Ken Kesey to be immortalized downtown
Fundraising efforts are
underway to build a
memorial statue of the
famous Eugene author
Roman Gokhman
Campus/City Culture Reporter
Ten clays before Eugene writer
Ken Kesev was admitted to Sacred
Heart Medical Center for the last
time. Pulitzer Prize-winning photog
rapher Brian Lanker took a snap
shot of him at his Pleasant Hill farm
for a story in Modern Maturity, a na
tional magazine. Kesev died in No
vember 2001. but the photograph is
being used to presen e the legacy of
the famed Oregonian forever.
A group of community leaders,
including Lanker. University Presi
dent Dave Frohnmavcr, football
head coach Mike Bellotti and sculp
tor and longtime Kesev friend Pete
Helzcr, is campaigning to have a
sculpture of the writer constructed
and unveiled at the 2003 Eugene
Celebration.
"'it’s important tor us to remem
ber the importance people in this
community make to the community
as a whole," Lanker said. “Ken Ke
sev is clearly one of those people.”
Lanker, who was a close friend of
Kesev's, spearheaded the effort by
contacting Kesev's friends to see who
else was interested. Other communi
ty leaders stepped up. and “that’s
where the whole thing started.”
Lanker said.
He developed a poster out of the
photograph, and Eugene printing
company IP/Koke donated the
printing costs. The poster, with a
tax-deductible cost of S25, is on sale
at various bookstores in Eugene,
Springfield, Corvallis and Portland,
as well as online.
“It's not just a poster for your
wall; it's a contribution to the Ken
Kesev memorial,” Campaign Coor
dinator Cathy Briner said.
Helzer became involved after talk
of a memorial sculpture came up
and the Kesev family suggested that
he be involved somehow.
He said there is no one with as
high a stature in Oregon as Kesey.
Kesev “is the closest thing to a
creative genius I have ever seen,”
Ilelzer said. “There is a sense of
pride and can bring (Eugene) a lot
of cultural attention.”
The late author's work is taught
in various University courses and at
other institutions all over the world.
“Anyone who teaches modern lit
erature or American literature
could incorporate Kesey,” English
department head and Professor
John Gage said.
Professor Emeritus Glen Love,
who teaches several literature
courses, said Kesev’s work is invalu
able to the University.
“He's written one or two of the
best novels about the Northwest,”
Love said.
So far, 815,000 to 820,000 of the
SI 15,000 needed for the sculpture
has been raised, Briner said. The
majority of the funding is coming
from sales of the posters.
Lanker said the group wanted as
many people to take part in the
fundraising as possible, instead of
going to the big donors first.
“We wanted to make it a grass
roots effort,” he said.
The sculpture will be of Kesev
reading to three children, and it wiil
be placed at the intersection of
Willamette Street and Broadway.
“This sculpture is something for
future generations to ... come and
know the man and know that he
was part of the community,”
banker said.
banker and llelzer are both
friends of the Kesev family, banker
worked and traveled with Kesev,
and l lelzer sculpted, among others,
the memorial to Jed Kesev, Ken Ke
sey’s son, who was one of two Uni
versity wrestlers who died while
coming back from a meet at Pull
man, Wash., in 19X4.
Contact the reporter
at romangokhman@dailyemerald.com.
Courtesy Brian Lanker
Sculpter Pete Helzer works on a statue
of Ken Kesey.
Measure
continued from page 1
these cuts, the Oregon University
System alone would face a nearly
S27 million reduction in the 2001
03 budget, S13.2 million which
would he abated by general fund re
ductions and S13.6 million which
would be cut from programs, class
es, staff and campus projects.
University students will also
pay a tuition surcharge of 810 per
credit tor winter and spring terms
if the measure fails.
Opponents of the measure are
saying, however, that despite
possible cuts, raising income
taxes during a recession will
only hurt the economy further.
Fifteen Oregon legislators stated
in the voter’s pamphlet that
r
increasing taxes continues “non
essential” government spending
and blocks reform.
“Your ‘No’ vote for this unnec
essary tax increase will not turn
prisoners loose, will not increase
the size of our classrooms or force
our senior citizens to choose
between rent or food. Such scare
tactics are not true,” the repre
sentatives said.
Taxpayer Association of Oregon
Executive Director Jason
Williams concurred.
“It’s economic suicide,” he
said. “No one with a rational mind
will believe you can tax your way
into prosperity.”
Proponents contend that
Measure 2<S will both restore
funding and help Oregon's strug
gling economy.
Tax increase
$1,800
$1,600
$1,400
$1,200
$1,000
$800
$600
$400
$200
0
o
Measure 28 estimated
income tax increases
less than
$10,000
$10,000
$20,000
$20,000 -
$30,000
$30,000- $40,000- $50,000- $75,000- $100,000- Over
$40,000 $50,000 $75,000 $100,000 $200,000 $200,000
Income bracket
Yes on 28 Committee Spokes
woman Patty Wentz said education
is important for economic growth,
and sufficiently funding education
will stimulate the economy.
“Business leaders are being pub
licly concerned about the ability to
recruit high-quality workers lor their
companies in a state that is in dire
economic straits,” she said. There is
a “clear correlation between the edu
cation system and the economy.”
Contact the senior news reporter
at janmontry@dailyemerald.com.
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