Statesman Journal from Salem, Oregon • 17

Statesman Journal PAGE LJ MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2000 1 www.StatesmanJoumal.com ATXL'u'D TliE CAPITGL izsus may be even with mzi'ji unfveys forecast deffeatt for most state measmnres sent a panel presentation on the fall elections Friday, three days after the final votes are cast. The title of the event is "Now, What Have We Voted to Do?" Mark Nelson, a lobbyist and pollster; Mark Zusman, editor of Willamette Week, an alternative weekly newspaper in Portland; and Ed Dover, a Western Oregon University political science professor, will discuss the elections. The luncheon will be at the Red Lion at 3310 Market St. NE. The public is invited.

For reservations, call (503) 589-2975 by Tuesday. Statesman Journal staff reports if li 'r'pr ui 'T i i I A Si Mb 1 DON RYAN The Associated Press FOE OF MANY MEASURES: Gov. John Kitzhaber, debating recently in Portland, speaks out against Measure 9, which would bar schools from sanctioning homosexuality. DON RYAN The Associated Press SPONSOR OF MANY MEASURES: With a large wooden Viking figure looming in the background, anti-tax champion Bill Sizemore takes a phone call at his Clackamas office. (MSB'S MOLE TODAY 2 P.M.: Speech to Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, Playwright's Hall, Eugene.

TUESDAY (Election night schedule to be released today) CAPITOL ACTIVITIES TODAY 8 A.M.: Rally, Oregon Republican Party, Oregon Trail Express, front TUESDAY No public schedule. CITY CLUB TO PRESENT POST-ELECTION PANEL The Salem City Club will pre AROUND THE STATE Beaverton man held in wife's death BEAVERTON Washington County authorities have arrested a 52-year-old man on accusations that he killed his wife and burned her remains in his backyard. Robert Walker told investigators that he shot Terrie Lee Walker, 46, in self-defense in their home near Beaverton, said Sgt. Marlene Gaskins, spokeswoman for the Washington County Sheriffs Office. Walker said he tried to destroy his wife's body by burning it in an incinerator for about a week.

Eugene Jacobus, deputy medical examiner for Washington County, said it was the worst case he has worked in his 28 years. Neighbors said that almost every night for a week they saw flames spewing 15 feet from a barrel and smelled a "pungent, awful odor" that they thought was yard debris. 2 DISABLED MAN HIT BY PICKUP DIES A 48-year-old Medford man in a wheelchair died after he was struck by a pickup truck and dragged almost 100 feet on a busy city street. Wayne Oliver was attempting to cross Holly Street on Friday when he was hit by a 1986 Nissan pickup driven by Glen Dow, 22, of Medford, police Lt. Tim George said.

Oliver was in the crosswalk at the time of the collision, George said. Jennifer Pruitt, whose home is only a few feet away from the intersection, came running outside after she heard the collision. "I heard this big bang," she Oregon voters are still split on several issues and could sway the presidential race. By BRAD CAIN Associated Press Writer With no gubernatorial or U.S. Senate race, this was supposed to be a ho-hum election year for Oregon.

Twenty-six ballot measures changed that including a tax cut that would throw state spending plans into turmoil. But now the latest polling shows that many of those measures likely will go down to defeat Tuesday, including the $1 billion-a-year tax cut. Nonetheless, the election is a big one for Oregon. Oregon could help decide the tight presidential race between George W. Bush and Al Gore.

Because of Oregon's status as a tossup state, contenders and their running mates have made an unusually large number of visits to the state this year. There are many other things at stake in Oregon's election. Many political insiders thought Secretary of State Bill Bradbury would win election to the office to which he Was appointed last year. But a new poll shows him running neck and neck with his Republican rival, House Speaker Lynn Snodgrass, for the state's No. 2 office.

This past week, Snodgrass turned up the heat by using Bradbury's own TV ad against him. Bradbury's ad shows him standing near a stream, wearing waders and casting a fly rod. The announcer says Bradbury is "fishing" for government waste and inefficiency. Snodgrass' campaign used the same video footage with a different voice track, with the announcer telling viewers the Democrat has been "fishing" for higher taxes. Meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats are battling for seats in 75 legislative races around the state.

