Corvallis Gazette-Times from Corvallis, Oregon • 2

A2 Corvallis Gazette-Times, Corvallis, Monday, March 19, 2001 Managing editor: Rob Priewe, 758-9525 City editor: Jim Murez, 758-9527 Nightweekend newsroom: 758-9532 News about Benton County, the mid-Willamette Valley and the Pacific Northwest MUNI! a GfgCBEJDCD" mm The Associated Press University says its time to target southern Willamette Valley "Some kids want to go where there's success in all venues, and now that we've had some of that success we want to capitalize on it," she said. Schuster said Oregon State decided it was time to target the southern Willamette Valley this year after extending its ad campaign to Bend and Medford three years ago and to Portland two years ago. "We feel it's part of our own backyard, because those stations are broadcast in the Corvallis area as well," she said. "And we think people in that area are a little more ready to hear our message than they were a few years ago.7 Enrollment at Oregon State has increased 22 percent over four years ago, putting its enrollment about 1,000 students below UO at Boulder instead of Oregon State. "My view of these kind of things is, if the net result is to keep more good students in Oregon, I'm all for it," he said.

McDonald said the UO spends from $250,000 to $300,000 a year on mass media ads. The university buys time on radio sta- tions throughout Oregon and last year ran spots on National Public Radio stations all over the West. McDonald said the UO also mails brochures directly to high school juniors and makes many school visits and personal phone calls. In addition, Oregon just bought the', names and addresses of more than 80,000 high school juniors on the West Coast who took the PSAT this year, said Martha Oregon's director of admissions. Oregon State is spending $50,000 on television and outdoor advertising in the Eugene-Springfield market, Schuster said.

The television ads feature an Oregon State student in a graduation cap, with a tag line that reads: "You wear a lot of hat3 in life. Start with this one." "I think Eugene is ready to hear good news about Oregon State University," Schuster said. "We have a lot of supporters in the Eugene market, a lot of donors and a lot of potential freshmen." Duncan McDonald, UO's vice president for public affairs and development, said the two schools aren't necessarily competing for the same students. He said students who apply to Oregon are more likely to apply to the University of Washington and the University of Colorado EUGENE Oregon State University is about to ruffle some feathers. OSU is increasing its recruiting efforts in Eugene and Lane County, hoping to lure potential University of Oregon students to Oregon State.

The new recruiting strategy comes after OSU beat Oregon in the annual football rivalry, the Civil War, and was chosen over Oregon to open a branch campus in Bend. Jill Schuster, director of university marketing at OSU, said the once-struggling football program made recruiting potential Ducks more difficult, especially once the UO started winning. Last season's turnaround, which left the Beavers ranked fourth in the nation, changed that, she said. Legal CueOp G37GG The Associated Press I 'C" i 1 -m a i ii jtL. EUGENE When Kim Pugh's husband threw her 7-year-old son around the house and tried to strangle her, Pugh knew it was time to get out of the marriage.

The 32-year-old with three children didn't know where to turn for legal help and couldn't afford a divorce on her own. After her husband, 36-year-old Robert Jerome Pugh, was sentenced to six months in jail for assault, Pugh was referred to Lane County's Legal Aid Service, which provides legal assistance to low-income people. Pugh, now divorced and newly employed, was lucky to find help in a state where hundreds of thousands of poor people go without the legal aid necessary for divorces, child custody disputes and civil problems. According to a recent report, "The State of Access to Justice in Oregon," fewer than one in five poor people in Oregon can get a lawyer when they need one. The latest Oregon State Bar survey indicates lawyers here charged an average of $138 per hour in 1998.

Federally-funded legal aid programs serve families whose net income falls below 125 percent of the poverty level, or for a family of four. About 17 percent of Oregonians fall into that category, but the state is among 22 that don't allocate general funds for poverty law programs. The report has prompted poverty law advocates to seek more than $10 million more annually in public and private money for legal services for poor Oregonians. The money would double current spending in Oregon and add 65 lawyers to 92 who already work with the' state's poor residents. "It's not like these problems are going to go away if we don't deal with them," said Karen Garst, executive director of the Oregon State Bar.

