LCC Zone 1: Holman.

Byline: The Register-Guard

It's not exactly the New York City newspaper wars, but the race for the Zone 1 seat on the Lane Community College Board of Education features battling publishers. Two of the three candidates in the West Lane zone are current or former owners of publications based in Florence. One of the three, Paul Holman, is a safe bet for voters; electing either of the other two would be a gamble.

Holman, 58, owned and published the Siuslaw News for 21 years. He sold the newspaper in 2001 and is now a real estate broker. Holman is solidly connected to western Lane County - he went to high school in Florence, is a former Chamber of Commerce president, serves on the Siuslaw School District Budget Committee and helped get the hospital and events center built.

He's also connected to LCC. He served on the LCC Florence advisory board for eight years. He resigned from that position last December to accept an appointment to the LCC Board. Now he's running for election to the two years remaining in the four-year term. LCC Board candidates must live within their zones, but are elected by voters throughout the college district.

Holman was well-prepared when he took the appointment, and after six months of service on the board he's no longer a newcomer. He's committed to retaining the breadth and quality of LCC's course offerings, even if that means charging higher tuition - but he also favors developing other sources of revenue, such as private sponsorship of training programs. Holman has common sense and flexibility, as well as a deep appreciation of LCC's ability to prepare people for good-paying jobs or further education.

The second publisher is Rob Spooner, 56, owner of Oregon Coast magazine and an online travel service. Spooner is skeptical of the college's claims of financial distress, believing that many opportunities for cost savings have not been fully exploited. If Spooner were elected, he'd become the board's resident iconoclast - the member most inclined to question administrators' assumptions and analyses. It's often useful to have a board member who will play that role.

It's not certain, however, that Spooner could work well with the other six board members. He resigned from the LCC Florence advisory board in frustration over the college's unwillingness to expand the number of transfer courses at the coastal satellite campus. On his Web site, Spooner states that LCC's primary purpose should be to prepare students for further education at the University of Oregon. LCC's mission is much broader than that.

A third candidate, Rich Cunningham, 44, also deserves voters' attention. Though it's sometimes considered the Florence district, Zone 1 extends into west Eugene, where Cunningham, an insurance broker, lives.

Cunningham ran for the Eugene City Council last year. He served on a school board in Rhode Island before moving to Eugene, and has family members attending LCC. His interest in a board position stems from his having grown frustrated with program cuts, and from his sense that the college isn't doing all it can to improve efficiency. Cunningham, more than either Holman or Spooner, believes that LCC board members should be vocal advocates for community colleges before local governments and the Legislature.

Both Spooner and Cunningham will appeal to voters who believe that the LCC Board could stand a shake-up. But LCC itself is being shaken by outside events, and the college needs the board to act as a steadying influence. Holman is well-prepared to help provide that stability. Voters should choose him to serve the remainder of the term in Zone 1.

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