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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1987)
1 SANDV (O<» ) POST Thur» May 7 1987 (S»c 11 The Sandy Post Editorial & Opinion S co tt 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 Keep schools open with safety net Measure Two, the school safety net, will not provide for an equal educational opportunity in Oregon. Without further action from the Oregon legislature, it would allow districts such as Sandy Elementary and Sandy High School to slowly strangulate. Despite its drawbacks, we urge voters to approve it in the special, statewide election May 19. About 60 percent of the school districts in the state have up- to-date tax bases and are automatically allowed 6 percent growth. The other 40 percent — the ones affected by the safety net would not be allowed any growth in their budgets unless voters in those districts passed tax bases or additional operating levies. However, operating on 1986-87 budgets would at least allow communities to keep schools open. If we define a fair compromise as one th*»t makes both sides uphappy, this measure meets the standard. Though it was endorsed by the Oregon School Boards Association, the Oregon Education Association and the Oregon Eederation of Teachers, and the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators, it does not enjoy popularity among board members, teachers or administrators. Educators do not like the safety net because in budgets that are 75 percent personnel, with built-in salary increases, the only place to make cuts is to reduce the number of teachers and specialists. If teachers decide to work without raises, it will put disti lets such as Sandy Elementary and Sandy High School at a disad vantage. They would not be competitive statewide when it came to hiring or retaining good teachers. This is one major flaw in the measure. Districts with tax bases will continue to prosper, the rest will suffer. The result will be an even greater disparity in educational programs across the state. Taxpayers are not going to come out the winners with the safety net either. The safety net will not reduce the burden of high property taxes, or the unfair burden homeowners have in districts without industries to help foot the bill for schools. What is really needed is an alternative source of funding such as a sales tax. The safety net is nothing more than a public relations ploy- being promoted by a powerful governor who knows he can t sell Oregon to out-of-state businesses if schools are going to close. About 189 of the 304 school districts in Oregon have up-to- date tax bases. The rest, like Sandy Elementary and Sandy- High School, vote for operating levies as often as three or four times a year. About September or October the prospect of school closures comes into play and the debate over school budgets ceases to be rational. , . , It could be argued that Sandy has used the threat of school closures to develop decent educational programs. But we like the idea of taking the threat of school closures away from school districts. An optimist would hope the result would be more rational debate about school issues. The most important issue is keeping children in school. Despite the many drawbacks in the safety net, people should vote for it for that reason. Law limits liability of corporate boards by JACK ZIM MERM AN Associated Oregon industries Zipping through the legislative pro cess in Salem with little fanfare was a b ill that many believe w ill have a far-reaching influence on Oregon's economy And in the process it ad dresses one of the many problems associated with the tort reform issue generally and the lia b ility insurance problem specifically The measure is Senate B ill 303, pre- session introduced at the request of the Joint Interim Judiciary Commit tee for the Business l-aw Section of the Oregon State Bar It took only eight days from its first hearing to pass the Senate without opposition and seven days to clear the House, where it attracted only one dissen ting vote It was signed by Gov Neil Goldschmidt the first day of April and becomes effective next June 15. E ntitled the Oregon Business Cor poration Act. the final version runs 55 pages, copies of which can be obtain ed from the Secretary of State's of fice for $8.25. Although it attracted little atten tion from the news media during enactment, the measure that com pletely revises some 149 sections of current law regarding the creation a nd o p e ra tio n o f c o rp o ra te businesses in Oregon is the subject of growing interest in business and legal circles From an ecomonic development standpoint, it is hailed as a step in the direction taken some tim e ago by Delaware that has made that tiny state something of a mecca for cor porate headquarters And from the standpoint of the lia b ility insurance issue, it revamps requirements regarding individuals serving on corporate boards of direc I to rs lim itin g th e ir lia b ility sig n ific a n tly and expanding the source from which directors can be obtained Even a sim plified explanation of the new act’s 16 m ajor points re mains somewhat obscure to those un tutored in the legal Jargon with which la w y e rs and accountants co m municate among themselves. And in dividuals and businesses wishing to take advantage of the new law w ill need their assistance. Existing Oregon corporations need not reincorporate because of the new law's passage They w ill continue present operations but play by the new rules wherever they apply. Those wishing to avail themselves of specific new advantages in the new law can do so by restating or amen ding existing bylaws. Generally speaking, the new law streamlines current corporation law enacted in 1953 and amended rep ea te dly ever since It also reorganizes that which had become an expensive and time-consuming hixigepodge It enables corporations to manage their affairs with much greater efficiency and eliminates present provisions based only on historical practice and not in the best interests of business procedures to day It also w ill be a valuable addition to other factors that combine to attract firm s to establish physical corporate headquarters in one state or another Nothing now prevents a firm from in corporating in one state and having its headquarter in another But it's certainly more convenient to be able to centralize in the area where the most advantageous corporate law applies It would appear Oregon is poised to take another new and innovative step toward its economic comeback < " A* ***Z$r% . *-’ ** ** GEPHARDTS TIGER ‘Volcanoes' erupt into full-scale fight The Night of the Chocolate Cupcakes keeps playing reruns in my head I don't know why. maybe because Mother's Day is coming Maybe because, having