The Sffndy Post
Editorial & Opinion
Von Braschler. Publisher
Caroline Duff Office Manoger
Don Dillon. Editor
Scott Newton. News Editor
SANDY, O REG O N , THURSDAY. APRIL 1. 1982
State Highway shows local concern
Hats off to the state Highway
Division for reaching a solution to
engineering problems associated
with Brightwood’s danger bridge
on Highway 26 over Salmon
River.
Eastbound cars veer w ildly to
the left with any ice on that
bridge. That’s caused two deaths
and other single-car non-injury
scrapes in just five years.
Regional T ra ffic Operations
Supervisor Ronald Failmesger
figures a separator between east-
bound and westbound lanes might
prevent future head-on collisons
there. He’s now pursuing National
Safety Act funds to make the ad
justment.
F a ilm e s g e r responded im
mediately to local reports of
bridge danger and has stalked the
problem since January.
The concrete barricades down
the centerline—if funded—could
absorb impact of a vehicle.
Some type of cushioning might
be added at ends of the barrier
under Failmesger’s plan Such
cushions could consist of barrels
or other containers filled with
water to soften a blow to a vehicle,
should it slide out of control on the
ice-prone bridge.
A n o th e r o p tio n eyed by
Failmesger calls for concrete bar
rier grading from the ground,
curved into the main span of new
protective railing.
The engineer said exact ap
proach to the problem could b*
determined when the proposal
reaches a design stage.
First comes a pitch for approval
with a formal report he’s submit
ting to Oregon Department of
Transportation to justify the pro
ject.
Let’s hope they consider the
bridge as dangerous as the many
mountain residents and travelers
who detour through Brightwood,
rather than risk 10 seconds on the
highway over Salmon River.
Let’s blow whistle on animal abuse
Report of two men who alleged
ly beat a tiger with sticks at a re
cent P o rtlan d Shrine Circus
points up a widespread problem in
suspected animal abuse. Unlike
the circus witness who prompted
an Oregon Humane Society in
vestigation, few persons who
suspect animal abuse blow the
whistle.
The humane society regionally
investigates only about 100 cases
per month, m ostly involving
suspected abuse of horses.
Perhaps lack of reporting is due
to lack of public awareness about
what constitutes abuse. That’s
understandable, when scholarly
scientists still debate whether
animals indeed have “ feelings,”
or only sensation to pain. Certain
ly millions of animals have died
p a in fu lly in repetitive, ques
tionable laboratory experiments.
Now the federal government is
supporting contract rights of a
Portland im porter to round up en
dangered gibbon apes and rhesus
monkeys in Bangladesh for scien
tific research Among supporters
of MOL Enterprises is US. Sen.
Bob Packwood, p re sid e n tia l
hopeful.
A nim als now have rig h ts,
too—whether they live in a distant
jungle, a backyard in Sandy or a
field in Hoodland. Society now
recognizes th a t w ives and
children deserve humane treat
ment. Maybe it ’s time to admit
responsibility for the innocent,
dumb animals over which man
was granted dominion by the
creator.
Livestock not tended, fed or
sheltered from the storm should
be re p o rte d as q u ic k ly as
livestock who are physically at
tacked by masters charged with
their care. Kicked, neglected or
unfed dogs and cats deserve bet
ter, too.
