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
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