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P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online: www.dailyemerald.com
Friday, January 30, 2004
Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Brad Schmidt
Managing Editor:
Jan Tobias Montry
Editorial Editor:
Travis Willse
Wrong turn:
How to lose
a license using
bad choices
Editor's note: This commentary is part of the Emerald's and
ASUO Legal Services' ongoing efforts to assist students through edu
cation as well as representation. ASUO Legal Services' attorneys are
licensed to practice in the state of Oregon. Information disseminated
in this article does not constitute legal advice and does not create an
attorney/client relationship. For legal advice, contact an attorney li
censed in your slate. You should not make legal hiring decisions
based upon brochures, advertising or other promotional materials.
Many people consider driving to be a right to which they
are entitled, when in fact, it is a privilege which can be sus
pended or revoked by the state. Your license will be suspended
in Oregon if you violate any number of laws.
The length of suspension varies with the crime of convic
tion. Repeated convictions can enhance the suspension length.
If you drive while your license is suspended, you can be
charged with a misdemeanor or felony crime of Driving While
Suspended and receive fines and significant jail time.
Driving under the influence of intoxicants carries a host of
different suspensions. A first conviction for DUII results in a sus
pension for a period of one year. For a second conviction within
five years, the suspension is for three years. Under a new law
which went into effect Jan. 1,2004, a third DUII conviction can
result in a permanent license suspension. This new law is cur
rently being challenged in court. Unless or until it is ruled un
constitutional, however, the law is in effect and licenses will be
permanently revoked upon a third DUII conviction.
Additionally, if you are arrested for DUII and refuse to blow
in the lntoxilyzer machine, you'will receive a one-year suspen
sion. If you blow and your result is 0.08 percent blood alco
hol or higher, you automatically receive a 90-day suspension.
Other driving-related offenses carry various suspensions. A
first conviction for Reckless Driving, Reckless Endangering or
for Hit and Run with property damage nets a 90-day suspen
sion. The second conviction of any of these crimes results in a
one-year conviction. A conviction for Hit and Run with per
sonal injury requires a one-year suspension. Other criminal
convictions which are not obviously related to driving also car
ry a mandatory license suspension. For example, the crimes of
Menacing and Criminal Mischief connected to operating a
motor vehicle result in a license suspension of 90 days for a
first conviction and one year for a second such conviction. The
suspension is six months for convictions of Unlawful Posses
sion or Delivery of a Controlled Substance. Even a violation
charge of possession of less than one ounce of marijuana can
carry a suspension if the court is so inclined.
The suspension is one year for convictions ofUnlawfiil Use
of a Motor Vehicle, False Information to a Police Officer, Using
the ID of Another, or Misdemeanor Assault.
Most suspensions allow you to obtain a hardship permit
to drive to and from work, school and medical appoint
ments. However, there is often a requirement to serve part of
the suspension before obtaining the hardship permit. Hard
ship permits are not available if your license is revoked or
suspended for Hit and Run with personal injury, Driving
While Suspended or Revoked, for failure to pay child sup
port or for most drug offenses.
Each case differs in its unique facts. To discuss how the law
applies to your facts, see a lawyer immediately after your police
contact. Schedule an appointment with your ASUO Legal Ser
vices lawyer by calling 346-4273.
Laura Fine is an attorney with ASUO Legal Services.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Pitiful sidewalks near Greek houses need help
It's a joke that one of the cornerstones of Greek organiza
tions is to uphold a "responsibility to the community" when
they can't even maintain their sidewalks. As anyone who has
ever walked on Alder Street or 15th Avenue knows, well, the
sidewalks are some of the campus area's worst.
Why do people have to walk through wet puddles of de
composed leaves for six months outside of Lambda Chi, or
walk through a mixture of mud, gravel and cracked sidewalks
outside the horrible, ugly driveway at Sigma Alpha Epsilon?
Even if the City of Eugene will only replace them along with
new road construction, why don't these Greek houses take it
upon themselves to clean up this crap?
