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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (May 3, 1979)
6 SANDY (O r» ) eOST Thur» Moy 1. 1S7» ($•< |) The S^nüy Post Editorial & Opinion Von Bi usehier, General Manager Caroline Duff, Office Manager Kaye Barton Bakke. New» Editor Mark Floyd. Sport» Editor Dan Dillon, City Editor Let's not compromise standards for diplomas Iro n ically, a Sandy Union High School task force is considering a reduction in local graduation requirem ent to the level of state requirem ents, just when the state is m oving to raise its statewide standards. We ca ll this ironic, because i t ’s a tra g ic tw ist of events. The local high school has m aintained graduation standards higher than those required by the Oregon Departm ent of Education as guidelines for schools throughout the state. Now Sandy High is giving way to pressure from students and parents who feel that the extra credit hours of instruction required here should be reexamined Oregon requires high school students to have 21 units of credits to graduate, while SUHS requires 26 units, including extra courses in science, English. physical education, typing and elective courses of the student’s choice. A fter statewide hearings, the plans fo r state requirement changes m ight not require students to spend any more tim e in the classroom than is now the case, but curriculum requirements probably w ill be upgraded. In Sandy’s case, the high school m ight need to expand re quirements in fine arts, U.S. his tory and social science. The local task force of parents and educators who are considering changes in Sandy graduation requirements w ill attem pt to square their proposals w ith forthcom ing changes in state requirements. The committee w ill hear public testimony May 22. A hearing on proposals to m odify state requirements by Oregon Superintendent of Public Instruction Verne Duncan, among others, w ill be June 12 in Portland As high schools statewide move to strengthen their curriculum to make an Oregon diploma worth more, le t’s hope that Sandy doesn’t compromise its high standards of excellence < v b > Sandy's longe-range economic outlook bright Sandy has to feel good about its economic condition and confident about its outlook for the future. On the verge of a building boom w ith several new developments in planning stages, Sandy now ap pears in line to get the financing capabilities to make it a ll happen. Soon Sandy w ill have four — possibly five, local financial in stitutions. Independent Bank of Sandy this week moved a tem porary banking fa c ility into place at the new bank’s construction site on West P roctor Boulevard. The bank expects to begin fu ll banking operations on May 20. Benjam in F ra n klin Federal Savings hopes to open an office here, too, downtown on Strauss Avenue. The Portland-based chain awaits word from Federal Home Loan Bank in Seattle. The new money lenders would join Clackamas County Bank and Oregon T ra il Savings & Loan in the Sandy money m arket. Then, too, Clackamas County Bank has an nounced long-range plans for a west end branch bank in the proposed west Sandy shopping center across from Industrial P ark. That Industrial Park is proving its w orth to Sandy now, too, w ith projections for 200 jobs created by new residents since 1971 including forthcom ing expansion plans of T im be rline Trailers. Estim ated valuation of the land and its buildings is $2 m illion, a nice tax base fo r the c ity of Sandy. The park recently fille d to capacity with sale of its last piece of property. ( VB) Carter won’t find peace so easy in Ireland Hints that President C arter soon may make a dram atic effort to stop the long run of bloodshed in N o rth e rn Ire la n d are both reassuring and worrisome. Most everyone hopes for a truce in Northern Ireland. But if Carter is relying upon U.S. tax dollars to s till the strife — as he did to the tune of some $6 billion in the Middle East — we had best take a long, hard look. U.S. House Speaker Thomas P. (T ip) O’Neill Jr. has accused the B ritish of using Ulster as a ‘p olitica l football.” His rem arks brought prom pt response from the B ritish who said, politely, that O’N e ill doesn’t know what he’s talking about. It does seem strange for O ’Neill to offe r gratuitous comments on a situation that most historians say has been building to a clim a x for 100 years. A ll praise to President C arter if he can bring a settlement to the long conflict. But he’s not dealing w ith Israelis and Arabs this tim e. Legislator’s report: Nuclear ‘war’ racks Salem by KEN JERNSTEDT State Senator. Dist. 28 There is both good news and bad news coming from the state capitol this week The good news is that the Atiyeh administration, through its appointments, is restoring balance and judgment to several im portant boards and com missions The bad news is that some members of the state senate are using the new appoint ment confirmation process as a political war toy to try to embarrass the governor We’ve heard a lot of con troversy, perhaps too much, about the fact that two of the governor’s appointments have not been approved by the senate A number of tactics have been employed to keep delaying and post poning action There is a strong possibility that these two are being held hostage" as a tradeoff to secure changes some senators want in bills concerning Trojan and the proposed two Pebble Springs nuclear plants Such changes would result in Trojan being shut down permanently and