Opinion
Truth, shrouded Mp shadows and half truths
The Clackamas Print
Wednesday, April 10,1996
It starts .with an assamt- weapons W. oddity tha^dj^n’t add up, al-
ban.'andcj^>
ban.'andc^^> with th^onfisca-
thosconfisca- it!
«though Gegrge Atiyeh, former
tion of youraead grandlather’s old lei
phairman of the pro-wilderness
abup Friends of Opal
p
-jpction bill he liked and he’s not Winchestaairjike the.one Jimmy*- protection
Stewart chased Creek, maXhave the senator’s
down in the number. He said prophetically last
movie of the year that Hatfield’s support of
Opal Creek was camouflaged to
same name.
In
Hiron’s hide his true support of timber in
view, the foot’s terests. And that’s what the
been in the door senator’s legislative behavior in
for years when it dicated the last two weeks of
comes to wilder March.
-TomHirons
Before getting into that
ness protection.
former head of the Oregon Land Coalition
And he probably though, don’t be too impressed by
doesn’t want Atiyeh’s prophetic abilities. If he
Opal Creek slip was that good, he would have an
ticipated that his “inadvertent”
going to start with Opal Creek.
ping an ankle in.
That’s why it must sting that logging of timber from Opal Creek
It’s a page out of the NRA
book of foot-in-the-door legisla Sen. Mark Hatfield, R-Ore. - usu would get him booted as head of
tion. Once you let one of the crit ally a friend of the timber folks — the Friends of Opal Creek, which
ters in the house (or the Senate), has been a staunch supporter for it did late last year.
Back to Hatfield’s late-March
they’ll have the run of the place. years of protecting Opal Creek.
Hatfield’s support is another
See CREEK, Page 4
confines. But i&does want the land | __ I think this comes under the
^ft^e^xemptecyom federal for-^Pc^tegory of “intractable position.”
You’d think it would be a no-* -esifc^dlicy ... N®one can agree on .Tom never met a wilderness pro-
Damon Fouts
News Co-Editor
brainer deciding whether Opal
Cteek — a hotbed of political con
tention between environmental
groups, timber interests, local
Communities and political entities
for the last two decades — should
be a protected wilderness area. It
should.
But nothing quite adds up
when it comes to this politically
beleaguered slice of wilderness 25
miles east of Salem, home of some
of the oldest Douglas Fir in Or
egon.
Consider this statement in a
Jan. 25, 1995 issue of the Orego
nian:
Oddly, most everyone wants the
place protected. The timber indus
try has no desire to log within its
wnat to do. Egos, intractable po-
sitions and politics
have held the area
in flux for years.
Indeed. Contend
ing players can’t
even agree on what
is and isn’t Opal
Creek. Estimates
of the area’s acre
age vary from
21,000 to 35,000.
“I question
why you should
have a special bill for that special
group of people,” said Tom
Hirons, the former head of the tim
ber industry’s Oregon Lands Coa
lition, early last year of legisla
tion protecting Opal Creek.
“--------------
I question why you should
have a special bill for that
special group of people.
Social Security Insurance
needs to be privatized
Brendon Neal
Opinion Editor
Social Security Insurance
(SSI) is like a black hole.
People work all their lives
giving much of it up to SSI for
their retirements. When they come
to the time in their lives when they
are done working they look for this
money. It won’t be there for retir
ees in the near future.
During the ‘80s the govern
ment found a great supply of funds
to help the sagging Federal bud
get: there were billions of dollars
lying around in America’s retire
ment system. The answer became
obvious. Why not spend them?
Millions of Americans will be
retiring in the next decade expect
ing all the money they gave to the
Federal government to come back
plus some (The money is put into
Federal Bonds which yield inter
est). Studies show that this money
will not be there shortly after the
year 2000.
Currently a plan is being con
sidered to revive SSI so that we
won’t have to work until the day
we die. The plan is based on
analysis by the Cato Institute
which is a nonpartisan research
foundation seeking to broaden
public policy. They receive no
government funding in order to
give credibility to their proposals.
The plan consists of two
parts. The first is to individualize
SSI so that money can’t be re
moved except to pay retirement for
the person who put it in.
