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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (April 8, 1982)
The Sdndy Post Editorial & Opinion Von Braschler. Publisher Caroline Duff Office Manoger Dan Dillon. Editor Scott Newton. News Editor SANDY. OREGON. THURSDAY. APRIL 8 1982 Concerned volunteers should link With federal and state budget cuts, more and more social ser vice shortages are coming home to rest on local shoulders It's a problem some neighbors in Sandy refuse to dodge. Father Lindsay Warren of Church of the Good Shepherd and St. Jude's Nursing home is one such neighbor. He’s spearheading a group of concerned residents who read like a Who’s Who of civic clubs here. Established service groups here want to get involved, they note. What’s needed is a little coordina tion and communication with those in need. Sandy Action Center’s a good place to start. Pete Sulzbach and his all-volunteer band of faithful feed, clo th and give other emergency relief to hundreds who present them selves at th e ir doorstep each month. I t ’s a program that works, as demonstrated by the Samaritans’ prelim inary approval by advisory committees for funds for a new center. (They operate out of one of the oldest houses standing on Pioneer Boulevard.) The city of Sandy, recognizing municipal government couldn’t handle welfare services nearly as inexpensively or efficiently, has backed Action Center’s bid for new building funding Perhaps the easiest and best way to help neighbors out of work is to plug into the busy Action Center. A jobs bank could be posted by the chamber of commerce and o th e rs w ith k n o w le d g e of available jobs and interested job seekers here. A comprehensive list of civic groups and the kinds of social ser vice work they prefer as group projects could be posted at the Ac tion Center. And, of course, the Center a lw ays could u tiliz e m ore volunteers—as groups or in d iv id u a ls , along w ith food, clothing and even cash donations I t ’s a very cost-effective pro gram, and no service group in town could do better than to fuel the Center’s efforts. It could mean the difference between a fam ily not eating right or going without shoes, a coat or gas to get to work Sometimes a couple gallons of gas and a decent set of clothes make all the difference between sitting home hopelessly and get ting out to improve one’s situa tion. And Sandy Action Center has staked a lot of citizens to an emergency can of gas to get them going again. P e rh a p s S andy’s new volunteers and Sandy’s veteran samantans can get together to discuss a combined assault on social problems posed by govern ment welfare cutbacks. S&lem scene: Unemployment checks help by JACK Z IM M E R M A N Associated Oregon Industries Everyone known Oregon's economy is in bad shape, but it could be worse, perhaps $400 million worse That $400 million is the amount that will be paid this year to jobless Oregonians by the state’s Unemployment Compensation Insurance System It's a significant shot in the arm not on ly for workers who are unemployed, but for many other Oregonians as well In fact, those jobless paychecks actually help other workers keep their jobs Together they make a sizeable impact on an economy that reels from the causes of joblessness Unemployment compensation got its start in this country when Congress passed the Social Security Act in 1935 It man dated that each state must organize and administer an unemployment compensa tion program The system has been In place in Oregon since adoption of the pro gram by the 1937 legislature Unemployment compensation insurance is a totally employer paid protection plan, designed to tide over workers who become unem ployed through circum stances beyond their control It was conceived to help such workers sustain themselves and their families temporarily until they ob tamed other employment or their previous jobs were restored The concept was established in early industrialized Europe much e a rlie r The program wasn't adopted in this country until business failures and massive layoffs during I be Great Depression The economy never is stagnant It has its ups and downs Employers recognize the importance sustaining the workforce dur ing down periods The reasons go beyond humanitananlsm Jobless [»ay goes a long way toward keeping skilled workers available for reemployment when the economy again turns upward We are witnessing such an occurrence in Oregon t c ‘ay Migration here virtually has ceased Some workers are seeking Jobs e:, » w here W eekly checks to thousand* of unemployed, however, are helping prevent anything approaching mass exodus and a serious erosion of the workforce Benefit checks currently range from $41 to $156 weekly, depending on wages previously paid the unemployed The regular pay period is usually as long as M weeks When unemployment hits a certain percentage of the workforce and lasts for an extended period moat covered w o rkers become eligible for still another 11 weekly checks Irunng the special session of the laxglabture this year, lawmakers approv ad still another 1$ weeks for those who qualify Legislative Report from the Slate Capital E XC L U S IV E to O regon» Weekly Newspa pers fro m Associated O regon In d ustrie s In the past year, as many as 93,«14 checks were issued in a single week Total check* in 19« 1 were 2,925.074, representing $306,444,404 paid out last year Average chec k size was $105 45 That may not seem like much It ’s con siderably below the minimum wage Unemployment benefits are not taxable for most persons and that extend* the benefit value considerably Authorities estimate jobless pay is spent first to keep food on the table, pay utility bills and