Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 7, 2000)
Summer walk provides unique experience ■ Student activists will be walking up the Oregon Coast and holding forums By Simone Ripke Oregon Daily Emerald Students who are looking for a different summer experience, who don’t just want another job and who can’t afford spending their time off at the beach have the op portunity to participate in the March for Mother Earth, a 363 mile and 23-day walk from south ern to northern Oregon. Steve Stephens, a senior double majoring in philosophy and speech and communication at Oregon State University plans to embark on the march in Brookings on June 12 with 250 participants and walk up along Highway 101 to Astoria. Along the walk the group will hold five forums to ad dress environmental concerns. “This isn’t an OSU thing or a U of O thing. This concerns all of us,” Stephens said. Politicians such as Gov. John Kitzhaber and Sen. Gordon Smith as well as the mayors of Portland, Salem and Eugene have been invit ed to attend the forumS which will take place in Coos Bay, Florence, Newport, Tillamook and Astoria. Kevin Bowles, an OSU gradu ate student majoring in speech and communications has worked with Stephens on making the march a reality. He said the issues addressed at the forums will be hydroelectric cars, air pollution and the ozone layer, adding hemp to wood products to aide in Ore gon forestry and job develop ment, encouraging Generation X voting and living in harmony. “We just want to raise con sciousness that there are alterna tives and we’ve never even tried them,” he said. “What we are sug gesting are other methods.” Bowles said students who at tend OSU are able to receive aca demic credit for participating in the walk. The credit available is in physical education, but those students who can help with ac counting and legal issues might receive credit in those fields. Bowles said he doesn’t know if students will receive the same amount, or any, credit from UO. Jessica Standage, a senior health promotion and education major at OSU has worked with Stephens and Bowles from the beginning. She has helped organ ize and coordinate the march as well as finding places for the walkers to stay the night and eat. Participants will be divided into 25 groups of 10 walkers during the march, which will advance by about 20 miles every day. Two vans will transport the walkers’ backpacks and food supplies so that participants can walk freely without the weight of luggage. Standage said she will participate in the march for the experience. She said she has worked at random jobs during past summers and said she looks forward to the walk as an ac tivity she will never forget. Stephens said providing him self and fellow walkers with an unforgettable experience was part of his motivation to organize the walk. “It’s just as much personal as it is environmental,” he said. Walk ers “are going to look back and see they changed their life forev er.” Stephens said he started think ing about the walk after completing a 10-mile swim to raise money for Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. “It came from me wanting to share an experience that has a voice with other people,” he said. Stephens said the forums will give students and other partici pants the opportunity to express concerns. The forums will be filmed, edited and sent to politi cians in the state. Students interested in partici pating may contact Standage at 754-7542. Students should sign up by March 15. All walkers will be provided a guide on preparing for the physical challenge. There will also be a 20-mile practice walk. ALL DAY TUESDAY PIZZA ?ETf* §2673 Willamette • 484-0996 § “this location only* Rising gasoline prices affecting state tourism By Jennifer Kimura The Associated Press PORTLAND (AP) — Oregon’s gas prices over the past two weeks have jumped 10 cents a gallon to rank among the high est in the nation, the AAA says, and there’s worry the state’s tourist industry will suffer this summer if prices keep climb ing. “What happens over the next few weeks will be critical in set ting the stage for spring and sum mer prices,” said Anne O’Ryan, AAA Oregon/Idaho spokes woman. The Energy Department pre dicted Monday that gasoline prices will continue to increase and could easily reach the $1.75 to $1.80 a gallon range during the peak driving summer months — and spike even higher in some areas. That’s creating worry in Ore gon, whose mountains and coast line attract streams of visitors each summer. “If we see any sustained high prices, what we’ll see is an im pact in everything,” O’Ryan said. The AAA on Monday said the state’s average price at the pump has reached $1.57 per gallon, with the highest average of $1.59 along the coast and the lowest average in the Portland area at $1.50. As of mid-February, an AAA report said Oregon ranked fourth in the nation with an average of $1.47 per gallon. Such numbers worry people in far-flung parts of the state who depend on tourism as an eco nomic mainstay. “When gas prices go up, peo ple do tend to cut down on their extraneous travel,” said Yasha Sturgill, deputy manager of the Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce. “Wallowa County will certainly suffer the backlash of that.” The economy of the remote ru ral area in Eastern Oregon — which includes the Eagle Cap Wilderness Area, John Day Fossil Loop and Hell’s Canyon Recre ation Area — is heavily reliant on visitors who camp, hike, hunt and fish. But recently, not as many tourists seem to be coming. “Visitation has been down since the end of last summer and in the fall and winter,” Sturgill said. “We have no other way into our county — no railroad, no air port. I would expect that we would see some impact.” Sturgill said she’s already heard “quite a few people com plain about the price of gas here. Any added expense is going to impact them.” O’Ryan, AAA spokesperson, said if prices keep going up — as the Energy Department says they will — “we might see a ‘deja vu’ of the ’70s, when gas stations may only sell a certain amount of fuel to each motorist.” Nonetheless, some say they won’t let high gas prices get in their way of having fun. “I noticed the change at the pumps, but I just think it’s the cost of driving a vehicle,” said Dan Hansen, an avid fly fisher man who drives from Portland to the Deschutes River, to the coast or to other favorite fishing spots every week. “It’s not go ing to prevent me from fish ing.” Hansen, 39, said his 4x4 truck, which he uses only for fishing trips, gets about 24 miles to the gallon. For everyday com muting, Hansen said he uses public transportation and his bi cycle. If gas prices “get in the $2.50 range,” Hansen said he’ll “look at getting a car that gets good gas mileage.” Coursebook BRING IN BOOKS NEEDED FOR NEXTTERM AND WE’LL PAY YOU 60% OF THE CURRENT STUDENT PRICE. March 8th-18th Regular Store Hours March 13th-17th Mon-Th 8:30-5:00 Fri 8:30-4:00 ...if you are selling books where the alarm clock rings! Prizes provided by the Missouri Book Company. MAIN STORE Win $20 Cash EMU Your Corner store since 1920. All books are 10% off EVERYDAY ^ for current UO students, faculty and staff.
