News Briefs: Fees Discourage Document Access | Barnhart Favors Measure Passage | New Group Focuses on Victims of Landmines | Peg Morton Leaving for Trial in Georgia | Activist Alert | Slant: Short opinion pieces and rumor-chasing notes. FEES DISCOURAGE DOCUMENT ACCESS The city of Eugene is clamping down on public information with an elaborate new fee schedule. The high fees for public records could hide government misdeeds behind exorbitant charges to the public for documents that actually belong to the public to begin with. While commercial photocopy shops charge 5 cents a page, the city wants to charge 25 cents. A mug shot will cost $10. A tape of a minute-long 911 call will cost $60. The schedule appears to even allow the city to charge for hiring a private attorney to black out sections of public records that the city doesn't want the public to know about. The high fees appear to violate the state Public Records Law. The law requires that fees for public records be based on an agency's "actual costs" in providing the documents. But the new fee schedule appears arbitrary and says the city's fees will be based in part on "the revenue needs of the city." While the fees allow the city to charge prohibitive fees to hide embarrassing documents, city propaganda remains free. Citizens "will not be charged for documents the city provides for public relations purposes," the policy states. Comments on the new fee schedule can be submitted until this Friday, Jan. 23 to Eugene City Manager Dennis Taylor, 777 Pearl Pearl St.; Eugene 97401. The fees take effect Feb. 2. — Alan Pittman   BARNHART FAVORS MEASURE PASSAGE Who pays for hospital and clinic costs when uninsured low-income Oregonians get sick or injured? We all do, says Phil Barnhart, state representative for central Lane and Linn counties. "Hospital rates go up to cover non-collectables," says Barnhart in his most recent legislative report. "The costs shift to employers and those who buy their own health insurance. Lately, the cost shift has been about 20 cents of each premium dollar and will be much more if Measure 30 fails." Barnhart, a Democrat, predicts that more than $200 million will be cut from the Department of Human Services, mostly from the Oregon Health Plan, if Measure 30 fails. The cuts will eliminate coverage for more than 6,300 Lane and Linn County residents while ending prescription drug coverage for another 42,000. "For every dollar Oregon spends on health care for the poor," he says, "the federal government pays $1.71. These federal taxes will be spent somewhere else and will not help boost the Oregon economy as they do now." Also endangered are nearly all the small, low-cost programs that treat the chronically mentally ill or disabled, along with treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. "People who currently live quietly in our communities will be 'treated' in jail after becoming disruptive, or in much more expensive hospital settings. These low-cost programs have reduced crime and helped families cope." Barnhart maintains a website (www.philbarnhart.com)with links to more information about the budget and Measure 30. — TJT   NEW GROUP FOCUSES ON VICTIMS OF LANDMINES A new non-profit group in Eugene is organizing events and trying to build support for helping Cambodia's landmine victims. Friendship with Cambodia is hosting a benefit dinner at 6 pm Saturday, Jan. 24 at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 13th and Pearl. The event includes an Indian dinner and presentation by Kristen Leadem, director of Clear Path's project in Cambodia to raise funds for vocational rehabilitation for landmine victims. Friendship with Cambodia was founded last September by Bhavia Wagner, author of Soul Survivors: Stories of Women and Children in Cambodia. Wagner has been doing volunteer work in Cambodia for the last 12 years. "My response to the current state of the world, where war and violence are so widespread, was to start an organization to counter that aggression with understanding, cooperation and kindness," says Wagner. "We already have a great group of volunteers who are committed to making the world a better place." Suggested donations are $10 to $20 for adults, $7 for students and limited income. For more information, call 343-3782.   PEG MORTON LEAVING FOR TRIAL IN GEORGIA A candlelight circle of hope and support was held this week for Eugene resident Peg Morton who is leaving for Columbus, Ga., to face a trial for civil disobedience Jan. 26. Morton was among 40 people arrested Nov. 23 at a protest against the Army School of the Americas (SOA), now renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. The school has trained hundreds of military men and dictators who have gone on to commit human rights atrocities in Central and South America. More than 170 protesters calling for the closing down of the school have served a combined 70 years in prison. Morton, who has been arrested before at the military base, faces up to six months in jail and a $5,000 fine for criminal trespass, a federal offense. Morton, a Quaker scholar and retired social worker, says she's willing to go to prison and will spend her time there collecting stories of incarcerated women. Morton plans to return Friday, Jan. 30. A gathering of supporters is planned at 1:30 pm that day at the Amtrak bus station in Eugene.   