if you see a neighbor who
m a n h a n d le s an a n im a l or
neglects it to the point of poor
health, report it to Oregon
Humane Society at 285-0641 or
Clackamas County Animal Con
trol at 655-8628. You can call the
county’s deputy assigned to
regular visits here toll-free at
668-3501, Ext. 628
Animals do have feelings
Wall Street report:
‘Bite’ taken from tax aid
Don’t look now, but Washington is quiet
ly getting ready to take away the beat tax
benefit you never got
That benefit la socalled tax indexing, a
fancy name lor a simple idea the govern
ment should have to aak for a tax increase
when It wants one and not be able to let in
flation do Its dirty work for it
Written into the IW I tax bill was a provi
sion that, starting in IWB, three key
items tax brackets, personal exemptions
ami the standard deduction would t * ad
justed each year in the taxpayer's favor to
reflect the inflation rate
While it got conaiderabiy less attention
than Preaident Reagan’s plan for three
year across the board tax cuta, the index
mg provision was potentially of much
g re a te r value to the ty p ic a l tax
payer particularly those in lower and
middle income groups The tax ‘cuta,’* in
deed. could turn out to i»e very much less
than that by the time you ve factored in in
flation. dram atically rising Social Security
taxes ami »he aaaorted excise increases to
which concern over the federal deficit may
lead us Rut indexing promised that the
income tax system would, for once in our
lives, be on the level ending the present
system whereby the government 's own in
nation annually pushes its cltisena into
ever higher lax brackets, with ever lower
buying power
Don l count on it Signs are mounting
ominously that, because of lack of public
understanding of the impotame <if this
change, it is likely to be an oarly victim of
Washington’s prococcupation with t«udget
halanrlng through tax increases - rather
than spending cute (Indeed Treasure
karretary Donald Hagan openly conceded
the other day that indexing «re d dtacuaa”
adding pointedly that it * wasn't part of the
P re sid en t s a rig ln a l p ack ag a” - a n d
neglecting ta mention that Reagan
noawthelaaa proudly took credit for the in
darxing provision >
What a going on’
First just what would indexing coat’
The Treasurer last year estimated that in
Letters to the editor:
Community support, gun control eyed
Play worthwhile
Some friends, my hus
band and I attended Sandy
Community Players’ pro
duction of ‘‘Tribute’’ Satur
day The play was well pro
duced and directed, and the
actors did an excellent job
We enjoyed it, but I found
myself depressed during
the evening It was obvious
that hours and hours had
been put into the play, yet
the crowd turnout was very
small I thought how lucky
we are in Sandy to have
this quality of live theater,
and yet how sad it is more
people don't come to enjoy
it.
It has been said that San
dy residents are bad about
supporting th e ir town
(Local merchants have
been bemoaning this for
years), and that we re just
too close to Gresham and
P o rtla n d
w ith
th e ir
availability of things.
There is no justification
for going to town in respect
to theater, because our
local theater group does as
good a job as any theater
group you will see In
Portland
Maybe the idiot tube has
ruined ua If we don’t see
three or four car chase?»
m ultiple wrecks, stabb
ings, rapes and murders
within a one hour period,
we feel we haven’t been
e n te rta in e d . H o w e v e r.
there is a great deal of it’s certainly below the
entertainment to be found curb line now, thanks to
Mike Royko (Chicago Sun-
in live theater, watching
different emotions play Times). In his recent a r
across peoples fac es , ticles he has been wallow
analyzing motivations for ing in his "lib eral a r
actions and interactions in rogance" toward the Ken
the characters and even nesaw gun law recently
seeing if the set design and passed.
For someone who has
props conform to your con
cept of the play. It's concern for the welfare of
especially fun to watch mankind (that being the
your neighbors’ talents reason for his favoring gun
controls), Royko suddenly
develop
T here are many in shows a very low opinion of
teresting thoughts to enter this same human race by
ta in ,
a ll
fa r
m o re implying we would have
stimulating to the mind bodies c a rte d o ff the
than watching "Laverne streets daily, should socie
and S h irle y " or
"The ty start packing guns
Dukes "
You have a strange
I would like to encourage
mind. M r Royko Even
everyone to get out to one
during the more "rustic
of our local plays. If you
era’’ of our country, the
find you don’t care for this
violent citizens were the
particular one. try the next
exception to the rule, and
one. Sandy Comm unity
disposed accordingly. In
Players have been pro
this more * enlightened"
viding a good variety of
age,
it
seem s
the
w e ll done c o m e d ie s ,
perpetrator of a violent act
dramas and musicals Live
is the victim , and the
theater is a little like learn
citizen who has the audaci
ing to like certain foods It
ty to defend himself is the
sometimes takes a little
criminal!
time, but try it and you
It becomes clear to me
might like it You even
that since the country
could become addicted
refuses to lie down and con
Marilyn Rowell
Sandy form to your way of think
ing, then damn the whole
co u n try to p e rd itio n !
