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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 1981)
fr— SANDY (O r « ) POST Thur».. F«b 19 »981 ($•<• 1) The Sandy Post Editorial & Opinion Mark Floyd. Editor Dan Dillon. News Editor Von Braschler. Publisher Caroline Duff. Office Manager New numbers face Tri-Met routers T ri-M et should become more co m m u n ity-re sp o n sive in the broader sense, if they’re really serious about reversing a five- month decline in ridership Tri-M et, you may recall, is the publicly-owned bus line designed to service three counties. That broad service area also provides a large tax base to fuel the buses. Tri-Met played the numbers well in carving out a big support base, while favoring more populated, bus-conscious downtown Portland with frequent shuttle service for commuters and shoppers. Now Tri-M et is singing the blues, however, w ith a persistent five- month decline in ridership The bus line served 5.4 percent fewer daily riders this January than it served last January. The numbers should come as no surprise, really. Portland’s city population has declined a cor responding 4 percent, according to new census information. Where did they all go? To the Portland suburbs, many of them — bedroom communities given secondary ser vice by Tri-Met. M ean w h ile , p o p u la tio n in Washington Co. increased 55.5 per cent since the last federal census, and population in Clackamas Co. increased 43.9 percent Multnomah County? With Portland’s decline, Multnomah Co. saw only only .75 percent population growth in the last 10 years. Faced with a new set of cold numbers, how does Tri-M et res pond to recent declines in rid e r ship? They say that more persons are driving cars to work, now that gasoline prices have stabilized. They’re promoting increased use of passes to get current riders to ride more regularly. They’re buying 515 more radios and public address systems. M e a n w h ile , bed ro o m c o m munities like Sandy see the Tri-M et bus only four times daily on weekdays — never weekends and seldom if inclement weather dic tates some reduction in route ser vice. The Hoodland area, however, sees the bus in beautiful downtown Welches even less — meaning never. We don’t mean to suggest that the Tri-M et system is less than a worthy investment. Its service, however, should be enjoyed more equitably by all communities that fund it. Anything less would be something like taxation without adequate representation.(VB) SUHS flap at least opens ‘closet’ Recent debate over alledged drug, alcohol and disciplinary pro blems at Sandy High School can’t be all bad. I t ’s rallied high school boosters, unified students who’ve found a lot of good things to say about their school and brought a perceived problem out of the closet. We’re not sure whether the pro blem is that huge, because most Sandy High students and staff are pretty fine people. As for the others — those few perceived by Hoodland Lutheran parents to have problems — well, they’re pretty special peo ple, too. The question is whether they need help. Also, who w ill provide it? The Post did not invent the con cept of Sandy teenagers with d rin k ing. drug and disciplinary pro blems in school. We m erely reported such charges, as perceiv ed by a group of parents and local churchmen. If there’s any substance to the charges, then the problem should be handled by the community. The school can’t do it all, nor can the students. And we re not talking about relative goodness or badness of the entire high school. We re talking, perhaps, about just a few troubled teenagers who may need help But wouldn’t even one troubl ed youth make the effort wor thwhile? Many callers and w riters have responded to the charges reported in the newspaper Some called for soul-searching and action. Others said the charges couldn’t be true, because most Sandy teenagers don’t have such difficulties. We re glad. But confronting such problems with defensive public relations seems a waste of effort. Nowadays everyone tries to reshape things with public relations. Combat “ bad press” with “ good press.’’ But what does this really change? Only attitudes of a docile public, easily persuaded. The true test of a culture is how it responds to bad news and helpful information. Is Sandy problem- oriented or solution-oriented? Does it curse the darkness or light a candle? A cultural test for a community- responsible newspaper also hinges on this litm us test. We’d like to think The Post isn’t afraid to bring up a dark subject, if there m ight be light at the end of the tunnel and so meone w illing to share the lantern. So it wasn’t for shock-value that we printed the high school charges of the Hoodland L u th e ra n s. We thought someone who perceived a problem was w illing to cope with it and involve others in the problem solving process Some other parents have rallied to their side in a battle of words. The high school recently held a sur prise locker inspection, and at least one adm inistrator rode one school bus one day to evaluate the charges. So much for talk and problem evaluation Now’s the tim e for problem -solving — that is, if everyone’s w illing to adm it that at least one local teenager might have a problem or