I was feeling the pangs of loss and mourning. Eugene, my father-in-law, had become a big part of my life. But, for the past five years he had been fighting a terminal cancer. He had lost that battle just the week before. Trying to find the silver lining at times like these is tough. But then it struck me.

"Hooray for Eugene." There is was, staring at me. Actually, it was emblazoned across the shirt worn by my student . His father worked for the City of Eugene and had been able to get a shirt promoting the grand opening of the Eugene Performing Arts Center. The design was a director's scene board. The title of the production was " 'Hooray for Eugene', starring - Eugene Performing Arts Center, Date - Grand Opening 1982, Prod. Co. - Citizens of Eugene." It seemed a fitting way to remember Eugene, to have his name on the city's newest and boldest monument. The new city theater had been promoted and sold to the citizens as a symbol of what it meant to be a Eugenean. For two years the "Eugene Center" was a major local news item. It had never meant more to me than a building with a price tag until I started seeing it as something more. The grand opening was just a few days away and although my father-in-law had nothing to do with the Eugene Performing Arts Center, I knew everytime I drove past, everytime I saw that name - I would recall this man who had come to mean so much to me.

Just when things were beginning to feel right again, a Register Guard headline jolted me into a new stage of loss. On the eve of the opening of the Eugene Performing Arts Center, my newspaper was telling me, "Arts center to bear Hult name". It just didn't seem right. At a time when it had become important, I felt the name and symbol of Eugene was being torn away. It was then I became mobilized. And, I was to find I was not alone, but, I think, not for the same reasons. Many members of the community also became enraged at the name change and felt it was a betrayal. I also felt a loss, but of a different ilk. Still, I was moved enough to join a small group of community activist who were intent on restoring the name of "Eugene" to the performing arts center.

I personally had no animosities toward Jewel and Nils Hult, the benefactors who had made arrangements to provide as much as $3 million to support the facility. Mr. Hult reportedly said he was giving the money "on the conviction the center will be 'the greatest thing that ever happened to Eugene'." However, I was to find that the procedures used to change the name were not only deceptive, but illegal.

The actual name change had to be approved by the Eugene City Council. The council was asked to decide at an exclusive pre-opening dinner. The members were presented with the resolution that called for the name change in light of the announced plan to give the $3 million. A quick analysis of events leading to the unanimous action demonstrated no prior public notices were made which invalidated the action as a violation of Oregon's open meetings law. A closer analysis showed that while the public was made aware of efforts to sell names for the various theaters in the center, no notice was ever made of an attempt to sell the name of the center itself.

Complicating the issues for me was the fact that Edwin "Ted" Baker, publisher of the Register Guard, was also on the board of the Eugene Arts Foundation, a driving force behind the Eugene Performing Arts Center. As a former working journalist, I was to learn Baker was prominent in the renaming boondoggle. According to the RG report, Baker introduced the name-change resolution to the council. In his introduction he called the Hult contribution "the largest single charitiable gift ever made by a single family in the history of Oregon." This statement struck a sour note because just the day before, the Register Guard's top story was about a $3 million dollar gift to the University of Oregon Library from the estate of William H. Harris. I surmised that Baker was one of the conspirators who abused the meetings law, something Oregon journalists fought for years to achieve. Journalistically, his behavior was beneath contempt. On top of that, it was clear he didn't even read his own newspaper. I was appalled.

This new information led me to the editorial offices of the Register Guard where I made my pleas for a restoration of the good name of "Eugene". I also challenged an editorial by Don Bishoff that argued the Eugene City Council well publicized a decision made two two years earlier to name parts of the center and the center itself for major donors to the Eugene Arts Foundation...."The decision was well publicized. Any objections should have been sounded long ago," he alleged. After sufficient evidence and presssure, Bishoff was forced to recant and to report that the selling of the center's name had been omitted from earlier notices.

When I spoke with Cynthia Wooten, then a city councilor, about the irregularities of the council action , she expressed considerable concern at the procedure herself. She also had been given no notice of the planned resolution, but felt she had no other choice when asked to cast her vote in front of Eugene's elite citizenry. She also expressed sympathy for those who felt the name had been taken from the general community. It was a sort of bait-and-switch technique used by unscrupulous marketeers.

The letters and complaints continued to mount. Picketeers rained on the Hult parade. The council was forced to reconvene and reconsider the name change. In light of the city's need for endowment monies to support the center in a time of economic recession, it was no surprise that the council reconfirmed its earlier decision. This time, though, it was done properly with all appropriate legal notices. As a token gesture, the Hult Center's address was to become 1 Eugene Centre. Some councilors thought the transposed r and e gave it a more British and therefore artsy feel.

I thought that would be the end of it. I saw that the name "Eugene" would not make it on the markee. It was just a silly idea, anyway. Imagine my surprise and delight when I learned the next year that, at the request and leadership of Councilor Wooten, the city would have a party that would coincide with the anniversary of the performing arts center's grand opening. It was to be called "The Eugene Celebration." My father-in-law may have even smiled.