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
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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