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