PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, MARCH 13, 2015
KeizerOpinion
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Keizer’s history: discovered
Yes, Keizer does have history. A lot
of it as will be seen when the book
Images of America: Keizer is offi cially
released in April.
The book, printed by Arcadia
Publishing, will have an offi cial re-
lease on April 16. The Keizer book
will join thousands of others by Ar-
cadia which chronicle the history of
small towns and downtowns cross the
country.
The Keizer book, a project of
the Keizer Heritage Museum, was
headed up by Tammy Wild, an in-
structional assistant at Forest Ridge
Elementary School and a history
buff. Photos from the Keizer Heri-
tage Museum’s archives were the fi rst
to be considered for the book. A call
went out to the community last year
asking residents to loan their photos
of Keizer life from the 19th century
to the mid-20th century.
Keizerites searched their attics,
basements and albums and loaned
hundreds of photos showing Keizer’s
earliest pioneers and some landmarks
that still stand today. The response
was great as photos poured in from
residents and organizations. America
is camera-happy so it is safe to as-
sume there are many more photos
dcoumenting the Keizer area dating
back 150 years.
Tammy Wild authored the book
using materials from the museum and
submitted items. The books Looking
Back and More Looking Back, were
also helpful guides. Those books, au-
thored in the 1980s by Keizer author
Ann Lossner, are still available for sale
at the Keizer Heritage Museum.
Readers of the new book will see
photos and read about people whose
names live on in our community
such as Blake, Claggett, Cummings
and the orginal Keizurs. Charles
McNary is featurted prominently in
the book, with good reason since so
much in Keizer bears his name be-
sides our high school.
Keizer households, especially those
with long ties to the community, will
deem this book a ‘must have’ for their
bookshelves. Images of America: Keizer
shows that everyone and every place
has stories to tell and Keizer’s story
is as rich as any community. Tammy
Wild and other volunteers with the
Keizer Heritage Museum can take a
deep bow for this accomplishment.
The book will go on sale in April
there and many other retail locations.
Pre-sale orders have been brisk and
there are talks about doing a second
book covering Keizer from the early
1960s to present day. What a great
gift that would be for Keizer’s 35th
birthday in 2017.
—LAZ
No advertising, please
By R. WILLIAM STITT
I have had a keen interest in see-
ing a large “destination” playground
being brought to Keizer Rapids Park
ever since my fi rst child was born
six-and-a-half years ago; ever since
I scouted high and low throughout
the region and found that no such
public playground existed.
I had traveled to many other
communities and had seen exactly
the type of play structures that I was
hoping to see built at Keizer Rap-
ids: communities such Lincoln City,
Astoria, Sandy and McMinnville in
Oregon and Oak Harbor and Lang-
ley in Washington state. It turns out
that all of these playgrounds had
one thing in common; they were
all community built projects de-
signed and built under the guidance
of Albany, New York-based Leathers
and Associates, the very consultant
fi rm hired by Keizer to design the
Big Toy.
After learning about Leathers, I
became an early proponent of us-
ing such a fi rm to help guide us
through the community build pro-
cess. Community build, of course,
means fi nancial support from local
businesses and it has been gratifying
to see several individuals and orga-
nizations pledge and donate money
towards larger ticket items for the
Big Toy project. This includes the
commitment recently made by Vol-
canoes baseball team owner, Jerry
Walker.
While I was excited to hear of
Mr. Walker’s pledge of support for
a volcano in-
spired
slide,
I am deeply
troubled by the
proposed de-
sign that would
include
the
Crater mascot
or one that
would otherwise be painted like
the Salem/Keizer Volcanoes logo.
It makes me ask the question, “Do
we really need to turn our children’s
playground into a billboard?” While
the corporatization of public spaces
has become common place, public
playgrounds should be off limits.
Such practices should be limited to
sports complexes, convention cen-
ters and concert areas. While it is of
course fi tting and expected to rec-
ognize a donor on a centralized ki-
osk or even with a plaque on a piece
of equipment, it is inappropriate to
turn a playground in a public park
into advertising space.
The last thing that I would want
to see is for Mr. Walker to pull his
support for the playground. I do
believe that a volcano inspired slide
is a great idea but does it need to
be emblazoned with a mascot and
logo? Let us include a volcano slide
in the Big Toy design because we
live in the land of volcanoes such as
Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens and even
Mt. Tabor and not because it is the
name of our local ball club.
Paper has bias
against the right
every one of
you for your
generous sup-
port of Knight
of Arts 2015.