ACTIVIST ALERT Coming up Jan. 23-24 is the "Visions of Eugene Center: A Public Design Charette" sponsored by the city and billed as "an exploration of ideas for a civic center encompassing a new city hall, police services building, and other local government facilities." Issues include Eugene's artistic, cultural, social and governmental values; open spaces; great streets; sustainability; and " contributing to the variety of downtown." Architects, planners and citizens are involved. Begins at 3 pm Friday, Jan. 23 at the Eugene Public Library, continues all day Saturday at the Atrium Building. Contact the city at 682-5547 or e-mail michael.j.penwell@ci.eugene.or.us Advocates for passage of Measure 30 are gathering for a vigil from 4:30 to 5:30 pm Wednesday evenings at the Federal Building Plaza at 7th and Pearl downtown. The assembly will continue Wednesdays until the Feb. 3 election. For information, call 686-9721 or e-mail vanhoute@onlink.net   SLANT Everyone should have their ballots by now for Measure 30 and the deadline for voting is Tuesday, Feb. 3. We urge a "yes" vote on this very important measure. If you're unclear about the issues, get educated, and if you don't have time to get educated, trust the moderate lawmakers who put this package together with bipartisan support. In brief, here's why we think Measure 30 deserves our support. Oregon's tax system is seriously flawed. Decades of poor legislation and misguided ballot measures have left us with over-taxed low-income people, under-taxed wealthy folks and corporations, and embarrassingly underfunded education, social services and public safety. Measure 30 helps correct these inequities and buys us some time to find permanent solutions. Measure 30 makes sense economically. Further restricting access to health care and other services is just bad economic planning. The Oregon Health Plan rations medical care more efficiently than ER visits and delayed treatment. Mental health and disability services keep people out of jail and living productive lives. An educated workforce is the biggest factor in Oregon's future prosperity and stability. Still not convinced? See last week's cover story in our archives. And we'll be back to continue this discussion next week. We applaud Mayor Torrey's decision not to seek re-election this year. As expected, Nancy Nathanson is after the job, and Kitty Piercy will announce her intentions at noon Tuesday at the Library. This should be a good race with clear choices, particularly on land use issues. Unfortunately, it's going to be a very expensive race. It would be great if these two would agree to cap their campaign contributions, but Nancy will be banking on the same bulging bags of cash that were easily available to the mayor. Mitzi Colbath has been teasing us for awhile about her political aspirations, and we've been looking forward to seeing her run for elected office. She's smart, dedicated, organized and has been a strong and able worker on the Planning Commission, Churchill neighborhood projects, Charter Review Committee, etc. She will announce her intentions at noon Friday at the Elks Club. Due to a technicality, she missed a possible appointment to Floyd Prozanski's vacant House seat and she might go for the seat in the general elections. But new District 8 appointee Paul Holvey is a good, strong choice and will have the advantage of incumbency. Meanwhile, we think she'd be a great contender for City Council Ward 8, Nathanson's seat. Mitzi would do well against Chris Pryor in an open race. Other options for Mitzi would be County Commission, mayor or EWEB, but our bet is on the council seat. UO law professor and constitutional scholar Garrett Epps gave a stellar talk at City Club last Friday, providing an eloquent historical perspective on our Bill of Rights, and probably inspiring a flock of Eugeneans to run right down and apply to law school. Epps talked about the vagueness in our Bill of Rights and how its language has been interpreted in times of war and peace, from civil rights abuses in Lincoln's administration to the internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II to the latest war on terrorism. Epps concludes that peacetime brings reconciliation and apologies for such abuses, but the Bush/Ashcroft excesses may be the worst Bill of Rights abuses in U.S. history. Epps reminds us that we the people, not the courts or Congress, are the final arbiters for what's acceptable government behavior in times of war. Let our voices and our votes be loud and clear! SLANT includes short opinion pieces and rumor-chasing notes compiled by the EW staff. Heard any good rumors lately? Contact Ted Taylor at 484-0519, editor@eugeneweekly.com
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