PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, MAY 20, 2016
KeizerOpinion
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Iris festival and its future
Diamond in the Rough,
the 2016 Keizer Iris Fes-
tival, kicked off earlier this
month with the opening
of the Keizer Art Associa-
tion’s Iris and the Flowers
exhibit including the art
piece chosen for the 2017
festival (Merren Garland’s
Total Eclipse of the Heart) on display
through May 28.
The Keizer Volunteer Fire Fight-
ers Association held their annual
Mother’s Day Breakfast; Cathy Clark
led the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast. Last
weekend two young women, Sydney
Martindale and Elizabeth Russell,
were chosen as the 2016 Keizer’s Dis-
tinguished Young Women.
It’s been a busy festival thus far; it
really kicks into high gear this week-
end with the opening of the Keizer-
fest tent and its full weekend of live
entertainment. The festival will feature
the pet parade and a total of fi ve run-
ning events.
The centerpiece of the festival is
the Iris Festival Parade on Saturday.
Traffi c routes will be affected, but
that’s a small price to pay to celebrate
one’s community.
The festival is our community’s
biggest event. Years ago, the Iris Festi-
val was on the event calendar all by it-
self. These days it is impossible to fi nd
a weekend any time of the year that is
event-free. A proliferation of festivals,
concerts, tournaments and fundraisers
over the past 10 years has divided the
public’s attention.
What used to be ‘parade Saturday’
is now jockeying for audiences with
a number of other events in our area
and throughout the region. Therein
lies the challenge for the
Keizer Chamber of Com-
merce, organizer and ben-
efi ciary of the festival—or-
ganizing and promoting a
festival that Keizerites feel
they cannot miss.
The festival has seen
many changes over the
years, ebbing and fl owing with the
desires of the public. The parade is the
linchpin of the Iris event; the Keiz-
erfest tent is as popular as the music
acts that play and the beverages served.
The Keizerfest tent serves as reunion
of sorts—former McNary High
School classmates reconnect, friends,
separated by busy daily lives, get to-
gether and catch up.
Beside the parade, the fi ve running
events have become a major attraction
for the festival—a marathon, a half
marathon and 10-, 5- and 3-K races
bring thousands of people out.
The Iris Festival is the one time of
the year for Keizer to show itself off.
Thoughts of turning the festival into
a regional event faded over the years.
Staging a festival this large is not easy
nor inexpensive. The number of vol-
unteers needed is titanic. After decades
of the Iris Festival being run by vol-
unteers (whom get harder to recruit
on the scale required for the task), it
might be time to hire a full-time event
planner.
Keizer is on the cusp of positive
and benefi cial growth. Hundreds of
new housing units are being added, as
are new retail stores and a possible ex-
pansion of the city limits to the north.
There is a lot to celebrate about Keiz-
er. The Iris Festival is and should re-
main our best advertisement. —LAZ
editoriul
Deal with the devil
By MICHAEL
GERSON
In the category of
credit where credit is
due, Donald Trump has
been exactly right in
one important respect.
He attacked the Re-
publican establishment
as low-energy, cowering weaklings.
Now Republican leaders are lining up
to surrender to him—ike low-energy,
cowering weaklings. The capitulation
has justifi ed the accusation.
It would be impolite to name
names. So I should not mention that
former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who
now angles for Trump’s vice presi-
dential nod, once said: “He offers a
barking carnival act that can be best
described as Trumpism: a toxic mix of
demagoguery, mean-spiritedness and
nonsense that will lead the Republi-
can Party to perdition if pursued. Let
no one be mistaken—Donald Trump’s
candidacy is a cancer on conservatism,
and it must be clearly diagnosed, ex-
cised and discarded.” I should resist the
temptation to recall how Rep. Peter
King of New York, who now (reluc-
tantly) backs Trump, once asserted he
is “not fi t to be president, morally or
intellectually.”
Singling out individuals is unfair
in so great a company. One by one,
Republican senators have made their
peace with a Trump nomination.
Many in the House GOP leadership
and caucus have urged Speaker Paul
Ryan to get it over with and endorse
the presumptive Republican nominee.
It is humorous—in a sad, bitter, tragic
sort of way—to see Republican lead-
ers, and some conservative commenta-
tors, try to forget or minimize Trump’s
history of odious proposals and state-
ments.
And all this has taken place without
(apparently) securing any concessions
or guarantees from Trump himself. He
now knows that he can violate any
Republican or conservative principle
and still get a round of crisp salutes,
even from his strongest opponents.
