Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 2016)
PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, FEBRUARY 12, 2016 KeizerOpinion KEIZERTIMES.COM Eclipse City, USA In less than two years a major marketing opportu- nity will present itself to Keizer and every organi- zation, including the city, should be thinking about how to capitalize on it. There will a total solar eclipse on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017. Keizer is smack in the middle of the path of the eclipse. Total eclipses happen about once a year somewhere in the world but very rarely do they happen here. Experts say the best place to ex- hibit a total eclipse is out in unin- habited areas such as the deserts of eastern Oregon. Traveling to the high desert on a Monday is not an option for everyone, that opens pos- sibilities to attract visitors to Keizer. The city council can proclaim Keizer Eclipse City USA for start- ers. Will the eclipse be seen in other cities in America? Sure, but Keizer should the fi rst to give itself that moniker. Working with the Keizer Chamber of Commerce the city can organize a large eclipse viewing party some- where in the city such as Keizer Rapids Park (or better yet, Keizer Sta- tion for the economic aspects) and promote it. It would enhance the experience if as many lights as possible could be turned off for 15 minutes. Keizer-centric souvenirs can be designed and sold (“I saw the eclipse in Keizer” perhaps?). Mer- chants can take advantage of the eclipse and the spectators it should attract with Black Monday specials akin to Black Friday sales. Keizer doesn’t need any permis- sion to declare itself Eclipse City USA any more than it needed per- mission to call itself the Iris Capital of the World. — LAZ editorial Lottery bill to benefi t veterans By Paul Evans Oregonians serving with the 116th Air Control Squadron recently received a warm, well-deserved wel- come from family, friends, and neighbors at a demobi- lization ceremony at Camp Withycombe (Clackamas). Even as we celebrate their homecom- ing, we should take a moment to re- fl ect upon the ongoing challenges our veterans face upon return. These men and women deserve a soft-landing— a thoughtful reintegration into our communities. Some of our returning hometown heroes are coming back to a supportive environment; some are not. And thousands of veterans from previous eras struggle to survive. Our veterans deserve access to education and employment assistance, mental health care services, affordable housing and transportation. Too often our veterans are forgotten despite the impacts of service upon their lives. During 2015, the Oregon Legisla- ture made a signifi cant investment in outreach adding close to $1,000,000 more for County Veterans’ Service Offi cers and established a dedicated position for women veterans’ coordi- nation. We also established a task force for identifying ways to help the grow- ing number of incarcerated veterans. This year I am sponsoring legisla- tion supporting a 3 percent set-aside of Oregon Lottery profi ts for unlock- ing opportunities throughout Oregon to capture federal funds so many of our veterans have earned but are not yet receiving. The goal is to develop a fund for leveraging potential part- nerships that could help us secure as much as $4 billion in dedicated veter- ans’ assistance that many veterans and military families should have access to but don’t. Current data suggests that more than 250,000 Oregon veterans are not recognized within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs structures and sys- tems. This means that ex- isting healthcare and trans- portation activities, among others, are funded only at the level of the number of veterans recognized: ap- proximately 100,000 of 350,000. The 3 percent of lottery funds dedicated to veterans’ services will support tar- geted outreach and provide seed money for leveraging available pro- gramming. Clearly, the State of Ore- gon can, and should, make an historic investment in veterans’ care. To be clear, this proposal expressly forbids any impact upon education and/or parks funding. The Constitutionally mandated 18 percent and 15 percent set-asides remain unchanged. At pres- ent the federal government returns at least $77 for every one dollar of state investment. This approach has support from many legislators from both po- litical parties as a smart investment of scarce resources. Numbers tell only parts of the story. As a veteran, and as a member of Oregon’s Legislature, I know fi rst- hand of the opportunities and chal- lenges awaiting our service men and women. We are engaged in three overseas confl icts. Our military mem- bers are facing multiple deployments and signifi cant long-term stresses re- sulting from their time in uniform. Oregon can better extend the safety net of services to our military person- nel and their families. We live in a world of complex challenges fi ve generations of veter- ans are now facing. It is time we keep faith with the men and women we send into harm’s way. The lottery set- aside is a way to start. guest column (Paul Evans is the Representative in Oregon House District 20. He can be reached at rep.paulevans@state. or.us.) 