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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 25, 2015)
PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, SEPTEMBER 25, 2015 KeizerOpinion KEIZERTIMES.COM A million pennies Does anyone reach down to pick up a penny anymore? In earlier days when a kid found a pen- ny (or a nickle or a quar- ter) it was like fi nding treasure. Nowadays an er- rant penny is passed over with nary a glance. One can only guess the value of all the pennies laying on the ground in Keizer. More importantly, one can only imagine the value of the all change in all the vehicles in Keizer. That can add up to some serious money, which would be good for the Keizer Community Food Bank which is holding a fundraiser start- ing Oct. 1. Originally conceived as “12 Miles of Pennies,” an effort to raise more than $10,000 in the month of October. But, $10,000 equals more than 1million pennies, that’s unwei- ldly. The food bank is still seeking to raise the money to help fi ll its shelves, which today are woefully sparse. Keizer kids are being asked to pick up a penny if they fi nd one on the ground and put them in any number of collection cans that will be popping up around town late next week. Keizer drivers are asked to clean out the change cache in their vehicles and donate to the food bank, too. In one day Keizer generosity with its ‘car change’ could raise the money that is needed by the food bank. Food donations are accepted by community pantries but they are able to leverage cash donations in a way that public is not able. Food donations are always needed at food banks, not just during the holiday season. There are expansive food baskets distributed by a number of organizations in the area including the Keizer Network of Women, Marion County Fire District #1 and the Keizer Elks Club. Those gift baskets of food are delivered during the holidays. The Keizer Community Food Bank serves people throughout the year; not all their clients are recepients of gift food baskets. People think of donating food during the holidays or during a food drive by a club or organizaton. Unfortunately the need is constant. Food insecurity is a shameful con- dition for any rsesident a country as rich as the United States to face. If there is a solution to eradicating hunger in the world, let alone in our own background, it has not been presented yet. Until that happens we must be our brother’s keeper and give a hand to those who need it. The coinage sitting in our cars is often overlooked. Let’s put it to good use and assure that the shelves at our local food bank are fi lled now and going into the holiday season. And next spring, do the same thing, we can all donate and we’ll barely miss the pennies, nickles, dimes and quarters that now just rattle around in the ashtray or cup holder. —LAZ KFD equipment bond request pensive insurance to have adequate and advanced equipment avail- able if I am ever in need of fi re or EMS services. Please join me in voting YES for Measure 24-389, the Keizer Fire Dis- trict equipment bond measure. Greg Ego Keizer editorial To the Editor: I am writing in support of Mea- sure 24-389, the Keizer Fire District’s request for a 20-year bond to replace aging fi re apparatus and ambulances. The staff at Keizer Fire District has spent extra dollars and manpower in an effort to maintain an aging fl eet of vehicles. It is time to continue sup- porting our emergency service pro- viders by providing the monies nec- essary to purchase new fi refi ghting apparatus, new ambulances and associ- ated equipment to fully furnish these new units. You may see the KFD apparatus go by and say to yourself, “that looks new” when in reality the newest en- gine is now 11 years old, and our newest ambulance is seven years old. Recently one of the three ambulances was towed for repair, putting it out of service to respond. By approving this bond request the Keizer Fire District will be able to establish and maintain a schedule of vehicle replacement that will provide years of service to the constituents of Keizer Fire. From me personally, I support this worthy effort. I look at it as very inex- letters Church’s 25th anniversary To the Editor: Truth Tabernacle Church of Keizer would like to formally invite the pub- lic to come and celebrate their 25- year anniversary services on Sept. 25, 26 and 27. Service times will be Fri- day at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at noon, and Sunday at 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Truth Tabernacle is located at 3795 Pleasant View Dr. N.E., in Keizer. Transportation is available. Phone 503-393-1352. Guest speakers will be Pastors Danny Perdew (Greeley, CO), Russell Frazier (Fontana, CA), and Robert Davis (Wheelersburg, OH). Michael R. Hearn Truth Tabernacle Church Keizer Keizertimes Wheatland Publishing Corp. • 142 Chemawa Road N. • Keizer, Oregon 97303 phone: 503.390.1051 • web: www.keizertimes.com • email: kt@keizertimes.com SUBSCRIPTIONS NEWS EDITOR One year: $25 in Marion County, $33 outside Marion County, $45 outside Oregon Craig Murphy editor@keizertimes.