Aaron Reddick
senior
landscape architecture
State spending outpaces growth
1 have been trying to wade through the
panic and get my arms around the num
bers of Measure 30.1 was particularly in
terested in Oregon's spending, adjusted for
inflation and population growth.
dex and population increased.
Anything beyond that would be growth
in excess of our economy and potentially
beyond our ability to pay for that growth.
Using the 1995-97 biennium as the
base, the state's spending was 18 percent
COMMENTARY
GUEST
You would
expect that the
state's spending
would increase
as the Con
sumer Price In
above inflation and population growth
over the six years from 1995 to 2001, and
5 percent above the eight years from 1995
to 2003.
If Measure 30 passes, the 2003-05 budg
et will be a whopping 45 percent higher
than it was 10 years ago. That's 11 percent
above the growth in inflation and popula
tion since 1995!
Voting no on Measure 30 will set a
budget that has increased 35 percent from
1995 but it will bring state spending back
in line to only 0.3 percent above inflation
and population growth.
Reference calculations, charts and a sim
ilar analysis of total statewide education
spending showing that statewide spending
on education increased 26 percent over
the past 8 years and exceeded inflation and
population growth by 5 percent over the
past 8 years are available at
http://www.Oregon30.org.
Don't let the fear talk about cuts scare
you. The money is there to provide all of
the same services we have today. If larger
amounts of money each year don't seem „
to go as far, I can only assume that it is not
being spent as efficiently. We cannot con
tinue to outspend our economy. Many in
Oregon are complaining about the feder
al deficit — don't let that kind of spending
imbalance happen here!
Dean Suhr lives in West Linn.
No on 30 will force needed reforms
It seems like every time people talk
about taxes, they use the word "fair." Re
cently, a letter to the editor from Janet
Calvert, president of the League of Women
Voters of Lane County, ("Measure 30's sur
charge is pro
gressive, fair,"
ODE, Jan. 23)
stated that a
new tax is pro
gressive, and
therefore fair. What is fair about taking
more taxpayer money? I have read a lot of
articles lately about the budget cuts that
would take place if Measure 30 does not
pass. If you look at the facts, you will real
ize that these are merely scare tactics.
How many of you realize that with the
tax increase, the current budget grows by
$2.5 billion? Even without the proposed
tax, the budget will still grow by $1.7 bil
lion. Defeat of this tax increase won't cut
the budget; it only slows down an exces
sively large growth rate.
During the 1990s' economic boom, the
GUEST
COMMENTARY
state's budget nearly doubled. If spending
growth since 1993 had been limited to off
set inflation and population growth, the
2003-05 budget would be $8 billion less
than $37.1 billion, the current 2003-05
budget. The Legislature spent every dime
of that new revenue. Now when times are
slow, our Legislature has no savings, no fis
cal discipline, wants new taxes, and won't
listen to the people Our tax system doesn't
need fixing. The Legislature's spending
practices need major reform.
The state's spending habits can be com
pared to purchasing a single object at a
store. If you are purchasing an object for
yourself, and you are using your own
money, you look at the
quality and the cost of the object. If you
are buying the object for someone you
don't know, you probably are looking at
cost and not quality. If you were spending
someone else's money on an object for
yourself, you would look mainly at quali
ty, but not cost. But if you are like our gov
ernment and spend someone else's money
on an object for someone you don't know,
you don't pay attention to cost or quality.
Let's just pretend for a second that this
"temporary" tax increase (yeah, right) is
truly needed. I ran the figures and be
tween the income tax surcharge, the prop
erty tax discount being eliminated, and
the fact that this is prorated back to Janu
ary 1, 2003,1 will pay an estimated $800
by the end of 2004. You must be saying
to yourself, but by those figures, you are
part of the wealthy upper-class. Now for
the kicker, I am only 25 years old and a
recent college graduate. 1 am married and
have an average sized house. 1 am not
rich! Don't fool yourself, this is going to
cost everyone money and the fact is, we
already pay enough.
There is nothing fair about taking more
money from hard-working individuals,
like myself. Vote no on measure 30 and
force the Legislature to look at its spend
ing habits, instead of increasing taxes in a
state with an already slumping economy.
Mark Butler lives in Salem.