tw o.iV B ) State business up relatively ' A rrivin g at a time our economy is severely depressed and appears likely to re main that way for many months to come, the Grant study should be good news." Ivan (Jongleton. president of Associated Oregon Industries and former president of COSMA Foremost among conclusions of that study he said, was a recognition of the fact Oregon had for too long concentrated on liva b ility at the expense of livelihood, "O ur preoccupation with the environment during the early part of the Seventies damaged our business clim ate to the point professional developers declared Oregon and 16 other states among the country's poorest prospects,’ he said “ That reputation has changed, ” he said, "la rg e ly because of attitudes of Governors Straub and Atiyeh toward the business climate Many leaders in state government are recognizing the importance of jobs and payrolls In that sense, our busines clim ate is im proving." Congieton said results of the 1979 Grant Study only confirmed the state s poor show ing indicated by Fantus in 1975 Thus year’s Grant study - although showing a statistical gain is no cause for rejoicing “ From the standpoint of manufacturers, Oregon's business clim ate is s till poor by nearly all of the comparison factors," he declared F actors and Oregon's ranking this year and last, respectively, are: Percentage change in state and local taxes per capita 25th from 46th State spending growth versus state in come growth - 36th from 7th i' Letters to the editor: Handguns, SUHS stir readers Face problem I can't help but laugh at some of the responses to the problems at Sandy High School. The answer to the problems seems to be that parents don’t care and parents are at fault. Here we have parents that are trying to say they do care and something needs to be done Yet everyone is put ting them down. Wake up, parents I ’ve talked to enough parents to know these people are not the only ones who feel unhap py with the school situation I t ’s time to fight for a better education for our children in every way. Sandy High School is no better or worse than most other high schools - or grade schools, for that matter. I t ’s a fact that our children are coming out of high schools across the nation without an education Head the Reader's Digest (Jan., 1981, page 88) ’’Help! Teacher Can’t Teach!” Peer pressure.it has been said, is not a problem Who among us can say that peer pressure at any age is not a problem at times Any of us that has lived through teen age years, has felt peer pressure, I ’m sure Whether we've been strong enough to resist it is another m atter. Our friends do influence our ways; and although the right thing to do is change friends, it doesn’t always seem that easy. I congratulate the Sandy Post for their coverage and encourage more people to send in their opinion on this subject, whatever it may be Lois Anderson Sandy Ban handguns Imagine a law that would perm it repeatedly convicted felons to buy and deal in han dguns. Hard to believe? Believe it or not, in less than a month the handgun lobby w ill once again try to destroy our already weak handgun control law Such legislation was in troduced two years ago by Sen M cC lure and Hep Volkmer as the “ Federal Firearm s Law Reform Act of 1979 " More aptly called the “ Federal Felons Relief A ct,” it was co-sponsored by 168 congressman and 56 senators Bu, it has become apparent that few represen tatives actually reviewed this b ill before deciding to co-sponsor it. Rather, they collapsed under the pressure applied by the National Rifle A s s o c ia tio n and its checkbook politics. This legislation cle a rly would undermine law en forcement in this nation NRA charges of excessive enforcement of our handgun laws backfired when hear ings revealed that among their so-called victim s were convicted felons and two people who considered an assasination of a presiden tial candidate. Do the American people really want to perm it m a il order sales of handguns’’ Do we want handguns sold to any indicted felon and to numerous convicted felons? A m e rica n s do have a choice in this matter. But we must act now if we are to stop this insane aid to crim inals Last year, both Senator Hatfield and Senator Packwood co-sponsored this legislation. W rite to them Ask them to read the b ill and urge them not to support it again Also, send a short let ter to your congressman with your opposition to this pro-crim inal legislation R e m e m b e r: P o p u la r apathy is special interests* best ally. Edmund J. Perret II Chairman, National Coali tion to Ban Handguns Washington. D.C. Check off dollar G o v e rn o r A tiy e h has stated that he w ill veto the d o lla r c h e c k o ff, i f the legislature should act to ex tend the law presently allow ing citizens to direct the S ta te D e p a rtm e n t of Revenue to set aside one dollar of their income tax for the political party of their choice. Such a decision neither adds nor subtracts from the amount of tax paid Half of the proceeds go to the state political party and half to the county party It seems out of character for Gov. Atiyeh to threaten a veto in such a blatant par tisan manner His actions are generally more even handed and indicative of