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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 1981)
6—SANDY (Ore.) POST Thur»., Jen 8. 1981 (Sec. 1) The Sandy Post Editorial & Opinion Von Braschler, Publisher Caroline Duff. Office Manager Mark Floyd, Editor Dan Dillon, News Editor City’s parking lot woe reversible The City of Sandy’s recent court loss in the Heritage Square parking lot debate over assessment rate could mean a big loss to all community residents. Stuck with half the bill in a project with many cost overruns, the city may have to forego much needed road im provem ents on North Bluff Road, Revenue Avenue and Hood Street this year. On the other hand, the city could turn a problem into an advantage. The city is faced with certain need to create street revenue funds to recoup the $45,000 loss. Consequently, the city may find this time ideal to sell the community on advantages of regulated one-hour or two-hour parking with fines for violators. Parking meters are too expensive to provide an immediate bail-out Save I and probably drastic to curb what little parking problem presently faces Sandy. A traffic control officer with chalk to m ark tires of cars, however, might provide a simple and economical means for the city to curb an emerging problem. After all, Sandy has a steady 10 percent growth factor, and traffic on Highway 26 through town certainly will grow more congested. Presently, some smaller businesses downtown fail to meet ordinance standards for adequate off-street parking. Some forward city planning is needed We’ve seen the problems created when the city has to backstep and cover its own tracks, as in LID 4 at Heritage Square. (VBI 1 gifted student program Wall Street report: To trim its budget, Sandy High School may ax its special program for able and gifted children Many p a re n ts alread y have voiced opposition to that cut, and we heartily agree. Today’s schools already are turning out enough m ediocre stu d en ts. Blam e com pulsory education and an instructional pace slow enough to keep y e ste rd a y ’s farm hand from becoming today’s dropout. Of course, universal education is a democratic right, and perhaps a social good Wouldn’t it be nice, though, to think that somewhere in a tiny comer of today’s giant education factory could be found another Einstein or Edison? Some 27 of Sandy High’s best students presently are involved in the school’s able and gifted program at an expense to the district’s general fund of only $6,200. At its inception, the three- year-old local program enjoyed federal grant funding. The district’s budget committee Ja n . 9 will ev alu ate the administration’s proposed $14,338 local allocation to continue the program That doesn’t sound like much for a quality program in a $4.6 million district budget. School patrons who agree are urged to speak at the 7 p.m. Friday budget hearing. (VB) Salem scene: Feds owe state for Civil War by JACK ZIMMERMAN Associated Oregon Industries With a proposed state budget described as the leanest in decades, it’s safe to assume Oregon lawmakers w ill explore every source of available revenue when they convene in Salem Jan. 12. One of those sources might be $1.3 million or more the state contends the federal government has owed us for more than a century. I t ’s called the Civil War debt in the capitol city and involves an original bill of $390,000 sent to Washington, D.C., following the war between the states. The money was sepnt recruiting and maintaining a local m ilitia that protected settlers from hostile Indians while federal troops battled Southerners. The fact the debt remains unpaid was discovered during the 1977 session of the Oregon Legislature by Cecil Edwards, former Secretary of the Senate, who was commissioned to do historical research Edwards reported the Legislature had been dunning the federal government off and on over the years and the 59th Assembly gave it a shot again four years ago. Actually, you don’t just send the federal government a bill in the usual sense of the word. The legislature enacts a memorial, requesting action by the U.S. Congress. Edwards discovered Oregon lawmakers had twice previously memorialized Congress, and the U.S Senate had passed legislation regarding payment three times prior to 1933 Senate Joint Memorial 18, passed by the legislature in 1977, asked Congress to enact legislation permitting the state to ad judicate its claim before the U.S. Court of Claims which had previously refused to exercise jurisdiction This SJM 18 did prompt federal legislation. But it failed passage by the last Congress. Edwards and others in Salem believe the time may be ripe to try the same tactic this session because Oregon's Congressional delegation — particularly our two Senators — has achieved additional clout in the new Congress When a new memorial is considered this session, it w ill specify the original claim — supported by vouchers and affidavits — was approved by then-Sec of War Robert Lin coln and the Board of War Claims Examiners. It likely w ill point out similar claims for reimbursement were submitted by other states and a total of $44,725,072.38 had been paid by the federal government as of March 15, 1892 What it won’t explain is the fascinating story behind the debt and political cir cumstances that may have contributed to federal resistance to satisfy the claim Oregon was a tender two years old when the Civil War began and sentiment among its 50,000-odd residents