"It's a cornerstone of democracy. If people have no access to the system, they have no respect for the 'They created a net for me to fall into. To me, they are angels. If I didn't have those people, I probably would have gone back to Kim Pugh The nine-member staff at the Legal Aid office in Eugene fields 7,000 requests for legal help year. Last year, about 2,150 clients got some form of help, but about 100 clients went trial because of staff shortages.

The state's poverty law advo- cates plan to seek $3 million a year in state general funds, $1,. million each from The Lawyers' Campaign for Equal Justice, private sources and federal grants and $4 million in new money from Congress through 1 the Legal Services Corp. The funding would open new -poverty law offices in Astoria, Klamath Falls and The Dalles, where none exist. Offices in Eugene, Medford, Salem, Albany, Bend, Coos Bay, Independence, Newport, Grants Pass, McMinnville, Ontario, Roseburg and Pendleton would get additional lawyers. The proposal is not included in a bill yet, and advocates may have to wait until 2003 to bring the issue before state lawmak-l ers, said Rep.

Lane Shetterly, R-Dallas, who supports legal Meanwhile, Pugh had to fight for her divorce in court and obtain a restraining order against her former who stalked her after he finished his prison time. Without Legal Aid, those services would have cost her about $10,000, she "They created a net for me to fall into. To me, they are angels," she said. "If I didn't have those people, I probably would have gone back to him. I-had no place else to go." FILE PHOTOGazette-Times Greg Klein is pastor of the Bellfountain Community Church which just purchased the old Bellfountain School building behind him.

The building is home to the Belhountain Cornerstone Christian School and, for the next few months, a Head Start preschool program. Fund-raising effort, donation keeps Bellfountain School locally owned By JESSE SOWA Gazette-Times reporter The school building was originally marketed by the Monroe district at $350,000 in 1997, but the district dropped the price to $299,000 when no one had stepped forward with an offer after a year. Soon, church members began discussions of purchasing the building. The Rev. Greg Klein, pastor at the church for the past 13 years, said the lowered price definitely put things in motion.

"At that point, we said, 'Gee whiz, what are we going to do It was time to do something," Klein said at the time. While the church doesn't plan to move any of its services to Bellfountain School, it will continue to hold its annual Vacation Bible School there for one week every summer. When it came to considering the school building, Klein said the church definitely had the community in mind. "It wasn't so much important for the church as it was for the community," Klein said, noting the different events held there each year graduation parties and other social activities. The church, located directly across the street from Bellfountain School, then made the district an offer of $250,000 to the district.

The offer was accepted and the fundraising began. The church raised about $70,000 of the $250,000 needed to purchase the school, while community member Ralph Hull made a large contribution to help complete the sale. But even with the purchase price reached, the fundraising continues in order to maintain the upkeep of the building. So far, Klein says, about $60,000 has been collected. In purchasing the school, the church also took over a lease between the Monroe School District and the Christian school that allows the school to use the building for $1 a year.

With the lease ending June 1, Klein said further plans between the two groups will be made then. Jesse Sowa covers public safety and general assignments for the Gazette-Times. He can be reached at 758-9521 or jesse.sowalee.net. Gazette-Times reporter Becky Waldrop contributed to this story. program.

The Christian school has outgrown its allowed space in the building, leaving the Head Start program to look for somewhere else to set up. "We just wanted to return it to community youth," said Bonnie Moody, a community and church member born and raised in the area. "It's always been a part of the community." During a celebration last week that included many of those who donated to the cause, Bellfountain School was re-dedicated as about 150 people enjoyed a potluck and a flag raising. Bellfountain School merged with the Monroe School District several years ago after serving as its own district for much of its storied history. The school closed in 1997 when Alpine Elementary and Monroe Middle schools added classrooms to accommodate the students who used to attend Bellfountain.

