2 — SANDY ( O f* ) POST Thur»
April 16. 1987 (S*c. I)
1
The Sandy Post
Editorial & Opinion
Scott N e w to n , e d ito r
K im b e rly N e lso n , a d v e rtis in g re p re s e n ta tiv e
Tax proposal
is risky business
Tri-Met is riding a crest of public support that can largely be
laid at the tracks of its successful light rail transit system.
But before Tri-Met implements a proposed change in its
payroll tax, which provides for 60 percent of its revenue, the
transit system should recall the days when the public at-
tutudes were not nearly so positive.
A change in Tri-Met’s payroll tax - which is a 0.6 percent
assessment against payrolls paid by businesses operating
within the transit district - has been suggested. The change
would reduce the payroll tax to 0.3 percent and establish a 0.3
percent income tax for those residents of the transit district.
For one, Tri-Met General Manager James E. Cowen has
never been a proponent of payroll taxes — in fact, he has
publicly offered outspoken opposition to the tax.
But altering Tri-Met’s payroll tax to a mixed payrolLZin-
come tax might be likened to attempting to change horses in
midstream or, at the very least, trying to ride two horses
across the stream when one will do just fine. Why ask for trou
ble?
Cowen was recently quoted as saying his agency serves a
population area with more than 1 million people, and added
that he region has 750,000 experts on mass transit.
A switch to a small income tax would accentuate the atten
tion and potetial criticism those 750,000 experts give Tri-Met.
At least for the majority of Portland-area residents, the taxing
authority of Tri-Met is a mystery and as a result is not on their
list of transit complaints. That taxing anonymity would be
removed once the line “Tri-Met Tax" started appearing on in
dividual taxpayers’ income tax forms.
Of course, the issue is more focused in Sandy. Many people
were shocked when former State Senator Steve Starkovich
pointed out the high cost of Tri-Met to the community. Bob
Kintigh, who currently serves District 14 in the senate, is car
rying on the battle.
Most people in Sandy would like out of the Tri-Met taxing
district completely. Kintigh says that Tri-Met collects
$1,800,000 in taxes from the area and provides about $800,000
worth of service.
Kintigh believes the service could be provided for much less
than $800,000.
Regardless of the outcome of Kintigh’s efforts, the income
tax should be scrapped.
Letters to the editor
People do rend
Cummins’ letters
Family expresses
its appreeiaion
F o r a long tim e (y e a rs I, I
wondered if anyone noticed the low
caliber of education that was receiv
ed in Welches and the Sandy High
School D istrict
When my children were involved,
the I*TA and meetings were attended
by myself and the children's dad I
was appalled when my two children
kept losing interest in school
1 realize now, years later, that this
is going on with many other children
in this community also Now, as
adults, neither one of my children
read any books ever, mostly because
they don’t read well
1 have asked both of them to look
back on their education and give me
some input. They do not have any
positive things to say about the
schools or teachers that were role
models and very instrumental to Un
learning process.
1 have read with much interest M r
Cummins' articles and in answer to
Pamela Y o rk's question, "Does
anyone read his letters’ ” the answer
is yes.
1 read them and also many other
people do w ith much interest 1 adm it
it must be rather uncomfortable to
local members of the NEA when a
small town person is so correct in his
statements
P S. "U ltra liberal m ilita n t" fits
perfect, 1 m ight add.
Marie Richfield
Rhododendron
We would like to express our
thanks and appreciation to our many
wonderful friends and relatives for
all their prayers, moral support and
endless hours spent with us at the
hospital during Ken's illness
Also, thank you for all of th
beautiful flowers and cards and for
the food and donations that were sent
to us at the tim e of his death
Just knowing that you cared and
shared our feeelings has been a com
fo rt to us.
The fam ily of Ken Burdick
Joyce, Jeffrey, Jamey. Justin
Jennifer and K urt Swails
Sandy
Business owners
say thanks
We would like to express our ap
preciation to all of the wonderful
folks who stopped by for our grand
opening. Y our enthusiasm and
friendliness has greatly encouraged
us and we look forward to a long and
enjoyable venture in Sandy.
