PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, JULY 1, 2016
KeizerOpinion
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Yes, Keizer is safe
By CATHY CLARK
Are we safe? I have
heard that very sincere
question many times as we
have read reports of crimes
committed at our local
businesses this week.
Our police chief has
stated that folks in our community
who do not live a high risk lifestyle,
i.e. drug dealing, sex-traffi cking, theft,
or gangs, are not the people involved
in the shootings that have caused us
concern and demanded resources
from our police staff. We live on the
Interstate 5 corridor and that impacts
the kinds of crimes that occur. But
those crimes get solved. Our police
staff—patrol, detectives, traffi c safety,
community response, school resource,
evidence and records, and K9—get
the job done well.
We have a strong community. We
care about each other and are aware
of what is going on around us. We say
something when the circumstances
look wrong. We take active measures
to secure our loved ones and our
property. We have Neighborhood
Watch, neighborhood and homeown-
ers groups looking out for each other.
We have city police, county sheriff
deputies and state troopers living in
our neighborhoods. As prudent, rea-
sonable, and responsible people, we
have taken many of the steps neces-
sary to create a generally safe com-
munity.
Can we do more? Yes.
Crime prevention means we take
the time to secure our properties,
train our family members and em-
ployees on proper security measures,
get to know our neighbors, maintain
situational awareness, and get involved
in our community. Creating a safe
community also means locking doors,
windows and cars, mowing the lawn,
fi xing broken windows, having prop-
er lighting, and both noticing and
reporting when something looks out
of place. It also means maintaining a
well-trained, equipped, and properly
staffed police force.
Our city is founded on
volunteerism, but this is
one area where we have
never chosen a DIY ap-
proach. We have wonder-
ful volunteers working
in the offi ce and serving
as Reserve Offi cers. But to provide
us all with the services we need, we
have chosen to have a professional
police department. That requires a lot
of resources to do it right. It’s a very
complex business, requiring staffi ng
around the clock, every day of the
year. 24/7. And when an offi cer is
sick, has to go to court to testify, or
is on leave to care for a family mem-
ber, we have to be able to continue
providing the services our citizens de-
mand and deserve. The budget we just
passed does that, using the tax dollars
you have entrusted to us in the most
responsible, cost-effective manner we
can.
But, Keizer has grown. And the
resources we currently have available
are never going to be enough to staff
our force at the optimum level for our
growing community. Our permanent
tax rate of $2.08/$1000 was set in
1992 and was never meant to provide
the services we stretch to provide al-
ready.
It is time for us to come together
as a Keizer community to talk about
public safety. Not out of fear for what
has happened, but out of our civic
responsibility to make reasoned deci-
sions for our community safety. To-
gether, we need to decide what level
of policing we want to provide and
are willing to fund, and how those
funds will be raised.
We have the opportunity to set the
course for Keizer into the future. Ul-
timately, we each have a part to play in
being safe. Our proud, volunteer spirit
in Keizer means that we accept that
responsibility. Are we safe? Yes, I be-
lieve that we are. Let’s work together
to keep us that way.
guest
column
(Cathy Clark is mayor of Keizer.)
American experiment 240 years on
On Monday July 4,
There is one person
America celebrates her
here in Keizer, whom
240th birthday, Indepen-
from the I would like to tell you
dence Day. That day is one
about who has special sig-
capitol nifi cance to Independence
of the greatest days in hu-
man history.
Day. Mr. Paul Wagner
By BILL POST
When a struggling colo-
is my friend and fellow
ny threw off the shackles of
member of my church.
an overbearing government
We have found that he is
and said “we are free” by declaring its Oregon’s oldest living World War II
independence and then at the cost of veteran. His birthday is July 4; he will
thousands of lives, defended that in- be 104 this year. He fought in the war
dependence. Two hundred-forty years then spent a long career in business
later, we celebrate with fi reworks, and has touched many lives over this
picnics, parades and time with friends last century. He’s one of my heroes
and family, and that is all fantastic but and to bring this full circle back to
I hope that we will all take a moment Independence Day, without men like
to look back and refl ect on the cost Paul, this “experiment” called Amer-
of “independence” and consider our ica, might have failed. I honor and
gratitude for those great men we call cherish him every time I get to see
our “Founding Fathers” who took him.
this movement so serious that they
So, this Independence Day, go to
were willing to sacrifi ce all that they St. Paul and watch a parade. Or go to
had including their lives.
Keizer Rapids Park and have a picnic.
