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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 20, 1981)
The Sândy Post Editorial & Opinion Sandy may breath S a n d y ’s sew er got a little breathing room this week with a m ore o p tim istic e n g in e e rin g estim ate on immediate growth needs. Not that the air was getting rank, hut the city’s hope for sustained, planned growth were getting dim That cloud was based on an earlier engineering estimate that said the city might have to expand its sewer system soon to handle m ore growth Today’s news is particularly timely for the city’s economic developm ent com m ission that hopes to attract compatible in dustrial employers for the city’s expandable industrial park area west of town. More light industry and commerce here would enable the city to shed its bedroom coat as an overnight stop for out-of-town workers. Consequently, the city then could become more of a lull- service community. Broadening the tax burden would be attractive to resident property owners, too. The new breathing room couldn’t come at a better time, either, since the economic development com mission wraps up its year-long study next month. Next comes a ci ty marketing approach. There are a few things the city must do, however, to accommodate 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 Dan D illo n Editor Scott N ew ton. N ews E ditor THURSDAY AUGUST 20. 1981 sier now co n tin u ed grow th They a re relatively inexpensive and should be pursued for what it will buy in planned city grow th. Lee Engineering of Oregon City suggests that Sandy buy a used tanker sludge truck soon, so the ci ty will have the option of spreading liquid sludge on wet fields. In all, the engineers propose immediate expense of only about $60,200. Finding the money for this im mediate need may prove difficult for the city, however. Also, Sandy should consider either expansion of its present small six-inch water lines leading west of town to the industrial park or a supplemental water source west of town. The six-inch lines are rather small to handle heavy com m e rc ia l n eed s w est of th e downtown core, and fire fighting in the industrial sector could prove difficult with w ater flow that falters w ith the distance. Indeed, the city is progressing toward construction of a water reservoir on Sandy Heights and awaits legal clearance for right of way. Hats off to city officials for tackl ing these growth problems now', b efo re Sandy faces c r itic a l crossroads economically and in terms of quality of life here. (VB) Letters to the editor: The Innocent Bystander: Everyone has an opinion now -M-OU.il tHIIl Most of the greatest boons to mankind were invented by geniuses who saw clearly an unmet need of society and set about to m w t it Just such a man was Charles Ernest Tessel Like many Americans, Tessell was a very opinionated man. He had an opinion on every subject under the sun and a compul sion to express it. He would sit at the breakfast table, reading the front page and issuing a steady stream of judgments aloud: "The President is crazy if he thinks he can lick inflation by cutting taxes ” "Boy, are those Israelis go ing to put it to those Syrians ” Or. "A ny Congressman caught in a love nest deserves what he gets, I say.” "Yes, dear,” Fiona, his wife of 23 years, would respond as she perused the bridge col umn "Yes, dear.” O r: "Yes, dear " Tessel felt some of the spark had gone ou, of his marriage the day he announced that " if Congress takes my early retirement benefits out of the Social Security system, I II k ill m yse lf!” and Mrs Tessel replied, "Yes. dear.” As they watched television, he tried their teen aged c h ild r e n , o ff e r in g th e m fascinating opinions on such topics as predestination, the promise of fusion energy and the decline of fooball since the demise of the dropkick. Here the response, while no more satisfac tory, was at least more varied, ranging from, "Oh, Daddy, re a l-le e '” to " I 'l l do it at the next com m ercial.” Understandably, Tessel took to hanging around bars, his pockets crammed with newspaper clippings and whole pages torn from The Economist and U S. News and World Report But the bartender always seemed to be not listening to someone else's opinion at the fa r end of the bar Cocktail parties proved no better " I favor the withdrawal of American advisors from El Salvador," he would begin "Speaking of w ith d ra w a l," a lady in horn rimmed glasses would say. " I hear Bunny Beerman has joined A A F rankly, in my opinion . .” One evening, Tessel cornered Mrs Tessel at the dinner table. "D o you realize what's happening to this country?" he demanded Thanks to the growing inform ation glut, more and more and more people are having more and more opinions about more and more issues And no one is interested in Detractors hasty? hearing anyone's opinion but his own. "The consequent mass frustration w ill un questionably induce a mass psychosis,” he shouted, "th a t w ill inevitably