Women's Center to host
're-investment' conference
Women of color are the focus of the lOth-annual event,
which will feature various speakers and workshops
BY AMANDA BOLSINGER
NEWS REPORTER
The lOth-annual Women of Color
Conference promises to be unlike
any of the previous conferences. This
year’s event will host speakers from
around the world, five separate
workshop tracks, an open mic and
two performances.
“This year is a re-investment in
women of color,” ASUO Women’s
Center Interim Director Erin O’Brien
said. “It is an exciting prospect for the
Women’s Center addressing women
of-color issues.”
The conference is titled “Dia
logues About the State of Women’s
Rights as Human Rights” and focus
es on the rights of women of color
as basic human rights that have
been denied or jeopardized.
The conference will feature
keynote speaker Ninotchka Rosea, a
former political prisoner under the
Marcos regime in the Philippines. She
is also the founder of GABRIELA, a
women’s rights organization of the
Philippines. Her primary concerns
are the issues of sex tourism, traffick
ing, the mail-order bride industry and
violence against women.
Issues women of color face will be
discussed in a sexual orientation and
sexuality workshop and a theater of
the oppressed.
“It’s giving a voice to cover all dif
ferent parts of life,” said Stefanie Loh,
public relations coordinator for the
Women’s Center. “Being a woman of
color is not a single thing. ”
Some of the workshops will be
closed workshops, open only to
women who identify themselves as
women of color. Other workshops will
be only for those who do not identify
themselves as women of color.
“The whole thing is a big deal,”
Women’s Center Diversity Coordina
tor Ma Vang said. “Every workshop,
performer and speaker is important.”
The conference will begin today at
2:30 p.m. in the EMU Ben Linder
Room and will continue throughout
the weekend with the closing session
ending at 1 p.m. Sunday. More than
50 people have registered for the con
ference, and registration will remain
open for the weekend. The conference
is free for University students, staff
and faculty.
abolsinger@dailyem erald. com
IN BRIEF
Honors fraternity to offer
free tax assistance
A student group will be making it
easier for University students and
community members to file their
tax returns.
Beta Alpha Psi, an honors frater
nity for financial information pro
fessionals, will offer its Volunteer
Income Tax Assistance program for
free in Chiles 228 between 10 a.m.
and 4 p.m. on Saturday and again
on April 9.
Patrick Meadows, a junior
accounting major and Beta Alpha
Psi member, is the coordinator of
the program.
“A lot of the time there’ll be cer
tain things that we know about that
will reduce your taxable income,”
Meadows said. The tax counselors
are Beta Alpha Psi members and
law students and were trained by
AARP members in tax assistance.
They will answer questions and as
sist in preparing federal and Oregon
state tax returns for submission.
Helen Gernon, professor and
head of the Department of Account
ing, said the free assistance is a
good opportunity because it’s tough
to do taxes without help.
“Unfortunately, our tax law is so
complicated that that is usually the
case,” Gernon said, adding that peo
ple can try to do taxes themselves if
they have a simple financial situa
tion, but they may miss some tax
credits.
Meadows said the volunteer tax
program can also help international
students who have been in the Unit
ed States for an extended period of
time and are required to file as a res
ident.
Those interested in the program
should bring their W-2 forms, So
cial Security cards, state-issued
identification, checkbooks and fi
nancial statements or any other
documents that detail taxable in
come, including those involving
scholarships, grants, stocks and in
vestments. Meadows estimated that
the process will take between 15
minutes and one hour. The service
can’t accommodate income from
other states.
Meadows said this is the pro
gram’s fifth year, and next year he
hopes to offer sessions every Satur
day during tax season.
Any questions should be directed
to Meadows by phone at 346-3344.
— Adam Cherry
Late-winter storm
salvages ski season
BAKER CITY — Oregon ski area
operators have finally gotten what
they wanted for Christmas — four
months late.
That would be snow, and lots of
it.
For Rick Pignone, operator of Ski
Anthony Lakes resort in Eastern
Oregon, the warm, dry spell during
March almost convinced him to
close down his resort for the season.
After all, only 2,082 people skied
at Anthony Lakes in March, almost
half as many as visited the resort in
March 2004.