This was a
record breaking
year for us, and
none of it would have been possible
without your help. Because of the
hard work and generosity of donors,
parents, guests, and volunteers we ex-
ceeded our goal of $30,000 we had
set for the night. While our numbers
are still being fi nalized, we know
we made approximately $35,000 for
McNary Fine Arts Programs.
This is a huge fi rst step toward up-
dating our technology in Ken Col-
lins Theater for future events. Thank
you, parents, family and friends!
Thank you, Keizer.
Leah Garro
McNary Fine Arts Board
To the Editor:
I was very surprised reading the
editorial titled “Do not be goaded
into war.”
Your prejudice toward any con-
servative positions is quite apparent.
The fi rst statement I object to is that
“conservative politicans do not sup-
port food stamps, unemployment
benefi ts, clean air and water.” Con-
servatives do support these programs
but not when they are abused. This
opinion piece goes downhill from
there. If I wanted to read the Wash-
ington Post I would subscribe to it. I
don’t need this subscription which
appears to reject any views that do
not align with the liberal left.
Jim Keller
Keizer
Knight of Arts a
grand success
To the Editor:
On behalf of the McNary Fine
Arts Board, thank you to each and
guest
opinion
(R. William Stitt lives in Keizer.)
letters
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Salem, Oregon
Negotiating from weakness
By MICHAEL GERSON
Over the years, President Obama
has been criticized and praised—
but mainly praised—for lacking a
driving foreign policy ideology. It
seemed to be one of the “childish
things” he promised to set aside as
he launched his presidency in 2009.
America’s conduct in the world
would be characterized by outreach,
consultation, fl exibility and a pru-
dent recognition of limits.
Now comes the prospect of a nu-
clear deal with Iran, forcing a revised
assessment from future presidential
historians.
Obama is contemplating what
Michael Doran of the Hudson In-
stitute calls “a revolution in the
conception of America’s role in the
region.” Since the Carter adminis-
tration—which saw the Soviet in-
vasion of Afghanistan, the seizure of
the Grand Mosque in Mecca and
the Iranian revolution—American
presidents have pledged to prevent
any hostile power from controlling
the Persian Gulf. A series of alliances
and relationships were established
and maintained, sometimes with dif-
fi cult or shady partners, to enforce
the Carter Doctrine.
Now Obama is offering Iran the
prospect of being, in his words, “a
very successful regional power” in
exchange for limits on its nuclear
program. Across the board, the ad-
ministration emphasizes common
interests with Iran in the defeat of
the Islamic State. So the chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mar-
tin Dempsey, recently argued that
Iran’s direct military intervention in
Iraq may be a “positive thing.”
A sort of offer to Iran was al-
ways on the table, at least during the
George W. Bush years, if the regime
would: (1) abandon its nuclear am-
bitions, (2) respect human rights and
(3) end support
for terrorism.
Iran, in essence,
could be treat-
ed as a normal
nation if it ac-
tually became a
normal nation.
Obama has
now narrowed American demands
entirely to the fi rst category, the nu-
clear fi le. Concessions in this area—
perhaps even temporary concessions
—will allow Iran to escape sanctions,
rejoin the global community and
even become a partner in defeating
Sunni extremism. It is, presumably,
an offer the Iranians can’t refuse.
This was the context for Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netan-
yahu’s speech to Congress. He was
attempting to reconnect Iranian
nuclear ambitions to its broader
conduct, ideology and ambitions. In
the process, the leader of a Jewish
state became a credible spokesman
for America’s Gulf State allies, who
fear that America is overturning old
promises and relationships.
This is happening. In its bold at-
tempt at an Iranian opening, the
Obama administration views Ne-
tanyahu, AIPAC, the Gulf States,
Congress and, perhaps, Ayatollah
Khamenei as obstacles. Its partners
are Iranian President Hassan Rou-
hani and Foreign Minister Moham-
mad Javad Zarif. Obama and a small
knot of advisers believe this deal
could be the defi ning foreign policy
moment of the second term—the
Cuba opening, times 100.
This driving vision has already
distorted American policy in a va-
riety of ways. Obama could not
take forceful action against Iran’s
proxy, the Syrian regime of Bashar
al-Assad, for fear of undermining
nuclear negotiations. The adminis-
other
views
tration has downplayed the issue of
human rights in Iran for the same
reason. America has now blessed
the operation of Iranian-dominated
militias within Iraq —particularly
in the liberation of Tikrit—raising
the prospect of Iranian control over
Iraq’s security and oil sectors. Iranian
military forces and proxies now op-
erate freely from Baghdad to Beirut,
seemingly tolerated in the overarch-
ing strategic goal of defeating the
Islamic State.
