Corvallis Gazette-Times from Corvallis, Oregon • 11

GtTim Corvtllti, Ofsgoo, Eruky, Mtr 20, 1M 3 (D nqoth west New dams on river House approves plan to smooth land-use actions opposed A vv. x. A SALEM (AP) A measure that's being billed ai the major land-use reform proposal before the Oregon Legislature this year Is on tu way to the Senate after sailing through the House with little debate. Aimed at streamlining and speeding up Oregon's land-use planning procedures, the bill was approved by the representatives on a 53-5 vote Thursday. "The bill Is not perfect, but we gave It our best shot," said Republican Rep.

Verner Anderson of Roseburg, vice-chairman of the House Energy and Environment Committee, which held SO meetings on the measure. Only Rep. George Trahern, R-Grants Pass, spoke against bin, and be conceded he bad no hope of defeating It. Trahern contended the bill "does very little to address the problem" in the land-use law. He said a show of negative votes would "send a message to the Senate that all Is not well." The law passed In 1B73, the first of Its kind In the nation, requires cities and counties to draft land-use plans complying with statewide goals, which Include preservation of agricultural land.

The bill sets a deadline of Jan. 1 for lor overnments with unfinished plans to i iv them completed and submitted to the atate Land Conservation and Development Commission. The LCDC would be required to act on the plans by July 1, 1984. "It's time to get this local job done," said Rep. Bill Bradbury, D-Langlols.

He said 103 of the state's 280 cities and counties still don't have state-adopted plans. Other backers of the measure said will result In speedier decisions and eliminate bureaucratic nitpicking. A major provision In the bill would permit the LCDC to approve plans being Is "substantial compliance" with the state standards rather than having to be letter-perfect as Is now required. The bill also would establish a new Land Development Review Panel to handle appeals of LCDC actions. The new appeals board is designed to be more Independent from the LCDC.

Other provisions would order cities and counties to decide on land-use applications within 120 days and require, local governments to provide adequate amounts of land for commercial and industrial development. But Trahern said the bill doesn't go far enough. He said the supposedly speeded-up appeals process still could take more than a year while neighboring states handle such matters in months or even weeks. He said an elected land-use court should be created to handle appeals. Nature study Bobby Smith, 9, and Sara Horn, 7, both from Cave Junction, take time to examine the ecology of a rain pool Thursday in a display at the Oregon High Desert Museum, two miles south of Bend.

Atiyeh supports proposal to build official house Senate OKs drugs for sex offenders SALEM (AP) Gov. Vic Atiyeh says be supports a proposal to build an official "bouse" for Oregon's governor because it would lend some extra "prestige" to the state's highest office. Atiyeh noted that because he's in his second term ai governor, be would not personally benefit if the state eventually decided to build an official gubernatorial residence. Nonetheless, the Republican governor said such a house is needed for future chief executives. "I believe it's important for the prestige of the state that there be a governor's residence," be said at a news conference Thursday.

Such a residence would not have to be an ostentatious "mansion" like some other states provide fqr their governors but simply a borne that befits the office of governor, he said. State Sen. Bill McCoy, D-Portland, who's sponsoring a bill calling for building an official governor's residence, says the state-owned bouse in Salem that Atiyeh lives in is not big enough for large-scale banquets and receptions. At the news conference, Atiyeh also: Said he'll allow a $2.7 million budget for the state Department of Geology and Mineral Industries for 1983-85 to become law, even though be won't sign it Atiyeh said he's upset because the Legislature eliminated some economic-development features from the budget he recommended for the department Said a plan to convert part of Eastern Oregon State Hospital in Pendleton into a prison would be a good compromise to provide more bed space for Oregon's crowded prison system. Atiyeh's recommendation to spend $20 million on a new prison went nowhere in the Legislature.

