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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (April 13, 2005)
fi* ^tlACKAMASPl^iflt Apnl13,2005 CO1^1(îlCîltttï Pope leaves legacy for successor Jenna Jonk The Clackamas Print Pope John Paul II died this month from a long, drawn-out illness. I must admit that before his death, I knew nothing about the pope. In fact, I was barely aware of the man sitting at the head of the Catholic Church all the way in Rome. Now, through the heavy media coverage, I’ve learned quite a bit. Such as, John Paul was the first pope since the 1500s to be non-Italian. As a papabile (which is a candidate for pope), John Paul was widely unknown. His attitude . towards running the Vatican was to not so much to run it as a bureaucra- cy, but as an actual church, taking it back to more traditional days. Still, John Paul made many modern changes. He ran the church alone, without much say from the Curia (the central adminis tration of the church). John Paul was a “face of the church,” a pitchman of sorts, with a friendly, people person attitude. He traveled the world, cruising in his popemobile. John Paul may have been a positive influence, but many of the beliefs and characteristics demonstrated bÿ him may not be looked for in the next pope. The Conclave choosing the next .pope wants a pope who will take less time traveling the world and spend more time within the Curia. Also a big factor for choosing John Paul’s successor is his nationality. Should the next remain non-Italian? Why, yes! What better way to represent all of Catholicism than to choose a non-tradi- tional candidate? If I was, say, a political candidate, I’d do whatever I could to get my non-sup porters to change their minds. Really, other than for tradition, I don’t see why the pope has to be Italian. The church is not limited to Italians only, then win pick a pope for the people? While speaking with one Catholic dent, she told me that one factor Conclave considers is the age. An < pope is preferred, so that their i Would not last long. John Paul’s di changes shook the church. To me, logic seems to be that the shorter the lives, the less damage he can do. So horrible, but the fact -is the Catl Church is one of the oldest major po in the world. Too much change is How are we much different in allo our presidents a limited amount of th run our country? It’s all politics. This is why choosing a new pope become so difficult. John Paul wa to reshape the Catholic Church, to the political management of the chi But hasn’t this been the way the ch has bqen run all these many, many yi Why change now? In my opinion, cha for the church, would be a double-ei sword. With too many changes, you lose your loyal, lifelong followers, you may gain an equal amount in yo fresh faithful. Rising gas prices: corporate rip off Joe Piazzisi The Clackamas Print Yesterday, I went to my local gas station and got $20 of gas put into the tank. My $20 only got me 7.5 gallons. At this time I noticed a bright new Red Dodge Viper parked on the side of the building. It was at this point I realized that we may have a problem here. Gas keeps rising as a temporary increase due to “oil prices rising.” If this is true, why is it a temporary increase never seems to be tempo rary? Also why is it that when I go to buy my five quarts of oil to do an oil change on my car the oil is not more expensive? I have a theory; it very well may be wrong, but we all think it My theory is someone is get ting greedy and has some deep pockets they want to fill. Call me crazy but they are in the industry to make money. They don’t really care about the consumers’ needs, or that the consumer is getting less bang for their buck They don’t see it as an issue as long aS the consumer keeps consuming. It’s not a hospiitality-based product. They have no worries that if you don’t like it, you won’t buy the product at all. The feet is, those of us who own gas-pow ered products such as cars, motorcycles, bikes, lawnmowers, etc. will keep buying gas because we need to. We need to because we need to get to school, our jobs, or even have the need to maintain our yards. Whatever it may be, we need to do it As long as there is a need we will buy. As long as the price change isn’t drastic we won’t complain about it too much. If you increase gas prices within 20 gallon, people will be frustrated but will still buy just as much as before withoutproblems. However, if you raise gas by $1 per gallon, then you have it all over the news, people boycott and the gas industry has problems. Or you could look at it the way I see it. Just about 3 years ago I can remember paying around $1.45 per gallon of premium while it now sits at $2.63 a gallon for the same thing. It has been raised over a dollar, they just broke us all into the idea of handing them our extra cash. I leave you with this one last point. The Exxon Corporation ranked No. 2 in the Fortune 500 with profits in excess of $25 bil lion. While Chevron-Texaco ranked in at No. 6. To give you a little comparison, Microsoft came in at No. 41 with just over $8 bil lion. So if oil prices are going up and it is costing these corporations more, why is it they are climbing to the top of the Fortune 500? Law-makers introduce new bill, get stingy with waiters cJ Ciaramella The Clackamas Print racen Photo illustration by Jeff Soronsen Clackamas Print Oregon’s House of Representatives recently intro duced a new bill, HB 2409, which would freeze the mini mum wage for waiters and waitresses across Oregon. The bill would also institute an “opportunity wage” for new employees; for the first 60 days of employment workers who are under 18 would have their wages cut by 50 cents. The bill was introduced by Rep. George Gilman, R- Medford, and it is being heav ily lobbied by the restaurant industry. Supporters of the bill say the current minimum wage is unfair because the tipped staff at restaurants make much more than the “back house” employees (cooks and busboys). Supposedly, if the bill passes,' restaurants will have more money to give the backhouse employees raises, resulting in a fairer working environment. At least that’s what they say is going on. What’s really happening, though, is a much different story. Tipped work ers are being vilified by the Republican-controlled House and the restaurant industry as overpaid slackers, walking off their shifts with money- filled pockets while the back house staff gets stiffed. The proposed bill, however, suf fers from two inherently false assumptions. First, the bill assumes that ALL waiters and waitresses are being generously tipped. This is simply not true. Anybody can see that not all restaurants are created equal. A waiter or waitress working during the dinner rush at McMenamin’s would probably make many times the amount of tips that a waiter working the graveyard shift at Shari’s would. Both would have their wages frozen under the proposed bill. That’s fairness? Second, the bill assumes that the wait staff is keeping their tips all to themselves. This is also patently false. In many successful restaurants, the tips are shared among the wait staff, the cooks and the busboys. And since when have Republicans (or Democrats) been concerned about eco nomic equality anyway? They always tout free-market capi talism as the greatest thing since sliced bread, so why the sudden change of heart? It couldn’t have anything to with a few handsome coi butions from the restaii industry, cbuld it? As a pizza delivery dr who depends on tips to fill gas tank, I couldn’t help notice the irony of the si tion. A bunch of people who paid over a $100,000 a ; in tax-payer money to si their offices and “legist are telling me that I amo paid. Beautiful. Well, I ha little proposal for the Ore Legislature: I’ll switch with any one of you for a I’ll sit in your poshol and receive contribut from special interest gro and you can wash dishes deliver pizzas to rednecks tweakers. Afterwards we reconvene and discuss unfair it is that I get tip Deal? It’s clear that this bill w not benefit the wait staf Oregon., Furthermore, I ously doubt the ’ backht staff will receive the ra promised by' the restau industry. The only fore able thing that will happe the bill passes is the fattei of the restaurant indust coffers.
