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PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, FEBRUARY 17, 2017 KeizerOpinion KEIZERTIMES.COM Boost academics Athletics at McNary High School has a club of boosters—a non-profi t organization comprised mainly of parents of the students who play sports. The choir and band programs also have organized boosters. Boost- ers not only support the programs but are also a big source of fund raising. Athletics and arts should be supported and boosted. We call on the administra- tion of McNary High School to set the stage for creating academic booster clubs—after all, students are attending school primarily to learn and achieve scholastic excellence. Imagine the powerful message that would be sent with the establishment of a Mathematics Booster Club, or a Sciences Booster Club. We understand the school nor the school district are involved with booster clubs, per se, but they can certainly voice their support for the establishment of such organi- zations. Additionally, we would like to see academic booster clubs that have a fo- cus less on fund raising and more on encouraging students to embrace and learn to enjoy math and science—boy and girl students (the world needs fe- male scientists, too). Sure, math and science aren’t as exciting as a Friday night football game or a spring con- cert, but those subjects arguably will have a longer term effect on the stu- dents over their lifetimes. All students should have the op- portunity to do well in the academic fi elds—teachers work overtime to help those in their classes that need a little more attention or assistance. A Mathemat- ics Booster Club would be a good supplement to what instructors are doing in the classroom—think tutors on steroids. A few ‘Atta girl’s would go far to give a female stu- dent confi dence to think they can one day help put man on Mars. (Hidden Figures, a fi lm currently in theaters, tells the true story of the important contribution of women in NASA’s endeavor to put the fi rst American in space in the early 1960s.) The key work done by women in science and math should not be footnote in his- tory or a movie. Not every student athlete turns their passion into a multi-million dol- lar career; not every choir member turns their love of music into stardom on the global stage. But, a student with a love of math, science or another aca- demic subject has an excellent chance of continuing their education in col- lege and perhaps helping put the fi rst woman on Mars. That’s what an academic booster club can do for students today. When adults are excited about math and sci- ence, our kids can be, too. —LAZ Travel bans, Arrival and Mr. Rogers editorial What is needed to jumpstart economic development in city? clusters of business types The editorial in last would be established. As week’s paper, Call it a day the city found out years for the EDC (Economic ago with neighborhood Development Commis- associations, just saying sion) refl ects thoughts I that you are a ‘district’ or a have had for a while. neighborhood association And I agree that a re- does not make it so. Both think of the city role in are organic in nature, born promoting economic de- of a common set of values, velopment, particularly in goals or concerns. the context of our Eco- The common values nomic Opportunities and goals that are already Analysis in the Compre- in place are for qual- hensive Plan, would be ity business plans, space to helpful. grow and park, pricing that At regional and state refl ects the local economy meetings, I hear about op- Cathy Clark rather than trying to price portunities and success sto- like Portland or Seattle, ries that make me wonder if we have missed chances to bring and meeting growing and changing dollars and programs here to deepen demands for goods and services that and strengthen our economic base. cater to the emerging millennial gen- The meeting with Regional Solutions eration’s buying power as well as the coordinator James Labar was particu- signifi cant baby boomer capital hold- larly helpful in informing our business ings. These values are not unique to leaders of the program and services sections of River Road but apply to available toward streamlining state our entire business community. I want to thank the members of the regulatory processes so projects could commission, each of whom has shared get done. The Commission also heard from their time and expertise. There was SEDCOR and the Mid-Willamette nothing in it for any of them, except Valley Council of Governments, both the knowledge that they each have of which provide economic devel- experiences that can help guide and opment programs and opportunities. shape policies to ensure they are in the The piece that did not come together best interests of the entire community was how a city revolving loan funding – business included. Going forward, we have an eco- could jump start redevelopment or expansion of businesses; in the mean- nomic opportunities analysis that will time, however, the economy has taken guide any urban growth boundary hold and private investment has sig- expansion for employment lands. We nifi cantly advanced the business land- have career-technical education pro- grams that are