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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 2, 2005)
Summer fashions swing into town I 5 An independent newspaper www. da ilyemerald. com MERALD Since 1900 \ Volume 106, Issue 168 | Thursday, lune 2, 2005 Lauren Wimer | Senior photographer Mill Alley, between 13th Street and 14th Street, is one of numerous alleys in the West University Neighbor hood in need of attention. Alley paving project may expand aim to aesthetics Drix Rixmann is spearheading the effort to bring a welcoming atmosphere to the area's alleys BY MEGHANN M. CUNIFF SENIOR NEWS REPORTER The alleys in the West University Neighbor hood have always been kind to Drix Rixmann. He first encountered them when he walked around the neighborhood as a college student in search of a party or good people with whom to spend time. Back then, the alleys weren’t nearly as ART, page 3 DPS reevaluates campus fire safety Despite apathy among students, University officiate try to encourage vigilance and promote a variety of precautions to protect from fires BY SHELDON TRAVER NEWS REPORTER When an alarm rang out through the EMU on May 5, patrons in The Buzz coffee shop on the lower level took extra time to load their backpacks and briefcases, exiting the building after more than two minutes. Soon after, Department of Public Safety officers scoured the building looking for traces of a fire and discovered it was anoth er false alarm, one of 560 false alarms on campus since January 2001, a period in which only 25 actual fires occurred, DPS Operations Lieutenant Herb Horner said. Are University students, staff and faculty at risk in the event of a fire in University owned buildings? University Fire Protection Manager Chuck Campbell said the Univer sity has an elaborate system of fire protec tion devices in place but that the biggest threat to life in a fire is students’ lack of re action when an alarm goes off. “The fire alarm goes on and people don’t leave,” Campbell said. Campbell has learned about fire and fire safety during 28 years working with the Eugene Fire De partment, 17 of those years as the lead fire investigator. He said part of his experience includes investigating 19 fire-related deaths. He said he doesn’t want to have another fire death on his watch. “I don’t want to do that again,” Campbell said. “It’s not a fun time.” “People lock their door and sleep through it," freshman Harter Hudson said about fire alarms in the residence halls. "It's stupid. It's the middle of the night. It's cold. It's raining. It sucks." "We don't take it very seriously," freshman Ashley Baer said. "It goes off all the time and it's never real." Campbell said the University has made significant investments to upgrade buildings with fire suppression systems, primarily sprinklers, to help prevent a loss of life in the event of a fire emergency. FIRE, page 16 Kate Horton | Photographer Fire alarms equipped with false alarm prevention mecha nisms are installed in some residence halls on campus. building blocks of peace r ~ ' ~ "n. ' Tim Bobosky | Photographer “The Wall: A Community Build ing Project In Support Of Interna tional Law and Nuclear Disarma ment” is making an appearance on campus this week in the EMU amphitheater and lobby. Individuals can autograph or decorate a small wooden block with markers, and the blocks are stacked to form a wall representing a community in favor of peace and nuclear disarmament. The campus display was co sponsored by Beyond War and the UO Survival Center. Beyond War is a non-profit organization based in Eugene with Action Teams in sev eral states and countries. Its mission is to advocate and pro mote nonviolent approaches to resolving conflict. “One block represents one citizen’s support for these ideas,” Beyond War member Kate Wearn said as she super vised the display. She added that similar projects are under way in many other countries, ranging from Germany to Iran. Wearn said about 50 blocks were added to the wall during its time on campus Tliesday and Wednesday, and said she hopes more people will contribute today and Friday. People can also con tribute to the wall at the Oregon Country Fair and Eugene’s Saturday Market. In August, the wall will be taken to Hiroshima and Nagasa ki, Japan, and combined with other walls from around the world in conjunction with events commemorating the 60th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of those cities. — Eva Sylwester Stem cell research bill advances to Senate despite threat of veto Senator Gordon Smith, R-Ore., was one of six sponsors of a hill that seeks to get federal funding for the research BY PARKER HOWELL SENIOR NEWS REPORTER Despite the threat of a presiden tial veto, both Oregon senators support a Senate version of a bill approved by the House last week that would lift federal restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. One of six sponsors of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., last week urged a speedy vote on the bill. It would allow researchers to receive federal funding to exper iment on about 400,000 embryos that were created for in vitro fertil ization but are slated for eventual destruction because of testing lim its President Bush set in 2001. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said Sunday he believes the Senate has enough votes to override a veto. But Bush on Tliesday reiterated his plans to veto the bill, saying feder al funding should not be used to “destroy life in order to hopefully find a cure for terrible disease. ” The Republican-controlled House voted 238-194 to approve the bill on May 24 but fell short of the two thirds majority needed to override a veto. A Bush veto would be the first of his presidency. Oregon’s five congressmen, in cluding Rep. Peter DeFazio, D Springfield, voted in support of the House bill. Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said 58 sen ators signed a letter to Bush asking him to change is position, accord ing to a May 29 article on CNN.com. Yet Republican Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas told ABC’s “This Week” that he is ex ploring ways to prevent the bill from reaching the Senate floor. “The vote in the House to allow taxpayer-funded destruction of young human lives is deeply troubling,” Brownback said in a May 24 press release. “We all have a duty to protect the innocent, and this vote represents a failure to recognize the scientif ic fact that stem cell research that destroys embryos kills young human children.” Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a medical doctor and abortion opponent who is re sponsible for scheduling a debate, has previously criticized expand ing embryonic research. Although an opponent of abor tion, Smith introduced the bill in February along with Republican Sens. Specter and Orrin Hatch of Utah. Other sponsors included STEM CELL, page 16 SHOULD THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INCREASE FUNDING FOR EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH BEYOND THE LIMITS SET BY PRESIDENT BUSH? j BECCA BORNSTEIN | Junior "In theory, yeah, I mean I'm for stem cell research and I think it's a good idea. But man, do we have the money for that? I mean, we're spending fifty gazillion dollars a day on a war we shouldn't be in. Maybe take money for that and give it to stem cell research. Maybe I’d rather have my money go to feeding the hungry or sheltering the homeless." PETE LIMBAUGH | Senior “I think they should,” he said. “I think that they’ll increase more when it behooves .them more as well.... I think that pretty much anything that can contribute to mankind or humankind and save human life is something we should have.” ANH NGUYEN j Sophomore "They need to spend more money on certain things Social Security. I’m a political science major, so like, SABRINA TORO j “It should be a good thing because in research and could help a lot." mm
