VIEWPOINTS
EDITORIALS. OPINIONS. LETTERS TO THE EOITOR
Smith uses tax refund
to buy voters’ support
■ OUR OPINION: M i - j
checks to slate taxpayers
wastes money that Oregon
cannot afford to lose
If you paid Oregon taxes
last year, your < her k is in
the mail.
And it will only ( Ost |In
state $823,000
With public schools and
higher odui ation in desper
ate need of funding, new
prisons being built,
im reased juvenile crime,
declining polii o fort es and
a dying timber industry.
$163.6 million in overpaid
taxes is being mailed to state
taxpayers
Oregon has a “kicker" law
that requires the state to
send back to citizens any tax
income in excess of its pro
diction. Thus, ti the state
estimates it will receive
$120 billion in taxes in a
giV'-tt year, am thing more
than that is returned to the
people.
Although it sounds ext it
ing, the chin ks amount to an
average of 0,7 percent of the
taxi's paid. As such, the peu
pie who earned the most
last year w ill get the most
hat k Annie Student opens
her mailbox to a $2.03
t heck, while Ms. (I'lanmure
gets to spend an extra
$2,000 tin that trip to the
islands.
Of course, that type of
money disbursement is sta
tus quo. What makes this
refund unique is that nor
mally the refund is credited
to the following year's taxes.
This year, the refunds are
being printed and mailed at
the additional cost of more
than $800,000 So why the
i hange? Gordon Smith and
elect ion-year politics.
Smith spearheaded the
refund-mailing legislation,
ami it's no coincidence that
tho checks are arriving at
tin* same time primary bal
lots are due With Smith
already spending millions
on his campaign for Hob
Pack wood's US Senate
seat, it’s doubtful he will let
this sharing of the wealth
slip by without taking the
credit.
it's also not surprising
that the biggest refunds will
be given to corporations,
some of them ro< eiving
( hecks in the St million
range. Of course, the corpo
rations' refunds are being
credited, no! mailed. People
vote; corporations support
campaigns
The mein problem, how
ever, is tiie "kii ker" law
itself. With the state lx*set
with the aforementioned
problems, not the least of
which is education-funding,
the last thing the money
should !w* used for is
insignifu ant < he< ks for the
poor and thousand-dollar
ch«H ks for the wealthy .
The money should be
used to pay teachers more,
re establish extracurricular
sports and other after-school
activities, or (gasp!) lower
the < ost of higher education.
The $16TO million means
only SI 20 per Oregonian on
average, but it could mean
much more if the money
were used for the common
good.
The Democrats tried to get
this law repealed but were
snuffed out by Republicans
Once again, big money and
big business took priority
At the very least, our elected
officials should save the
paper and stamps. If Gordon
Smith really wants to help
Oregonians, why not give
the money to the homeless?
Simple, because you can't
cast a ballot or receive a
check without a mailbox.
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Visit to doctor makes ill student sick
Sniffle — cough cough — sniffle* — aichoo.
As sure as the rain falls in Oregon and Dead
Week deprives us of sleep. the flu season is here
and its got an attitude
Recently, a nasty case of the erud for* ed me to
step inside the Halls of Medicine '
Yep, 1 had to go to the doc tors office You
know, that place that smells kind of sterile and
funny, and has a waiting room filled with
wheeling, sneezing and crying children? And
invariably, there's that one person with a gross,
gurgling smokers hack trying to keep from
coughing up a lung right there on the car|>et
f very time I have to wait in a room iiko that
(which isn't very often). I feel as if I'm being
exposed to a new strain of the Bubonic Plague
Why do all those sick people hang around in
there anyway? It's enough to give a person the
The doctor turned oul to be a
really t ool guy who knows his
trade inside and out
After he finished all his doc
toring stuff, he started to leave
the room and said: "Conte on
out to the lab area so we t an
get a biota! sample from you."
Mood sample? From me?
My palms went clammy and
I stuttered tan k "You want me
to So out there?"
OPINION
"Yeah, just no right over there and they'll tuke
care of you."
Thai's exactly what 1 was afraid of
Actually. I wasn't that nervous I've never had
a hi# problem with getting shots or having blood
drawn.
1 mean, it's not like I'd ever fainted 12 times
or anvthing like that
Only four times.
And only when it involved either blood or a
medical procedure.
So. 1 walked over to the lab area and met Mike
the radiology technologist.
This is where things started to get interesting
If you have an aversion to human blood or
humiliating situations, you may want to stop
reading right now.
Mike was cool. He handed me n little Nerf
likc* ball and told me to roll up my sleeve. He
instructed me to squeeze the ha I! three times,
make a fist, and let my fingers relax slowly.
“I'm not going to look." 1 told him as he got
the needle ready to draw some of my precious
blood.
"Neither am 1,1 never do — it makes me ner
vous." Mike said back. Sue h a funny guy.
And 1 laughed because he was only kidding.
Wasn't he?
His needle found my vein on the first try and I
could tell he was getting blood because, well,
you can kind of feel a yucky pull as the blood
leaves the vein
lif took the needle out. put a cotton bell on
the "hole" and told me to hold the cotton in
place for about three to five minutes.
By that time l started to fuel a little light-head
ed. That was no lug dual because I usually got
light-headed after giving blood.
And the next thing 1 knew. I had flat out faint
ed
1 was gone; checked out — see you after
Christmas break
Every time I’ve fainted 1 seem to go to a very
happy place — where there's nothing but bright
ness and happiness I think I tan fly or at least
slam-dunk a basketball there.
The bummer is I can never seem to stay long
enough to find out what the cost of living is
there.
Then suddenly, there was this face in front of
me asking questions like: "Do you know where
you are?"
I didn't.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" 1
think ! answered at least one of the questions,
hut 1 remember being quite puzzled as to why
the man (whom I began to recognize as Mike)
was yanking rite away from funland and bring
ing me back to reality.
I didn't like reality very much because reality
meant that I had fainted in the doctor's office
and, during the high drama. WET MV PANTS.
1 he lab people half carried my soggy mar end
into a separate room where they laid me on a
tied.
1 here I was, all bundled up in a blanket, feel
ing lousy and mortified.
Mike even accused mo of camping out.
I stayed there, with my legs elevated, for
almost two hours. Several staff members
checked on me as the shock wore off and my
blood pressure returned to normal.
1 finally got to the point where 1 thought 1
could make it home I sat up and slid off the
bed, and stood for aliout five minutes to make
sunt I didn t do a Fosberry Flop right there on
the floor.
1 sheepishly walked out into the lab area and
apologized to everyone for flooding the place
Ihen 1 struck out the side door and went
home hut not liefont Mike gave me a diaper
so 1 wouldn't get the car seat wet. What n guy.
I ake it from me: fiat your veggies; try to get
some sleep; wash your hands; get a flu shot, and
drink lots of liquids
And whatever you do, never, never. NEVER
go to a doctor when you're feeling sick
I could be hazardous to your ego's health.
David Bartlett. a junior premajoring in journal
i sm. is an editorial editor for the Emerald.