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Eric A. Howald news@keizertimes.com PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY Publication No: USPS 679-430 ADVERTISING Paula Moseley POSTMASTER advertising@keizertimes.com Send address changes to: PRODUCTION MANAGER Andrew Jackson graphics@keizertimes.com LEGAL NOTICES Keizertimes Circulation 142 Chemawa Road N. Keizer, OR 97303 legals@keizertimes.com EDITOR & PUBLISHER Lyndon Zaitz publisher@keizertimes.com BUSINESS MANAGER Laurie Painter billing@keizertimes.com Periodical postage paid at Salem, Oregon RECEPTION Lori Beyeler facebook.com/keizertimes twitter.com/keizertimes Republicans stoke fi re of bigotry By MICHAEL GERSON What is the proper response from a prospective president to the question: Is being a Muslim disqualifying for the presidency? Ben Carson answered that he “would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation” be- cause Islam is incompatible with the Constitution. The Constitution offers a different reply: “No religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualifi ca- tion to any Offi ce or public Trust un- der the United States.” What is the right answer from a presidential candidate to the question: Is being an adherent of Hinduism— which in some nationalist versions is politically oppressive and anti-Muslim disqualifying for the presidency? The proper response: “No religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualifi ca- tion to any Offi ce or public Trust un- der the United States.” What of practicing Buddhism, a faith that has Theravada followers in Myanmar who stoke ethnic and reli- gious hatred? What of following Mor- monism, a faith that once had semi- theocratic dominance of Utah and was in armed revolution against the federal government from May 1857 until July 1858? What of Catholicism, a version of which was employed to justify the murder of Protestants in Ireland? The proper answer to all these: While voters can make individual judgments about qualifi cations for the presidency, no one can be barred from running or serving because of his or her religion. No religious test shall ever be required. And what of an evangelical Chris- tian who rejects evolution and traces the roots of radical Islam back to “the battle between Jacob and Esau”? This is where Car- son and some other evangeli- cals show an as- tounding lack of self-conscious- ness. Carson ar- gues that Mus- lims are unfi t for high offi ce because they hold a con- ception of divine law that is inconsis- tent with a liberal, democratic order. A signifi cant portion of the country would disqualify Carson for exactly the same reason. Because of the Supreme Court’s decision on same-sex marriage, con- servative Christians are currently (and appropriately) focused on the defense of religious liberty. But how is it psy- chologically possible to combine a zeal for pluralism with such overt prejudice against one faith? Imagine an evangelical participating in a pro- test against the siting of a mosque. Now imagine him going across the street to a rally in favor of religious freedom. Wouldn’t the sign he carries have to be altered pretty dramatically? The response of some evangeli- cals is that Islam is different—that it is inherently oriented toward violent jihad and the imposition of a seventh- century version of Shariah law. This is a theological claim, which is also made by al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. I sincerely doubt that Ben Carson and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi are the best authorities to interpret 1,400 years of Islamic theological refl ection and political practice. The overwhelming majority of Muslim scholars and Mus- lims in the world would disagree with their interpretation, as would nearly all American Muslims. Yet American Muslims see candi- other views dates on the main stage of American politics asserting that the worst, most ugly interpretation of their faith is the only correct one. The same could be done to Hindus, Buddhists, Mormons, Catholics or evangelicals. It would be unfair in every case. This is not to deny that some reli- gious traditions have a more diffi cult history when it comes to the separa- tion of divine law from human law. It is, on balance, easier to have a healthy suspicion of the state when your founder was a judicially murdered itinerant preacher who said to turn the other cheek. But even this did not prevent the wars of religion following the Protestant Reformation that fl at- tened much of Europe (and were the bloodiest until World War I). Every religious tradition has the temptation of tribalism. It is overcome by calling people to the best of their traditions, including respect for the other. Carson, Donald Trump and other Republican candidates need to step back a moment and consider what they are doing. By targeting various groups for suspicion—calling Mus- lims a danger to the Constitution or attacking undocumented immigrants as rapists and murderers—they are opening up a space for some of the worst elements of our society. A ques- tioner at the Trump town hall began, “We have a problem in this country. It’s called Muslims.” People once on the political fringes now feel part of the national conversation. Trump