2 - SANDY (O í» ) FOST Thuf»
June 30 19S3 (*«c. I)
The S^ndy Post
Editorial & Opinion
Von Braschler, Publnhor
Caroline Duff. O ffic e M a n a g e r
Dan Dillon, editor
Scott Newton Sports
e d ito r
SANDY, OREGON. THURSDAY. JUNE 30 1983
Make board meets public
More than once in recent weeks,
the Welches School Board has
skated around possible violation
of state open meeting laws. That’s
very dangerous ice.
At question are unpublicized
meetings and hastily rescheduled
meetings.
For instance, a May 13 ex
ecutive session apparently was
held without notification of the
press. A May 19 regular meeting,
originally scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
apparently was rescheduled at
the last minute for 4:30 that day.
The press wasn’t informed, and
the head of the teachers’ associa
tion was told only 90 minutes
prior. A sim ilar thing may have
happened in A pril.
Other times board members
may have met and discussed
board matters away from school
or in the superintendent’s office
a fte r a regular board meeting,
w ith no executive session an
nounced.
What transpires at such im
promptu meetings probably’s on
the up-and-up. However, i t ’s hard
to keep tabs on what our elected
school board in Welches is up to,
w ith all this confusion. F u rth e r
more, it looks bad publicly to hold
clandestine m eetings, discuss
board matters casually in group
settings or otherwise conduct
public business in some closet.
What’s more, i t ’s sometimes il
legal. Oregon Revised Statutes
192.610 through 192.650 are clear
on this m a tte r:
“ The governing body of a public
body shall provide for and give
p u b lic n o tic e , re a s o n a b ly
calculated to give actual notice to
interested persons including news
media which have requested
notice, of the tim e and place for
holding regular meetings If an
executive session only w ill be
held, the notice shall be given to
the members of the governing
body, to the general public and to
the news media which have re
quested n o tic e , s ta tin g the
specific provision of law authoriz
ing the executive session. No
special meeting shall be held
without at least 24 hours notice to
the members of the governing
body and the general public.”
(192 640)
"The governing body of a public
body shall provide for the taking
of w ritten minutes of all its
m e e tin g s .,..( T ) h e
w r itte n
minutes must give a true reflec
tion of the m atters discussed at
the meeting. ..(A)11 minutes shall
be available to the public within a
reasonable tim e....” <192 650)
The Sandy Post reporter assign
ed to cover activities of the
Welches School Board has direct
ly requested n o tific a tio n of
m e e tin g s m o re th a n once.
However, this local newspaper of
record hasn’t always received
such necessary notification.
Considering key appointment of
a new boa rd m em b er and
superintendent recently, such veil
of doubt over Welches School
Board open meetings is serious.
At the very least, the charge may
be made that such a board who
closets itself—w ittin g ly or un
consciously—loses touch w ith the
public.
In the public interest, we urge
the Welches School Board to bet
ter publicize upcoming meetings
and to hold all board member get-
togethers where board-related
matters are discussed in a public
setting. (VB,
Roses to Sandy Highway crew! !
F a ir's fair, and we must give
credit where i t ’s due.
A while back we criticized the
s ta te
H ig h w a y
D iv is io n
maintenance shed area by Jim 's
Big Apple in the heart of Sandy as
untidy. Actually, weeds and trash
on the lot made the big lot in the
center of town a bit of any
eyesore
Well, you m ight logically think
th a t h ig h w a y m a in te n a n c e
workers have better things to do
than pick up gum wrappers and
mow down weeds where their
trucks are stored.
These fin e h ig h w a y crew
members, however, showed their
tru e colors as civic-m in d e d
citizens by sprucing up their lot.
They worked hard in the hot sun,
and their work area now looks
great.
In fact, it's a big inspiration to
other downtown businesses and
city residents to spruce up their
lots in tim e for Sandy Mountain
Days July 3-10.
A fter all, Sandy's going to play
host to some 50,000 visitors soon,
and we all should want to put our
best foot forward with pride (VB)
Senator's report:
Bill halts lemon car daze
by KTKVK STARK O VK’H
M ate senator. IMst. 14
Imagine that you have just purchased a
new 1983 Ford station wagon for *11.Mb
You drive it home and park it in the
driveway that evening The next morning
you get into your ear, start the engine and
shift into reverse It doesn't budge
Frustrated, you have It towed hack to the
dealer, who tries to fix It Rut the problem
recur* over and over Finally your war
ranty runa out, and you are stuck with a
defective car a "lemon "
This story la much more common than
you might think New car* that have (sc
lory defect* are bought and «old every ay
across the U S laiat yaor, the National
Center for Auto Safety recorded ts.aou
complaints about new cara that failed to
p erfo rm up to the m a n u fac tu rer*«
specification* Even after numerous tripa
to the dealer a service renter, many time
the problema are not corrected
Recently, the Legislature paaaed a Mil
that trtaa to remedy thia situation Known
as the "teman law,” HR I7 H waa passed
unanamoualy by both the House and the
Senate and new awaits the signature of the
Agialatora agree that thia may
f the
or
1 The vehicle la out of service for Ja or
more business days
lloprf utly. thia definition will cover com
plaint» about car» tht are defective from
the tim e of purchase The law will apply to
all ears purchased after Jan I, tant
HR rftn ha* received support not only
from mruiy consumer groups, but
many car dealer* aa well They stated
that «nth such a law, "consumers will feel
protected and that's got to he good for
business * C o nsum era s ta te d th a t
m anufacturers have a responsibility
good quality c a n . and when they
a "lem on," they have the raapon
•tbtltty to replace it «nth a car that is free
of defect* The lemon law " will help
the right of ovary consumer to
gat arhat he or she pays far ”
If you have any
or any
Representative’s report:
Shiprack opposes sales tax proposal
by BOB SHIPRACK
State representative. Dist.23
The House of Representatives
June 21 on a 31-29 vote, approved
a 4 percent sales tax that would
be referred to the voters The
measure was sent to the Senate
where it is not expected to
emerge, as the Senate leaders
have voiced extreme opposition
to it.
