Oregon daily emerald., April 24, 2000, Page 3, Image 3

Letters to the editor
Olsen excellent candidate
I’m excited to tell the citizens of
Eugene about Ward 3’s candidate
for City Council, Tracy Olsen.
Olsen will be a sure asset not only
to Ward 3 residents, but to the city
as a whole.
Running his family business
has given Olsen an inside perspec
tive on the interests and concerns
of local businessmen. Olsen
knows how to balance budgets,
meet deadlines and work amica
bly with others to solve problems.
However, although Olsen is in
deed a business owner himself,
this does not mean that he serves
those interests exclusively. Olsen
is also a concerned citizen, com
munity volunteer, college gradu
ate, son and husband-to-be. Olsen
balances these roles in his person
al life and will also balance con
stituents’ needs in his public serv
ice life.
>
As a University graduate who
now employs and serves Universi
,v ty students at Doc’s Pad Sports
Grill & Lounge, Olsen is truly in
touch with the student popula
tion. As a downtown resident and
community volunteer, Olsen has
personally witnessed the changes
in our downtown landscape and
its effect on our community’s
young people. His active volun
teerism for groups such as Birth to
Three, The Child Center and Pearl
Buck Center has further cemented
his commitment to nurture our
most precious and vulnerable
commodity — our children.
Olsen is fair, open-minded and
astute. If you want a councilor
who will respect your opinion,
who will hear all sides of an issue,
who will carefully and thoughtful
ly analyze the facts before acting,
who will give voice to your con
cerns, then vote for Olsen!
Kay Koffler
Ward 3 resident
Olsen responsible
As a resident of Ward 3, I am
writing to encourage all other
Ward 3 residents to vote for Tracy
Olsen for the Eugene City Council.
Besides being a Eugene native
who is actively involved in com
munity service and children’s
charities, Olsen is a responsible
citizen who knows what it’s like to
run a business and make an hon
est living. He truly understands
the issues that affect downtown
residents and businesses and is
ready to continue his work to
make Eugene a stronger and more
viable city for our future.
If reasonable government and
fiscal responsibility are important
to you, then Olsen is your candi
date. He knows what it’s like to
make payroll week after week, as
more than three dozen citizens
rely on Olsen for their livelihood.
He makes important business de
cisions on a daily basis. And he
has the respect of his vendors,
suppliers, customers, and city of
ficials.
Don’t be sold on costly ideas or
special interest pipe dreams. Eu
gene can’t afford it! Now’s the time
to put some real, everyday experi
ence and common sense on the
City Council.
The choice is clear. Vote for
Olsen.
J. Mike Mercer
Eugene resident
Graphic misleading
In the “Men's health” article
(ODE April 10), there was a graph
of statistics gathered from a Uni
versity Health Center survey, the
data from which I believe may
have been misrepresented in your
column graph.
The text at the top of the graph
reads, “Percentage of people at the
University of Oregon,” and then
the graph proceeds to suggest that
although 30 percent of men at the
University have ever smoked, 63
percent currently smoke, and 53
percent smoke more than a half of
a pack a day. Similarly, 45 percent
of University men have had sexual
intercourse; 1 percent more have
had sex under the influence.
I believe that some clarification
should be presented to your read
ers, lest you present an incorrect
portrayal of life at the University
(more than half of the men smoke
more than half a pack a day? No
wonder men are having health
problems.)
Joseph A. Ross
biochemistry major
WRC ineffective and a waste
I wish to correct the Emerald
concerning a misrepresentation of
the Worker Rights Consortium. In
the April 12 edition of the Emer
ald, it was stated that the WRC
"monitors working conditions in
factories that manufacture Univer
sity products made by licensees
such as Nike." This characteriza
tion is in fact incorrect. According
to the WRC’s Web site,
www.workersrights.org, sweat
shop monitoring is done by organ
izations such as COVERCO (the
Commission for the Verification of
Corporate Codes of Conduct),
CODEMUH (Collective of Hon
duran Women), and LARIC (Labor
Rights in China), not the WRC it
self.
So, what do we get for the low,
low price of $50,000 a year? We
get the right to write our own code
of conduct based on tautological
guidelines like compliance with
local laws. Additionally we get the
duty to enforce the code ourselves.
I am not convinced that the
WRC is not a scam; I am con
vinced it is useless. I am in favor
of improving the conditions in
sweatshops, but if we are going to
give $50,000, lets give it to organi
zations such as COVERCO, CODE
MUH or LARIC, not some vague,
unaccountable, bureaucratic, use
less, managerial layer like the
WRC.
Dustin Preuitt
computer and information science
Losing integrity
A university cannot maintain its
integrity if it acts under a sense of
obligation to its donors. Otherwise
it is no better than the federal con
gress or state legislature or city
council. This being self-evident,
my only question is when does the
contest to rename the Knight Li
brary and the Knight law center
begin?
Bryan Wilson
alumnus
Protest for the right reasons
Although I agree with some of
the points made in the “A lacklus
ter cause” column (ODE, April
11), Mason West has no right to
criticize the actions of present-day
students protesting for the rights
of workers. War is brought about
by the tolerance level that civil
ians have for corrupt powers that
be, and the fact that some found
corruption on a local level and de
cided they were not going to toler
ate it is a sign of progression, not
regression. If an injustice is com
parably small to the travesties of
war, should we ignore it? Is the is
sue of worker exploitation a small
injustice? Maybe people are cool
with making a few dollars a
month.
Believe me, I have seen my
share of dreads wearing Nike ten
nis shoes, and I also find the idea
of people suggesting that a protest
is “going to be a party” abom
inable. I too would like to see peo
ple more interested in the future
and regard it as a promise, not a
treat. In point, if you need to wear
a tie-dye to get in the mood for a
protest, listen up to our man Ma
son. On the flip-side, some issues
are age-old (unlike fashion) and
will pop up again without regard
to hipness. We should not kick
hack and enjoy (or passively criti
cize) this life during peace-time.
Maintaining peace is a struggle
just as much as trying to create it
is. The issue of worker rights may
not seem “new” enough for you,
but it is still very valid and very
essential to the esteem of a socie
ty
Cassie Turner
fine and applied arts
Empty seats a waste
Seeing as how I have been to
most every home football game
since 1988, I feel qualified to re
mark upon allowing tickets to be
sold to the general public instead
of to students only.
To see people standing along
the bowl rim and have entire sec
tions devoid of people as school is
out of session seems a pity and a
waste.
When attendance is only
around 36,000 during the presea
son, and nearly 46,000 in the regu
lar season. It seems fine by me to
allow the stadium to be filled up
by any means available. It sure
beats a fee increase to replace rev
enues lost to empty seats.
Jay VanOrman
facilities services
now Your LIMIT?
Approximate Blood Alcohol Percentage
inf?rs^ Body weight in pounds
hour 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240
12 oz. beer
(Not a “40."
A “40” is over
3 beers.)
The chart is only a guide. Each person’s response to alcohol will vary, based on individual tolerance for
alcohol, food intake, fatigue, and other factors. A person’s driving can sometimes be impaired after only
one drink.
Office of Student Life