APRIL 27, 2018, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5
KeizerOpinion
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Vote yes for our schools
Bite the bullet
The fi nal amount of the Salem-
Keizer School District’s Bond Mea-
sure was not grabbed out of thin air.
It was not decided on in a vacuum.
School bonds are serious business;
members of the committee that es-
tablished the amount needed and the
members of the school
bond take their duties
very seriously. They all
know they will hear
from the public if they
are being reckless with
the public’s money.
The school bond
comes in at $619.7 mil-
lion, that is $1.24 per
$1,000 of assessed prop-
erty value, or about $248 per year
for a home valued at $200,000. That
may seem like a lot especially since
voters approved a $250 million bond
ten years ago—that bond was for
improvements and new schools.
Voters in the Salem-Keizer
School District should bite the bul-
let and vote for the bond measure
on the ballot that begin arriving in
voter’s mailboxes this week.
The $619.7 amount was discussed
by the bond committee at vari-
ous open houses and hearings. The
school board held hearings before
moving forward to putting the mea-
sure on the May ballot. The Salem-
Keizer School District has a strong
history of communicating with the
public about its budgetary needs. Us-
ing the web, email, Facebook, news-
papers and more, the district leaves
no stone unturned when it comes to
explaining to tax payers why this, or
any other bond measure, is impor-
tant to the education of our kids.
The cost of education is not just
for instruction, it also includes extra-
currilar activities and infrastructure.
Where students learn is as important
as what they learn. First, there should
be enough space for the students.
Second, the space should be suffi -
cient and effi cient for its task. Third,
the space should be safe from both
natural and man-made disasters.
Those things are what the $619.7
million will pay for. While it does
not fund salaries, the money will
create an environment for learning
that will benefi t teachers and stu-
dents alike.
Every two years the
Oregon legislature makes
decisions that affect every
school district in the state.
With a biennial budget of
almost $80 billion, educa-
tors must fi ght for every
scrap of its 11 percent of the
budget. This is no way to
serve our children. Educat-
ing our kids is a paramount
duty—it is a duty we, the people,
assigned our public school systems.
Unless the people decide that there
should be no public schools, only
private, we have the education sys-
tem we have and we fund it the way
we have for decades.
The reality is that a million dollars
isn’t what it used to be. Economics
has devalued the worth of a million
dollars—these days $1 billion is used
like $1 million was 20 years ago. Ev-
erything is relative.
Modern life is not inexpensive.
It takes real money to operate the
things that comprise a good quality
of life and that includes good schools.
Just as we desire pothole-free streets,
we also desire quality institutions of
learning that are not crowded, that
meet the needs of all those who at-
tend there.
Until we the people and they the
legislators demand a better, consis-
tent source of money for K-12 edu-
cation in Oregon, we will have to
take matters in our own hands and
tax ourselves to have the schools we
deserve.
That’s why voters should bite the
bullet and say yes to Measure 24-
429, the $619.7 million Salem-Keiz-
er School District bond.
—LAZ
our
opinion
By JONATHAN THOMPSON
Stop someone from Keizer on
the street and ask them what they
love about their town and you will
hear things like “small town feel”
and “spirit of volunteerism.” You
will also hear Keizerites talk about
how much they love our schools.
From the largest elementary school
in the Keizer-Salem School District
to the many “Go Celts” signs which
pop up during various
sports seasons—in Keizer,
we love our schools!
On May 15 we will
be asked to support our
schools with a new bond
measure. At the Keizer
Chamber of Commerce,
we are asking you to vote
“yes” on the bond. We
don’t come to this posi-
tion lightly. This bond is expen-
sive. However, for three reasons, we
think this bond is an important in-
vestment in our schools.
First, the money raised in this
bond will help needed capacity at
many of our local schools. Rather
than build another high school in
the district which would send some
Keizer kids to high school in Salem,
this bond adds capacity to McNary,
keeping Keizer kids in Keizer.