Threatened to veto a Senate-passed bill to require employers to inform employees about toxic substances used in the workplace. Atiyeh said the bill, which is pending in the House, goes too far in placing various requirements on businesses. Praised a House-passed bill to streamline Oregon's statewide land-use program. Atiyeh said be especially likes the bill's provision to allow the state to approve a city or county's land-use plan if it's in "substantial compliance" with statewide goals rather than being letter-perfect. Strongly criticized a bill passed by the House that would force governors to draft proposed budgets that would be balanced without tax increases.

"It's probably the most partisan bill I've By Brad Cain Of The Associated Press SALEM Despite arguments that drug treatments won't solve the problem of rape, the Oregon Senate has approved a bill setting up an experimental program to offer hormone treatments to convicted sex offenders. in other action, the senators on Thursday passed a measure to increase the number of liquor licenses the Oregon Liquor Control Commission can issue. Both measures go to the House for consideration. Approved on an 184 vote, the drug-' treatment bill calls for setting up a pilot program in Washington County in which sex offenders who volunteer for the program would be given the drug progesterone. That's a female hormone that some researchers say decreases the urge to commit sex crimes.

Sen. Jeannette Hamby, R-Hillsboro, floor manager for SB284, said the treatment program has met with success in other states and it should be tried in Oregon. "The medication acts to control the SALEM (AP) Much of the North Santiam River east of Salem would be off limits to new hydroelectric dami under a bill passed by the House with UtU opposition. Also on Thursday, the House voted to appropriate money for state commissions on the rights of blacks and hispanics, which have operated without any paid staff since they were established in 1961. The dam measure approved 48-1 and sent to the Senate results frown from a study by the Eugene Water Electric Board on whether to construct a dam on the stream.

The development sparked citizen protests in communities along the river, which supplies Salem's water supply and is heavily used by boaters and fishermen. A leader of the anti-dam effort, freshman Rep. Chuck Bennett, D-Gates, forbid any new dams on the stretch of the river that's generally between Staytqo and Big Cliff Dam near Detroit The two dams on the river, Big Cliff and Detroit Dam, were built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engioneers. Another supporter of the bill, Rep.

John Schoon, R-Rickreall, said the Eugene utility "has resources in its own back yard" to produce power without eying the North Santiam. "There are a lot better ways to generate electricity than to ruin this river," said Rep. Jeff Gilmour, D-Jefferson. The House passed and sent to the Senate money bills to give the Black and Hispanic affairs commissions two-year budgets of $31,000. The funds would allow the panels to hire directors and secretaries.

Tbey have operated with volunteer help and no paid stait since uov. vie Auyen createa tnera in 1981. The bills were approved 42-10 over objections of lawmakers who said the state can't afford to finance the commissions in tight economic times. The House also passed and sent to the Senate a budget bill of the tame amount for the state Commission for Women, which has a $76,000 budget for the current two-year fiscal period. The measure abolishes the full-time director's post and directs the commissio to share staff with the two other Groups request investigation of John Lobdelf PORTLAND (AP) Two citizens' activist groups called Thursday for the Legislature to review state rules governing the public utility commissioner's office and to investigate Commissioner John Lobdell.

The Coalition for Safe Power and rorelaws on Board, two anti-nuclear groups which frequently intervene in state utility-rate hearings, charged Lobdell with "subverting" the public bearing process. "Hogwash. Pure and simple," was Lobdell's reaction when reached by telephone at bis Salem home Thursday night. "Our records are completely open," he said. "They're using me as a major media attraction in this state, and I'm getting tired of it." The groups objected primarily to Lobdell's handling of recent rate-increase requests filed by electric utilities.

A 1982 Portland General Electric Co. rate case was settled essentially through private negotiations between the company and Lobdell's staff, the groups said. The groups also objected to Lobdell's handling of PGE rate cases this year, charging he had "abandoned" the bearing process "altogether." PGE filed an Initial rate request asking for an overall 9.79 percent Increase. After talks with Lobdell's staff, however, the company filed a new request for a 4.5 percent increase, which complied with the increase the staff had recommended. Lobdell said witnesses from the groups had been invited to participate in the hearings processes, but in some cases had not shown up.