Gentlemen like Stalin, Mao
and Rockefeller think that
If my opinion of editorial same way, M r Royko
columnists was low before,
Your attitude does nothing
Save guns
but confirm in my mind
that the media is capable of
reporting an accident of the
freeway, or tell me what
the weather will be like for
tomorrow But most cer
tainly the media is not
qualified to pass judge
ment on social issues of our
times' Only the people,
th e m s e lv e s —God bless
’em —can do that!.
The heads of the national
media systems do not allow
necessarily the whole truth
to be reported—only their
tru th , as they see it.
H opefully, the People,
whom the media is trying
to brainwash, will be able
to apply common sense to
any social or economic
reporting by this same
media.
Ralph A. Sandercock Jr.
Sandy
Support VICA
I am president of the
VICA club at Sandy High
School, and I am deeply
troubled about the school's
priorities in relation to club
activities
First, sports teams are
provided with uniforms
and equipment for their
various activities When
VICA competes, we have to
have uniforms, otherwise
as competitors we loose IS
points a contest It would
be impossible to win first.
second or third place witn
IS points docked o ff,
because the club can’t a f
ford to buy uniforms
Second, when some of the
other clubs go to the state
and local com pet ions, their
food, lodging, gas and en
try fees are paid by the
school When VICA goes to
state competions, we have
to pay for our own food,
lodging, gas and entry fees
We are not asking the
school
to
p ay
fo r
everything our club does,
but we think we should at
least get a little financial
help It would be a big im
provement over what we
have
Greg Meier
LETTERS POLICY
The Post asks that
all letters to the
e d ito r be ty p e d ,
double-spaced and
signed. Deadline is
noon. Tuesday. Let
ters should be ac
c u ra te ,
fre e
of
libelous remarks and
in good taste. This
newspaper attempts
to publish all letters
it receives and may
edit material lightlv
to
c o n fo rm
to
g u id e lin e s . M a x
imum length is 200
words.
Personally speaking:
Clock-watching not worth the time
4rxing would lower federal tax receipts by
IS ft billion in fiscal IMS and 122 7 billion
the following year If (he inflation rate re
mama below what it was last summer,
however these estiinates are far too high
W hom
w ould
in d e x in g
b e n e fit?
Everybody, essentially, because the tax
system would be fairer and more honest
I Oglala to n would have to call a tax in
crease a tax increase and not lake it under
the table, as an automatic inflation bonus
But, moat of all. Indexing would help
lower income people. Inflation Induced
"bracket creep’’ is more common with
them, because tax brackets are closer
together at the bottom end of the scale and
personal ex pern ptions are proportionately
more important
With all the talk largely fraudulent
though it may have been about how moat
of last year a tax cuta amounted to
"welfare for the rich," you might think
there would be more media outcry about
(be threat Io welsh on indexing which ac
cording to a IftBO study by the Advisory
Commission on Intergovernmental rets
turns would have twice as much impact on
taxpayers making 110,000 as on those mak
ing too.ooo
Rut unless the public wakea up soon, an
aimoat unnoticed throat cutting seems in
prospect.
Are you mad enough to lot your con
greeaman know that you. at least are
aware of what indexing could mean and
determined to get it, as promised, at last?
tavto
ion
Ovfceyaer"a H w m l al amUyato to Oto.
by * • (toxtoewgM ftywdtoeta Im. («)
Modern rnan seemed ruled by
clocks He presumes to control
his destiny by setting alarms to
tell him when to start his day,
proceed and stop However he
becomes a slave obedient to the
very ticking mechanism he winds
to rule his bedroom and bind his
wrist.
