The Srfndy Post
Editorial & Opinion
Von Braschler, Publisher
Coroline Duff, Office Manager
Don Dillon. Editor
Scott Newton, News Editor
SANDY, OREGON THURSDAY. MARCH 11, 1982
Hundreds here need place to play
A large group ot local baseball
enthusiasts are working hard
toward the day when hundreds of
men, women and children may
enjoy Am erica’s greatest past-
time in Sandy
The planning group, headed by
John Dodson and Mike Kern,
hopes to secure a field for adult
softball and youth hardball in a
summer recreational league that
could involve 1200 ballplayers and
supporters.
At le a st th a t's D odson's
estim ate of Sandy’s burning
hunger for recreatic? d outlet.
He points out that local youth
have little recreational channels
here, and that many serious
young ballplayers find gaps in
their playing days soon after L it
tle League years.
The major organizing task has
two early hurdles The first in
volves fund-raising for all those
many teams The second involves
securement of a field for a ball
diamond
The enthusiasts harbor hopes
that Firwood School might allow
them to clear and prep a field for
their community use. An a lte r
native would be for them to secure
the donation of a private field If
that fails, Dodson said they might
even attempt to lease a field.
There sim ply are n ’t enough
places here to play—particularly
if y o u ’re planning to fie ld
something like 22 adult and youth
teams.
Perhaps someone out there
might help. Such a gift could glad
den many hearts. Just think how
many bored, aimless youth this
could take off the streets. Think
how many heart attacks might be
prevented among older residents
who finally get in a little exercise
here
As county hungers, officials diet
County funds to help overweight
government employees slim their
waists with liquid diet food seems
a waste of taxpayers’ money.
That seems especially true to
day, when the masses in
Clackamas county are tightening
their belts and putting less bread
on the table.
With rampant unemployment
and current tight money, it ’s hard
to understand county leaders
spending $57,000 a year in increas
ed health insurance premiums in
a “ Risk Factor Obesity Control”
program for fat cats.
Actually, the program ’s only for
em p lo ye e s
d a n g e ro u s ly
overweight by 50 pounds and aim
ed at keeping them healthy and
productive workers—which could
save money in the long run.
However, it ’s a big much to
swallow -even at 300 calories a
day—to think the county is sub
sidizing the program through its
medical insurance.
The weight-control program is
just part of the < anty’s risk
management program
Oh, yes, families of
employees also qualify
government-subsidized
loss program through
surance plan.
county
for the
weight-
the in
Somehow it sounds wrong,
though, to expect your neighbor to
foot the bill for your cans of diet
food. At least that’s what what
lone Commission Stan Skoko
argues.
Indeed. In these tight money
times, this sounds as arrogant as
recession President Martin Van
Buren He riled hungry rank and
file citizens by taking m ilk baths
Fat cats here just drink the stuff
Salem scene:
Another session probable
by JACK Z IM M E R M A N
Asnorlated Oregon Indimtrle«
The Bist legislative Assembly did what
it was supposed to do, when it convened in
special session last Jan IB
It enacted the bulk of Gov Vic Atlyeh's
Economic Recovery Plan It passed bills
easing the pain of unemployment, made It
simpler to begin generating electricity by
burning refuse and changed provisions of
the veterans' home loan program to
postpone foreclosures and facilitate resale
of mortgaged homes and farms
It also embraced a package of spending
cuts and tax increases aimed at balancing
income with outgo for the remainder of the
current two year budget period
Rut It spend too much time and money
doing It And common consensus even
among lawmakers themselves figures
the budget balancing act will fall apart
later this year
Furthermore, the record long 37 day
special meeting established some kind of
new mark for bitterness and acrimony
among members that appears to be grow
mg. instead of dissipating since final ad
joornment at 10 minutes before midnight
March 1
When it came to balancing the budget,
lawmakers reduced »pending by a total of
SIM I million, increased taxes t i n «
million, authorized exemptions and spen
ding totaling 1« 4 million and provided for
an ending ba la nee of fa 1» million
In the process, they cut agency budgets,
reduced basic school support and the
emergency fund and sliced into the proper
ty tax relief fund.
