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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 1987)
9— 6A N 0Y (O re.) POST Thur» . Jan. 99 1907 (S k . I) The SdnäyPost Editorial & Opinion Scott Newton, editor Kimberly Nelson, advertising representative Board wise to wait for levy election The Sandy Elementary School District board is wise to wait until September for its first levy election. The district has a history of failing to pass levies early in the year. And that makes sense. In M ay, the turnout seems to favor the “ no” side and the district is unable to provide infor mation that is as accurate as what it can provide later in the year. In September, everyone seems to have a renewed apprecia tion for school. In deciding to wait until September for a levy attempt, the school board is in step with its stated goals. One goal of board members has been to have the budget committee produce a budget that was sufficient to educate students without wasting money. Patrons w ill argue over whether that has been ac complished. Regardless, board members work hundreds of hours with no purpose in mind other than to provide a good service. They do not go into the budget process planning to submit an unrealistic levy with the intention of reducing it after a couple of levy failures. I t does not make sense, then, to submit a budget that w ill be voted down simply as a protest over the unfair burden of pro perty taxes. Without facing a M ay deadline, the budget committee can do its work a little later and have more accurate numbers to work with. In September, patrons will have exact figures to consider — such as the rate per $1,000 of valuation — and not estimates. I f voters reject the levy in September, the board and the public w ill still have time to take a look at the budget before the critical November election. Even by waiting until September, the teachers, parents, children and community w ill not be in any worse of a predica ment than they have been in since 1983. It is our opinion that the vote Thursday was not one of unresponsiveness by the board, but one of common sense. The public is not interested in debating school budgets all summer. The public is interested in tax reform. The board deserves credit for having looked at its recent history, recognizing that the system was not working and ac ting to minimize expenses and risks. Letters to the editor appreciates them as much as we do. I could write pages of exampes of what Dan and Ginny have done, but due to space, I can’t. Dan and Ginny, if you ever want to come back, we’ve got room at our house! Ralph and Teri Berriman Winchester, 111. P.S. Has Ginny ever shown you one of her decorated cakes? Spooners’ efforts in character I read with great interest your arti cle reg ard in g Dan and Ginny Spooner in the Dec. 11,1986 edition of your paper. We knew the Spooners well when they lived in Virden, 111. Ginny cared for our children and they called them “Grandma Ginny" and “ Papa D an." I ’m not surprised that Ginny (and D a n ) would take on such a project as the one of refurbishing dolls for Christmas baskets — that’s the way they are and always have been. I think Ginny’s motto for life has been “ love and fun.” Anything I ’ve ever seen her do was out of love and she always threw in fun. We still miss them deeply and I hope that the community of Sandy Family says thank you The fam ily of Alma Phillips would like to thank friends, fam ily and the Mount Hood Hospice for their sup port in our time of sorrow. Ernest Phillips and fam ily Sandy Where to write phone 221-3386. Sea. Bob Packwood, R-Oregon, 259 Russell Building, Washington, D.C., 20510. 202-224-5244. Portland office phone 221-3370. S ta te R e p r é s e n ta tiv e Bob Shlprack, D-Dist. 23, 22610 Forest Park Rd., Beavercreek, Ore., 97004. 631-3817. State Senator Bob Kintigh, D-Dist. 14, 38865 E. Cedar F lat Road, Spr ingfield, 97478. 746-1842. Sen. M ark Hatfield, R-Oregon, 711 H art Building, Washington, D.C., 20510. 202-224-3753. Portland office Rep. Denny Smith, R-5th Dist., 1213 Longworth Building, Washington, D.C., 20515. 202-225-5711. Salem office phone (toll free) 800-452-7889. Policy on letters le tte rs to the editor should be typed, double-spaced and signed. An address and telephone number should also be provided, although on ly the name of the letter writer and the city or area he is from will be published. Letter writers may also wish to in clude a title or office held if it is ap propriate considering the subject m atter of the letter. The news deadline of noon Tuesday is also the deadline for letters to the editor. Letters should be accurate, free of libelous remarks and in good taste. This newspaper attempts to publish all letters it receive it receives from area residents. We reserve the right to edit letters to conform to style guidelines or for length. letters should be 300 words long. Pioneer Association to meet Problems different for pioneer schools by M ILE S AUB IN Special for The Post With financial issues all resolved locally, it might be interesting to take a look at the early financing of schools. The early pioneers were fairly good at school financing — one way or another, with or without. Much of the information in this a r ticle was obtained from the minutes of School District No. 94 board meetings during the “Gay Ninties” of the 19th century. The area was known as North Logan and was located across the river from Barton. Some years later the Deep Creek Grade School became District No. 94, and the Logan records ended up at Deep Creek. Deep Creek is now part of the Boring School District. Back in the '90s there were many o n e -ro o m schools s c a tte re d throughout Clackamas County. Most sat in the center of a district approx imately three miles square. A two- mile walk to school was considered a child’s capacity. School terms were three or four months in length, and usually did not operate during the busy seasons on the farm. The number of terms varied from one to three. Ed Hera, who lived near Kelso, said that when school was out in Kelso, he attended school in Boring. This system required a relatively large number of teachers, most of whom were women. They obtained credentials by taking county or state examinations held at