Who needs all this seif inflicted
stress’ The only real ticker worth
a tinker's damn is man's own
heart And this man’o heart tells
him to slow down the whole
charade.
Sure, 1 show up a bit late here
and there But my nerves aren't
fra y e d by needless clock
watching and tidious manuever
mg to get everything perfectly
synchronized After all, there are
but two bask times under the
sun Daytime and nighttime.
P ra c tic a lly speaking, our
modern hustle bustle world doe«
needs some synchronization I
recognize the need for deadlines
in such "tim ely" endeavors ax
supplying news via newspapers.
But modern man often outfoxes
himself in setting times for his
convenience Witness daylight
savings time, when the extra
slack we grant ourselves expires
and the day suddenly seems dark
and gloomy at ft p m And anyone
who’s tried to mail letters, bank
or keep kids in school finds the
weak long slack surrounding con
trived holidays like President s
Day too much of a good thing
curate than a few years or
decades off the mark in their
predictions God’s time, they
note, is a little different from
m a n ’s contrived method of
measurement. N a tu re’s Now,
Then and Tomorrow seem linked
in s e p a ra b ly in a d y n a m ic
universe of fluid change Still we
strap silly w ristw atches on
astronauts, who now can escape
earth's time restrictions and
return from deep space no older
than when they left
by VON BRASC HLER
Controlling time always has
fascinated man, of course Only
recently, however, have we been
brash enough to think we could
control the world with a stop^
watch
Modem man seems fascinated
with fixing the exact moment all
time on earth will end by atomic
cataclysm or Second Coming An
c ie n ts
o n ly
a w a ite d
a
millenium sometime in the next
thousand years or so. Today
doomsdayers climb mountains
with a twoday supply of last
meals or search for signs" to fix
exact date for final goodbyes
Prophets and psychics, of
course, seldom get more ac-
While modem man pretends to
control time, still it remains a
mystery Witness that seventh
wonder of the world, the pyramid
where time seemingly stands still
for trapped objects that don't ta r
nish, rust or decay in thousands
of years So is time really a
mystery, or is modern man mere
ly
m u d d led
ab o u t
its
measurability? Only the mystics
claim to know,
We all recognize that at times
there seems to be ail the time in
the world, while other times there
seems to be no time at all Split
seconds before an accident seem
to last forever, as though we’re
given extra time to respond
Unpleasant times also seem to
pass slowly. Pleasant moments,
however, seem to pass much too
quickly It all seems to depend
solely on your perspective
I know one thing for sure about
tim e m anagem ent, however.
Those guys in theatres and
restaurants with belt pagers and
wrist alarms have no perspective
at ail. If they truly wanted to
share some time with fellows in a
public setting, they should leave
their worries of the past or future
outside Maybe they should be re
quired to surrender their rude
buzzers and beepers at the door,
like earlier gunslingers who turn
ed in their six-shooters before
entering public gatherings
The stress of worry over lost
time isn't worth the hassle We’re
killing ourselves slowly, as we
measure out our lives in seconds
and strive to accomplish feats on
the stroke of the hour
Modern man works himself
past the point of sleepiness and
then worries with insomnia that
he isn't getting enough sleep He
stretches his day to get more
done in one day, but it's hard to
trick nature There remain just
24 hours in each day and two
basic times: Daytime and night
time
A recent article in Psychology
Today laughed at man’s attempt
to stretch his day by robbing
himself of sleep. A quarter cen
tury of research in sleep depriva
tion noted cave man’s greater
wisdom in time management:
When cave man was tired, he
slept He arose when he felt
rested Today, man goes to sleep
when he HAS TO and gets up
when he WANTS TO. Hardly
sounds like a clever mystic, does
It?