Starting a new business is a very
exciting, sometimes trying, adven
ture, but you have made all the hard
work and long hours of preparation
worth it Thanks again!
Wally and Julie Morriss
Gene and Dolly Pratt
Sandy Mountair Traders
Policy on letters
l-etters to the editor should be
typed, double-spaced and signed An
address and telephone num ber
should also be provided, although on
ly the name of the letter w rite r and
the city or area he is from w ill be
published
Letter w riters 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
S ta te
R e p r e s e n ta tiv e
Rob
State Senator Bob Kintigh, D-Dist
14. 38865 E Cedar F lat Road, Spr
ingfield, 97478 746-1842
Z M
,-fW
Louie the dog may not be that dumb
People laugh at my dog.
I began to figure out why the other
day when 1 heard my pooch scream
ing and yelping She was running for
dear life across the yard, being chas
ed by a bunny rabbit.
It was a brown and white bunny
about half Ixiuie's size I-ouie is my
dog The ra b b it’s name is Freckles.
He lives next door. So fa r as I know,
he is not a vicious bunny rabbit
Now right here, we re going to
have to straighten something out
There are many of you out there who
think that all animals are noble
Some are noble, sure. Lassie always
was. But I believe animals are just
like people — a splendid m ix of the
goofy, the pleasant, the bland, the ec
centric and the dumb lxiuie falls into
the latter category She is a nice dog.
but she is a klutz
She w ill not, for instance, walk past
the dishwasher If I-ouie wants to get
to her favorite footstool in the fam ily
room, she has no choice but to walk
past the appliance. But 1-ouie once
heard the dishwasher m ake a
strange noise and she is convinced
that dishwashers eat dogs for dinner
So she w ill only scurry past if she is
l* «X
i il
"A
Sharon Nesbtt
faced with a greater menace, a
human hustling her along shouting
encouragement and/or threats If we
forget to herd our dog to the fam ily
room, she sits on the fa r side of the
dishwasher and whines pathetically.
I-ouie’s paranoia leads her to
believe that waxed floors are hazar
dous to canines, so she circum
navigates polished linoleum by hopp
ing from rug to rug It complicates
the furniture arrangement because
you can never have your rugs more
than a dog hop apart
Occasionally she can be coerced to
step out onto the shiny surface of the
tile floor in pursuit of a peanut. But
when she does, she behaves — as my
grandmother would say — like a pig
on ice.
And the other thing 1-ouie does
strangely is that she smiles. It's a
grin, really. She peels back her lips
and gives people this toothy grin,
wheezing and snorting and wagging
her tail. It causes some people to
think she is rabid or at least slightly
mad.
None of this would m atter so much
if Louie didn't look like a dog nerd
She is a round, black sausage perch
ed on skinny little legs She has a tiny
head, the better to contain her tiny
brain, and a ridiculous flu ffy ta il that
plumes over her back like a messy
fountain We had her neutered right
away because we knew we didn’t
want any more like her
To give you some idea, the young
man, T erry, who comes to our house
w ith No. One Kid and who wants to
make a good impression on us, even
he laughs at our dog Worse, he is a
lawyer, so he impugns and maligns
our dog
The best we can say in defense of
Louie is that she is harmless and ap
pears to be devoted to us, sm iling
each tim e we return to the house. But
it gets tedious beating up bunny rab
bits in her behalf
We would never m istreat Ix»uie.
She gets our broccoli and steak
scraps and she is, in fact, too fat. But
occasionally Hubby and I pine for a
real dog. A dog that barks when
strangers come instead of sm iling at
them A dog that w ill not shy away
from a dandelion puff
N aturally, I-ouie is a flop as a
watch dog. Fortunately, Hubby is big
and and mean and has sharp teeth
And he is home most of the time to
keep an eye on the house and protect
the dog.
When you think about it, 1-ouie may
not be as dumb as she seems. Do you
know any other creature that has
managed to convince two perfectly
bright human beings to defend it,
give it police escorts past a bully of a
dishwasher, arrange furniture for its
convenience, feed and medicate it
and take it to the vet and the dog
beauty parlor for no recompense
other than an ugly sm ile’
Wedding’s true meaning is cornball
In the cop novel “ The Choirboys"
th ere's a ch aracte r nicknam ed
Whaddayamean Dean. He’s called
that mostly because when he drinks
alcohol he asks over and over
"W h a d d a y a m e a n ’ W haddaya
mean’ "
I feel the same about weddings.
