Pulse
University actors are making the verypersonal very political. Page 5
Fill your Palm Pilot with the best events from the Pulse calendar. Page 6
Sports
The Ducks are looking to beat the Cardinal
on their turf tonight in the Bay Area. Page 9
Thursday, February 7,2002
Since 1 900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Volume 103,Issue 91
V
Don and Dorothy
Nelson shuffle off
the Amtrak Coast
Starlight after a trip
to Seattle. Dorothy
Nelson wishes that
those wanting to
break Amtrak into
private regional rail
lines would ‘just
stuff it.’
Public or private?
Thomas Patterson Emerald
At a fork in the rail
■ Amtrak may be restructured to
allow private companies and state
governments to service routes
By Marty Toohey
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Amtrak Reform Council will
propose today to restructure Amtrak
into three smaller companies, which
might eventually result in Oregon and
Washington states creating a more effi
cient Northwest railway system.
However, the 137,00 rail passengers
leaving Eugene yearly — many of
whom are University students choos
ing a cheap method to travel along the
west coast — will not see any changes
until the bill passes through the U.S.
House and the Senate.
The restructuring proposal, which
the reform council will present to
Congress today, would essentially
break the company into three entities:
A government-run corporation to con
tinue operating railways between
Washington, D.C., and Boston; a sec
ond train-operating agency to manage
Amtrak’s other railways; and a federal
oversight committee to monitor all
U.S. railways.
“I think people have finally realized
the emperor has no clothes, and Am
trak cannot provide the kind of service
people want,” said Dave Chapman, a
Seattle-based member of the Amtrak
Reform Council, which oversees the
company’s budget.
Congress formed the Amtrak Reform
Council to find a way to make the com
pany financially self-sufficient. Amtrak
currently holds a government-granted
national monopoly on intercity rail serv
ice, and the proposal comes on the heels
of the company’s announcement that it
lost $1.1 billion last year.
Turn to Amtrak, page 3
ASUO ticket aims to improve student perks
■ ■ John Ely and Hayes Hurwitz want later library hours,
easier sports ticketing and telecasts in Mac Court
By Danielle Gillespie
Oregon Daily Emerald
John Ely, an undeclared junior, is running for ASUO
president. Hayes Hurwitz, a sophomore economics major,
is running for vice president.
Q: There are, at last count, 10 tickets
running for ASUO Executive this year,
which is more than past years. What do
you think will set yourselves apart
from the other candidates?
A: I think that everybody is going to
be saying a lot of the same things and
coming out with a lot of the same pro
posals. I think with any political race,
you have to go with the candidate who
wants it the most and who is willing to
work the hardest to get it. I definitely
think that I have already put in a lot of
time on this campaign.
Q What is your platform?
A: It’s based around taking the existing system and ex
panding it, but not any radical changes. I am pushing for
more convenient use of all school facilities. I would like to
see later hours for the library. I also want tighter control
over student incidental fees. I just want a committee or a re
answer sessions
with ASUO
Executive
candidates.
view board as another level of review for the budgets. I ba
sically see the ASUO as a government set up to do nothing
but handle these fees. We need to set up another check and
balance to get the full extent of our po
litical power. I just think the incidental
fees are where the majority of our prob
lems are coming from. I don’t even like
calling them student incidental fees; it
is basically just a tax. I think students
need to understand that they are being
taxed and that is what they are voting
on here, how they want their tax dollars
to be spent.
Q: What will you advocate for on the
state level for students, and how will
you carry out your plans?
A: I plan to act as a gateway. I am not
necessarily advocating that I am going
to go fight for anything at the state lev
el. Basically, what I mean by gateway is
that if I feel that someone needs some
thing done or has an issue that some
one feels strongly about, and they don’t
think they can get it done on campus or
think their voice is being heard on
campus, I will go out and find them
someone to talk to.
Turn to ASU0,page4
Eugene vetoes
plans to build
Sprint tower
■ Planners cite the proposed tower’s proximity
to graduate student housing in denying the application
By Brook Reinhard
Oregon Daily Emerald
City planners have denied Sprint PCS’ application to build
a 120-foot cell phone tower near campus at 1400 Villard Ave.
The company has 12 days to appeal, and spokesman Ron
Meckler said the company hasn’t decided whether to fight the
decision or submit a new application.
Planners nixed the proposal for three reasons: conflicts
with an existing tower, proximity to University graduate
housing and a lack of supporting documents proving that all
other sites in the campus area are unusable.
Eugene senior planner Teresa Bishow denied Sprint’s ap
plication after receiving more than 190 public comments and
notified local residents Wednesday.
Lead planner Kent Kulby said Sprint had other options
available.
“They could have found a better location on the site,” Kul
by said, adding that the proposed tower was 15 feet from the
property where graduate students live.
Turn to Tower, page 3
‘Quick Fix’ troupe
sells out ballroom
■The consciousness-raising group of actors depicted
alcohol, drug, romance, e-mail and food addictions
By Marcus Hathcock
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Quick Fix, a reality-based theater group out of New
York University, performed Wednesday night to a sold-out
house of 540 in the first of two shows in the EMU Ballroom.
The troupe’s cast members have been among the student
population since Sunday, and they have spent the week
living with and learning about University students and
their views on addiction. Over the past few days, the cast
interviewed students and faculty and led 14 different
workshops around campus, EMU marketing coordinator
Lee LaTour said.
All of this interaction with the University community was
integrated into their ballroom performance.
The purpose of the performance and the week on campus
is to provoke discussion about all addictive behaviors, said
Stephen Wangh, the show’s director.
“The Quick Fix aims to stimulate us to ... rethink the as
sumptions we make about who is running our lives,”
Wangh said.
The show used many different methods to address addic
tion; monologues, group scenes, singing and instruments
“kept the audience interested,” said senior Nicole Barrett,
who attended the performance.
“You don’t just have 10 people standing there telling
their stories like an (Alcoholics Anonymous) meeting,”
Barrett said.
Different forms of addiction, such as alcoholism and
drug abuse, were illustrated in The Quick Fix, but the
show also addressed romance, e-mail and eating as promi
nent daily addictions.
“It was good to see a focus on other issues of addiction —
not just the stereotypical abuse,” junior Wayne Bund said.
Almost all of the dialogue was taken from real-life inter
views conducted by the troupe. These interviews told the
stories of many individuals who have dealt with addiction,
Turn to Addictions, page 3