Oregonians to vote
on marijuana
A proposal to legalize cultivation of mari
juana for personal use will appear on the
general election ballot in November, despite
efforts by Secretary of State Norma Pdulus to
eliminate it from the ballot
The Oregon Supreme Court ruled that
Paulus had erred when she decided that peti
tions for the marijuana initiative contained
less than the required number of valid signa
tures to qualify for the November ballot
Paulus’ decision was based on a statistical
sample of 5,157 names picked at random.
The Supreme Court decision came less
than a week after the Oregon Marijuana Initia
tive group filed suit contesting Paulus' deci
sion. OMI claimed that its analysis had found
errors in the sample which had disqualified
registered voters as signers.
OMI had turned in about 85,000 signatures,
of which 62361 need to valid.
The court agreed with OMI's suit saying
Paulus and the county clerks, all named as
defendants in the suit had failed to count the
names of voters who signed petitions in a
county other than the one where they resided;
small businesses have sprung up in
response to increasing public demand for a
less costly means of getting simple routine
legal matters taken care of than the necessity
of hiring a lawyer. "We have no one to blame
but ourselves that non-lawyers are filling the
gap which lawyers have failed to fill," says
attorney Katharine English of People’s Law
Books.
The handbooks published by People’s
Law Books are written or edited for legal
accuracy by lawyers and periodically updated
to provide information about changes in laws
and procedures.
of voters who had moved or changed their
names after signing the petition; and of vot
ers whose names were purged from voter
registration lists after they signed the initiative
petition.
In addition, the court said, the secretary of
state mistakenly included in the sample a
number of blank lines and crossed off names
that then were counted as unverified signa
tures by county clerks.
Preceding her announcement to put the
proposal on the ballot, Paulus angrily blasted
the court's decision saying the court was “ig
norant” of the validating process. She said
the court had assumed the OMI information
was true without rebuttal from her office.
The court’s decision also received a blast
from the Oregon Chapter of the American
Civil Liberties Union which had filed a suit
challenging the attorney general’s methods
of validating ballot measures. The ACLU had
questioned the constitutionality of using
statistical samples to verify signatures. The
ACLU contends that each signature on each
ballot be verified.
All parties involved in the controversy
based their arguments on points of law and
were careful to avoid accusations of political
motivation.
KBOO continues
gay/lesbian
program
In May of this year KBOO Radio, Oregon’s
only listener-supported station, inaugurated
a series of programs addressing concerns of
the lesbian and gay community.
This month KBOO continues the series on
Tuesday nights at 10 p.m. Upcoming pro
grams include a look at the Right to Privacy
P.A.C. with host Garcia Phelps on September
18 and a discussion on Origins of Racism by
Kathleen Sadat
For further information on future shows
and how one may become involved contact
Ross Reynolds or Dennis Peterson at KBOO,
231-8032.
New self-help legal
manual available
The 4th Complete Revised Edition of H old
to Change Your Name (for use in Oregon),
by attorneys Katharine English and Julie H.
McFarlane, has been released by the non
profit publishing company, People’s Law
Books, Inc. This complete legal guide to
name changes is now available at bookstores
and librarires. The handbook includes all of
the legal forms and instructions for complet
ing an individual, wife and husband, child, or
family name change, and costs just $19.95.
An attorney-done name change typically
costs betwen $75.00 and $300.00.
In recent months much attention has been
focused on the cases of laypersons who have
set up businesses selling self-help materials
and providing services related to those mate
rials. Both Rosemary Furman, whose Florida
case has been featured on 60 minutes, and
Oregonian Peggy Ann Muse have been sued
by the Bar Associations of their respective
states for unauthorized practice of law. These
APOLOGIES: We neglected to identify
Deborah Einbender’s beautiful handmade
belt which appeared on the front cover of our
style issue. Her belts are available at Manu s
and Priscilla Anne s. For information on how
to obtain belts, please call 231-7259. Also
pictured are clothes from Dare to Wear and
Forward Gear.
We also neglected to give photo credit to
Helen Lottridge for the majority of the photos
used in the style spread.
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Just Out, September 14-September 28