whatever is left goes toward rent or mor tgage payments With an estimated $44X) million due to be paid in 1962. one twgins to understand more fully the program's impact on the present economy By way of comparison. $401) million is considerably larger that the total payrolls of the three largest forest products pro ducers combined It's greater than the combined payrolls of the four largest utilities and five times greater than the total payroll of Oregon's biggest retail chain It is interesting also to note the amount paid out this year will greatly exceed the estimated $221 3 million employers are taxed to support the program This is because ( iregon employers have been will ing to pay taxes higher than normally needed to cover average coats and build up a sizeable reserve (When the current economic recession began, the fund had $300 million In reserves to protect its solvency It will remain solvent even if current conditions prevail well into 1965 Not all states act this responsibly Some 17 states have not accepted such pro cedures and are heavily in debt after bor rowing from the federal government to pay their jobless benefits Congress now has decreed those states are going to have to raise unemployment insurance rates significantly in order to pay those debts So while some states have maintained artificially low cost status for unemploy ment insurance, they now are destined to become high costs states compared with Oregon The situation should he of assistance Io those hoping to lure businesses and industries to our state and Ihu* ease our unemployment problem by creating new jobs for the jobless The Rest gratefully ark new ledge« essays and written opinions from readers to ap pear on this page separate from the unbiased news reports on other pages of thia newspaper Yoor «»pinion« generally w ill be printed a« teller» to Ike editor while nnrs generally w ill appear as edMorlals Occasionally. we are able to print guest edMnrtnla We attem pt in print nil signed letters of goad taste, legible farm and reasonable length Our deadline b noon an Tuesdays Cost-sensitive school voters ‘blew it’ Reduce budget Since the Sandy Elemen tary School budget has gone down in defeat, I feel free to share with you some of my concerns related to the manner in which the budget was conceived As a member of the budget com mittee who voted against submitting this large of a budget, I feel qualified to discuss the subject At the outset of the budget c o m m itte pro ceedings, I pointed out to the committee that the ac tual tax bill the property owners were required to pay has increased at a rate far exceeding inflation dur ing the past eight years In good economic time* this can he justified In (he cur rent crisis, it cannot Several of us suggested that cuts be made to reduce the budget to a level that taxpayers could afford In other words, let's get hack to basics These suggestion* were not agreeable to the vast m ajority of the budget com m ittee The school board members especially were opposed to significant cuts. In the end. the five school txwird members and two freeholders voted for the large budget Three of our group, all freeholders, voted against it Our task was made more difficult by absence of op portents to a large budget in the adudience Teacher representatives, as well as representatives of other school employees, sup ported the higner budget. Mv opinion <: me prevail ing attitude was that no matter what budget was submitted, it would lose Let's save our cuts for later I find this type of at titude to he unfair to the public who has to pay for the expensive elections Since the budget only lost by a little more than 100 votes, it is conceivable tht it could have passed, had gifted lady who has the wisdom to be both a child's advrvate, as well as ad v o c a te of f in a n c ia lly troubled taxpayers of this district W hen c o n s tru c tio n workers, mill workers and loggers are out of work and those retired on pensions are having difficulty keep ing their homes, chanes have to be made Every teacher and administrator is concerned with children Letters to the editor the committee done a good job of paring it down What I find interesting is that two of the three per sons on the committee who wanted a leaner budget were rejected by voters of Sandy in their bid for elec tion to the school tx>ard What is more interesting is th a t opponents who defeated them were on the budget committee and sup ported the larger budget The Sandy Elementary Schooldistnct is the largest business in the Sandy area Its multi million budget far exceeds any other opera tion in Sandy Yet there is. to my knowledge, no one on the school board with business Itackground One of the defeated candidates is a man with years of ex penence in the business world, who could have brought valuable business talents to the board The other candidate was a I am sure no one would run for the board without this same concern What we need is someone who has concern for residents of the district, as well We need a new philosophy of austerity th a t w ill em p h a s is ize basics in public schools Sandy voters had a chance to bring about this type of change The Sandy voters blew that chance Harold Hayward Sandy Shed prejudice I imagine you'll get a lot of mail, pro and con, con ceming your article about the "bag lady ” I suppose some people will say you shouldn't have published it, for one or another reason. Personally, I think it is an example of the sort of th in g s m a llt o w n n e w s p a p e rs do best Y o u've tra n s fo rm e d a human being from simply being "the bag lady" into being Ovella Weimer—a person with a history, a set of beliefs and a little bit of the weirdness