Food donations necessary for Eugene families
■ The Oregon Food Bank and Food for Lane County
organize food drives to combat the hunger problem
By Darren Freeman
Oregon Daily Emerald
Despite the booming national
economy, hunger hasn’t lost its
grip on Oregon.
In fact, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture announced this year
that Oregon has the highest
hunger per capita ratio in the na
tion
And food banks are dwindling.
“We are experiencing across
the state a sharp increase in the
number of people requesting
food,” Oregon Food Bank spokes
woman Amy Stork said.
Up 15 percent since 1998,
464,000 people in Oregon and
Washington have received emer
gency food boxes from the Ore
gon Food Bank Network over the
past year.
With the influx of holiday food
donations at an end, the Oregon
Food Bank, in cooperation with
community relief organizations,
is trying to meet the increased
need with this year’s Governor’s
Food Drive. The drive is an effort
targeting state employees, includ
ing University faculty and staff.
Twenty-four food collection
barrels are scattered throughout
the University and will remain on
campus until March 1. Food for
Lane County will distribute all
food collected to Lane County
residents.
The Governor’s Food Drive has
done well at the University in the
past. Last year, faculty, staff and
students donated 3,843 pounds of
food and $8,775. For every dollar,
Food for Lane County buys about
six pounds of food.
Marijuana advocates convene to discuss faltering initiative
■ Two local groups hash out the details of petitions to
legalize the manufacture and sale of cannabis
By Emily Gust
Oregon Daily Emerald
The University’s Hemp Educa
tion Network joined forces with
Governmental Affairs Office
Assistant Jackie Carpentier, who
is helping organize the food
drive, attributes past years’ suc
cesses to the generosity of Uni
versity workers.
“It helps that the food goes to
Lane County families, and people
can see where it’s all going,” Car
pentier said. “You’re helping
your neighbors and coworkers.”
Deb McGeorge, food solicitor for
Food for Lane County, said she
hopes this year’s donations match
or even exceed past years’ collec
tions.
“We could sure use it,” McGe
orge said. “The majority of our
food comes in during the holi
days. People forget that hunger is
year-round. It doesn’t go away.”
Many of Food for Lane Coun
ty’s newest food recipients are
workers laid off from the state’s
struggling logging and plywood
industries, McGeorge said.
“We have a lot of loggers, a lot
of farmers and a lot of people
working for low wages,” McGe
orge said.
“They just don’t have the skills
needed to get other jobs and
they’re suffering.”
Other factors affecting hunger
in Oregon include high housing
costs, jobs made obsolete by new
technology, an increasing popula
tion and reductions in state relief
programs, Stork said.
“There are a lot of reasons peo
ple ask for food, but the major
trend we see is working people
without enough money for rent
and food,” Stork said.
Stork asks foods donated to be
the Eugene Cannabis Liberation
Society Saturday to “give a run
down of where we’re at in the
movement,” said to CLS presi
Governor’s Food
Drive 2000
Donations should be healthy and
have long shelf lives.
Donations cannot be opened,
quickly perishable, homemade
or packaged in glass.
Donation barrels a re in the
following places on camjftis:
Agate 224
Allen 201
Chapman 125
Children’s Services 350L
Computing Center
Condon 107
Education 102
Hendricks224
Johnson Lobbv
Knight Library 115
Lawrence 105
Mail Services
Music 159
Oregon Hall
Pacific 10
PLC118
PLC175
PLC435
Straub 131
University Bookstore
healthy and have long shelf lives.
She recommends high-protein
foods, such as peanut butter and
tuna, and canned foods, such as
soups and stews.
“When someone donates to
Food for Lane County, it’s being
widely distributed,” McGeorge
said. “It touches thousands.”
dent and co-founder Dan Koozer.
The Network sponsored the
meeting in hopes of attracting
University students.
The groups sought to organize
on a variety of topics, including
the status of two petitions float
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Azle Malinao-Alvarez Emerald
Twenty-four Food for Lane County collection barrels are scattered throughout the
University. Food donations for the drive will be accepted through March 1.
ing around to legalize marijuana
for all uses in Oregon and discus
sion of an upcoming rally to be
held in Salem on April 20.
At the University, Aaron Red
dick, a freshman landscape ar
chitect major, is trying to organ
ize students in the movement
through the Hemp Education
Network, which is part of the
ASUO Survival Center. He re
cently revived and currently runs
the student group that he said
has been defunct since the 1994
95 school year.
Of the initiatives currently cir
culating, one is floundering and
one remains active. The Oregon
Cannabis Taxation Act would
“permit the sale of marijuana in
the state liquor store,” Koozer
said, with profits from taxes go
ing into a state fund. But as a re
sult of insufficient support and a
faltering number of signatures,
that petition has been all but
abandoned.
Eyes have turned toward the
second and much shorter initia
tive, a proposed amendment to
the state constitution called Ore
gonians for Personal Privacy.
“It’s the most elemental peti
tion,” said Nate Clark, a member
of the Citizen’s Action to Legalize
Marijuana in the Year 2000. “It’s
only one sentence long.”
The petition states that “the
manufacture, possession and
consumption, in private, of the
plant cannabis and all of its fami
lies and byproducts, shall be le
gal for all persons 21 years of age
and older.”
It “in no way affects the distri
bution of marijuana,” Clark said,
because it refers only to the ac
tions of individuals in private.
The reason the petition has be
come a constitutional issue is to
prevent the authority of the fed
eral government from overpow
ering the state government. In
California, Clark said, there have
been problems when the federal
constitution takes precedence
over that of the state.
In Oregon, however, it is the
opposite. If supporters can push
the OPP amendment all the way
to an addition of the constitution,
there will be no worries that the
federal government will step in
and override the state’s decision.
The fact that the petition
would alter the state constitution
forces it up against stiff competi
tion, said John Walsh, co-founder
and vice-president of the CLS.
In order to make it to the bal
lot, the petition must garner be
tween 90,000 and 130,000 signa
tures before July 7, 2000.
In an effort to gather enough
supporters before the deadline,
CALM2000 is organizing a rally
on the capital steps in Salem at
4:20 p.m., April 20, to implement
its project, called the Oregon
Plan.
The plan was developed to
support the OPP amendment,
and at the rally, supporters will
be asked to gather signatures.
“It’s a final push three months
before the signatures are due,”
Koozer said. “And the goal is to
have 10,000 people on the steps
that day.”
Koozer said the rally will also
try to organize all of the pro
cannabis activists into a solid
movement because there are so
many different personalities at
work.
Some bills, like the Cannabis
Taxation Act, have seen multiple
drafts without any success.
“It’s so hard to get people to
gether,” Koozer said. “There are a
lot of internal rifts/’ • ' * ’ * * 4 *