote. What
ever it takes to increase voting,”
Boone said.
However, sophomore sociolog}'
major Erika Oreskovich said she
worries about the problems that
could arise by using a computer
system and said she’d rather have
a paper ballot system, which she
feels would be less impersonal.
“I didn’t vote last year, but be
ing able to vote on-line isn’t going
to get me out there. I’d rather see
more information about the can
didates and what they stand for,”
Oreskovich said.
Best said he thinks students
will have increased confidence in
Duck Web once they see how it
works this year.
“I liken it to absentee voting,
which has become more and
more popular in the state. A huge
amount vote absentee now be
cause they don’t want to go to the
polls,” Best said.
The deadline to file as a candi
date for office is Friday, Jan. 21.
Students interested in running for
office need to pick up an elections
packet in the ASUO office or call
the ASUO Elections Board for
more information at 346-3724.
Scholarships
continued from page 1
pie who don’t bother to spell
check,” he said.
The deadline for most Universi
ty scholarships is Feb. 1, 2000, a
date Buch said is not negotiable.
Buch stressed the need for stu
dents to apply immediately for
scholarships, as well as for federal
financial aid.
“I would do it today,” he said.
“There is nothing to be gained by
waiting.”
Jim Gilmour, the associate di
rector of student financial aid,
echoed Buch’s statements, noting
that the majority of University stu
dents receive federal and state fir
nancial aid.
“It’s important for them to apply
right now for those,” Gilmour
said.
Deadlines are strict, and stu
dents who wait until the last
minute are likely to be left without
any options, he said. *
“There’s always a small group of
people who put a great deal of ener
gy into trying to get us to accept a
late application,” he said. “They
could have spent that [energy]
working on getting it in on time. ”
To simplify the scholarship
search process for students this
year, the University created an on
line database of scholarships,
which is accessible through die
University’s home page, Buch said.
Malfunction
continued from page 1
to those messages, but I can’t.
“Communication is vital to
what we do. That’s why we make
such a big investment in the Au
dix system,” be said.
“Once in a while when the sys
tem goes down we realize how im
portant it is.”
The failure was “absolutely
not” related to any kind of Y2K
problem, Tarlton said.
There was no clear reason for
the failure of the two computer
chips. “It’s a mechanical device
subject to failure,” he said.
This was the first problem of its
kind in the entire history of the
OUS use of Audix systems. Audix
systems are in use at seven univer
sities across the state.