News
Students persuade City Council to pass peace resolution
T amra S chelot
Staff Reporter
Seniors Lucas Pinelli, Kirk
Larsen and Chelsea Callas
presented the Department of
Peace Resolution before the
West Linn City Council on
Nov. .10 for public discussion
and Council vote.
"(This is a) Proactive
solution, rather than a reactive
solution. Instead of responding
to symptoms, it would address
the root causes," Pinelli said
at the meeting. He cited
domestic violence as one of
the direct issues on which
the department will focus. In
Clackamas and Multnomah
County alone, over 1,000
adults and children stay in
shelters due to domestic or
sexual violence. These two
counties combined have
average 21 night stays for
those escaping abuse.
The group spent a total of
20 hours starting at the end
of last school year, on top of
schoolwork and maintaining
a social life, to work toward
its goal. Once school was out
for the summer, the three
continued to work diligently,
taking precious time away
from loitering and putting it
into work and study according
to Larsen.
"Lucas's mom took us out
to eat a couple times after
working on the project and I
savored every last bite of every
meal she provided—and that
was one of our incentives. But
we are strong advocates for
peace and feel strongly that
war is uncivil, immature and
a poor way of dealing with
conflicts," Larsen said.
The Peace Alliance works
Chelsea Callas, Kirk Larsen and Lucas Pinelli, seniors, prepare
for the City Council meeting to pass a resolution in support of the
establishment of a U.S. Department of Peace. The students succeeded
in passing the bill making West Linn the 38th city in the U.S. to
support it.
Photo submitted by Kara Hansen
toward the promotion of peace
and is attempting to establish
a U.S. Department of Peace.
They long to empower civic
activism and bring peace to
the forefront of policy making,
investment and understanding.
On an international scale,
Callas spoke of the need for
peace experts employed who
could advise officials how to
solve problems without using
violence. Civilian peacekeepers
would be employed for
nonviolent police forces.
"With a Department of
Peace to advise the President,
Model United Nations presents...
INDIA NIGHT
Join the West Linn High School Model United Nations
Club on Saturday, January 17 for an entertaining
and culturally enlightening evening of India.
•Authentic, catered Indian dinner
•Traditional dance routine performed by students
•Live Indian background music
•Friendly, Indian-themed atmosphere
•Authentic Bollywood movie
Saturday, January 17
$8
Students
$10
Adults
$13
6:30-9 p.m,
See Todd Jones, Room 106 for tickets
money," Callas said.
Another reason to strive for
peace is to achieve equilibrium.
"If we have a Department of
Defense it would only make
sense to have a Department
of Peace to balance it," Larsen
said.
The City Council asked
the students to present this
resolution to the Council vote
on whether or not to support
this movement in Washington
D.C. The policy question for
Council consideration was:
does the Council support the
creation of a U.S. Department
of Peace? There are no budget
impacts to the city associated
with passing this resolution.
The Council voted
unanimously in support of the
establishing the Department of
Peace.
"A handful of high
school student groups have
participated in passing city
council resolutions, and only
one other has led the effort like
West Linn High School did.
The Student Peace Alliance
national organization, active
at over 130 schools, is thrilled
to see West Linn make such a
significant impact. As students
and youth throughout the
country continue to organize
city council resolution
campaigns, they will be
looking to West Linn for
guidance," Aaron Voldman,
Student Peace Alliance
Executive Director, said of the
trio's efforts.
In Oregon, Portland,
Corvallis and Lincoln City
have passed the same
resolution. West Linn is the
38th city in the United States to
adopt it.
Economics affect scholarships
A shley S heron
Staff Reporter
As the days become
numbered for high school
seniors, so does the deadline
to apply for scholarships.
According to the New York
Times, most colleges have
announced that they will
have selective hiring freezes
and put aside construction
projects to budget for more
financial aid.
"With the economy in
it's current state, it has
been extremely stressful
for me and for my family
as I apply to college. Most
of the schools I'm looking
at are more on the frugal
side when it comes to how
much money they give to
prospective freshmen,"
Mimi d'Autremont, senior,
said. "I'm just doing my
best to focus on getting my
applications in and applying
for as many scholarships
as I can so the burden is a
li tt l e e a s i e r on
my
parents."
sure they keep track of those
deadlines.
Sports scholarships are
more competitive. According
to the New York
Times, out of
the 1,025,762
high school boys
- participating in
football only 19,549
are awarded with
scholarships each year
and the yearly value
per recipient is $12,98^
Out of the 602,930 high
school girls participating in
track and field/cross country,
only 4,506 are awarded with
scholarships and the yearly
value per recipient is $8,105.
Oregon State University
was recently endowed with a
boost in scholarship funds.
J
According
to the University of Oregon
website, meeting its priority
deadline gives students the
best chance of receiving the
most financial aid. Deadlines
vary for different schools
so, applicants need to make
Sciiaiarstiips___________________ ■
continued on page 3
Cell tower causes debates within district
Gen Tiwer Debate
continued from page 1
•Henna tattoos available
Children under 14
the Secretary of Defense and
the Secretary of State, it will
be possible to prevent further
armed conflict and replace it
with peaceful means, while
at the same time saving this
country an enormous sum of
Community members
and parents have debated
whether losing that much
monthly revenue for the
school is worth taking the
chance, especially when data
is inconclusive.
"The safety of those at the
school was the basis for this
decision. If it is truly a safety
issue, then it is the right
decision. The money that
was being received for this
always went directly to the
district office, so this decision
is not impacting the school
directly," Rob Holstrom,
Athletic Director, said.
When an inquiry began
about placing a new tower
at Wilsonville High School,
questions were raised
about the existing tower at
WLHS. Because the current
contract does not expire until
2020, the tower will not be
removed anytime soon.
"O ur new policy prohibits
new tower placements on
school property and states
that we will not renew the
current tower contracts,"
Hoogestraat said. The policy
also states that the district
will oppose any proposed
towers on adjacent or nearby
property. According to the
School Board, the tower
could potentially hamper the
utilization of school property
for future development.
Although some local
school districts have turned
away possible cell tower
vendors, no other district
in the state has adopted a
policy such as West Linn-
Wilsonville has. The Lake
Oswego School District has
the most cell phone sites in
the Portland area, with nine,
which brings the district
$200,000 per year. Portland
Public Schools have seven
wireless sites; Beaverton has
three and Gresham-Barlow
has one.
"School safety vs. school
funds, the district will always
side with school safety and
figure out another way to
deal with the loss of funds.
The administration at the
high school is in support of
this decision," Holstrom said.
"They are overreacting too
soon. They should do more
tests and then if they find
out something is wrong, then
they should take action," Lisa
Wang, sophomore, said.
According to Hoogestraat,
it would be speculative to
comment on how the loss of
revenue will affect funding in
the classrooms and schools in
the future.
"The tower will be in place
until at least 2020 under
current contract. Technology
may well be quite different
in 10 plus years, so I don't
know about potential impact
(on cell service for the
surrounding area). If, in fact,
research shows conclusively
that towers are safe, the
board can change the policy
to accommodate towers as
they see fit," Hoogestraat
said.