Statesman Journal from Salem, Oregon • Page 1

PRICE: 50 CENTS QZZ Doouops' cocci wools grass field op 10QQ OSU studies the cost of replacing its artificial turf. J- GCPlfl GOLjCiS toil coiinlpy tPOiiny First-time winners score big in Nashville mi 1 -iii! add splash to their baths. aura SERVING OREGON'S CAPITAL AND THE MID-VALLEY ire tc-ziay, eefieoi 25, 1E37 Temnles of tile i laxer Brewing buys Nor' Wester name i Will chased NorWester's brand, trademark and inventory, but not its plant. 1 "It's very unfortunate for the Nor'Wester shareholders, and we feel badly about that," Goebel said. "But we feel good that we can continue the viability of the Nor'Wester brand.

It's a good product and we're working to ensure customers can continue to enjoy it." Much of NorWester's assets, including its Portland SEE SAXER 2A wego reopened NorWester's brewery in Portland on Wednesday after purchasing the name for a price industry insiders estimate at $500,000. The low price came on the heels of foreclosure proceedings. Nor'Wester closed its doors Sept. 12 when a merger deal fell apart and it couldn't meet loan payments. Saxer's purchase signals the end of Jim Bernau's four-year reign as the presi-.

vice president of investments at Piper Jaffray in Portland. "It broke my heart," Bartos said, adding that many investors held out hope until the end, expecting some kind of deal to solve the problems. There are 3.71 million shares outstanding. "A lot of people got hurt," Bartos said. Elizabeth Goebel, part-owner of the Saxer Brewing said her company pur The Associated Press BRAND BUYOUT: Saxer Brewing based in Lake Oswego, is buying Nor'Wester Beer brands in a cash deal for an undisclosed amount.

Saxer acquired only the brand, not the plant or other physical assets. Governor i mm li WILL SEE NEW LIFE nrn if Preserve Gregory Zalpys prefers to preserve historic resources like the Drift Creek Covered Bridge. would take to replace or rebuild the bridge. Sabina Poole, executive director of the North Lincoln County Historical Society, had hoped that a replica of the bridge could be built at its Drift Creek site. Poole was preparing to mount a campaign seeking 1 e.

endorses charter schools But the executive order promoting the concept is likely to carry little clout. BY STEVE LAW Statesman Journal Gov. John Kitzhaber has agreed to sign an executive order promoting charter schools in Oregon, but it's unclear how much oomph his order will pack. The executive order applauds charter schools for bringing innovation and flexibility to public education. Kitzhaber wanted to stress that he still supports these concepts in schools even though the 1997 Legislature failed to pass a charter schools bill, said Danny Santos, Kitzhaber's education adviser.

The order urges the state Board of Education to consider the governor's views as it adopts rules for expanding alternative-education programs in Oregon. The order should lend teeth to the state Department of Education's ongoing efforts to promote alternative education and charterlike schools, said Leon Fuhrman, alternative education specialist for the department. But two leading voices in the state's ongoing controversy about charter schools doubted that the executive order will have much impact. Kitzhaber is borrowing some of the charter movement's rhetoric without supporting real charter schools, said Rep. Patti SEE CHARTER 2A TIMOTHY J.

GONZALEZStatesman Journal DISMANTLING: Gregory Zalpys, with Algirdas Salvage of Vancouver, takes down the bridge sign on the Drift Creek Covered Bridge on Wednesday. The bridge is being taken down board by board, with the salvage contract stipulating that 90 percent of the bridge must be preserved. Otis couple saving historic bridge The Lake Oswego company pays an estimated $500,000 for the brand. BY MARIE GRAVELLE Statesman Journal An Oregon brewery half the size of Nor'Wester Brewery has gobbled it up, outbidding a firm from India to keep the troubled Nor'Wester brand alive. Family-owned Saxer Brewing Co.

of Lake Os OLD LANDMARK 1. rT. "I couldn't believe they would do this," Laura Sweitz said of the Lincoln County commissioners' decision to raze the 83-year-old historic structure. "It all happened so fast." The commissioners said the county didn't have the estimated $500,000 it Weaker Clouds, sun HIGH 77, LOW 55 IStiiCA Ann Landers 4D Bridge 5E aoolii Classifodi-IOE tTtZ? Comics 5D Crossword 5A Editorials 6-7C ZT Lottery 'C Jf Movies 3D 3994789 Nation 2-M For home Obituaries 5C delivery: Oregon 4A 3994622 Sports 1-48 Weather SA World 3.6-7A Part of the Statesman Journal is printed on recycled paper. Vol.

146, No. 182 8 sections, 88 pages A Gannett newspaper. 1997 i i A rr dent of Nor'Wester Brewing and leaves in the cold about 2,500 brewery investors. Previously traded under the Nasdaq moniker ALES, Nor'Wester stock had plummeted in the past year from highs of $3 a share to 50 cents. The stock is now worthless as reams of creditors outpace assets.

