PAGE 4, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 23, 2015
KeizerOpinion
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Too many chiefs
It’s now less than six months until
the scheduled build day for the pro-
posed large playground at Keizer Rap-
ids Park and only half of the expected
funds have been raised. Members of
the task force overseeing the project
are all optimistic that the project will
be completed as scheduled. We’ll see.
There are too many chiefs involved
in the project and not nearly enough
fundraising warriors. The time may
have passed for large corporate dona-
tions—many corporations and orga-
nizations budget in the fourth quarter
for the following year. Such commit-
ments should have been secured last
year.
Fundraising slowed in the fi nal
months of 2014. Some members of
the Community Build Task Force say
that fundraising was halted while the
park’s master plan was updated. Also
cited was the wait for the project’s
website to be up and running. Both of
those are pretty poor excuses.
It is hard to fathom that a large
corporation’s community depart-
ment would not donate money until
it knew exactly where the toy was go-
ing to be situated. A company (or an
organizaiton) buys into the spirit of a
project that benefi ts a community and
its kids regardless if it is in this area or
that area of the park.
Waiting for the website to be up
and running (which took much lon-
ger than necessary, which suggests a
lack of oversight) is fi ne for seeking
local donations but it was unneces-
sary for large, corporate donations. If
the task force and its fundraising arm
is relying on local families and local
businesses to bear the brunt of the
needed funds, they are facing some
stiff competition: the turf project at
McNary High School and any num-
ber of school and sports fundraisers
this winter and spring.
The big money should have been
secured a long time ago. The task force
depended too much on a state parks
grant that did not come through, forc-
ing the city to use most of its remain-
ing parks system development charge
fund.
If the needed money is not raised
by time the build starts, the planners
may have to eat crow and down-
size the entire project. Thousands of
Keizer school kids were excited when
project designers came to their schools
last year and asked for ideas; a packed
presentation at the civic center was
testament to the community’s support.
Little has been heard in the commu-
nity about the project, no consistent
promotion or marketing. Some people
may think the project has gone away.
Civic projects work only if there
are foot soldiers to carry out the
duties. There are too many chiefs
wanting their name attached to this
community project; the playground
project needs fewer chiefs and more
people with the right connections to
solicit big donations.
Even if the project is downsized
due to money issues, the kids of Keiz-
er will still be happy there is a play-
ground.
—LAZ
Al and Anne Rasmus
It doesn’t go too far to say that
the Keizer Heritage Center may not
now exist without the hands of Al and
Anne Rasmus.
The Rasmuses were honored by
the center’s board of directors at a re-
ception held last week.
The couple was instrumental in the
campaign (along with others including
Jim Hupy and Les Zaitz) to save, move
and renovate the old Keizer School
building into what it is today: home
for the Keizer Community Library, the
Keizer Art Association and its Enid Joy
Mount Gallery and the Keizer Heri-
tage Museum.
Once the building was refi nished
the hard work of operating and main-
taining the building began. Al Rasmus
put his exprerience to work to create
a business plan which included estab-
lishing a sinking fund for the decades-
old building, devising rents for the
Keizer council
meetings
To theEditor:
The other night I attended a rec-
ognition dinner at the Keizer Com-
munity Center to acknowledge the
work of our past mayor and two
councilmen.
I agreed with the positive state-
ments that were directed at the retirees.
One presentation was also directed at
the new council. I may be completely
wrong but the way I interpreted his
clever presentation was that the coun-
cil should not pay too much attention
to a small group of citizens who voice
objections and concerns about coun-
cil actions. Their concerns or objec-
tions are of not much value because
the silent majority of Keizerites agrees
with the council decisions.
Much to Keizer’s benefi t, there
are always volunteers who will step
up and support the council but they
may not necessarily be the majority.
The truth is most Keizerites could
care less as to what occurs at a coun-
cil meeting except when it comes
to increases in taxes or fees. For ex-
ample, most citizens of Keizer do
not care how much of a buffer zone
there is between Keizer Rapids Park
and property owners that border the
park. Most citizens could care less
about zone changes that affect other
peoples’ property values just as long as
it does not affect their property values.
I would have preferred the presenter
to say the new council should try to
mitigate problems and concerns as
much as possible and to attend coun-
cil hearings with open minds. I realize
council members spend a lot of time
studying issues but they are not always
right in their decisions.
non-profi t tenants and day to day op-
erations. With his sober view Al over-
saw every aspect of the building.