destroy our civilization unless something is done im m ediately!” "Yes, dear," said Mrs Tessel "Please pass the salt ” Undaunted, Tessel, a true genius, pressed on I’he result was the simple technological breakthrough that may yet save the human race - Dial an Ear The first Dial an Ear service was offered bv the Montauk, It I , Telephone Company and s im ila r projects have now been established in 14 communities The caller simply dials a recorded message which begins "H i there, what's on your mind today’’ " I’he recording device is programmed to deliver a further message each tim e the caller pauses for breath The sequence is: "Hey, re a lly! How interesting.” "No kidding! I didn't know that.” "Gee, you sure have all the facts at your fingertips But what can we do about it? ” 'By George, you're absolutely rig h t! I sure wish I'd thought of that.” And fin a lly : "Gosh, thanks for calling and setting me straight " While Dial an Ear has proved w ild ly popular, it does produce certain side effects. The bar business in Montauk is off 78 3 per cent . the Montauk Tribune has cancelled its letters to the editor column for lack of let ters, the cocktail party is extinct; and only 36 voters cast their ballots in the last elec tion that l>eing the number of residents without telephones But as Tessel said the other day: This is a small price to pay for serenity " And he was deeply satisfied by the response ' Gosh, thanks for calling and setting me straight This is a recording." REAGAN WA5 RIGHT.. HE COULD GET THI5 COUNTRY MOVING .. i MACC? ECOS? What w ill they change their name to next week for the Sandy Post (since they a r e a ll th e same people)? Or perhaps the name change was due to em barrassment after the Water Resource m eeting, when they discredited themselves so badly. Perhaps more to the point, who are they (since they have had no public meetings and refuse to meet with my husband c o n c e rn in g his small hydro project)? But what I would really like to know is where were all 10 or 12 of them years ago when my husband, myself and many others concerned citizens of the Mt Hood Recreational C orridor sat down week a fte r week, month a fte r month w ith Clackamas County Planning Department and the Board of County Commissioners us ing LCDC g u ild lin e s to design a cohesive co m prehensive land use plan for the area, allowing for both slow, intelligent growth and recreational use? Where were they? I can not speak for M r Sheets or M r McMahan, for they are both new members of the com m unity; but I can speak for the Cabrals, since they were at the tim e close frie n d s and encouraged often to join us at these public meetings They did not. Bu, they are not alone Not one of the people under the guise of ECOS at the public Water Resource meeting ever had been to any public meeting I have attended prior to the last few months I feel that every person has a rig h t—if not a duty to become involved in their comm unity However, what they folks are trying to do is a bit redundant, as well as a great expense to the tax payer I watched them along with other opponents that live outside the Hoodland a re a m a k e a tw o day meeting out of a normal two hour hearing I have no idea what the total bil ran, but it m u s t h a ve been c o n siderable three paid state employees, typing of io hours of testimony and all- day rental of both Sandy C o m m u n ity C e n te r a n il Welches Grade School What is worse, this was only the If a project is a detriment to the environment, it w ill not be approved, for every government departmnt has a team of experts who we pay th ro u g h ta x e s to disallow its approval This overlapping must stop Let the experts do their job or do ECOS, MACC and th e ir sparse membership feel they are more qualified? Jan Sweitzer W'emine Support police F if t y y e a rs ago, the Department of State Police was organized in Oregon as an agency empowered to en force all Oregon statutes without lim itation by county or other political subdivi sion. D uring its half-century, the department has perform ed adm irably while avoiding m a jo r scandal and con troversy It has met its goals of providing better police protection to ru ra l com munities w ith the support and cooperation of other law e n fo rc e m e n t a g e n c ie s throughout the state During the 1981 legislative session, the governor and most of us in the Senate became concerned about the level of budget reductions that would be necessary for the department if no new revenues were available We made a concerted effort tow ard restoration of $4 m illion, but were unable to garner support from House memtzers and were compell ed to work toward only a 61 6 m illion restoration I realize the bind in which the current level of ap propriations places state police At the same time, I want to take this opportunity to assure the dedicated members of OSP that every effort w ill be made during the interim and the years ahead tomake OSP benefits equitable with those of other state employees