was far from uniformly in favor of the Northern cause, according to historian Edwards Oregon Gov. John Whiteaker was said to Legislative Report from the State Capital EXCLUSIVE to Oregon's Weekly Newspa pers from Associated Oregon Industries be sympathetic to secession and when the call came for Oregonians to serve in the Federal Army, he responded with the local m ilitia alternative. President Lincoln bought the idea. He recalled seasoned peace-keeping federal troops to fight the South and permitted the state to recruit cavalry and infantry from among settlers. Their job ostensibly was to show-the-flag while first-line troops were away and keep the Indians from molesting travelers along the Oregon Trail. Provisioning two regiments and providing cavalry mounts caused the expenditures for which the state has never been reimbursed The Oregon m ilitia under Col. George Curry is credited with sustaining the westward movement during one of its most critical periods Had Indians succeeded in blocking the Oregon Trail, development of the Pacific Northwest would have been postponed many years. At the time, everything east of The Dalles was considered questionable territory. Colonel Curry's strategy was to saturate the state and surrounding territories with Bluecoats, preventing hostile natives from learning federal troops had pulled out The m ilitia ranged far and wide, through win ter's cold and summer’s heat. It fought then- necessary battles and suffered casualties. Its commander was distinguished in m ilitary annals as the first to conduct winter campaigns against Indians when they were most vulnerable Militiamen themselves served at no small sacrifice. There were fortunes to be made in the new land and they put off seeking same while earning $5 a month keeping the peace. Many members are now recalled as noteworthy citizens during the state’s early development The poetry of one — Joaquin M iller — has become immortal It is recorded that young Captain M iller let a band of 45 militiamen against an enemy force of perhaps 300 during the Harney Valley campaign of ’64. The 1977 legislature, spuming temptation to seek payment of the debt with com pounded interest approaching $45 million, sought a modest $1.3 million described as equivalent dollars to those expended more than a century before The 1981 legislature will probably follow a similar course - although the temptation will be great, considering present needs and rates of both inflation and interest, to go for more Resolutions for world leaders Well, it’s New Year’s Resolutions time again, and since I learned long ago that it's lots more fun to make them for other people than for yourself, here are some suggestions for resolutions that might make 1981 happier for us all: YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGH BORHOOD CONGRESSMAN — ‘Tis the season to be wary. For better luck in 1981: Beward of Arabs bearing scams. And resolve to: Remember it’s less felonious to give than to receive. RONALD REAGAN — America is happily discovering what a pleasant fellow its President-elect is. But if Reagan is truly going to make a difference to the economy, he’s going to have to turn a mite irritable. Indeed, the surest sign that he is making meaningful reductions in government spending w ill be if he is denounced nationwide as a heartless wretch who is guaran teeing that blood w ill run in the streets. That could mean that some entrenched Washington interests actually are being pinched. Therefore, one of the best 1981 resolutions for Aimable Ron would be to: Make a few enemies. DONALD REGAN — The name’s almost the same, and so is the in terest. Our new Treasury Secretary- designate succeeds G. William M iller, whose chief distinction is that he made an unbroken series of therefore, kindly resolve now to: Take the credit vou deserve. Louis Rukeyser roseate, inaccurate forecasts about the U.S. economy. As chairman of M errill Lynch, Regan was officially bullish on America; at the Treasury, he should resolve to: Cut the bull.. AYATULLAH KHOMEINI - Enough already, you silly and dangerous old man. Keep this up, and you guarantee only more bloodshed and the further destruction of your nation. In 1981, for all our sakes, please resolve to: Wake up and let go. PAUL VOLCKER - The most powerful men in America right now might well be the chairmen of the Rederal Reserve Board. Jimmy Carter doesn’t much care about the economy any more, and Reagan hasn't arrived. In the interregnum (or “ inter-Reagan,” if you w ill), Volcker has his chance to squeeze the money supply even if it does cause a spectacular bulge in interest rates. Thanks, Paul, we needed that — and if you really stick to your guns now, both interest rates and inflation w ill be notably lower in a few months hence. In 1981, however, it w ill be okay to: Be a little less interest-ing. LEE IACOCCA — It was great fun but it was just one of those things. I Ask Frank to hum a few bars while you take it.) In 1981, why not resolve to: Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. THE U.S. CONSUMER - You were the hero of the economy, and for a while there they tried to make you out the bum. Not only did your continued spending keep us out of serious recession, but you wisely started cutting back on debt before things got rough. The stupid controls Washington slapped on your borrowing last spring lasted just long enough to make things worse than they had to be. In 1981, THE DEPARTMENTS OF ENERGY AND