preparing our students scape of River Road. Frank discussions regarding the for well-paying jobs in many indus- status of the River Road Renaissance tries. We have a growing population vision made it clear that the foun- that wants a Keizer that provides the dations of that plan have now been goods, services and amenities that will incorporated into our development continue to make Keizer a great place code so each redeveloped property to live. And we have the Keizer way makes those improvements as part of of facing these challenges and oppor- the project. However, the further por- tunities and solving them together as tion of the vision was for sections of only Keizer can. (Cathy Clark is serving her second River Road businesses to embrace a sector identity, with branding and lo- term as mayor of Keizer.) gos to create distinct districts in which from the mayor’s desk Don, this is what we’re afraid of Our fi sh and all life in our ocean is now contaminated. We are breathing this and I saw pictures of the seals, salmon and other fi sh with cancer tumors all over them. What does this mean to us? Helen Bibelheimer Keizer letters To the Editor: Re: Don Vowell’s Feb. 10 column, What are we afraid of?: I’m afraid because Fukushima has poisoned our ocean and the problem isn’t going away. Keizertimes Wheatland Publishing Corp. • 142 Chemawa Road N. • Keizer, Oregon 97303 phone: 503.390.1051 • web: www.keizertimes.com • email: kt@keizertimes.com Lyndon A. Zaitz, Editor & Publisher POSTMASTER Send address changes to: SUBSCRIPTIONS One year: $25 in Marion County, $33 outside Marion County, $45 outside Oregon PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY Publication No: USPS 679-430 Keizertimes Circulation 142 Chemawa Road N. Keizer, OR 97303 Periodical postage paid at Salem, Oregon Khawater Hussein (rear) plays in a Powder Puff football game in 2014. By ERIC A. HOWALD I’ve lost track of how many times the counters on the digital cameras I use as part of my job have reset themselves, and the cameras only reset after 10,000 pictures. Most of those pictures will nev- er – thankfully – see the light of day and the few I do remember wouldn’t cause me to extend all fi ve fi ngers of one hand. But, ev- ery once in a while, an image sears into my memory. One of them is a photo of a McNary High School senior playing in the annual Powder Puff football game at the school in 2014. In that photo, then-junior Gab- by Jackson is running up the fi eld slightly out of focus, but with her best “game face” on. Trailing Jack- son is then-senior Khawater Husse- in, bright-faced with a gleeful smile, under a hijab—the traditional head covering worn by some Muslim women. Eight months later, Kha- water was chosen by her peers to deliver the commencement address at graduation. Her graduation cap rested atop her hijab during the cer- emony. My heart swelled with un- expected pride in the students who found connection in her words and didn’t let differences in appearance cloud their hearts. I thought of Khawater again as my family and I sat watching Arrival at a Salem theater recently. Without offering too many spoilers, here’s the gist of the movie: aliens de- scend on earth and it becomes the responsibility of a university pro- fessor to help the military decipher their language and intentions. What starts as an exploration of the un- familiar quickly ramps up to crisis when several other countries, with their own teams working on the problem, go dark and stop communicating with the other teams putting the hu- man race and the aliens on the path to confl ict. One moment in particu- lar stuck out to me. Oddly, it had nothing to do with the characters in the fi lm. It was a sweeping shot of the scene at one of the alien land- ing sites showing a throng of cars and campers, civilian onlookers and gawkers, being held at bay by a mili- tary barricade with the alien ship in the distance. My 13-year-old daughter, Ameya, sat next to me during the movie and some of the implications of travel bans came into sharper focus. I couldn’t help but think of Ameya and Khawater being held apart from one another. I have no idea what deep reservoir of strength Khawater was tapping into on a daily basis to don an overt symbol of her Muslim faith, but I am cer- tain I have never had to plumb such depths. The thought that my daugh- ter’s chances to learn from such a woman – to share each other’s sto- ries, the very thing that often so ef- fectively bridges the gaps between moments of lucidity people of different backgrounds – would be diminished by something like the hastily-deployed travel ban from seven predominately Muslim countries opened up a vacuum in my chest. As I thought more on the movie and it’s implications, I was remind- ed of something once said by folk hero Fred Rogers, aka Mr. Rogers, whose PBS show was a major part of my childhood routines, “There isn’t anyone you couldn’t learn to love once you’ve heard their story.” It is possible that a travel ban might make some feel safer, but it seems like a fl imsy layer of protec- tion. Even with the most extreme vetting, or the most objectionable of interrogation tactics, it wouldn’t be enough to stop the most deter- mined bad actors. Moreover, given the circumstances of