—
The Srfntìy Post
Editorial & Opinion
Von Broschier. Publisher
Coroline D uff Office Monogor
Don Dillon. Editor
Scott Newton News Editor
SANDY. OREGON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16. 1982
Levy defeat would cost, not save
A fourth and final defeat of San*
dy High's fund-raising efforts at
the polls Tuesday spells a
multiplication of problems for the
entire community.
An earlier tax-base increase at
tempt and two subsequent serial
levy tries were sent back to the
blackboard with failing marks at
the polls It matters not whether
school budgeters have failed to
read what voters were telling
them or whether negative voters
simply failed the school.
Budget defeat at this stage of
the school year would cost the
community lost jobs with school
staff cast into unemployment and
a costly scramble by high school
parents to find alternative school
ing.
The bottom line says the school
must close Sept. 30 with levy
failure Tuesday. That’s when the
district would run out of operating
funds.
To their credit, school officials
have whittled $232,000 from the
budget with cuts in swimming,
w a ter polo, c a re e r c e n te r,
graphics and six staff positions
That still leaves district patrons
with a $2.069 million A ballot re
quest for basic operations and a
$404,040 supplemental B ballot re
quest. The total budget request
represents a 35-cent increase per
$1,000 assessment or $17.50 more
this year for the owner of a $50,000
home.
No state or federal funds are
available to bail the school out,
either, should the levy fail again
here. Next chance to hold an
e m erg en c y budget electio n
wouldn’t come until Oct. 19.
Those two weeks in coma would
burden the school with $5,000 daily
maintenance fees just to keep the
sleeping school alive, until more
life-restoring funds enter the
system. Closure is costly, and so
is start-up. Another district elec
tion also would cost local tax
payers.
Suddenly S a n d y ’s in the
spotlight, but the heat feels more
like a grilling hot light How San
dy citizens work their way out of
this tight spot—despite financial
woes of the depressed area—will
tell a lot about the character of
this town, its pride and what
respect it warrants from the out
side world.
Jobless neighbors and personal
poverty play a part in plans of
some voters to vote against the
school budget Tuesday, of course.
They’re voting their pocket book.
We think, however, that Sandy’s
seen enough persons lose their
jobs. Putting the entire staff of
Sandy High School out on the
street won’t do much to improve
the general economy of this com
munity.
Sending public school children
parents scurrying to buy their
teenagers’ way into private
schools would put added economic
burden on much of the communi
ty
F ru stra te d tax p ay ers who
think the district asks too much
to operate the school or don’t like
the way money is spent should
choose a more appropriate and
less critical time to shout their
disapproval. F ru strate d tax
payers now have the full attention
Welches supports
of trembling school planners, who
On Sept 21 the Sandy
can’t wait to hear from them next
UH-2 levy again will be of
school board meeting. Then the fered
Should the levy fail,
public discussion discussion can school will close and the
commence, as it should.
parents of grades 9-12
Only now, please don’t hold our students individually will
assume total responsibility
children hostage and cordon off for
their children’s educa
their schoolrooms like some sort tion There will be no public
of battleground. That’s all so funds to pay tuition or
transportation, should they
counter-productive.
decide to send their child to
A “Yes” vote is urged Tuesday another district
A d d itio n a lly , I have
in Sandy High’s budget levy elec
heard
a rumor that a "no"
tion. (VB)
TAX LE V Y
School budget flap fans fiery debate
Area mail vote sample promising
If you norm ally vote in
Hoodland precinct 381 or 382 at
Wemme Lions Club but haven't
received a notice of polling place
change, county elections office
wants to hear from you.
Getting a representative tur
nout Tuesday for Sandy High’s
levy election is especially impor
tant for county officials, as they
contrast Sandy’s conventional
precinct turnout with mail voting
in that corner of the county that
belongs to G resham High’s
district.
Clackamas County’s test of
voting by mail already scores
high marks for better voter par
ticipation, with promise for more
extensive county use.
Some 1,898 county voters mail
ed ballots as part of Gresham
High School’s district already
returned their completed ballots
by Monday.
That amounts to a whopping 46
percent subtotal, allowing for late
votes to be counted and a tidy 3
percent undeliverable mail rate
that shut out 120 “lost” voters
Clackamas County elections
supervisor John Kauffman said
that undeliverable rate reflects
“ we have an awful clean file.”
He's also pleased with com
parison to Gresham High School's
March 30 poor precinct turnout of
1ft percent locally, when college
board seats and a county senior
levy also faced Clackamas County
voters in the school's district.
That am ounted to only 601
Clackamas county voters
The current 46 percent local
<1?
early returns, however, aren’t as
good as Multnomah’s 60 percent
prediction or earlier tests that
scored approximately 75 percent
participation by mail.