Current workers getting to
retire might see a drop in their re
tirement if any changes were ret
roactive. This is because instead
of getting money from a pool
which is currently larger than the
total number of people retiring,
they would basically be restricted
to the smaller pool of money from
fellow retirees. However, I like the
The Clackamas Print Staff
Editor-in-Chief: Chad Patteson (Ext. 2576)
Managing Editor: Amy K. Hanson (Ext. 2576)
News Co-Editor: Pamela Sirianni (Ext. 2576)
News Co-Editor: Damon Fouts (Ext. 2576)
Assistant Sports/Feature Editor: Jon Roberts (Ext. 2578)
Sports Editor: Lora Wahrgren (Ext. 2309)
Photography Editor: Paul Ulmen (Ext. 2578)
Copy Editor: Laney Fouse (Ext. 2578)
Opinion Editor: Brendon Neal (Ext. 2309)
Business Manager: Cori Kargel (Ext. 2578)
Assistant Opinion Editor: Karin Redston (Ext. 2309)
Assistant Feature Editor: Brad Zimmerman (Ext. 2309)
»»ft»
Staff Writers/Photographers:
Eric Eatherton, Andrew Beck,
Jessica Dvorak, Jack Evans, Brian Ray, Joel Shempert
Secretary: Joanne Gale (Ext. 2309)
Advisor : Linda Vogt (Ext. 2310)
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E-mail: cccprint@clackamas.cc.or.us
basic idea. I would like to see this
go into effect, but only affect cur
rent and future retirees.
The second part of the plan
would be to actually privatize the
system. This would involve put
ting the money into public stocks.
The money is currently going
into government bonds. Studies
of the markets show that govern
ment bonds tend to stay steady.
They don’t rise or fall very fast.
This increases the retirment prob
lem by not increasing the money
that is still in there.
“History shows that the finan
cial return on [private financial]
instruments exceeds retirement
needs at a fraction of Social
Security’s cost,” according to Wil
liam Shipman, one of thé nation’s
leading financial analysts.
An example given was if
someone born in 1970 were al
lowed to invest in stocks of the
amount they currently pay in SSI
they would receive nearly six
times the benefits. According to
the same study this amount could
be as much as $ 11,182 per month.
I like this idea both as a
worker and a stockholder. It
would give workers a chance to
retire with a decent income from
their retirement rather than de
pending on Government bonds
which increase their earnings. I
do think the government needs to
be involved by guaranting a per
centage of the retirement fund.
Otherwise, a stock market crash
could cause a lot of damage.
I think with these two ideas
and some further thought the gov
ernment can save SSI. I realize
that to many college students this
may seem a worry for the future.
However, some of us are now
working or will be working in the
near future. Our money is disap
pearing into a hole and going into
other people’s pockets. Who will
pay for our retirement?
I will leave the reader with
one last fact to consider: the
government’s own calculations
show that SSI will be bankrupt by
the year 2030, but it could also
face a financial crisis by as early
as 2014.
Non-smoker’s rights abused
Karin Redston
Assistant Opinion Editor
threw their cigarettes to the ground
and squashed them out. Now there
As a non-smoker I try to be were some litter-conscious people.
My final pet peeve is people
tolerant of those who do. Smok
ers do have rights and I do try to who smoke and throw their ciga
respect those rights. Unfortu rettes on the ground. I figure
nately, I feel smokers do not re people who are that rude probably
are the ones throwing trash out
spect my rights.
As far as CCC goes I feel my their car windows or taking deer
rights as a non-smoker are a bit out of season and a doe at that. I
compromised. There are almost challenge people on campus to
no building entrances I can enter count the number of cigarette butts
without going through a smoke on the ground. I figure the num
screen. Smokers stand just out ber is in the thousands but I could
side the entrances of these build be slightly over exaggerating.
ings to smoke.
To instill any kind of sensi
There are two reasons for this. tivity and consciousness into most
The first is where the cigarette re smokers is impossible. To ask
ceptacles are placed: around the smokers not to smoke in front of
entrances to the campus buildings. the building doors has only
This leads to the second reason. brought about an attitude. Don’t
These receptacles are placed there dare to ask these people to pick
so smokers can smoke and not get up their cigarette butts.
rained on as they are under cover
CCC should consider build
by the entrances.
ing smoker enclaves around cam
While walking into a build pus where smokers can smoke
ing I end up breathing smoke and near their classes but non-smok
my clothes end up smelling like ers can get into the buildings
smoke. As a non-smoker I find smoke-free. I think smoking
this offensive. I should not have should be relegated to designated
to breathe other people’s smoke to areas only. That way non-smok
attend classes here. I should not ers can easily avoid the areas and
have to arrive home smelling like cigarette butt clean-up would be
an ash tray.
contained. The idea has been in
One particularly bad building stilled in airports for awhile now
to enter is Streeter Hall. During and there is no reason for it not to
class breaks smokers are out there. happen at schools or everywhere.
I counted ten one day. What was Smokers do have their right to
rather funny was the majority of smoke but I also have a right not
those folks I observed failed to use to breathe their air.
the cigarette receptacle. They just