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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 1982)
The Srfnäy Post Editorial & Opinion Von Braschler. Publisher Caroline Duff, Office Manager Oan Dillon, Editor Scott Newton, News Editor SANDY, OREGON. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18. 1982 No time to run out on neighbors Since Reaganom ics h a sn 't cured economic woes, perhaps we should try Truman wit. Fteisty Harry provides perfect example of the little guy who battled big odds with the cry, “ The buck stops here.’’ That’s not a bad idea for small towns like Sandy, whose economy is battered by big city distrac tions With few local employers to hold them, most residents work out of town and then shop out of town on their way home. Many city booster groups would like to stop bucks in Sandy, but have trouble launching their crusade. E a rlie r this w in te r Sandy Chamber of Commerce hosted a city brainstorming session to bolster local economy, devastated by the recession. Unfortunately, they haven’t met since. The city also has s tu d ie d S a n d y ’ s economic shortcomings and ways to shore things up. The retail mer- chant association likewise be moans the amount of out-of-town shopping among Sandy residents and has planned a year of promo tions to generate excitement about Sandy stores. Their motives aren’t totally selfish, and residents who desert hometown shops during hard times should realize the double blow they deliver citywide. R eal c o m m u n itie s s tic k together in tough times. That means counting on one another for what we need It means being honest and t e llin g the storekeeper, our neighbor, what he can do to serve you. Running out on our neighbors means draining our downtown of circulating money that towns need to remain healthy. Money spent down the road only helps some other town thrive. Let’s trust in each other to get through these poor times All should support seniors’ levy Senior C enters s e rv in g residents in the Sandy, Hoodland and Estacada areas w ill profit big with passage of a countywide senior services serial levy March 30. In this age of declining federal support and sparce local funds, survival may be more on minds of local senior center supporters. The three-year serial levy asks 22 cents per thousand ($11 on a $50,000 home) to stabilize funding of local centers through county taxes. It sounds only fa ir, since residents outside municipal boun daries also use local senior centers and also should pay for th e ir basic operation. Local m u n icip a litie s or com m unity groups as in Hoodland would con- tin u e to ru n th e ir lo c a l centers—only with county fun ding That would mean a lot to a com munity like Sandy, where CETA cuts reduced staff and Older Americans Act federal money shortfall the last two years has burdened city taxpayers. Sandy’s center would receive $67,585 to $82,603 per year from the county. That’s more than the city currently is able to budget for a scaled-down senior program These centers do a lot for county seniors—60 percent of whom older than 70 subsist below poverty level. Centers here keep seniors active, fed, housed and function ing with legal and financial help, health care and rides. To many seniors it means the difference between staying home with a little help and a one-way trip to a rest home. We might as well face reality. We’re all growing old and soon w ill need more senior services than ever before. Shouldering cost for such valuable program s should be the responsibility of all, beyond municipal boundaries. Active support for passage of the March 30 county levy for senior services is encouraged Salem scene: State budget woes worsen by JACK Z IM M E R M A N Associated Oregon Industrie* The Slat Oregon Legislative Assembly is back in Salem after a brief respite to ad dress a budget deficit even greater than what prompted the current special ses sion In the process, this legislature con tinues to amass records lor lengthy deliberations The same W> lawmakers first convened Jan 12, ItMl, for a regular session that dragged on for an unprecedented 203 days adjourning at dawn Sunday, Aug 2 Major reason for the session's length was difficulty matching spending with dwindl ing projected revenue That regular ses sion was preceded by a five day special session in August, imho , called to correct the same problem I togged by ■ still stumbling economy, problems in the path to a solution seem to multiply with each passing week Even before the regular IM I session ad journed, leadership indicated one or even two special session« might be necessary to adjust spending, if the economy didn't im prove Improve, it hasn't The present special meeting was called first for Jan I I , after Gov Vic Atiyeh announced a budget deficit in he neighborhood of 1240 million leadership pleaded for more time to prepare for the special session, and A It y eh gave them another week The session finally started Jan IB At that time the session was something of an eslraordmary event, bet «use spec ta i sessions only rarely occur during even numbered election years By accident or design special sessions had been avoided in election years, for fear political ambi lions would tangle with statesmanship Lawmakers embraced a good part (H Gov Atiyeh'■ economic recovery plan They enacted four measures aimed at easing the pain of unemployment by pro vidlng extended jnidesa pay benefits authonring a four day week job sharing program and shifting emergency funds to retatn the state's job placement service They raised interest rates on delinquent taxes and made it simpler to begin co- generation of energy by burning refuse They also revamped provisions of the x ____ > 7 Legislative Report Irom the Stale Capital E