PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, MAY 12, 2017
KeizerOpinion
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Vote for Harder
To the Editor:
I would like to share my
encouragement in sup-
porting a strong candidate
for Salem-Keizer School
Board.
This is a very close race
between great people, all who de-
serve our respect for their willingness
to serve. I have researched each of the
candidates while keeping in mind
this is a nonpartisan race; my opin-
ion is based on their credentials and
responses to what I believe our local
needs are and for this reason I believe
the best candidate is Dr. Kathleen
Harder.
Though Salem-Keizer Schools
have separate issues in each area of
our neighborhoods, I am most ex-
perienced and involved right here in
our Keizer schools. In Keizer, we face
many issues: overcrowding, gradu-
ation rates, budget cuts, neighbor-
hood parking, vital school programs
have been cut that give our kids the
necessary tools and skills to fulfi ll
their potential after graduation and
becoming productive members of
our society which means our Career
Technical Education (CTE) pro-
grams are vital to our kid’s success.
The closest to my heart however
is the amount of homeless students
in our local Keizer schools. I know
Kathleen will fi ght for these issues,
our issues! She is passionate, compas-
sionate and willing to fi ght the fi ght
for what is right. This is the kind of
human we need on our school board.
I know the programs and initiatives
she has been working towards and
she believes in collaboration and uti-
lizing our local resources above all.
I also believe she will be a good
steward of our school budget keep-
ing the needs of our kids at the fore-
front. I am proud to recommend this
quality candidate to you my neigh-
bors not only do I recommend her
as your local community leader who
truly understands the issues of our
local schools but as a neighbor and
mother who has raised her kids en-
tirely through Keizer school system
and knows fi rsthand the struggles
our schools, neighborhoods, teachers
and kids face daily. Our choice to-
day will be the determination of our
success tomorrow for all of our kids
so please take the time to vote, I’m
voting Kathleen Harder. Your vote
matters.
Amy Ryan
Keizer
is for both sides of that
fence and each side of any
fence can be constructed
by either party, it is not an
“immature” move it’s just
common sense.
The point that the
City Council misses or
can not wrap their heads around
(Mayor Clark’s words) is that this
was not a problem two years ago
in this neighborhood, so this extra
high school parking is nothing more
then a convenience for student park-
ing and is “not a necessity” since the
population of the school is the same
as it was before the word got out to
the students of the “free parking.”
Plus it’s a huge safety issue as a drop
off point and a huge waste of police
resources, too.
Charles Anderson
Keizer
lsttsrs
McNary student’s
convenience
To the Editor:
Regarding Newberg Drive stu-
dent parking:
There have been many incidences
of cars parked in front of driveways,
sometimes it’s even two times in the
same day. In addition there is trash
on the streets, trash on my roof, trash
in yards, loud noises from cars, ste-
reos and kids yelling, speeding cars,
vandalism and even sex. I have seen
students openly carry guns, shar-
ing pipes for smoking and just plain
over-crowding our streets here. This
neighborhood should never be used
as a high school parking lot. Just lock
the gate to McArthur to stop it.
The city says they can not lock the
gate but they can put up another gate
fence on our side of the school prop-
erty line. They could post a sign on
the gate that says something like: “By
Order of the City of Keizer this will
no longer be an access point to the
school grounds.” Before doing that
they could inform the school of this
plan and if they know the city will
actually block it then I bet McNary
principal Erik Jespersen will comply
with the ruling of the city. A fence
Herrera-Lopez
for Salem-Keizer
schools
To the Editor:
About a year ago, while doing vol-
unteer work with Catholic Commu-
nity Services in its effort to reopen
the Cat Cavazos Center, I had the
pleasure of meeting Levi Herrera-
Lopez.
More recently, I was pleased to
learn Levi is running for the Zone 5
position on the Salem-Keizer School
Board. Levi’s commitment to pub-
lic education is unparalleled. More-
over, Levi’s a graduate of the district’s
school system, and for 15 years Levi
has lived in Zone 5 (which sets him
apart from some candidates who,
oddly enough, have lived only a few
days in the zone they hope to repre-
sent). If you live in the Salem-Keizer
School District, I urge you to vote
for Levi Herrera-Lopez for school
board.
