PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, APRIL 22, 2016
KeizerOpinion
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Having fun with lemons
Lemonade Day is the
antidote to the “Mom,
there’s nothing to do” la-
ment. With a nudge, a par-
ent, a guardian or a teach-
er can convince a Keizer
youngster that the cure for
the ‘nothing to do’ blues is
starting a business.
Started in Texas, Lemonade Day
has blossomed across the country—
sales top $50 million each year. The
project teaches kids (target group:
5th to 8th graders) how to start a
business and open a one-day lem-
onade store on May 1.
Lemonade Day was created to
introduce kids to business—create,
design, develop and market—in the
guise of America’s favorite citrus
drink. It is not too late to register
a lemonade stand with the Salem-
Keizer Education Foundation
(overseers here in the region).
Kids get help from their par-
ents with school science projects
or building a Soapbox Derby car
among many others. Lemonade
Day is no different.
Every business has its start-up
costs. The fi rst step is for Lemon-
aders to fi nd family members or
friends to ‘invest’ in the business.
Investing is not steep; costs include
lemonade ingredients, materials to
construct a stand, which can be or-
nate or modest.
Lemonade stands can be the
business of one or a team effort. The
kids involved learn about team-
work and cooperation along with
marketing, research and customer
service, elements of any
successful adult life.
Having a stand on
Lemonade Day is not a
chore, it is a fun activity
in which the whole fam-
ily can be involved.
Money raised at a
lemonade stand is div-
vied into three piles: one-third to
be saved for education, one-third
donated to a charity of the Lem-
onaders’ choice and one-third is
mad money that goes right into the
pocket of the little businesspeople.
Part of the fun of planning for
the day is locating a site: outside
their house? At a high-traffi c re-
tail store (after getting store per-
mission)? Then, deciding what the
stand will look like: old fashioned?
High tech? Multi-colored?
With help from a parent or a
mentor the kitchen will get messy
as the Lemonader experiments with
various ingredients to achieve the
best possible tasting product.
Some stands offer more than
lemonade, many offer a little nosh,
too, such as fresh-baked pastries.
The lemonade serves double duty:
slakes thirst and washes down deli-
cious brownies.
Like mushrooms after a spring
rain, it would be nice to see lemon-
ade stands sprout up around Keizer
on May 1. There’s yet time for our
kids to create the Google or Face-
book of lemonade.
(Register at salemkeizer.lemon-
adeday.org.)
—LAZ
editorial
Choose talk over punishment
By RANDOM
PENDRAGON
I just read MHS overfl ow
clogs street by Craig Murphy.
What this neighborhood
is doing is punishing a large
amount of students because
of the actions of a few. I per-
sonally know people who
use this gate to not only drive, but
walk to school in a timely and con-
venient matter. The people who are
proposing the shutting of this gate
have admitted in that very article that
the closing of Sandy Drive has pushed
the overfl ow to them.
How is taking the same course of
action going to solve any problems?
It will only create an equal amount
or more of the same problems some-
where else, which brings me to my
main point—this whole thing is a
consequence of a town that is void of
community.
The truth is, they don’t care
what happens to the next ‘overfl ow
area,’ because they’re happy as long
as they don’t have to deal with it. The
people that are going to be impacted
by this are literally students trying to
get to school. They are being pushed
around and degraded for minor in-
fractions. I am curious as to how
many of these people attempted to
speak to the students they believe are
causing problems before taking it to
both the mayor and the principal of
the school. I am curious as to how
many have actually witnessed students
“smoke whatever they’re smoking,”
and are not just speculating. This is
something that needs to be addressed
at a community level, but therein lies
the earlier problem I stated. McNary’s
community ends at the fence that sur-
rounds it.
The students who attend McNary
are just as much their neighbors as
their friend Betty down the street.
But, they wish to address this problem
with a padlock. These points are ap-
parent even in the language they use
to describe students. The
mayor, referring to Sandy
Drive quite disparagingly
targets “the behaviors of
some of the youth.” The
youth. I shouldn’t have to
explain why this is belit-
tling.
In addition, Charles
Anderson says in the story, “They are
characters, I’ll put it that way. They’re
smoking something.They hide and
smoke whatever they’re smoking.
If they lock the gate, our problem is
solved.”
