PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, APRIL 15, 2016 KeizerOpinion KEIZERTIMES.COM Preparing for the workforce By AMI MACEIRA McSPARIN Ask a business owner about the younger gen- eration of workers and the response will be polarized. Some claim younger work- ers are an essential part of the workforce, while others state younger generations of workers need focus in workplace skills such as communication, building credibility, accountability, and real-world prob- lem solving. According to Rick Day, business owner of Advantage Precast Inc. in Keizer, this happens for many reasons, such as lack of support in training for employers and younger workers. Because of growing concerns from business leaders, the local Workforce Board, together with In- cite Inc., created the Career Achieve- ment Network to meet the needs of the emerging workforce in our community. The Career Achieve- ment Network, nicknamed theNET, is a career training and placement program offered to participants who are 16 to 26 years old, not in school, and not working. TheNET provides young adult workers with paid work experience at local businesses and non-profi ts while simultaneously teaching appropriate workplace be- haviors such as showing up on time, following through on tasks, and other necessary interpersonal skills that some individu- als lack. Rick Day has been involved with theNET from the beginning by providing youth oppor- tunities to obtain em- ployment readiness. “We have designated approxi- mately 10 percent [of staff] for pro- grams such as theNET and others to train primarily young people in how to work, and to learn entry level skills, often times leading to careers,” said Day. So far theNET has served more than135 participants, with 58 partici- pants graduating, and 50 participants gaining direct-hire employment. Ad- ditionally, eight of those participants were directly hired at their internship site. It is theNET’s goal for all partici- pants to graduate from the program and gain sustainable employment or enroll in higher education in order to become active members of the community. If you are interested or if someone you know is interested in gaining a paid work experience, please contact us at 503-581-1002 and ask for Ami Maceira-McSparin or Nicole Piechocki. Our next en- rollment is April 20. Keizer’s hidden gem on debate.org says, “Many peo- ple abuse their animals because they don’t realize what they’re do- ing.” Therefore, they abuse these innocent animals who have done nothing to them. Another reason animal abuse should stop is because the animals that get abused can die. Some animals are shackled in chains and suffer outside forever. Therefore, they can get a frost- bite and they’re left alone. Some peo- ple are not giving their animals fresh water, good food, and a good environ- ment. Therefore, they’re not healthy and they can get sick. If people choose to own an animal it is their responsi- bility to take care of them. The last reason animal abuse should stop is because animals have feelings. Unlike a child that can respond ver- bally to let you know how they feel, animals cannot talk. Therefore, animals can’t say how they feel. On the other side some people think it’s fun hurting animals and think they’re useless. However it’s wrong hitting an animal because they have feelings and a life. Animal abuse should stop because animals are family, animals die and animals have feelings, too. Many ani- mals get abused. They get put in fi ghts for money. These animals will die if nobody helps these animals that get abused. Rogelio Montoya Salem (The writer is a student at Walker Middle School.) guest column To the Editor: Keizer’s hidden gem is Rickman Community Garden, Nestled be- hind Keizer Civic Center, adjacent to Chalmers Jones and Carlson Skate parks, adding beauty and diversity to an urban setting. Rickman Garden provides 17 raised beds which are rented by indi- vidual gardeners responsible for plan- ing, growing, upkeep and harvesting. Our fi rst gathering of the season will be on Saturday, April 16, from 10 a.m. to noon. Three Master Gardeners will be on hand to share information and answer questions. The public is invited to attend and bring questions, stroll through the gar- den and watch us grow. Rickman Community Garden is a partnership with Marion-Polk Food Share, the city of Keizer and the Ro- tary Club of Keizer. For more infor- mation contact Peggy or Jerry Moore at moore5881@comcast.net. Peggy Moore Keizer Abuse of animals To the Editor: Did you know 70 percent of ani- mal abusers often have records of vio- lent crimes? Animal abuse should stop because animals are family, animals die and animals have feelings, too. One reason animal abuse should stop is because they’re family. Accord- ing to Stop Animal Cruelty, “some animals are not strong enough to take care of themselves. So they just