concern for the common good He knows that our political parties suffer from a lamentable lack of par ticipation by the mass of peo pie. A relative few labor to develop party programs to find and support candidates for public office The dollar checkoff en courages public participa tion in politics and provides modest funds for state and c o u n ty p a r tie s . D o lla r checkoff funds come without special obligation for later favors to the givers of those dollars When " fa t ca t” con tributors make large con tributions, they expect a later return in legislative favors and, in effect, pur chase the p u b lic o ffice designed to serve all the peo ple. Though there are more D e m o c ra ts th a n Republicans and the form er could expect more returns from the dollar checkoff, it also is true that Republicans had twice the funds that the Democrats had to expend in the N ovem ber elections Governor A tiyeh’s threat to veto the dollar checkoff ex tension is a move against wide political participation by citizens and obviously is d e s ig n e d to fa v o r his political party W Pete Sulzbach Sandy Legislator’s report: Waste storage questions loom here by WAYNE FAWHl Sil State Representative Salem scene: by JACK ZIMMERMAN Associated Oregon industries Reports in d ica tin g im provem ent in Oregon's business clim ate are being receiv ed with skepticism by this state's sponsor of a study among the 48 conntiguous states The study, commissioned by the Con ference of State Manufacturers' Associa tions (COSMA), indicates Oregon has risen from a ranking of 39th to 35th between 1979 and 1980 It was conducted by the Chicago based Alexander Grant & Company accoun ting firm AMwJ People around the country are becoming increasingly concerned about the safety of managing and disposing of hazardous wastes, both radioactive and chemical. Conse quently. it is increasingly d ifficu lt to find places to store hazardous materials. In the N o v e m b e r e le c tio n , Washington voters passed an in itia tive with a 70 percent favorable vo te th a t sa id the s ta te o f Washington would not accept any other state’s low-level radioactive waste unless that state had entered into a compact with Washington Washington has one of only three storage sites in the nation The other two are in Nevada and South Carolina. To site a new radiation dump w ill take a minimum of five years This creates a great deal of pressure for the states using the Washington dump site to come to some type of agreement Washington s Governor Spellman called a conference recently to deal with with issues of low level radioac tive waste storage to help us out of our dilemma. The re a so n th e p e o p le of Washington are so concerned over waste storage is that much of the radioactive waste shipped into their state has been in leaky containers, or vehicles carrying m aterials were unsafe This led to passage of the in illa tive Oregon has a chemical dump site in Arlington, used by both Oregon and Washington Oregon prohibits the storage of low-level radioactive waste, however The trade-off in waste storage sites seems to be a basis of negotiation between the two states, so that Oregon may continue to send its radioactive wastes to Washington There are a number of problems to be addressed before a regional com pact between the northwestern states can be made The state of Washington has the advantage now, because that state has the only useable radioactive waste storage fa cility. California, knowing that, would very much like to use that site However. California generates more radioactive waste than all the other Northwestern states combined That waste would have to be shipped through Oregon, and many of us aren’t interested in having C a lifo rn ia 's ra d io a ctive waste transported through our state The federal government has said that a state can be excluded from use of a storage fa cility only by crea tion of a compact among states, specifically excluding a state or states For the states of Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and Oregon to re a c h an a g re e m e n t w ith W ashington and also p ro h ib it California from using the site, the states must reach a compact that sets forth standards for everyone to follow and that Washington w ill be happy with The time fram e is very narrow, because Washington law takes effect in July of 1981 The result of Spellman's con ference was a tentative agreement by the northwestern states to reach as simple a contractual arrange ment as possible with the state of Washington The essential elements would be that Washington, the host state for the radiation storage fa c ili ty, would dictate rules by which they would accept other states' radiation materials Those rules would cover packag ing. handling of the m aterial for safe transport, the actual transportation and m onitoring of that waste while it's in transit. It would also include costs of the Washington facility. Most likely, the waste w ill be re quired to be compacted as much as possible The question of excluding C alifor nia w ill have to be decided finally by all the member states. All the packaging requirements are ones I feel Oregon w ill be able to live w ith, and a ctually benefit Oregon in several ways
