The Sandy Post
Editorial & Opinion
M a rk Floyd, Editor
Dan D illo n . N ews E ditor
Von B raschler, P u b lish e r
C a ro lin e D uff. O ffic e M a n a g e r
SANDY. OREGON
THURSDAY JULY 23. 1981
Attorney general’s opinion lauded
The Oregon attorney general last
week made an about-face and
changed that office’s opinion on
releasing the names of juvenile of
fenders to the press.
Local law enforcement agencies
had been prohibited from releasing
a juvenile’s name at the time of his
or her arrest, or the grounds for the
arrest, since a 1974 opinion from
the attorney general’s office.
Present Attorney General Dave
Frohnmayer should lx* applauded
for last week’s action.
Since that earlier opinion, there
has been a major Oregon Supreme
Court case involving a reporter’s,
and thus, the public’s right to gain
access to and report about juvenile
court proceedings. Refusing access
to the press, according to the
state ’s high court, is unconstitu
tional because there is a constitu
tional prohibition against “secret’’
courts.
By following the high court’s
lead, Frohnmayer opens the door
to more complete news coverage of
juvenile offenses—an area of crime
that statistics suggest is growing
rap id ly —and, therefore, m ore
complete coverage of the realities
of day-to-day life.
The attorney general’s opinion
does not mean the pages of The
Post or any newspaper will become
inundated with weekly lists of
juvenile offenders. Rather, the
press now gains the added respon
sibility of determining when it is in
the newspaper’s and the public’s
best interest to print the names of
juvenile offenders.
The Sandy Police Department
has taken great precautions in the
past protecting the nam es of
juvenile offenders. Now that the a t
torney general has ruled that
release of those names is not pro
hibited, it is the press’ responsibili
ty to take similar precautions and
not abuse the rights of arrested in
dividuals.
¿ J fe í
Readers are right; left turns legal
Observant readers have pointed
out an error last week in our
editorial about left-hand turns from
M einig Avenue onto P io n eer
Boulevard.
Indeed, free left-hand turns ARE
legal, according to page 34 of the
current Oregon D river’s Manual.
In fact, failure to cash in on free
left turns there could cause a traf
fic bottleneck
Left turns from a two-way road
to a one-road are legal in Oregon-
provided certain conditions are
met. Such turns "m ay be made
against a red light after stopping
and yielding, when necessary, to
vehicles or pedestrians.”
A p p a re n tly we a ll co u ld
straighten up our acts, as we glibly
suggested here last week.
Thanks to readers and local
police for straightening us out on
how to turn left. And safe motoring
to all. (VB)
Legislature reminiscent
of first marathon session
JACK Z IM M E R M A N
Associated Oregon Industries
Oregon lawmakers, nervous about the
length of the current meeting in Salem,
might find solace in the outcome of the
Assembly’s first record setting long session
back in 1868
Historians keep reminding us history
repeats itself and we're supposed to learn
valuable lessons from studying the past
It just so happens there are striking
similarities between the fifth session of the
Oregon Legislature 113 years ago and this
year's gathering which this week ap
proaches 200 days of deliberating
For instance. Democrats were firm ly in
power in both House and Senate. The
Democracy in the Senate tas described by
writers at that time) consisted of 13 of the
upper chamber’s 22 seats Twenty-three
Democrats ruled the 43-member House of
Representatives with 17 Republicans (the
Union) and three seats occupied by in
dividuals profession nonpartisan loyalty
If that isn’t enough ammunition with
which to draw parallels between fifth and
61st legislative Assemblies, consider the
fact Republicans then, as now, occupied the
offices of governor, secretary of state and
treasurer
So much for setting of the scene in Salem
How about that 1868 session’’
It dragged on for a then interminable 45
days!