They raised income taxes, accelerated
payment of withholding taxes, cracked
down on delinquent taxpayers and
disputed la« payments and Isms ted the
cigarette tax
Hulk of new spending involved interest
exem ptions for savings plans, the
** nnomir recovery program and cost of
more agresaive collection of delinquent
taxes
Altogether it was a patchwork that failed
to satisfy anyone completely and provided
an ending tie lance most believe la only
paper thin Even before the complicated
r ompromises were »truck many were
predicting they would have to return to
Swlam again probably in June to
tie with vet another revenue shortfall
This porta ular l ag i sia ture feces the
unenviable prospect of setting yet another
record on top on the many already
Mtatdiahed Ito first occurred Nov 4. l« o
elected »
Lsqitlabve Report trom the S la lr Capital
E XCLU SIV E to Oregon $ Weekly Newspa
per« bom Aviocialed Oregon Industries
The next involved the length of its
regular session, substantially eclipsing the
longest previous session in IF73 that lasted
IBOdays It tied the legislature in 1433 that
conducted two special session when It con
vened its second in January of thia year
Another special session this year will be
another record for frequency
Little wonder mem tiers are hitter and
acrimonious.
Some have thrown in the towel Opting
out tor a variety of reasons One veteran
retiree said It isn't fun anymore A likely
candidate for understatement of the year,
the attitude nevertheless appears far from
universal
Secretary of State Norman Paulus has
reported filings by persons seeking to
become candidates during the May
primary election are up 37 percent over
those aspiring to candidacy two years ago
While some lawmakers are stepping
down, it appear» there are plenty of
aspirants willing to Lake their places
It's difficult to pin down, but a rash of fil
ings may mean there's significant
dissatisfaction out there tor those who
have been toiling in this Assembly
On
the
o th e r
h an d ,
some
observers -n o tin g anem ploym ent la
high »uggrst a job in the Legislature may
appear better than no job at all
Only time will tell As recessionary con
dltiona continue two likely developments
emerge One involves possible overhaul of
the system by which state and local
governments raise revenue and spend it
The other involves the manner in which
the legislature deals with that system
Roth are undertakings of considerable con
sequence
Voters may force the first development
if a property tax limitation initiative gains
ballot status But the Legislature makes
Ito own rules It the next legislature is
forced to restructure the tax system
substantially change government spen
ding habits and alter the way it conducts
ito own business then the «2nd Assembly
in IMS truly will be a contender tor some
new titles of its own
Tax, guns, govt, draw fire
‘Ban cars’
I feel I must reply to the
letter from Pete Shields of
Handgun Control Inc.
This year near 50,000 an
niversaries will roll around
of dear people tragically
killed last year, and nearly
3 million injured—not by a
gun or any particular size
or shape, but by something
most Americans own, in
cluding you, P e te —the
automobile
It's very interesting to
note how the news media
reacts to how a person dies
Guns and airplane crashes
rate top news billing, yet
50,000
d eath s
by
automobiles gets a ho hum
Only on a threerlay holiday
do we get the predictions of
how many will die by
automobiles.
Strangely enough, we
don't see any group star
ting a coalition to ban all
S a tu rd a y
n ig h t
automobiles. Why Is it,
Pete, we accept death by
automobile as part of life
that we condone** Some
people use their automobile
like a weapon.
I own both automobiles
and handguns I do not In
tend to harm anyone with
either one Both have their
legitimate use in sport and
collecting - as in antique
tar«, hot rod* and recrea
tional vehicle use You and
I have a much greater
chance of being harmed or
killed by an automobile
than by any firearm
T ell you what, Pete.
When you and those that
th in k lik e you about
firearms, start a coalition
to ban automobiles, we who
own handguns will serious
ly think about giving up our
handguns.
