EDITORIAL
Measure 5 doesn’t
live up to promises
Good thing Measure 5 (Missed last year, or things
would be mightv boring these days around Oregon, in
terms of taxes Now, instead of property and home
owners exclusively enjoying the pleasures of buckling
under a massive tax burden, we can ail join in the fun.
Voters approved Hallo! Measure 5 last November in
hopes of lessening the state's property taxes. The move
stemmed from the understandable urge to plug up. the
seemingly bottomless pit of governmental spending.
The consequential tax limit reduced money avail
able for st.ite funded operations, resulting in some
painful'effects One example was this year's almost
one third tuition hike for Oregon's public-colleges and
universities This, combined with' a reduction in de
grue program offerings, faculty and staff positions, and
eligible student numbers made more than property
mv tiers feel the t ranch
Hut hey it would all lie worth it,wouldn't e*
Property owners would get their break, making the off)
e; tin.mci.il be!! and chains easier So lug Right/Wrong
I ..me ('.minty landowner s got a big surprise recently
whei tiles started rei.eis mg the first post Measuie 5 tax
statements their tax bills wore nearly as much as last
years
1 he measure had seduf tivoh proposed about I
percent worth ut savings on tax bills should voters p.
it And pass it tiles did who wouldn't ‘ But a tunnx
thing happened after the fund reducing measure was
approved. Property value assessments suddenly rox<
over most of the state 20 percent in the Kugerto
Springfield area,
(Ini in idem e ■' No Lac k of bu< ksv ’i es
However, the possibility state government would
just get its money in a different w.i\ should voters up
prove the measure conveniently got left out of the do
bate Now. landowners have their tax cut. but with
their land worth more, they end up paying as much as
they did in the first place
Next year's disappearance of Oregon's Homeowner
and Renter Refund Program is another remedy for the
lost money. The program, which every fall for the last
17 years rebated part of homeowners' and renters'
housing payments, will be axed in an effort to deal
with Measure 5 cuts.
So Oregonians' efforts to send a message that
they're tired of scraping the bottom of the pot when it
comes to paying taxi's seems all for naught.
Voters said "no," yet still end up paying, facing
more problems than when they started — problems
that affect more than just the state's property owners
Gov. Barbara Roberts' effort to find replacement
monies via her "Conversation with Oregon" now con
tinues with her closed-circuit television appearances
to. and survey of, voters. The "Conversation" will go
until next Marc h
Citizens can hope this frustrating situation will be
resolved in a real wav through this process. Oregonians
tend to get itc h\ when the wool is [lulled over their
C\ es
Oregon Patlv
Emerald
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SWINE L>X£
OPINION
It wasn’t the Club Med vacation
THE FINE
PRINT
BV DON PETERS
Last May ! joint d tin* "..i
llon.tl Guard I fc-tprustrd
infantry training
Stnki• one
They sent me to Fort Hen
ning. (i.i
Strike two
In the middle of the summer
Strike three Next butter
please
i it those of you who have
never been In the South during
the tint months. I ll explain It
usually runs to about '.it) de
grees w 11h 00 pen ent humidity
In full gear, you swelter until
your clothes are drenched
Then it usually rams, wheroup
oil the humidity goes up even
higlur
1 finished my base training
and s« iire tii mv self 1 w t old
never again live in a plate that
g.iver 'Ml degt - -■ \nlan tit a
Xxtcaid be p 1 tui s .i n 11 v mild, I
thought, when con Ira strut to
Georgia humidity
f ills lust weekend, while on
tin:! with my National Guard
unit I Was I i It-* x hat k foi 11V
on those I ort Henning memo
ties as a time ol good fortune,
great w • illier and high living
! lev sent us up - Yakima.
\\ ash ! hail nos it hi t n in t ■ (.
Hal Washington, an-! 1 lonki i
forw irti to it. despite the fre
quent warnings that it might he
a httle i old
Colti, I thought How tough
l oulli it Im'
We got off the bus If! the
middle of the night I looked
around in astonishment at ^ ak
ima (apparently the Indian
word tor wasteland.1 lhe Arms
only puts up liases in the most
desolate of areas cheap land
with no other uses lhe real
scars places get turned Into br
ing ranges
; hi Yakutia Firing Kan go
h i- no tn-“s N-. :n- /.ip Zero
hist sagebrush and six uuhes ol
i f ' l-:t k : i W uod prod lil ts
Would : ulli!' Iwil to haunt I!;i'
\ i; rded us imhi u tint k
1 ■■ »r l!:- hour-long trip out to the
M <i0 in.ii him; gun tiring range
il possible, the range was even
nw'r desolate fh.in the base
i .un|i
Surmising th.it a tin- had re
(i ullv swept through the area. I
figure.I tin1 starkness of the
hind was due to nature taking
its sweet 11nits getting hack to
normal I asked tin? tango offi
cer alniut my theorv
"Nope,” the captain said
It's alnays like this
On the t ohi s< ale. the weath
er was somewhere between un
bearable and unbelievable A
luting wind swept across the
range, and there was no trover.
My |ob as an ammunition bear
er (read low man on totem
j: lej lor an M-(H) team is really
jiisl a glorified name lor a pack
mule I lug around equipment
and hold tile ammo so il foods
properly into the gun
t a riseijuentlv, I sjient the en
tire day i touched into the snow
with one hand up. cursing and
alternately trying to stay warm
Writer's riufe: Using a Zippo
lighter to thaw your fingers is
definitely a last resort kind of
tactic.)
finally and mm ifully. the
day ended just as the sun
due ked behind the mountains
As we were pai king up to
leave, the range officer came
over to my squad, whir h con
sisted of nine guys in a foul
mood
I "here weren’t enough trucks
to get everybody bat k to the
base camp, the captain said
lia ha ha, we laughed
Somebody's going to have to
stay behind
Ha ha, w e chut kled
You're it
Ha uni, that's not very
funny
But unfortunately, it was the
truth We had to stav behind,
brave the i old and wait for the
trm ks to come back at least a
two hour wait
W hen it got liark, it got cold
cr Survive and adapt is the
motto of the infantry soldier,
and we did Uegalliei d up the
paper targets, sagebrush, etc ,
and somebody fiii ked a Die
Idle lire was warm, but we
quickly ran out ol tilings to
burn Alter an hour, the targets
were all gone, foraging parties
bad stripped the immediate
area bare, and the first oblique
references to the Donner party
were put forth
Idle range officer stayed be
hind, mostly to keep us from
tearing down the three-story
wood range tower and the ply
wood target holders Hut inuti
m w as fermenting, and after 90
minutes, the ultimatum was de
livered
In ill) minutes, my squad
leader said, the Itrsl target hold
er would come down livery
hall hour alter that, another
would he sacrificed until We
were picked up II we ran mil
of target holders, the range tow
er was going to make a very
pretty bonfire
One guy couldn't wait He
came back with a piece ol
wood, covered in gray paint
Idle only thing painted that col
or w as the tower, so the i aptaill
was immediately suspicious
' Where did you get thut,” he
demanded
‘■fim, it was just lying
there,” the intrepid forager an
swered
The captain accepted the ex
planation, apparently for mo
rales sake He ignored the hunt
nails sticking out of the hoard
five minutes before the first
target holder w as to go up, the
truiks finally arrived. Some of
file squad members were disap
pointed, figuring we had the
tight to torch -it least one of the
them
Sufficiently thawed hack at
the base camp, I revised tn\
opinion on cold, (add is just as
had as hot. How come they
never send us to Club Med for
training7
It was just a thought.