"It appears to me the stockholders are going to lose everything," said Michael Bartos, assistant BRIDGE CLOSED V4 donations for the replica. But those plans died when the county commissioners accepted the Sweitz-es' offer to construct a new "Drift Creek Covered Bridge." Plans call for the bridge housing and roof to be built on a concrete bridge that now spans Bear Creek near the Sweitzes' home. Laura Sweitz said roughly 50 percent of the old Drift Creek Covered Bridge materials would be salvaged and used in the construction of the new bridge. "This is second best," Sweitz acknowledged, "but it at least will keep the covered bridge in Lincoln County." A saddened Poole had SEE BRIDGE 2A hurriedly issued announcements on hurricane preparedness. Arizona's Gov.

Jane Hull declared a state of emergency in Yuma County, where Nora was expected to pass and ordered a dozen National Guard trucks and generators to head to Yuma. The Red Cross sent a disaster team. Across the state, roofers were swamped with emergency repair calls, and sales were brisk for flashlights, batteries and disaster supplies, including bottled water. The remnants of Hurricane Nora were expected to punch into the desert Southwest late today, likely downgraded by then to a tropical storm but still packing the potential to drop more rain in 24 hours than some areas get in a year. 1 -I Taxpayers testify to a Senate panel that agents "illegally" hounded them.

Gannett News Service WASHINGTON Tearful, livid or just bewildered, four taxpayers Wednesday told a Senate committee they were victimized by the Internal Revenue Service: pursued for taxes they didn't owe, hounded for years, ordered on a whim to pay ridiculous amounts and unable to get anyone at the IRS to pay attention to their complaints. "These people knew they were acting illegally. Illegally," said Tom Savage, a contractor from Lewes, of the IRS agents who forced him to pay $50,000 of someone else's back taxes. And then an IRS agent told the Senate Finance Committee that what everyone feared about the IRS is true: It goes after the poorest, most vulnerable taxpayers. And if that taxpayer fights back, "God help the taxpayer." Wednesday proved to be a blockbuster day at the Senate Finance Committee's three-day hearings into IRS abuses.

Chairman William V. Roth R-Del, called the testimony a "parade of horrors." Witness after witness testified that some IRS agents lord their power over taxpayers, toying with and ru- 1 The Associated Press WITNESS: IRS agent Jennifer Long testifies that she witnessed management manipulate income tax return figures to increase office collection statistics. ining lives for the sake of promotions, vengeance or sport. "Under present IRS management it is now our job to 'stick it' to the taxpayer, rather than determine a substantially correct tax assessment for that taxpayer," Jennifer Long, an IRS agent from Houston, Texas, told the Long said the IRS targets vulnerable taxpayers those with limited education, little money to hire accountants or lawyers or without a grasp of their legal rights. IRS spokesman Frank Keith denied Long's allegations.

A computer, not agents, selects who to audit, he said. Arizona braces for drenching from Nora Senate favors speed-up in FDA's procedures Laura and Kerry Sweitz plan to build a replica of the covered pathway on their land. BY LARRY ROBY Statesman Journal Oregon's oldest covered bridge may be gone, but it's not likely to be forgotten if Laura and Kerry Sweitz can pull off their plan to resurrect it 12 miles from its original site. When the Otis couple learned that the Drift Creek Covered Bridge, south of Lincoln City, had been declared a safety hazard and was to be demolished, they were shocked. popular Prescription Drug User-Fee Act, a successful program that already has resulted in a speedup in the drug review process.

The vote for the bill, which the Senate debated at length during the past week, was 98-2. A similar bill is pending before the House Commerce Committee. Although it is uncertain when the full House will act, pressure is on lawmakers to act quickly because the drug user-fee act expires Tuesday. If and when FDA reform legislation clears Congress, it is not clear whether President Clinton would sign such a measure. Administration officials said they are troubled by some elements of both the Senate and House bills, though they declined to be specific.

The hurricane may drop as much rain as the area usually gets in a year. The Associated Press TUCSON, Ariz. The scene was the desert, but the sounds and actions Wednesday would seem more appropriate for the Gulf Coast. Hurricane Nora was coming, and desert-dwellers were going about the unfamiliar task of getting ready for torrents of rain expected from the storm's remnants. Television stations advised where people could obtain sandbags, and lines were steady in Yuma all day as firefighters with a supply of 500,000 bags shoveled sand for residents.

The Red Cross, utilities and government agencies Los Angeles Times WASHINGTON The Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a major overhaul of the federal Food and Drug Administration, aimed at streamlining the regulatory approval process for new drugs and medical devices. The bill's provisions include establishing a new program to accelerate the review system for experimental medical devices, easing the way for desperately ill patients to have greater access to experimental drugs, allowing wider circulation of information about the unapproved uses of already licensed drugs and relaxing procedures for food companies to add health claims to their labels. It also reauthorizes the -feia The Associated Press READY FOR DELUGE: Larry Beasley a Marana, an Arizona Public Works employee, piles sandbags in anticipation of flooding expected late tonight from Nora in southern Arizona..