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VPflDTQ H A G°lden Lesson: California Ducks learn the real meaning
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An independent newspaper
httpyAvww.dailyemerald.com
Wednesday, November 28,2001
Since 1 900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Volume 103, Issue 65
Local airports
get ready for
federal staff
■While airports waitforthe new
federal screeners, added security
regulations are being enforced
By Brook Reinhard
Oregon Daily Emerald
Area airports are still struggling to
determine how they will be affected by
a bill passed Nov. 19 that would feder
alize airport security workers.
“We don’t know when federal staff
will arrive,” said Steve Johnson,
spokesman for the Port of Portland.
However, state and federal officials
have become increasingly common at
both airports. Johnson declined to give
specific figures, but added, “We’re talk
ing dozens.”
Portland’s security efforts are being
aided by 35 national guardsmen — 25
of whom have been assigned to the air
port until April. Although Eugene is a
much smaller airport than PDX, it has
five guardsmen on assignment.
Mike Coontz, operations manager at
the Eugene Airport, said he thinks fed
eral screeners will start arriving within
60 days. The bill requires screeners to
replace private employees within one
year.
“Within the next few months, we’ll
see the feds step in,” Coontz said.
The bill was passed unanimously by
the Senate more than a month ago, but
ran into some turbulence in the House.
The final bill mandates the hiring of
more than 28,000 federal screeners.
Kathy Weatherly, a legislative assis
tant for Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Eugene,
agreed that new screeners won’t show
up anytime soon.
“There probably won’t be new
screeners by the new year,” she said.
Although actual federal screeners
have yet to arrive in either Portland
or Eugene, new regulations have al
ready affected passengers. Portland
has cordoned off more than 1,100
spaces deemed to be too close to the
airport building — the idea is that air
ports will be less vulnerable to car
bombs if vehicles can’t park close
by the Department of
ransportation. This official’s
sole responsibility will be
monitoring the safety of
airports and making sure all
security measures are
followed correctly.
mm j « Within two years, devices for
ill < detecting explosives must be
Hill installed at every airport.
M *The Federal Air Marshall
program, which provides
JjSP for armed guards aboard
fill'' airplanes, will be expanded.
ESk The bill also increases funding
for airport security and allows
airports to allocate funds
from other a reas, such as
P construction, to make airports
mim safer. Airports with a proven
safety record may privatize
Bi their security after two years it
they meet federal standards.
enough to do any damage.
Eugene has also implemented new
parking regulations. The areas closest
to the airport have been closed to park
ing.
“We’ve had to abandon some of our
short-term parking,” Coontz said. And
at both airports, tow trucks are “aggres
sively towing” any unattended vehi
cles.
The biggest headache for both air
ports is trying to figure out how to com
ply with the new bill and all its idio
syncrasies. In the last two weeks, more
than 460,000 passengers passed
through Portland’s airport. They were
filtered, one by one, through 12 screen
ing lines, and some were stopped and
detained for things as trivial as carry
ing travel scissors.
Johnson wouldn’t specify how much
money the airport had spent on securi
ty in the last two months, but Coontz
Photo Illustration Emerald
said with new security measures, the
Eugene airport expects to spend at least
one million additional dollars on secu
rity this year.
“We don’t know for sure what it’s go
ing to cost us,” Coontz said. But he
pointed out that the airport has had un
expected cash outlays of at least
$200,000 for security purposes since
Sept. 11.
No matter how much money airports
spend on security, the biggest question
on everyone’s mind is whether passen
gers will continue to fly.
“By and large, they’ve taken it well,”
Coontz said. Last year, the Eugene air
port had 390,000 departures. Coontz
admits that now departures are down
30 percent from pre-Sept. 11 figures.
Emerald community reporter
Brook Reinhard can be reached at
brookreinhard@dailyemerald.com.
Officials review
110 crisis plans
■ Some officials say communication is one area
University departments and other agencies need
to improve upon in their individual crisis plans
By Eric Martin
Oregon Daily Emerald
University officials are examining the school’s crisis plan
in order to shore up weaknesses and bolster strengths, after a
threatening letter mailed to the school compelled a University
employee and five Eugene firefighters to seek medical treat
ment two weeks ago.
The plan, last updated in 2000, details how hundreds of de
partments on campus systematically communicate emergen
cies to their employees and coordinate their efforts with other
agencies.
