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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 27, 1987)
2 — SANDY (O '* * ) POSI Thur» . A u ju it 21. 1*07 (S*< >) The Sífndy Post Editorial & Opinion In the end, people like new Bluff Road Scott Newton, editor Karindo Hedlund, advertising representative thok 6oof=y | T ’U V /O R K T U l S V 'h A i. Bluff Road is intrinsically tied to the development of Sandy, which made the recent work on the thoroughfare all the more interesting. The bible of local history, “ Sandy Pioneers, Early Settlers and Barlow Road Days,” has a picture, dated 1918, that shows a work crew with the first electric rock crusher to be used in the area. Mount Hood is in the background behind the men, some of whom pose proudly on the bluff with the rock crusher and teams of mules setting the mood. The pride of putting in a new road — probably much ap preciated in 1918 — may not have been felt by some people in Sandy over the past two summers. One-way tra ffic on the road, caused by the narrow confines on which it was built, was an inconvenience to the 3,000 people who use it daily. One of the many footnotes on the most recent construction was the 75 to 100 tickets given to people for traveling the wrong way on a closed road — an enforcement action that was pro bably necessary due to the number of people who were disobeying the signs. Nonetheless, receiving the tickets, which resulted in a $57 fine in municipal court, angered some residents. Of course, it would be hard to match the anger some residents expressed at the public hearing on the issue a few years ago. I ax 'a 1 property owners picked up the tab for $70,000 of the project through the formation of a local improvement district. They were not placated by the fact the federal government was kicking in $648,000 - a good deal by anybody’s standards. The public’s anger at the Sandy City Council in 1985 was matched by the City Council’s anger at the state in 1987 in a controversy regarding engineering fees. It was a matter over which the state Department of Transportation had complete control, much to the chagrin of some council members. The state received a great deal of blame over the past two years. City officials at one time were uphappy with the “ Cadillac” road the state was requiring. As it turns out, the work on Bluff Road is evidence that the system still works - even if it creaks and groans at times. The state’s requirements for the road were probably a good thing. There are now 4-foot-wide pedestrian/bicycle lanes on the street. And people who are paying a tax assessment - though they may not be happy about it — must at least admit that the road is a great improvement. Sandy got the extra bonus of having a local road contractor with a sharp enough pencil to win the bid and keep local people employed. Now that the 14,000 tons of rock and 7,000 tons of asphaltic concrete have been put down, it is our observation that the comment heard most often now has nothing to do with the City Council, the state or even driving citations. The comment most likely to be heard now is, “ That’s a nice road.’’ Letters to the editor J? Diapers and other small annoyances Sm all things I'v e been th in kin g about • H a r o ld B u c k , m a n a g e r o f M ultnom ah F a lls Ixidge, went to a m eeting in C orbett last week on the the future of the old C olum bia R ive r H ighw ay and reported the most in teresting s ta tis tic of the evening He counted 16 disposable diapers throw n out along the side of the scenic highw ay between M ultnom ah F a lls and Corbett. A ll were new that day, reported Buck, who has kind of a fetish about counting the Pam pers population B ill Quinn, who was at the same m eeting and has a child in diapers, offered, “ I can kind of understand people tr y in g to get rid of a disposable d ia p er Have you ever rid den around w ith one of those things in a hot c a r'’ " But I know Quinn and he would keep a soiled diaper in a car u n til he asphyxiated before he'd throw it on the roadside If I ran the w orld, people would have to pass a test before they were allowed to have ch ild re n One of the questions would deal w ith whether or not they have su fficie n t social cons- by JACK ZIMMERMAN If you vote yes and approve the Sandy E le m e n ta ry School special operating levy of 1175,000, an in crease over the cu rre n t "safety n e t" budget of >1,950,663, are you aware th a t the to ta l amount levied against your p roperty w ill be the new, higher fig u re ’’ There is no way of defeating th is new, annual "sa fe ty n e t." We recom mend that you vote no to enable you to m a in ta in reasonable control over your pro p e rty tax L.G . B ria n