This “experiment” that is America Go to the Volcanoes game and enjoy
is still evolving, still learning and still “America’s Pastime” and fi reworks
growing and it is, and forever will be, or just spend time in the backyard
the greatest nation the world has ever with your family but whatever you
known. The United States of Amer- do, remember how we achieved this
ica has helped more people, assisted independence and have a wonderful
more nations and protected the world Fourth of July,
(Bill Post represents House Dis-
more than any nation before and it
is with great love and respect for this trict 25. He can be reached at 503-
or via email at rep.billpost@
country that I write this. I am proud 986-1425
state.or.us.)
to be called an American.
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Learning from Britian’s crisis
By E.J. DIONNE JR.
Elites are in trouble. High lev-
els of immigration are destabilizing
our democracies. Politicians who
put their short-term political inter-
ests over their countries’ needs reap
the whirlwind—for themselves but,
more importantly, for their nations.
Citizens who live in the econom-
ically ailing peripheries of wealthy
nations are in revolt against well-off
and cosmopolitan metropolitan ar-
eas. Older voters lock in decisions
that young voters reject. Traditional
political parties on the left and right
are being torn asunder.
One of the few good things about
Britain’s vote to leave the European
Union is the rich curriculum of les-
sons it offers leaders and electorates
in other democracies.
History is unlikely to be kind to
British Prime Minister David Cam-
eron. Last week’s referendum was
not the product of broad popular
demand. Cameron called it to solve a
short-term political problem and get
through an election. His Conserva-
tive Party was split on Europe and
feared hemorrhaging votes to the
right-wing, anti-Europe, anti-immi-
grant UK Independence Party.
Cameron fi gured that kicking his
troubles down the road by promising
a future plebiscite on Europe could
make them go away. Instead, he
turned a normal electoral challenge
into a profound crisis that could
lead to the breakup of his country
while threatening Europe’s future.
The devastating complaint of Martin
Schulz, the president of the Europe-
an parliament: “A whole continent is
taken hostage because of an internal
fi ght in the Tory Party.”
For all the Union Jacks hoisted at
Leave rallies, the nationalism behind
this was English, not British. England
voted to get out of the EU, Scotland
overwhelmingly to stay. Northern
Ireland also fa-
vored Remain,
while
Wales
split narrowly
for Leave, its
more English
parts
voting
like England.
S u d d e n l y,
for Scots who want their country
to be independent, their nationalism
becomes a form of pro-European
internationalism. To stay in Europe,
they have to escape Britain. North-
ern Ireland’s status is now also in
doubt.
Don’t trash democracy or the vot-
ers. Where complicated choices are
involved—and Brexit defi nes com-
plexity—leaders in representative
democracies need the guts to make
hard calls and submit themselves to
voters afterward. They should not
use referendums purely to evade re-
sponsibility.
In fact, now that this road has
been opened, real democrats should
demand a second referendum on the
terms of an exit deal. On Thursday,
voters bet that the unknown would
be better than the known. They
should get to vote again on the full
implications of what they set in mo-
tion.
The European idea was killed in
part by right-wing Tories who think
they can turn their island into a free
trade, low-regulation paradise. But
it was also battered in traditionally
Labour-voting industrial areas far
away from a happy and generally
prosperous London that voted over-
whelmingly to stay. A partial tally of
the discontent: 68 percent Leave in
Barnsley; 70 percent in the authority
that includes Grimsby; and 62 per-
cent in South Shields’ borough.
Emma Lewell-Buck, the Labor
parliamentarian who represents
South Shields and supported Re-
other
views
main, was right to say that UKIP
leader Nigel Farage “whipped every-
one up into a frenzy with his hateful
language.”
Ethno-nationalism is on the rise
across Europe and this vote will only
intensify the trend. But in so many
nations, including our own, tech-
nological change, globalization and
fi nancialization force the left-out to
stare at prosperity from a great dis-
tance. In their justifi ed frustration,
they often see immigration as of a
piece with the other changes in the
world that they deplore.
Responsible offi cials should al-
ways be ready to denounce rac-
ism. But their job description also
requires them to provide realistic
policy answers to quell the rage. If
center-right and center-left politi-
cians fail to do this, their parties will
remain suspect.
Yet if Britain’s vote is understand-
able, it’s also a cause for sadness. It’s a
vote against a more open world and
a rejection of the idea that democra-
cies can actually gain power by pool-
ing sovereignty and seeking goals in
common.
The Leave campaign used slo-
gans very familiar to Americans,
including variations on “Take Our
Country Back” and “Britain First.”