Pebble Springs never being built To keep the matter in perspective, the governor has appointed 166 4 The governor has been accused of trying to stack the Energy Facility Siting Council by filling vacancies with two new members who refused to commit to a decision on the Pebble Springs application until all the facts are in. The chairman of that senate committee wanted the reappointment of two members whose terms ex pired eight months ago but who were kept on by Governor Straub, even though they had served the maximum years allowable These two members had already publicly announced how they would vote on the application request more than a year before all studies can be made upon which a decision will be based. One thing that is clear is that it isn’t the governor who is trying to stack the Energy Facility Siting Council! Guilty, instead, are the chairman and a few mem bers of the senate committee on energy and environment As Oregonians, we can all hope that the governor will stick to his guns and continue with his policy of seeking the cream of the crop of Oregon's citizenry to serve on those boards and com missions which have a big impact on all of our Uvea Oregonians to positions of public trust. One of them was rejected by the senate for purely political reasons Another nominee, former chief justice Kenneth O’Connell, was withdrawn by the governor The positive side of the question — and the side about which we've not heard enough, is that the gover nor’s appointments have received universal acclaim, a handful of senate prime time prima donnas not withstanding Most pleasing is that the governor has a strong commitment to unstacking those boards and com missions where one point of view has been over represented through ap pointments made by the previous administration Also significant is the fact that Atiyeh has been suc cessful in finding the type of people who don't commit themselves until all the facts are known, particularly on as technical and sensitive a question as the future development of nuclear energy That’s what all the hullabaloo has been about in the senate committee on energy and environment, of which I am a member > Salem scene: Legislature cracks down on shoplifting by JACK ZIM M E R M A N Associated Oregon "W hen you consider shoplifting has increased 35 percent In the last five years,’* he said, **it is easy to understand why merchants are concerned ’’ Industries Lawmakers in Salem have taken a first step toward solving a problem that costs Oregonians more than 170 million a year. That step was taken last week when the senate’s trade and economic development committee voted a "do pass'* recommendation on Senate Bill 893 — a measure that would permit retail mer chants to take civil action against shoplifters It could come to the Senate floor for the second step in its legislative journey as early as this week And based on the manner in which the bill cleared its first hurdle, supporters have high hopes the measure will proceed with equal dispatch through the House of Representatives and land on the desk of Gov. Victor Atiyeh. where it is almost certain to be received favorably. SB 893 is described as a major development in efforts throughout this decade by statewide members of the Oregon Retail Council to attack the shoplifting problem. ORC Director Otto J. Wilson told members of the As quoted "Speech writers in the Carter White House are hired hands, technicians whose value lies in their narrow, esoteric talent It is not a job for an egotist A Carter speechwriter s contributions remain anonymous and ms vanity is left unattended The only prestige is in the company he keeps. "All in all, it is something like growing hydroponic tomakies; neither the product nor the rewards fulfill their promise ” — Senior editor Dorn Bonafede in the National Journal Senate Committee the bill — patterned after similar law enacted in the State of Washington — is the product of more than a year of study and analysis by his organization and con sultation with law en forcement agencies. the judiciary and rehabilitation agencies And it follows four years of unsuccessful attempts to amend criminal statutes to more effectively deal with shoplifting "All of our studies - and those in other states — in dicate the biggest reason shoplifting persists and is growing at such an alarm u « rate," Wilson said, "is because there is relatively little assurance shoplifters will be prosecuted even if they are caught "This bill goes a long way toward providing what we call certainty of punish ment," he said. In essence, SB 893 permits a storeowner to take civil action against shoplifters to recover the actual retail value of stolen merchandise up to $500 for adults and 1250 for minors — plus additional penalty of from $100 to $250. It deals with altering of prices on merchandise as severely as actual theft of goods for sale. It enables merchants to detain suspects inside mercantile establish ments and specifies in tentional concealment of unpurchased goods as a condition of theft. It makes parents and guardians «• other than operators of foster homes - liable for actions by unemancipated minors It perm its m erchants to ^Washington report: demand damages before taking legal action. And provides also for recovery of damages through sm all claims courts. "T h e reasons most shoplifters now escape punishment are m a n y ," Wilson said, "ranging from a merchant’s inability to take time from his store to par ticip ate in c rim in a l proceedings