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PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, JULY 29, 2016 KeizerOpinion KEIZERTIMES.COM There are no small parts By LYNDON ZAITZ In my mind, all the world’s my stage; I perform on it every day. But some- times I have a need to ap- pear on an actual theatrical stage. Keizer Homegrown Theatre’s (KHT) annual Shakespeare in the Park fi ts the bill. Earlier this month, I performed in my fi fth consecutive production on the Keizer Rotary Amphitheatre stage at Keizer Rapids Park. This year the show was Twelfth Night, or What You Will and the experience was no less exciting and rewarding than any of the previous four shows. Linda Baker, founder of Keizer Homegrown Theatre, and director of this year’s show has a great nose for talent and, year after year, is able to put together a cast of committed people who give up their time for weeks to tread the boards. She recruits former students from her drama teacher days at McNary High School; she recruits from other theatre companies. You know you are under good direction when the right people are cast in the right roles. Actors clamor to return to act with Shakespeare in the Park. And why not? For those of us who didn’t pay as close attention as we should have when studying Shakespeare in high school attain a new level of reverence and understanding of the greatest English language playwright. The way the Bard’s plays are edited and staged make it accessible to audiences of all ages—especially the comedies such as Twelfth Night and last year’s A Midsum- mer Night’s Dream. The cast and crew meet new people that become friends and have a bond- ing experience that only comes from performing with and off each other. The audiences get free en- tertainment that is anything but run-of-the-mill and is performed outside in the fresh air. Over the past fi ve summers, I have had the privilege of acting in parts both big and small. It is a big responsi- bility regardless of the size of the role. Fellow actors rely on you knowing your lines and your staging. In com- munity theatre one fi nds every level of ability—some have acted for years, others are newbies who bring an in- nocence to the acting company. The cast and crew of each pro- duction spends a lot of time together, either preparing sets or in rehearsals. There is a lot of down time which means we all get to know each oth- er well over a few intense weeks of preparation. We get together to put on a show in the summer. It’s fun, it’s creative and it fosters camraderie between people that don’t run in the same circles out- side the show. Opening night jitters become second and third night confi - dence and ends with a melancholy on closing night. Our mid-summer ad- venture is coming to an end and then we all return our day-to-day lives. But the excitement returns when we think of what we get to do with Shakespeare next summer. on my mind Korean War: 63 years later (Lyndon Zaitz is publisher of the Keizertimes.) Mexico, deporting all Muslims, taking away the rights of women to decide their own health concerns, taking away rights of the LGBT community and the list goes on. While you and others may see nothing but doom and gloom for our country, I see a chance for us to con- tinue a path of success that Obama has created and Clinton will build upon. You can’t and will not see racial ten- sions improve under a Trump admin- istration. Kris Adams Keizer letters To the Editor: July 27, 2016 marks the 63rd anniversary of the ceasefi re of the Korean War (the “Forgotten War” that is technically still go- ing on). To date, no peace treaty has been signed. A ceasefi re went into effect at 10 p.m. July 27, 1953, which required all troops to begin dismantling and va- cating their combat positions the fol- lowing day. Peace talks had been in progress for many months before agreeing on the ceasefi re. A truce happened and an armistice was agreed to but still, no offi cial peace treaty. There were in excess of 37,000 Americans killed in combat during the 37 months from June, 1950 to July, 1953. Equate this to the population of Keizer. Bob Wickman Keizer Reply to Don Vowell To the Editor: I might agree with a few statements from Don Vowell’s column (Stuck be- tween two extremes, July 22) but not in whole. I don’t agree that Hillary Clinton is extreme. She offers up mostly middle of the road stands on issues and in some cases very progressive stances. That is not a bad thing. It takes the ability to understand our changing so- ciety and what it takes to get things done. Clinton offers experience and the tough attitude to get things ac- complished. And to blame Obama for the removal of troops (from Iraq) is inaccurate. He was working on agree- ments made under the Bush admin- istration. I, for one, feel very well represented by Hillary Clinton. I may not agree with everything, but tell me anyone that you would agree with 100 per- cent. Unlike the Democratic candi- date, the other side offers up nothing but racism, bigotry and downright hatred for those unlike themselves. Building a wall between the US and Mayor is correct To the Editor: Mayor Cathy Clark recently brought up the subject of taxes and asked questions about what the city can currently afford and what the fu- ture demands may be for additional tax revenue. A mayor and city governments must ask these questions to be re- sponsible and effective with their leadership. Especially with a growing community with limited resources and a tight tax base. Since when is raising questions and items for discussion bad govern- ment? I have learned from 25 years in state law enforcement, state manage- ment and private business ownership that the best decisions come from ac- tive discussions and debate. The more determined and varied views the better. The fi nal decision in this case will be debated and decided by the voters. Perfect. Mayor Clark can’t sit on her hands and let the city grow, let infrastructure and service become overwhelmed until it all begins to fail. These issues have to be addressed in the present to prepare for the future. She is ex- actly right to be raising issues for the future of Keizer including taxes and revenue—that is part of the equation which drives everything else a city government can or cannot do. John P. Rizzo Keizer 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 Eric A. Howald editor@keizertimes.