Western Front - 1975 February 4

              SMELT JIGGING - An estimated 4,000 people attended the LaConner Smelt Derby this past weekend.
AS salary adjustments Bill to extend veteran bonuses
Board rejects proposals pushed by local representative
GREG COHEN
Two salary proposals for members
of the Associated Students were
rejected without vote Thursday by the
AS Board of Directors.
The proposals would have increased
salaries for lower paid positions while
maintaining or decreasing salaries for
higher paid student positions.
Although it had taken an ad hoc
committee over two months to come
up with the proposals, the board
refused to even discuss them. Instead,
AS President Carla Higginson suggested
that members examine the current
salary scales and suggest new formulas
at the next meeting.
The salary scale for student
emDloves of AS organizations currently
range from $300 to $50 with the
average salary of $120.
The first proposal would have set all
salaries at $169 as a token
renumeration for student's time,
committee chairman Jack Fulk said.
The other proposal would have kept
the present three-level position formula
with salaries within the levels equal.
The first level, which includes the
AS president, program commissioner
and business manager, would remain at
$300, while those in the second level
would have been increased to $200.
Those in the last level would have
received $100.
On Nov. 21, the board had passed a
c o n t r o v e r s i a l 50 per cent
across-the-board wage increase but had
to rescind the decision following heavy
criticism from some quarters who felt
the board acted without sufficiently
analyzing the current AS pay scale and
with intentions of personal gain.
AS split causes membership woes
NANCY AUST
A bill has recently been introduced
in the House of Representatives in
Olympia which will extend the
Vietnam bonus to all servicemen on
active duty during the period of the
Southeast Asia conflict.
Representative Art Moreau,
D-Bellingham, is one of the sponsors of
House Bill 12.
This bill will provide a graduated
bonus, with those having service in the
Vietnam combat zone receiving $250.
Career servicemen now excluded from
the bonus would become eligible under
the amendments to the existing act.
"Washington State has paid a bonus
to all eligible servicemen and women
since World War II," Moreau said.
"Under the graduated bonus in the
proposed amendments, payments
would start at $100 for any Vietnam
veteran with military service over 89
days, all within the continental United
States."
Moreau added those who served
more than 90 days and with overseas
service of less than a year would
receive $150. Anyone qualifying with
more than a year overseas would be
paid a $200 bonus, even if the service
was not in Vietnam.
Moreau said the present law
prohibits payment to those veterans
who had five or more years continuous
service prior to Aug. 4, 1964, putting
them in the class of "career"
servicemen.
"This restriction is stricken from
the act by the proposed bill," Moreau
said. "Some 3,960 claims have been
denied as a result of the present
exclusion. The claims are on file and
would be among the first paid if the
amended bill passes and is signed into
law by the governor."
Moreau stated the bill has the
support of all veterans organizations
and would extend the bonus to some
8,000 additional veterans in the state.
Hostility among members of the AS
Board of Directors has caused the loss
of able and competent students to the
board, Hugh Merriman, one of two
students who were rejected tor a board
position, charged.
"Animosities between Steve Barrett
and the chairman of the board (Carla
Higginson) were the main reasons there
was no selection Thursday for a
facilities representative to the board,"
Merriman said.
Both Merriman and Kevin Brewer
had applied for the positions.
The board had interviewed Brewer
at the Jan. 23 meeting but was unable
to contact Merriman.
Higginson, who was absent, was
defeated in her request for an
additional week to interview the
candidates because the vacancy would
continue through the mid-term.
According to AS by-laws, the board
may approve or reject recommendation
for board positions only after the
chairman has recommended them.
"It's not just sour erapes at being
rejected for the position," Merriman
said. "But both of us were extremely
qualified for the position.
She recommended Merriman
but the board rejected his nomination
4-1, with one abstention.
Although Brewer was recommended
by Higginson, she broke a tie by voting
against him for the position.
In a letter to the board, Merriman
said, "As long as the maintenance of
the balance of power is the primary
objective of the board, it will continue
to function as it has been,
inefficiently."
Higginson now must readvertise the
position and schedule new interviews.
^
Prof to scale mountain
Being 40 doesn't seem to bother Leif-Norman Patterson, visiting professor of
Mathematics. He hopes to climb K2, the second highest mountain in the world this
summer. Page 2.
Reporters bring home relevant issues
A possible tuition increase, university status for Western and the fight over an
increase in faculty salaries were discussed at the 44th legislative session. Page 3.
K J