EDUCATION — Wasn’t it a lot of laughs while it lasted9 Over at Energy, you got to spend billions of dollars without actually finding any energy or solving any significant problem with the energy we already have. Meanwhile, over at Education, you got to be a whole new department — just what the country really needed — while the old Health, Education and Welfare became Health and Human Services (thereby con firming the suspicion that most of Washington is concerned with inhuman services). I t ’s been grand, gang, and now for your final trick, please resolve in 1981 to: Disanpear. THE STOCK MARKET - As Babe Ruth once said in justifying being paid more than the President, you had a better year than he did. But while most market averages set new alltime highs, the most famous of all — the Dow Jones industrials —' continued to meet psychological barriers around 1,000 (as they have since 1966). To prove to the world that a better day is dawning, why not resolve in 1981 to: Wave bye-bye at last to 1,000 — and keep on looking up. The Innocent Bystander: ‘Grow fat’ diet revealed I t ’s just as I long suspected: All too many Americans are dangerously underweight. A plethora of recent studies in dicates we lucky few who are 10 to 20 percent over those grim insurance company charts in our doctors’ offices w ill happily outlive the gaunt and scrawny Cheryl Tiegses of our society. Indeed, the insurance companies are even now revising those charts upward. “ Oh, no!” I can hear you cry. “ Must I go on yet another one of the crash weight-gain diets9” Cheer up, friend. Help is at hand. All you need do is purchase my latest book. Eat and Grow Fat — The Sensible Way to Put on 20 Easy Pounds. Tantalizing excerpts follow: THINK FAT — It takes more than willpower to gain those wanted extra pounds. You must change your attitude toward food Don’t think of it as simply fuel to keep your body going Instead, keep telling yourself that eating is a pleasurable ex- bv ART HOPPE perience. Try your best to relish every bite. If others can do it, so can you. AVOID TEMPTATION — Don’t worry about offending the well- meaning hostess who offers you a tray of raw cauliflower at a cocktail party. Simply say politely, “ Sorry, I ’m on a diet,” and take a hot cheese puff instead. In the end, she’ll respect you for your grit and determination. SET A GOAL — By giving yourself little rewards along the way, you w ill come to actually enjoy your diet. For example, when you’ve gained those five pounds, go out and treat yourself to a Lane Bryant designer muumuu FOLLOW THE RULES — Generally speaking, avoid anything green except key lime pie and eat anything white but raw cauliflower. This isn’t as difficult as it sounds Many dieters find that in no time they hardly miss raw cauliflower at all USE YOUR IMAGINATION — There’s no reason, diet food has to be dull. For example, pour a fifth of bourbon into the potatoes au g rat in. This w ill not only add precious calories, but w ill impart a mellow glow to your dining experience. EXERCISE — If you must exercise, try to do so within reasonable limits. Keep in mind that for every three sets of tennis you play you’ll have to eat an eight-inch wedge of cheesecake. It is possible, however, to at least hold your own if you can remember to munch on a chocolate eclair while jogging PUSH YOURSELF — When you feel fu ll keep on going! You’ll be amazed at how much more you can gulp down if you really try. And when you let out your belt buckle another notch and see that all-new you in the m irror, the struggle will suddenly seem worthwhile. Well, there’s no question but that I have a bestseller on my hands Unfortunately, no publisher will touch it right now. For some reason, they say who needs a book entitled Eat and Grow Fat right after the holidays? Letters to the editor: Reader urges support for Reagan cuts Hopefully the taxpaying citizens of this country will back Reagan this coming four-year term The minute he starts cutting money Irom any group we’ll hear a bloody scream from coast to coast! But remember, you don’t improve the efficiency of a bunch of bureaucrats by a bequest of more and more money Only be reducing their funds can one get their attention. trough' I t ’s time those buffoons in the federal legislature took a hard look at the tax monster the liberals wish to per petuate. Unless there's a turn-around, our government only will beget more tax monsters They could take every dime the taxpayer makes in this country, and it wouldn't be enough to satisfy those who dip into the public Can we blame the belligerency of the people who pay the bills (taxes)? Their pursuit of happiness is being threatened by higher taxes Who w ill be left for the liberals to bleed, if more and more people lose their Jobs The unemployed need relief, and — bingo — the govern ment needs more tax money Come on! Let’s get off the merry-go-round. Less govern ment, more Jobs is the answer A person cannot be guaranteed a utopian life. Just help the helpless, provide a job for the am bitious and provide ab solutely nothing for those who prefer to leech off the rest of us. Ralph A Sandercock J r MOOSE Allgeier Rd Sandy L ETTER S PO LIC Y : The Post asks that all letters to the editor be typed, doable-spaced and signed Deadline is noon. Tuesday. Letters should be a c c u ra te , fre e of libelous remarks and la good tas te. This newspaper attempts to publish all letters It receives and may edit material lightly to con form Io guidelines