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 Craig Murphy editor@keizertimes.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Eric A. Howald news@keizertimes.com One year: $25 in Marion County, $33 outside Marion County, $45 outside Oregon PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY ADVERTISING Publication No: USPS 679-430 Paula Moseley advertising@keizertimes.com POSTMASTER Send address changes to: PRODUCTION MANAGER Andrew Jackson Keizertimes Circulation graphics@keizertimes.com 142 Chemawa Road N. LEGAL NOTICES 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 Trump’s authenticity is a lie By MICHAEL GERSON When the Watergate tapes were released, some Americans were dis- mayed at the many “expletives delet- ed” that Richard Nixon employed in private conversation. But as historian Stephen Ambrose pointed out, Nix- on had insisted that even the milder words “hell” and “damn” be deleted from the transcriptions, creating the false impression that his language was saltier than it actually was. “If my mother ever heard me use words like that,” Nixon explained, “she would turn over in her grave.” No inner check constrained Don- ald Trump from using the F-word during a presidential campaign rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. “We’re gonna have businesses that used to be in New Hampshire, that are now in Mexico,” he told a crowd, “come back to New Hampshire, and you can tell them to go [bleep] themselves!” Many people, particularly the ones unburdened by knowledge of eco- nomics, will respond, “Hell yeah!” We are a culture conditioned by cable television, which has made the lan- guage of sailors, mobsters and New York real estate developers available to any digitally literate 11-year-old. This, after all, is the way “real life” sounds. Let us hope not. In real life, exple- tives are often used as a form of aggres- sion or cruelty. A co-worker who tells you to Trump yourself is usually being unpleasant. A co-worker who does this every day is often creating a hos- tile or demeaning work environment. Language suitable for decent company is a form of politeness, which is a spe- cies of respect, which is an expression of morality. And if I am the last holdout on this issue, so be it. I don’t really give a damn. Win or lose, Trump has brought the language and sensibili- ties of cable TV to presidential poli- tics. This is a relatively small transgres- sion in a campaign that has involved groundbreaking appeals to ethnic and religious resentment. But there is a rhetorical strategy at work here worth noting. In recent rallies, Trump—in addition to telling people to go “F-- -” themselves —said he would “beat the s---” out of anyone attacking us. Trump identifi es crudity with popu- lism, as if using words of four letters were a protest against prim elites. Rough language is intended to con- vey strength and authenticity. On both counts, it amounts to deception. Trump employs tough-sounding language, along with the promise of war crimes (proposing killing the fam- ilies of terrorists), as cover for a fright- eningly feckless foreign policy. On the main humanitarian and strategic disas- ter of our time—the collapse of sov- ereignty in Syria and Iraq and the rise of the Islamic State—Trump’s answer is to farm infl uence out to the Rus- sians. “Let Syria and ISIS fi ght. Why do we care?” Trump has argued. “And let Russia, they’re in Syria already, let them fi ght ISIS.” Just to summarize, Trump is pro- posing for the United States to en- courage a coalition of Russia, Iran and the remnants of Bashar al-Assad’s Syr- other views ian regime to fi ght the Islamic State and the rest of the Sunni rebels. This would recognize Russian strategic dominance over a region that still pro- duces nearly 40 percent of the world’s oil supplies. It would concur in Iran’s bid for regional hegemony and prob- ably frighten our abandoned Sunni al- lies into desperate acts (such as going nuclear). And it would reward Assad’s mass atrocities against Sunni civilians, which is a major generator of recruits for the Islamic State. In this case, a foul mouth is meant to cover up for Trump’s ignorance and weakness. No actual enemy of Amer- ica would be impressed by his trompe l’oeil toughness. The whole equation of profanity with authenticity is deeply confused. There is an honesty, of sorts, in swear- ing when you hit your thumb with a hammer. But in presidential com- munication, authenticity is more than the id and tongue unleashed. Abraham Lincoln and other great presidents were authentic communicators be- cause they treated serious things seri- ously, crafting policy and speeches that often challenged immediate emo- tional responses, expanded empathy and employed the cadences and spare language of memorable rhetoric. Trump’s intentional push against boundaries of taste is really the search for a darting spotlight, like a TV show that has gone on for a season too long and tries to ramp up controversy as a substitute for buzz. Even