Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 3, 2000)
Prejean continued from page 1A looking to raise awareness about the death penalty. Prejean has been on a “personal crusade to end the death penalty in the U.S.,” said Rep. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, who hosted a press conference Wednesday to introduce the author. “I am here to support this initia tive,” Prejean said before the press conference began. Prejean, author of “Dead Man Walking,” has toured internation ally advocating against the death penalty. She is now concentrating on the United States to support American lawmakers’ efforts to end the death penalty. Illinois Gov. George Ryan an nounced Monday that the death penalty will be put on hold in his state indefinitely. “I cannot sup port a system, which, in its admin istration, has proven so fraught with error,” Ryan told the New York Times in article published Tuesday. “Now people are reexam ining cases in Illinois that would not be reexamined in other states.” Ryan’s moratorium is the first of its kind. At the press conference Prejean applauded his taking a stand. In a story-telling format, Prejean told the audience of her experi ences since she became involved in 1983. “Some people call me the angel of death row,” said Prejean, who has witnessed five executions since Sonnier’s execution in 1984. As a Catholic nun, Prejean be lieves in compassion and kind ness. She started working with the poor in 1980 after hearing a fellow nun speak on poverty in the Unit ed States. “When you live a life of privi lege you don’t know you have a life of privilege,” Prejean said. She began by volunteering at the Hope House in Louisiana, which led to her involvement with the criminal justice system and death-row inmates. After seeing Sonnier die, she knew that the reason the death penalty was possible was that peo ple are disconnected from it. She thought, “if they could see it they Oregon's Death Penalty roller coaster Total death row inmates: 25 as of Oct. 11,1999 1859 Oregon becomes a state, death penalty legal 1914 Oregon abolishes death penalty by margin of 200 out of 200,000 voters 1920 Death penalty reenacted for first-degree murder 1958 Voters uphold death penalty by 2 percent margin 1964 Death penalty repealed 3:2, Gov. Mark Hatfield commutes all sentences 1976 With Gregg v. Georgia, U.S. Supreme Court leaves decision of death penalty to states 1978 Death penalty reinstated 1981 State v. Quinn found 1978 statute unconstitutional in violation of de fendant’s right to jury determination 1984 Death penalty reinstated ■Since 1903,60 people have been executed in Oregon SOURCE: History of the Death Penalty in Oregon: members, tripod.com/ocadp/history. htm would reject it.” Since then her battle has been relentless. In 1993, her book, “Dead Man Walking” was re leased and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for 31 weeks. In 1996, the book was made into a movie starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. One of the shocking things Pre jean discovered was that in many cases the criminal justice system was failing accused murderers, who were disproportionately poor. They were receiving inade quate representation; sometimes their lives were put in the hands of lawyers who had never defend ed a criminal case. “If [the lawyers] don’t know what they don’t know they lose the client’s life,” Prejean said of the court-appointed attorneys. Her book gives a detailed account of the complexity of the legal sys tem and why it is so hard for poor people to have adequate defenses when their lives are on the line. She said she also found blaring racial differences in capital cases. Today, in eight of 10 capital cas es that district attorneys pursue, the victims are white, while 50 percent of homicide victims are people of color, Prejean said. “Race matters — it always mat ters — and nowhere does it matter more than in the criminal justice system,” Prejean said. Prejean emphasized that she in no way condones the terrible acts that the inmates have committed and it is important not to forget the victim’s families. Her efforts also include advocating for the fami lies of both the inmates and the victims, who are often forgotten, she said. After her speech audience members had a chance to take the microphone. “The more people study and the more people know, the less they support it,” said De Anna Home, a University law student. “By encouraging people to feel that the death penalty is the solu tion to their grief, I see it as an in justice to victims as much as those sentenced,” she said. She also said she did not know one University criminal law pro fessor who supports the death penalty. “It’s amazing what ignorance can do,” said Gabbrielle Lobue, a senior Japanese major who said she knew little about the death penalty before Prejean’s speech. “Before I came to this I was lean ing in support of the death penal ty, but now I am more aware of the flaws in the justice system. I will commit to an open mind.” One audience member asked Prejean what she thought of the economics of the death penalty. Prejean said the economics of it is a moral issue. Capital punish ment is expensive. The average cost of trying a capital case is $2.3 million in Texas. “We should pour [the money] into the fabric of life that helps people to be good,” she said. Sandals continued from page 1A shoes to determine their age. “ Archaeologically, the collection here is distinctive,” Connolly said. “There probably isn’t anywhere in the world that matches our collec tion of ancient twine ware. ” In contrast with states to the north and south, “Oregon is really interesting because throughout the last 10,000 years twining has been the predominant basket making tradition,” Connolly said. The exhibition has items from all over the northwest, but the ma jority of the display comes from Oregon caves and estuaries. The display contains aspects of ancient weavings, preserved in two different ways: either found in dry caves, such as in Eastern Ore gon, or buried in the wet silt and mud in estuaries along the coast. “Basketry touches you a little more because of all of the personal decoration,” Connolly said. "It’s part of the culture