X C LU SIV E to Oregon » Weekly New spa per* Irom Associated Oregon Industries veterans' home loan program to postpone foreclosures and facilitate resale of mor tgng<*d homes and farms They came close to balancing the budget in those first 23 days They did that by em bracing portions of Gov Atiyeh'» original proposal Those Included a speed up in col lections of employee withholding taaea. from employers, a reduction In basic school support, acceleration of delinquent tax collections and savings through pro cedural adjustments All told, lawmakers were within Mo million of balancing the budget, when the second shoe dropped That amount wouldn t do the job Meanwhile, Atiyeh and GOP Legislators were steadfastly resisting Democrat at tempts to levy an income tax surtax At tempts to raid the property tax relief fund had iie e n bealen back Additional taxes on beer and wine were discarded Corporate lax increases had been abandoned The Governor's recommended 1120 million cuts in agency »pending had been pared in half Some observers believe lawmakers now must begin anew and re examine all poasi hie avenues to escape from their fiscal dilemma The ultimate solution maybe a patchwork combination of further »pen ding cuts and »ome kind of additional tax A change in taxes could be referred to voters and the mood of almost all consti tuencies is at beat somewhat ugly Failure to win approval of a lax boost during a special election la only one hazard legislative proponents face at the polls An unfavorable tax ballot would probably mean »till another special session later this year Two other elections the May primary and November general, pose even tougher consequences for any current Legislator with aspirations to serve again in S3 Letters to the editor: Ecology and economy stir readers Featherbrains all When the bandy Post an nounced that a rival bird watching group was going to survey bird life on the Brightwood Elk A Gorilla Pasture, I called together the Hoodland Chapter of In ternational Featherbrain to make our own assess ment of the area In our racket it pays to maintain a fairly prominent profile to insure tax-free status and to q u a lify for g ran ts, scholarships, endowments and other tax dodge gravy We a p p ro a c h e d the wilderness from the old h ig h w a y Just eaat of Brightwood, where we noticed the elk are creating an erosion problem by kicking rocks onto the road Entering the dense deciduous copse, we were entangled in a morass of elk wallows and gorilla warrens. There were no signs of A rch eo pteryx—com plete extinction Battling our way to a little snow covered opening, we paus ed to regain our breath T h e re w e re no penguins- not a feather, a footprint, a bowtie Ever alert for the shriek of the elusive Canal Owl, we heard none, saw none Canal Owls require con ifers None grows here, the delicate environment over balanced by man Conifer re fo re s ta tio n re q u ire s abundant CO2 for its photosynthesis —an at- moapheric ingredient now becoming scarce, because in flatio n : You can do of man’s contempt for in something about it. There is a bill by Congressman versions and his reluctance Henry Gonzalez to repeal to burn old tires and the Federal System and go rooting back to our Constitution for Forging on -where are the plan for a Constitu the Passenger Pigeons’* tional money system This G o n e-a ll gone A pair of approach was set up by our these lovely birds requires forefathers, who foresaw SBO uninhabited acres for the problems caused by the its cots. The Brightwood international blood suckers Elk and Gorilla Pasture like the Federal Reserve supplies only 520 acres System In case you do not since the Bryant Forty has know it, the F e d e ra l become over-ridden by set R e se rve System is a tlers Our efforts eventual privately owned corpora ly w ill oust these in tion, owned by interna terlopers. and the Bryant tionalists They chose the Forty again will be the do name Federal to confuse main of the Passenger Americans into thinking it P ig e o n —a re w a rd in g was part of our federal trade-off government Having spent most of my Congressman Gonzalez’s adult life here, contributing bill is very simple short to the ecological survival and to the point by creating clear-cuts to Section 1. This Act shall re b u ild the b ro a d le a f be known as the Monetary forage, burning slash to re Policy Reorganization Act balance the atmosphere, Section 2. The Federal and leaving skid-roads to Reserve Act is hereby facilitate animal tnlgra repealed t io n —I now am Section 3. Such functions devastated my efforts un as were earned out under done, my life for naught the Federal Reserve Act on Perhaps It's Just as well, the date of enactment of for when Bonneville gets its th is Act a re h ere b y Brightwood Dam Joining transfered to the Depart Wildcat Mountain to Mein ment of the Treasury tyre Ridge, a new magnifi Section 4 A 6 create a clent w etland w ill be D epu ty S e c re ta ry fo r created between Cook's Monetary Affairs and an Motel and Map Curve Advisory Council within Milton M Fox the Treasury Department, Brightwood all appointed by the Presi dent Section 5, provides for the transfer of the Federal To all of you out there Reserve assets to the who are concerned about United States Government Nip inflation This bill is HR-4358 Here is what we can do. We all should write a card to Oregon congressmen, asking them to co-sponsor this bill This will get it out of committee and onto the floor of the house, where it should pass quickly I am sending post cards to Congressmen AuCoin, Weaver, Wyden and Smith and Senators Hatfield and Packwood If a million Americans do this, it will send a political earthquake through Washington, D.C. Ann Lucas Estacada Protect pensions