0170811
LOU/fstice*
• New/used furniture and re-built beds starting at $99 a set.
• Name brand and vintage clothes
• Major appliances with 90-day warranties starting at $99
dePaul’s
St Vincent deP&nl Sodety
6 locations in Eugone to sonro you:
^ 555 High St., 344-2115 (our newest location across from Sth St. Market)
• 2345 West Broadway, 284-5024 (huge warehouse of used furniture)
• 705 S. Seneca, 345-8036 (lots of clothes and misc. household items)
• 1880 W. II th, 683-8284 (great selection of appliances and new furniture)
• 201 Division Ave, 762-7837 (clothes, books, furniture, beds, appliances)
• 450 Highway 99,607-4541 (our huge car lot)
We've got sp
at www.dailyemerald.com
State legislators
need to oppose
federal gas tax
In 1758, philosopher David Hume
wrote: "Nothing appears more surpris
ing ... than
the easiness
with which
the many are COMMENTARY
governed by __
the few; and
the implicit submission with which
men resign their own sentiments and
passions to those of their rulers."
Today Hume would surely marvel at
how easily each year a few highway
barons on Capitol I lill, with help from
like-minded special interest groups,
collect hundreds of millions of dollars
from Oregon motorists and then par
cel out highway Hinds to Salem with all
kinds of costly strings attached.
Authority for the federal highway
program expires Sept. 30. But the new
authorization winding its way through
Congress to extend the program six
more years has yet to address an issue
costing American motorists more than
$20 billion each year: What should
happen to the federal gas tax?
Most members of Congress simply
assume the federal tax will either stay
where it is, at 18.4 cents per gallon, or
go up. The American Road and Trans
portation Builders Association wants
a two cent per gallon tax hike in each
of the next six years, and Rep. Don
Young, R-Alaska, has proposed raising
the federal gas tax to 33 cents per gal
lon over six years — a whopping 79
percent increase.
But there is another option. Last
year, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., of
fered a bill to return all but two cents
of the 18.4 cent federal gas tax to the
states in the form of a block grant.
Under Inhofe's plan, Uncle Sam's take
would have been only $27 million in
2001 instead of the $252 million Ore
gon motorists actually paid into the
Federal I ligh way Trust Fund.
Right there, on page S.7929 of the
Congressional Record for Aug. 1, 2002,
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Councilor favors
pro-growth faction
As president of UndWatch Lane
County — a group whose mission is to
protect famis, forests and open space
Inhofe says his bill, "Restores to states
and local communities the ability to
make their own transportation decisions
without the interference ofWashington.
... I have long believed that the best deci
sions are those made at the local level.
Unfortunately many of the transporta
tion choices made by cities and states are
governed by federal rules and regula
tions. This bill returns to states the re
sponsibility and resources to make their
own transportation decisions."
The two-cent federal tax would still
be enough to maintain the Interstate
system, build roads on federal lands,
address highway safety issues and
conduct some research. Road-build
ing, after all, is traditionally a state
and local responsibility. The 41,000
mile federal Interstate building era,
which officially ended in 1991, was a -
one-time exception to that tradition.
So why haven't Oregon's two U.S.
senators and Oregon Gov. Ted Kulon
goski, along with elected officials from
other states, rallied around Inhofe's
proposal and demanded its passage
this year? Why would Oregon's gover
nor and state legislators resign their
own self-interests and welcome Wash
ington's intrusion into their affairs?
Some say once the federal govern
ment launched the Interstate pro
gram, special interest groups captured
it and helped make sure it was well
funded. And with the passage of time
the states have became reluctant to
challenge the entrenched status quo.
As the U.S. Congress gears up to
meet the Sept. 30 deadline, this is a
fine time for Oregon motorists to
contact their Washington, D.C., repre
sentatives and ask why the Inhofe
proposal isn't yet part of this year's
new highway bill.
Dr. Ronald Fraser, who writes on public
policy issues for the DKT Liberty Project,
a Washington-based civil liberties
organization, lives in Burke, Va.
from sprawl — I'm delighted to leam
that Ward 7 City Councilor Scott Meis
ner is "concerned about community
growth" ("Legal eagle," ODE, Aug. 20).
Me says he doesn't want his community
to be like others "that have grown badly
Turn to LETTERS, page 9A
Sorority Recruitment!
October 3rd - 8th
Orientation begins
October 3rd at 5pm
in Columbia 150.
Fraternity Recruitment
October 3rd - 8th
Recruitment begins at
Splash Waterpark
Transportation provided,
meet Oct 3rd, 9pm, at
the Greek Life Office.
Be a part of the largest student group on campus.
o
UNIVERSITY
OF OREGON
Get Involved!
Friendship - Leadership
Scholarship - Community Service
For info and to register go to: http://greeklife.uoregon.edu1