Kauffman will eye Sandy High's
levy turnout Tuesday at conven
tional precinct polling places as a
good test comparison to the mail
voting of county voters in
Gresham High’s district. Since
both districts vote on critical
budget levies, the comparison
would be more apples for apples
than apples com pared with
oranges
One key to Sandy High’s
precinct tallies will be switch in
polling place for Hoodland
Precincts 381 and 382 from
Wemme Lions Club to Hoodland
Fire Department
The change in polling place is
permanent, and Kauffman is
eager to notify all concerned
voters to the change by election
day. Memorandum cards noting
the change were mailed to these
voters, but a certain number of
qualified voters may not have
received word
Kauffman asks Hoodland voters
of precincts 381 and 382 who didn’t
receive this memo card to contact
his county elections office at
655 8551 If time runs out, these
precinct voters still may register
at the new fire hall polling place
which will feature a deputy clerk
on duty to do the honors.
The main goal, of course, is a
representative high turnout for
Sandy High's critical levy Tues
day (VB)
The Poet gratefully Acknowledges essays and written opinions
from readers to appear on thia page—separate from the unbiased
news reports on other pages of this newspaper Your opinions
generally will be printed as letters to the editor, while ours
generally will appear as editorials Occasionally, we are able to
print guest editorials We attempt to print all signed letters of
good taste, legible form and reasonable length. Our deadline is
noon on Tuesdays.
»
Maybe the economy will
have shown enough im
provement that we could
then vote on the next year's
budget also
Things will show an im
provement. and then we
can reestablish our old
habits We all need to work
together, however, so we
all can survive this winter,
not just the chosen few who
can affort the higher taxes
Let’s vote “ No” on the
Sandy High school levy
Jay I) Yeager
Sandy
vote on the Sandy High levy
and the school’s subse
quent closure would result
in a high school at Welches
Not tru e ! W elches is
organized as an elemen
tary district and would con
tinue to operate as a K B
Sandy Union High School
school Welches parents
District does not have suffi
would face the same pro^
cient funds to operate the
blems with a high school
school beyond Sept 30
closure.
There are no provisions
1 plan to vote for the San
for funding by the county,
dy High levy
state or federal govern
K C Blackburn, Supt
m e n ta . T h e re
is no
Welches School
" re s e rv e ” fund in the
school district to enable us
to operate the high school
beyond Sept 30
If you don't like school
Tuesday, Sept 21, you
board decisions, talk to the
will be able to vote on a tax
school board If you don't
levy that asks for 12.069.093
like budget com m ittee
(Ballot A). In addition,
decisions, talk to the
under the laws of the State
budget committee If you
of Oregon, you will be able
don’t like your property
to vote on another tax levy
taxes, talk to your govern
for 1404,040 (Ballot B).
ment officials
These levies will enable us
But for our children's
to continue operating the
sake, don't take away their
high school for the 1962 83
education!
school year
Shirley Roth
The Sandy Union High
Boring
School District recognizes
its responsibility to special
education students in pro
viding a free appropriate
Our current problem education in the leaat
with the school budget is restrictive environment.
getting blown out of proper
Funds to provide this ser
tion with the idle threats of vice are obtained from
closing down the school local property tax levies on
just after it starts and say
an annual basis.
ing the students are being
Sept. 21, voters of the
robbed of their school and school district will decide
athletic activities
whether to fund educa
In the first place, Sandy tional services d istrict
High will never go down in wide Should the levy fail,
history for its basket the district will run out of
weavers or water polo operating resources and by
players A school has to be law must close the school
run like a business, and Sept 30, On Sept 29, all
when times are tough as educational services for
in any b u s in es s-th ere le a rn in g
d is a b le d ,
alw ay s are some un
educable mentally retard
necessary functiora that ed. emotionally handicap
can and must be cut When ped, speech and other
times get better, you can health impaired students
reestablish those cuts a lit
District special educa
tie at a time
tion services will be ter
Nobody guarantees the mmated under the premise
taxpayer wages in this that all students accessing
recession, so how can the any educational programs
school expect to take the must be treated equally.
money that is not available
Passage or defeat next
to give?
