Statesman Journal from Salem, Oregon • Page 11

L0CA1 Statesman Journal Salem, Oregon Wednesday, September 20, 1989 Almanac: 2C Region: 2C Classified: 7-1 2C Fa CdI moid flMdy pflaira Voters will cast ballots in May r-y i X-. 'Q 1 qit A i mm calls for citizen workshops on school finance, was a duplication of similar efforts to support sales tax proposals and other alternative financing plans. "What's different than what the League of Women Voters did two years ago by holding meetings all over the state?" Rep. Rick Kotulski, D-Corbett, said. The alternatives developed by the committee will be offered to voters next May.

The vote, however, would merely be advisory to the Legislature. Sen. Cub Houck, R-Salem, said the plan would be "treating the symptoms and not the cause" of school finance problems. "We're looking at revenues without identifying costs," he said. He sought to stabilize school costs first.

Houck's concerns were echoed by Rep. Bruce Hugo, D-Scappoose, who called the school system inefficient. "Refinancing a screwed-up system doesn't make sense," Hugo said. Scherzinger said the committee could suggest alternatives that would make school systems more efficient, such as merging the more than 300 districts in the state into 36, one for each county. By Ron Blankenbaker The Statesman Journal A legislative panel working to reform Oregon's school finance system approved its seven-month work plan Tuesday.

The Joint Interim Committee on Revenue and School Finance was ordered by the 1989 Legislature to devise alternatives for financing Oregon schools. School districts now depend primarily on local property taxes. The committee is required to: Develop alternatives for financing local schools that reduce reliance on property taxes and increase taxpayer equity. Develop advisory questions to submit to voters at the next primary election. Use a process that involves as broad a representation of Oregon citizens as possible.

Jim Scherzinger, the legislative revenue officer, told the committee that the plan was "to put people through the legislative process of looking at realistic alternatives" to school finance. Several members of the committee questioned whether the plan, which Christmas comes early to Salem Group tests proposed holiday decorations By Christine Decker The Statesman Journal It looks a little like Christmas in downtown Salem this week. A sample of the proposed downtown Christmas decorations is hanging from a lamp post at Liberty Street NE near Chemeketa Street NE. Caren Jackson, the interim director of the Salem Downtown1 Association, said, "We want to see how it works." She described the decoration as a five-foot-wide boulevard lamp wreath. It has clusters of red berries, white lights and real pine cones.

It was made by DiJulio Displays in Brier, Wash. "We've had a lot of good comments from people walking by," she said. "They said they could see it from two blocks away and thought it was really pretty." If the wreath works well, 71 of them will be ordered. They will be put up in November on Liberty Street NE from State to Trade streets NE; on State Street from Commercial to High streets NE; and on Commercial Street from Center to Trade streets. These streets are part of Salem's new Streetscape sidewalk and alley improvements.

"It was time to enhance the new Streetscape look downtown," Jackson said. The oldvcandle-like Christmas decorations will be put on street light posts in the surrounding area. The new decorations will cost about $45,000 and will be paid by the Downtown Development Board, Jackson said. The board gets its money from a percentage of taxes on downtown property. The sample wreath will be on display until Friday.

Public comments are invited to Jackson at 371-4000. "We've had a lot of good comments from people walking by. They said they could see it from two blocks away and thought it was really pretty." Caren Jackson About the new wreaths Court examines wording for field burning ballot SV mm. urn to a i i 1) III jUBUjLwaJtt i KM If i HI I I ff Iff Chris Hanson, an Albany co-founder of the group, said the group wanted the title to say that the Environmental Quality Commission could increase as well as decrease the final burn acreage. The title also should be rewritten to say that propane burning would be unlimited if standards were met and that unlimited burning could be allowed to meet emergencies, such as insect outbreaks, Hanson said.

Appeals also have been filed by Dave Nelson, the secretary of the Oregon Seed Council, and William Johnson of Foster, the sponsor of a separate ballot measure to ban field burning. Nelson said the Seed Council appealed because growers didn't think that the title accurately described the severity of the reduction in burning. Johnson, the founder of End Noxious Unhealthy Fumes, or ENUF, is worried that voters would mistake the Goldschmidt initiative for a burning ban. ENUF's measure would ban burning outright, but Goldschmidt's plan would not. From start and wire reports ALBANY Petitions for an initiative to reduce field burning are sitting while the Oregon Supreme Court reviews the proposed title for the ballot measure.

Three parties have appealed to the court because they dislike the title, the words that are printed on the ballot if the measure qualifies. Petition signatures cannot be collected until the ballot title is certified by the Supreme Court. Sponsored by Gov. Neil Goldschmidt and others, the initiative would reduce open field burning in stages until 1995, when it would be limited to 50,000 acres a year. The current legal limit is 250,000 acres of open burning.

Willamette Valley grass seed farmers burn their fields to rid them of pests, diseases and straw. Opponents of the practice say it endangers public safety and fouls the valley's air. A group called Oregonians Against Field Burning wants three changes in the ballot title. Gerry LewinStat6sman Journal Gerry Pavelek and Caren Jackson of the Salem Downtown Association adjust a Christmas wreath around a street lantern Tuesday in downtown Salem. If approved, the new displays will spruce up downtown this Christmas.