Whenever I attend or participate in a
wedding. I wonder what it all means
Sure, weddings mean flowers, tux
edoes, b rid e s m a id s , c h u rch e s,
p re s e n ts , s u its , tie s , n y lo n s ,
p re a ch e rs, m in is te rs , p ra y e rs ,
hopes, dreams and good intentions
I ’ve wondered for many years,
however, what it all means
the
whole thing, the broad spectrum, the
big pietvre, the bottom line In other
words, when you get m arried, whad
daya mean’
I recently stood up for my little
brother, Tom, who decided many
months ago that he wanted to m arry
his girlfriend, Janet I 'll adm it, my
bachelor attitude half-heartedly tried
to talk him out of it. But. as I said, it
was a half-hearted try ; the boy was
serious
So 1 gave in to the inevitable W ith
pleasure, mind you I doubt Tom
could make a better choice than
Janet, who's blonde and loves the col
or pink. Tom and Janet go together
like a matched set of salt and pepper
shakers She, the salt shaker, is neat
and clean and manages the taste of
things; he, the pepper m ill, has a
layer of seasoning dust on his top and
sports a spicy past
So anyway, when Tom asked me to
be his best man I thought sure, why
not’ I 'll get to wear a pink tuxedo.
I've been involved in a couple of
weddings. This time I was the
groomsman in charge I carried the
ring, rode roughshod over three
rapscallious ushers and generally
made a nuisance of myself I figured
I ’d have a good tim e and enjoy
myself And so I did But, I wasn t
prepared for what I got
The wedding started out well The
wedding march was smoothly handl
ed by all. Father Andy had his
microphone warmed and raring to go
and so we began
“ We do," said the parents of Janet
and Tom That was a highlight, the
parents hit their cue So far so good
Then Father Andy went into his
wedding blah, blah, blah about love
and honor. Meanwhile, Janet's little
tiny ring, stuck on my pinky, was
quickly getting soaked with sweat
Great, I thought. I'm going to squirt
that ring clear back to the holy water
bowl when I hand it over i hit upon a
plan to place the little devil in the
palm of my hand and let Father Andy
have the responsibility
Father Andy was still talking when
one of Janet’s pretty sisters swallow
ed the Sahara Desert Cough, cough,
cough I thought, why doesn't so
meone get the g irl some w ater’
Cough, cough, cough Are weddings
so sacred that Cam e has to lose a
lung before help arrives? Cough,
cough, cough
I watched Janet and saw her set
her jaw and muscle her way through
C a rrie ’s lung rea rran g em en t I
decided if she could do it, so could I
and my anger faded
It was about tim e for the ring
trading and I followed my plan and
didn't squirt the ring across the altar
Still trying to shake off the embar
rassment I felt for Carrie, I then
witnessed the true meaning of a wed
ding
As corny as it sounds, and this
sounds Grand Canyon corny, Tom
and Janet almost brought me to tears
during the ring portion of their wed
ding Janet looked at Tom and Tom
looked at Janet and you couldn't cut
that moment with a Mack truck. At
last I witnessed what weddings
mean. Janet loves Tom and Tom
loves Janet Wow
Anyway, the wedding ended and
we all clapped our hands and they
rushed down the aisle to form the
receiving line I escorted the lead
bridesmaid out and those malcontent
ushers followed suit 1 overheard one
of the boys say to C arrie: "N ice
cough."
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
Where to write
Shlprack, D-Dist 23. 22610 Forest
Park Rd., Beavercreek, Ore , 97004
631-3817.
WÊAWR OP
HERE",
MVU?ONÉy.
Sen. M ark Hatfield, R-Oregon, 711
H art Building, Washington. D C .,
20510 202-224-3753 Portland office
phone 221-3386.
Sen. Bob Parkwood. R-Oregon. 259
Russell Building, Washington, D C .,
20510 202-224-5244 Portland office
phone 221-3370
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