Jesse Barton
Salem
Riddell-Norstrom for
Keizer Fire Board
To the Editor:
I write to support Ms. Riddell-
Norstrom’s candidacy for the Keizer
Fire Board. As a native Keizerite with
long family ties to our fi re depart-
ment she has the fi re department’s
and city’s best interests in mind, not
any personal ego or ambition. Ms.
Riddell-Norstrom also brings a PhD
level patient care perspective to the
board. Having known her for over
20 years, I know she is professional,
dedicated and diligent, she will not
only show up for board meetings but
will go the extra mile to make sure
Keizer Fire is run effi ciently and ef-
fectively and to the benefi t of Keiz-
er’s residents.
Heather Van Meter
Keizer
Best school
board candidates
To the Editor:
Your vote for the best Salem Keiz-
er school board candidates is impor-
tant. There are three candidates that
really stand out as very qualifi ed and
committed to working on behalf of
our public school students: Kathleen
Harder, Sheronne Blasi, and Levi
Herrera- Lopez. We can vote for all
of them since each is running from a
different zone. They are dedicated to
improving our school system and in-
suring all students have the resources
to succeed.
Please join me in electing Kath-
leen Harder, Sheronne Blasi, and Levi
Herera-Lopez to the school board.
Anita Owen
Salem
Keizertimes
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Will Trumpcare be Obamacare 2.0?
By DEBRA SAUNDERS
Comedian Jimmy Kimmel went
to the heart of the debate on pre-
existing conditions during a mono-
logue last week. He talked about the
birth of his son Billy, who
was born with a heart
condition that required
surgery within days of
his birth. Billy Kimmel is
doing fi ne now, but the
situation was traumatic
for Kimmel and his wife,
Molly. At least, Kimmel
noted, they didn’t have
to worry about whether their child
would be treated.
“Before 2014, if you were born
with congenital heart disease like my
son was, there was a good chance you
would never be able to get health in-
surance because you had a pre-exist-
ing condition,” Kimmel said.
Kimmel was referring to Obam-
acare’s most important benefi t—the
requirement that health care plans of-
fer coverage to people with pre-ex-
isting medical conditions at the same
rates healthy people pay. No longer
would working people with chronic
illnesses, or their families, be priced
out of the quality health care.
President Donald Trump agreed
with Kimmel when he was a candi-
date. Then Trump said he would re-
peal and replace the Affordable Care
Act, but retain the mandate for cov-
ering pre-existing conditions. The
fi rst version of his American Health
Care Act refl ected that promise—and
it never made it to a vote.
The version passed by House Re-
publicans Thursday is different. Un-
der the new version, states will be
able to apply for waivers from the
Obamacare pre-existing conditions
mandates. To qualify, states would
have to set up pools for high-risk in-
dividuals.
Or as Trump told CBS News’ John
Dickerson Sunday, “We’ve set up a
pool for the pre-existing
conditions so that the
premiums can be allowed
to fall.”
There’s one little prob-
lem with this so-called
remedy. It’s a gimmick
that throws the hot po-
tato where there are few
if any hands are eager to
claim it. How many governors want
to incur the wrath of their voters by
announcing that they want to get rid
of a benefi t that Kimmel and Trump
himself in 2016 framed as American
as apple pie?
Asked how many states were likely
to apply for pre-existing conditions
waivers, House Majority Whip Kevin
McCarthy answered, “It could be a
lot. It could be none.”
White House Deputy Press Secre-
tary Sarah Sanders referred a reporter
to the Department of Health and
Human Services, which would not
respond on the record. Be it noted,
governors and state lawmakers are
not clamoring for the opportunity to
do what House Republicans would
not do themselves.
Forget governors. “There isn’t a
single insurance executive I know
of who wants to get rid of pre-x,”
said health-care policy guru Robert
Laszewski, using the lingo.
So why did House Republicans go
after a reform that even insurance ex-
ecutives don’t want?
A large chunk of the premium
increases that hit the market with
Obamacare are due to pre-existing
othsr
visws
conditions. In 2014, the Affordable
Care Act caused individual premiums
to increase 40 percent, said Laszewski,
with about 30 percent due to pre-
existing conditions.