"There wasn't a single PGE general rate case that was disposed of without a bearing process," he said. murders ned. We know it's not true." She said he grew up in Westminster, was a top student at Westminster High School and Claremont Men's College and compiled a good record in the Army. Gates said the out-of-state murders were being investigated by authorities in Oregon's Marion, Clackamas and Lane counties; the Oregon State Police; and the Grand Rapids (Mich.) Police Department. ,1 The Southern California murders ite being investigated by the sheriff's departments in Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties as well as police in the Orange County communities of Seal Beach and Garden Grove.

Justice's suit against heard by Court of Board hears defense of school for blind seen," said Atiyeh, whose $3.3 billion budget proposal would require $550 million in tax hikes to be balanced. Opposed efforts by followers of the Indian gun Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh to seek legislation aimed at resolving legal questions surrounding the formation of the city of Rajneesfapuram in central Oregon last year. Atiyeh said because the issue is being considered by the Oregon Supreme Court, there's no reason for the Legislature to get into the act Declined to take a stand on a legislative proposal to close the state School for the Blind in Salem and move the 54 students to community-based or regional programs. Atiyeh said hell "take a look" at the proposal. Praised a compromise legislative plan to create a new state Tourism Division and place it under the Oregon Department of Economic Development.

Atiyeh said the bill, which is pending in a Senate committee, will help promote tourism and spur economic development. Backed a House-passed bill to provide money so directors could be hired for the state commissions for Black and Hispanic Affairs. Atiyeh created the panels two years ago, but they've been operating only on volunteer help. state Appeals collective-bargaining rights but bow it is done. "We believe the Legislature can provide a structure for bargaining without offending the constitution," he said.

The Court of Appeals has ruled In another case that at least part of the bargaining law applies to courts, and the Supreme Court has agreed to review that decision. The appeals court earlier this year said Coos County Circuit Court Judge Richard Barron could not refuse to bargain with juvenile counselors or adopt employment conditions violating a union contract. Gary said the ruling casts "a rather large shadow" over Lent's suit. But the appeals court decision wouldn't settle the issue, he said, because the court didn't say whether provisions in the law giving public employees the right to either strike or invoke mandatory arbitration apply to judicial employees. poned until May 24 so he could find legal counsel.

By Thursday he had done so. Attorney Bruce Bridgman said authorities are making Kraft a scapegoat, and co-counsel Doug Otto said an innocent plea would be entered. "Every carcass they can find lying around is being attributed to my client," Bridgman said. "He is really a very nonviolent, passive-type person. He is not physically robust.

This defies imagination." Kraft's sister, Marlene Eastburn of Westminster, said "My brother is one of the kindest, most gentle people I know. He's caring, affectionate, extremely intelligent. The family is absolutely stun deviant impulses of sexual offenders," she said. "They no longer fantasize and experience the need to act out their fantasies." But Democratic Sen. John Kltzhaber, a Roseburg physician, said there's "scant" evidence to back up claims that progesterone decreases the urge to commit sex crimes.

"I believe that rape is an act of violence" that stems from the offender's psychological problems, not biological problems, Kltzhaber said. In addition, the drug has some side effects that may make its use undesirable, be said. Another opponent, Sen. Margie Hendricksen, D-Eugene, said while rape is a serious problem, the bill might lead to some convicted offenders being "coerced" into submitting to the treatment in hopes that it might eventually help them win release from jail. But Hamby and other supporters of the measure said it clearly states that any convicted offenders who take part In the program would do so voluntarily.

The liquor bill, SB4, is designed to make available more licenses for restaurants to serve liquor. educating children in their communities rather than in special state-operated schools, he said. Therefore, Duncan said, "it seems' totally inappropriate to single out these children, who will be much more difficult to serve than would children with a single handicap." The closure would be another transfer of financing responsibility from state funds to property-tax dollars, he said. "If the Legislature's motivation in considering this is to free up state dollars for other purposes, then the Legislature should be up-front about it," he said. "The taxpayers have a right to know thut the burden will shift to the local property taxpayers." Duncan called the proposal "strictly a dollars and cents issue" with legislators.

