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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (April 7, 1983)
The S4ntiy Post Editorial & Opinion Prime pump or stir kettle? Oregonians tightening belts seem to be getting down to weighing increased public service needs against spiraling cost of big government. Nowhere is that con trast more focused than in poor Clackamas County. While the state Legislature struggles to overcome a $500 million budget deficit, the House has passed a bill whereby the state would finance 43 percent of care benefits to Oregonians who don’t qualify for welfare, but can’t afford private health insurance. The federal government would pay 57 percent. Meanwhile, the county public health division with no new staff or budget other than existing authorized general fund monies has launched a new county health referral program for the medical ly indigent here. That includes those who are unemployed, have low income, don’t have medical insurance or aren’t eligible for welfare. That program is a cooperative venture between Clackamas County Medical Society and the county. To be screened by a nurse and referred for care, one simply dials 655-8326. Then individual financial arrangements will be made with a health care provider. State public health might sound costly, but such costs are nothing new here. Oregonians have seen their state jump in taxation in one The fundamental question for ming regionally seems to be how well bigger government ad dresses growing social service needs in a tight economy. Perhaps programs such as the county’s health referral program that employs the private sector would prove more enterprising and cost- efficient. Is it time to prime the pump per depression-era big government tactics or time to stir the kettle with private industry? (VB) State eyes new health care by BOB SHIPRACK State Representative, Dial. 23 ed by lot This w ill result in a reduction of election costs to counties and a decrease in the number of ballots spoiled by printing er We decided to postpone indefinitely con sideration of HB 2054 that would require voters to register or re register to vote by 5 p m the day before the election, rather than the same day the election occurs The Election Committee m ajority report recommended a voter registration cut off 11 days before election day The Election Com m ittee m inority report, however, believed that would impose a hardship on citizens who truly wanted to vote, but couldn't because they had moved or change«] their name within that 11 day tim e period i Oregon constitution requires citizens to immediately notify the Elec tions Division of an address or name changei Not being able to reach a consensus and not wanting the bill rejected, legislators voted to postpone the bill until a future date to allow additional time for review If you have any issues you'd like to vote«, please don't h esiu te to call me I welcome your input I can be reached by telephone at 3788788 or by writing to H282 State Capitol, Salem, Oregon 97310 Salem scene: 20-year tax battle rages by JA< K Z IM M E R M A N 4»»«wl»lrft Oregon In d u 'trlr* A number of the U s e s « ion's member« ere «till involved in state government, in eluding <»ov Vic Atiyeh who was a member of the House of Repreeenutivee then Furtherm ore Ally eh played lead roles in com parative event« then and now B> way of scene setting, Ore Republican Governor in 1983 He i U 8 Seneior M ark Hatfield The «late a loo had a GOP Secretary of M ate Howell Ap p in g and G O P T reasu rer, Howard Belton Throe of five of our highevi elective office« were held hy Repuhticana but the i was controlled by Democrats ’ lour of those five officos are again scrupled hy GoPs and Democrat ma jorttie« rule both legislative chamber« In 1989 the Notwlo spirt waa Identical to the 218 m ajority Demos enjoy today The 1883 n Don Dillon, id ito r Scott Newton, S porti id ilo r SANDY, OREGON THURSDAY, APRIL 7. 1983 year from 23rd to 14th nationally in state and local tax collections as a percent of personal income. Locally, some school districts get high marks for holding the line during the recession. Bull Run School, Boring Grade School and Mt. Hood College recently have demonstrated fiscal responsibili ty in operating within the six- percent limitation to avoid special levies. la c k a m a s County in its economic development drive, however, seems to put higher priority on Oregon City re development with county proper ty gains at the end of the rainbow than long overdue improvements along 82nd A venue. There residents have waited years for proper sewers, streets, lights, sidewalks and drainage from King Road north to the county line. Representative's report: The Oregon House of Representatives is proceeding at a brisk pace in reviewing and voting on a multitude of bills submit ted this legislative session In an attempt to save money and make the session run as efficiently as possible, com m ittees have been consolidating related bills and disposing of those that do not provide important, needed legislation. Several bills have been passed recently, which I believe w ill be of interest to you One of the most important is House Bill 2805. which would authorize the