Editor in chief: Laura Cadiz
Editorial Editors: Bret Jacobson, Laura Lucas
Newsroom: (541)346-5511
Room 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu
Monday
May 8,2000
Volume 101, Issue 147
Kincrakl
The Emerald’s endorsements
Oregon’s primary election ballots are due May 16. The following are the Emerald editorial board’s endorsements for city positions and ballot
measures. The Emerald will run its endorsements for national candidates and state positions and ballot measures Wednesday.
CANDIDATES
Position — Endorsement—Reason
Mayor—Jim Torrey—The current mayor is the only candidate with
extensive governmental experience and is recognized for a sincere
fight in the interests of disadvantaged youth.
Eugene City Council, Ward 2— Betty Taylor—The citizen activist has
been a member of the council since 1997 and is willing to voice un
popular opinions to fight for constituent needs.
Eugene City Council, Ward 3—Tracy Olsen—A University graduate
and owner of Doc’s Pad will best represent student views.
Lane County District Attorney— Doug Harcleroad—A few miscues
over 16 years isn’t bad. He handled the entire Kip Kinkel situation
pretty well and generally achieves good results.
Lane County Commissioner — Bobby Green Sr. — He has performed
well as the 1999 chairman of Lane County Board of Commissioners
and offers good diversity to the board as an African-American.
These endorsements represents the view of the Emerald editorial board.
Responses may be sent to ode@oregon.uoregon.edu.
Lane County measures
Number—Issue — Reason for endorsement
20“2S —Shall [Eugene School] District 4J impose $1.50 per $1,000 of as
sessed value to support operations for five years beginning in 2000-01? This measure
may cause property taxes to increase more than 3 percent.
— A fairly small amount of investment that shouldn’t be too much to fund schools,
which should always be a high priority.
23 23—Shall the Eugene Charter of 1976 be amended to provide compen
sation for the mayor and city councilors?
— By paying a relatively small stipend, economic barriers to civil service will be de
creased for the less wealthy. The jobs are currently less accessible to those who hae to
provide their own incomes—a reality this measure would help remedy.
20-30—Shall the Eugene Charter be amended to authorize EWEB to under
take telecommunication activities such as voice, video and Internet access?
— EWEB is a public utility that should provide services at a reasonable cost. Therefore,
it should undertake the services of modern convenience as competition to large corpo
rations, and it already has much of the infrastructure in place.
20-31 —Shall the city issue up to $36,620,000 of general-obligation bonds for
a new downtown police station and downtown fire station? If the bonds are approved,
they will be payable from taxes on property or property ownership that are not subject
to the limits of sections 11 and 11 b, Article XI of the Oregon Constitution.
— Dilapidated infrastructure needs reinvestment to maintain high level of public serv
ice. However, this measure will only be passed with at least a 50 percent voter turnout.
— Shall the [Bethel School] District be authorized to issue general obli
gation bonded indebtedness in an amount not to exceed $27,500,000? If the bonds are
approved, they will be payable from taxes on property or property ownership that are
not subject to the limitations of sections 11 and 11 b, Article XI, of the Oregon Constitu
tion.
—Another school bond that should be passed as an important investment in the area’s
youth.
These endorsements represents the view of the Emerald editorial board. Responses may be
sent to ode@oregon.uoregon.edu.
Letters to the editor
MP3s are consumer's right
After reading your editorial on the “dan
gers” of the MP3 format, I must say that I
disagree with the sentiment it puts forth.
The issues surrounding MP3s are not mere
ly about the rights of the musicians. Not
only does this legal action help put more
money into the pockets of producers and
other hangers-on in the music industry, it
also impedes our personal rights to free ex
change of information.
When compact discs were first released
onto the market, many consumers predict
ed that the price of CDs would go down
once they came into heavy production, and
they were right in thinking so. But despite
this, the price of CDs has actually risen over
the past few years.
MP3s are simply an advance that takes
advantage of our bigger, better and faster
technologies, and it is clearly not going
away. There are already musicians, such as
They Might Be Giants, who have released
entire albums in MP3 format, specifically
for on-line purchase. The music industry as
a whole should be embracing this new for
mat, not banning it.
The music industry needs to follow the
lead of the common people and work with
this new medium, not against it. We do not
attempt to deny their freedom of speech by
exchanging MP3s, and they should at least
be civil enough to allow us the same cour
tesy.
Sarah L. Giffrow
CIS
Don’t bring the pictures back
I was very concerned to hear that Justice
for All group is planning on bringing the
Genocide Awareness Project back next year.
I do believe that all people have a right to