Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 2002)
Law professor to speak on land rights struggle The Mayagna Indians’ lawsuit against the Nicaraguan government stopped the sale of land used for fanning Jody Burruss Environment/Science/Technology Reporter Dr. Lottie Cunningham Wren, a Nicaraguan lawyer, law professor and Miskito Indian, will present the full story of the struggle for land rights by the Mayagna Indians at 7 p.m. tomorrow in 175 Knight Law Center. This presentation is a part of the “Human Rights for ALL” program, or ganized by Professor Svitlana Kravchenko and hosted by the law school.The film “Children of the Sun” will be shown at the presentation, giv ing background about the land the Mayagna are reclaiming, their culture and beliefs, and the relationship the people have with the land. Land is very important to the cul ture, religion and customs of the Mayagna people. The land is consid ered sacred and is treated with great respect. When the Nicaraguan gov ernment wanted to sell logging con cessions, the Mayagna people were strongly opposed, and they filed a lawsuit to stop the sale. The Mayagna people use a lot of the land sur rounding the areas where they live. When mem bers of their community go out to hunt, they may take a 15-day trip to ensure they are not overusing the re sources in one area. They use different parts of the land for farming, religion, medici Cunningham lawyer The test has changed.* Prep now! A high GRE score is critical to admissions success. Take Kaplan and get a higher score. GRE classes start Monday, October 7. Call 1-800-KAP-TEST or visit kaptest.com to enroll today! Test prep, admissions and guidance. For life. •ETS is releasing a Octobet^002^ain<aplarWormorelnfo. the registered trademark _the_EducaUonal Testing Service, BREAK FREE OF NORMAL Gourmet Cafe Food • Homemade Specials The BEST Hot Dogs • Salads & wraps Awesome Desserts • Beer & Wine Casual Quality • Catering & Box Lunches Table Service • Carry Out • Call/Fax Ahead Family Owned & Operated Flying Dogs • 1249 Alder M-TH: 10:30a to Midnight Fri & Sat: 10:30a to 1:00a Sun: 11:00a to Midnight Turn the Corner @ Starbucks Monday Student /fight 4 -Mid 15% off Food v/Ap Wednesday Mid-Week Crisis 25% off AH Desserts Friday 7he Ideek is a htrap St off Specialty Wraps! Tuesday Wing Night 30C Wings • 4 -Mid Thursday Pucks Sat pawgs! J1 Hot Pogs AH Pay Saturday Get it for the Gome! J0% off Carry Out Sunday Fam ily Day Kids Cat for JfLOO Pucks Sat Pavgs! Snter our Beat UW Contest and lt)in! Flying pogs Cafe C peli • 344 -i960 mfi nal purposes, burial, hunting and fishing.Cunningham said that west ern farmers are coming in and cut ting down areas they would use to get medicine. This is one of the hu man rights for which Cunningham is fighting. “Human rights is a term often used to mean only political free doms,” said Dr. Kravchenko, who will be giving opening remarks at the presentation tomorrow night. “But social, economic and envi ronmental rights are equally impor tant,” she said. In 2001, the Mayagna people won their suit in the Inter-American Court, and they are now engaged in negotiations for a demarcation of traditional lands. While the court ruled that the state must carry out the demarca tion and titling of the land within 15 months, it has done nothing so far. Cunningham became involved with this case to help the indige nous people get the rights they de serve. She felt connected with these people. “I am an indigenous woman,” she said. "Human rights is a tem often used to mean only political freedoms " Dr. Kravchenko title This community didn’t have the resources to fight for their rights because they are so poor, Cunning ham said. Also, many community members are illiterate. Cunning ham helped organize workshops in the community to keep the peo ple informed and to come up with conflict resolutions. She then acted as a mediator to make sure the community was rep resented in negotiations with the government. However, the govern ment tried to make deals with the community leaders behind her back, she said. The decision of this court case is a victory not only for the Mayagna Indians, but also for human rights in general. “This kind of leadership is what saves the world,” environmental law Professor John Bonine said. Contact the reporter atjodyburruss@dailyemerald.com. News Brief Lab will charge paper fee Starting Tuesday, printing in the EMU computer lab will cost 5 cents per sheet. In the past, students could print as many pages as they wanted for free. But with paper usage rising 50 percent each year, the lab must be gin charging students for the pages they print, EMU lab manager Amy McCoy said. “The word got out that we were free,” she said. McCoy said that the lab tried to get money from the technology fee fund — collected from students — but were denied at the meeting last spring. This left it no choice but to begin charging. When students print at the lab, they will have to swipe their stu dent ID before their print job is re leased. There are several locations where students can put Campus Cash on their cards. McCoy said they are also working on an online option for payment. The lab also hopes that charging students to print will help reduce waste paper — which is already happening because of the card swiping process. “We’ve cut back on waste amaz ingly,” McCoy said. McCoy said they are willing to hear comments and suggestions from students at mccoy@oregon. uoregon.edu. — Jody Burruss Fire continued from page 1 states battling blazes. Recruits were