Keizer is home to the largest
elementary school in the Keizer-
Salem School District. Keizer El-
ementary was built during a time
when schools did not have cafete-
rias. Without a cafeteria, students
rotate through a kitchen to get
lunch and then take it back to their
classrooms. With the number of kids
at the school, in order to get every-
one through the lunch line, the fi rst
group of kids starts lunch at 11 a.m.
That makes for a long
“afternoon.” With pas-
sage of this bond, Keizer
Elementary gets a cafete-
ria.
Second, the Keizer
Chamber supports this
bond because it invests
in Career Technical Ed-
ucation (CTE). These
are the programs which
teach our high school kids trades
like carpentry, culinary arts and
auto shop. These programs teach
students a skill they can use to get a
job right out of high school. They
turn today’s students into tomor-
row’s employees.
Finally, anyone who has tried to
travel down Lockhaven or Chema-
wa between 7 and 7:30 a.m. knows
the traffi c around McNary High
School can be bad. With the passage
of this bond, parking lots and traf-
guest
opinion
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(Jonathan Thompson is a mem-
ber of the board of directors at the
Keizer Chamber of Commerce and
serves as chairman of the Chamber’s
Government Affairs Committee.)
May’s special session isn’t needed
Governor Kate Brown has called run like a regular session if the ma-
for a special session of the Oregon jority in charge do not adopt special
Legislature for May 21. This is due rules for the special session to limit
bills, amendments, pro-
to the signing of Senate
hibit minority reports, etc.
Bill 1528. the $244 mil-
If they don’t, then any-
lion increase in business
thing could happen. Also,
taxes. Rather than giving
by looking at the Legisla-
this bill (which had biparti-
tive Concept (the poten-
san no votes) a veto, Gover-
tial bill) being proposed
nor Brown signed and then
for this session, you’ll fi nd
called for a one day special
that the “relating to clause”
session to “fi x” it.
is “taxation.” That means
The reality is, accord-
anything “relating to taxa-
ing to an Oregon Public
tion” can be stuffed into
Broadcasting news story:
from the this bill. The sky is theo-
“The analysis of the tax cut
the limit on con-
Brown is proposing shows
capitol retically
tent of the bill. (Think a
that few sole proprietor-
tax on soda. Coffee. Used
ships would qualify for fa-
By BILL POST
cars. Each of those ideas
vorable tax rates extended
have been discussed and
to other pass-through busi-
drafted before.) And, again,
nesses in 2013. Roughly
200,000 of Oregon’s sole proprietor- depending on whether they adopt any
ships report positive income, but only special rules or not, other bills may be
about 13,000 of those pay any wages, introduced in this session and not nec-
which is a requirement of getting a essarily on taxes. Think gun legislation
better tax rate. Of those 13,000 busi- or other controversial topics.
As for the Legislative Concept itself
nesses, only 9,000 fi lers report paying
(the potential bill) as noted above: It
employees enough to qualify.”
This would be a special session but would help only 9,000 sole propri-
etors out of 276,000. That’s 3.4 per-
cent. The tax relief for those 9,000
businesses would be $20 million in
the fi rst biennium. SB 1528 was a tax
hike of $244 million. So with passage
of this bill, it’s now only a $224 mil-
lion tax increase!
I will gladly serve you in the Legis-
lature as I have but this special session
is a complete waste of our tax payer
dollars and in fact could lead to bills
that are not appropriate for a one day
session. And I have just learned that in
fact the governor’s offi ce is now ask-
ing for 5-6 days for this special session.
I want business taxes cut indeed but
3.4 percent of them? Not something
we should be doing.
Lastly, I remind you that ballots for
the primary election should be in your
mail soon if not already and I do hope
you vote. It’s the most important civic
duty we have. Thank you for letting
me serve you again this year.
(Bill Post represents House Dis-
trict 25. He can be reached at 503-
986-1425 or via email at rep. bil-
post@ oregonlegislature.gov.)
Police do much more good than bad
Before the 1960s, though the Cold
War had raged unabated since the
late 1940s, the U.S. was a fairly tran-
quil place to live and thereby gener-
ally enjoyed by its people. However,
shortly after John F. Kenney’s assassi-
nation in 1963, the Vietnam War be-
gan to take on a troubling veneer for
an ever-growing number of Ameri-
cans.Initially the protestors were
mostly college youth; before long
its detractors numbered
a huge cross section
of the U.S. population
while—by its end—
seemed to include vir-
tually everyone.