will look into their views. Carson concurs with their fears. What gain or goal is worth the cost of breathing life into bigotry? (Washington Post Writers Group) Expenses force college tuition to spiral It’s an expression that may not be commonly heard these days: “Those were the good old days.” There are a few instances, however, where it would seem that its use is ap- propriate. What’s in mind are the costs asso- ciated with matriculating the number of years required of college or univer- sity course work to prepare one’s self for a choice of vocation. A mere 50 years ago, it was my turn to decide for or against more formal education be- yond the 12th grade. The fi rst question was whether I wanted to work full time, for what was considered living wage money among the abundance of job choices back then, or prepare for a profession that required at least a four-year college degree. My mother viewed the future as one that would more and more of- ten require a college degree to ob- tain a good job. I found full-time work after my senior year and earned enough money that fi rst summer to pay all the expenses of my frosh year. I repeated the summer job routine for three more years and completed my college degree on time with grades and know-how suffi cient to obtain an Oregon teaching certifi cate and apply successfully for a teaching position in the Beaverton School District. Now I can look back and appreci- ate the fact that those were the good old days because I was able to pay my own way through college and walk away debt free. In fact, having worked at the university in dorm management for four years, while earning scholar- ships, I had money enough left over from all expenses to pay my living costs that fi rst summer after gradua- tion until a check was issued by my school district employer in September. As most of us know, anyone these days able to do what I did straight out of high school is nearly un- known. Our society has be- come expensive in the extreme in almost every way and that in- cludes the costs associated with com- pleting the course work required for a degree. Here’s a big part of the rea- son: The president of Pacifi c Univer- sity was paid a modest amount when I attended while the current salary of the president there, Leslie Hallick, is paid $567,167 per year. Number one honor for pay goes to the new presi- dent at the University of Oregon, Mi- chael Schill, at $660,000. Ed Ray at OSU comes in third place at $485,088 (plus PERS retirement for Schill and Ray and perks like free housing and a car). Paying these people what is de- manded nowadays is just one of the rea- sons that no child save he or she comes from a wealthy family, one that’s will- ing and able to foot the bills, can even think of a college education under the terms of yesteryear. Meanwhile, too, many of the classroom instructors are adjunct or part-time workers whose pay is low due to abbreviated weekly hours and who must do other things to survive economically. The other distractions mean that classroom pre- sentations suffer and student learning and development are marginalized. Further, the professors in our universi- ties too often use graduate assistants to do the work they should be doing in classrooms and student meetings of all kinds and that results in short-sheeting student educations. The point of all this is that, yes, infl ation has caused prices of every- thing to rise, while costs in public and private universities have gone gene h. mcintyre stratospheric, mainly because of the costs of paying those who run these places the salaries and benefi ts of what may be fairly categorized as modern day potentates. By personal observa- tion of what these people typically do is that they do very little other than appear for “celebrity” functions, make e-mail and phone calls to solicit mon- ey, and hire subordinates at high wages to do the real work. What’s happening is that we tax- payers and the parents of those who want to attend college or university are paying excessively large, crippling, debt-resulting amounts so that Or- egon’s university administrators can live lavishly. The money we pay has become a keep-up-with-the-Jone- ses craziness so that when a new head is hired at UO, OSU, or wherever in higher education here, we parents and taxpayers end up paying ridicu- lously high dollar amounts to hire the “best” people who contribute practi- cally nothing to the good of society. They just make the big bucks and then leave to retire in a gated com- munity, typically out-of-state, and are replaced by someone who’s paid even more. Those who have bright chil- dren should consider having them compete for admission to a school with an impressive reputation such as Stanford, Notre Dame or Yale which are also known to pay their instruc- tors well in full-time positions. Here we pay exceedingly well only those in the top administrative jobs and the coaches. Meanwhile, our universi- ty students can attend football games but accumulate more debt by high fees so UO, OSU and others can give jocks, not from Oregon, but from California and Hawaii, a free college degree. (Gene H. McIntyre’s column appears weekly in the Keizertimes.)