Vol 72 No 42
SANDY. OREGON THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 1982
■a
( I SPS 481-1801
Officials mull over Measure 3’s possibilities
by DAN Dll.I.OS
" I feel very strongly that for the
Rathke said the local fire district
ing are a reduction in public service
It sounds simple, the fire chief
amount of money being spent for
stands to face a 37 percent drop from
alarms, first-aid calls that are "non- sa id , but the d is tr ic t has a
Local city, fire and school officials
library services, it’s unique in offer its current budget "Taking that
life threatening" and waiting until
are preparing to make do with less
“ sophisticated” mutua aid system
ing a service in which somebody can,
much out has to effect everything we
there is a confirmed injury or pin-in with adjacent fire districts. "D ispat
While voters wait for the opportuni on their honor, walk in the door and
do," he said
at a vehicle accident before dispat ching is a f5U-time job,” he said fla t
ty Nov 2 to reduce their property
take out $300 to $400 worth of
Rathke projects the district w ill
ching assistance
taxes through Ballot Measure 3, local
ly
m a te ria ls sim p ly as a public
lose up to two of its five paid
Dipatching. 8 10 percent of the
officials are scrambling to be ready service," Newlands said.
The overall impact on the local fire
firefig
hte
rs
He
is
m
ulling
the
district s total budget, could undergo
for the shortfalls the 1.5 percent
Even with 100 percent of its 1979-80 possibilities of what services w ill be changes that, Rathke said, would district could be lessened by the
limitation w ill bring
foresight of the district board
revenue available as an "essential
mean "basically going to a second
"A lot of people aren't aware of service,” Sandv Fire Chief Bob available if Measure 3 is successful
"Our position has always been to
Among the changes he is consider-
best type system."
what it w ill do." said city librarian
plan for the future and maintain a
Sue Newlands I t ’s fair to vote yes,
but it's going to have repercussions”
Ballot Measure 3, a proposed con
stitutional amendment that would
place lim its on property taxes and
restrict the authority of state and
local governments to increase non
property taxes, has officials worried
But they are studying alternatives to
b? ready for the repercussions
A statewide poll released earlier
this week indicates an overwhelming
support for the ballot measure
" I know there is a general gloom
among all libraries." Newlands said
‘‘If we get 85 percent of what we got
in 1979 from the city, it would hardly
pay the utilities and staff. It ’s going
to be bleak '
The 1.5 percent annual property
tax increase could be overriden if
higher taxes were necessary to pro
vide any taxing district 85 percent of
its 1979-80 total revenues A district
providing "essential services," such
as Sandy Eire District, would be
guaranteed 100 percent of its 1979-80
revenues
"Our impact would be much worse
than some because we have so many
out-of-city users." Newlands said.
The county library levy bases a ma
jor portion of its reimbursements on
Photo bv Dan Dillon
out-of-city use Currently 75-80 per Sandv firefighters battle a blaze that swept through the home of the Melrose
responded to the alarm with seven pieces of apparatus to battle the fire which
cent of Sandy Public L ib ra ry ’s Singletons, 41093 SE Wildcat Mountain Road, when wiring sparked Sunday
had engulfed the home by the time the first truck was on the scene.
patrons come from outside the city.
afternoon. Loss was est'mated at $65,000. Twenty-four Sandv firefighters
Lund blasts SUHS reading test results
Sandy E le m e n ta ry D is tr ic t
Superintendent Clark Lund has
blasted accuracy and handling of a
Sandy High School freshman test
that suggests some feeder schools
have reading program deficiencies
“ What was the high school's
overall composite score on the
students tested-’ " he asked, noting
only highlights were lifted for atten
tion
Average test scores fluctuate
through the grades of any school,
Lund reminded
The high school's test of 282
freshmen rated grade level reading
skills, with a breakdown comparison
of freshman readers based on where
they’d attended grade school locally
F o rm e r Sandy E le m e n ta ry
students recently scored reading
skills in vocabulary at a 9.3 grade
average level and reading com
prehension at a 7.9 grade ievel.
Some area feeder schools saw their
former students score lower in the
high school's Gates MacGinite
Reading Test, while others saw their
former students score higher.
Former Bull Run students scored
at an 11th grade reading level on the
average.