and heritage of this place we live.” Baskets made as recently as this year and ceremonial caps are also woven into the eclectic exhibit. “Baskets are something that never age or go out of style,” Plaa said. “It’s remarkable the quality, really incredible.” . Items in the display are careful ly preserved year-round by muse um staff and volunteers. Jackie Tucker, museum volun teer, said the ancient basketry is susceptible to damage by light and changes in the atmosphere. “We want to be able to —100 to 200 years from now — still have these,” Tucker said. The museum is open noon to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. Smash continued from page 1A products from campus.” Despite being banned from campus, Gardenburger, a sub sidiary of Oregon-based Flav-R Pac, is the largest maker of meat less patties in the country with a 48 percent share of the market. This week, another Oregon firm is staking a claim to the industry. The meatless patty revolution got a vote of confidence Wednes day as Eugene-based Smash Inter national announced the acquisi tion of Jamie’s Great Hamburgers locations in Eugene and Portland. Smash International, the fran chiser of Andrew Smash, serves exclusively meatless menu items along with Smashies, a type of smoothie made with blended fruit, juice and sherbet. “I see our type of restaurant as the wave of the future,” Smash Interna tional co-founder and CFO Ken Landau said. “We’ve been so suc cessful in Eugene because in Eu gene, people just like good food.” With the expansion, Smash In ternational has three franchise lo cations with one more scheduled to open this spring. Landau ex pects to open 100 stores in the next five years. Jamie’s founder and CEO, Peter Jameson, will join the new man agement team while he continues to operate Jamie’s locations in Eu gene, Portland and Corvallis. “Andrew Smash is cutting edge,” Jameson said. “It’s natural for me to bring what’s new in the industry to our customers.” Brothers Ken and Jason Landau founded Smash International in Eugene in 1995. The meatless pat ties are made from soy protein and have the same texture, taste and look as a regular meat product. Landau would not say who sup plies their meatless patties, but said they are not from Garden burger and they are prepared specifically for Andrew Smash restaurants. “All of our food has to pass the meat-eaters test,” Ken Landau said. “We want to give our cus tomers the taste of a meat burger without sacrificing their health. ” Senate kills beer garden, fills three vacant seats ■ Senators felt the beer garden measure held too many unanswered questions By Jeremy Lang Oregon Daily Emerald The road to a new beer garden on campus just got a lot longer after Wednesday night’s ASUO Student Sen ate meeting. The senate voted to bring back up for debate a ballot measure for a beer garden on campus then voted to kill the measure. The measure was being deliberated by the ASUO Constitution Court and, if approved by the court, would have appeared on this year’s student election ballot. On Wednesday night many senators who support ed the measure at last week’s meeting said they felt they had to change their vote be cause there were too many questions about the beer gar den left unanswered. “I’m still all for this, but it was put together really quickly. There are a lot of sub-issues that need to be dealt with,” Sen. David Sanchez said. Sen. Spencer Hamlin added, “I would never vote against beer.” Sanchez and many others had questions about the beer garden’s location, how much it would cost to construct and whether it could obtain a liquor license in the first place. EMU Director Dusty Miller and Assistant Dean of Student Life Byron McCrae worried that the roughly $1 million project, funded by an increase in the incidental fee, might go against the re quirements for the inciden tal fee or the existing Univer sity alcohol policy. “Students in [alcohol] re covery on campus might not want that brought in,” Mc Crae said. Senate President Jessica Timpany, who was among those who helped draft and back the measure, remained firm that students should be Senate news ■Voted to remove from con sideration a ballot measure to put a beer garden on cam pus. Senators felt there were too many questions that needed to be answered before they would let the measure go to the voters. ■ Approved three new mem bers, leaving only one seat open and filling many of the holes left after four senators resigned in the first two weeks of winter term. allowed to vote for it. She said in past years the issue has been postponed for simi lar reasons and forgotten, and she worries this meas ure will face the same fate. In other news, the senate now has only one seat open after it approved Robert Bo hannon, Lindsey McLean and Praneeta Reddy to seats. All three are members of the Greek system and makes the entire senate more than half Greek. “It’s a testament to the Greek system,” Hamlin said. The senate suffered a string of four resignations in the first two weeks of winter term. The senate also approved special money requests from three student groups, drop ping the winter-term surplus from $16,000 to $5,843. Next week, the senate will face the daunting task of ap proving next year’s budget for the EMU Board, Athletic Department Finance Com mittee and Programs Fi nance Committee. All three have been deliberating and approving their measures during this week and last week for senate approval. Due to the large agenda, next week’ meeting will start at 6 p.m. instead of 7 p.m. The Student Senate is the legislative branch of the ASUO and handles financial issues regarding student pro grams. The Senate meets at 7 p.m. every Wednesday night in the EMU Board Room, third floor. All students can attend these meetings. 6E*80a Spring Break — wKy no*b Europe? London # Frank-fwr-t f377 Paris /H* # Dublin |5-day Ewai! pass f3O0 or 5-day -fle*i f2-53 We also provide Kostel hf passes, budget hotels, visitor eards, Converters, money belts and Int’l ID cards SOME RESTRICTIONS APPLY SUBJECT TO CW$E WITHOUT NOTICE Council CIEE: Council on International Educational Exchange University of Oregon In the EMU Building Eugene n 877 1/2 East 13th Street Eugene (541)344-2263
