UO E-clips, March 15-17

State begins condemnation on property for UO arena (Register-Guard): State lawyers have begun condemnation proceedings to acquire one of the two remaining parcels the University of Oregon needs for the site of its new basketball arena. An eminent domain lawsuit filed in Lane County Circuit Court places a value of $390,000 on the 5,200-square-foot property. The site has an older building that once housed a video rental business but has been vacant for more than a year. The property is the only one of four that the UO plans to acquire through eminent domain, also known as condemnation. The UO already has negotiated to buy two properties and is continuing negotiations on a third, a parcel occupied by a 7-Eleven store at Villard Street and Franklin Boulevard.

UO athletic director shares vision (Statesman Journal): In his first year as director of athletics at the University of Oregon, Pat Kilkenny has overseen the return of baseball; plans for a $12 million to $15 million baseball stadium and $200 million basketball arena; the addition of women's competitive cheer; and the end of the wrestling program. As the leader of a 19-sport, $50 million athletic department, Kilkenny's plate always is full. A fan of Oregon athletics growing up in Heppner, Kilkenny took over for Bill Moos in February 2007 and agreed to a two-year commitment.

Promoting peace (Oregon Daily Emerald): On Sunday, the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, students and community members gathered for a day of protest and marching to voice their opposition to the ongoing Iraq war and speak out for change, starting with a rally held in the EMU Amphitheater. The Take Back Our America Coalition and the Community Alliance of Lane County sponsored the protest, titled "Sow Seeds of Peace," along with 30 other community and University groups … Zach Basaraba, coordinator of the EMU rally, said the free speech as part of the protest helps strengthen the democratic system. Student involvement is also crucial to change in the United States, he said.

Energy solution begins with greater efficiency (Register-Guard, guest viewpoint by Bob Doppelt): Solar energy has clear economic and environmental benefits -- but even before shifting to renewables, we should take steps to eliminate waste. Because energy has been cheap, in past decades we have constructed buildings, designed industrial processes and manufactured vehicles in the fastest, least expensive way possible. The result is huge amounts of wasted energy, wasted water and wasted money. Climate-damaging greenhouse gases are just one side effect. The need to reduce emissions by 80 percent or more in rapid order to avoid dangerous climate change, combined with rising fossil fuel prices and other factors, have altered the basis of our thinking. Waste elimination -- that is, increased efficiency -- should now be a top priority for everyone.

Oregon obsidian traces history for archaeologists (Associated Press, appearing on KGW.com): Clues to the travels of ancient hunters can be found in the glassy debris from volcanoes that they used to make sharp tools and arrowheads. Obsidian is abundant in Oregon and was relatively easy to craft into knives, spear tips and other prehistoric tools. "They're razor sharp, sharper than any steel could be ground," said Dennis Jenkins, senior staff archaeologist at the University of Oregon.

Citizens, students have designs on downtown (Register-Guard): Lora Byxbe can see the downtown Eugene of her dreams. Night life would cater not just to bar-hoppers, but to everybody else, the retired architect said. The city would be well-lit and fun for pedestrians -- broad store windows would present scenes from bustling businesses, say, a baker pulling a sheet of cookies from the oven. “There is so much cooking right now,” Byxbe said. “We hope to give the city direction as far as what we the people would like to see.” Byxbe joined about 40 citizens, businesspeople and University of Oregon students who spent Saturday creating one possible future for a nine-block area downtown. Students in UO’s architecture school coordinated the workshop, which was open to the public and held in the Atrium Building near the public library.

Fees lock out some citizens (Corvallis Gazette Times, Similar stories appeared in the Albany Democrat-Herald and The Ontario Argus Observer): David Picray wants to see what the Corvallis Police Department has on him -- and he doesn’t think he should have to pay for the privilege. Shortly after midnight last May 11, the 58-year-old Adair Village resident was questioned in the parking lot of a local grocery store by a Corvallis officer who had some concerns about Picray’s driving. … “Cost recovery is a huge issue for state agencies,” said Tim Gleason, dean of the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication and a board member of Open Oregon, one of the groups that backed the change. “Obviously it’s a balancing of interests, and I think that the public interest standard works pretty well.”

$3 million mega-grant boosts school district's science program (East Oregonian): Deputy superintendent of the Hermiston School District, Mark Mulvihill, is jazzed. Mulvihill's district, along with the Umatilla Morrow Education Service District, learned it will receive a $3 million National Science Foundation grant. The grant will bring University of Oregon doctoral students into Hermiston science classrooms and give teachers access to hands-on science kits developed for a science program originally developed at the University of California at Berkeley. "This is huge," Mulvihill said. "I can't remember a grant this big (for this region). It's an incredible opportunity for this area." [PMR note: The grant described in this story actually was awarded to the UO's Dean Livelybrooks and colleagues for a program administered by the UO Materials Science Institute.)

Student-athlete study center moves forward (Register-Guard): Student athletes at the University of Oregon may soon be able to study in a three-story, glass-and-aluminum building bound on three sides by a stone-lined reflecting pool. The study center will be built near Franklin Boulevard and Agate Street, just a short distance from the UO’s proposed new basketball arena. It’s the first step in what the university hopes will be a transformation of the area into a “learning neighborhood” that includes an academic support center for other students as well. It also will be another posh venue for the UO’s athletes, whose facilities are generating increasing concern from faculty who often work in far less modern buildings.