PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, SEPTEMBER 18, 2015
KeizerOpinion
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Issue can show city is
helping local businesses
In a divided vote at its
July meeting the Keizer
Public Arts Commission
approved the placement
of the depiction of a large
diamond ring. In front of
Sonic restaurant. In south
Keizer.
The ring art, created out
of metal by the owners of Boucher
Jewelers, was initially proposed to be
installed in front of the jewelery store
near River and Chemawa Roads.
Some said that placing it there was
inappropriate because it was akin to a
sign and would violate the city’s sign
code. Thus the push to have it installed
in front of a restaurant.
This is a wrong decision. The
large diamond ring is art, not a sign.
Reasonable people can disagree on
what it is. The ring doesn’t have any
writing or logos on it, it’s just a big
ring that pedestrians and kids will fi nd
fanciful and fun—isn’t that the goal of
public art?
The fact that the art refl ects the
business it would sit in front of is a
good thing that should not be pooh-
poohed. There are those who object
on the grounds that it could open
the fl oodgates of others clamoring to
place art in front of their buildings to
promote their business. That would
be a good thing—if it is executed
correctly and within guidelines.
It would not be a bad thing if there
was art up and down River Road even
if it did relate to a specifi c
business. For example, an
oversized depcition of a
wrench in front of a auto-
related store would be
whimsical yet be low-key
promotion—as long as
none of the art had actual
text or logos.
Allowing such art would achieve
two important goals: more art along
Keizer’s thoroughfares and economic
development. It is key to unhook public
art from the city’s signage ordinance.
The Keizer Public Arts Commission
should have fi nal approval of any art a
business wanted to place in front of
their building.
It is unlikely that every building
along River Road would have art in
front. Not every business is keen on art
or the expense of creating, installing
and maintaining it.
The process for such art pieces
should be just as stringent as with the
original public art program.
In lieu of banners on utility
poles along River Road, decorative
and imaginative artwork along the
sidewalks would herald to visitors that
Keizer is a special place.
The art commission and the city
can demonstrate what they are doing
for the health of local businesses and
economic development overall.
Regarding art in front of a jewelry
store? Put a ring on it.
—LAZ
Keizer did it again. The city
and committed volunteers worked
together and the result was a new
patio space that overlooks the
Keizer Rotary Amphitheatre at
Keizer Rapids Park.
Park neighbor and community
volunteer Jerry Nuttbrock had an
idea to add a patio potentially with
barbecues and cooking stations. But
fi rst things fi rst.
Nuttbrock went before the
Keizer Parks and Recreation
Advisory Board with a sketched out
plan for the patio. The 2,400 square
foot patio lays among the trees on
the bluff behind the caretaker’s
resident—known these days as the
Charge House after the family that
lived in it.
The patio allows plenty of shade
which will wonderful during events
held on summer’s hottest days. The
proposed barbecues and cooking
stations will take another round of
fund raising and permitting; until
then the patio is great addition to
Keizer’s outdoor theatre.
The parks board allocated
$5,000 as part of their matching
grant program. That $5,000 begat a
$32,000 gem due to volunteer labor
and donations from suppliers such
as Salem Concrete Service, Salem
Mobile Mix and Northwest Rock.
Jerry Nuttbrock deserves kudos
for shepherding his vision from
paper to fruition.
Presently, unless a party has
obtained a permit, public use of the
patio is on a fi rst-come, fi rst-served
basis. We hope that permitted uses
of the patio are limited to allow
more people to enjoy.
The patio was completed the
Keizer way: one idea, many hands
and a bit of money.
—LAZ
editorial
Building a patio, the Keizer way
Iran thumbs nose at the United States
By MICHAEL GERSON
Since the Iran nuclear deal was an-
nounced in mid-July, the world has
been treated to an unusual historical
spectacle. As President Obama was
busy twisting congressional arms to
prevent repudiation of the agreement,
the Iranian regime has been systemati-
cally humiliating him.
Almost immediately, bulldozers
began sanitizing the Parchin nuclear
complex, where Iran is suspected to
have researched the weaponization
of nuclear technology—a fi nal taunt
to mark the erasure of America’s “red
line” demand that Iran account for
the “possible military dimensions” of
its nuclear program. Iran’s military
and Revolutionary Guard leaders still
publicly dispute there will be any in-
spections of military facilities.
