The Clackamas print., January 22, 1992, Image 1

GLA CK A M A S
Vol.XXVNo.10
COLLEGE
COMMUNITY
Oregon City, Oregon
January 22,1992
College board votes in tax base
Photo by David VanKeuren
Nan Hage and Rich Holoch release fish to enhance the surface
water and create a better enviroment
Fingerling fish released
into ELC's Newell Creek
Jennifer Lessard
rector of the ELC Nan Hage.
News Editor
The fish release is part of the
About 5,000 fingerling fish project to enhance the surface water
were released Friday into Newell and create a better environment
Creek at the John Inskeep Environ- According to Rich Holoch, the
(ELC).
program coordinator for the sur­
TTifTELCTs"part of the Sandy
face water management program
River Hatchery and Fish and Wild­ working in cooperation with the
life Step Program. It makes two to ELC, "fish are a symbol of clean
three releases of Coho Salmon or water, and in an effort to support
Steelhead into the creek each year.
the salmon runs, clean up the water
The fingerlings have been
and promote public knowledge of
hatched and raised at the ELC in
the necessity for clean water, they
preparation for their release into
are released. The Fish and Wildlife
the creek. The ELC incubates the program encourages people to be a
eggs for a period of time and after part of the Step Program.”
they hatch and lose their yolk sacs
Holoch is in charge of public
they are released into the wild. In involvement for the program and
order to incubate the eggs, the ELC
explains that, “water is central to
has a special set-up to keep cool
everything,” and there is a “need to
water constantly running through
manage surface water.”
the hatching tanks.
Part of the energy spent on
Within the next four years the surface water management is shared
inch-long critters will grow and with the protection of soil erosion.
make their way into the Abernathy Limiting clearing, maintaining
Creek downstream to the Clacka­ natural vegetation, and keeping
mas River, then into the Willam­ natural drainage ways open are just
ette. From there, the fish will travel
a few ways that soil erosion can be
into die Columbia River and then stopped.
out to the ocean. Only 2%, or 2 in
Holoch explains that the less
every 3,000 fish released will re­
soil erosion, the better quality of
turn to their natural spawning
water there is for the fish to live in.
grounds in Newell Creek. The oth­
ers will not survive the treacherous
travel, according to Assistant Di­
Photo by David VanKouron
Fingerling fish were released by the thousands into Newell
Creek. The fish were raised at the ELCv in preparation. -
by Nolan Kidwell
Features Editor
The Clackamas Community
College Board of Education has
unanimously voted to request a
tax base for the college, on the
May 19,1992 primary election
baHoL
“Clackamas is the only col­
lege in the state thatdoesn’thave
a tax base,” said College Presi­
dent John Keyser.
The college currently uses a
serial levy which requires voter
approval every two to three years.
“The tax base proposal is just to
lock in this share of a decreasing
amount of property tax dollars,”
according to Keyser.
“A tax base does not mean
what it used to,” he said. Many
voters correlate a tax base with
the annual six percent increase
which older tax bases often con­
tained, said Keyser. This will not
increase property taxes, he said.
Because of Ballot Measure
5, over the next four years, the
local schools will receive $5 in­
stead of the prior $15 which it
received for every $1000 dollars
of assessed property tax value.
The state is required to make up
the difference until 1995 and 1996.
Clackamas will see a rate reduc­
tion from $1.42 to nearly 47 cents
for every $1000 assessed value.
Hiis tax base does not affect these
Measure 5 reductions.
“What has happened with
Measure 5 is that the college no
longer has the flexibility of ask­
ing taxpayers for more help,” said
Keyser.
A tax base would save the
college the trouble of holding a
serial levy election every three
years, and would make sure that
Photo by Nolan Kidwail
CCC’s Board of Education unanimously voted to request a tax
base for the college.The measure will be on the May 19,1992
primary ballot
Clackamas con tin ues to receive the
same portion ofthe local tax dollar
as funds shrink to meet the limits
Set by Measure 5.
“You save quite a bit of money
when you don’t have elections,”
said Keyser.
Keyser is afraid that many
voters will not understand what
having a tax base will mean.
“Anytime people don’t understand
something they tend to vote no,” he
said. “I think that we need to do a
lot of educating in the community
about Measure 5 and the tax base
under Measure 5.”
Keyser expressed concerns
about the loss of state funding and
makeup of lost revenue which will
occur in 1995 and 1996. He feels
that it is critical that the college
uses the tax base to hold the line
on the college budget. “We know
taxpayers are concerned,” he said.
‘We need to keep looking for ways
to cut costs and deliver courses
mere effectively.
Loss of funds due to Measure 5
Year
Rate
Home Value
1991
$1.37
$100,000
$137.00
1992
$1.28
$107,000
$163.96
1993
$1.12
$114,490
$128.23
1994
$0.89
$122,504
$109.03
1995
$0.67
$131,080
$87.82
1996
$0.45
$140,255
$63.11
Tax
Appreciation Rate 7%
CCC requires graphic calculators
Math survives technological changes
by Tracy Hobbs
Staff Writer
For students who think they
are losing the battle against math
there is some encouraging news.
At Clackamas, the instructors are
trying to make math more interest­
ing by adding technological changes
as they occur.
Clackamas was the first of area
colleges to require students to use
graphing calculators and now many
other schools are following suit.
The math department also purchased
10 calculators to loan out to stu­
dents who can not afford them.
The topic of America’s math
scores has been open for a long
time. Newspapers and magazine
articles are constantly showing the
United States ranked lowest in math
scores. Don Hutchison, math de­
partment head, feels the articles are
not sound. “One of the things ne­
glected in performance surveys is
the freedom to try, fail and eventu­
ally succeed.” ;>■
Hutchison added that the U.S. is
actually not that low in scores. “Our
top students are very competitive
(with students from other nations),”
Hutchison said.
At CCC, students’ problems with
math are unique. The average stu-
of math has come with the ad­
vances in the work place. Impor­
tant changes in the economy re­
quire workers to think mathemati­
cally when problem solving in their
jobs. Hutchison stated, “If a worker
can detect (any problem) at his or
her work station, that saves the
company money.”
Hutchison said that the use of
"Our top students
graphing calculators fits nicely with
are very competitive what industry wants schools to be
doing. “Companies want employ­
(with students from
ees to come out of college with the
other nations)."
skills to use calculators,” he added.
“The program has worked very
-Don Hutchison
well, and tends to create excite­
ment among students as they see
dent has been out of school 15-20 the relevance of math in their own
years and has developed feelings lives,” said Hutchison.
Hutchison will present a paper
of confusion over math. Since many
schools have the “pass along” a tti - ■ to math instructors at Southern
tude, students must go back to California community colleges in
where they stopped understanding. March. The paper is titled “The
That sometimes means basic arith­ Changing Face of Today’s Math
Student”
metic.
The technological advancement