That may not seem so long by today's
standards Bu, consider the fact Legislates
in those days-by Constitutional man
date drew the $3 per diem for only 40 days,
meaning they served without pay for ses
sions extending beyond an aggregate salary
of $120
Rebellious minority members of the
House pointed out the Constitution also
specified no services of any man could be
dem anded w ith o u t ju s t compensa
tion together obvious deterrents to lengthy
sessions
H istory reveals the C onstitutional
legislative pay provisions were so effective
that most sessions ended in 40 or 41 days and
the average length of sessions prior to 1943
was only 45 8 days
Only since voters in 1*42 agreed
lawmakers could set their own salaries have
sessions expanded to three, four, five and
six months or more
Back to post-Civil War Oregon in
1838 emotionally divided on civil rights
•slavery» Oddly enough, pre-slave sym
p a th iz e rs —la rg e ly fo rm e r Southern
Democrats—represented a num erical
minority but achieved significant seats of
power Particularly in the (legislature,
where the house speaker, for instance, was
none other than Honest John Whiteaker.
former first governor and later two-term
Senate president and eventually member of
Congress
Political machinations ran rampant dur
ing that fifth session of the Oregon
Assembly Senate Democrats effectively
_ «uw 4 r w:
Battle lines drawn against invaders
Somewhere on the F ront Lines
It’s no good A couple of us ace war
correspondents are holed up with the
Sixth Brigade SWAT Team in an
abandoned gazebo
They’ve got us surrounded We're
outnumbered a million to one We
know they’re out there We can see
their cold, multi-faceted eyes glow
ing in the dark Life means nothing
to them They’re obviously prepar
ing another insect-wave assault
They're bound to overrun us this
time
The radio crackles Secret head
quarters wants to know if there’s
anything we need "Send us more
medflies.” replies Captain Buck Ace
bravely A real glory hound, that
Captain Ace
"Oh, why did we ever leave East
Oakland’’ " sobs a downy-cheeked
recruit huddled next to me
Yes, why9 It had been a cheery
scene in that warm East Oakland
by A R T H O P P E
canteen the gallant helicopter
pilots in their puttees and white silk
scarfs sipping brandy before their
pre dawn patrol, and the doughboys
quaffing beer and singing "Over
Here’’ and " I t ’s a Long Way to
Pasadena ’’
Then Lili Marlene, the pretty
waitress, leaping on a table and b r
inging the crowd to its feet with her
rendition of: "Spray the little medf
ly, spraying, spraying. / In our kurn
quats, you'll not lx* playing; / When
the drops fall, we ll all be praying, /
Go, little medfly, go!"
Our hearts were filled with
patriotic fervor as we marched off to
battle But our ardor cooled as the
grim sights of war met our eyes
Eirst it was the long lines of
refugees crawling along the roads,
their Eairlane station wagons piled
high with their pitiful possessions
Then the ugliness of the battlefield
itself
the stripped trees, the green
body bags on the sidewalks contain
mg casualties plucked from life
before their time, the shrouded
vehicles along the curbs, the empty
streets
Our leader. Governor Brown, gave
our morale a temporary boost when
he personally appeared in the com
bat zone and tried to get sprayed on
And that lifted our spirits, even
though he failed But now
"You want to live forever!" cries
Captain Ace "On your feet, men,
and let's take as many of them with
us as we can."
Wait! What’s that distant roar9
It's the choppers coming in. playing
Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries."
The blessed malathion is raining
down An innocent ladybug screams
and doubles up War is hell on
civilians
The enemy is dying like flies The
troops draw their M 16 swatters and
wade in to mop up the survivors,
"Take that for America," they
shout, "you dirty hugs!”
Victory! We have won the battle
But no, the war Again, the radio
crackles The main body of the
enemy has outflanked us and has
laid siege to downtown Gerhleford!
Can we reach them in time to
rescue the population9 In time to
save America? In time for my next
edition9
Letters to the editor:
Legislative Report from the State Capital
E XC L U S I VE to Oregon's Weekly Newspa
pers from Associated Oregon Industries
shortened the elected terms of Republican
members of that chamber and House
D em ocrats unseated a duly elected
Republican and replaced with with a
member of their party
Democrats censured both the former and
then current Republican Governors and
were hatching a plan to unseat the GOP of
ficeholder and replace him with one of their
own.