Sandy A ffordable E ducation Association Test results are tex) low F in a lly , a fte r months of delay, we received a copy of the C a lifo rn ia A chievem ent Test results fo r 1987 To the best of our knowledge, there has been no discussion of the test results and no plan to im prove the q u a lity of education. We believe a q u a lity basic educa tion is necessary at the low er level if students are to successfully progress through high school, then college a n d /o r into the w ork m a rk e t T o ta l g ra d e school C A T te st results, 1986 com pared to 1987, in dicated a decline fro m ju st above the national average to below the na tio n a l average in 1987 The area of im m e d ia te concern is in spelling, where fo u rth graders are 14 p e rc e n t below th e n a tio n a l average We fin d the poor test results fo r grade school students is c o n firm ed by high school testing that in dicates 20 percent to 30 percent of freshm en are not ready fo r ninth- grade studies The purpose of thus le tte r is to find out what positive c o rre c tiv e action is being taken to im prove the q u a lity of education in our school system Put another way, our patience is w earing th in We pay fo r q u a lity education and get second-class service Now, what are you going to do about it? IJoyd A C um m ins E xecutive secretary A ffordable E ducation Association O regon la w m a k e rs o fte n a re c ritic iz e d fo r being a fra id to bite the bullet and m ake the hard decisions opting instead to leave controversial decisions up to the voters The method by w hich law m akers a c h ie v e th is p rocess is c a lle d le gislative re fe rra l In essence, it means the le g is la tu re enacts a measure but refers its e ffective date u n til a fte r some re g u la r or special election in the future However, c ritic s of such action tend to ignore the fa ct law m akers are required to re fe r ce rta in of th e ir ac tions to a vote of the people Changes in the state constitution, fo r instance, cannot be accom plished w ithout voter approval. M a jo r changes in the state tax system — even though they may not a lte r the constitution also are sub je ct to re fe rra l by in itia tiv e petition In other wonts, law m akers can’t sim p ly say tax changes w ill become effective upon passage IXung so would invoke w hat is called the emergency clause Instead, revenue measures cannot become law u n til at least 90 days a fte r a d journm ent and registered voters can petition during that tim e B< »bents The Srincfy Post (LISPS 481-180) M fM tIR N o *« p o t> 0 ' tM » A i io c o ' c " Ikvidoyib» ,6»Dv"oo* o' N ow spopo* * n » •«. M o ' o " O«xf U S S v b v 'b o '' R ’ O tt to»** 0*090« «>055 « »o»» pc s'««« po-d O'09»" 668 5548 SUBSCRIPTION RATES Cov«*v Multnomah Cow«*v 19 00 »•«» 110 00 1 l«OwM*0 n O'O^O«' »e Nor**«•«' e»4 Re« ■•»« f -. •<» $••••» Ow'fde po' ye«' Ov'i d« Ho'*b*e«' o< 1 Rer ••«< C004» Ve»et po> yox Sondy P o tt Sandy O r»ço n 9 7 O ÎÎ No 34 t i l SO 1 1 4.00 117 00 A uçu«l 27 1987 c ie n c e to p ro p e r ly d isp o se of disposables The thing th a t really w orries me is this if the parents don't know any better, w hat kind of slobs w ill th e ir ch ild re n be’ • They found convicted m u rd e re r Diane Downs when she escaped fro m prison by using a fancy F B I gadget th a t read the im pression her pen le ft on a pad of paper In Downs' case they got an address. If the F B I used in named M rs. Beezley's at the Ryderwood e x it on In te rsta te 5 in Washington Best h a m burger north of D ea's In and Out. • Rode M A X the other day and tw o things trouble me : None of the cute little station roofs have gutters That should be against the law in Oregon. And the closer you get to town the m ore disfigured are the shiny, blue handicapped loading devices. Names and num bers have been scratched in the paint, in clu d in g those of rock bands and folks such as Madonna. If I ran the w orld, we would keep tra ck of those things. E v e ry tim e the name of a m usical group was s c ra t ched on a p ublic edifice we would send that group a b ill A fte r a ll, it is a d ve rtisin g of sorts and they can a f fo rd it. E ventually we would collect enough money to have e ve ryth in g re painted. And then I wondered about w hat possesses people to scratch M adon na's m oniker on a piece of public pro perty The way I have it fig u re d , they were raised by parents who th re w d irty diapers along the side of the road. Sak’ZH scene Gan lawmakers make tough decisions? Oregon Association Industries Vote no on Sandy levy Sharon Nesbit the same gizm o at m y house a ll they'd come up w ith is, "Remember to buy to ile t p a p e r." • There was a story on the radio about