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.