But then came the snows of late
March, and now Pignone has decid
ed to stay open through at
least April 10, thanks to 30 inches of
new powder.
“One side of me says this is a very
poor business decision, but with all
this new snow I just didn’t have the
heart (to close),” he said. “And I
have an obligation to my season
pass holders. I’m hoping the public
will come back. I hope I’m not
wrong.”
Meanwhile, after a dismal season
at Mount Hood Meadows Ski Re
sort, the winter storm has dumped
about three feet of snow on the
slopes so far.
“When we closed in March, a lot
of people presumed we’d thrown in
the towel, but I was just waiting for
the next storm,” said Dave Riley,
Mt. Hood Meadows’ general manag
er. “I’ve got thousands of season
pass holders, and I’m going to do
everything possible to reopen if
we’ve got the snow. ”
Forecasters are predicting anoth
er cold front this weekend with the
wet pattern continuing into next
week.
Oil prices may nse
above $ 100 a barrel
Oil prices rose above $55 a barrel
Thursday, boosted by rising prices
for gasoline and heating oil and an
investment bank report that said
strong demand and tight supplies
could cause a “super spike” that
sends prices above $100 a barrel.
After climbing as high as $56.10 a
barrel, light, sweet crude for May
delivery settled at $55.40 a barrel on
the New York Mercantile Exchange,
an increase of $1.41. A Nymex peak
of $57.60 was set on March 17.
Heating oil rose more than 5 cents
to finish at $1.6576 a gallon on the
Nymex, while unleaded gasoline
rose nearly 6 cents to $1.6549 a gal
lon.
On Wednesday, heating oil futures
settled more than 5 cents higher and
gasoline futures closed more than 2
cents higher following the release of
U.S. government data that showed a
drop in the nation's supply of gaso
line and distillate fuel, which in
cludes heating oil.
The report, which also showed a
large increase in crude oil invento
ries, said gasoline demand over the
past month was 2 percent higher
than last year.
“I think the market is a little sur
prised that demand is staying pretty
strong even with record-high
prices,” said Tom Bentz, a broker at
BNP Paribas Commodity Futures in
New York.
The average retail price of regular
unleaded gasoline is $2.15 a
gallon, according to the Energy De
partment.
The report from Goldman Sachs
raised the possibility of oil prices ris
ing as high as $105 a barrel.
“Oil markets may have entered the
early stages of what we have referred
to as a ‘super spike’ period — a mul
ti-year trading band of oil prices high
enough to meaningfully reduce ener
gy consumption and recreate a spare
capacity cushion only after which
will lower energy prices return,”
Goldman Sachs analyst Arjun N.
Murti said in the report.
Murti said factors contributing to
the run-up in prices include geopo
litical turmoil in oil producing na
tions and greater energy efficiency
worldwide that has enabled
economies to grow in spite of the
higher prices.
The U.S. government's latest sup
ply snapshot showed that refineries
were running at 91 percent of their
output capacity and that imports of
crude have averaged 10.2 million
barrels a day over the past month,
compared with 9.9 million barrels a
year earlier.
In the latest signal that OPEC con
sidered the market under control,
Qatar's oil minister, Abdullah bin
Hamad A1 Attiyah, said there were
no supply problems and that he did
not expect the group to meet before
June, as scheduled.
OPEC agreed earlier this month to
raise production quotas by 500,000
barrels per day and said it would
consult on whether to increase them
by a further 500,000 if prices contin
ued to rise. It recently decided
against such immediate action.
While oil prices are roughly 47
percent higher than a year ago,
Nymex futures would need to sur
pass $90 a barrel to approach the in
flation-adjusted high set in 1980.
— The Associated Press
ARE YOUR WEEKENDS
MISSING SOMETHING?
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Join us on Sundays for worship services featuring
Holy Communion. We have traditional services on
Sunday mornings and Marty Haugen services on
Sunday evenings.
Sundays 8:15 am, 10:45 am and 6:30 pm
Student/Young Adult Bible Study, Sundays, 7:30 pm
Central Lutheran Church
Corner of 18th 4k. Potter • 345.0395
www.welcometocentral.org
All arc welcome.
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