EDITORIAL
Invest in education
with lottery money
With the ongoing budget crunch statewide, state leg
islators are looking for new ways to fund essential pro
grams.
One of the proposals currently being considered
would divert some lottery dollars to fund public edu
cation In Oregon. Lottery money is used now to fund
economic development projects throughout the state,
If the legislature passes this bill, it would bo placed on
the ballot for a May 16 election. Should voters approve
the measure, lottery dollars would fund education as
well as economic development, the current destination
for the money.
The idea is an excellent one. Oregonians gamble mil
lions of dollars every year In the state lottery, and edu
cation is badly in need of money If both the need and
the money are there, the state has no excuse for not
funding education with the available funds rather than
make students statewide suffer Keno for the kids could
be an interesting way of funding the neighborhood
school.
Currently, lottery dollars fund economic develop
ment, usually in the form of expanding museums,
tourism facilities and other programs that make Oregon
,i more livable state ter locals and more attractive to
those visiting from outside the state. However, Oregon
must determine what its priorities are What Is the point
of building a museum if Oregon’s youth can't read?
Although many agree the lottery should fund educa
tion. there art? other proposals that aren't as favorable.
State Senate President (Jordon smith wants to link the
allocation of lottery dollars to education with « trust that
would help to fund education in the next century.
Smith, a Republican, wants to develop the trust,
endowed partially by lottery dollars, so it has $1 bil
lion by ihe end of the decade Proceeds from that
account would fund education.
The Senate may pass the trust tend provision, but the
House didn’t support the measure when it first consid
ered the bill. This may be ihe downfall for either the
trust fund or the entire lottery proposal
Though the idea may seem good on the surface, trust
funds an? an unrealistic way of funding education. A fat
trust fund for education will become a funding source
for other programs, and when the time comes to fund
education, there will be no money left A quick fix in the
short nm, a trust fund is a bad idea in the long term.
The idea to fund education from the lottery is not a
total fix to the chronic problem of funding education
in Oregon. Only months of work on the part of the leg
islature will help to alleviate the budget crunch schools
are expected to encounter.
However, this proposal is a slop in Ihe right direction,
and will help to ease the budget shortfalls education is
expected to have during the next biennium.
Oregon Doily
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Aa\kriC a
Contract
on
America
■ LETTERS
Morally right?
Sadly. your observation that
"Roe vs Wade will not lx* over
turned*' is true The "pro
( hoii .e/death" movement will
march on However, your state
ment that “(TJhe only way for
the decision to he negated
would he for a constitutional
amendment" reveals your com
plete ignorance of Constitution
al adjudication Unlike the Hill
of Rights, which has been
severely curtailed in several
Instances, a woman's “right” to
exterminate her child is not a
fundamental right guaranteed by
the Constitution Contrary to
your poorly formed legal opin
ion, if you multiplied Justice
Scalia by five, abortion would
!»e illegal
Even given the legality of
killing humans in the name of
women's right, is it morally
right* Just l»ecuiuse our nation’s
laws allow this type of murder
does not make it right For
example, in Dred-Scott, the
Supreme C iourt determined that
blac ks were not human, rather,
they were viewed as chattel
Hitler mandated that Jews were
not human and exterminated six
million Both policies were
legal, but were they "right?”
1 do not c ondone any type of
violence Killing doctors and
other workers providing this
"service” reduces the pro-life
movement to the same sordid
level as those performing the
massacre of innoc ent humans 1
realize my word choice will
offend people However, people
need to realize that unless a sur
gical killing is performed on a
woman, she will, as if Cod
planned it that way, give birth to
an infant I pray that Cod have
mercy on your souls and forgive
you.
Scott Harwell
Law
Focus on N.Y.
The "Northern Rockies
Ecosystem Protection Ac t" hill
was again introduced to the
House of Representatives this
month It has been rejected four
times already. What is so inter
esting is that the bill was intro
duced by Rep Carolyn Maloney,
from New York
The bill calls for a complete
ban on logging and other com
menial activity on more than If*
million acres of forests, from
Wyoming to Oregon and Wash
ington. Needless to snv. this
would greatly affect the
economies of the states named
in the bill, and especially the
communities that rely on the
forestry business for their liveli
hood I am sure if a bill was
introduced that would affect her
own state ns much, with thou
sands of jobs lost and revenues
gone, the representative would
not he so quick to support it. 1
also find it interesting that the
supporters are not focusing on
the environmental problems in
their own states
Oregon was found to be the
healthiest state in the United
States in an environmental
study done last year, and New
York produces most of the coun
try's garbage Remember that
barge full of tons of waste that
floated around for so long' I
think the supporters of this bill
should clean up their own states
first, instead of trying to pass the
focus onto another state, which
is doing quite well without their
help
Dayna Terry
Undeclared
Save the wolves
Brian Womack, in his ]an 24
column, attacks wolf reintro
duction as a project of "Big Ciov
ernment" and as therefore
unwarranted I would like to
attempt to set the record straight
on this important program
hirst, have you ever seen a
wolf? I don't mean your friend's
(wt hybrid, 1 mean a real wolf, in
the wild. If you had, you would
realize they are far more com
plex social creatures than
"vicious killers." (What about
what we white folk did to
Native Americans or African
Americans?) This label is an
unfortunate stereotype started
by fairy tales and encouraged by
(■anchors. Wolves have families,
protect their young and commu
nicate in ways w« have not yet
begun to understand
Second, wolves have inhabit
ed North America far longer
than humans, including Native
Americans. This makes us the
invaders, by a few thousand
years How would you like it if a
wolf came to your door with a
shotgun and told you to leave?
Or would you rather they just
started shooting without a warn
ing' We have already destroyed
their livelihood by extirpating
them from the lower 48 states,
the least we can do is provide
them with a little leeway in the
last remaining wilderness areas,
like Yellowstone and central
Idaho.
Third, most predators keep
the balance. Evolution is driven
by mutations; most mutations
are bad. and must be eliminat
ed quickly so they don't repro
duce. This is where wolves and
other predators come in. Studies
show that when wolves hunt,
they are actually unsuccessful
the vast majority of the time;
they only kdi the weak, old, and
excess young Instead of trying
to eliminate competition, ranch
ers should encourage predators
Further, compensation pro
grams such as that started by
Defenders of Wildlife in Mon
tana should be expanded.
Finally, wolves are coura
geous. beautiful creatures, at
least the equal of humans, even
if they don't follow the trap
pings of modern, “civilized"
society. They deserve to exist on
this world as much as any other
creature, to flourish. Iiear young,
grow old and die If we as a
species don't find a way to
allow this, we will bear the bur
den of this decision. Such a path
will inevitably lead to less bio
diversity; it may lead to our own
demise, as well
Marty Bergoffen
Law
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