Oregon daily emerald., April 16, 2001, Page 3A, Image 3

Voting begins today for Executive, measures
■ Previously cast votes for
this year’s ballot measures
have been discounted as the
election slate is wiped clean
By Beata Mostafavi
Oregon Daily Emerald
After a mess of grievances and de
cisions muddying the campaign trail,
the ASUO general election has start
ed again — for the third time this
year. Voting during the election,
which begins today and ends at 5
p.m. Wednesday, will be done on a
completely clean slate. Any votes
cast for ballot measures during the
two days of voting last term have
been discarded, ASUO Elections Co
ordinator Shantell Rice confirmed.
The election comes after a series of
ASUO Constitution Court decisions
overturned some of the decisions
made by the ASUO Elections Board.
While handling the numerous griev
ances, the court questioned how the
board dealt with the complaints be
fore it during the primary election. In
both hearings involving ASUO Exec
utive hopefuls Bret Jacobson and
Matt Cook, and in the case of Student
Senate candidate Steven Lockfield,
the court’s decisions clashed with the
board’s decisions, leading to a con
fusing game of musical chairs that re
moved candidates from the ballot
and then put them back on again.
In response to a grievance filed by
former vice presidential candidate
Jeff Oliver, the board disqualified Ja
cobson and Cook after their cam
paign distributed fliers in the Univer
sity residence halls.
But Jacobson filed for an injunc
tion, which led the court to halt the
general election just before it was slat
ed to begin March 5. After a March 16
hearing, the court put Jacobson and
Cook back on the ballot, ruling the
pair’s due process had been violated
because the board never officially no
tified them of the grievance.
The board also removed Lock
field’s name from the ballot three
hours before voting ended because
his major did not match the senate
position he was running for, Lock
field said. Again, the court decided
in favor of the candidate, ruling he
should have another chance to run in
the general election because the
board did not tell him of the error un
til just before the polls closed.
But Justice Alan Tauber said some
of the problems with the Elections
Board’s decisions stemmed from the
short amount of time it had to review
the rules. He said that normally the
ASUO president appoints board
members by November, but this year
the positions were not filled until Jan
uary.
“I think given the proper amount
of time, a lot of problems could have
been avoided, “ he said. “Things got
started so late.”
But ASUO President Jay Breslow
said the late appointments resulted
from the first Elections Board coordi
nator’s resignation in the middle of
fall term. He added that all members
of the first Elections Board, which
was assembled under Rice, had pre
vious involvement with the ASUO.
Because of their involvement, Bres
low said, all board members were fa
miliar with the rules, which he said
were followed.
“We hired a really experienced
Elections Board,” he said. “And I did
n’t think the board broke any rules. ”
The board itself has undergone its
own version of musical chairs, as two
members graduated at the end of
winter term and another resigned af
ter the primary election.
Tauber said there were also some
problems with election rules, which
the court ordered to be changed in its
decision on Lockfield’s grievance.
One of Jacobson and Cook’s main
arguments was that they heard about
their grievance from the Emerald —
not from the board. But no current
rule requires that the subject of a
grievance receive a copy of the com
plaint, Tauber said.
“It’s possible for a grievance to be
filed against the subjects, have a hear
ing held, and remove them from the
ballot without them even knowing,”
Tauber said. “That doesn’t seem
right.”
Matt Swanson, for
mer Elections Board
office manager, said
that although it was
good the court ad
dressed this issue and
set a precedent for
next year, he still believes Jacobson
and Cook were already aware of the
grievance.
Rice said that as far as the board
was concerned, proper decisions
were made. Election delays had
nothing to with lack of time or knowl
edge, and it was the late grievances
that slowed down the election
process, she said.
“Some things were out of our con
trol and made things just not as smooth
as they could have been,” she said.
But Lockfield argued that if board
members knew the rules, he would
have been notified of the problem
with his application earlier. Lock
field ran for the social sciences sen
ate seat, but was disqualified because
his history major falls under arts and
letters, not social sciences. Lockfield
said he did not learn of his disqualifi
cation until he went to vote for him
self and did not see his name on the
ballot.
“I would have hoped they
would’ve looked through my appli
cation and put two and two together,
and perhaps I would have had time
to change the problem,” he said. “ I
don’t think they knew their own
rules ... And it’s their duty to safe
guard against errors like these.”
Jacobson said that although he be
lieves the board did make some mis
takes due to late appointments of its
members, the court overturned many
of those decisions and the election re
sumes without any more problems.