This is the white fl ag of ideological
surrender.
I understand the short-term politi-
cal calculation. Better to have Trump,
who is ideologically unpredictable,
make Supreme Court nominations
than Hillary Clinton, who is reliably
liberal. Better to have Trump rather
than Clinton make all those plum ex-
ecutive branch appointments. Besides,
if Trump is a liar, Clinton is a worse
one. If Trump is a misogynist, well,
consider Clinton’s husband.
This justifi cation has a few
fl aws. The fi rst is reductio ad
Trumpism. If Clinton is the ul-
timate evil, would anyone be
better than she is? How about
Trump’s ex-butler, who threat-
ened President Obama on
Facebook? How about Trump
supporter Phil Robertson of “Duck
Dynasty”? Of course not, a Republi-
can would angrily respond. A prospec-
tive president needs to be morally and
intellectually fi t for the offi ce. He or
she can’t be guilty of demagoguery or
mean-spiritedness, or talk nonsense all
the time.
But this is exactly the issue. Were
Perry and King correct in their initial
diagnosis of Trump? If so, we are not
dealing with the normal give-and-
take of policy and politics. We have
left the realm of half a loaf and you
scratch my back. We are dealing with a
question of fi tness for the highest of-
fi ce in the land. It is not enough for
GOP partisans to assert Trump’s su-
periority to Clinton on this issue or
that. They must justify that Trump has
the experience, knowledge, tempera-
ment, judgment and character to be
president of the United States. That is
a more diffi cult task.
This leads to a second objection.
Pursuing the short-term interests of
the GOP, gained by unity, may actu-
ally damage or destroy the party in
the longer term by confi rming a se-
ries of destructive stereotypes. Re-
publicans stand accused of disdaining
immigrants; their nominee proposes
to round up and deport 11 million
people. Republicans are accused of
religious bigotry; their nominee pro-
poses to stop all Muslims at the border.
Republicans are accused of a war on
women; the Republican nominee, if a
recent New York Times expose is accu-
rate, is the caveman candidate.
All this is a particular blow to con-
servatives, of which I count myself one.
Conservatives latched on to the GOP
as an instrument to express their ideals.
Now loyalty to party is causing many
to abandon their ideals. Conservatism
is not misogyny. Conservatism is not
nativism and protectionism. Conser-
vatism is not religious bigotry and
conspiracy theories. Conservatism is
not anti-intellectual and anti-science.
For the sake of partisanship -- for a
mess of pottage -- some conservatives
are surrendering their identity.
It is a very bad deal.
other
views
(Wushington Post Writers Group)
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Sulem, Oregon
Being grateful at all times
By CRAIG MURPHY
There were no signs of the house.
Is that a good omen or a bad
omen?
That question was going through
my mind as I saw the fi eld where the
burned out house sat last time I was
here, 10 months earlier.
Looking at the fi eld, you would
never know there used to be a house
where Randy and Debbie Wilson
lived.
Regular readers of the Keizertimes
may recall the story from last July
about the Wilsons. The two made it
out alive when their house caught
fi re in June—on Debbie’s birthday,
no less —but they lost everything.
All they had left was each other
and their two dogs.
I wanted to see the Wilsons this
week before leaving here. I looked
up the directions to make sure I re-
membered exactly how to get there.
After all, Nevada Street isn’t too easy
to fi nd when you’re going 55 mph
down Highway 99 just outside of
Keizer.
Going slowly up the half-mile
gravel Nevada Street—a sign asks
you to not exceed 10 mph, lest too
much dust get kicked up—I didn’t
know what I would see. Maybe
Randy and Debbie enjoying a new
home? Maybe a trailer?
I get to the end of the road and
see…nothing. I get out and see fa-
miliar landmarks. The tire swing
hanging off the tree over there.
The gate back there. The neighbor’s
house just up the road.
But there was no sign of the Wil-
sons.
Well, that sucks. Maybe they
are simply two of the thousands of
homeless in the area. Or maybe they
stumbled upon some great luck —
the good Lord knows they certainly
deserve it — and got back on their
feet with a nice house somewhere.
Who knows, maybe they passed
away.
Spotting a
neighbor ing
home, I walk
that way. A
man, Austin,
asks if he can
help. I explain
I’m looking
for
Randy
and Debbie. He offers to walk me
over to them. As it turns out another
neighbor, Juan Benavidez, has been
letting the Wilsons stay in a trailer on
his property since the fi re.