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Derek Wiley 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 Clinton’s Philly vs. Trump’s Cleveland By E.J. DIONNE JR. After a raucous Republican con- vention nominated the very con- servative Barry Goldwater in 1964, President Lyndon Johnson’s campaign ran an advertisement quoting William Scranton, Pennsylvania’s moderate governor, describing “Goldwaterism” as a “crazy-quilt collection of absurd and dangerous positions.” This is the week in which Clinton tried to nail down the support of the nation’s Latino and African-Ameri- can voters while sowing deep doubts about Trump among what is likely to be the election’s key target group: college-educated white voters. She reinforced her appeal to them by picking Tim Kaine as her running mate. He’s thoughtful, experienced and respected, broadly progressive yet with a moderate, conciliatory de- meanor. But Clinton has real work to do on her own behalf, which is why the Democrats’ conclave will be far more positive and upbeat than the GOP’s gloomy attack-fest. One objective will be to boost Clinton’s favorable ratings after a rocky period during which FBI Director James Comey’s verbal exco- riation of her use of a private email server set her up for a polling tumble. Democrats will be battling what they see as a false equivalency in the media that casts both major party can- didates in the same light because of surveys giving each of them histori- cally high negative scores. Clinton’s campaign wants Democrats (who will form a large part of the television au- dience) to come away with new en- thusiasm for their candidate, and swing voters to see Clinton as far more ready than Trump, by experience and tem- perament, to be president. Accentuat- ing the positive will also be im- portant because Trump has bet his candidacy on his ability to persuade a suffi cient share of the elec- torate that the nation really is in the midst of a catastrophic crisis. Here is where the minority of Americans who pay close attention to both conventions will suffer from an acute case of whiplash: Democrats will not only be arguing that Clinton offers a better future; they will be vig- orously defending President Obama’s legacy. Republicans may thus come to re- gret their decision to harness Clinton and Obama together as twin authors of national apocalypse. At a time when the president’s approval ratings have been healthy, the GOP helped lock in Obama’s strongest supporters behind the woman who had once been his political adversary. The ferocity of Trump’s attacks on Obama paradoxically make it easier for Clinton to advance the dual-track case she needs to make: that she will build on rather than demolish the president’s achievements while also tending to long-standing problems that predated the Obama years. The GOP’s picture of Obama is a wildly distorted parody, and parodies are more vulnerable to the facts than are honest descriptions of reality. And this convention will also be an opportunity to offer a gentle remind- er that the last time someone named Clinton was president, the nation guest column enjoyed a run of peace and prosper- ity. During the GOP gathering, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., declared that in- comes had not recovered since their high in 1999. Trump made the same point using the year 2000. Neither mentioned who was president back then. But the Philadelphia Democrats also have a moral obligation: They cannot concede the white working- class to Donald Trump. Bernie Sanders, Clinton’s prima- ry rival, will play a vital role in see- ing that they don’t, and shrewd vote counters know that surrendering this constituency could endanger Clinton in states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan. But more than calcula- tion is involved. Democrats have a re- sponsibility to unite a fractured nation. The pain faced by those who work for wages transcends the lines of race and ethnicity. There are also the party’s oldest commitments to defend. When the Democrats last met in Philadelphia in 1948, President Harry Truman insist- ed it was their party that had served as “the haven of the ordinary people of this land and not of the favored classes or the powerful few.” It was here 12 years earlier that Franklin Roosevelt declared: “Liberty requires opportu- nity to make a living —a living decent according to the standard of the time, a living which gives man not only enough to live by, but something to live for.” Clinton has to cut through the stat- ic surrounding her to persuade those whom Trump is wooing with the pol- itics of fear that she and her party still offer a credible politics of hope. (Washington Post Writers Group) Astoria Column is a summer must-see Thoughts about my home town were inspired a few days ago by way of a short article in The Oregonian about one of Astoria’s landmarks. The As- toria Column’s offi cial dedication oc- curred 90 years ago on July 22, 1926. The column was built at the insti- gation of the president of the Great Northern Railway, Ralph