recent mass at- tacks, bad actors don’t even have to visit our soil, they need only con- nect with someone already here and willing to be infl uenced. There have already been many costs associated with the travel ban, from separating families to a dimin- ished view of our country in the wider world, but there is no way to account for the opportunities we’ll miss out on if the ban is al- lowed to stand. The ban prevents – and excuses – us from doing the real work of connecting with our fellow world citizens. As hard as that work may be, it is likely the only sure path to security. (Eric A. Howald is managing edi- tor of the Keizertimes.) Sanctuary cities are not a solve-all Immigration, immigrants, refu- gees, green cards, and illegals have often found their way into topics of discussion. Whether or not in each case the individual or group of in- dividuals found acceptance or re- jection had a lot to do with their point of origin. A welcome mat for western Europeans while the door is mostly shut for Asians. My third generation Scotch- American father entered a com- munity of Finnish immigrants, married my second-generation Finnish-Amer ican mother, and then along came me, an American who views the Finns as among the fi nest peo- ple on earth while my wife, a third generation Irish-Amer- ican, affects my attention by affec- tion. In my youth, I lived in Ger- many as a civilian for more than a year as a student of their language. I was treated very well and adopted a caring for the German people that’s endured to this day. I lived in Canada for a few years although I left due to anti-American senti- ments. I also lived and worked in Saudi Arabia for six years and ad- opted considerably less caring for the Saudis and other Arabs who were employed there alongside me. Although I never fl outed it, things were diffi cult due to “Christian” on my passport. Fact is, for everyone, most of our views depend on how and where we were “built.” What’s relevant to all of us and the quality of our lives here is this: How many new arrivals can the U.S. han- dle? And that goes for Oregon, too. Is it that our nation and state shall be the world’s dumping ground, fi lled with overfl owing numbers from elsewhere who have not been able to keep their homelands livable. Here’s my view in direct terms: I don’t care from where anyone hails, their re- ligion, their cultural tags, whatever, we’ve got enough people in Oregon and there’s very little room for more. A handy example to underscore my exploding population con- cern looks at just one of Oregon’s metro areas, Portland and its suburbs, plus those folks who choose to live in Vancouver and en- virons, and down from PDX to Wilsonville and over the Willamette River immedi- ately south of it. Then there are the continuously grow- ing-more-congested met- ro areas of Bend, Eugene, Medford, Salem and others underway, the burgeoning growth around virtually every nook and corner that’s habitable by the human species. When Portland is men- tioned, Oregonians I know turn up their noses as they complain about the high costs of everything, lack of affordable rentals, the inch- ing along or stalled traffi c, the gangs and crime, the homeless and jobless, the road rage and the infernal dif- fi culty of getting anywhere a per- son would want to go in that area. There are just too many people and the problems associated with it just get worse with each passing year, so much so that governance in most of Oregon’s places is already in con- stant crisis mode. Meanwhile, every time an an- nouncement is made about allowing more refugees into Oregon, an addi- tional number arrive here or nearby. The impact of a bulging population (Oregon already attracts the likes of the Bundy gang, other American gene h. mcintyre supremacists and native-born radi- cal terrorists) spills over into every direction. Oregon is now close to devoured, while homes are built in fi re-prone forests, farmland turns into housing developments and the radicals want to turn wildlife refug- es and national parks into mining pits, beef-raising ranches, residential tracks, golf courses and shooting gal- leries. Wherever one looks, with a population of 4.3 million, we will have reached population infi nity. Read far and wide is that, if we don’t get more refugees and increase the population, we won’t have the brain power and youth to sustain our way of life. At present, we have those who want to protect and sustain sanctu- ary campuses/cities/and the state of Oregon with a no-matter-the-con- sequences attitude, while our state borders remain porous, illegals in number are everywhere, and crimes are committed in multiples every day. Oregon’s legislators could work together to control the state’s po- litical and economic forces; unfor- tunately, too many of our Capitol- ensconced leaders, who could tackle direly-needed tax reform and con- trol those charitable groups and sanctuaries that bring people here and then place them on taxpayer support in a state where the trea- sury’s already depleted, can only pre- tend to perform good works. (Gene H. McIntyre’s column ap- pears weekly in the Keizertimes.) Share your opinion Email a letter to the editor (300 words) by noon Tuesday. Email to: publisher@keizertimes.com
