Transportation issues

to be on upcoming ballot
Eugene residents, including University students, have until Oct. 16 to update their voter registration to participate in the Nov. 6 election. Oregon requires voters to update their registration when they change their residence or mailing address.
The Eugene City Council has placed two measures on the ballot, both of which deal with transportation issues in West Eugene. Measure 20-53 considers strategies to accommodate increased traffic without using the West Eugene Parkway. Voters approved the parkway in 1986, but it has not yet been built. Measure 20-54 would give the city of Eugene approval to begin the West Eugene Parkway project.
If both measures pass, the one receiving the most votes will prevail.

— Sue Ryan

Breeze will add shelters
The Lane Transit District plans to install nine new bus shelters along the Breeze route over the next two weeks. The Breeze is a continuous LTD shuttle service between downtown Eugene, the University, Fifth Street Public Market and Valley River Center.
The shelters are the latest part of the plan for the Breeze route. On Monday, officials changed Breeze times on weekdays for buses to make connections with other routes. The new times are posted at the Breeze bus sites.
The Breeze shelters will feature artistic renditions of people. Each sculpture will be brightly painted and designed to relate the people to their particular bus stop. The designs range from a woman wearing a daisy dress to a female doctor. LTD worked with a team of local businesses to produce the distinctive shelters.

— Sue Ryan

Sen. Smith to visit Eugene
Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., will visit Eugene on Thursday to meet with Oregon airport and aviation leaders. He plans to discuss the federal response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. After that meeting, he will visit Junction City High School, where he will speak with students and answer their questions.
Smith will also meet with members of the Oregon National Guard to discuss the status of its funding request to construct an Armed Forces Reserve Center complex in Eugene. The facility would be built to house units of the Army National Guard, the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and the U.S. Navy Reserve.
Smith’s day starts at Flight Craft at 8 a.m. at the Oregon Aviation Summit. He will visit Junction City High School at 10 a.m. and attend the funding announcement at 11 a.m. at the Oregon National Guard meeting.

— Sue Ryan

OUS chancellor

recovering at home
The chancellor for the Oregon University System is expected to return to work in late October after undergoing angioplasty surgery Sept. 8.
Joseph Cox, OUS chancellor since 1994, is recuperating at his Eugene home.
Cox was doing yard work Sept. 8 when he noticed a sharp pain in his elbow; aspirin did not relieve it.
He was then rushed to Sacred Heart Medical Center, where doctors inserted a balloon-tipped catheter into one of Cox’s arteries to remove blockage that was depriving his heart of oxygen.
OUS spokesman Bob Bruce said Cox’s doctor cleared him to return to work four weeks after his surgery and expects Cox to be back at his desk, with piles of paperwork, soon.
“It’s a difficult job,” Bruce said of the chancellor’s post. “I assume he will have a lot of catching up to do, but I understand he’s making telephone contacts already. But his first concern and our first concern is his health.”
Cox announced July 17 that he plans to retire in spring 2002 to devote more time to teaching and consultation for higher education.

— Eric Martin

Senate will vote on military construction bill
Sens. Gordon Smith, R-Oregon, and Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, announced that $8.3 million has been included in the military construction appropriations bill to build an Armed Forces Reserve Center in Eugene.
The facility would replace the Eugene Armory and two smaller armories in the area, and provide homes for units of the Army National Guard, the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and the U.S. Navy Reserve.
The military construction bill passed an appropriations subcommittee today and is scheduled for a vote before the Senate sometime this week.

— Sue Ryan

Pi Kappa Phi finds new home
The initials are the same, but the name of the fraternity occupying a house near 11th Avenue and Alder Street has changed.
This month, members of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity moved into the house, which was once home to Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.
Phi Kappa Psi closed in spring of 2000 after members voted to shut down the chapter, University Greek Life coordinator Shelley Sutherland said. She said she did not know why they voted to close it.
Since the fraternity closed, no student group has lived in the house until this fall, she added.
Pi Kappa Phi has had a chapter on campus for several years, she said. Last year, some members of the fraternity lived in a much smaller house off-campus, but the fraternity did not have an official chapter house.

— Kara Cogswell