Budd, who held a high opinion of America’s west coast pioneers and heartily felt they deserved a monument equal to their intrepid efforts to spread the U.S. to the Pacifi c Ocean. Interest- ingly, Astoria Column is 125 feet high and exactly equal in height to Emperor Trajan’s column in Rome after which its design was duplicat- ed. Rome’s version continues stand- ing though it is well over 2,000 years old: It commemorates Trajan’s two military campaigns in Dacia—mod- ern day Romania. Trajan’s column is covered with fi gures carved in low relief on 19 drums of Italian marble that provide a narrative of 155 key scenes from the Roman campaign in Dacia. Astoria Column presents a painted pictorial frieze on the exterior in mural form that spirals along for 525 feet from bottom to top, displaying signifi cant events in the early history of Oregon with representations, among others, of Native Ameri- can tribes that lived in the area, the exploration of the Colum- bia River by Captain Rob- ert Gray, Lewis and Clark’s ex- pedition, the founding of Fort Astoria in 1811, and the ship Tonquin’s jour- ney from New York to Astoria. Electus D. Litchfi eld and Attilio Pusteria painted the exterior mu- ral on the column in Astoria which is built of concrete on a foundation 12 feet deep and found atop the city’s highest point, Coxcomb Hill, at a cost of $27,133.96 or $363,000 in today’s dollars. Due to coastal weather conditions, the Column’s mural has been re-fi nished a few times since 1926. Astoria Column can be climbed by a spiral staircase of 164 steps for a glorious view of the city and its surroundings with Tilla- mook Head to the south, the state of Washington to the north, the Colum- bia River bar to the Pacifi c Ocean to the west and the Columbia River and forested areas to the east. What’s much more interesting than the column itself and the years it has stood is what it stands for in terms gene h. mcintyre of the men and women who risked and sometimes gave their lives for the establishment of the United States further west than its boundaries in the early 1800s. The German-Amer- ican who invested in the outfi ttings, ships and land-based structures, John Jacob Astor, never visited his invest- ment. The Oregon Territory waxed and waned between British and U.S. claims until a treaty in 1846 between the United States and Great Britain that established the U.S boundary at the 49th parallel, our northern border with British Columbia. A trip by car to Astoria from Keiz- er requires about three hours travel time so, visiting that famous column and the many other sites of historical signifi cance in Clatsop County like Fort Stevens, plus a recommended side trip over the no-toll Astoria- Megler Bridge to the North Head Lighthouse and Washington’s famous rebuilt-to-authentic-original Fort Columbia, are best enjoyed by at least one night overnight. For those persons who prefer knowing some- thing about what they’re seeing on such a trip, Peter Stark’s book, Astoria, and Stephen E. Ambrose’s Undaunted Courage, are recommended reading. (Gene H. McIntyre’s column ap- pears weekly in the Keizertimes.) I got to go to the Disneyland of politics I thought this month I would give to you my thoughts on my experi- ences as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. I was honored to be elected as an “at large” delegate, one of only 10 from Oregon. I attended the 2012 convention in Tampa as a media per- son so I had some experience in a convention but nothing like being a delegate on the fl oor of the conven- tion. It was exciting and exhilarating. Being a long-time political junkie (well let’s be honest, a “geek”), it was like going to political Disneyland for me. I was thrilled to meet some of my personal political “stars” like Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, Phyllis Schlafl y of National Right to Life, Col. Allen West, Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA, Gov. Haley Barbour and so many more. As a delegate, you have a “free pass” to roam the fl oor when not voting and the fl oor is where all of the action is for a photo or auto- graph seeker. The real work, though, was the forming of and completion of the party platform and I am so proud of our Oregon delegation’s heavy in- volvement in forming one of the most conservative and complete platforms in Republican history. Later, as the evenings went on, we heard from all kinds of people from all walks of life who spoke from the stage. I was fasci- nated by their speeches. From combat veterans to mothers to long time pol- iticians to sons and daughters. All of them had a story to tell of the great- ness of American and the freedom and liberty that this nation affords us. from the capitol Rep. BILL POST I was proud to stand and pledge alle- giance and sing the National Anthem every night. I was proud of the prom- inence of the American fl ag through- out the building. Most of all, I was so proud of the men and women who wear the “blue” who worked so hard to keep us safe just as they do every day of their lives from all over the na- tion. People ask me “What was the highlight of the convention?” I can’t point to any one thing, I just know that it is an experience I will never forget. I was a part of the process of nominating and perhaps electing the president of the United States. That is very humbling. I am also so very much honored and humbled to rep- resent you, the great people of Keizer as state representative. You are the best people I know and I hope you know that no matter what your po- litical party might be, I am here for you. I honor you and I serve you. (Bill Post represents House Dis- trict 25. He can be reached at 503- 986-1425 or via email at rep.bill- post@state.or.us.)