a woman in the M idwest who was chewed out by the police fo r abusing her 9-1-1 d ia lin g privileges Seems she called 9-1-1 because her faucet was d rip p in g and she co u ld n't stand it any more. When the police a rriv e d she ex plained that her husband w ouldn't fix it I kind of understand th a t A d rip p ing faucet can m ake you crazy And a spouse who won’t fix things can make you hom icidal Reminds me of a frie n d whose hus band never got any of his projects finished They 're separated now and m ay get a divorce. If he ever gets around to it. • The signs pointing to downtown G resham and specifying a ll the delights to be found there bother me because they say, “ Shops, Services, E a ts ." What gives me indigestion is "E a ts " Such an inelegant word I have this rule that I never eat in a place that says " E A T " The one exception is a little d rive - to stay that effective date u n til the next general election. Often as not, law m akers recognize some issues may well be re fe rre d by the people and they go ahead and re fe r th e m th e m s e lv e s , s a v in g everyone involved a lot of tim e and money The 64th Assembly re fe rre d a total of .even measures to voters during its session in Salem e a rlie r thus year Two, Senate Joint Resolution 3 the school finance safety net; and House B ill 405 - the m easure d ire c tin g the state to continue challenging the site selection process fo r a na tio n a l h ig h -le v e l n u c le a r w aste repository — were re fe rre d to a special election last M ay 19 Both were approved by voters Two others were re fe rre d to the statewide p rim a ry election M ay 17. They are House Joint Resolution 45 w hich w ould amend the constitution to m ake fish protection and w atersh ed restoration projects eligible fo r W ater D evelopm ent Fund moneys and House B ill 2581 - re q u irin g o p e ra to rs o f m o to rc y c le s and mopeds to wear protective headgear Three m ore w ill appear on the Nov. 8, 1988, general election ballot They include Senate Jo in t Resolu tion 1 — am ending the constitution to p e rm it use of interest revenue fro m the Common School fund fo r certain expenses of the State la n d Board; Senate Jo in t Resolution 4 — am en ding the constitution to re q u ire the G overnor to announce intentions of vetoes five days before vetoing a b ill and extending the tim e fo r filin g b ills a fte r the session ends fro m 20 to 30 days, and Senate B ill 87 — the m an da to ry seat belt law Of the seven, fo u r are co n stitu tional am endm ents and had to be re fe rre d to voters fo r fin a l approval One has already been approved by voters and the other three requisite re fe rra ls don't appear lik e ly to cause m uch e xcitem ent du rin g the cam paigns preceding the election. The lone exception m ay be ta m pering w ith the gu b e rn a to ria l veto process Announcing intention to veto five days p rio r to vetoing a m easure does give opponents am ple tim e to lobby a g a in s t the a c tio n and m aybe dissuade potential vetoes But giving the G overnor an extra 10 days to wade through a ll the b ills th a t pile up at session's end before filin g w ith the Secretary of State m ay tu rn out to be an acceptable trade-off Of the two re m a in in g re fe rra ls - the b ills m andating seat belts and m otorcycle helmets — the c ritic is m about b u lle t-b itin g m ay be va lid Both measures are d e fin ite ly con tro v e rs ia l and experienced sto rm y passage through the process. In fa ct, the seat belt bell evoked so m any shenanigans that one m em ber of the House declared he thought most of his peers were m ore in terested in th e ir p o litica l futures than m aking good public policy. His d eclaration involved the fa c t the seat belt b ill, SB 87, achieved enactm ent only a fte r it was agreed that another measure, House B ill 2399, would pass - which makes the seat belt law effective Sept 27 and sunsets it a m onth a fte r the next general election unless voters ap prove the re fe rre d SB 87 And th a t’s a story interesting enough to d e ta il m in u te ly at another tim e The m otorcycle helm et law (H B 258D d e fin ite ly w ill be a cam paign issue in the 1988 p rim a ry election And, along w ith SB 87 in the general, lik e ly w ill be pro or con issues among candidates running fo r seats in the 65th Assembly However, the fa ct the c u rre n t Assembly re fe rre d seven measures to the people and fo u r were required because they proposed co n stitu tio n a l changes, hardly seems su fficie n t to chastise the body as being o ve rly tim id E specially in lig h t of the fa c t this Assembly did enact m ore than a thousand measures altogether b y A d u n i K n ift
