When ‘The Animal’ won’t do
Emerald staff members pick their favorite
movies fora lazy summer day. Pace 5
The best words and guitar
Mr. Lang celebrates Time Magazine’s choice
for ‘best American rock band. ’ Page 6
Thursday, July 5,2001
Since- 1 900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Volume 103, Issue 4
• Some people spent the Fourth
of July reflecting on the holiday’s
meaning, while others were simply
grateful for a day off
By Cat Cole
for the Emerald
Gary Elliott likes to celebrate otir na
tion’s "birth by wearing his red, white and
blue boxers.
“Yeah, I would call myself patriotic,”
Elliott, a Eugene resident, said. He en
joyed his Fourth of July by partaking
in this year's Freedom Festival at Al
ton Baker Park.
This year’s festival included bands,
food vendors, kids’ games and fire
works, all in the name of freedom.
“We came out here to enjoy
the community, and it’s fun to
watch the kids because they are
so carefree,” said Chuck and Kim
King of Eugene. They enjoyed their
frozen bananas to the beats of The
Revelators.
“Happy Birthday, America!” the
lead singer of The Revelators an
nounced as he kicked off the music for
the evening.
Along with celebrating the na
tion’s independence, Chuck
King said the holiday has a
level of personal impor
tance.
While sitting in the shade with his
wife, Kim, he said he remembered the
sacrifices made by his father that enabled
him to enjoy himself on this national holi
day.
“My father was an officer in the Navy
and had to make the sacrifice of watching
us grow up to serve his country,” he said.
Turn to July Fourth, page 3
Eugene tops list of worst places for allergy sufferers
■The Willamette Valley is a
tough place for allergy
sufferers to live this week, even
as grass season winds down
By Darren Freeman
Oregon Daily Emerald
Eugene is the worst city in
America for allergy suffers to live
this week, according to Surveil
lance Data, Inc., a research com
pany that tracks airborne pollen
concentrations across the nation.
Salem and Portland placed sec
ond and third, respectively, in the
survey, which ranks cities based
on the percentage of people likely
to be affected by airborne pollen.
This is probably no surprise to
those who sneezed and coughed
their way through Fourth of July
outdoor celebrations.
Still, it’s not common for Eu
gene to top that list, said Peter
Jensen, Surveillance Data’s vice
president.
“Other places that would be
worse aren’t as bad,” he said.Al
lergy season — or more accurate
ly, allergy seasons — comes in
three waves. In the spring, tree
pollen constitutes the major aller
gen, in the early summer months
grass pollen is most prominent
and from late summer to early fall
weed and mold pollen take over.
Now, grass season is giving
way to weed season throughout
most of the country. But in the
Willamette Valley — home to
Linn County, called “the grass
seed capital of the world” — the
end of grass season still means
wheezing for allergy sufferers.
“It’s bad, but we’re in grass sea
son now, while other things are
dipping down,” Jensen said.
Though area allergists say this
year’s grass season was no more
severe than most, the University
Health Center was so flooded
with allergy sufferers in early
June that it ran out of Opcon-A,
an over-the-counter eye drop.
Demand “was strong through
the end of the term,” Health Cen
ter pharmacist Julie Boffing said.
Judy Moran, a registered nurse
at Allergy and Asthma Associ
ates, said her clinic, like most in
the area, has seen more business
in recent weeks.
However, she expects wheez
ing to decline as grass season
gives way to the more moderate
weed season.
“We usually tell people who
come in here with symptoms that
the worst time for pollen is be
tween Memorial Day and the
Fourth of July,” she said. “Usual
ly people are feeling better by the
first week of July.”
Turn to Pollen, page 4
Student
loan rates
plummet
■The interest rate on federally
funded student loans has fallen to its
lowest point since the 1960s
By Kara Cogswell
Oregon Daily Emerald
For students looking for a way to fi
nance their college education, now may
be the time to consider borrowing mon
ey from the federal government.
On July 1, the interest rate on feder
ally funded student loans dropped
from 8.19 percent to 5.99 percent.
That’s the lowest interest rate to be of
fered since the student loan program
began in the 1960s, said Joe Aiello,
spokesman for the United States De
partment of Education.
Students who are still in school will
receive a slightly lower interest rate of
5.39 percent.
The new rates apply to all loans first
disbursed on or after July 1, 1998. But
students who took out loans out be
fore then may also be able to benefit
from the new rate through a process of
consolidation, which locks in the inter
est rate of all loans at one rate.
The lower student loan rate this
year is a result of low interest levels
on 91-day treasury bills, which are
used as a benchmark for determining
interest on student loans. The Federal
Reserve lowered interest rates on the
treasury bills as part of a plan to speed
up the economy.
This option of converting interest
rates on previous loans to one perma
nent fixed rate has many people en
couraging students to consolidate their
loans this year.
“It’s basically an opportunity for stu
dents to consolidate their loans and
lock in at the lowest rate we’ve seen in a
long time,” said Joelle Lester, the inter
im executive director for the Oregon
Student Association.
About 7,000 University students re
ceived student loans during the 2000
01 school year, Student Financial Aid
Director Elizabeth Bickford said.
The new rates are a good opportunity
for students, she said, as long as they
understand the terms of the loan repay
ment plan.
Typically, students began making
loan payments six months after they
graduate and have ten years to finish re
payment. If they consolidate their
loans, they can spread out the pay
ments over a greater number of years,
Bickford said.
This can have both positive and
negative consequences for students,
she said. Students who consolidate
now would benefit from being able to
fix the interest rates on their loans at
the new low rate.
But even with the lower interest,
they could end up paying more if their
payments are spread out over a longer
period of time, she said.
Turn to Loans, page 4