and to fu r ther recognize the often dangerous s itu a tio n s in which they find themselves in their line of work. Members of the Depart ment of State Police have our congratulations intheir diamond jubilee year and our sincere gratitude for a job well done Fred W Heard President, Oregon State Senate LETTERS POLICY: The Post asks that all letters to the editor be typed, double-spaced and signed. Deadline is noon, Tuesday. Letters should be a ccu ra te , free of libelous remarks and in good taste. T his newspaper attempts to publish all letters it receives and may edit m aterial lig h tly to con fo rm to gu id elin e s. Maximum length is 200 words. Gold investment glitter pales NEW YORK — I've always known I was a dreamer, but today I m go ing to try something really fan tastic; talking a little cool sense about that most emotional, irra tio n a l and o ve rh e a te d of in vestments — gold For the icy fact is that, despite the smug claims of the bugs and the bombast of the promoters, gold ac tually has been for most investors, most of the time, a fa irly dreadful in vestment One leading gold nut brags that he has been recommending the metal nonstop since I%1 What he doesn't tell us is that this advice has been terrible more often than not It caus ed his followers to lose substantial benefits fro m the spectacular stockmarket surges of the 1960s and the last six and a half years, and it caused them twice to fa il to take pro fits in advance of 50 percent declines in gold t first hearing Three more are scheduled in the future What the p ublic must come to realize is they are paying for all this nonsense, and it is unnecessary We, the taxpayers, have set up bureau after bureau, com m ittee after committee to protect the environm ent, and now some individuals want to tie their hands, ques tion their judgement Wall Street report: This really remains so far from the conventional wisdom, even now when gold has taken a tumble, that it requires some substantiation Ergo, let s look at the question three ways long term , medium term and short term 53 Jl gTOWth^ police eyed in terms of the average investor As compared with the recent price around $4<<o an ounce, that works out to an 11 25 percent compound annual return, the average common stock not only has shown much greater capital appreciation since the end of 1974. but in many cases has paid out considerable dividends along the way as well It's the medium term where gold has gained the most investment respectability In the 1970s it vied with such esoterica as Chinese ceramics for the top of the invest ment charts But even that p erfor mance is misleading as fa r as the average investor goes It assumes you started buying gold at 635 an ounce the price at w hich it was ar- tific a lly fixed for four decades U S citizens were forbidden to own gold bullion during this period; while some did buy gold in other forms and some just plain broke the law, the tr u th is th a t m o st p a t r io t ic Americans avoided gold purchases until their government gave a clear, green light at the end of 1974 The price at that time was about 6200 an ounce, which makes a far more realistic base for calculations Gold's overblown reputation for investment excellence stems largely from its dram atic run up in 1979 and early 1980, when it packed on the New York market at 6875 an ounce — and the bugs were vying w ith one another to see who could make the craziest and loftiest prediction for how much farther it was likely to leap by St S w ithin'sD ay That takes us to the short term, and the most embarrassingly unfavorable com parisons of all for gold. And le s t a n yo n e sh o u t hindsight," let the record show that at least some of us were tryin g to wave caution flags at the top At the peak of what I dubbed “ the greatest gold rush in history " early last year. People magazine printed an in te r view with me in which I advised - to the acute disappointment of en thusiasts that gold then "should not be touched by the average in vestor w ith a 10-foot pole, not even a gold one, that "any commodity that goes up this rapidly can plum met as fa st" and that for those with fa m ily jewelry to sell, "th is may be a good tim e to start letting Grandma turn a profit for you ” So the top was not undectable to non theologians Does that mean gold w ill never rise again’’ Of course not gold is a commodity, and com modities go up and down, with an up ward bias as long as inflation rages Lower interest rates would reduce gold's carrying costs Severe world crisis could boost gold, so could a turnaround in the sagging oil price, to which it has been closely allied for years Hedgers might well want to put a small portion of investable assets isay 5-15 percent) into gold But I continue to doubt that it w ill be the best investment for the 1980s As we've seen, even in its alleged heyday it was never quite as precious as was pretended R w k e ja a r 'a f i n a n c i a l analysis la 4latrlfcwt * d » k _ M ^ N o u jh t S yndicata Inc (« ,