Ten days after the deal was an-
nounced, Quds Force commander
Qasem Soleimani fl ew to Moscow (in
defi ance of a U.N. travel ban) to meet
with Russian Defense Minister Sergei
Shoigu and President Vladimir Putin.
In short order, Iranian and Russian
military forces began arriving in Syria,
apparently to prop up the faltering re-
gime of President Bashar al-Assad. In
addition to tanks and drones, the Rus-
sians have sent prefabricated housing
and mobile air traffi c control systems,
all the signs of an extended stay.
Several weeks after the deal’s an-
nouncement, Iran’s nuclear chief, Ali
Akbar Salehi, revealed that Iran had
found unexpectedly generous domes-
tic reserves of uranium, which may
come in handy someday. The Iranian
military unveiled a new generation
of surface-to-surface ballistic missiles.
And Iranian leaders continue to deny
the legitimacy of all United Nations
Security Council restrictions on the
importation of
weapons. “We
will sell and buy
weapons when-
ever and wher-
ever we deem
it
necessary,”
President Has-
san Rouhani has
said. “We will not wait for permission
from anyone or any resolution.”
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Twitter
feed is a stream of provocative trolling,
promising the end of Israel, posting an
image that appears to be the silhouette
of Obama with a gun to his head and
threatening that in any military con-
frontation “the one who will emerge
loser will be the aggressive and crimi-
nal U.S.” The Iranian supreme leader
and Donald Trump have this much in
common: They fi nd their opponents
to be losers.
This is bound to be one of the rea-
sons that a clear majority of Ameri-
cans and a majority of the House and
Senate oppose the Iranian nuclear
deal—because Iran has done every-
thing possible to rub America’s face in
Obama’s concessions. Obama was left
to save the deal through a crude and
partisan appeal.
The Iranian regime’s motives in all
this are evident. The demonstration of
American impotence has been a long-
term goal of Iranian public diplomacy.
Their message to people across the
Middle East: America won’t be here
forever to protect you, so it is a mis-
take to side with them against us.
Iran is effectively announcing that
it will be more aggressive in the re-
gion after the deal, not less. And it has
an increased capacity to do so—fl ush
with cash, released from constraints
and basking in new legitimacy. “The
dictator has been careful, all along,”
says Michael Doran of the Hudson
Institute, “to make sure that the deal
appeared, at home and abroad, as the
U.S. capitulating to Iran. We made it
very easy for him to do that, because
we conceded all our red lines and he
conceded on none of his. He could
depict it as a capitulation, because it
was.”
Russia’s motives are also transpar-
ent. Putin enjoys his role as a power
broker in the Middle East—the most
expansive Russian role in the region
since Anwar Sadat threw the Soviets
out of Egypt. Putin wants to defend
his interests in the region (including
a naval base) while strengthening his
own proxy (Assad) before any possible
Syrian settlement.
But what is Obama’s motive in of-
fering mild protests as a new Middle
Eastern order, more favorable to Iran
and Russia, emerges? The preserva-
tion of the nuclear deal is apparently
so important that no Iranian provo-
cations should be allowed to upset it.
The Obama administration, according
to deputy national security adviser
Ben Rhodes, believes that implement-
ing the deal is essential “precisely be-
cause we have such differences with
this government that they cannot be
allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.”
In practice, this means that Iran can
do whatever it damn well pleases be-
cause it knows the Americans are too
invested in the deal to blow it up. This
may fi t Obama’s conception of Amer-
ica as a tired nation, overcommitted in
the Middle East. But in the process, he
is making strategic concessions to Iran
and Russia that future presidents may
fi nd impossible to accept and diffi cult
to retract.
The Trojan Horse is a tale from
ancient times when by sneaky means
the Greeks used a giant fi gure in the
shape of a horse to enter the city of
Troy and win the day. In the purport-
edly true version, after a winless 10-
year siege, the Greeks constructed a
huge wooden horse and hid a small
force of men inside it.
The Greeks pretended to sail
away. Meanwhile, the Trojans pulled
the horse into their city as a victory
trophy. After dark that night, Greek
warriors crept out of the horse and
opened the gates for the whole Greek
army to enter Troy. As a result, the
Greeks destroyed the city, ending the
long war in a victory for them.