“We don’t really blame anyone be
cause we know' that they had a huge
job to do,” he said. “ They made a few
mistakes, but in the long run the court,
corrected those and things should
run smoothly from here on out. ”
Drivers discover these boots were made for stopping
Ji Local authorities s^y the
recent increase in bootings
is purely coincidental
By Marty Toohey
for the Emerald
If you have more than $30 worth oi
city of Eugene parking tickets, watch
out: You might get the boot.
City of Eugene parking attendants
are authorized to attach a boot, a re
strictive metal device, to the fron'
wheel of any vehicle with $30 or more
of outstanding parking tickets, anc
some people have noticed an increase
. in bootings around campus.
Wednesday afternoon, four cars
within two blocks of the 11 th Avenue
and Kincaid Street intersection had e
"“■"'boot attached to a front wheel and e
neon-green warning sticker placed on
the windshield.
Pam Guthrie, a Lane Transit District
bus driver, said that recently, several
people rode her bus because their cars
were booted.
“I had one lady come running up
and tell me, ‘My car’s been booted,
and I have to be downtown before
City Hall closes in 10 minutes, or
they’ll tow my car,”’ Guthrie said. “I
had to tell her, ‘Sorry, you’re not go
ing to make it by then.’”
1 Guthrie said that she has noticed
significantly more instances of boot
i ings in the last two weeks than usual.
Any increase in the number of
i bootings is coincidental, however, ac
■ cording to Kay Kronholm, the park
i ing enforcement program director for
l the City of Eugene.
“There is no crackdown,” she said.
“There’s the potential for [bootings]
on a daily basis. Sometimes [vehicles
with outstanding parking tickets] are
everywhere, and sometimes you
couldn’t find one if you worked all
day.”
The recent number of bootings may
be due to the discretion given to park
ing attendants, Kronholm said. The
first duty of an attendant is to check
the assigned patrol route for illegally
parked vehicles. If they finish a route
early, however, attendants are encour
aged to run a background check for
each car along the route, searching for
outstanding tickets, Kronholm said.
When ticketing a vehicle or per
forming a background check, an at
tendant enters the vehicle’s license
number in a hand-held computer. If
the vehicle has more than $30 worth
of outstanding tickets, a beep will
alert the attendant the vehicle has out
standing tickets.
If the attendant confirms any out
standing tickets, the vehicle is boot
ed.
To have a boot removed, all out
standing tickets — along with a $40
boot removal fee — must be paid
within 24 hours.
Last fiscal year Eugene parking en
forcement booted 1,969 vehicles, said
Charlene Mauch, operations manager
for Eugene Municipal Court.
The city’s parking enforcement
maintains three patrol routes around
campus and four downtown. They do
not patrol the University lots, howev
er. Those lots are patrolled by the De
partment of Public Safety.
DPS and the city use similar park
ing enforcement systems. If a vehicle
is ticketed, its license number is en
tered into a hand-held computer,
which will alert a DPS officer if the ve
hicle has outstanding parking tickets.
Like the city, DPS officers are required
to double-check before booting a car,
according to Rand Stamm, the Uni
versity’s parking and transportation
manager.
But unlike the city, DPS usually
doesn’t boot vehicles until they have
five or more outstanding parking tick
ets.
Also unlike the city, DPS officers do
not generally run checks on legally
parked cars.
“Basically, we would only boot
them if they’re in violation,” Stamm
said.
006358
IMeed committed and creative student volunteers
to advise the University Health Center regarding
programs, services, finances, and health insurance.
Student advisors will spend about 1-2 hours per
Advisory Committee (5HAC) and will guide the
University Health Center in promoting a healthy
campus through the storm of health care reform.
Successful participants will gain an in-depth
understanding of health cafe delivery and its
financing, will learn about the health issues of college
students, and will develop interpersonal skills and
confidence.
Routine meetings are scheduled at 3 p.m. Fridays,
allowing members to class schedules
accordingly. i
Applications <§h|§e picked up at the
University Student Health Center front desk.
Completed applications should be
submitted to the University Health Center
Director's office by Friday, April 27.
U N J V E R $ l T V
HEALTH CENTER
We’re a matter of degrees ^
Open daily 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., except Tuesdays (9 a.m.) and Sundays (10 a.m.).
Appointments and after hours: 346-2770 • Web: http://hcalthcd.uoregon.edu
Please call 346-4447 for more information.
•Delivery charges may apply
•Not valid with any other offers
•PLEASE mention the student special
when ordering