Becasue of his dilligence, the Keizer
Heritage Center stands as a beacon
of our city’s history. Sixteen years ago
some advocated putting a match to the
old, beat up building. Cooler heads
prevailed.
Anne Rasmus has had no less of an
impact on the building. She served as
event coordinator for many years, host-
ing any number of weddings, parties
and meetings. She personally worked
to assure the landscaped grounds kept
looking pristine.
The two have stepped back from
their volunteer duties with the Keizer
Heritage Center, but Al remains on
the board of directors which will ben-
efi t from his fi nancial expertise for the
forseeable future. And that’s a good
thing.
—LAZ
letters
Bill Quinn
Keizer
I admire our
new mayor who
has been trying
to fi nd out what
our
citizens
want in the fu-
ture. I wish her
well.
A tea for the library
To the Editor:
After water, tea is the most con-
sumed beverage in the world. Drink-
ing tea represents a ritual as much as
a beverage—the brewing, the sipping
and a relaxed approach that is gener-
ally associated with tea time. As much
as the tea itself, if the process of brew-
ing, pouring and taking the time to
relax and enjoy.
Tea is best served in a cup and sau-
cer, when you can sit, enjoy the brew
and relax.
So, come and relax at the Keizer
Community Library’s Tea Time for
the Library on Sunday, Feb. 1 at 1:30
p.m.
Aside from tea the menu will fea-
ture scones with clotted cream and
jam, traditional tea sandwiches and
delicious desserts catered by Keizer’s
own Elegant Catering.
Dana McCarty and Andi Bean of
The Bonfi re Bettys will provide light
entertainment.
I encourage attendees to wear their
gloves and hats; there will be an ex-
hibit of vintage handbags, gloves and
hats on loan from Kathe Leigh Mash.
Tickets to the tea are $25 and will
support the library’s operations and
programs.
Gayle McMurria-Bachik
Keizer
Keizertimes
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Obama can’t wish terrorism away
By MICHAEL GERSON
President Obama’s 2014 State of
the Union address is remembered
today mainly for this bit of rhetori-
cal irony: “America must move off a
permanent war footing.”
It was the triumph of speechwrit-
ing over experience. Obama’s pledge
came about three weeks after the fall
of Fallujah to the Islamic State. By
June, Mosul would be overrun. Global
jihadism now has a cause—Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi’s sham caliphate—around
which to rally. It controls unprec-
edented territory and resources. It has
a stream of thousands of Western re-
cruits cycling in and out of the Middle
East. And it encompasses a dangerous
competition between the Islamic State
and al-Qaeda, in which acts of terror-
ism are a source of street credibility.
Obama’s reaction, as always, has
been restrained. The world does much
to disappoint him, but it apparently
has nothing to teach him. Every sig-
nal he has recently sent—in his lack
of an appropriate symbolic reac-
tion to the Paris attacks, in his limp,
equivocal performance beside a more
determined Prime Minister David
Cameron—seems to be saying: I am
not going to repeat George W. Bush’s
overreaction to terrorism, which only
feeds extremism.
So, Obama is careful to explain
that terrorism is not “an existential
threat.” “Intelligence and military
force alone,” he says, “is not going to
solve this problem.” And he urges Eu-
ropeans to “not simply respond with
a hammer.”
We have come a long way when an
American president pompously urges
the French to curb their cowboy in-
stincts.
But the situation in Europe reveals
this line of argument—that overreac-
tion provokes
ter ror ism—to
be farcical. The
French did not
support the Iraq
War. They did
not engage in
enhanced inter-
rogation. They
have been consistent supporters of the
Palestinian cause. They have tried not
to offend. But it didn’t matter. Some
offense by Charles Martel in the
eighth century would have been suf-
fi cient pretext. Western countries are
not engaged in policy disagreements
with violent Islamism. They are fac-
ing, in Cameron’s words, a “fanatical
death cult.”
Obama is correct to distinguish that
cult from the faith of Islam. Equat-
ing the two is not only substantively
wrong, it is strategically insane. No
president would criticize the religious
beliefs of millions of his fellow citizens
—particularly when their good faith is
necessary to isolate violent radicalism.
And any fi ght against terrorism de-
pends on good relations with Muslim
allies who take many of the front-line
risks. Islam is not the same as Islamism.
And not even all Islamism is violent
Islamism. Such distinctions are essen-
tial to successfully conduct a war on
terrorism.