Democrats need to win three seats to wrest Senate control from the Republicans and two to fight them to a tie. Democratic Gov. John Kitz-haber, who's been stymied by Republican majorities in the Legislature the past six years, is satisfaction. "There's not a revolutionary feeling in the air," Moore said. "Besides, these measures generally don't represent ideas bubbling up from the people.

They represent special interests trying to get things passed by going around the Legislature." Other measures that appear headed for defeat are ones that would overturn a 1994 law that set minimum sentences for violent crimes and ban promoting homosexuality in schools. Defeat of the homosexuality measure would be another setback for Lon Mabon, who's been trying for years to persuade Oregon voters to pass anti-gay laws. The latest polling shows voters strongly favoring a gun show law that gained political momentum in the wake of the 1998 shootings at Springfield's Thurston High School. The measure would expand background checks to all firearms sales at gun shows. While the tax reduction measures were opposed by a majori phones in his trip to Oregon and Washington was thrown in doubt after his airplane crew reached the maximum amount of hours it could fly.

Aides arranged for a small, private plane to bring him to the Pacific Northwest. Lieberman arrived in Portland more than three hours later than scheduled. Earlier Sunday, Bush foreign relations adviser Condoleezza Rice stood in front of a row of women wearing T-shirts sporting stands for Women" as she urged everyone to vote for Bush. Rice said Bush understood issues important to women, such as education, and that even his anti-abortion stance should not scare away pro-choice women. Rice, who said she is pro-choice, said Bush supports compromise and has vowed not to How to learn more Secretary of State online voter guide: www.Oregonvotes.com.

hoping the Democrats can take at least one chamber out of Republican hands for the 2001 legislative session. Even though there is no gubernatorial race this year, Kitzhaber faces something of a rematch with anti-tax activist Bill Sizemore, who was soundly defeated by Kitzhaber in the 1996 governor's race. Sizemore, Oregon's leading purveyor of initiatives, placed a record six measures on the general election ballot, including the income tax cut, and he debated Kitzhaber on the income tax plan on statewide TV. Political analyst Jim Moore said he's not surprised that polling in the past week showed the income tax and many of the other measures headed for defeat, given the unusually large number of measures on the ballot and people's general sense of I'm going to have to pay local taxes," Lieberman joked. Oregon is considered one of 12 tossup states in the election.

It's especially important to Gore because George W. Bush leads in most states where the race isn't close. Gore likely needs to take most of the battleground states; Bush needs to avoid a slaughter. Lieberman, who is simultaneously running for re-election in Connecticut, said he can't figure out why many voters support Bush when the Clinton-Gore years have been marked by prosperity. "I think there are some voters out there who think America is doing well and it will just keep going no matter who's president, but it does matter." Lieberman also visited New Mexico and Nevada on Sunday; Lieberman works said.

"I ran over there and the guy (Dow) was already out of the truck saying that the sun was in his eyes." Police confirmed that the afternoon sunshine had created a traffic hazard. LISTING CONSIDERED FOR COLUMBIA COHO The National Marine Fisheries Service handed conservation groups a victory when it said it would consider listing Columbia River coho salmon under the federal Endangered Species Act. Oregon Trout, the Native Fish Society and Trout Unlimited had argued that populations of wild coho spawn naturally in the Sandy and Clackamas rivers, and the federal agency's decision Friday means it now agrees. The fisheries service has a year to decide. liiTiuMFi 1 MURDER PLOTS BRING 14 YEARS IN CUSTODY A Lake Oswego woman who twice tried to hire someone to kill her ex-boyfriend will spend the next 14 years either in an Oregon prison or in the Oregon State Hospital.

Benton County Circuit Judge pro tem Ken Osher sentenced Sarah Ater, 33, to 15 years in custody on Friday, after she pleaded guilty to one count of attempted aggravated murder and one count of conspiracy to commit felony arson. She received credit for the year she has already served in jail. Ater was arrested in July 1999 after a police investigation determined she was behind suspicious incidents that had dogged her ex-boyfriend, Darren Cox of Corvallis, during the previous three weeks. Statesman Journal news services their offices. Two emergency room doctors, a pathologist, a psychiatrist and two anesthesiologists stopped practicing in the county when Douglas Community Medical Center closed earlier this year, according to Gray.