Bellfountain School is much of what the small community just northwest of Monroe is all about. With the school on the market and available to anyone who was willing to put forward the six-digit asking price, members of the Bellfountain Christian Church weren't ready to see the historic building go. With a large fund-raising effort and a huge contribution from a community member, the church was able to purchase the school, possibly keeping the building out of the hands of someone who may have demolished the 100-year-old structure or turned it into a private residence. But as it stands, the school will remain home to Bellfountain Cornerstone Christian School and, for at least the next few months, a Head Start preschool Spill dumps raw sewage: into Willamette River The Associated Press CiflsunmsftEii). Gtnifeas DeErysiGo irSsSiii reams The Associated Press river's west bank near the, Burnside Bridge, said Line Mann, spokesman for Portland's Bureau of.

Environmental Services. Power was restored just before 9 a.m., he said. "That's a lot of sewage," Mann said. "It's really a human! health warning. We just want, people to know there's a higher level of bacteria than normal." Mann said the Ankeny pump station handles about 75 million gallons of raw sewage per day.

The station pumps the" waste to a main sewage plant in-north Portland for treatment, he said. PORTLAND Up to four million gallons of raw sewage leaked into the Willamette River over a period of six hours Sunday morning when a sewage pump station lost power, city officials said. Officials warned residents Sunday to avoid swimming or boating in the river for 48 hours, and to clean thoroughly any fish caught in the river. The Ankeny pump station lost power around 3 a.m. Sunday, causing the sewage to bypass the pumps and flow directly into the river at the mony, which is similar to those of coastal tribes that depend on salmon.

Each year, two of the suckers are returned to the water, one to the Sprague River and one to Upper Klamath Lake. One the first sucker to" return to Klamath lands near Chiloquin and Braymill is killed' and placed over a fire as tribal members pray for another healthy fish run. fish were placed on the federally enforced endangered species list in 1988. The Klamath tribe has permission to kill the fish. "It is up to us and our generation to do what we can for the fish," said Allen Foreman, chairman of the Klamath Tribes.

"I would like to see a resolution from the Tribe and the tribal council to make the suckers a national fish for the nation of the Klamath Tribes." "We have to pray to the Creator to ask him to have good numbers of fish come back," said Dino Hen-era, director of culture and heritage for the Klamath Tribes. "We honor the fish and pray for them." Suckers, once plentiful in the Klamath Basin, have suffered since white settlers came to the, area more than 100 years ago. Their numbers have decreased by more than 95 percent, and the CHILOQUIN Seven-year-old Nettoya Miller stared into a bucket holding three huge fish, "C'waam" suckers about to become the focus of an ancient Klamath ceremony that celebrates the annual fish runs. 300 tribal members and guests gathered on the banks of the Sprague River Saturday to witness the cere FREE WATER HEATER The Associated Press Harter Plumbing is Offering a Free Water Heater to Anvnnp Whr rherlnlec a A A pipe for Their Home in the Next Thirty Days. iic ivcmiicuuiis may Apply Call For Details Today! and zero points for a loss.

Ni Hua, 17, of Shanghai, had the top score of the match with three wins and one draw. Larry Christiansen of Boston and Gregory Kaidanov of Lexington, both took two wins and two draws. The women's world champion, Xie Jun, scored one win, one draw and had two losses. to give China the victory on points. The United States trailed 16-14 entering the last day of the four-round tournament.

The two teams ended the day 5-5, with two wins each and six tied games. China's early edge gave the country the overall win. Each player earns one point per win, half a point per draw The match was arranged by the Seattle Chess Foundation, which hosted the U.S. championships last fall. Matches featured 10-person teams with six of the top players either men or women two women, and two juniors, playing 10 games daily starting on Wednesday.

The teams did not play Saturday. SEATTLE The favored Chinese chess team will take home a nearly two-foot glass teapot trophy after defeating the United States 21-19 Sunday in the first chess competition ever between the two teams. China won 11 games and the United States won nine overall PnrvQlUc ICC Albany 928-7342 w4 1.