! Sports
Pole vaulter Becky Holliday takes third
at the NCAA Championships in Louisiana.
Page 11
Pulse
Japanese influences blend with
American style to create Pocket Face.
Page?
An independent newspaper
httpyAvww.dailyemerald.com
Thursday, May 30,2002
Since 1 900
University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Volume 103, Issue 161
“/ can play when I want to. Quit when I want to. Go where I want to. ”
— Erik Brashers, the “Banjo Man”
.Not .your-i
typical
street fare
■ Erik Bashers, also known
as “Banjo Man,” can often
be found on East 13th Avenue
when he isn’t baking bagels
By Brook Reinhard
Oregon Daily Emerald
Erik Brashers bakes bagels for
a living, but around the Uni
versity, people know him
simply as “Banjo Man.”
Brashers showed up on campus
last August, and on sunny days he
can be found picking away across
from the University Bookstore on his
five-string banjo.
The best part of playing an instru
ment for a part time job, Brashers
said, is the flexible hours.
“I can play when I want to,” he
said. “Quit when I want to. Go where
I want to.”
Brashers is a classy dresser on a
: laid-back campus. His handlebar
! mustache smacks of an old-time pi
I ano player in a Wild West bar. When
he plays “bluegrass” style, Brashers
wears a set of metal picks that fit
around the fingers of his right hand
like claws. He often wears a pin
stripe suit, tuxedo dress shirt and
tops off the outfit with a hemp neck
lace, just to fit in with the people.
“I’ve heard a couple of people
comment on the way he dresses,”
said Heather Donaldson, flower
shop worker for Rhythm & Blooms,
which is located across the street
from where Brashers often plays.
| “He seems pretty cool.”
The 37-year-old has lugged his
banjo from state to state for 25 years.
He fell in love with the instrument
when his parents took him to the
San Diego Folk Festival as a 12-year
old. He’s found other loves, such as
the guitar and mouth harp, but he
said he likes the banjo best for its
unique sound.
Turn to ‘Banjo Man’, page 6
News briefs
Woman flees hospital,
streaks through neighborhood
A woman was spotted roaming the West
University neighborhood wearing nothing but
a hospital gown Wednesday morning, accord
ing to police.
Police said the woman fled Sacred Heart
Medical Center, where she was receiving
treatment, at about 10 a.m. and set off walking
through the area.
“She decided she didn’t want any treat
ment, left and was running around,” said Tom
Hicks, associate director of the Department of
Public Safety.
Eugene Police Department Spokeswoman
Mandy Fox said the woman “scared the hell
out of a lot of people. ”
Though officers were unable to locate the
wandering woman, hospital officials told po
lice that the woman had returned for medical
attention, Fox said.
Police did not know what treatment the
woman was receiving.
— Darren Freeman
Campus, community groups
sponsor Middle East discussion
Atrocities Uncovered: Israel and Palestine,
a forum about the Israeli and Palestinian
viewpoints on human rights violations, will
be held at 6 p.m. today in 177 Lawrence Hall.
Admission is free.
The session about ways to reach peace in
^ the Middle East is being sponsored by the
Muslim Student Association and co-spon
sored by the ASUO Women’s Center and the
Eugene Middle East Peace Group.
The evening begins with a Middle Eastern
refreshment reception at 6 p.m. A slide show
follows at 6:30 p.m., and the discussion wraps
up with speakers at 6:45 p.m.
Scheduled speakers are: Karen Kennedy of
Amnesty International; Thomas Nelson of the
International Solidarity Movement; anthro
pology professor Diane Baxter and geography
professor Shaul Cohen.
For more information, contact the Muslim
Student Association at 346-3798.
— Robin Weber
Protesters
silently
demand
end to war
■ Eugene citizens held a silent vigil
Wednesday opposing the Bush
administration’s expanding military
action in the Middle East
By Brad Schmidt
Oregon Daily Emerald
In a town known for noisy protests
and sometimes-unruly demonstrations,
all that could be heard Wednesday from
a group gathered downtown was the
sound of silence.
About 30 people held a silent vigil
during rush hour outside the offices of
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Pe
ter DeFazio, D-Eugene, protesting the
expansion of U.S. military operations
and calling for local political action to
reverse what participants believe is a
war focused on foreign policy.
Protesters lined up single-file at the
corner of Seventh Avenue and Charnel
ton Street, amassing a stretch that
reached halfway to the next block. Car
rying signs reading “No Wider War”
and “Prepare for Peace, Not War,” par
ticipants hoped to raise local aware
ness. Many passersby honked, and sev
eral drivers held up peace signs to
support the demonstrators, about
three-fourths of whom appeared to be
over 45 years old.
Pastor )an Fairchild, a Faith In Action
representative, delivered a letter to both
offices at 4:45 p.m., asking for a meeting
with each official to discuss the group’s
concerns. Neither official was in his Eu
gene office Wednesday.
Organizers said they are concerned
that the Bush administration will not
keep the world safe, that U.S. forces
will invade Iraq, that the United States
is issuing one-sided support to Israel
and that the government plans to devel
op and implement a nuclear offensive.
“We think it’s high time our con
gressional representatives start voic
ing opposition and raising questions
against the Bush administration,” said
Carol VanHouten, a vigil organizer
and board member of the Progressive
Responses of Community Alliance of
Lane County.
VanHouten said U.S. military oper
ations overstep their political bound
aries and take the shape of a world po
lice body, putting democratic
processes aside. And it’s those actions,
she said, that will cause more animosi
ty towards the United States and bring
more terrorist attacks.
“We do think the perpetrators should
be brought to justice,” she said. “We
just think it should be a multinational
approach using an international court
of justice.
“I don’t think the military approach
is going to catch bin Laden.”
Turn to Vigil, page 3