brought in from Canada, Australia and New Zealand to help Oregon crews, Huntington said. In addition to weather condi tions, forest management practices also played a role in the severity of these fires. Many forest lands have been managed under a fire exclusion pol icy, whichrequires all fires be put out rather than allowed to burn. The forests usually have several small fires to get rid of debris rather than a few mega-fires, which are much more destructive. The policy caused flammable material to accumulate, Huntington said. Without occasional fires de creasing the fuel load, dead plant debris piles up, becoming dry and extremely easy to ignite. “The envi ronment is somewhat dependent on fire,” Huntington said. Also, ar eas that have been burned in the past or infested with insects were not salvaged, creating an even hefti er fuel load. “American public lands have un dergone radical changes in the last century due to the suppression of fires and a lack of active forest and rangeland management,” United States Forest Service spokeswoman Heidi Valetkevitch said. If passed, the Healthy Forests Ini tiative will increase controlled burns, expediting fuels reduction projects. It would also remove im posed procedural requirements for Forest Service appeals, making it harder for many groups to appeal logging decisions. The plan may also strengthen efforts to fulfill the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan, which was designed to protect habitat and recreational areas while sustainably harvesting timber. The Sierra Club is one group that strongly opposes the initiative. Paul Shively, Sierra Club’s regional rep resentative in Portland, objects to the HFI because he feels it has more to do with logging than with forest health or protection. “This is a forest industry dream bill,” he said. SC issued a press release saying the bill fails to adequately protect communities from fires, guts im portant environmental protections and increases destructive logging practices. Although both federal agencies and environmental groups want to decrease the acreage burned in fu ture blazes, they have different ideas about how to do it. “We all have different science and goals,” Huntington said. But in the end, he said the desired re sult is the same. “We all want healthy forests.” SC has constructed its own strat egy called the seven point plan. Parts of the club’s plan include more controlled burning, preserv ing forest safeguards and protect ing ancient and wild forests from logging. More information about the Sier ra Club’s seven-point plan is avail able at its Web site, sierraclub.org. For more information about the president’s Healthy Forest Initia tive, visit www.usda.gov. Contact the reporter atjodyburruss@dailyemerald.com. Riot continued from page 1 Currently, the city has no agree ment that would allow it to bill the University. And without any admis sion of responsibility, it’s unlikely the University could be held accountable for the actions of its students. “Essentially, (University officials) are not allowing that they have any responsibility,” Carlson said. “They are assuming that the students in volved in this activity are students of the city of Eugene.” Torrey concurred, saying he’d like to see the University help the city in the aftermath, but acknowledged the city can’t take legal action. In the meantime, EPD Chief of Police Thad Buchanan said detec tives will continue searching for in dividuals involved in last week’s riot. Police have enhanced videos to use as a tool for prosecutorial evi dence. Detectives have not yet at tempted to contact individuals about the riot, but Buchanan said the time has nearly come. “Participants involved that night that wish to voluntarily come for ward and cooperate with the police will be released on a citation — they will not be taken to jail,” Buchanan said. “However, we cannot make that promise to individuals who are contacted and charged as a result of our investigation.” "If you know of the people who were involved, tell us who they are and we will make sure they are brought to justice " Jim Torrey Mayor of Eugene In addition to voluntary confes sions, city officials said they are seeking help from the community. “If you know of people who were involved, tell us who they are and we will make sure they are brought to justice,” Torrey said. “And if, in fact, they didn’t do anything wrong, hopefully nothing will hap pen to them.” Meanwhile, EPD will essentially reinstate its “Party Patrol” to satu rate the neighborhoods surrounding the University in an attempt to pre vent more chaos. The increased patrols — which will be used mainly to preserve a “no tolerance” policy on alcohol vi olations — will cost the city sub stantial amounts in overtime pay. In past years, the patrol cost taxpayers between $6,000 and $10,000 per weekend, Buchanan said. Torrey also suggested the creation of a “buffer zone” that would sur round the University. Torrey said penalties for alcohol and riot-relat ed offenses should be doubled with in the zone. “There needs to be a sanction that will get the attention of the peo ple that are committing these crimes,” Torrey said. Finally, city officials said they hope the University will take steps to adapt their student code of con duct to apply to activities that occur off campus. “I’m going to take the position that the University is going to openly work with us,” Torrey said. “We are going to find a way to deal with this.” ■w Contact the senior news reporter at bradschmidt@dailyemerald.com.