Tuesday w ill determine
fhe school school should whether the school will re
start operating on what main open or closed The
budget it has. while making school board asks you to
all the cuts it can As the c a re fu lly consider the
school year goes on, if they facts We also encourage
run out of money, we could you to vote next Tuesday
then vote on enough money
Wayne R Johnson
to finish the school year
SUHS board chairman
Don’t cut ‘tree’
Voting "No” on school
budgets is something like
taking an ax to an apple
tree that has been bearing
good fruit through all its
years
Education has made our
a d v a n c e d c iv iliz a t io n
possible Our people are
o ur
most
v a lu a b le
resource To fail to find and
develop their talents would
be a fo rm
of s e lf-
destruction for our society
Pornography, crime and
Teresa Iximer
Heidi Lamer
Bonita Connelly
Shawn Burns
Becky Rodrigues
Lisa Izer
Trim salaries
Teachers at Welches
School need to realize a few
pertinent facts about the
district where they teach
The rest of the nation may
be in a recession, but in the
Hoodland area we are try
ing to survive a depression
Letters to the editor
Closure forecast
Vote ‘Yes’
Cut costs
weakening of the family br
ing us plenty of grief To
turn our backs on educa
tion surely would double
our troubles
1 am one of those who
want our schools to turn out
young people strong in
basic skills, sold on our na
tional ideals and ready to
take on the duties of
citizenship Voting down
the school budget defeats
those aims We need to give
our high school a vote of
confidence on Sept 21 and
our young people the same
opportunity we received
W Pete Sulzbach
Sandy
As a part-time grocery
clerk (whose husband now
works in Idaho after no
work for nine months), I
see more people than ever
having to use food stamps,
welfare or unemployment
checks-desperately trying
to hold th eir fam ilies
together with one or more
parents out of work and no
end in sight
U n e m p lo y m e n t
up
here—if tallied indepen
dent of th e re s t of
Clackamas County—would
be higher, I believe, than
those Oregon counties
termed “ disaster areas”
by s ta te and fe d e ra l
economists. Many of us
have had cars repossessed,
homes foreclosed and
We
as
co n ce rn ed credit ruined because of no
stu d en ts
and
past work.
Yet some teachers are
graduates want to voice
our opinion of the passing demanding more money,
of the Sandy Union High while fortunate enough still
to be working They well
School A and B ballots
We know that sports have may deserve more pay, but
helped m any students we cannot afford to pay it
throughout their lives It is now Other unions national
an important factor for ly have settled not only for
many reasons One in wage freezes, but wage
reductioas
volves lessons learned
At lea st u n til the
through participation in
team sports Also, many economy turns around and
scholarships have helped we have a little hope, can't
k id * m ake it through you teachers have a little
higher education Also im u nd erstan d in g ** W e 're
portant is the feeling and frightened -so frightened
knowledge of what it’s like that you can't threaten us
anymore with what will
to win or loae or just par
ticipating in something you happen if our kids don't
believe in But cutting all of have volleyball, football or
one sport is an injustice to band
Some of them don't have
those who have been par
ticipating in this sport all enough for food
If we're too poor to keep
through high school and
your wages up with the
even before
Another reason we want Joneses, maybe you’d be
to see both ballots passed is happier in town with the
because the money that Joneses
Vicki Kramer
would have been needed for
Welches
the water sports that are on
the B ballot may need to be
made up by the grade
school, so the taxpayers
I want to talk about the
may have to pay sooner or
later
importance of getting out
Also, if neither the A nor to vote Every vote counta
B ballot, it will coat the tax By not voting, those who do
payers Si million to close vote make decisions for
the school which is more you.
V oter re gistratio n in
than it would coat to keep it
open
Oregon is p e rm a n e n t,
We urge you to support unless an elector shows no
both the A and B ballots.
voter activity for a two-
Athletes cheer
Register now
year period or changes
residence, name, party or
other information on the
voter registration card
You may register before
or on the day of voting at
the library You must pre
sent a “ c e rtific a te of
r e g is t r a t io n ," if you
register during the last 20
days before an election
Registration by mail is
the principal means for
registration to vote in
Oregon Mail-in registra
tion forms are available in
c o u rth o u se s,
p u b lic
schools, banks, savings and
loan
o ffic e s ,
M o to r
Vehicles Division offices
and other public places
with high access
Any person who is a
citizen of the United States,
resident of the State of
Oregon and 18 years old on
election day may register
to vote
So
if
y o u 'r e
not
registered to vote, why
aren’t you? And if you don’t
vote, why not’
Kimberley Nelson
Democratic precinct
committee person,
Sandy
Aid needed
Sandy Community Ac
tion Center has been extra
busy the last two months,
as more people feel the
pinch of the recession In
particular, there have been
many requests for food.
I wish to speak for the
volunteers who operate the
Center in thanking all our
sponsors who bring u t
clothing, fu rn itu re and
various household items
We also g re a tly ap
preciate the contributions
of food by individuals,
ch u rch es
and
o th e r
organizations Cash com
tributions received are us*
ed to p ro v id e food,
emergency lodging and oc,
casional minimal dental or
medical help.
More than 1,000 persons
come to the Center for help
of some sort each month.
We do not charge them for
clothing, furniture, food,
etc
We hope that more local*
ch u rch e s
and
o th e r
organizations will be inclin
ed to help the Center in its
work with regular monthly
contributions, no m atter
bow small.
We offer warm thanks to
all the individuals and
organizations who are help*
ing
Jan Buncl>(
Volunteer coordinator
LETTERS POLICY
The Post asks that
all totters to the
e d ita r he ty p e d .
doable-spaced and
signed Deadline to
noon, Tuesday.
9