state to provide health care benefits to approx innately 65, (MX) Oregonians who do not qualify for welfare and cannot afford private health insurance When funds are available, the slate would finance 43 percent of the program, and the federal government would finance 57 percent Another bill passed that would allow owners, whose property was destroyed or damaged, additional tim e to notify the tax assessor of the occurence and request a reappraisal Current law requires owners to make the request thirty days a fte r the damage oc curs But most people are unaware of that requirement and usually don't consider the tax implications of the damage until they receive their tax statement HB 2501 was Introduced to give people 30 days after the tax statement Is m ailed to ask that their property tie reappraises] T w o b il l s , h e a v ily b e b a te d by legislators, would affect the state's elec tion process Presently the names of all candidates running for elective office are ro u ted in the election ballot HB 2503, passed by a narrow margin, re quires that the names tie rotated only when there are four or more candidates running tor an office If there are more than four, the placement nt names w ill lie delermin Von Braschler, Pubiuh»« Caroline Duff Offic» Manage« When that '83 aeaaion convened, it faced a potential deficit for the ensuing bien mum. the name type of problem current lawmakers are struggling to overcame Gov Hatfield waa proposing increased taxes to balance the budget as has Gov Atiyeh thin w u io c Hatfield s proposed tax boosu didn t set • e l l with the '83 Demo m ajority, especial ly in the Senate, where Pres Ben M ina fro m The Dalles held sway House Speaker then was Clarence Barton of Coquille The feuding nnd disagreem ents between »enate p resident. House speaker and governor are reminiscent of event« cur <»y t anapartng between holders of ) pOTilllOflft So m 1888. Oregon laced a budgeUry shortfall and the GOP Governor proponed Io satisfy it by rawing Uses same a« thw iM y struggled H l L etters to the editor: Water voters not warned? Note water vote In the last three months the citizens and students of the Mount Hood area have been the victims of a group of youthful vandals. The Welches School was defac ed twice Outraged by this destruction, a group of citizens joined together to offer a reward and to help patrol the school grounds at night Unfortunately, on M arch 29, we were vic timized again The vandals this tim e were not youths, but r a t h e r v o tin g -a g e residents who defaced not a school but the integrity of our polling booths The current battle on the mountain revolves around the issue of private versus public w ater, and it in volves the right of the citizens to participate in the decisions that w ill a f fect them For the last three special service district elections, the board of the M t Hood Loop W ater District has f a ile d to n o tify the residents that the elections were taking place Because of this failure to fulfil their duty, no names could ap pear on the ballot F iv e c o n c e rn e d citizens- Shirley Dueber, M a rily n L eslie, Harold Cox. Bob Brown, and Karla Estes -attempted to wage a w rite-in campaign to preserve the people's right to have public, not private water Then an opposing slate of "pro-private w ater’ people arose, and it was these names which were illegally and unethically written in to the election books in five out of six polling booths Because of this unfair ad vantage« three of their four candidates were elected A complaint has been fil ed with the Secretary of State, Clackamas County Elections Department and Senator Steve Starkovich's office How do we instill the values of justice, honesty and fair-play in our young, when the adults say that it is wrong to deface a school, but that it is not wrong to deface the electoral pro cess? We may not be a city yet, but som e p eo p le a r e already calling us "little Chicago Carolyn T Smith Welches financial burden placed on us. Thank you. Fred W Dalziel Corbett Elect Hoard This past school year I have had the pleasure of working with a dynamic lady, Debra Hoard Under her leadership and concern for the school the Sandy E le m e n ta ry P a r e n ts - Teachers Club was very ac tive and productive This year the club has earned funds enough to purchase new stage cur tains, so the students could use their own stage for pro grams. and a new copy machine to replace an out dated ditto machine Debra gets things done! Besides the fund-raisers, When you go to the polls Debra has held several to vote tor the budget for assemblies for the students the high school this year for and a lw a y s has been 1983 and 1984, please available She is responsi remember we are now p a y ble and reliable. ing approximately 85,000 Debra is running for per student in a public Position 4 of the Sandy school which is more than Elem entary School Board the amount which a private The board has five posi school would charge per tions and makes decisions student for the year fo r F ir w o o d , S an d y I see no reason why we E le m e n ta ry and Kelso should ap p ro priate any Grade Schools more money for the opera Four of the positions are tion of Sandy Union High