Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1977-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1979)
opinion 00R FALLING DOLLAR, (WHICH CHEAPENS OOR LABOR COSTS). > Shield law protection House Bill 2418 is not just a bill asking for protection of Oregon newspapers and media reporters. It also asks for citizen protection. The bill would amend the six-year-old shield law in Oregon which now states, “no person con nected with, employed by or engaged in any medium of communication to the public shall be required by a legislative executive or judicial of ficer or body, or any other authority having power to compell testimony or the production of eviden ce to disclose . . . sources ... or unpublished in formation.” The new amendment would include “by means of search warrant, subpoena or otherwise” after the word “evidence” in the current law. This bill would insure that confidential infor mation gathered from sources for use in an article or broadcast would remain confidential. It would prevent law enforcement officers from busting in to a pressroom to confiscate material to be used in an article. This tactic of confiscation has been used before, but passing of the new bill amen dment would make it against the law. As it stands now, the bill has passed through both a legislative sub-committee and the House Judiciary Committee and will be coming up on the House floor soon. If approved by the House, it will go to the Senate for approval. Approval of this measure is of great importance to citizens outside the media field. A confidential source who actually may fear for his personal safety if his identity became known would be safer under the new law. We support this bill and hope the House and Senate see the importance of such a law to be placed on the books. J _______ AND, NEED I MENTION MV STANO ON ABORTION, AND BIRTH CONTROL? vp&if-K’W feedback-------- Your editorial regarding reinstatement of the Draft (“Draft, Anyone?”, March 7) doesn’t really state clearly whether or not you oppose resurrecting the Draft or enac ting some form of national ser vice, but it does leave the definite impression that you don’t. I believe that some sort of national service ought to be required of every American when he or she is graduated from high school. The service could be in the form of military service or, for those whose personal convic tion would make military ser vice difficult, another kind of commitment, such as working in a mental hospital, or with retarded persons, or on an In dian reservation, or in a ghetto, or in any one of dozens of other occupations which are always in need of talent. With such a national man datory national service program in effect there surely would be enough young people who would choose the military as their commitment that armed forces quotas would be satisfied. A strong national defense program, including sufficient manpower, is necessary to protect the United States and its assets. More important than having will be 10,000 tons and by the end of the century, 100,000 tons. Depending on the type of fuel used, the nuclear waste has a half life (a period of time after which it’s considered non- lethal) of anywhere from 1,000 to a million years. The average is around 20,000 yegrs. At the present, there is no known method of safely disposing of these waste materials, and opinions vary significantly as to what to do. Currently, these waste products are being buried at various sites around the coun try. According to a U.S. Geological Survey, when six of these sites were inspected they were all found to be unaccep table because of geological characteristics of those areas. One such site at Maxi Flats, Kent., was closed in Decem ber, 1977, because radioactive rainwater had seeped from the area. Thirty-three states have passed laws governing the burial of nuclear wastes and four states have halted building any new reactors until a method of safe disposal can be developed. In the West Valley area of New York, one nuclear reactor was shut down when it couldn’t dispose of the 600,000 gallons of highly radioactive waste it has produced. The company in volved asked the state to take over the site, and the state in turn asked the federal gover nment to take over the site. While opinions vary concer ning what to do about the nuclear waste problem, one thing is quite clear: everybody seems to be passing the buck. Gus Speth, a member of the President’s Council on En vironmental Quality, put it this way, “I find it amazing that a problem this distressing and obvious hets been swept under the rug.” In addition to the nuclear fuel waste, there is another form of waste involved: the nuclear reactors themselves. They have an operational life span of only 40 years, but can’t be dismantled and disposed of for at least 100 years. There are also 21 commercial fuel fabrication plants, 20 uranium mills and 300 Department of Energy facilities out of use because of the situation. Americans, through taxes and electric rates, are footing the bill for all this waste, While there are no easy solutions to the problems of what to do with nuclear waste, there are alternatives that could effectively reduce theamountot To The Editor: enough soldiers, howeve the need for America’s yoi get out of its collective ru experiencing service of a ble nature. Perhaps 1 soun a supercritical, over-ze adult, but I believe that to youth are spoiled and havi things too easy for too long In a few years, this cri late 1960s and 1 youth—my generations only will be our counfl leaders, but also will con the backbone of Ama work force. They had bette their act together! Gary P. Corn 10807 S.E. Fuller Rd lOMilwaukie, On 91 guest shot* By Kevin Marcott For The Print It seems that in recent years the United States has had an increasing amount of energy- related problems to cope as a result of the energy crisis, contrived or not. We currently find ourselves in a situation where our dependence on foreign oil has increased our dependence on nuclear power in an attempt to offset our dependence on foreign oil, all while the power companies are attempting to keep Americans dependent on their services for the sake of high profits. What all this adds up to is a “Catch 22” situation for Americans and a dilemma of what to do with nuclear waste. The problem is serious enough that both the power companies and the? State Department are shuffling their feet on the issue. Just how Serious is the problem? Consider this: ' At the present, there is an estimated 5,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel waste in the United States. Within five years there sprint 19600 S. Mollali* Avenue, Oregon City, Oregon 97045 Office*: Trailer B; telephone: 656-2631, ext. 309 or 310 editor Cyndi Bacon * news editor Mike Koller art* editor Leanne Lally ‘sports editor Mark McNeary photo editor Kelly Laughlin ’ staff writers Happie Thacker, Mike Koller, Elena Vancil, Brenda Nolan, Ramona Isackson, James Rhoades, Brian Rood staff photographersGreg Kienzle, Charlie Wagg, Pat Carlson ‘ cartoonist Mary Cuddy ‘ graphic designer Bev Boston production manager Janet Vockrodt business manager Mark Barnhill ‘ professional adviser Suzie Bos* The Print, a member of the Oregon Newspaper Publisher* Association, aims to be fair and Impartial journalistic medium covering the campus community a* thoroughly as possible. Opinion* expressed in The Print do not necessarily reflect those the CCC ad ministration, faculty or the Associated Student Government. Page 4 nuclear wasted produced at the same time effect reduce the American pei dependence on the pi companies. What are these alterna The many forms of s geothermal and wind pg all of which have not be J ficiently explored or put to If the hundreds of millid dollars spent on out-d energy facilities would | been spent on researcl development of these II sources, our present sit| might not be so precarious Franklin Roosevelt once that dealing with the! Department is like watch! elephant become pregr Everything is done on a high level, there’s a lol commotion, and it takes months for anything to I pen. This is one situs where the elephant just c seem to conceive. What can you do abot Let you Congress know you want some alterna because technology is aval that could reduce your def dence on the power comp! by as much as 25 pea That’s not only good for y but for the environing well. . „ . .a Wednesday, April 4, ■ inches D50 Illuminant, 2 degree observer Density -------