Fast forward 3,000 years to the
present day and we fi nd that thou-
sands of Middle East people are walk-
ing out of war-torn Syria, with ad-
ditional numbers from Iraq and other
places nearby. These persons want a
chance to live their lives in a safe en-
vironment and constitute the greatest
movement of refugees in world his-
tory as they make their way in a hap-
hazard, helter-skelter march westward
by land and sea. Their destination
is the West, mainly Europe because
they can get there, hoping they’ll be
permitted to stay.
Some European nations so far have
been less than welcoming while oth-
ers, including Austria, France, Germa-
ny, Sweden, the United Kingdom and
the U.S., promising today to accept
10,000, have decided that they will
permit refugees in numbers still to be
determined. Whatever the case, the
numbers here and there change dai-
ly, while the dice have been tossed but
remain airborne while the dust is far
from settled on how all of this will
work itself out.
There are a few nations in the re-
gion that have already accepted the
fl eeing refugees. These nations are
Egypt, Jordan,
Lebanon
and
Turkey, but Arab
nations to the
south of where
warring is un-
derway are al-
leged to be in
foot-dragg ing
big time. These are Kuwait, Qatar,
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates. They are fearful that the
refugees will bring with them all the
reasons why they left Syria and other
points of origin. However, even these
nations seem ready to be more fl ex-
ible as world opinion on the plight of
the refugees heats up.
Meanwhile, ISIS and al-Qaeda
(in a feud over which can outdo the
other in murdering Americans abroad
and at home) have proven them-
selves cunningly resourceful and bru-
tally crafty at taking the war to their
enemies. The radical Islam fi ghters
and their leaders are well known to
plot against those who’ve occupied
their lands or used force in an effort
to destroy them. Why wouldn’t these
terrorists plant hundreds of their
devoted followers among the refu-
gees, assigning
them to bring
death and de-
struction all over
the West? We’ve
been
warned
to be vigilant
these days: this
state of aware-
ness will become
more important
than ever with
those who are
not afraid to die
for their “cause,”
that is, to eradi-
cate infi dels and
establish a world
caliphate.
There’s another consideration also
that has to do with persons who’ve
been raised under Shiria law. They
have been known to assimilate
with extreme diffi culty, if they assimi-
late at all. Nations allowing them to
settle are warned to be in for huge so-
cial and culture problems that are im-
possible to resolve with these people
because they are totally dedicated
to the religious practices they em-
braced while growing up. We’ve seen
these diffi culties in all the nations to
which they’ve already immigrated
over the last several years.
From my personal living and
working experience in the Mid-
dle East, the Muslim sees every-
thing as done or not done by God’s
will. There are those who’ve been
in the U.S. for some time and respect
our laws and Western ways of do-
ing things; yet, there persists a gnaw-
ing concern that when they’re called
to Mohammed’s work, as ordered by
their Muslim leaders, it will take pre-
cedence over anything and everything
else, including the lives of their host,
the American people.
other
views
(Washington Post Writers Group)
Does an ancient story have resonance?
Payroll tax
To the Editor:
The West Salem Business Associa-
tion urges a no vote on the payroll
tax that will appear on the November
ballot.
The tax would fund weekend bus
service, and while the West Salem
Business Association supports Salem-
Area Mass Transit, we believe the ex-
pense should be distributed evenly
among the community—not levied
solely on the backs of private sector
employers.
This measure is unfair because it
will only be levied on private sec-
tor businesses, with our community’s
largest employers exempt from pay-
ing it, including state, city and county
government.
While we understand the potential
benefi t that this measure has to pro-
vide, no tangible data has been shown
that supports the
claim that busi-
nesses will bene-
fi t if the measure
passes.
Finally, this
measure has the
ability to increase the tax without a
vote from the people. In 10 years the
rate proposed could nearly double,
adding yet another unknown in future
hiring and compensation of current
and future employees.
This measure is an unfair, under
regulated, and unwanted funding
mechanism in our community and
the West Salem Business Association,
consisting of approximately 90 busi-
nesses, urges you to stand with us and
vote no to stop the employer tax in
November.
Terry Kelly
West Salem Business Association
letters
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(Gene H. McIntyre’s column ap-
pears weekly in the Keizertimes.)