raised a set of teen agers of my own, I realize now what a rare night it was. Mothers never know what they'll be remembered for All the meals cooked and floors swept and nights spent sitting up and thermometers squinted at and prom dresses stitch ed u n til 2 a m and the kids remember something dumb like chocolate cupcakes My c h ild h o o d fr ie n d , C lin t, remembered my mom's cupcakes • They w ere," he said, some 35 years and dozens of gourmet experiences later, "the best things 1 have ever eaten.” He remembered the days we would come tearing in from outside, d irty, knees scraped, bare feet tracking the asphalt tile floor, and sit down to cold m ilk and hot cupcakes No nonsense about allowing them to cool No fuss with frosting No piddling around with the niceties of inserting each cupcake paper in a m uffin pan Mom would m ix the cupcakes from scratch and memory No recipe We knew what was happening when we heard the drumm ing beat of the spoon whipping the twitter No tim e to Sharon Nosbtt get out the electric m ixer, either. She would deal three dozen cupcake papers out on a cookie sheet as slick as a Keno blackjack dealer and slop the batter into each cup No tidy cup cakes these The batter dripped over the sides of some form ing lovely c ru n c h y c ru s ts . T hey b u lge d freeform from their papers We ate them so hot that the steam burst out the sides when we pulled the paper off When she cut us off. to save some cupcakes for supper i we ate supper instead of dinner in those days), we would content ourselves with licking the crumbs out of the cupcake papers Moni probably made a quarter of a m illion cupcakes during those years These days she tends more toward tortes and other fancy stuff But then, with an afternoon of tractor driving waiting or washing to hang up, the slap-dash cupcakes were her best ef fort The Night of the Chocolate Cup cakes was probably not the last tim e she made them, but it is the last tim e I remember. My brother and 1 were teen-agers by then We were s till a fa m ily, but a fa m ily with teen-agers is a fa m ily go ing through the quite natural process of growing apart Mom had given up the tractor for a desk job in Portland and that meant an hour-long com mute on the bus But that night she decided at the last m inute to slap dash her cupcakes together She was out of practice and the cupcakes fell slightly When she took them out of the oven, each had a dim ple sunk in the top. small chocolate volcanoes She thought a minute, reached for a bag of marshmallows, popped a marshmallow in each crater and stuck them under the broiler until the molten marshmallow began to bub ble like w arm , white lava. She plopped a still-w arm cupcake on each plate without comment. My brother, who all his life viewed each new food experience as an attem pt to poison him, leaned closely over his cupcake, peered down on the warm m arshmallow and asked, "W hat is this'’ " I shall never know why, but an evil glint came into my father's eye. He reached over, grabbed my brother by the back of the head and pushed his face into the cupcake Strings of m arshmallow connected my brother to his plate They severed as he turned, reached for a another cupcake, twisted and planted the gooey confection right between my father's eyes. It was the start of a knock-down, drag-out food fight We had never done it before and we would never do it again My mother's in itia l cries of protest dissolved into laughter as m arshmallow and cake crumbs ex ploded across the kitchen We laugh ed so hard we cried And the more we cried the funnier it got 1 don't remember who cleaned up the mess. But days after the marshmallow was wiped away, the laughter continued to erupt without warning Only a few years later my father died Mom started a career My brother and 1 grew up to teach our children not to play with their food But sometimes the reruns play in my head I can taste the chocolate cup cakes And feel the marshmallow Letters to the editor Senior citizens upset about cuts Members of the senior center and seniors of the Sandy area are very upset about the news that the City Council is cutting our programs We seniors voted for approval of the tax base We were guaranteed certain services Now the city has turned on seniors and our program is being cut drastically The Sandy Senior Center is one of the most active in Clackamas Coun ty. Yes, there are people outside the city lim its that enjoy our center also That's OK. They shop here in Sandy along w ith volunteering their ser vices to help others who are less fo r tunate and to help operate the center The Golden Age Club has been very supportive of the center for many years, installing ceiling fans in the dining room, purchasing pianos and other necessary equipment. The programs and trips the seniors go on are all supported by user fees The budget committee says it is necessary to cut our budget to fund streets After this year where is the m oney to p ro v id e s tre e t im provements coming fro m ’’ The recreation department is very im portant also Many people of all ages enjoy this program Could it be possible for the budget committee to take a little from other departments as w ell’’ I am very upset about this situation when I see the many people who benefit from our center The center is helping seniors in their 70s, 80s and 90s stay active, including some m adult foster homes and nursing homes Gretchen Chilton Sandy Senior center cuts it disaster I am w riting concerning the cuts in the senior center budget In my opi nion, cutting $¿48.941 from the present budget w ill be disastrous to the pro gram 1 realize that times are rough I feel for the budget committee that must "w re s tle " with these problems I do not have any magical solutions but I do hop«* there is some way to avoid such drastic cuts. The center is the " lif e ” of many people These same people have paid taxes and supported good causes in the Sandy community for years I feel that they are deserving of a good senior center Evelyn Peterson Sandy T w o deserve n standing ovation I think everyone m the area should give a "standing ovation" to Marge Jacoby and Mort Spence for the many hours of hard work they have put in on the landscaping of the "tria n g e '' at the west end of town I realize there were many other people involved including Pat T ille r and Jim Gardiner and others, but these two were out there working many times when no one else was around Thanks Marge and Mort D arrell Dempster Sandy Sandy Post le tte r policy le tte rs 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 Ix 'tte r 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 is also the deadline for letters to the editor. le tte rs should be accurate, free of libelous rem arks and in good taste