And Obama is correct that this
war requires a variety of non-military
strategies: diplomacy that somehow
corrals Sunni and Shiite powers into
anti-terror alliances; economic devel-
opment that provides opportunities
for alienated youth; effective ideologi-
cal campaigns (which are now badly
underfunded) to counter violent ex-
tremism. We do need “all the elements
of our national power.”
But even with these caveats, the
other
views
task that remains is a global armed
confl ict of uncertain duration. It will
involve maintaining a technological
edge to monitor the communications
of potential terrorists. It will involve
arming, training and guiding (some-
times with American boots on the
ground) proxies to fi ght battles. It will
involve targeted killings with drones,
bombers and special operations forces.
Particularly with the rise of the
Islamic State during the last year—
which occurred in a vacuum of local
sovereignty and global attention—
America has an enormously complex
and diffi cult task ahead. It involves
building up allies that have previously
proved hollow and fragile; patiently
reclaiming territory; preventing infi l-
tration by jihadist veterans and attacks
by homegrown sympathizers; helping
re-establish some semblance of legiti-
mate government in Iraq (challeng-
ing) and in Syria (pretty near impos-
sible).
It is not suffi cient to describe this,
or dismiss this, as “counterterrorism.”
Even the effort that Obama currently
describes requires the end of a terrorist
regime holding large portions of two
countries in the Middle East. Ameri-
cans need to be prepared for years of
confl ict—and for the strong possibility
of terrorist escalations such as we saw
in Paris. Or worse. And American al-
lies need to be led and encouraged in
this effort, not ignored or lectured.
President Obama has variously
tried to declare victory against ter-
rorism (“al-Qaeda’s core leadership
has been decimated”) or to claim that
America has turned a corner past war.
But his wishes do not make it so. Dis-
playing his own core of leadership—if
only to justify his stated strategy of
regime elimination—has never been
more needed.
(Washington Post Writers Group)
The old God vs. ‘This is all there is’ debate
By MATT CHAPPELL
Throughout the ages the argu-
ment as to whether there is a God
or not has always been foolishness,
something which has to be broken
down into its various parts and end-
lessly analyzed.
But the God of the Bible has al-
ways had the special signifi cance of
being considered by some to be a
fairy tale, which makes it unique in
that it is considered too good to be
true. Yet, among all the god’s of his-
tory the story goes, this would be
The God, and to say that God is not
a personal being is to ignore the pre-
supposition that we were created by
Him within the context of our rela-
tionships.
Either there is a God or there is
not, no one can see God and live, but
what can we deduce scientifi cally
from the arguments of those who
choose not to acknowledge Him?
First of all we would commonly
agree that with the increase in knowl-
edge comes an awareness of how lit-
tle we really know, and that within
the context of our future develop-
ment that it would not be wise to
limit ourselves, especially considering
the possibility that we are an inferior
being whose past, some claim, is that
of a pond scum compared to what is
really our ultimate destiny. It would
be highly ignorant to dismiss the pos-
sibility that 7 billion humans might
be equal to only one of what might
be many that exist in the universe.
Apparently we’ve been able to
narrow the beginning of the universe
down to enough matter to fi t on
the head of a pin, if men have been
able to split the
atom
which
creates destruc-
tion, why could
there not have
been a con-
trolled experi-
ment which set
off the universe which unequivocally
is full of design (multi-universe)? Per-
haps God had access to a cloud which
contained all the knowledge in the
universe and He created everything
through a 3-D replicator, if it makes
it easier to believe?
But one thing humans can agree
on is that the sum of our knowl-
edge might be intolerable to those
whose higher state creates scorn for
those who think they are something
and are not. We call that God. Even a
minority who might truly believe in
God have the right frame of think-
ing which is conducive to respecting
higher forms of intelligence. We call
guest
column
that humility.
But to say there is no God is fool-
ishness, and there is greater foolish-
ness in trying to prove Him in the
fi rst place. Real intelligence must be
taken by faith, because that’s the only
way it works.
Believing in God is essential to
stepping out into the unknown with
the assurance that God is who we be-
lieve He is, either a god of destruc-
tion or a God of justice and love, but
how else could the universe be held
together except by faithfulness....oth-
erwise how could we adapt to a vastly
different environment?
It is within man to fear those
things which he cannot understand,
we call that life, but it is within the
heart that accepts things for how they
are which we call living. In the end,
the only way to truly live our lives is
by faith.
(Matt Chappell lives in Keizer.)