Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1977-1989 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 1982)
—w—’—i EVENTS CALENDAR^ Monday, Nov. 1 (through Nov. 9) Wednesday, Oct. 27 Thursday, Oct. 28 Friday, Oct. 29 Saturday, Oct. 30 Medicare/ Medicaid Workshop Movie: “Nosferatu” Sheriffs Testing Explorer Scouts Women’s Art Show 1*3 pm 2-5 pm 11:30 am - 1 pm 8 am - 5 pm Fireside Lounge P 101 All Dining Rooms Pauling Center 1-5 pm !-- Citizens, students,business rally to fight ‘3’ By J. Dana Haynes Of The Print Representatives from Clackamas Community Col lege, the county fire depart ments, police, senior citizens, high school students and businessmen, along with more than 300 concerned residents of the county, gathered in Oregon City last weekend to help fight against Ballot Measure 3. The combined press con ference and rally was the star ting point and command center for a canvassing blitz. Nearly every county in Oregon held a similar door-to-door campaign last weekend. The Clackamas County rally was spearheaded by Col lege Board member Ralph Groener and Roy Dancer, the county coordinator of Citizens in Support of Community Ser vices, an anti-Measure 3 organization. Mary Felmet, legislation advisory chairperson for the Oregon Education Association and the Oregon City Education Association was in charge of the hundreds of canvassers, who separated into groups of two and three and were assign ed approximately 100 homes each. Groener (D-Oregon City) is a member of the county Board of Commissioners. He explained that his opposition to the property tax role-back measure stems from its rigidity. “I’m tired of my property taxes, too. But if ‘S’ passes, and it doesn’t work, it will legally take “. . . this is simply a bad bill. It doesn’t consider students or senior citizens as essential. ” Commissioner Ralph Groener \_________ at least two years to change it. This state doesn’t have a surplus of money to cover such a problem, and I’m afraid it will make Oregon look less inviting to outside businesses,” he said. “Also, this is simply a bad bill. It doesn’t consider students or senior citizens as essential,” Groener said. “It will be the students who really lose. At Clackamas Community, we’ve had an open-door policy in a time when people have been too hard hit to afford the four- year schools. If ‘3’ passes, we’ll have to turn people away.” The College receives 55 percent of its funding through local property taxes. The passage of measure 3 would necessitate the estimated loss of 70 full-time employees. Among those speaking at the press conference was Harold Jeudes, a senior citizen from Oregon City and an ex teacher. “What would happen to senior citizen centers if this passes?” Jeudes asked. “They’ll have to be one of the first things cut.” Jeudes, who is on the board of directors for the Retired Seniors Volunteer Pro gram at the College, feels that most of the elderly population will rally behind the “No On 3” campaign. Clarkes District Fire Chief Jim Schreiber also spoke out against the measure. “The fire departments will undergo a vast curtailment of services,” Schreiber estimated. “In the professional departments, we expect cuts of 30 to 40 percent. Most of the volunteer departments fund themselves through taxes to pay for essential costs, such as lights, rent and food. If these cuts happen, it’ll mean closing the door to some of these places,” he said. “You can’t cut a volunteer’s pay, so the money has to come out of the level of service.” In Oregon, 85 percent of all fire service is voluntary. Ac cording to the State Accident Insurance Fund, more than 10,000 Oregonians are volunteer firefighters. Jeudes also spoke up for the fire departments, saying that the majority of calls a fire department responds to are from seniors. Other speakers at the con ference included Emma Espinal, the College’s Associated Student Govern ment Assistant to the Presi dent; a staff writer for The Print, Shelley Ball; Charley Williams, a businessman from Molalla; Chuck Clemens, the superintendent of schools for Oregon City; Officer Al Vetter from the 'Oregon City police department; and Brett Arm field and Terry Donahue, the student body presidents from Oregon City and West Linn High Schools, respectively. I’m concerned about the education from kindergarten to high school,” Armfield said. “The people who support ‘3’ are saying ‘Hey, education isn’t important’.” “If this bill passes, 38 per cent of the district’s money will be lost,” Donahue said. “Students at my school are ac tively seeking the defeat of ‘3’.” Harry Christianson, newsman from KYXI radiò and a member of the Clackamas County Library Board helped organize the rally. “When our (the library system) current three-year levy runs out next June, we wouldn’t be able to ask for another one,” Chris tianson said. “We might have to create a users fee and separate cards for each library.” Currently, a library card is good for any facility in the county, including the College’s. Rev. Jim Tomlin from the Milwaukie United Church of Christ, attended the con ference to express his fears. “I realize a need for property tax restraints,” he said. “But the present proposal creates vic tims of sehiors, children and the poor. There has to be a bet ter way.”