An additional six primary care doctors have left their practices within the past year. "People retiring and wanting to relocate have huge practices, and they are so efficient at seeing their patients, it makes it even more difficult to get someone new to replace them," said Lindsey Woodruff, Mercy's director of outpatient marketing services. "If you get someone just out of residency, it could take IVi or two of them to do the job of the previous doctor." And many new physicians are choosing career paths that lead them away from primary care specialties, Gray said. More patients are traveling out of town to see specialists, and Roseburg is unable to compete with larger cities that have bigger budgets to employ physicians. Gray said the 41 physicians at the Roseburg Clinic have paid out of their own pockets to recruit young doctors.

"Frankly, we're at a point where we need some help," he said. "Even when we're successful, we lose a lot of money." ty of voters in the latest poll, Oregonians were split on another initiative that could have big implications for state and local budgets. Measure 7 would require property owners to be compensated if government regulations reduce their property values which could cost state, local and county governments billions of dollars. Oregon, which has been a virtual backwater state in most recent presidential elections, has gotten lots of attention this year because it's one of the places where Green Party candidate Ralph Nader could be a Gore spoiler. With polls showing the major party contenders in a dead heat and Nader polling 6 percent, Gore and Bush each have made four campaign trips to Oregon in a bid to nail down the state's seven electoral votes.

"It's amazing," Moore said. "Who would have thought Oregon would be on the list for frequent flier miles for the presidential candidates?" Portland use abortion as a litmus test for Supreme Court nominees. "He understands the role of a president in a democracy is to persuade," not dictate, Rice said. Bush will support a ban on partial-birth abortions and parental notification requirements, she said. "How have we gotten into a position that your 14-year-old daughter needs your permission to get her wisdom teeth out but not to have a life-changing procedure like an abortion?" Rice asked.

Rebecca Thomas, 27, of Gladstone said she resents the suggestion that women will vote for Gore because he's pro-choice. "To say the women's vote can be put in terms of abortion is insulting to women," Thomas said. "We're about more than that!" rs I21.07oi-f.gn Vickl Frey-Horton 1 rMiniblind. Douglas County faces severe doctor shortage The Associated Press PORTLAND For at least a few minutes Sunday, Sen. Joe Lieberman was just another Democratic volunteer working the phone bank and trying to get people to vote for him and Vice President Al Gore.

"That woman was really sweet she was worried that I was working too hard," Lieberman said as he hung up the phone. Lieberman stopped at the state's Democratic headquarters to call voters alongside other volunteers who were furiously urging people to get out and vote. It was his fourth visit to Oregon and his second consecutive weekend in the state in an effort to win its seven crucial electoral votes in a tight presidential race. "If I come to Oregon anymore, FIRST PREMIER PROPERTIES Wmm SEND FOR YOUR FREE COPY OF OUR LATEST CORE STOCK LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS to have the best and maintenance Many physicians are retiring, and competition is high for replacements. The Associated Press ROSEBURG Retirements and competition with other regions for new physicians has left Douglas County seriously short of doctors.

There are 178 practicing doc tors in uougias uounty. am a recent study of health services discovered a serious need for internal medicine, urology, general surgery, pediatrics, pulmonary and radiology specialists. Mercy Medical Center, the Roseburg Clinic and the Douglas County Independent Practice Association, which were once rivals in the pursuit of doctors, have united to address the problem. "This is the crisis we do not have enough people to take care of the people here," said Dell Gray, Roseburg clinic administrator. "All practices are closed (to new patients).

They're having a very difficult time serving the patients they already have. They're making appointments three or four months out. That's not good care." Gray said physicians have resorted to telling patients to visit the emergency room rather than wait fyr openings at The key to smart stock investing is finding solid companies to make up the core portion of your investment portfolio. Call us today! Inc. imsmmsitKLw (503)581-5353 530 Center St.

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