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February 28, 2002
HSU
finalists on campus
The pool of candidates for president
at Humboldt State University has been narrowed to four, all of
whom either have just toured the campus or will be doing so over
the coming week.
The candidates will be available
to the public during forums held from 10 to 11 a.m. in the Van
Duzer Theater. A new president is expected to be named during
the week of March 11 and take over for outgoing President Alistair
McCrone in June.
The incoming president will
inherit more then an idyllic campus and red-hot basketball team
from McCrone. The university is embroiled in two as-yet unresolved
controversies dealing with treatment of faculty (see related
articles this issue). Just last year, the campus was shocked
by a fundraising scandal (see The
Case Against John Sterns and HSU, Aug. 16.).
- Rollin C. Richmond, provost and professor of zoology and genetics
at Iowa State University, visited campus Feb. 25. Richmond has
taught biology since 1970 and worked as an administrator/educator
since taking over as chair of his department at Indiana University
in 1982.
- Scott McNall, provost and vice president for academic affairs
at CSU Chico, visited Feb. 27. McNall's background is in sociology
and American studies, fields in which he has twice been awarded
Fulbright grants.
- Dennis Hefner, president of the State University of New York's
Fredonia campus, will be on campus Feb. 28. An economist by education,
Hefner is the only candidate currently serving as a university
president.
- Linda Baer, who is the senior vice president for academic
and student affairs for the Minnesota State College and Universities,
will be on campus March 4. A sociologist, Baer has only started
working as a full-time administrator in the last five years.
Turning
back clock on ESA?
For years, the Endangered Species
Act has stood as the salmon's last line of defense. When wild
salmon populations took a dip toward extinction, they could almost
always rely on the strong, clear language in the law to force
federal agencies to offer them protection.
But that protection may not
be as strong as it once was. A coalition of farmers that compete
with salmon for water from Northwestern rivers has launched an
attack on the salmon's protected status under the ESA.
The efforts range from a plan
to give Klamath farmers more water this year to attempts to remove
the fish from the list of threatened species. Backed by a new
report from the National Academy of Sciences and an administration
more friendly to agricultural interests, they are gaining real
traction.
The starting point for the new
efforts is a decision in Eugene, Ore., last September by U.S.
District Court Judge Michael Hogan. He ruled that when the National
Marine Fisheries Service gave Oregon's coho salmon threatened
status, it made a mistake by not including hatchery fish in population
counts. In theory, that ruling would have yanked Oregon's coho
off the threatened lis. In reality, the decision was appealed,
and Hogan's order stayed -- the salmon won't be delisted unless
the appeal is rejected.
But even without being carried
out, Hogan's decision has changed the landscape of the fight
over salmon. NMFS announced Feb. 11 that it would accept petitions
from irrigation groups who want to have coho, chinook and steelhead
delisted across much of the Pacific Northwest. Among the petitions
accepted were ones that would delist all three species in Humboldt
County.
"I don't see any scientific
justification for delisting," said Tim McKay, executive
director of the Northcoast Environmental Center.
The NEC has been on the forefront
of legal battles to ensure salmon get the protection they are
entitled to under the ESA. McKay said delisting would "set
back the efforts to recover these species." They would not
be guaranteed minimum water in rivers or other special considerations.
But those in the farm lobby
say salmon were never in trouble in the first place. Their argument
is that hatchery fish, which are relatively abundant, are no
different than wild fish. If you lump the two populations together,
they don't rate protection as an endangered species.
"We are certainly pleased
that NMFS is re-evaluating its practice of making a distinction
between hatchery and native fish," said Ronda Lucas, a litigation
specialist with the California State Farm Bureau.
Meanwhile, the Pacific Legal
Foundation, the group that successfully sued to have the coho
delisted in Oregon, has filed a parallel suit in U.S. District
Court to delist the coho in Northern California and Southern
Oregon. Hogan will again be hearing the case, which is almost
identical to that filed for Oregon's coho.
The NEC has applied for the
right to fight for the government's position in that case. Participating
in the cases as an "intervenor" is necessary because
the Bush administration is not expected to mount that vigorous
of a defense, McKay said.
Action on the salmon front continues
outside the courtroom as well. The Bureau of Reclamation has
recently released its preliminary plan for allocating water in
the Klamath system. Last year drought forced the bureau to choose
between farmers and fish. Because of their protection under the
ESA, fish won, sparking protests and vandalism as farmers were
shut off from the irrigation water required to turn semi-arid
land into lush green fields (see The
Land of Farmers, Suckers and Salmon, July 26).
But this year, the farmers seem
to be winning, McKay said. "That draft basically takes a
new approach that says, `The irrigators get all the water they
want, and wildlife considerations come next.'"
Underlying all the legal and
administrative wrangling over salmon's status and protections
is a new report from the national Academy of Sciences. The academy,
a nonpartisan group of prominent scientists, published a report
in January that criticizes the bureau for choosing fish over
farmers, claiming there was insufficient scientific evidence
to warrant that decision.
The message, said the Farm Bureau's
Lucas, is that "The science has to be there to support making
those kinds of calls."
McKay responded that while "there
could always be more science," the academy's report shouldn't
cause the Bureau of Reclamation to side with farmers. He pointed
out that Native American tribes have been studying the fish populations
for over 10 years and vehemently disagree with the academy.