Yours for the right to own
and safely use both an
a tom obi le and a handgun
Bob Pearson
Welches
Watch board
This y e a r Sandy is
favored with an interesting
election In the past the in
terest in the school has not
been strong In mast cases,
only one or two candidates
expressed an interest
Thia year we have five
candidates for two post
lions First, let me say that
I am not a candidate this
year, as I was last year Of
five candidates. four are
either on the five member
school board or members
of the budget committee as
freeholders.
T h is
Is im p o r t a n t ,
because you as voters have
an opportunity to elect to
the school b oard tw o
members who have proved
by their budget activity
just how they stand on
budget matters
The budget committee
decides the dollar figure
that will be the proposed
budget for the election.
This committee is compris
ed of the five school board
members and five citizens
of the district, who are not
on the board.
Thia ten member com
mittee not only decides the
dollar figure of the propoe
ed budget, but makes
recommendations as to
what programs should be
cut or added in arriving at
the proposed budget
If you feel that the budget
is an important issue, you
now have the opportunity
to determine how most of
the candidates voted dur
ing the budget committee
meetings and cast your
tie Sandy water rights The
possibility should be con
sid ered th at P o rtla n d
might choose to hold on to
its rights and someday sell
water For many years it
has sold Bull Run water to
many metropolitan area
water districts
There could be advan
tages to Sandy and Alder
Creek citizens in having
P o rtla n d d eve lo p the
source (a costly endeavor),
and sell the water to them
The Little Sandy empties
into the Bull Run River and
hence is part of the Bull
Run watershed A simple
boundary change in the
B u ll
Run W a te rs h e d
already
I would think that any
candidate, even the seven
up for re-election would
feel the same way I doubt
there is anything to hide
But that story of the miss
ing $600,000 keeps nagging
away.
Ted Rowell
Portland
Correct WPPSS
The WPPSS disaster will
cripple Oregon's economy
for decades, unless we act
now to deflect the unfair
nuclear debt away from
Oregon The ratepayers'
Letters to the editor
vole for the school board
with some knowledge of
how your candidate will
react to future budget sea
sions
I am not. in print, suppor
ting any candidate I am
just informing you that
some of the candidates who
were on the committee
pushed for making larger
budget cuts Some pushed
for presenting the current
budget, which - due to state
funding c u tb a c k s —w ill
represent a 30 percent
higher tax levy for district
residents.
If you check the records
of the committee meetings
or ask those who were
there, you can find out that
in both positions that are up
for election, there is a can
didate who favored more
budget cuts than were ap
proved and a candidate
who favored the higher
budget that was submitted
to the voters
There is also an excellent
candidate who was not in
volved with the budget pro
cedure
It doesn’t matter to me
bow you vote 1 only ask
you to check into the
records of the candidates
It would be a shame for
Sandy voters to vote down
the budget and then elect
the candidates who were
instrumental in proposing
a larger budget or vico-
veraa
Harold Hayward
Sandy
Guard water
I refer to the M ar 4 a rti
cle "Sandy considers tax
base levy, water sharing.*'
I interpret this as suppor
ting an increased tax base,
in part to pay for growth in
ito water system The ex-
cees water would come
from the Little Sandy and
be sold to communities
near Alder Creek
The article also pointe
out that Portland holds LR-
Management Unit could in
clude all of the Little Sandy
drainage above the ingress
of Aschoff Creek within this
Unit Such a change is per-
missabie under new Bull
Run law
It would give Portland a
degree of control over
management practices in
the watershed that could
enable Little Sandy water,
like presently used Bull
Run water, to escape a
need for (expensive) filtra
tion
Sandy ba» no opportunity
for such control, and pro
bably would have to filter
Joseph L M iller Jr
Sandy
Audit Metro?