It’s almost a form of fear-monger-
ing akin to ‘those darn youth bringing
drugs into my neighborhood.’ Surely,
this country has enough “build-a-
wall” mentality fl oating around, and I
don’t want it at my school. If they “like
where [they] live” so much, as Michael
Catlow says, surely they understand
that part of living there is seeing and
interacting with students. This imme-
diate jump to the mayor and creation
of a petition in tandem with their ap-
parent refusal to work as a community
is only one example of a diseased and
cold city. Pictures of students’ cars are
posted publicly and are given no plat-
form to defend themselves. This city
(and apparently its journalism) goes
from the top down. It’s taken to the
mayor and the school, and then the
students are only there to be subject
to punishment and reform. This event
is extremely polarizing and forces stu-
dents and homeowners to take sides,
rather than join forces. So great, put a
lock on it and close the gate. Push us
inside and make it so that you don’t
have to see us, hear us, or think about
us. Make it so that a student’s dedica-
tion to McNary never translates into
a dedication for Keizer. Keep that go-
ing. All you’ll see is generations upon
generations only being in Keizer by
chance and fi nding success and pros-
perity in other towns. It’s sickening.
Stores closing due
to higher wage
more
people
on
assistance
of some kind.
I don’t own a
business, but I
understand the
big picture. Part
of that picture
are the employees who deserve a
living wage.
Kris Adams
Keizer
guest
opinion
To the Editor:
I am very disappointed in any
business that uses the excuse that a
higher minimum wage is the reason
they are closing. I fi nd it confus-
ing that you wouldn’t want to pay
a decent wage for people so they
can even exist. No one can live on
minimum wage as it is and without
an increase, we will continue to see
(Random Pendragon is a McNary
High School student.)
letters
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Salem, Oregon
What they owe the progressives
By E.J. DIONNE JR.
Compared with the ferocious
fractiousness of the Republican
campaign, Hillary Clinton and Ber-
nie Sanders are operating by rules
inspired by St. Francis of Assisi, the
gentle animal-loving holy man
whom Pat Buchanan once derided
as “the pacifi st with the pigeons.”
But with the GOP setting a very
high standard for political brutality,
that’s not saying much.
Any doubt that Clinton and
Sanders are fed up with each other
was put to rest in last week’s debate.
In big block type, the New York Daily
News proclaimed them “Brooklyn
Brawlers.” They went at each other
as if there would be no tomorrow
after New York votes. That’s pretty
much true.
You sensed from Sanders’ aggres-
siveness that he knows he’s on the
edge of effective elimination. If he
does win on Tuesday, he’d throw the
Democratic race into turmoil and
make Clinton’s path to the nomina-
tion much rockier. A Clinton victory
in New York, which polls suggest is
more likely, would all but seal the
deal for her.
So it’s time to ask: Will both can-
didates now acknowledge that the
differences between them are minor
compared with the philosophical
chasm that separates them from any
of their potential Republican foes?
The issue of particular contention
between the two Democrats is, para-
doxically, the one that shows how far
both are from the GOP: what to do
about the fi nancial system.
Sanders wants to break up the
big banks, seeing anything short of
this as selling out. Clinton argues
that breaking them up won’t solve
the fi nancial system’s problems and
wouldn’t touch the many nonbank
institutions that helped cause the
crash that led
to the Great
Recession. In-
stead, she pro-
poses
much
tougher regu-
lation.
Their un-
derlying argument is more than a
century old, reprising an internecine
progressive fi ght that goes back to
the 1912 election. It was an Ameri-
can classic when the Republican
Party split into two: the relatively
conservative incumbent president,
William Howard Taft, secured the
party’s nomination; former President
Theodore Roosevelt walked out and
formed the Progressive Party. Two
other progressive candidates, Demo-
crat Woodrow Wilson and Social-
ist Eugene Debs, rounded out the
most remarkable fi eld of candidates
American voters were ever offered.
Although Sanders reveres Debs
and has a medallion commemorating
him in his Senate offi ce, his position
on the banks is closer to Wilson’s ap-
proach to monopoly. Proclaiming
his devotion to a “New Freedom,”
Wilson wanted more aggressive an-
ti-trust actions and warned, Sanders-
like, that the country was nearing
“the time when the combined pow-
er of high fi nance would be greater
than the power of the government.”
Roosevelt, arguing for a “New
Nationalism,” saw economic con-
centration as inevitable and believed
Wilson’s approach was naive. He saw
stronger government regulation of
large entities as more likely to secure
both justice and effi ciency. When it
comes to the world of fi nance, Clin-
ton is the TR candidate this year.
I’ve always been sympathetic to
Roosevelt’s side in that argument,
but the larger point is that Sanders
and Clinton (like Wilson and Roos-
other
views
evelt before them) both see govern-
ment as playing an important role
in checking concentrated economic
power and preventing abuses of the
system.
And the Republicans? Donald
Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich
would all reduce government su-
pervision of the fi nancial system by
repealing the Dodd-Frank reforms.