to the fact they are discouraged by a juvenile justice system that tends to avoid despensing meaningful penalties ** The vast bulk of shoplifting activity is conducted by amateurs, Wilson explained — up to 75 percent And 65 percent of am ateur shoplifters are teenagers Losses from shoplifting are passed on in the form of inflated prices for honest customers, he continued, and the security chief of a major statewide department store chain told senators those kisses are two percent of sales. Another chain store security o fficer whose business operates in both Oregon and Washington, said shoplifting lasses in the neighboring state to the north have declined 41 percent since enactment of the law sim ilar to SB 893 The Oregon Retail Council has been conducting a statewide anti-shoplifting educational campaign since 1971, Wilson explained Officially called S T E M ( S h o p l if t e r s Take Everybody's Money), that program emphasizes the fact shoplifting is stealing It is aimed primarily at children and their parents "S T E M is recognized as but one deterrent to shoplifting," Wilson said "Combined with the cer tain ty of punishment provided by enactment of SB 893, it will go further toward discouraging youngsters from committing petty crime and perhaps graduating to more serious illegal ac tivities " And the likelihood Gov. Atiyeh will sign the bill into law if it ultimately pasaes both senate and bouse is strengthened by the fact the governor has hren serving more than two years as active honorary chariman of S T E M (NOTE: Jack Zimmerman writes for Associated Oregon Industries, a lobbying group. His opinions are not necessarily those of The Post.) Letters: Students back woodcutter To the Editor: Due to a woodcutting in cident that Bert Key was involved in last December, his teaching contract was not renewed We as students, are very concerned about this decision which the school board made on March 15 The incident which was investigated by the county sheriffs department involved four SUHS teachers Two of these teachers were reportedly cleared of suspicion regarding an ex cess amount of wood taken These two teachers, one of whom had tenure, both took lie detector testa. Both contracts were renewed for next year. Bert Key refused to submit to a lie detector test The fourth teacher resigned before the March 15 board meeting The board's original decision to not renew Key's contract was made prior to the verdict from the D .A .’s office stating that there was not sufficient evidence to bring criminal charges and that the matter was to be dealt with on a "civil basis’*. On May 7th another public meeting will be held The school board will have an opportunity to change their decision. M r Key is not an average teacher He is an ex ceptionally good teacher His students regard him with great respect and trust He has always gotten excellent evaluations The school is supposed to be for the students so we would like to urge the board to consider the students feelings when making their decision on the 7th Sue Wilson Paul Daugherty SUHS students LETTERS POLICY letters to the editor must be signed, typed with double spacing, within 288 words In length and In good taste. The Post reserves the right to edit letter within standard guidelines. We attempt to publish all letters we receive. ------------------------------------ — Reasons probed for cedar export ban WASHINGTON—I t ’s hard to say for sure what Rep Don Bonker, iXWash., is up to with his amendment to ban the export of Western Red Cedar logs from state forests. Bonker succeeded last week in having the amend ment attached to the Export Administration Act,a bill which each Congress passes. NORTHWEST COLUMNIST STEVE FORRESTER Since the states of Oregon. Idaho, California and Alaska already tuve banned export of Western Red Cedar logs from their forests, Bonker s amendment is clearly aimed at Washington’s state forests, from which some 30 million board feet of cedar logs are exported annually. "To have any real impact on the cedar of western Washington, you have to get at Weyerhaeuser," points out an observer of timber politics "The amount of difference that state-owned cedar makes is so small that levels " If Bonker is being veiled about his real intentions, Weyerhaeuser also seems to be hiding its real fears by explaining its op position to the cedar export ban in terms of U.S. trade with Japan in general "This is not the time to be adopting protectionist legislation-when we re trying to negotiate increased trade with Japan," ba nning its export means you might run out of Western Red Cedar in Washington state by 1992 rather than 1990 Weyerhaeuser was notable in its opposition to Bonker s cedar export ban amendment. "They perceive it as a symbolic issue," said Bonker. "They don’t want to see any limit on export from state or federal lands " Of course, Bonker has introduced a log export ban bill more comprehensive than the cedar amendment, and speculation is that the cedar amendment is designed to generate momentum for that larger issue In the last analysis, Bonker completes two important political exercises with his ban on cedar log exports He shows the Congress and his district he can get something that is not inconsiderable done on his own power, simply by taking it to his own subcommittee It enhances the congressman's standing with his colleagues and with his comtituents. And by pulling off this cedar export ban, perhaps Bonker denies any potential challenger a good campaign issue 4
