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.)