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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 19, 2005)
\ ffl/ 484-1927 942-8730 STUDENT SPECIAL GOLF 9 HOLES $12 Students Only. Must show ID. (Monday - Friday) _ exclusively ~ adult ^www.excadult.com 1166 South A Street « Springfield * 726-6969 mtfuo Pregnant? Talk with a friend. 1.800.848.LOVE possiblypregnant.org Tired of"paying too much for inkjet & laser toner cartridges? Reuse your empty cartridge! Save 40-70% Drop Box Locations on Campus • U of O Book Store • Digital Duck • EMU • Law school Visit one of our four locations or use any of the over one hundred Drop Boxes around town. & 830 Willamette St. Valley River Center 1925 River Road 3570 West 11th 541.334,4465 541.345.4465 541.689.3513 541.686.4651 www.RapidRefilllnk.com Cougar renews interest in Wildlife Service trappers ASSOCIATED PRESS GOLD HILL, Ore. — Residents of this Southern Oregon town have had it with the cougar. Last month, Reba, one of Chris Catania’s dogs, was gored after the cougar jumped a 4-foot fence leading into the house’s backyard. Other resi dents have had their livestock at tacked. Many are afraid to let their animals out. “Reba’s scared to death to go outside,” said Chris Catania. “I’m scared.” Twelve years ago, residents could have called on a “government trap per.” But the trappers were eliminat ed amid budget cuts. Now, the cougar’s confrontation with residents has rekindled interest in the program. Residents say Wildlife Services trappers could do what landowners have so far been unable to: track the offending cougar and get rid of it. Whereas Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists do not have the resources to remove pet killing cougars, state hunting laws ban houndsmen from using dogs to chase cougars as part of the hunting season. Hunters can only chase cougars that cause damage on private land where the damage occurred. They can cross into adjacent private lands only with written permission. By contrast, Wildlife Services agents can be authorized to chase the cougar with dogs on public lands. They also rely on an arsenal of traps to target specific animals. A full-time agent costs around $60,000 a year for the county, a price that 24 of 36 Oregon counties have opted to pay. “We are the agents of the state to deal with wildlife damage of all types,” says Wildlife Services State Director Dave Williams. “That’s the full-time job of our people. We’re on call, 24-7.” Shayne Maxwell, a Gold Hill resi dent, says that’s what’s needed here. She has documented the death of a dozen pets and livestock in the sur rounding area from one or more cougars in the past three months. Area landowners have tried to kill the cougar themselves, and at least two houndsmen have been hired to tree and kill the cougar, Maxwell said. One neighbor wears a side-arm just to mow his lawn. And others have stopped jogging until the of fending cougar or cougars are found and killed. “Right now, I’m the one trying to figure out the patterns of this cat,” Maxwell says. “It shouldn’t be me doing it. It should be a professional.” “I have serious concerns about our health and safety,” Maxwell says. “Does someone have to die before it gets the attention it needs?” But Brooks Fahy, from the group Predator Defense in Eugene, says the actions of the offending cougar are “no excuse” to contract with Wildlife Services. She likens it to us ing “a nuclear bomb instead of a .22-caliber bullet.” “It sounds like that animal needs to be taken out,” Fahy says. “But that doesn’t mean you need a whole gov ernment-funded program.” Williams says Wildlife Services agents in 2004 logged more than 500 deaths of livestock and pets as a re sult of cougars. Agents killed a total of 70 cats. Fahy, a longtime Wildlife Services critic, says other counties with Wildlife Services contracts end up with pets lost to coyote traps and poisons. “Get ready, county, because you’re going to lose more dogs to Wildlife Services than to cougars, period,” Fahy said. IN BRIEF Forest Service removes protesters' log cabin GALICE, Ore. — A log cabin erect ed by protesters trying to block log ging on a timber sale in southwestern Oregon was removed by logger and U.S. Forest Service officials. Using equipment provided by the loggers, including a skidder and a front-end loader, the Forest Service, pushed the logs to one side on Sunday, said Forest Service spokesman Tom Lavagnino. The cabin was erected this past weekend in the middle of the only road leading to the Hobson timber sale in the Siskiyou National Forest, one of the areas burned in the 2002 Biscuit fire, according to Wild Siskiy ou Action, the group that undertook the protest. Loggers alerted the Forest Service when they realized they could not get by the cabin. About 40 protesters went out to the site on Sunday afternoon, accord ing to Laurel Sutherlin, a spokesman for the activists. The salvage sale covers 577 acres located on the Galice Ranger District. Salvage logging on the 2002 Biscuit fire has been the focus of a debate be tween conservationists and the Bush administration over how to treat the millions of acres of national forest that burn every year in wildfires and whether to log any of the remaining old growth in national forests. —The Associated Press Park: Association plans cleanup project Continued from page 1 the operation was supposed to be elected at the meeting. Such a com mittee was not established, but the West University Neighbors will dis cuss it further at the next meeting. “We just want to come up with something good for the park,” said Drix Rixmann, chairman of the West University Neighbors. After two hours of playing Frisbee, eating, drinking, socializing and get ting to know fellow neighbors and community members, Rixmann be gan the formal meeting. An agenda was written by the attendees with ideas for possible uses of the park. The agenda included holding a monthly or weekly oratory, movie night or musician festival; planting a community garden; opening it up to play disk golf or basketball; installing chess tables, a swing set, a fountain, Japanese garden or announcement board; making a horse-shoe pit; buy ing a community lawn mower; build ing a small stage; and holding sched uled block parties. Rixmann asked for a show of hands for those in support of reopening the park, those opposed and those who abstain. The attendees unanimously voted for reopening the park. The first step looks to be a commu nity cleanup project, where neighbors and community members could come to the park and make the park present able before proposals for reopening the park are submitted to the city. Board member Craig Laupheimer suggested fixing the lights and invit ing people to stomp down the shin high grass while they celebrated. “Nothing crazy is necessary,” Laupheimer said. “We should just do something. And if it wasn’t so dark it would be a lot safer. ” Attendees debated about short ver sus long-term plans for reopening and rebuilding the park. Many thought it could be reopened as early as September, while others said that considering the preferred involve ment from neighbors and local busi nesses, it could take longer. Community activist Zach Vis hanoff suggested delivering infor mation door-to-door to neighbors and requesting their feedback, ideas and concerns. Because the park is “open space” where people can be outside and see the sky, Rixmann said it is an attrac tive place for the city. “We don't want it to be turned over to develop ers,” Rixmann said. Plans were set for a meeting in which anyone interested in the future of West University Neighborhood Park could attend and contribute to the proposals that will be submitted to the City of Eugene. nwilbur@dailyemerald.com MONTHLY MEETINGS Central Presbyterian Church 345-8724 555 E. 15th Ave. Eugene, OR Chairman Drix Rixmann Phone: 4851585 E-mail: Drix@msn.com Postal: West University Neighbors c/o 307-1/2 E. 14th Ave. Eugene, OR 974014207 WUN Online Discussion Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/west_universi ty_neighbors/ via www.drix.org