Democrat Legislators also voted to
withdraw previous consent of Oregon to the
14th Amendment to the U S. Constitution,
preventing abridgement of citizenship
rights -even though that amendment had
earlier achieved approval by the requisite
number of states and been officially
declared part of the Constitution
F a ilin g to a chieve w hat House
Republicans decried as a treasonable act,
historians relate: "The next movement was
to hurl Democratic thunder upon the heads
of our Senators in Congress, declaring they
were acting from unworthy motives, and
p e re m p to ria ly
dem an din g
th e ir
resignation ”
M e a n w h ile , as a ll th is p a rtis a n
manipulating continued, the 1868 session
reached the so-called lim it of 40 days
without bringing the Appropriation B ill" to
a vote
Republicans railed against circumstances
th a t
saw
“ m ost
im p o rta n t
measures
thrust aside for consideration
of these revolutionary" issues A Democrat
Senator from Lane County resigned his seat
in protest
Still refusing to allow consideration of the
money measure on the 43rd day. two more
Democrats went home and an even dozen
Republican members resigned in protest
Only one returned to service next session.
T W Davenport, father of the renowned car
toonist Homer Davenport of Silverton Nine,
all freshmen, were so disenchanted they
never again returned to the Legislature
N onetheless.
the
a p p ro p ria tio n
measure -consisting of some $225.527 to
cover two years of spending eventually
was passed and the first 45 day session ad
journed sine die
Did the voters turn those rascals ouf* On
the contrary iJemocrats continued to con
trd the (legislature for most of the ensuing
decade
All of which brings to mind another adage
dealing with things historical It claims.
"One thing history teaches is that it
doesn’t "
Smooth festival garners reader approval
Police applauded
located to accommodate a
carnival Without the use of
the grade school grounds,
I would like to commend
there would be no carnival
the Sandy Police Eoree, both
and subsequently, no funds
the re g u la rs and the
for the 4th of July program
reserves, for the excellent
and fireworks display
job they did during the San
The 4th of July program
dy M ou nta in E e stiva I
and the Sandy Mountain
festivities. When a town of
Days activities require the
3,000 people balloons to
cooperation of many public-
50,000 people, and order is
sp irited individuals and
kept in a courteous manner,
organizations.
we can feel confident and
A special thanks to Jerry
proud of our police force
Swails for his help at the
Sincerely.
high school and to Jeff
Bruc&Cook
Y eager who has been
Sandy
responsible the past two
years for setting off the
fireworks
Thanks also to the local
Boy Scout groups who pro
The Sandy Civic Services
vide the color guard at the
organization wishes to pubic-
4th of July program and help
ly express its sincere ap
with the cleanup of the
preciation, individually and
grounds along with the San
collectively, to the Sandy
dy Lions Club and the Little
Elementary School District
League groups
hoard members and the San
Also essential to the suc
dy Union High School hoard
cess of the 4th of July pro
members, to Superintendent
gram is the cooperation and
Clark Lund and his staff and
effort put forth by the office
to Superintendent Jack
of the mayor, the c ity
Peters and his staff for their
manager and the city coun
sanction and approval of the
cil Police Chief Ered Punzel
use of th e ir respective
and his able crew are deeply
facilities during the 4th of
involved along with the San
July program and for the
dy Police Reserves and the
c a rn iv a l d u rin g Sandy
Clackamas County Police
Mountain Days
Reserves Eire Chief Bob
The cooperation, which is
Rathke, the Sandy firemen,
annually given by the hoard
both
fu ll- tim e
and
members, adm inistrative
volunteers, contribute much
and custodial staffs of these
time and effort
two schools, is essential to
The organizations and in
the success of these outstan
dividuals mentioned along
d in g ly p op ular Oregon
with many more people and
events
groups in active cooperation
By way of information to
make the 4th of July pro
the public at large,- the pro
gram and the Sandy Moun
ceeds received by the Sandy
tain Days the successes that
Civic Services from the car
they are.