Oregon City in A p r il and A u g u s t. W ith th e equivalent of an eighth grade diploma, a teacher could qualify for at least one of three types of creden tials. Salary scales began at 690 a month, but a few poor communities paid less. To keep steadily employed, a teacher moved from school to school as openings occurred. Records show that most teachers taught in several different schools. There was a large turnover of teachers. Many women were lost by taking the marriage route. Every rural community had eligible males, some of whom could reasonably be students as old as or older than their teacher. Teachers were rated high in the prospective wife category. They would give prestige to the family name and give birth to well-educated children. Male teachers were not considered matrimonial plums. In those early days school finance was managed by very frugal school boards. This characteristic of school boards continued until the end of World War I I , when more money became available for education. Following is a 1891-92 financial report of the North Logan School Number of students, 31; number of months taught in district, four; number of legal voters, 11. Estimated value of building, in cluding both outhouses, 6260; fur niture, 683.50; maps, globes, charts, tablets, 61-40; average teacher’s salary per month, 633.75. Money received from county, 6102.49; money received from state. 642; money from other sources, 6146; total, 6250.49. Teacher’s pay, 6135; new school furniture, 663.50; school supplies, 61.40; total. 6199. Balance on hand, 650.50 The Sandy Pioneer and Historical Association will hold its quarterly meeting at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 25 in the Mel Haneberg Community Center, 38348 Pioneer Blvd. The program will feature Jean nette Wilson, an authority on anti ques, who will do evaluations. People are invited to take items for evalua tion. Wilson’s specialty is glassware East County image has wind in tales They say we're not supposed to talk about it. They say that East Multnomah County is polishing up a new image and, in the interests of selling houses and industrial sites, we no longer speak of — hush now — the East Wind. The image-makers put it this way: I f we want to be high-tech and middle income, we have to keep a low profile about the you-know-what from the east. That, at least, makes sense. A low profile is a real help in the East Wind. But I don’t think not talking about it will make this issue blow over. They can plow up our berry fields and pave over our cabbage patches, but all the hot a ir in the world w ill not reverse the cold draft that chills us when the door to the Columbia Gorge is left open. This business of muffling the East Wind could put an end to a whole wind mystique. Those of us who live where the gorge exhales take kind of a perverse pride in it. Oh sure, there are the gully dwellers, those lily-livered types who seek out holes in the landscape where they can dwell safely out of reach of the cold blast. Gully-dwellers live ly foolhardy, they have plate glass windows fa c in g east. F o r an evening's sport they watch the glass billow like a sail. They are the ones who tell East Wind stories. People such as Bob Scott of Spr ingdale, who says you don’t know what wind is until you see whitecaps in your toilet. •S * ------ •n o o W n A * NMDn aam m A- securely in the lee of cliffs and watch he clouds scudding by overhead. There are cowards living on the backside of Larch Mountain who don’t know that snow can fall sideways. There are pantywaists who live in Sandy and commute to Gresham and brag about growing bananas at home. Their opposites are the gutsy gust- gorgers, the hardy folks who live in the very teeth of the gale. They have never seen the smoke from their chimneys. They keep anemometers to measure the wind. If they are real That is no e x a g g e r a tio n . Sometimes the wind comes down from the gorge, bends over a house and sucks at all those mysterious pipes on the roof. The way I unders tand it, some of those lead to the toilet and the wind can play havoc with the water in the bowl. Troutdale Mayor Sam Cox, who in cidentally is a gully-dweller, says the reason Troutdale keeps whipping Gresham in the annual tug-of-war is because Troutdale folks all lean naturally, a defense against the wind. Then there is Dave Angelo, a Cor bett old-timer who swears that the wind blew all the m ilk from his bucket in the walk from the bam to the house. You have to watch Angelo, though. The 90-year-old will look you right in the eye and tell you how he used to take a flashlight and go across the road to his barn after dark to do chores. “The wind was blowing so bad that it would turn the beam of that flashlight downhill to the tavern and I'd end up following the light to the tavern,*’ he’ll say. There is Helen Redden, who remembers a time back in the 1950s when she lived in an uninsulated house in Troutdale. She woke in the morning to find her goldfish frozen in the bowl in the living room. Or there is Cox's favorite tale about the time he was crossing an ice-glazed Columbia Street in Trout dale in a high wind. Cox was wearing a big baggy coat that caught the wind like a sail. He was skating full-tilt toward Portland at 20 miles an hour when he fell on his back and skidded halfway under his sister-in-law's parked car. And then there was the guy from Corbett who insists that he was west bound on Interstate 84 in the gorge and traveling 55 mph when he was passed by a paper cup. Don't let the image-makers do it. Don't let them take the wind out of our tales. Bobcats The S^niiy Post (USPS 481-180) N o i p o p « , A m «(M< mki «nri U S iu b v -b » - N .W ,P O O » F u k l 't h « , A „ < x ,« .o .. r u b l-itw d w M k h , T h v r tA > ,.b , * » O v « < x * •» Sondy O»egon to . M W n d , O o « o » «7OM i o c o o t d o , , p o v o o o ook ) 888-5548 SUBSCRIPTION RATES 69.00 C lech ernes County pet yeor M ultnom ah County 610.00 U sew here »n Oregon 611.60 In Northw est end P ee d * Coast States OutSrde O regon per year Outs>de Northw est end Pecdic Coos' Stetes per yeer ........................ Sandy 7o«t. Sandy. Oroqon 97055 No 3 614.00 617.00 Jon 22, 1907 by Adam Kraft the is H ardest part f o o M E A N S uppose p r o t/fc £ iotake