live with it.” Therefore, they get abused by their owners every day. A discussion (Ami Maceira McSparin is an es- sential skills specialist with InCite.) letters 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 The GOP has two fevers By MICHAEL GERSON Some Trump-obsessed, hysterical nitwits have overstated the case that the Republican Party may be on the verge of self-annihilation. “If Trump were the nominee,” said one, “the GOP would cease to be.” That quote would be mine. The mood of the moment (not to men- tion the rhythm of the sentence) was irresistible. But the Republican Party would probably not disintegrate if ei- ther Donald Trump or Ted Cruz were its nominee. The reality is both less dramatic and (for those who wish the GOP well) more tragic. On the whole, the Obama era has been the best time to be a Republi- can since Herbert Hoover left offi ce. The 2014 election yielded the high- est number of GOP House members since 1928, and the second highest number of GOP senators. There are currently 31 Republican governors. The GOP controls 70 percent of state legislatures and enjoys single-party rule in 25 states. Real Clear Politics election ana- lysts Sean Trende and David Byler have put together an index of party strength, based on performance at federal, state and local levels. By their measure, Republicans are doing their best overall since 1928. “The Repub- lican Party,” they conclude, “is stron- ger than it has been in most of our readers’ lifetimes.” The overwhelming volume of presidential election coverage cre- ates an illusion that only presidential elections matter. But Democratic de- cline at the state and local levels has radiating effects—infl uencing the shape of redistricting, emptying the bench of future electoral talent, and helping undermine the implementa- tion of Democratic initiatives such as Obamacare. Consider: If Republicans had fi elded a strong presi- dential nomi- nee this year, who managed to win a win- nable election, the party’s success would have been more comprehensive than any since 1980. The tragedy is not that Re- publicans are on the verge of self-de- struction; it is that they were on the verge of victory, and threw it away. This singular failure is not a small thing for the GOP. The patient is brimming with health and vigor in every way, except for the miss- ing head. Either of this year’s likely Republican failures would compli- cate the job of candidates down the ticket and help alienate demographic groups that are essential to future na- tional victories. At the presidential level, the GOP has two arguments in desperate need of defeat—two ideological fevers that need to break. The fi rst is the Tea Par- ty claim that ideological purity is the key to presidential success. Repub- licans, in this view, have lost recent presidential elections because their quisling candidates, John McCain and Mitt Romney, could not turn out 4 million “missing” conservative voters. That number, it actually turns out, is a myth, rooted in the slow reporting of vote totals after the 2012 election. “There’s no magic formula,” says Dan McLaughlin of RedState, “no cavalry of millions of conservatives waiting just over the hill to save the day.” A Custer-like loss by Cruz—who has shown little ability to expand be- yond his narrow ideological appeal— would demonstrate this point. The second fever is less common other views in the U.S. than in Europe, but it is a particularly vicious strain. This is the claim by right-wing populists that Republicans need to completely re- orient their ideology in favor of na- tivism, protectionism and isolationism in order to appeal to working-class whites. This was the message of Pat Buchanan’s presidential campaigns starting in the 1990s. With Trump, it is back in full force. The problem? Aside from the fact that protectionism is self-destructive economic policy, and isolationism is disastrous foreign policy, an attempt to pump up the white vote with nativist rhetoric manages to alienate just about everyone else. Trump has secured his stagnant plurality in GOP primaries by earning record-level dis- approval from the rest of America. If Trump were the Republican nomi- nee, winning states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan would require an increase in the white working-class vote so vast that the math is essentially impossible. This is now the subject of many conversations among Republicans: Is it better to lose with Cruz or to lose with Trump? Both the arguments for Tea Party purity and for “white lives matter” nativism are in need of dis- crediting defeat. Unfortunately, they seem to be the two available choices. Eventually, Republicans will re- quire another option: A reform-ori- ented conservatism that is responsive to working-class problems while ac- commodating demographic realities. This is what makes Paul Ryan so at- tractive as