Former Cottrell students were
rated at a 9.2 grade level in reading
comprehension and a 9 9 grade level
in vocabulary.
Former Boring School students,
however, were rated at a 6.7 grade
level in reading comprehension and
9 0 grade level in vocabulary on the
average
Former Welches School students,
however, were rated only at a 7.9
grade level in reading comprehen
sion and 9.3 grade level in vocabulary
on the average
Sandy Elementary Schools Supl
Lund criticized the test as in
conclusive and misleading
“ A testing analyst must keep in
mind that when testing small sub
groups of a whole,” he said,
"resulting scores are subject to wide
fluctuations (high or low) based on
the performance of a very few within
that small sub-group ”
He asked what purpose the high
school management group might
have in “ singling out" any given
feeder district, other than pointing
fingers of discredit
"Is this scenario an administrative
statement of justification in the high
school’s attempt to educate at the
secondary level?" he asked
Lund said Sandy Elem entary
District seventh graders who are now
Peters said his school didn’t mean to
Sandy High freshmen earlier scored
use the freshmen test results t
at a year and a half above their grade
evaluate the feeder schools
level in reading comprehension in the
"W e adm inistered the Gates-
same Gates MacGinite test.
MacGi.iitie Reading Test (Level E,
On the California Achievement
Form 1) Sept 8, so we might have a
Test the same test group scored even
better awareness of the general com
higher, while in the seventh grade.
petency level of our students in the
When this same test group took the
area of reading," Peters said
California Achievement Test in the
He said test results proved “ ex
eighth grade, they scored two full
tremely helpful" in placing students
years ahead of their more recent test
in appropriate English classes and
at Sandy High
counseling them
“ This incomplete and inconclusive
“ It was not our intent to utilize the
report," Lund said of the high
results as a means of making
school's Gates MacGinite findings,
judgments on the feeder school pro
"has done a great disservice to many grams,” he said. "On the contrary, it
who are directly involved I can see is our desire to evaluate our own pro
no benefit in our ‘umbrella district' gram in reading vocabulary and
setting fires at thresholds of its comprehension by re-testing those
feeder districts."
same 282 students in next September
Sandy High School Supt. Jack to see if gains have been made .”
Rep. Smith claims
Federal freeze would pump up state economy
»•ft phntn
Kep Denny .Smith told the Sandy Area Chamber of Commerce Tuesday than an
across-the-board freeze would boost Oregon's economy.
US Rep Denny Smith, cam
paigning here Tuesday for a new
Fifth District House seat, told the
Sandy Chamber of Commerce an
across-the-board freeze in federal
spending could balance the budget
and improve Oregon's economy.
"That's the best thing I can do to
help Oregon's economy," said the
Second District Republican who's
jumping districts to oppose State
Senator Ruth McFarland in a new
district
Smith, a newspaper executive,
said a balanced national budget is
entirely within grasp in a year and
a half
The former m ilitary pilot often
criticized by his opponent for
m ilitary spending votes said the
C-5 cargo plane should not have
been purchased, nor should the M-l
tank
Smith said the space program,
while paying its way in its own
merits, holds new value for the na
tion in defense
He affirmed his support of the
president's Geneva peace meeting
proposal to begin a bi-lateral
nuclear arms freeze and reduction,
"particularly for the European
theatre.”
Smith's Sandy visit, lighted by
flood lamps from an entourage of
press, focused on economic efforts,
however
"We've got to get the federal
government out of the borrowing
market and bring the mortgage in
terest rate down to about 10 per
cent,” he said.
He advocated annua! audits of
the Federal Reserve Board, but
not shift in control to Congress
" I ’m not sure we can trust the
Congress any more than the
Federal Reserve Board," he said
He side-stepped a question from
Sandy's city planner on whether
E conom ic D evelopm ent A d
ministration should continue to
receive solid funding
“ I can’t remember how I voted
on EDA," he replied. " I can't give
you a straight answer.
" I think government sometimes
should stay out of these areas." he
said of economic development ef
forts, "because we get into pork
barreling We in the Northwest
here have a growing economy.”