nival pay for the insurance
Until next year, when we
coverage of the parade and
all go through the same pro
the Mountain Festival, and
related activities, plus the cesses again, thank you all
once more
costs of the 4,h of July pro
Sincerely,
gram and fireworks display
Ered I) Rockwell
The grade school grounds
President
is the only location in Sandy
Sandy Civic Services
large enough and centrally
A big ‘Thanks’
Support the school
All across this vast land of
ours there seems to be a s tir
ring deep down in the roots
of each community brought
on by frustration, fear and
insecurity It is being felt by
the young and old alike
Each day th ro ug h the
pagesof the press and
belching forth from the tube,
we hear about this theme 1,
grows and grows
Recent events pu, into mo
tion by the new admimstra
tion have much to do with
this concern Eear has
entered into the hearts of our
older citizens who daily de
pend on government’ for
their very existence through
government controlled pro
grams. Social Security and
the like
The cold computer like ac
tion of recent weeks has
caused this uncertainty and
frustration Their actions af
feet all of us in different
ways
Perhaps, we in our own
communities need to come
closer together and listen
more carefully to matters
closer to home Certainly we
should all support a better
voting record than we have
shown recently If enmpas
sion and love for mankind
has disappeared from the
thinking in Washington, need
it do so in this community9 I
think not
Those of us who lived
through the great depression
know what togetherness
really can do for each other
and a community If we had
no, handed together in those
days we would never have
survived
Today we are in a depres
sion of a different kind than
the previous one. bu, a
depressions never the less
There is a lack and want A
lack of compassion for our
fellow man Also a want for a
m ore
c o m p assio na te
understanding of the or
dinary people Recent deci
sions seem cold and
heartless and truly lacking
in understanding of basic
human dignity
One way we can prove that
our community can band
together and prove tha, we
can work together for the
common good is to get out
and try to save the Sandy
Community School and no,
jus, si, back and le, is coor
dinator, Jan Reynolds, and
the c ity manager work
alone Surely there are
enough community spirited
groups and individuals who
can come up w ith the
necessary answers
To lose this school would
deprive many of a learning
experience that they really
need Many could not travel
to Gresham or Oregon City
to continue their learning
Judy Sheppard showed San
dy the way Give Jan the
right to continue its opera
tion
Sincerely,
Mat, and Louese Shields
Boring
Anderson OK
I, seems that satire is still
very interesting to write bu,
interpretations vary greatly
I missed the July 9th issue
of The Post ( I ha ve one now >
so I was quite surprised at
the reaction to Shara’Deen's
efforts as expressed by W H
Tuttle and Dixie Marshall
After reading her article.
I'm no, too surprised Such is
the nature of satire
Tha, the writers had such
a negative reaction is no
re fle c tio n on th e ir in
telligence or personal opi
nions Again, satire always
brings mixed reactions
Different things cause d if
ferent reactions Cost of
education, as expressed by
D ixie M arshall, usually
upsets me When my three
children were in school, I
read an aticle stating that
anyone with three children
could no, live long enough to
pay for their cos, of educa
tion
The statem ent: Three
children attending school
from grades one through 12
would accumulate to 36
years Property taxes can
not pay for their education
According to my property
tax statement for that year
multiplied by 36, I found the
statement was true So, I ’m
a little disappointed when
people with large families
vote against school budgets
But this does not, in any way,
mean that I ’m against large
families
So, satire bothers some
people — not me, I guess
they have a right to be
against school costs
Sincerely,
C Richard Riley
Gresham
Thanks, again
The Paola s Pizza Barn
w om en’s s o ftb a ll team
members would like to ex
press our thanks to all the
merchants of Sandy who
contributed to our raffle We
appreciate your support in
helping us earn our way to
state playoffs Aug 8 9 in
Eastside
Thanks to, to all those who
purchased the tickets. W’e
Couldn't have done it without
your support.
our next fund raiser w ill
he a car wash and bake sale
July 25 It w ill be located
next to the fire station and
the Odd Fellows Hall Satisfy
your sweet tooth while we
wash your car.
Sincerely.
Paola s ladies softball team