As Obama has avoided direct
confrontation with Iran to preserve
the viability of nuclear talks, Iran has
been busy destabilizing the Middle
East, replacing us as the major power
and threatening our allies. And those
allies have taken note.
All these risks and compromises
make sense only if Obama reaches
his transformational agreement with
Iran. But Iran knows this as well,
which puts America in a poor ne-
gotiating position. American weak-
ness has already been advertised. The
original goal of the group of six—
enshrined in three United Nations
Security Council resolutions—was
for Iran to stop all enrichment and
reprocessing. Obama gave up this
demand at the beginning of negotia-
tions, instead of (perhaps) conceding
minimal enrichment at the end.
The likely result? A bad deal, leav-
ing Iranians with substantial nuclear
capability and infrastructure, begin-
ning a mad rush to lift sanctions, and
essentially accommodating Iranian
aggression across the region. If, as
the Obama administration will cer-
tainly argue, there is no alternative
to accepting this agreement, it is be-
cause it has worked for none and left
none.
(Washington Post Writers Group)
Israeli election could determine future
Next week, specifi cally March 17,
will prove a most monumentally-
important day in U.S.-Israeli rela-
tions. It’s the day the Israeli voters
decide whether they want Benjamin
Netanyahu, who came here to indeli-
cately kick our duly-elected president
and our nation’s foreign policy, to
continue as that nation’s prime min-
ister. Or, choose Isaac Herzog, who
commented about Netanyahu’s visit
as “a very harsh wound to Israel-U.S.
relations” and “will only widen the rift
with Israel’s ally and strategic partner.”
What I felt was gut-wrench-
ing anger while watching Con-
gress cheer ecstatically as Netan-
yahu trashed President Obama as
foolish and duped with what he and
his advisors have developed as our na-
tion’s foreign policy. Then there was
the sickeningly impudent action of
U.S. House of Representatives Speak-
er John Boehner to interject us into an
Israeli election campaign. Shouldn’t
the Democrats follow the suit-happy
Republicans and sue Boehner? Now,
the clown car of U.S. Senate Republi-
cans has written to Iran’s leadership to
discourage any deal with us.
Netanyahu’s referencing what our
commander-in-chief seeks to ac-
complish with Iran as the same as ap-
peasement of the Nazis that led to the
holocaust is hyperbole of the highest
order. Incidentally, comparing Presi-
dent Obama to Neville Chamberlain
makes it reasonable to compare Prime
Minister Netanyahu to Japanese Prime
Minister Hideki Tojo. Whatever the
case, Netanyahu urged the U.S. “not
to sacrifi ce the future for the present”
and “not to ig-
nore aggression
in the hopes of
gaining an illu-
sionary peace.”
At stake, real-
ly, are two risks.
On our side is a
deal that will not allow Iran to build
a nuclear bomb for another 10 years
because there will be regular inspec-
tions and other limits imposed. Ne-
tanyahu wants the negotiations to end
now because absolute guarantees in a
foolproof agreement are not included.
Sure, the deal we are trying to reach
with Iran does not mean that Iran will
never have the bomb. What Netan-
yahu wants is an end to talks and a
preemptive attack on Iran by two nu-
clear powers that will result in more
warring in the Middle East, an end to
any chance of peace, and many more
people hating us as a nation of people
whose answer to
every problem is
war.
President
Obama and his
team of advi-
sors see that the
talks afford us
and Iran the best
chance possible
of encouraging
a peaceful evo-
lution in Iran
by the average
Iranian who is
no more war-
minded than the
typical American.
gene h.
mcintyre
Walking away from negotiations is a
sure way to keep things rather crazy
there.
To a signifi cant extent, the fate of
the world is in the hands of Israeli
voters next week. If they re-elect
the hot-headed Netanyahu then he
will continue to build fi res for immi-
nent war. We’ll soon know whether
Israeli voters want to try to keep the
peace or join some of the Republi-
can hawks, no matter the consequenc-
es.
After all, our hawks are pawns
of the U.S. military-industrialists
who earn big profi ts making war ma-
chines and munitions and demand sup-
port from those in Congress whose
campaign costs they pay. These are
the same folks who make gobs of
money also selling their war-making
materials to Israel.
(Gene H. McIntyre’s column ap-
pears weekly in the Keizertimes.)