Since then, premium increases
have been in the double digits be-
cause Obamacare policies are so un-
appealing that healthy people aren’t
buying, while sick people are cling-
ing to their plans. In the industry, this
is known as a death spiral. And it is
the reason why insurers are running
headlong from the individual market.
Humana is pulling out of the mar-
ket in 2018. After terminating plans
in 11 states, Aetna just announced it
will pull out of Virginia. The Trump
White House is correct when it says
that Obamacare is unsustainable.
Or as Trump put it during the
Rose Garden celebration of the
House passing the bill, “It’s dead. It’s
essentially dead. If we don’t pay lots
of ransom money over to the insur-
ance companies, it would die imme-
diately.”
Still, Trump seems poised to make
the same mistake President Obama
made before him—making huge
promises on which he should have
known his plan would not deliver.
Obama promised, “No matter
what you’ve heard, if you like your
doctor or health care plan, you can
keep it.”
Trump says, “Yes, premiums will
be coming down. Yes, deductibles
will be coming down. But very im-
portantly, it’s a great plan.”
But if the key to cutting costs is a
stunt—asking state politicians to do
to their neighbors what D.C. Repub-
licans will not do from afar—better
not to hold your breath.
(Crsators Syndicats)
The example Australia sets
By GENE H. McINTYRE
Reported out of Australia is the
way that nation proposes to conduct
tests to determine whether immi-
grants are granted citizenship. For
openers, those interested
must live there for at least
four years before fi ling an
application. Also, a person
with such a desire must
speak English fl uently and
conform to “Australian
values.” These conditions
would be good for the
United States.
Among questions on the Aus-
sie test are whether they believe in
forced marriages for children, genital
mutilation, striking a spouse and pro-
hibiting girls from attending school.
Some questions seem aimed at Mus-
lim immigrants but there are many
entering from other faiths as nearly
30 percent of Australia’s 6.9 million
population is foreign-born. Here
again, we in America don’t know
what to expect next from immi-
grants, legal or otherwise, when bor-
ders here are too often disrespected
and ignored.
Speaking for his government,
Australia’s Prime Minister Mal-
colm Turnbull has said that Australia
is “not defi ned by race or religion or
culture.” To the contrary, Trumbull
says, they’re defi ned by a commit-
ment to common values, the rule of
law, democracy, freedom, mutual re-
spect, and equality for all. The citi-
zenship process, he says, must deliver
citizens who conform to what Aus-
tralians have determined they stand
for and believe in. I wish, big-time,
we’d copy them.
The citizenship test there, at one
time, amounted to knowing the na-
tion’s history and political system
while it afforded applicants unlim-
ited opportunity to pass it. Under
the proposed new design, three tries
and you’re out while a rap sheet with
domestic violence on it
means a trip to the “door”
as do other unacceptable
behaviors. Very appealing
requirements.
Having spent enough
time in Australia to get a
feel for the place, conclu-
sions reached were that
the Aussies have a better chance to
establish and maintain a common
values culture than most anywhere
else. Maybe it’s because Australia is
so far away from Europe and North
America that the typical Aussie guy is
a friendly “bloke” who’ll refer to you
as his “mate” during the fi rst “pint”
of beer and will seek your friendship
rather than getting at your U.S. dol-
lars.
The genuine friendliness that was
gusst
column
observed by this American was ex-
perienced in a lengthy visit awhile
back. My spouse and I were able
to walk the streets of any of Aus-
tralia’s bigger and medium-sized
cities without fearing for our safe-
ty. Hopefully, living conditions have
not changed since our visit and that
the proposed effort to keep the place
livable is a general desire to pre-
serve that nation’s way of life.
With a population of about 24
million and surrounded by ocean,
Australia has some advantages over
the U.S. when it comes to immi-
gration controls which those folks
have maintained for the last 100
years. Unlike the U.S., having be-
come a very seriously fractured
country with churlish leadership and
hourly incidences of murder and
mayhem, Australia by comparison is
a peace-loving nation with no NRA
and strict gun controls.
(Gsns H. McIntyrs livss in Ksizsr.)