Not only involv-
ing the U.S. military
and national leadership
from former President
Lyndon Johnson’s terms
through some of Richard Nixon’s
administration, soon all institutions
that stand to invoke authority in the
country were found wanting and
charged as guilty by their perceived
support of the ongoing bloody
slaughter of American troops, Viet-
namese civilians and the North’s
Viet Cong warring in southeast Asia.
What began as peaceful protests
became riots on campuses, in city
streets and throughout the land—
the noise and fury heard and seen as
a near daily event.
Some of the targets of those years
of discontent were police organi-
zations. Not that the police were
entirely innocent of the charges
thrown at them but many an offi cer
was compromised by orders to ‘de-
fend and protect’ by local and state
elected offi cials. What resulted was
police offi cers as “bad guys” held re-
sponsible for “helping” those Amer-
icans who advocated for the war’s
continuation. They were also seen as
assisting the nation’s distrusted mili-
tary industrial complex, those cor-
porations making big money profi ts
through the supply of war machines
and materials for “an unwinnable
war.”
My personal experience with po-
lice in general and individual offi cers
in particular has never had a nega-
tive twist to it. In recent years there
has been only one interaction with
the police. That occasion took place
at McNary High School during the
years my wife and I volunteered
there and Keizer’s Offi cer Dan Kelly
was the on-duty police liaison. We
were impressed with Offi cer Kelly,
having found him to be an
exemplary offi cer through
the conduct of his behav-
ior in fulfi lling the respon-
sibilities of the position he
held.
What bothers this writ-
er at present is the extent
to which protesters nowa-
days, sometimes employing
violent means, continue to
work against police organizations
and police offi cers. There are, of
course, from time-to-time, among
the sworn police offi cers some ‘bad
apples’ but that’s a condition of the
personnel no matter what profession
or line of work is examined. While
there’ve been police offi cers who
should probably not be police of-
fi cers, quite often these men and
women are ultimately mustered out:
While it may take awhile, remember
it is careers that are at risk.
gene
h.
mcintyre
Keizertimes
fi c patterns will be added and im-
proved.
For more information about
what is happening at your school,
please visit bondinfo.salkeiz.k12.
or.us.
To put this bond together, the
school district assembled a group of
citizens from all over the district to
make recommendations. Those rec-
ommendations formed the basis for
what we are being asked to approve.
We appreciate the school district
engaging community members and
then listening to them.
The Keizer Chamber of Com-
merce asks you take a look at what
passage of this bond will mean for
our kids in Keizer. We hope you
will support it, but either way this
is an important election. No matter
how you feel about the bond, please
make sure you study the issue, vote
and return your ballot.
The Keizer Chamber of Com-
merce is made up of over 400 local
businesses. For more information
please visit www.keizerchamber.
org.
Offi cers involved in fatal encoun-
ters are almost always placed on ad-
ministrative leave and then brought
before a review board or grand jury
to determine whether the case under
consideration justifi ed lethal action.
Based on what a citizen like myself
can determine from media reports,
it seems for the most part that offi -
cers involved were more likely deal-
ing with lawbreakers that requires of
them a protect-themselves-or-death
response. When I read in print me-
dia or see on TV about an encounter
that resulted in a death, speculation
follows where, under the circum-
stances, if my life were threatened,
I’d likely have done the same as the
offi cer or offi cers.
Our police are more important
that ever. Then, too, when trouble
fi nds its way to us, it’s unrealistic for
the vast majority of us to defend
ourselves. The knowledge, training
and experience of the average of-
fi cer cannot be substituted. Locally,
my impression of the sworn offi cers
in Keizer and Salem is that we’re
fortunate to have them and are best
advised to honor and respect them,
hoping for the sake of survival there
will continue to be young men and
women willing to join the ranks in
order to protect and serve the public.
(Gene H. McIntyre lives in Keizer.)