He repeated his attack on Social
Security System coats and called
for fine tuning, noting the System
is losing $19,000 per minute in its
trust funds
Entitlements, many for social
programs, leaves 80 percent of the
federal budget "uncontrollable by
definition," Smith said of his
budget-balance freeze hopes
"That's why 1 think the freeze is
something we have to do. without
cutting anyone's program We
should be able to do that with the
political situation the way it is," he
said, adding the defense fund
should share in the freeze
“ Wa're not short of revenues,"
he said of the national budget
"O ur professional politicians
over the years have tried to con
vince us that we can't balance the
national budget That's not true
We can do it, and it would be easy.
That’s with a freeze."
Ceiling on the national debt has
been raised from $19 5 billion two
years ago to recent authorization
with the present $750 billion budget
to as high as $1 trillion, 200 billion
To cover loses, the federal
government most recently agreed
to borrow another $100 billion in
new money, "just to keep the
operation running." Rep Smith
said.
He said spending growth has
been cut and government regula
tions decreased during the current
administration, "but not nearly
enough "
Smith said there's still too much
paperwork in government, too
much tax and too many business
regulations
He said Americans are consum
ing oil more conservatively these
days
to
reduce
n a tio n a l
dependence on OPEC oil, but ad
vised that gap should broaden even
more
" I don’t mean to sound anti-oil,"
Smith said, "because they deserve
a profit "
He said oil companies need more
incentive to explore new fields and
d iv e rs ify in to o th e r energy
resources
good, effective volunteer program,"
Rathke said. "But. we get a heckuva
lot out of our volunteers The ques
tion is how much longer we can ask
it."
At 85 percent of its 1979-80 total
revenue, the Sandy Elementary
District stands to lose approximately
$290,000 While that is admittedly a
"ballpark figure,” Superintendent
Clark Lund is certain the impact w ill
be felt.
"Any way you look at it there w ill
be a significant rollback on what
we re able to do," he said
The district which normally has
prepared a budget calendar by now
has postponed that move pending the
outcome of the Nov. 2 election. It is
studying a joint transportation pro
gram with other Sandy High School
feeder schools to save money and
Lund sees the day when other school
functions could be consolidated
among the area elementary school
districts to avoid duplication of ser
vices
“ The bottom line,” he said, "is the
children, as we serve them, are going
to be impacted” That could be in the
form of higher classloads or cuts in
instructional programs.
Despite the dire predictions. Lund
feels that eventually the situation
w ill be resolved at all levels around
the state In the interim, however, he
foresees "a tremendous amount of
chaos.”
Council split
over handling
3’s problems
by DAN DILLON
The Sandy City Council is split over
handling the possibility of Ballot
Measure 3's passage.
On the one hand, the city should be
prepared, but on the other, it argues,
accepting its passage is a "defeatist
attitude."
Councilor Jim Duff said Monday
night the city should be ready to im
plement a plan of action immediately
after the election.
Mayor Ruth Loundree feels there
w ill be time after the election to sit
down and resolve problems created
by sh ortfa lls. Councilor Deane
Wesselink concurs, saying after the
election w ill be the time to "take the
bull by the horns."
“ I feel we should have preliminary
plans so that if (Ballot Measure 3)
does go through, we can implement
them immediately," Duff explained
If it goes through, we’ve got pro
blems I do say we can't sit back and
take a hands-off posture."
The council was responding to a
memorandum prepared by former
city manager Roger Jordan that
outlined effects Ballot Measure 3
would have on the local government
if passed. Rather than make budget
cutting suggestions. Jordan left those
steps up to the council
In the memo, he indicated Sandy
would lose nearly half its property
tax monies if the measure is approv
ed.
“ If this should pass," Loundree
said, "council is going to have to sit
down and work out its own individual
problems I personally am not going
to say yes or no to the way people
should vote After the election you
have 30 days to sit up and burn the
midnight oil getting next year's
budget ready."
Wesselink isn't convinced people
are aware of the measure's ram ifica
tions, but is w illing to accept
whatever result comes
“ 1 don't think, people realize what
they're getting into," he said "But, if
that's what people mandate us, I see
no alternative but to take the bull by
the horns and wrestle it
"Reductions don't necessarily
mean you're out of business,”
Wesselink said. "I'm here to figure
out a way to make it go.”
Index
SECTION I
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Senior Center News
Keeping Posted
Obituaries
Menus
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2
3
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5
7
11-12
SECTION II
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