K & D MAIN STREET BOOKS
USED • RARE • UNUSUAL
Let s call this one. Business As Usual
There s dancing in the tents over at
| Intel, the solid state Goliath of
Washington County In a gesture of
sympathy and understanding w ith the
largest producer of microchips on the
planet, the county mothers and fathers (at
least the ones w ith chairs on the county
commission) granted the less than
struggling m ultinational a th irty percent
cut in taxes
Stop snarling
Sire, nobody cut your taxes, but then
you're not building a $750 m illio n fa c ility ,
are you7 And you're not generating 350
jobs, most of which (owing to an Oregon
labor force no longer able to afford college
even if there was one) w ill be fille d by
brand new Oregonians who make enough to
send their kids to private schools
It all works out in the big picture You
know, the one we re not part of The one
that includes turning W illam ette Valley
farmland into a silicon spawned array of
condominiums (barracks for the upwardly
mobile) and undertenanted shopping malls
where those w ith more credit than good
sense can overgraze the exosystem
Explaining the need for a handout, Keith
Thompson, Intel's caporegime in Oregon
(things are different here, they're a bunch
of rubes) murmered We are in a global
competition and we have to watch our
operating costs *
Mr Thompson, whose firm threatened to
relocate unless its demands were met,
evidently believes In the free lunch and
would ju st as soon someone else bought it
Plummettmg to the bottom line, Charles
Schulbert, owner of Beaverton Bakery,
Intel's pasty supplier and one of the many
local merchants who think government
kickbacks are a dandy part of any business
plan, detailed the philosophical
underpinnings of his support
’ I just thought, w ell, maybe they'll buy
more donuts ‘
We doubt they'll be fat free
In loosely allied news, a small round of
applause for the Oregon Lottery
Commission A fter a humble s c rillio n
dollar beginning in what used to be called
the numbers racket, the boys and g irls in
the green eye shades have come up w ith a
labor saving device for the video poker
impaired
Yes, campers, instead of measly ones
and fives, the friendly machines w ill now
accept tens and twenties No longer must
the spiral-eyed addict leave the bells and
w histles long enough to get change Is
Oregon a great casino, or w hat7
The lottery commission expects
revenues to ahem, rise But Bob Rice,
executive vice president of the Oregon
Restaurant (and Minicasino) Association,
whose members currently get th irty -fiv e
percent of the take, doesn't believe upping
the ante w ill have any harmful effects on
the marks (or customers) who can, at least
for the time being, cash out anytime they
want
‘ It s entirely up to the discretion of the
customer," Friendly Bob says "There's
nothing to compel people to play a higher
amount'
Unless we count human nature
No truth to the rumor that the next
generation of machines w ill accept payroll
checks and food stamps
The news has been fu ll of laments about
the division between urban and rural
populations
Many urbanites speak and w rite as if
they believed farmers and ranchers to be
rural racketeers sponging off other hard
working taxpayers to the tune of thousands
of dollars of government subsidy checks
each year That they are rapacious
destroyers of topsoil, grazing public lands
to the grassroots for quick p ro fits
I grew up on, lived and farmed land my
great-great grandfather owned It has
been in the fam ily and farmed since before
the C ivil War The farm grows no wheat,
soybeans, feed com, cotton, etc so
receives no government subsidies The
lush fields, the lakes bordered by buffer
zones of trees and brush, speak w ell of my
fam ily's 140 years of husbandry
So I was at fir s t distressed, later
amused, by a harangue from an
orgamc-foods-only urbanite over the use
of fe rtiliz e rs and pesticides on farms
When I mentioned the numerous s c ie n tific
studies that found no nutritional
differences between foods raised
organically and w ith chemical fe rtiliz e rs I
was taxed w ith runoff from chemically
fe rtiliz e d fields fouling streams
We were standing in his driveway
surrounded by a beautiful, perfectly weed
free green lawn I could see a bag of a
popular fe rtiliz e r/h e rb ic id e mix leaning
against the garage w all If one uses the
recommended amount, one puts five times
as much herbicide on one s lawn as
farmers are allowed to use on their crops
His children were out there ro llin g around
in it w ith some puppies
Also, given where he lives, his and
m ultiple thousands of other fam ilies send
their bathroom excretions directly into the
Tualatin rive r Then there's the runoff
from their herbicide drenched lawns
running down storm sewers to the same
stream
I pointed th is out (none too gently, I'm
afraid) and received a completely blank
stare in return He d never thought of it
Yet, even now, w ith his consciousness
(maybe) raised, I'll bet if I drive by his
place next year, he won't be out in the
lawn digging up weeds He II probably s t ill
be taking his daily dump into the Tualatin
and complaining b itte rly about rural use of
pesticides and herbicides And doing his
very best not to think about it
The most Important phone number between now and
election day Is I 800 622 SMART (1 800 b 2 2 -7 t2 7 )
The Voter s Research Hotline, a project of Vote Smart,
w ill give you factual Information on candidates,
contributors, contact numbers and addresses, special
Interest groups, and ballot measures.
Don't vote without It!!
211 E Main Street. Hillsboro, DR 97123
DANGER: Government censorstup o toxic
to democracy. If swallowed, I s deadly.
ANTIDOTE: KBOO 90.7FM Community rad».
Our poison control center is standing by.
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Health Care Now«
Well, there is fin a lly fre e h e a lth care
available in Clatsop County For instance,
every Tuesday evening there is a Clime
staffed by volunteer doctors and nurses, at
The S is te rs of P rovidence Hospital in
Seaside A $5 donation is requested, but
no one w ill be turned away because of
in a b ility to pay You must call 7 3 8 -2 2 7 6
between I 30 and 5 30 PM to make an
appointment for the evening c lin ic
Doctors w ill be available for treatment
and consultation for the fu ll range of
health problems This program Is designed
to serve the residents who live south of
Youngs Bay and north of Tillamook If you
have a medical emergency you are advised
to call 911, of course At the c lin ic they
also help folks to participate in the Oregon
Health Plan
You can get more inform ation on the
Oregon H e a lth Plan by calling
1-000 359-9517
For your Dental needs there is a Free
D ental C lin ic in Astoria You can
contact 325-6513 for more inform ation
Local Fam ily Homeless!
( • » •< October 6 tb )
Casual Dining
Overlooking the Hestucca Hiver
Spirits •
iresh
V a food
Help 3 desperate people (including a
proud smoker) and two cats f ind an
affordable 2-bedroom home in Cannon
Beach We d love a lease and wood heat,
but our fle x ib ility is legendary
Please call 436-2915 w ith any
information
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