With continuing debate about Social Security and "aging of Am erica," there has been increasing con cern about the pensions of today’s workers In 1875 Congress en acted the Employee Retirement In come Security Act known as ERISA to correct past pension abuses and to "guarantee" the benefits of plan participants Despite its co m p lexity, E R IS A has—in part—achieved its goal Under the IMHO amend ments, em ployers who chose to close down an o p e ra tio n or whose employees voted to de certify a union might be liable to the plan for hun dreds of thousands of dollars in "w ith d raw a l liability ** Multi-employer pension plans dominate the con structlon industry, with more than 1,000 plans covering in excess of two m illio n w o rk e rs and retirees These plans have been the most efficient way to p ro vid e re tire m e n t benefits to a highly mobile workforce which may be em p lo y e d by m any employers in a single year. The covered workers en joy the advantage of pen sion p o r t a b ilit y . T h e e m p lo y e r Is g iv e n a simplified mechanism for providing his employees a pension by making the agreed-to, per-hour con tributions The I860 amendments, however, changed this mutually beneficial rela tionship into a nightmare The amendments make a d e p a rtin g c o n tra c to r responsible for a portion of the plan’s unfunded vested liability or U VL represen ting the difference between actual contributions and vested benefits P la n tru s te e s and negotiators are battling it out over what used to be " r o u t in e ’ ’ b e n e fit in creases This is at a time when our industry needs all the la b o r-m a n a g e m e n t cooperation it can get Are pensioners tru ly " p r o t e c te d ” w hen employers are forced out of business’* John Berard Director of Public Affairs Associated General Con tractors Personally speaking: It’s better to be bom with muscle tone I 'm convinced that some people are horn to go through life without muscle tone Barring that, they're meant to wake up one morning and find that perfect pectorals bulging biceps and quivering quadriceps have magically crept Into their bodies while they slept < I know what all those muscles are because I looked them up in a dictionary I certainly didn't look them up in a mirror I Tossing and turning one s way to perfect musculature, however, seem» s bit beyond even this d re a m e r's re a lm of the possible—p articularly when I generally get pinned wrestling the pillow One day a few weeks ago while wide awake, but almost certainly deluded. I resolved quietly to do something about my own version of The Situation It first reared its ugly waistline several months ago when I node ed I wasn't wearing my green corduroy pants as often as 1 had been Then I remembered that they had grown a tad snug I resolved to turn down the heat on the clothes dryer to reduce shrinkage, 1 was trying to be logical against The Situation. I noticed it again one morning a few weeks ago when I bent over to pick up a shoe and the momen tum of my stomach moving ear by DAN DILLON thward nearly pulled me to the floor in an ungainly heap That does it, I thought, no more Canadian bacon pizzas topped w ith s a u e rk ra u t. No m ore spaghetti and ravioli sandwiches No m ore four servings of casserole at dinner and no more beer Now. I knew I wanted to lose 20 pounds, but I also knew I didn't want to get ridiculous about the whole thing I mean we're talking pasta and beer here I had to be rational Carbohydrate intake, aa they call it in those magazines about running, isn't neceaaarily con ducive to weight gain Alberto Salazar ate spaghetti and snuck out for a pizza the night before he won the New York Marathon. I decided to handle The Situa tion with exercise, if I could find the right one. Last summer, coerced by the goading of a friend, I began to run, Not long distances, mind you, but it was farther than the refrigerator I felt great My fnends rem ark ed on the healthy coloring in my cheeks My green corduroys fit. Then the second week of train ing c a m e and I h it the wall hard I went into oxygen debt My Achilles' tendons ached and beg ged for a reprieve By the time I was through with warm-ups, I was a wreck Running along North Bluff Road was no piece of cake either I now figure that the reason all the joggers out in that neck of Sandy are so skinny is because they quake with fear that the next car speeding at them may be their last No, I decided, running is no way to battle The Situation I've had a set of barbells on my bedroom floor for the pest two years, but with the cobwebs that have accumulated on them, they've become too heavy to lift I ’ve tried slt-upa, Jumping jacks and push-ups before Bor ing Then a friend called and sug gested we go bowling It didn’t sound overly offensive The fellows on television hardly mesa up their hair and they all seem in good shape Most of their wives seem in good shape, too In the beginning, the laughter of bowlers on adjacent lanes re sounded like the pins falling after their well-thrown strikes, but we perserved They can laugh at your at tempts at spare or they can laugh at your stomach. I reasoned So Sunday we repaired to the lanes again I chose a heavier- than-uaual ball inscribed "Nan cy" for some reason, wound up and rolled my best-ever series I was in 10-pin heaven By M onday m orning, I ’d relocated in 10-pin hell I felt like I'd had my spinal col umn realigned with a ball peen hammer My finger was the size of a bread and butter pickle It took longer to crawl out of bed than It did to build Lincoln's nose on Mount Rushmore, That did it Battling that hard against The Situation to get into a pair of fading green corduroys doesn't seam worth tt. Besides, maybe there to a solution I'll sea it In my dreams.