the Hail Mary pass of an open convention. But, more realisti- cally, it will be the work of a headless Republican Party, reconstituting itself in a new Clinton era. (Washington Post Writers Group) Overfi shing oceans has consequences A few decades ago the nearest sighting of a sea lion for an Astorian involved a 175 mile drive down the coast to the Sea Lion Caves. Grow- ing up in Astoria meant that one could never view creatures that live in the Pacifi c Ocean except, maybe, but very seldom, a lost seal. Now, residents and visitors alike need travel no further than a visit to Astoria’s East Mooring Basin to see and hear a noisy cacophony of liter- ally hundreds of them. These same animals that kept themselves and their families way down south are in Astoria to raise their voices in what sounds more than anything else like three thousand humans at an outdoor symphony, bellowing their approval at the stage with hoarse throats. Those in charge of Astoria’s port facilities see the huge animals as a big problem. They are viewed that way because they are destroying the docks onto which they haul their bodies for rest and relaxation, de- priving the port of collections from boaters who can no longer use space there to moor their boats. As an aside, the East Mooring Ba- sin was added to Astoria boat moor- ages in the 1950s but was a bit of a failure because its design did not protect small craft from the Co- lumbia River’s very strong current that whips through the newer boat moorage at speeds not unlike being in open water. There is also a West Mooring Basin that’s much older but where the typical fi sherman wants to moor his boat when not in use be- cause it offers near total protection from the swift-moving Columbia River. Whatever the case, with the sea lions around in abundant numbers there has been established a Sea Lion De- fense Brigade that views the animals as an attraction and a means to collect rev- enue from those who travel to the seaport and spend time in restau- rants, buy the local art, purchase a pound or two of salmon and spend the night. Meanwhile, the sea lion watching itself is free and can be seen in its largest number when smelt and salmon are on the run up the river to their spawning grounds at certain times of the year. Anyone deciding to make the trip can use Highway 101 via Highway 26 or Highway 30 straight from Portland to Astoria, a relatively small city, and wend their way to the east end of the city where the noise and odor of the sea lions is hard to miss. In the meantime, there have been efforts at discouraging the sea lions from taking over the East Moor- ing Basin’s docks. A large, realistic- looking but fake Orca was tried but it sank on its maiden try to the har- rumphs of many who knew the sea lions to be too smart to fall for it but a big hope to those who believed the sea lions dumb enough to scatter back to the ocean. Electrifi ed mats, beach balls, welded railings and, at last notice, air dancers have been used with air dancers the latest, perhaps most promising, effort at success. Ul- timate solution: there are many reci- pes for preparing sea lion in delicious dishes; so, how about helping the world’s poor with some fresh frozen sea lion chops, “Abundant now from famous Astoria!” gene h. mcintyre We humans have brought this state of affairs on ourselves. It was hint- ed at the start of this piece that no self-respecting sea lion would have shown its whiskery face in Astoria or anywhere on the fresh water Colum- bia River, not that long ago. Why are they amassing in huge numbers in Astoria nowadays? Because the human species has fi shed the oceans nearly barren of fi sh: Readers may have heard of the fi sh factory ships whose gigantic nets sweep all living things from the sea, making the sea a water-covered desert. Yes, there’s some efforts to bring fi sh species back. However, since their near extinction is at hand and fi nding a meal for a sea lion at the Sea Lion Caves is more challenging; they’ve chosen to make it easier on themselves by occupying the south side mooring basin of the Columbia River at Astoria that’s a mere three miles wide there. The last word on this subject is the one where the sea lions will most likely return to their natural habitat when they can feed themselves there again. So, where there were hundreds of Astoria fi shermen when I was a boy fi fty years ago, most of them have given up their former vocation and become landlubbers with computers or among the unemployed. Hence, the sea lions have nearly free reign and control over the vastly dimin- ished smelt and salmon runs that once counted in the millions, so thick in number anyone interested could almost catch them by hand while seine nets drawn by horses on the sand bars were used at low tides to collect hundred at one fell sweep. (Gene H. McIntyre’s column ap- pears weekly in the Keizertimes.)