I am a candidate for
Metro Councilor Position
from District 8, and many
things perturb me
On Thursday, Feb 25,
Metro Council voted down
by 4-4, a Washington Coun
ty request for the Metro
Council to seek a state
audit of Metro's books
Of course, with Metro's
finances being strained,
this action would further
deplete the General Fund
A solution might be ef
fected. as Councilor Craig
Berkman suggested
" If
there are people out there
who don’t have confidence
in our audit, they should
pay to have a look at It."
I would like to start the
hall rolling toward a “State
Audit of Metro's Funds'*
campaign
Hopefully, the outcome
of a State audit would en
sure that a continued "con
dition of dignity" would
prevail within the coun-
- « a ------ —
ci
to nn ip
If elected, I would want
and expect to start on a
clean MU of health and not
and up on the short end
because I was forced to de
pend upon "last years
audit*’ as hap pened
revolt has just begun, and
our electric rates have just
begun to rise
As a Democratic can
didate for governor, I have
identified three steps we
must take to correct this
rapidly deteriorating situa
tion
1 We must form new
municipal utilities and peo
ple's utility districts and
shed these bad nuclear
debts This action would
leave the liabilities with the
utilities that made the in
vestments and not with
O re g o n 's
in n o cen t
ratepayers
2. We must implement
Article X I-D of Oregon's
Constitution and develop
O re g o n 's
abundant
renewable energy potentila
under the direction of the
th re e -m e m b e r e le c te d
commission, authorized by
the Constitution
3, We must work to
re p e a l the N o rth w e s t
Power Act of I960 Allowing
a
g ia n t
fe d e r a l
bureaucracy to control
development of a decen
tralized power system, bas
ed on small renewable
energy sources, is con
tradictory
I have worked for these
programs in the past and
now they are of the highest
priority to us all I urge all
Oregonians to begin taking
these three steps. The
econom ic s ta b ility of
Oregon depends on our ac
tions
Gerald H Rust Jr.
Eugene
Trim budget
I. and the rest of the peo
ple of the state have just
witnessed the most i r
responsible session of the
state legislature, regular
or special, in the history of
the state.
The Legislature now has
balanced the state budget,
as required by Oregon
law—on paper at
This has been acompiisb
ed by cuts in some
budgets—but, most impor
tantly—by raising taxes in
area legislators thought
would get least amount of
"flak" from the public and
constituents who elect
them
They have solved the
state's problem—for a few
months—and balanced the
state budget, but have not
told the taxpayer how he or
she is going to balance bis
or her checkbook.
The state Legislature,
alo ng w ith C o n gress,
refuses to recognize (or are
too blind to see) that there
is nothing left out here to
tax
T h e a c tio n of the
Legislature in its special
session is a "finger in the
dike" solution
What do we do, when the
finger gets tired and there
has been no permanent
repair to the dike? The
answer is obvious.
We, as individuals, can
not spent more money than
we make without going
bankrupt, and we cannot
tax anyone or anything to
make up the difference
The government—state or
federal—is no different, ex
cept that it can keep taxing
until there is nothing left to
tax Then it, too, will go
bankrupt Low and behold,
the next serious depres
sion
At that point evernone
says, "What happened9"
"Why don’t we have any
money'’ " "Why doesn’t the
government take care of
us?”
Why9 Because we are the
government. We sent those
people to the Legislature
and to Congress, and we
said, "Go ahead and take
care of us, but don’t let it
coat me anything ”
We cannot blame the
Legislature and Congress
as a body, for they are of
our bodies We created
them, but instead of us tak
ing the responsibility for
what they do. we want
them to take responsibility
for us They cannot, for
g o v e rn m e n t produces
nothing It is only a con
sumer and consumes that
which we give it to con
sume
I fear for this nation and
state It took one thousand
years tor Rome to destroy
it s e lf ,
based
on
a
philosophy of the govern
ment controlling the people
instead of the people con
trolling themselves and the
government
The tail will continue to
wag the dog, until we stop
It.
Force government t o _
face the budget problems
squarely and honestly We
must face our own
Lowell D. NJuat
Welches