Clinton and Sanders are arguing
about what needs to be done. The
Republicans want to do less alto-
gether.
Or take health care. Clinton and
Sanders have battled fi ercely about
how to move forward from Obam-
acare, but both want to build on its
successes. Republicans would repeal
it. The two Democrats have squab-
bled about how much the minimum
wage should go up; the Republicans
all oppose a federal minimum wage
increase. Such party differences are
multiplied across a broad fi eld of is-
sues.
At a time when ideological polar-
ization between the parties is so high,
such contrasts should be obvious.
But the bad blood between many of
Sanders’ supporters and Clinton ob-
scures the stakes and presents Demo-
crats with a special challenge.
Their victories depend on high
participation among younger voters
who are turned on to Sanders and,
in many cases, turned off to Clinton.
The pro-Sanders young are unlikely
to vote Republican, but if too many
stay home in November, much of
what Sanders and Clinton believe in
could be consigned to the dustbin.
That’s why the day after New
York, the Brooklyn Brawlers would
do well to sit down over a couple
of Brooklyn Brewery ales and fi gure
out a way forward.
(Washington Post Writers Group)
The importance of wildlife refuges
Federal authorities have recently
reported more than two dozen in-
cidents of totally unacceptable be-
havior, including vandalism and
other acts of wreckage, by armed
American militants at 13 wildlife
refuges. This destructive behavior
caused more than $7 million and
counting so far. Apparently, these
costs will be paid by American tax-
payers as there has been no report, at
least not one known at this writing,
where those persons responsible for
the criminal acts will pay restitu-
tion for their law breaking, public
property wrecking, ruining wildlife
habitation and public property ru-
ination in general.
So what is a National Wild-
life Refuge (NWR) and what do
they mean to the average Ameri-
can which add up to much more
than just land and things on the land
that America’s armed militants want
to take over for their personal use
and profi t? A NWR is a designa-
tion for certain land that’s protected
and managed by the U.S Fish and
Wildlife Service. The NWR is a
system of public lands and waters
set aside to conserve America’s fi sh,
wildlife and plants.
After President Theodore Roos-
evelt designated Florida’s Pelican Is-
land as the fi rst national wildlife ref-
uge 1903 the system has increased
in size to more than 560 national
wildlife refuges and other units of
the refuge system and, further, the
38 wetland management districts
encompass more than 150 million
acres. The system’s mission is to
manage a national network of lands
and waters for the conservation,
management, and, where needed,
the restoration of fi sh, wildlife and
gene h.
mcintyre
plant resourc-
es and their
habitat. The
system main-
tains all for
the benefi t of
current and
future gen-
erations
of
Americans.
Among the refuge sites are some-
thing like 700 bird species, 220
mammal species, 250 reptile and
amphibian species and 1,000 fi sh
species. These various species are a
priority to NWRs in that 60 refug-
es have been established to conserve
280 threatened and endangered spe-
cies.
More than 45 million people
per year can visit and participate
in a wide variety of NWR out-
door recreational activities that in-
clude hunting, fi shing, photography,
bird watching, environmental edu-
cation among others. These visitors
generate over $1.7 billion and cre-
ate around 27,000 jobs for local
economies. Every state has at least
one while ourmost famous (or infa-
mous by way of armed militants) is
located in Harney County.
The national wildlife refuge sys-
tem is dealing with issues such as
urban intrusion/development, habi-
tat fragmentation, degradation of
water quantity and quality, climate
change, invasive species, increasing
demands for recreation, and increas-
ing demands for energy develop-
ment as well as Americans who are
determined to take them over by
force of arms for personal gain and
their exclusive use.
To protect and sustain these na-
tional treasures that have been tend-
ed to and improved for more than
100 years, the NWR system has
created Comprehensive Conserva-
tion Plans (CCPs) for each refuge,
developed through consultation
with private and public stakehold-
ers. The CCPs design conserva-
tion goals for the next 15 years in
each refuge. Each plan has plan-
ning and public meeting stages
to determine goals and the draft-
ing of a plan for all considerations
within each refuge. All actions are
in compliance with the National
Environmental Policy Act. Every-
thing’s available for public scrutiny
at NWR system web sites.
We’re greatly endowed by the
National Wildlife Refuge System in
Oregon with 18 of them, most of
which are actually within easy driv-
ing distance of Keizer. Who knows,
but that you might become a dedi-
cated protector of them by a visit to
one or many of them. In the mean-
time, Rep. Earl Blumenauer and
Senator Ron Wyden are presently
working in the halls of our nation’s
capitol to make access and use of
the NWRs easier and less burden-
some to use.
(Gene H. McIntyre’s column ap-
pears weekly in the Keizertimes.)
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