Said Thursday. "Other jurisdictions are going to be looking at a lot more cases that we don't have any hard evidence on. There is obviously a potential for many more," Randy Kraft, 38, of Long Beach was charged Tuesday with murdering Terry Cambrel, a 25-year-old El Toro-based Marine found in Kraft's car. A California Highway Patrol officer had stopped Kraft for erratic driving early Saturday on the San Diego Freeway In Mission Viejo and couldn't tell If Gambrel was alive or dead, but Mission Community Hospital confirmed he was dead. A preliminary autopsy said Gambrel SALEM AP) The Oregon School for the Blind is a useful educational institution but it has serious financial problems, the state's top elected school official said.

i is virtually no educational Justification at this time for closure" of the school, Verne Duncan, state superintendent of public instruction, said Thursday. Duncan made his comments during a work session of the state Board of Education. The proposal to close the Salem school involves very serious fiscal and program policy considerations, he said. It's unlikely that local communities couid provide the level of services the school offers multiply handicapped blind students at a reasonable cost, Duncan said. The Legislature wants to set a policy of public employees in adopting a personnel plan for the court system.

He contends that violates the state constitution's requirements of separation of powers between branches of government. Should Lent's case reach the Supreme Court, he has said he wouldn't take part in any deliberations on the suit. William Gary, the top appellate lawyer under Attorney General Dave Frophn-mayer, represented Lent. Gary told the Court of Appeals that the judicial branch shouldn't be forced to comply with the bargaining law because it makes the state Executive Department, in another branch of government, the state's bargaining agent in negotiations with state employees. One branch of government can't perform functions "that properly belong to another branch" under the constitutiion, Gary argued.

The dispute, he said, is not about whether court employees can be given the suspect. We are dealing here with what has been described as the Freeway Killer," Gates said. From 1972, about 45 young men have been homosexually abused, killed and dumped alongside California freeways. William George- Bonin, a 35-year-old Downey truck driver, has been sentenced to death for 10 of those murders and is standing trial In Orange County for four more, but investigators had said all along they weren't sure all 45 murders were related. Gates said he doesn't believe Bonin and Kraft knew each other.

Kraft's arraignment had been post- By Charles E. Beggs Of The Associated Press SALEM The Oregon Court of peals heard arguments in an unsual and precedent-setting lawsuit Thursday one filed against the state by the chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. Chief Justice Berkeley Lent contends he can't constitutionally be required to comply with the state's public employee collective-bargaining law. Lent's own court is considered likely to end up deciding the question. The case involves the state takeover of circuit and district court operations from counties Jan.

1. The law passed by the 1981 Legislature shifted all control over the courts to the state, made the chief Justice the top administrator of the court system and made more than 1,000 local court workers state employees. Lent is challenging provisions in that law requiring him to comply with the collective-bargaining law covering died of lack of oxygen, apparently due to strangulation. Kraft's lawyers say he's innocent, and he hasn't been charged with any of the other slayings, But Gates told a news conference Thursday that a court-authorized search of Kraft's 1979 Toyota Celica and his house on Roswell Avenue In Long Beach turned up "specific evidence" linking him to the 13 other cases. Gates would give no specifics but did say all the slayings had "homosexual overtones," Involved "alcohol and drugs," and most Involved hitchhiking, "That's how they got In contact with Evidence reportedly links man to homosexual SANTA ANA, Calif.

(AP) Evidence found In a Long Beach home and In a car that carried an allegedly strangled passenger links a motorist to 14 homosexual slayings in California, Oregon and Michigan, Sheriff Brad Gates says. The Orange County sheriff said his office is cooperating1 with officials Investigating five other murders in Southern California since 1979, including one originally attributed to the so-called Freeway Killer, as well as the six so-called "1-5 Murders" In Oregon and two in Michigan. "Those are 14 specific cases that we have substantial evidence (on)," Gates.