Austin walks me over to Randy,
who comes out from underneath
the 1998 Ford Mustang he’s been
working on. Randy readily admits
he’s not much of a mechanic, but
he’s trying to repair the rear brakes.
It’s not going terribly well.
But that’s fi ne with Randy. A
friend had three cars and didn’t need
the Mustang, so he gave it to Randy
and Debbie.
“It’s in pretty good shape,” a
grateful Randy says.
Debbie notes her Social Security
application was accepted, so hope-
fully sometime soon the couple will
fi nally start getting some fi nancial
help.
“We’re hanging in there, with the
generosity of friends,” she says.
The couple had a relief fund set
up last year via a friend’s Wells Fargo
account. But only $275 was collect-
ed and it was costing more to keep
the account going than it was bring-
ing in. On top of that, the friend
with the account suffered a house
fi re of his own last year.
“We want to get out of this yard
and get a place of our own,” Randy
says. “Nothing has changed yet, but
it will.”
In some ways, the couple is stuck
on last June 20, the day of the dev-
astating fi re.
“We do what we can,” Debbie
says. “It’s still overwhelming. Every
day I think about it. What can you
checkered
fl ug
do? You just keep moving forward.”
The couple can accept mail or
donations at: Randy and Debbie
Wilson, General Delivery, Salem,
OR 97305.
The Wilsons have nothing but
kind words for Juan.
“For him to do this was a big dent
in his world,” Randy says. “It was not
necessary, but he did it.”
In general, grateful is a good way
to describe the Wilsons.
Yes, they lost all of their posses-
sions.
Yes, they are getting by thanks to
the extreme kindness of a neighbor
and good friend.
Yes, they are still waiting for So-
cial Security to kick in so they can
get back on their feet.
“My luck isn’t good,” Randy be-
gins.
He pauses, then looks over at
Debbie, the woman he’ll be cel-
ebrating a 26th wedding anniversary
with the next day.
“Actually, yes it is,” Randy cor-
rects himself. “I would lose those
things 100 times over again if I could
still have you.”
I realize at that moment the rea-
son I came here. Sometimes when
we have an incredible new chapter
in life waiting for us, like I do next
week with an exciting job oppor-
tunity after 18 years in newspapers,
we lose sight of the great blessings
we’ve experienced in this chapter of
our lives.
Meeting and getting to tell the
hard luck stories of people like the
Wilsons and families in our Chasing
Dark heroin stories has been a deep
honor and blessing.
“May God bless you,” Randy
told me multiple times as we parted
company.
He certainly has, Randy. Thank
you for the reminder of that.
For that, I’m eternally grateful.
(Cruig Murphy wus News Editor
of the Keizertimes until this week.)
Trade and tariffs could defi ne future
There has been talk during this
year’s presidential campaigns about free
trade and trade protections. If Ameri-
can people are inclined to look to
the past they will fi nd that during the
latter years of the 1800s, the U.S. was
viewed as possibly the most protec-
tionist nation on earth.
The most notable industrialists of
that age, often referred to as the rob-
ber barons, were not interested in free
trade. During that 54-year period from
1860 to 1914, U.S tariffs on foreign
goods were often as high as 40 to 50
percent and America went from an
emerging power to an economic gi-
ant where our gross national product
(GDP) was equal to England, France
and Germany combined.
President Chester A. Arthur saw
to it that a U.S. tariff commission was
formed. By the time Arthur took of-
fi ce tariff policy was the hot Ameri-
can topic of that day with low tariff
advocates as strongly detested in the
north as slave owners in the south had
been before the Civil War.
The pro-tariff argument went like
this: Unless high duties on imported
manufactured goods were imposed,
American businesses could not com-
pete with their European rivals. High
import duties on shoes, steel, clothing
and furniture, for example, were com-
monplace in the U.S. for years before
1860; over the decades American in-
dustry had become competitive and
hugely profi table and wanted protec-
tion through high tariffs.
As the world turned to the U.S. in
the 19th century, high tariffs didn’t
only protect American industries
from foreign competition; they also
enabled businesses to charge higher
prices for their goods inside the U.S.
So, as the robber baron industrialists
accumulated more and more wealth
and lived ever
more lavishly,
the common
American
consumer
got more and
more upset.
Consumers
viewed high
tariffs as enabling the rich to get richer
by gouging them.