Eugene woman gives $1 million to UO Gift from media magnate will finance three faculty seats Planning commission acts to save Capitol Mall fountain By Ron Blankenbaker The Statesman Journal The Capitol Planning Commission took steps Tuesday to ensure that the Governor's Fountain remains on the Capitol Mall. The fountain, donated to the state by the estate of the late Gov. Charles A. Sprague, is expected to be removed, at least temporarily, during construction of a underground parking garage at the site. The fountain was completed in 1980.

Members of the late governor's family and others were concerned that the fountain might be placed somewhere other than on the mall or not replaced at all. The commission's action ensures that the fountain, built at a cost of $141,000, will remain in the two-block mall area north of the Capitol. Also, priorty will be given in relocating it in about the same place and position it now occupies. The decision was made after Bill Blix, the Eugene artist who designed the fountain, said that some movement in the placement would be acceptable but that any rotation would be detrimental to the fountain. The commission also approved the closure of Chemeketa Street NE from Capitol to Winter streets.

The closure will allow entry and exit ramps into the two-block-long two-level basement parking garage. The approval was given Turn to Mall, Page 3C. OSU may house environment center CORVALLIS A U.S. Senate panel has approved $700,000 to help plan the nation's first environmental research institute at Oregon State University. The institute would be a cooperative effort between Oregon State and the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency, said George Keller, OSU vice president for research. He estimated the institute would employ about 300 people with an annual budget between $75 million and $100 million. Private endowments are needed because one-third of the faculty at Oregon's colleges and universities are facing retirement in the next 10 years and "because the state hasn't been able to fund higher education as well as it should be to make it competitive," Chambers said. The money will create the Chambers Chair in Business, the Chambers Professorship in Advertising and the KEZI-TV Professorship in Electronic Journalism. "The university's reputation will ride on the shoulders of the professors hired during the next 10 years," Chambers said.

"A university is the Bame as any business in that respect, because its success is driven mainly by the quality of its people." A 1953 graduate of the University of Oregon business school, Chambers also owns R.A. Chambers and Associates, an architectural construction firm, and McKenzie River Motors, a car dealership. She is the chairwoman of the national steering committee for the university foundation's Campaign for Oregon, a capital fund drive with a $60 million goal. Chambers originally pledged $1 million to the university in May 1988. But she withheld the donation until this year to leverage matching funds from the state.

At Goldschmidt's request, the Legislature this year approved a $1.2 million Endowment for Excellence fund that matches the interest on private endowments given to the University of Oregon or Oregon State University. From staff and wire reports Eugene media magnate Carolyn Chambers on Tuesday donated $1 million to the University of Oregon for journalism and business faculty. The gift will amount to $100,000 a year, from interest earned on the $1 million principal and state money matching the interest. It's among the largest donations in the past 10 years. "I am making this investment because I believe in higher education and the role that it plays," Chambers said.

She owns Eugene television station KEZI and 14 cable TV systems in Oregon, California, Washington and Idaho. She spoke at a Capitol news conference attended by Gov. Neil Goldschmidt and UO President Myles Brand. Portland Salem Morning Region Oregon Salute Group searches state for marrow donors A teen-age leukemia patient and the Oregon attorney general were on hand Tuesday for the start of a statewide drive to recruit bone marrow donors. Tiffany Brown, 15, of Madras, is battling leukemia and needs a marrow transplant.

So do Oregon Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer's two daughters, who have a blood disease. A marrow transplant permits physicians to give high doses of chemotherapy and radiation to kill off abnormal cells. Dr. Rudolph Brutoco, who founded Life-Savers Foundation, said the goal was to find 8,000 people potential donors in Ex-police chief has bias suit postponed The trial of former police chief Penny Harrington's sexual discrimination lawsuit against Portland mayor has been postponed until February. U.S.

District Court Judge Helen Frye ruled after Harrington's lawyer, Tom Steenson, argued that a drug series in The Oregonian had hurt Harrington's chances for a fair hearing. Steen also said he might seek a change of venue. The trial had been scheduled to begin Tuesday. Astoria arson trial will move to Dallas DALLAS The state court administrator's office has assigned the trial of an Astoria arson suspect to Polk County. The trial will begin Oct.

23 with Circuit Judge Thomas Edison of Clatsop County presiding. Paul Ernest Godfrey, 26, is charged with setting six of a string of 26 suspicious fires in Astoria earlier this year. Last week, a change of venue was granted on grounds that publicity would hinder a fair trial in Clatsop County. Police block streets after gas lines hiss Police blocked streets early this morning after hissing natural gas lines got the attention of motorists and residents along east State Street. Battalion Chief Rich Harris of Marion County Fire District 1 said the streets were blocked as a precaution before officers learned that the lines were releasing pressure, and no risk of an explosion existed.

The lines were venting along State Street at Cordon Road and at Howell Prairie Road. Plane crash kills two at Illinois Valley Airport CAVE JUNCTION A single-engine private airplane crashed at Illinois Valley Airport Tuesday evening, killing two people, Josephine County deputies said. Witnesses said the Cessna 150 plane lost speed and crashed. Deputies identified the dead as Joseph Walter Leidecker, 45, and Clint Walter Leidecker, 23, both of Rogue River. They had been practicing takeoffs and landings.

An investigation was planned. From AP wires A special than- you to Jack and Gladys Douglas. In the 33 years they owned and operated Kelzer Sand A Gravel they treated all jobs with the same high level of Integrity and commitment. We're very proud of the two of you. Happy retirement, and we love you.

Janet and Randy Walt Salem Wayne Douglas and Ruben Pereij Los Angeles.