“We realize now that we need to have a little better commu
nication plan with local agencies,” said Thomas Hicks, asso
ciate director for the Department of Public Safety. “Communi
cation went pretty well within the campus community, but
there was some breakdown.”
Hicks said it was unclear whether DPS, the first agency
called to the scene, was responsible for notifying local law en
forcement and health agencies in the event of a campus crisis.
“We need to work on that,” Hicks said.
McKenzie-Willamette Hospital officials hadn’t heard con
firmed reports of the letter until the University employee and
the firefighters sought treatment.
When public safety officials meet with local law enforce
ment and health officials in the near future, they also will at
tempt to clarify how the chain of command should operate
between agencies responding to a crisis such as the Nov. 15 in
cident.
/\doui y a.m. max aay, university pnysics emeritus protes
sor Bernd Crasemann and his assistant opened a letter post
marked from Malaysia and a suspicious white powder spilled
out. At 9:23 a.m., Crasemann called the Department of Public
Safety, which sent officers to the scene. Eventually, FBI agents
and hazardous materials workers responded. The FBI later de
termined the substance was harmless.
But some still question whether officials made the right de
cisions to protect physics employees and students, had the
letter contained anthrax, and whether those decisions were
made in a timely fashion.
“My impression was that they should have closed the door
to (Crasemann’s office),” said Sasha Tavenner-Kruger, a fourth
year physics graduate student who was working in her office
in 271 Willamette, just down the hall from where the letter
was received. “That never happened.”
Officials ordered employees in offices near Crasemann’s of
fice to leave at about noon, said Alexandre Denissov, a third
year physics graduate student. Denissov said the office he
shares, 261, was closed at that time.
“I think they handled it pretty well,” he said.
But Bonnie Grimm, building manager for the physics
Turn to Crisis, page 4
ASUO cautions student groups to spend incidental fees wisely
■ in tne past, a tew student
groups have failed to follow
the fee spending guidelines
By Diane Huber
Oregon Daily Emerald
Two student groups have ac
knowledged that they misused their
annual budgets last spring, and this
year, ASUO representatives are en
suring student groups know the
guidelines that outline specifically
what student groups can and can
not buy with the incidental fee.
The Vietnamese Student Associa
tion and MEChA student leaders
verified that they have purchased
inappropriate items m tne past, but
defended their spending and said
this year they have a better under
standing of the budget guidelines.
Money for student groups is allocat
ed from thff’student incidental fee,
which totaled $2,388,579 last year.
VS A Programs Director Rob Yee
said there was an incident last year
when a VS A director had pur
chased something inappropriate.
Neither Yee nor VS A Director Phuc
Nguyen would confirm what the
item was, and last year’s director
could not be reached.
This year VS A members are bet
ter informed of their spending
guidelines and the group is “doing
everytmng Dytne dooks, ne saia.
Nguyen added that ASUO has
been very careful this year to make
sure student groups don’t misuse
the fee. He said groups are asked to
itemize their purchase orders to pre
vent misunderstandings on spend
ing before they happen.
“Our accounts were frozen al
most all of spring term for only a $5
product,” he said.
According to a June 9, 2001 in
voice from Target, MEChA spent
about $50 of $319.93 on food for
their end-of-year Ganas party.
MEChA students involved in the
Ganas program mentor junior high
school students, and every year they
uirow an end-or-year party.
Aside from the candy, soda and
chips, much of the receipt included
purchases of various games, most of
which went to the kids in the Ganas
program, said MEChA Director
David Jaimes. The rest of the games
and a set of $22 golf balls are stored
in a cabinet of MEChA’s office,
Jaimes said.
ASUO accounting coordinator
Jennifer Creighton said the most
common misuse of the incidental
fee is for groups that spend money
on food. To avoid this, the con
trollers usually stamp “this fee is
not valid for food service” on each
purchase order before students go
on to the store, but the controller
had forgotten. The person who had
bought the food for the MEChA par
ty said he was unaware of the re
striction, Jaimes said.
MEChA paid ASUO back with
money from their fundraising ac
count and since then, the group’s
spending has been fine, Creighton
said.
But former ASUO controller
Justin Sibley said students should
be more aware of how groups spend
their money.
“MEChA does not need to be
spending students’ money on $22
golf balls,” he said.
Turn to MEChA, page 3