Trump’s au- thenticity, it turns out, is a lie. (Washington Post Writers Group) Real action not lip service for schools The Keizertimes recently reported that Salem-Keizer Schools superin- tendent Christy Perry received high marks from the school board for the 2014-2015 school year. The board looked at student per- formance against state averages, grad- uation rates, dropout rates, English language learner performance and growth in the percentage of schools that show above-average growth com- pared to similar Oregon schools. Ap- parently there was nothing about spe- cial services to homeless youth, new, innovative learning improvement ven- tures, or other demanding educational and social issues that nowadays fall into the lap of public schools. It was noted, too, that she worked for staff compliance with district poli- cies while also paying attention to “small areas” of non-compliance. She had performed these tasks and re- ported them “regularly” to the board. Further, she established “excellent re- lationships” with the board and com- munity partners. The board did not blame her for lower academic scores as she “has done an admirable job of moving and maintaining academic scores.” Are these matters not assumed in the list of basic responsibilities as- signed Oregon’s public school super- intendents and how much fl exibility for failures are there? Of course, news items about any superintendent’s success, somewhat rare these days from dropout land, are welcome. Meanwhile, the board members who chose her will contin- ue to pat themselves on the back for making what they apparently believe was a notable choice. However, what typically follows from these assessment sessions is what anyone else would view at best as a business-as-usual performance, deserving a standard cost of living adjustment (COLA). Unfortunately for us taxpay- ers, what usually gene h. follows is a huge in salary for mcintyre raise what amounts to mediocrity and, then, too, addi- tional perks hid- den from the public eye. Now, let’s get to the important is- sues: To what extent are those who as- sessed the superintendent’s work over the past year qualifi ed by training and experience to make valid conclusions on the items the school chief chose to present to them to judge her? And, are they provided enough background information from the superinten- dent’s offi ce to be confi dent by inves- tigative inquiry in their conclusions? One wonders, in addition to board members, to what extent any taxpayer can obtain and scrutinize the facts and, with knowledge in hand, advise his board member. It’s believed from ex- perience that the superintendent’s of- fi ce is mostly a closed shop to all but a few trusted staff insiders whose con- tinued employment is based on their ability to remain in mute mode. The usual inquiry is almost always greeted with mutterings about confi dential- ity followed by a feint-hearted apolo- getic denial to access that would re- quire a court-order to see. Further, there are more problems in the delivery of education than anyone fi nding out about their size and shape can fathom. That’s why public educa- tion today is failing in so many ways and why no real reform will happen to improve the quality of it under the way education is managed now and has been for years. There are at least two reforms that should be acted on by our law- makers, having been led by a governor who cares and is intelligent enough to know value from waste. Since su- perintendents currently answer only to boards they can readily manipulate (which means they answer to them- selves), the law should be changed whereby school superintendents are elected. Require candidates to make public their specifi c goals and objectives, their plans of action and their intended reforms: those they will act on and by which they will be mea- sured. Hold them to what they’ve promised to do through a presenta- tion of results twice a year in public presentations. Keep their books open to reputable, private accounting fi rm audits. End the era of elected boards. These well-meaning locals who volunteer to face election to gain a seat on the lo- cal school board start off, it’s surmised, dedicated to looking after the children and youth in the schools under their purview. Meanwhile, the superin- tendent and her subordinates hold all the cards and share only that informa- tion that the superintendent decides to share and is in her best keep-a-job interest. In other words, boards too often become “yes” men and women, mostly co-opted to do whatever the superintendent, diplomatically mind you, tells them to do. Taxpayers waste public dollars and students and their families get short- changed by the way things are done now. The greatest wish for educa- tion here is that we’d elect a legisla- ture and governor interested enough in making our schools work so they’d intervene decisively to re-design the way our schools are managed, thereby worth the 12 years time investment of our children who fall away now in big numbers long before grade 12. (Gene H. McIntyre’s column ap- pears weekly in the Keizertimes.)