And how does McKay view the
sudden onslaught of action against salmon's protections? "I
think the people on that side of the issue were waiting for an
opening," he said. When Hogan ruled to delist the Oregon
coho, they found it.
Five
Propositions on ballot next week
IF THE RICH ARRAY OF COUNTY
OFFICES up for election next week weren't enough to pull you
to the polls, maybe the power to pass a few laws can: Six ballot
measures will be up for approval March 5, covering everything
from land purchases to voting machines.
- Proposition 40, the "California Clean Water, Clean Air,
Safe Neighborhood Parks and Coastal Protection Act," is
essentially a park bond. The state would issue $2.6 billion worth
of bonds for parks, wildlife habitat, farms and other open space.
Unlike the park bond of 2000, this measure includes language
that would guarantee sparsely populated rural areas get significant
amounts of cash. The total cost, including the interest that
would accrue over the 25 years it would take to pay off the bonds,
is $4.3 billion.
- Proposition 41, the "Voting Modernization Bond Act,"
would require the state to issue $200 million in bonds to upgrade
voting machines. Specifically, the money would be used to replace
punch card ("chad") machines. The bond would take 10
years to pay off and would cost a total, including interest,
of $255 million.
- Proposition 42, the "Transportation Congestion Improvement
Act," would amend the state constitution so that all revenues
from California's 6 percent gas tax would be spent on transportation
infrastructure. A law to that effect passed last year but would
sunset in 2009. This provision wouldn't cost the state a dime
in net revenue, but it would reduce funding flexibility.
- Proposition 43, the "Right to Have Vote Counted," simply
states that every voter has the guaranteed right to have their
vote counted. In fine print, that means that if California faced
a problem like Florida's 2000 election debacle, no one could
stop vote recounts because of a post-election deadline.
- Proposition 44, called "Chiropractors, Unprofessional Conduct,"
would punish chiropractors for unseemly behavior. The two biggest
classes of chiropractic sleaze targeted are ambulance chasing,
outlawed under the proposition, and insurance fraud, punishable
by a 10-year revocation of a chiropractor's licence.
- Proposition 45, "Legislative Term Limits, Local Voter Petitions,"
would soften the impact of the term limits adopted in 1990. Voters
would be able to petition to extend a legislator's tenure by
one term. It wouldn't be a cake walk for legislators, however:
20 percent of the registered voters would have to sign the petition
to force the term extension.
ORGANIZATIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR CALIFORNIA BALLOT PROPOSITIONS*
Election: Tuesday, March
5, 2002 |
| Proposition: |
40 |
41 |
42 |
43 |
44 |
45 |
| CA Democratic
Party |
y |
y |
|
y |
y |
y |
| League
of Women Voters |
y |
y |
|
y |
|
y |
| CA Republication
Party |
n |
y |
y |
|
|
n |
| Sierra
Club |
y |
|
|
|
|
y |
| Congress
of CA Seniors |
y |
y |
n |
y |
|
y |
Source:
HOPE COALITION
*As of Feb. 17, 2002 |
HSU faculty
woes
A long-running dispute between
the California State University and their faculty is coming to
a head, with a vote on a possible strike expected within the
next two weeks.
"We'll probably have a
strike authorization vote on March 11," said John Travis,
spokesperson for the California Faculty Association and a professor
of government and politics at Humboldt State University.
If a settlement between the
university and its professors is not reached, a CSU system-wide
strike could follow as soon as the beginning of April. Professors
are asking for increased compensation, faster resolution of conflicts
with the university, more tenure-track faculty and smaller class
sizes. A strike would be Humboldt State's first since protests
against the Vietnam war in 1969, Travis said.
At the same time that the faculty's
union is fighting their battle against the entire university
system, three members of the Native American Studies department
continue their private skirmish with HSU. Joseph Dupris, Joseph
Giovanetti and Kathleen Hill have alleged they are the victims
of discrimination and retaliation.
Last week, Dupris was recommended
for reappointment. That means the professor will likely be rehired
for another year. Giovanetti has already been recommended for
reappointment, leaving only Hill. The three responded by alleging
the university was trying to "divide and conquer."
"Each person is considered
independently," said Sean Kearns, director of university
communications for HSU. "Each has a different set of strengths
and weaknesses."
Scouts'
food drive starts this week
The official motto of the Boy
Scouts is to "do a good deed daily." Over the next
week, you're likely to see scores of scouts fulfilling their
daily duty as they hit the streets for their annual food drive.
The Scouting for Food campaign
starts March 2, when Boy and Cub Scouts will distribute food
donation bags to residents. They come back one week later and
pick up your donations of canned foods.
Those cans of baked beans wedged
in the back of your cupboard may not mean much to you, but each
year food drives keep the larder stocked at several food banks.
The Scouts' drive alone supplies the Food Bank in Eureka, the
Arcata Endeavor, Good Grace Shepherd Church in McKinleyville
and the St. Joseph's Parish Pantry in Fortuna.
Call 443-8345 or 445-3166 for
more information.
Correction
Before entering private practice
from 1978 to 1982, Terry Farmer worked as a a prosecutor in Minnesota
and as a deputy District Attorney in Humboldt County. He became
District Attorney in 1982.
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