Corvallis Gazette-Times from Corvallis, Oregon • 2

A2 Corvallis Gazette-Times. Corvallis. Saturday. January 16. 1999 COMMON! Managing editor Rob Priewe, 758-9525 City editor Keith Manring.

758-9527 Nightweekend newsroom: 753-2644 News about Benton County, the mid-Willamette Valley and the Pacific Northwest TY State farm to drop Oregon auto rates The Associated Press Tidies Economist says indicators could reach weakest levels since 1991 aggravated," Eccles said. Companies will continue to merge and cut costs presenting workers with less overtime and more layoffs! Eccles said. In turn, consumer spending, a key underpinning of the current economy, will suffer but not collapse. Last month, U.S. Bank predicted a similar slowdown in economic growth! The bank's chief economist John Mitchell said Oregon's growth would slow in the technology and construe tion sectors, with employment growth' lowering to 1.5 percent compared fci 2.4 percent in 1998.

He blamed the continuing Asian financial crisis, political turmoil abroad and an unstable stock market at home. -V ed to reach their weakest level since 1991, he said. Matthews was optimistic that the worst effects from Asia, particularly the stunted growth of the state's hightech manufacturers, is over. But this year should bring adjustments for the state and the nation. Across the country, companies can expect narrower profit margins, said Spencer Eccles, First Security chairman and chief executive officer.

Shrinking international markets should create more competition, and business owners can expect little ability to raise prices. "With more than one-third of the world either in or near recession, demand has lessened, and the excess supply condition has been further SALEM Fewer newcomers will arrive in Oregon, companies will create fewer jobs and home builders will start fewer houses in 1999, the chief economist for First Security Corp. has predicted. The economic contradictions of 1998 should intensify in 1999, Kelly Matthews warned during First Security's annual economic luncheon Thursday. Matthews said growth rates will slow to half their pace of just two years ago.

And Oregon's economic slowdown, propelled by the collapse of Asian economies, is likely to worsen. The state's economic indicators are predict will also drop. Overall changes in premiums for individual motorists will vary, depending on the coverages they carry, the kind of car insured, who drives it and how much it is driven. Customers who have two or more cars insured with the company also receive a larger discount The company has increased it's multiple line discount from 5 to 10 percent for auto insurance customers who have other policies with State Farm. State Farm is Oregon's largest auto insurer.

State Farm Mutual Insurance Company will lower its overall auto insurance rat level in Oregon by an average of 5 percent The rate reduction takes effect Feb. 15 and will be the company's second rate reduction in the last year in Oregon. The company lowered rates 6 percent last July. On average, the company will see its premiums drop for the combined liability and personal injury protection coverages. Average premiums for collision and comprehensive coverage No talks scheduled for Laidlaw, union fr" 1 i rfaE i i 7- in 4, By SCOTT MacWILLIAMS Gazette-Times reporter Tensions may be easing for now but no new talks have been scheduled between the local bus drivers' union and Laidlaw Transit Inc.

The Amalgamated Transit Union repeated its request for bargaining to be taken into binding arbitration, repeating an earlier request made during mediated talks late last year. And Laidlaw removed extra drivers and security at the bus garage Tuesday, perhaps signaling a temporary reduction in tension. A written request for arbitration was sent to Laidlaw last week, and the company has agreed to arbitration in other cases. But company officials made it clear they're not interested in arbitration now. "We're not going to consider that at all," said Van Criddle, Laidlaw's manager for southern Oregon.

In arbitration, both sides would present their case to a neutral third party, who would thei issue a binding decision. In the meantime, no disruption of service would occur. "We're not interested in letting an uninterested third party decide how we should run our business," he said. The-talks-started last March and went into mediation, but the mediated talks failed to reach an agreement i. In Corvallis, both city and school bus drivers work for the company.

Laidlaw owns the school buses, but the city owns the transit buses. In addition to the and school buses, Laidlaw drivers operate the Night Life shuttle. Scott MacWilliams covers youth and education for the Gazette-Times. He can be reached at 758-9510, or by e-mail at scottmgtconnect.com. J'V.

vv Weakened dikes are leaving flood-weary dairymen concerned LA t1- i 'iff ir iiMii iiildiresi learn The Associated Press -ft- about writim ABOVE: Children's author and Corvallis resident Tom Birdseye takes questions from Philomath Elementary School first-graders during an assembly Friday. The kids wondered how he came up with his story ideas and even asked how he learned to read so well. LEFT: Six-year-old Kristian Ross waits for his turn to ask Birdseye a question during the author's visit to his school. BETH BUGLIONE Gazette-Times By SCOTT MacWILLIAMS Gazette Times reporter The questions were direct and to the point. "Is it hard to find ideas for your books?" asked Philomath third-grader Raina Tolbert.

She was one of about 20 third-grade students who spent a half-hour Friday afternoon asking Tom Birdseye about writing. The Corvallis children's author spoke at two assemblies at Philomath Elementary School in the morning, then met with small groups from each grade in the afternoon. "It's amazing how many ideas that come from day-to-day experiences," he said. One example: seeing a boy take a header on a bike, flying over the handlebars and landing face-first in a parking lot. Birdseye went to check on the bruised and scraped-up child, and saw how hurt and humiliated the boy was.

It made him remember those intense feelings he'd felt after crashing his bicycle as a kid. "I wrote it down because it was such an intense moment, and those kinds of things are what makes a story interesting," he said. He carries a tiny notebook and pen at all times, so he's ready when an idea hits. Or happens. He's working on another picture book and a chapter in a novel now, and has already published 13 books.

