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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 2005)
Women defeat UCLA at Mac Court I 7 An independent newspaper www. dailyemerald. com Since 1900 | Volume 106, Issue 89 \ Friday, January 28, 2005 Governor hosts rally to support grant increase The plan to enlarge the Oregon Opportunity Grant extends assistance to a higher number of low-income students BY ADAM CHERRY NEWS REPORTER SALEM — Gov. Ted Kulongoski rallied Oregon Student Association representatives and other students Thursday around his plan to more than double the size of the Oregon Opportunity Grant fund. Kulongoski spoke to a group of about 150 students in front of the state Capitol and invited about 20 OSA rep resentatives from Oregon colleges to a question-and-answer session in his of fice about his plans for the Opportunity Grant and higher education. Under the governor’s proposed budget for the 2005-07 biennium, the funding allocated to the Oregon Opportunity Grant would be expand ed to $91.6 million, a 111.1 percent in crease from the 2003-05 level. The grant is intended to assist students in the lowest income bracket. Whether the increase will be approved by the state Legislature as it sets the state budget is yet to be seen. “This is just a small step, the first small step to a long-term investment that we’re going to make out of this building over the next 20 to 40 or 50 years in higher education,” Kulongos ki said in the question-and-answer session prior to the rally. “We are go ing to have a mission ter create the best educated citizenry of any state in this country. ” “We’ve got to do a better job for you guys,” state House Rep. Peter Buckley, a Democrat, said at the rally. “You guys have been carrying the weight for much too long with increases in tuition and programs being cut back. It’s time to turn it around.” “The governor’s proposed increase in the Oregon Opportunity Grant is go ing to open the door to access for so many Oregon students,” OSA Chair man and ASUO President Adam Petkun said to the crowd. Sometimes in life you get an oppor tunity to do something because you KULONGOSKI, page 6 Tim Bobosky | Photographer At the state Capitol, Gov. Ted Kulongoski talks to a group of Oregon Student Association leaders about investing in the next generation of Oregon's higher-education prospects. POLICY vs. PATRIOTISM A University request to remove an unauthorized decal garnered nationwide media attention BY MORIAH BALINGIT NEWS REPORTER “Support Our Troops” yellow ribbon magnetic decal has generated national A JL media attention and angered citizens across the country. Last week, the University asked delivery truck driver Pete Baker to remove the magnet from his car to comply with an Oregon state administra tive policy that prohibits “unauthorized stickers” on state-owned vehicles after another employee complained. The only decals permitted, accord ing to the policy, are those that identify the state agency that owns the vehicle. KEZ1-TV, Channel 9, Eugene, picked up the story, but Andrew Padula reported that Baker was forced to remove the decal because it may constitute “a political message.” “1 don’t know how they think they’re politi cal,” Baker said in the news program. “I think they’re patriotic.” After the show aired, news of Baker’s mag net spread like wildfire across political Weblogs. Many Webloggers construed the story as an egregious violation of Baker’s rights. “Since when did the Bill of Rights have to undergo perusal and permission of the STICKERS, page 12 Danielle Hickey | Photo editor IN BRIEF French vintners hope to convert excess wine to industrial alcohol PARIS — It wouldn’t quite be pouring good wine down the drain, but close. Stuck with hundreds of millions of bottles they can’t sell in a toughening global market, vintners want to distill some of France’s winelake into industrial-use alcohol. It wouldn’t just be swill heading for destruc tion: Most of the 66 million gallons vintners hope to recycle is considered high-quality. Such destruction would be unprecedented for “appellation” wines that carry France’s AOC seal of origin and quality. Although nearly 71.3 million gallons were distilled into alcohol in 2002, that was second-rate table wine. This time, 267 million bottles of AOC wines would be boiled down in stills if vintners get their way. “Generally, distillation is for the worst prod ucts,” said Robert Beynat, chief executive of the Vinexpo international wine fair. That vintners are clamoring to destroy stocks of wine that would nicely accompany a meal underscores their difficulties. Vintners, some bearing a mock coffin marked "Here lies the last winemaker,” held protests in several cities last month to appeal for government aid. The average Frenchman still downs 13.2 gal lons of wine a year, but that is half as much as in 1961. A study for Vinexpo published Thurs day predicted the United States will overtake France as the leading overall wine consumer by 2008, although the French would still lead on a per capita basis. — The Associated Press University employs electric truck to aid recyclers University Facilities Services recently used student fees to purchase an electric vehicle to help manage campus recycling. BY ANTHONY LUCERO NEWS REPORTER The University is the proud owner of a Tiger Thick — a vehicle that runs com pletely on electricity. The truck, which was paid for by student fees, will help the University’s Facilities Services in gathering recycling and compost material on campus and at events. The Tiger Thick, smaller than the traditional step van that Facilities Ser vices uses, is able to carry 1,200 pounds on its truck bed and will be used mainly for handling recycled cans, bottles and newspapers It will also be used instead of bicycles during winter term and during events such as the ASUO Street Faire and Folk Festival, Karyn Kaplan, the environmental resource and recycling manager, said. “We just got it last fall and it took us a while — got it painted, licensed, in sured — all that happened (during) the first term and ended in December,” Ka plan said. “We are just starting to break it out. The first route is four hours. We have to get our staff trained to use it.” Kaplan said only one person so far is certified to use it. Yet, the electric vehicle has proven it self useful already for Facilities Services, managing recycling during the Street Faire earlier this year and assisting in gathering recyclable items on campus. Current use includes “outside drop off collections and some special collec tions with odd items: books, compact discs, Styrofoam peanuts,” Kaplan said. “We’ll use it for campus events with places that are tighter to get into.” Kaplan added the truck will soon become vital for Facilities Services. “We have so many events coming up in the next month and a half,” Kaplan said, citing specifically the Folk Festival and Sustainable Business Symposium. Though the Tiger Thick hasn’t been fully implemented yet, the electric vehicle is already lessening many loads for Facilities Services and University recycling. For one, the Tiger Thick costs only a little more than $300 to maintain per year compared to the $1,400 Kaplan estimates it costs to maintain the tradi tional step van. While step vans have fuel costs, among other maintenance costs, only batteries and tires are re quired for the Tiger Thick’s upkeep. A traditional battery for the electric truck TIGER TRUCK, page 12