That morning before the vote.
House members not on the
revenue or sales tax committees
got to review the plan My doubts
about this new tax were confirm
ed at that tim e Since this pro
bably was the major vote of the
session thus far. I want to explain
my "no" voe on the sales tax
The tax. if approved by the
voters, will raised I t 08 billion in
the remainder of the biennium
Of that. 1126 A million would be
used for administration, retailer
discount, low income credit and
renter relief Approximately 300
persons would have to be hired
for administration
The *953 4 million left over
would fund an across-the board
45 percent reduction on all pro
perties on property taxes One
can separate the property tax
r e li e f
in to
tw o
c a te g o rie s —h om eo w n er and
business Extensive research
was done on homeowners, which
concluded that people with tax
rates above *21 per thousand
generally would do better than
those under *21 District 23, on
this basts would be a net loser
The greater the value of the home
and the amount spent on con
sumer goods become varibles
that must be consider It was my
perception that middle-income
people would be adversely a f
fected
The business impact is much
harder to predict No figures
were ever developed to show the
impact, however assumptions
can be made Large property
owners would gain the most,
since the relief would be the same
percentage of current property
tax liability. Materials used in
the manufacture of goods are ex
e m p t. so the r e ta ile r and
wholesaler of ftnishd goods would
py a disproportionate amount I
felt that small businesses would
lose under this plan
In the final analysis, there were
several negatives aspets to the
sales tax plan First it was not tax
reform, with little guarantee that
property taxes wouldn't raise in a
short time. Consumers would end
up paying for the whole plan with
little regard to ability to pay. A
new expensive b ureau cracy
would be set up. There are ex
amples that show a sales tax is
not “elastic” to economic reces
sions. Look at Washington and
California Some 5 percent would
come from government—that is,
the taxpayer. Finally, I believe a
sales tax isn't at all what the m a
jority want for property tax relief
and would be badly defeated at
the polls, since it is another tax
I will he working with others to
bring about real tax reform and
property tax relief If you have
any questions or suggestions on
any issue contact me by writing
Bob Shiprack, Room H292, State
Capitol. Salem. OR 97310 or call
ing 378-8784
The Post gratefully acknowledges essays and w ritten opinions
from readers to appear on this page—separate from the unbiased
news reports on other pages of this newspaper. Your opinions
generally w ill be printed as letters to the editor, while ours
generally w ill 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.
Personally speaking:
Stop answering machines
T ire d of those silly little
answering machines’’ You know
the ones That's the robot who
shuck» and jives you when your
car breaks down and you call for
professional help Or it's the un
sympathlc voice you reach when
you try to call your doctor,
lawyer or spiritual advisor d u r
ing crisis
Answering machines couldn't
care leas They aren't program
med lor sympathy or any other
emotions needed for interper
sonal relations or interfacing, to
use th e lin g o of b ro th e r
machines
I can never teU when to start
talking Do you wait for the beep
or try to fit in everything in a few
seconds without breath before
you hear that beep’ I dunno Part
of the trick is being able to
understand the person who made
the recording And then you must
believe there's enough room on
your segment of the recording to
hold your entire message I
some people take the
between their last
word on the recording and the
Masted little b eep -yo u r signal
I suspect some people don’t
their machines for
And if they do. the
- are probably too old to
have meaning in the work-eat
sleep liv es of people T he
m essages h a v e eq u al non-
la the
.aft
ofi
worse So please, reco rd -a-
message owners
Return my
quarters for all those calls that
went nowhere and said nothing to
no one who heard or cared
It's time to get even with those
blasted answering machines I
have a plan, and everyone can
join my fun
I propose we all ban together as
some sort of club like "Humans
ag ain st M achin es Speaking
(H A M S i and zap them right
back Here's all we need:
Find some bright young kid in
an eighth grade science fair who
c o u ld b u ild us a ‘ ‘ R e p ly
Machine to talk back to those
answering machines Then simp
ly put a taped message on the
machine The machine would in
terface with your phone receiver
by V O N B R A S C H L E R
Hal *000. the sneaky computer
who took charge of a space ship in
the movie. "3001." told ti
smooth talking machines are
coming from Eventually, he took
over the ship and the astronauts
inside He apologized, of course
for having to take things in his
own hands But he was better
equipped to cope Oh. his voice
sounded so smooth and prac
ticed- like those nice telephone
voices you hear when no real
are left in charge to chat
with you
Wo people communicate
without let
UP
When your reply m achine
detects another machine on the
line, it plays a previously record
ed message for the answering
machine Of course, it sounds like
your voice In fact, you may use
your own voice to cut down costs
At the end of your reply, YOUR
beeper hits some wild notes that
totally fry the circuits of the
answering machine at the other
end
It's sort of like a radar detec
tor. only you get to stop the cops
O K, young space-age whiz
kids—wherever you are Let’s
build an Intruder Alert computer
game the whole world can use
And after the robot phones are
destroyed, maybe we all can get
down to serious one-on-one talk
once again
Letter answers charge:
Deer, elk sighted
at Alderwood Park
Concerning the article of the
I Alderwood Mobile Park
in last week's edition. I would like
to take exception to the remark
by Paul Rice that no deer or elk
have been in the area since the
highway was buiR
D u r in g
th e
p ast
th r e e
1 and two of my
children have observed deer
grazing between the highway and
Die treeline near his prcel on two
Yes. the Department
of Fish and Wildlife does know
what it Is talking about
Dennis Cox
Brightwood