His titles include "I'm Going to Be Famous," "Just Call Me Stupid," and "Airmail to the Moon." But he didn't start out thinking he'd be a writer. His early experiences in school were all negative. He wasn't good at spelling, punctuation or grammar. But he challenged his audience to think about what they look for when they go to the library. "Do you look for a book with really great spelling or commas?" he asked, making the students laugh.

He pointed out that it's the story they need to start writing. He was a 31 -year-old kindergarten teacher when he met a woman who encouraged him to think about writing. He took a "The problem is the bays and rivers are so darn full of sediment and muck you're lucky if you can get a boat out. It's that shallow." Following the flood of 1996; several state and federal agencies' proposed options for reducing flood risks. The Interagency Hazard Mitigation Team listed proposals that agencies have pursued, such ai strengthening watershed planning, investigating habitat restoration opportunities, using bridges instead of culverts and developing farm management plans aimed at reducing A recommendation to adopt' a debris management policy was never implemented and dredging and dike reinforcement weren't on the list.

"With all the flooding going on I am not sure those dikes are going to hold this time around;" said State Sen. Joan Dukes, El-Astoria. "We lost a dike in Tillamook again last month and that con2 cerns me greatly." Gov. John Kitzhaber called for an assessment of Oregon's dikes after 1996 but Dukes said it was never done. She said the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for dredging and maintaining, dikes but hasn't kept up because of budt get cuts and environmental concerns. Several state agencies have been looking into flood-related issues and attempting to coordinate state and federal efforts. However, dredging and dike maintenance are federal responsir bilities, Dukes said. TILLAMOOK Like many dairy farmers here, Dave and Rita Hogan were still cleaning up from December floods when they heard that more storms were expected this week. "We've had to go through this three times in three years, and financially we can't do it again," Rita Hogan said.

"I don't even know what our damages amount to any more." They and others are questioning whether dikes, even those that have been reinforced, can stand up to much more punish- ment. Flooding two weeks ago dumped 5 feet of water in their barn and nearly 3 feet in their house when a dike gave way. "We were still recovering from the floods of 1996 and 1997," she "We had one room left to repair and had just finished rebuilding our fences and roads, and replacing the water troughs that got washed away." Over three years, they've spent $100,000 reinforcing the dike and building it 4 feet higher than the 1996 water level. What worries Tillamook-area residents most is how little rainfall it took for rivers to break through. Glenn Metcalfe, a dairyman who has farmed and lived along the Kilchis River since 1925, contends it takes less rainfall to produce flooding these days due to lack of dredging and failure to remove tree branches and other debris from the 1996 flood.

"The water never used to come through like this," Metcalfe said. class from her and four years later was a published author. But he made it clear that writing wasn't an easy job. Comparing a page from one of his books to the first rough draft of text, he told the young writers that he rewrote the page 23 times. And the novel he's working now is in its 42nd rewrite.

"I get it as good as I can, and then my editor takes-a look at it and makes suggestions," he said. He used a coaching analogy from the sports pages to bring his point home. Even guys like Michael Jordan took advice from their coaches, he said. As the question and answer session came to a close, he praised the students for asking lots of good questions. "You're already thinking like writers," he said, "and that's a big part of it." Scott MacWilliams covers youth and education for the Gazette-Times.

He can be reached at 758-9510, or by e-mail at scottmgtconnect.com. OSU News Service 'CORRECTIONS' fi cert for In Harmony at 7:30 p.m. fj at the Majestic Theatre. tit ture series include: Feb. 10: J.

Peterson Myers, director of the W. Alton Jones Foundation and co-author of "Our Stolen Future," will speak at 7:30 p.m. in Gilfillan Auditorium on "Disrupting the Messages of Life: Chemicals That Make You Sick, Sterile and Stupid." 1 Feb. 24: Calestous Juma, a fellow of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, will speak at 7:30 p.m.

in Gilfillan Auditorium on "Scientific Knowledge and National Sovereignty: Who Owns March 3: Sheila JasanofT, Professor of Science and Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and author of "Science at the Bar," will speak at 7:30 p.m. in Gilfillan Auditorium on "Our Uncertain Future: The Science and Pontics of Saving the Planet." March "10: Rosamond Nay-lor, a fellow and senior research scholar at the Institute for International Studies of Stanford University, will speak at 7:30 p.m. in Gilfillan Auditorium on "Aligning Food Security and Environments Objectiverin- the 21st Rowland, the Donald Bren Research Professor at the University of California-Irvine, will speak Jan. 19 at 7:30 p.m.

in the LaSells Stewart Center on the topic "Two Global Atmospheric Problems: Ozone Depletion in the Stratosphere and Ozone Formation at Earth's Surface." Both situations with atmospheric ozone are significant concerns, experts say. Stratospheric ozone protects all biological species at the surface, but excess ozone at ground level is harmful. Human activities have caused both a depletion of stratospheric ozone and a buildup of ozone at the surface. Other speakers during the lec Sherwood Rowland, a Nobel laureate, and one of the world's leading experts on ozone in the atmosphere, will highlight a lecture series featuring several prominent environmental scientists which begins Tuesday at Oregon State University. Titled "The Science of Environmental Controversies," the series is sponsored by OSlTs Department of Zoology, the Valley Chairs in Marine Biology, and the Aldo Leopold Leadership program.

Each speaker is participating in an OSU graduate seminar course and will present a free public lecture in the evening. The Gazette-Times seeks to correct all errors of fact in our paper. If you see something that needs clarification or correction, call the newsroom at 758-9527. Entertainer Concert date A brief on page 5 of Friday's Entertainer gave conflicting dates for a Greg Brown concert today. Brown will play a benefit con The newspaper erred.

Gallery hours A calendar on page 9 of Friday's Entertainer listed the wrong hours for Wild Rose Gallery. Wrild Rose Gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The newspaper erred.

The Gazette-Times regrets the errors. g..