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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 2003)
Local commissions debate collection of SSNs by police I he human rights and police commissions also discussed policy for the EPD’s drug detection dog By A. Sho Ikeda Senior News Reporter The Eugene Police Commission and the 1 luman Rights Commission met for their annual joint meeting Thursday evening and discussed is sues regarding the Eugene Police De partment's use of Social Security numbers as identification for law en forcement purposes. The Eugene Police Commission also approved policy recommenda tions for Eugene's first drug detec tion dog since the early 1990s. Members of both commissions listened to public concerns of EPD's current practice of collecting Social Security information by offi cers during interactions with com munity members. Marion Malcolm, a former mem ber of the I luman Rights Commis sion, questioned the necessity of re questing social security numbers from individuals during traffic cita tions, arrests and other contacts be tween police and the community. "What 1 do know what (collect ing Social Security numbers) does is create intimidation," Malcolm said. "1 hope that this practice of asking for Social Security numbers will be repudiated." Lt. Rick Siel explained that Social Security numbers are vital to law en forcement because as one of four crit ical personal identifiers — the others being name, date of birth and driver's license number — they assist officers in making accurate identifications during contact with citizens. Siel said a person's identity could be complicated by a number of cir cumstances. For example, if a person doesn't have any valid identification or if the credentials presented don't seem to match the person's current appearance, an officer may need ad ditional information to determine the individual's identity. For these reasons, Siel stated, Social Security numbers offer a unique identifier that can help determine the identity of individuals. Critics of the practice cite concerns with privacy, potential misuse of an individual's personal information, li ability from false arrests and the in crease of distrust between the com munity and police officers. Police officials said they were aware of these concerns and have taken steps to re duce disclosure of Social Security numbers when releasing otherwise public documents. "We recognize that we need to bet ter educate the public and our offi cers," Siel said. Police Commission Chairman Tim Laue approved a motion to dis cuss the issue in a future jointmeeting between members of both commissions. EPD may request Social Security numbers as part of a traffic or misde meanor citation, during a field inter view or when taking a person into custody. Individuals may refuse to disclose their Social Security number to police, in which case the refusal is noted in the report. The Police Commission conclud ed the meeting by approving policy concerning Eugene's new drug detec tion dog, Kyra. Kyra was acquired by EPD in June from Gresham police department after it discontinued its drug detection do program. Officer I fart told the Police Com mission in a meeting last month that Kyra was deployed about 38 times since August 1, resulting in the ac quisition of 28 ounces of "controlled substances" with an estimated value of $20,000. Contact the city/state politics reporter at shoikeda@dailyemerald.com. North Campus 579 E. Broadway 686-1166 South Campus 2870 E. Willamette 686-1600 STUDENT ID SPECIALS • Show Your Student ID • Order by Number X-LARGE1-T0PPMG The Big New Yorker MEDIUM 3-TOPPING Pan, Thin ’N Crispy or Hand Tossed STICKS ’N WINGS 10 Breadsticks, 12 Wings X-LARGE 3-TOPPING The Big New Yotker a MEDIUM 1-TOPPINGS Pan, Thin ’N Crispy or Hand Tossed STICKS N WINGS 10 Breadsticks, 24 Wings .$999 .$999 .$999 $1199 $1199 $1199 FREE 2-Liter of Soda with Any Above Order! Delivery charges may apply Media critic, pundit draws laughs, praise from LCC audience Jim Hightower draws a crowd of 700 to LCC to hear his criticisms of left-and right-leaning politicians By Chuck Slothower News Reporter Author and liberal pundit lim Hightower spoke to a packed house at Lane Community College on Thursday night as part of the third annual Peace, Justice and Media Conference, provoking raucous laughter and murmurs of agree ment from the 700-strong crowd. The cowboy hat-wearing Texan, on tour to promote his book, "Thieves in High Places," let loose with biting criticism of everything from the Bush administration to Wal-Mart to media elitism. "We are gathered here in open defiance of King George the W," Hightower said to considerable applause. "We want the power to control the decisions that affect our lives." Hightower used his spotlight to criticize "Bushco, corporate klepto crats and wobblycrats," Democrats who Hightower said have "Jell Oed" instead of aggressively attack ing the right. Hightower received an overwhelm ingly positive response from the pre dominantly middle-aged crowd. "It's rare when you get someone with such humor and insight to get his point across," said Eugene resi dent Alan Zelenka. "At the same time, he's so optimistic." A former Texas agricultural com missioner, Hightower sought to inspire the audience witlrstories of successful grass roots movements. He specifically cited a drive in Glendale, Ariz., that Hightower said prevented Wal-Mart from