These resonated with older voters
who backed Leave by big margins.
Younger Britons, who voted strong-
ly to stay in Europe, will be shackled
for many years to a result their elders
imposed on them.
Friends of open societies have
been slapped in the face by citizens
who are themselves retaliating for
having been knocked around and
ignored for too long. Across Europe
and in the United States, politicians
can either respond to these cries of
protest or face something worse than
Brexit.
(Washington Post Writers Group)
Election won’t unjam political gridlock
Many Americans say they’re un-
happy with the way the U.S. gov-
ernment is being run and demand
wholesale changes. Whatever the in-
dividual views among us, it’s argued
here that we should be the benefi -
ciaries of at least two healthy parties
where there are center-right and a
center-left choices. The center-right
some say should stand to offer mar-
ket-based solutions to global warm-
ing, gun control, fi scal policy, free
trade and its impacts, and reassuring
insights for the challenges of foreign
policy where atomic weapons can
get into the hands of madmen.
What’s happened in 2016 is that the
center-right party has become ethi-
cally challenged and downright dan-
gerous by playing on the ignorance
and fears of many Americans. With-
in its membership are anti-govern-
ment Tea Party followers who want
to end all public programs while cut-
ting taxes on the wealthy, members of
big oil who are determined to crush
efforts at renewable fuels, global-
warming deniers, and working any
and all means to bring America’s mid-
dle class to their knees along with our
nation’s 225-year struggle to establish
and maintain a democracy.
In a head-long rush to estab-
lish an ideology based on Spartan
conditions for most Americans, they
have thrown their support behind a
presidential candidate who’s devoid
of policy knowledge, refuses to do
his homework, uses racial and eth-
nic slurs to attack a well-respected
federal judge because the judge won’t
do his bidding, has made fun of hand-
icapped Ameri-
cans, ignores the
First Amend-
ment
that
guarantees reli-
gious freedom
and promises
to ban all Mus-
lims, says he’ll build a wall across the
U.S. southern border at Mexico’s ex-
pense, end treaties with tried and true
U.S. allies, condones “the bomb” for
scary maniacs and absolute dictators,
and refuses to correct the chronic use
of fi ction in his public pronounce-
ments.
Meanwhile, GOP leaders fi nd their
man to be acceptable if not the mak-
ing of a great leader. House of Rep-
resentative Speaker Paul Ryan drags
his feet with reservations about him
yet says he’ll vote for Trump. John
McCain was too tough to break un-
der the torture of the North Viet-
namese but now accepts Trump.
Marco Rubio called Trump “a con
man” while Trump referred to him as
“Little Marco” but all that’s ignored
now with Rubio’s endorsement.
Chris Christie has become valet to a
man who tells a bald-faced lie about
Muslims cheering in New Jersey when
the twin towers fell. Then, too, an en-
tire column could be written on the
number of Republicans originally
confessing repulsion regarding Trump
but are nowadays aboard the Trump
bandwagon and will vote accordingly.
Then, too, regarding Hillary, mil-
lions say they do not trust her, re-
membering examples of alleged
wrongdoing over the years of her
gene h.
mcintyre
career in public jobs. Meanwhile,
she has many among her colleagues
who’ve endorsed her but her main
competitor, Bernie Sanders, is loved
and followed because they believe
he’s honest and trustworthy, a per-
son in the Oval Offi ce, unlike Hill-
ary, who will actually try hard to get
done what he has advocated in his
campaign promises. Thirteen million
Democrats voted for Bernie in the
primaries versus 17 million for Hill-
ary with 45 percent of Bernie sup-
porters at this writing not committed
to voting for Hillary. Further, away
from cameras, Hillary’s reported to be
a person who apparently does not like
to interact with her fellow Americans.
In what looks to be a very long
four months until Election Day on
November 8, it’s surmised that the
eventual winner may be he or she
who chooses a likeable, known-to-
be-trusted running mate. Mean-
while, voting for either presump-
tive candidate presents a problem for
this voter in a contest generating lack
of enthusiasm. In a fantasy of wish-
ful thinking, it’s dreamed we had the
prospect of a leader in whom the
American public held in high regard
and possessed the leadership skills to
be followed by a majority in both
parties. Unfortunately, what’s antici-
pated in a win by either contender is
a deadlocked Congress with noth-
ing consequentially getting done in
Washington again for the next four
years.
(Gene H. McIntyre’s column ap-
pears weekly in the Keizertimes.)