that makes us all different from each other I appreciate the fact that you chose not to censor the article to turn her into either a saint or a crackpot By portraying her as a humn being, you help us all to shed our prejudices and miscconceptions Pete Sheppard Sandy Death inhumane On Nov 3 it was decided by vote of the people to stop the d eco m p re ss io n chamber and change to sodium pentobartitol in putting county animals to sleep. On March 11 Clackamas County com m issioners voted to continue using the decompression chamber, in spite of the vote of the people C o m m is s io n e r Stan Skoko voted to continue the decompression chamber Fortunately, he now is ask ing for a two-week exten sion to reconsider his original decision Let us all hope he intends to consider the decision made by the people to ban th e d eco m p re ss io n c h a m b e r and ch an g e method of euthanizing animals to sodium pen tobartitol Then Measure 52, passed Nov. 3 by the wide margin of 1915 to 796. finally will come into ef fect Comm issioner Robert Schumacher voted to stay with the decompression chamber, because he isn't convinced it’s cruel It ap pears he's either unwilling or unable to accept this sad fact His personal feelings are irrelevant The people decided to change by pass ing Measure 52. O nly C o m m is s io n e r R a lp h G ro e n e r acknowledged the people’s decision by voting to change to sodium pen tobartitol The reason he voted to make the change was the excuse county commissioners had used for four months a fte r Measure 52 was ruled in v a lid by an a tto rn e y general's opinion. The opi nion s ta te d th a t a veterinarian is not re q u ire d to a d m in is te r sodium pentobarbital It added that a veterinarian is not required on the premises Commissioner Groener addressed this issue, say ing the cost would not be prohibitive, since it would not be necessary to hire a veterinarian Groener's decision to change to sodium pen tobarbitol is only one of the two votes needed to give animals a humane death We are counting on Com missioner Skoko for the other one, since he is recon sidenng his original vote Donna Sebastian Oregon City Personally speaking Danger hides in quiet, little kitchen There is a danger burning through America It can be found in nearly every home and unless used properly, it can maim Your children have probably tried to use it Your neighbors may use it regularly This menace, with the ability to alter the w ay people th in k of them selves and you. could threaten our very stability I'm talking about the kitchen Every time I enter mine, the musical theme from Dragnet’ pounds through my head I half expect Jack Webb to step out from behind a stack of dirty dishes and grimly charge me w ith im p e rs o n a tin g a housekeeper or cooking with in tent to kill I find the easiest way to make my kitchen more presentable is simply to shut its door so I can't see it from the living room On my list of household chores, the one I check off most frequent ly m "Close the Kitchen Door ’’ The second most popular is "Resolve to Wash the Dishes ” But that's not why I'm bothered by the kitchen There are more ghastly things that come from that room than the aromas of over ripe can taloupe and science experiments by DAN DILLON in the lettuce bin The kitchen has a stove and. in the wrong hands, that can be hazardous. Frozen pizzas I'm adept at Boiling spaghetti in the electric frying pan isn't too great a pro^ blem either except that I have to keep adding water when its shallow depth threatens to boil dry It's the things that can happen with a stove and the intestinal havoc I can wreak with one that frightens me But that isn't why I'm bothered by kitchens either Of all the rooms in the house. I'm convinced that it's in the kit chen that we learn the most about ourselves and that's frightening Never mind that I have my telephone in the kitchen and have taken my share of up against the wall phone calls The real lessons are in the rest of the room Those dishes over on the counter, hiding Jack Webb, and those unreturned sacks of emp tie s over th e re by the refrigerator, hiding his partner Harry Morgan, have told me I'm a procrastinator That doesn t really bother me I can deal with it tomorrow The way I throw frozen pizzas into the oven at the drop of a growling stomach or boil my spaghetti water in an electric fry ing pan. because it's faster than a two-quart kettle, have hinted that I might be growing more impa tient But I don’t have time to worry about that now I have to finish this column Maybe the impatience that prevents me from laboring over a bunch of fresh ingredients until it becomes haute cuisine signals some heretofore unseen w ill ingness ta settle for second best Naw. that can't be I buy the ex pensive frozen turkey pies and preheat the oven the allotted time I don't scrimp on sardines either I eat them one to a cracker, just like I was taught And the kitchen is a place of le a rn in g , not o nly ab o ut ourselves, but about others I was chased out of my own kit chen in the middle of preparing a romantic, little dinner by a friend, whod developed surpris ingly hard fists, for offering helpful hints on what kind of salad goes with oysters. Never mind that I ’d never eaten oysters in my life I still think bean dip and cottage cheese is a taste treat She eventually let me back in the kitchen and I learned how to tear lettuce and throw it around in a bowl with a bunch of other ruffage and not have it look like something the cat brought in That was nice. Which is another thing I've learned in my kitchen If you take the time to do it right, you’ll enjoy it more Even if it is sardines and crackers instead of haute cuisine
