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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 30, 2001)
_Q_o..fa, ,fi _w e b ^ www.dailyemerald.com A guide for brides 0 The annual wedding supplement offers tips and tales for that special day. Inside Section Bus a move LTD proposes a super rapid shuttle between Eugene and Springfield city centers. PAGE 3A Since 1900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon Tuesday January 30,2001 Volume 102, Issue 83 Weather TODAY RAIN POSSIBLE high 50, low 35 Lawrence Gillespie junior v|| j>s\ £.hnlog\ Randy Newnham senior anthropology. linguistics 4ary Elizabeth Madden anior lolitical science, nisi ness . * % Arlie Adkins junior history Jackie Lynn Ray sophmore journalism Marie Brink sophmore pre-education Aaron Week junior general science Aile Maitaao-Aivaru Emerald The budgetary Power Elite TheASUO Programs Finance Committee controls funding for student groups, but the members of the committee are simply students— with some power By Emily Gust Oregon Daily Emerald Seven people make up the ASUO Pro grams Finance Committee — seven dis tinct personalities that ultimately deter mine how more than $2 million is divided among more than the 100 student programs on campus. Here, the Emerald explores the mem bers of the PFC: their backgrounds, their involvement and how all this comes into play in budgeting de cisions. Inside The ASUO Execu tive’s $228,056 budget is approved Monday by the PFC PAGE4A PFC Chairwoman Sen. Mary Elizabeth Madden began her student-government resume in high school and continued it last year as an intern for the ASUO Exec utive. The 20-year-old junior’s experience outside student government ranges from her enrollment in the Clark Honors Col lege to the positions she occupies on sev eral student scholar and University boards. Madden, who said she ran for the PFC senate position because she felt it was a good combination of her political science and business majors, said the strongest asset of the PFC this year is its balanced and diverse nature. But as all but one member is new, Mad den said the seven-member committee has had to educate itself while also trying to educate programs about the budget process. “We had a pretty steep learning curve, and all of us kind of had to find our way,” Madden said. Two-year at-large member Aaron Week — the only returning member to the PFC —■ was appointed earlier this year after re signing from his position late last year. Week, who said he attends probably 25 percent of all the events put on by stu dent groups on campus, said he re-joined Turn to Who’s Who, page 5A WRC works to gain UO’s participation ■ me monitoring group and Nike disagree about a recent strike at a Mexican factory By Andrew Adams Oregon Daily Emerald While a team of investigators from the Worker Rights Consortium compiles a report on a current labor dis pute in Mexico, leaders in the organization are also try ing to assuage the University’s liability fears about the monitoring group. The University administration views the organiza tion’s recent work as positive steps. Yet they maintain the group must tackle the legal issues raised by Univer sity President Dave Frohnmayer at the end of fall term that he said made paying the WRC membership dues impossible. Added to the disagreement between the University and the WRC is a labor dispute in Atlixco, Mexico, at a Nike-contracted factory that produces some University apparel. The WRC has issued a statement that details various violations of labor codes at the Mexican factory, but a Nike spokesman questioned both the “veracity and ob jectivity” of the report and said Nike has played a key role in getting more than half of the 800 strikers back to work. University administrators said they are keeping tabs on the situation in Mexico through various monitoring groups.Here in Eugene, work is still being done to de termine if the University should become a full paying member of the WRC. Melinda Grier, University general counsel, said the University received a letter from the WRC last week ad dressing the liability issues, which was a chief concern at the end of October. “It doesn’t change anything immediately,” she said. Grier said the letter essentially is another statement from the WRC’s lawyers claiming that the University is immune from any liable lawsuit because of what the organization might do while investigating labor issues. She said she is continuing to research the issue until she can come to her own decision, but said the letter was a welcome communication from the WRC. “It was a letter that was trying to be helpful,” she said. The letter in question came from the WRC’s new ex ecutive director Scott Nova, who has been in Mexico investigating the Atlixco labor dispute. In an earlier interview with the Emerald, Nova said he was confident the letter addressed the University’s concerns and expressed hope that the two institutions could come to a working agreement. Turn to WRC, page 5A ((I'm opti mistic about it; most of th concerns have been addressed. Scott Nova WRC executive director Local restaurant targeted in health department probe Atecal borne virus was discovered as the cause for several cases of digestive illness By Lindsay Bucnele Oregon Daily Emerald The Spaghetti Warehouse re opened for business late last week after closing for five days in re sponse to reports of food poison ing. Customers reported an outbreak of viral gastroenteritis at the restaurant, located at 725 W. First Ave. Spaghetti Warehouse owner Jay Zink said his restaurant has undergone extensive cleaning and is back to business as usual. “We’re excited to be back open,” Zink said. But the Lane County Health De partment predicts more flare-ups of the virus in other areas in Eu gene, department sanitarian Richard Coots said. Coots said the exact cause of the Spaghetti Warehouse outbreak hasn’t been determined yet. Once the cause is determined, health of ficials can stop further contamina tion. The virus is spread by fecal contamination, meaning those who have the virus are only conta gious through their fecal material. It is usually passed on when in fected people pass the virus from their hands to food, said Martha deBroekert, a nurse for the Lane County Health Department. “It is extremely important for people to be washing their hands,” Coots said. The health department took stool samples from Spaghetti Warehouse employees, patrons who came down with the virus and patrons who did not get sick to determine where the virus origi nated. “We’re still crunching the num bers, but we’re pretty sure the virus was spread through an un cooked food,” Coots said. DeBroekert said what needs to be determined in situations like this is whether a restaurant’s prac tices or its food is responsible for the outbreak. “We try everything we can to pinpoint the cause of the virus,” deBroekert said. “In some cases, we can never determine the exact cause.” DeBroekert said that by having those involved in the outbreak fill out questionnaires, and by com paring those who got sick to those who didn’t, the health department can possibly prevent others from getting sick. Coots describes this virus as a “hardy” one that can survive freez ing and heating of up to 140 F. Only boiling can kill the virus, so foods like salad, which are not heated at Turn to Virus, page 5A We try everything we can to pinpoint the cause of the virus. Martha deBroekert Lane Co. Health Department