building there. Wal-Mart "sucks the economic life out of our communities," Hightower said. Hightower also attacked Wal-Mart's treatment of women. "When you reach that glass ceiling at Wal-Mart, they ask you to Windex it," Hightower said. The Bush administration's tax poli cies also met 1 lightower's acid tongue "The burden is on the workaday folks in this country," Hightower said. "They get the gold mine, we get the shaft." Speaking with a Texas drawl, High tower relentlessly criticized President Bush, faulting him for failing to launch a 10-year program for energy independence in the immediate after math of Sept. 11, 2001. Hightower said an aggressive drive for energy independence — replete with solar, geothermal and wind pow er — would lessen the United States' dependence on the Middle East. "We would never fight another oil war in this world again," High tower said. A one-man media machine, High tower urged audience members to cir cumvent the mainstream media to get their message out. "It's just another profit center," Hightower said. "The media has be come the elite." In addition to his books and ra dio appearances, Hightower spreads his message through Hightower Lowdown, his political newsletter. Hightower claims it is the biggest po litical newsletter in America with 100,000 readers. Hightower, in the tradition of George Orwell, criticized the political left as well. "We did not get (a progressive ener gy proposal) from the Democrats," Hightower said. Hightower's event was the largest in the history of Lane Community Col lege, according to LCC instructor Steve Candy. The Peace, Justice and Media Con ference, sponsored by the Eugene based Justice Not War Coalition, will continue through Sunday. Contact the campus/ federal politics reporter at chuckslothower@dailyemerald.com. NEWS BRIEF University to be featured on Discovery Channel Local archaeology, modem tech nology and old-fashioned 19th cen tury cannibalism come together Sat urday night when University research is spotlighted in a Discovery Channel program about the Donner Party. Guy Tasa, an assistant adjunct an EARN $50 IF YOU CHEW TOBACCO & WANT TO QUIT If you are between 14-24 years old, try this free program we have developed and are testing to help you quit chewing. Call Deschutes Research at 1-888-345-8744 - to see if you qualify. Research funded by the National Cancer institute. thropology professor, will be featured on the show "Unsolved History" us ing the University's field emission scanning electron microscope to study bone fragments from one of two Donner encampments excavated this summer. The episode has aired twice this week and will be repeated a final time Saturday at 7 p.m. — Caron Alarab mckenzie river GOLF COURSE We invite you to play our beautiful golf courie along the scenic McKenzie River, with immaculate greens and a mature, manicured landscape. Located off Deerhorn Road Hwy. 126 to Holden Creek, cross bridge to Golf Course. See why we ere the jewel on the river. 41723 Madrone Weekdays Mon-Fri S10 - 9 holes S17 -18 holes with UO ID Oregon Daily Emerald P.O. Box 3159, Eugene OR 97403 The Oregon Daily Emerald is pub lished daily Monday through Friday during the school year by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co. Inc., at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon.The Emerald operates inde pendently of the University with of fices in Suite 300 of the Erb Memorial Union. The Emerald is private prop erty The unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law NEWSROOM — (541)346-5511 Editor in chief: Brad Schmidt Managing editor: Jan Tobias Montry Freelance editor: Aimee Rudin News editors: Jennifer Bear, Ayisha Yahya Senior news reporters A. Sho Ikeda, Ali Shaughnessy News reporters: Caron Alarab, Chelsea Duncan, Jared Paben, Chuck Slothower Pulse editor: Aaron Shakra Senior Pulse reporter: Ryan Nyburg Pulse reporters: Natasha Chilingerian, Arwen Ungar Pulse col umnists: Helen Schumacher, Carl Sundberg Sports editor: Hank Hager Senior sports reporter: Mindi Rice Sports reporters: Jon Roetman, Jesse Thomas Editorial editor: Travis Willse Columnists: Joseph Bechard, Jes sica Cole-Hodgkinson, Peter Hockaday, David Jagernauth illustrators: Steve Baggs, Eric Layton Design editor: Adelle Lennox Senior designer: Sean Hanson Designers: Kimberly Premore, Kari Pinkerton Photo editor: Adam Amato Senior photographer: Mark McCam bridge Photographers: Danielle Hickey, Lauren Wimer Copy chiefs: Kim Chapman, Jennifer Sudick Copy editors: Gabri elle Barber, Brandi Smith, Ben Pepper, MacKensey Thompson, Online editor: Erik Bishoff Webmaster: Eric Layton BUSINESS — 346-5512 General manager: Judy Riedl Business supervisor: Kathy Carbone Receptionist: Sarah Go racke Distribution: Mike Chen, John Long, Matt O’Brien, Michael Sarnoff-Wood, Ben Swagerty ADVERTISING — DISPLAY 346-3712 CLASSIFIED 346-4343 Director: Melissa Gust Sales manager: Michelle Chan Special publications and classified manager: Hilary Mosher Sales'representatives: Tim Bott, Army Feth, Patrick Gilligan, Me gan Hamlin, Kim Humphries, Alex Hurliman, Tyler Mack, Shannon Rogers, Dan Sawaya, Sherry Telford, Katherine Vague Assistants: Liz Carson, Katy Cooney, Thomas Redditt, Keri Span gler, Kate Workman PRODUCTION — 346-4381 Manager: Michele Ross Production coordinator: Tara Sloan Designers: Jen Cramlett, Kristen Dicharry, Matt Graff, Andy Holland, Marissa Jones, Jayoung Park, Jonah Schrogin