held by Firwood parents whan we did in the year One of these four is Posi 1981/1982 The economic tion 4 These people make conditions do not allow the decisions concerning our o rd in a ry tax p a ye r who children and I can t think of may be out of a job, on a better representative for welfare or on unemploy Sandy Elem entary than ment insurance, perhaps Debra Hoard. not able to pay his taxes at Gail Van Daam the present time, goodness PTC Secretary knows, we need no more Sandy Elem entary SUHS levy high Nix nuke dump O ne h u n d re d fo rty g a llo n s a m in u te of radiotoxic water has been draining into a sand trench at Hanford. Washington for the last four y e a r s -o r the last ten years—depending on which Hanford UNC N u c le a r In d u s tr ie s spokesperson you believe That leak was repaired last February or w ill be th is co m in g A p r il or M ay—again, depending on which Hanford official you choose to believe. The lethal water "m ay be going into the ground, but we are not sure,” one spokesperson said Another said the repair w o rk th e y d id la s t February allowed tliem to confirm none of the water had leaked into the ground One of the officials said "no uncontrolable radioac tiv e w ater reaches the nearby Columbia R iv e r” I wonder what Hanford officials believe “ uncon t r o la b le r a d io a c t iv e w ater” is? 1 also wonder how such a leak could go on for four years while Han ford officials were doing no more than "keeping an eye on it," according to UNC N u c le a r In d u s tr ie s spokesperson Karen Scotti UNC Nuclear Industries c o n tra c ts to ru n th e N-Reactor at Hanford The N -R eactor can produce e it h e r e l e c t r i c i t y or weapons-grade plutonium, the most lethal element known to human beings and one that takes hun dreds of centuries before it isno longer deadly Spent fuel rods from the N-Reactor are now stored in a storage basin compos ed of a number of huge con c re te ta n k s The N-Rector’s storage tank is th e one t h a t le a k e d somewhere between 250 and 300 m illion gallons of radiotoxic w ater over the past four years. T h is is th e sam e N-Reactor that is now be ing readied for renewed plutonium production at H a n fo rd . T h e renew ed p lu to n iu m p ro d u c tio n results from the defense posture of the cu rren t- fe d e r a l a d m in is tr a tio n * which calls for a large b u ild up o f n u c le a r weapons And Hanford is one of the two sites considered the most likely to be tabbed as permanent nuclear waste disposal sites in the United SUtes T h e w h o le n u c le a r business at Hanford sends chills down my spine T h a t’s why I ’m a co sponsor of Senate Bill 270 that w ill esUblish a com- ; m it t e e of O re g o n legislators and p riv a te citizens to study the impact of renewed plutonium pro duction at Hanford. 1 intend to use the senate heatings on that bill to begin a public review of the safety sUndards applied at Hanford and the health and environmental dangers im- ! minent in that renewed production Ruth M cFarland S u te Senator Boring Personally speaking: Some cats best locked under house Some people In Brightwood think our only life's battle at Timber line Rim involves water. Either they fear we ll get too much, should it flood again, or not enough if the old pump gives out once more On my street however, the on ly clear and present darker is cats Perhaps, ’ should say. Just one cat The calico grandma feline, that cleaned up on neighborhood dogs that wandered our way. has gone into hiding Even my big black tom cat and a hefty Siamese tom faded after recent "cat wars ” Only one cat the roost now The whole ng last winter when I boarded up a hole in the side sd the house where I crawled to fix water pipes I feared frozen pipes while away a but a all the food from my cats on the porch, too Then he dove into the local dog dishes No one argued If anyone or anything tried getting close to him, he'd snarl and back up in that universal arched back ef feet, symbolic of freedom loving c a ts : " T r e a d not on m e! H i m ...” Now if Mount Hood blew, sen ding mud-flow down our river in hack, we'd have a L IT T L E warn ing If the river flooded as it did here a short generation ago, we'd have a little warning, then, too (Although a new pump at the Rim now will help lessen this scare ) Cruel nature and mechanical system failures at least give us a L IT T L E tim e to prepare for disaster Not so with a crazed wild cat Egore, as the monstrous ball of fur was tabbed by watchful neighbor k id s , s tru c k w ith switch-blade claws at anything that got in his path. Cooped under my house unm ercifully, he ap parently had no mercy for any creature—man nor beast—that threatened his freedom ( I mean any fool here can walk the area and see foundations, pipes and fence from the recent flood that destroyed a civilization Any fool < how many of the bourn here sit •nside the 209-yoar and even 109-yaar flood plane, plotted on a with a dry i of Soon hc took over the shaded tree stump where my sloppy black tom and Ms retarded Mater used to start their daily races to the top of the ,fl94oot cedar tarn eut front, even the W adi t a il re c k in g day«. at a special atoetkn In October cf 1
