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.)