Then, too, those Americans who
opposed high tariffs on manufactured
goods, often supported them on raw
materials: the farmers who grew cot-
ton opposed foreign competition as
much as the owners of textile mills.
Southern cotton growers wanted high
taxes on Indian and Egyptian cotton
while farmers in Ohio wanted high
tariffs on imported wool.
In the years immediately after, tariff
battles were won by the protection-
ists in favor of American manufac-
turing. The rich industrialists were
categorically opposed to free trade
as they were most interested in cre-
ating bastions of power and wealth
like their counterparts in those parts
of Europe undergoing the industrial
revolution but were not about to open
their doors to their rivals across the
Atlantic. Whatever harm and diffi cul-
ty the wealthy industrialists brought,
workers and farmers were never their
concern but did result in American
industry rising to dominant interna-
tional positions that was aided by the
U.S. government, helping them at ev-
ery turn.
Tariffs once ruled and protected
American industry but when the U.S.
became more international, starting af-
ter World War I, there was a wholesale
change. Views on the results to Ameri-
can business, industry and employment
opportunities from the North Ameri-
can Free Trade Agreement (NAF-
TA) in the Clinton administration
hold it in low regard while the current
Trans-Pacifi c Partnership is anticipated
by many to provide more trade breaks
for the likes of China and Japan and
more losses in general for us. American
companies export a lot of goods and
wants to keep it that way, which is true
for a many in Oregon. So the debate
about trade and tariffs and duties will
go on with all parties concerned bang-
ing on the doors of Congress and the
White House to get what they want.
The best predictor of the future is
the past. The best guess, regarding tar-
iffs, duties and trade agreements, is that
nothing of monumental signifi cance
will take place in these matters during
the next four years. Donald Trump, as
president, will make some more noise
about tariffs, but, being wealthy him-
self with a lot of self-interest in the
mix, will make some threat-like state-
ments about reforms, and, then, say-
ing he was misunderstood, will back
off and ignore the matter. Hillary
Clinton and hubby simply want to be
more fi lthy rich than they are already
and not upset their rich buddies. As
for Sanders, he’s highly unlikely to be
the Democrat nominee as his rants and
raves will almost certainly come to lit-
tle because they are unrealistic in the
current American political attitudes
about socialism, “democratic social-
ism” or otherwise.
Things may appear grim. There
have been many instances in U.S.
history where survival has appeared
threateningly dubious. However, posi-
tive surprises have come before and
may occur again even as bad as they
may look before the future unfolds.
Politicans and the
city budget
Last year the
mayor brought
in the manage-
ment from the
transit
district
to discuss their
proposed
tax
increase on the
business com-
munity, again this tax increase was de-
feated. I believe this is the community
voicing their opinion.
The mayor also points out that
our tax rate of $2.08 was established
in 1992 and comparable cities pay a
higher tax rate than we do in Keizer.
That comment begs the question, “So
what?”Our mayor fails to note that
the total city revenue has not been
stuck at the 1992 level, it has increased
with the growth in new homes, in-
creased assessed value of homes and
business. The mayor also left out the
other funds the city receives such as
license and fees, fi nes and forfeitures,
charges for service and intergovern-
mental revenue sharing. (Note: the as-
sessed value of a home rises 3 percent
every year, provided it’s lower than the
market value.) Additionally, the mayor
doesn’t mention that the Keizer Fire
District has its own tax rate of $2.04,
which is separate from the city opera-
tion.
In my opinion, the city staff hears
the community and lives within our
means. The politicians seem to hear,
tax me more because comparable cit-
ies pay more than we do.
Sometimes politicians can drive me
crazy.
Jim Keller
Keizer
To the Editor:
Sometimes politicians can drive me
crazy.
During a recent budget commit-
tee meeting one position in the police
department was not fi lled and we are
told the problem is Keizer has such a
low tax rate. Then we are told how
the city has “stretched, matched, lev-
eraged, granted and volunteered tre-
mendously” and the “elastic has worn
out.” This is a city staff managing an
approved budget and not a fi nancial
crisis.
The mayor states there needs to be
an honest conversation about what
type of community we want to live in.
In 2011, the mayor and several oth-
ers conducted a very misleading cam-
paign for a “Public Safety Communi-
cation fee” which failed by 80 percent.
gene h.
mcintyre
letters
(Gene H. McIntyre’s column up-
peurs weekly in the Keizertimes.)
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