AUGUST 30, 2019, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5
Opinion
Time for school
Public schools open for the new
year next Tuesday, Sept. 3. Sure many
kids will bemoan the fact they have
to be somewhere in the morning and
the summer days of laze are over.
Streets and curbs around and in
front of elementary, middle and high
schools will be fi lled with students.
Parents will jockey with
school buses to get their
charges to the school en-
trance.
Drivers, whether fer-
rying students or not,
should be extra watchful
for kids in the morning
and in the afternoon.
Kids being kids, when school is out
they have things other than traffi c on
their minds. Pedestrians have the right
the way at all times, so every driver
has to be responsible and keep an ea-
gle eye on the street and curbs. This
is especially true in the Keizer neigh-
borhoods that have no sidewalks.
Not all students will groan at the
arrival of the new school year. Gub-
ser students will enter a school with a
cafeteria—the school did not have a
cafeteria until now. Students were rel-
egated to eating lunch in their class-
rooms. There is also a new state-of-art
kitchen. The cafeteria and kitchen are
due to the $619.7 million school bond
passed by voters several years ago that
will see additions and improvements
to schools across the district.
While the Gubser School commu-
nity will marvel at its new additions,
students and parents at McNary High
School will fi nd the fl ow of traffi c to
be much less troublesome than in the
past.
Reconstruction of the McNary
High School will make not only the
traffi c fl ow easier for those cars drop-
ping off students, but parking will be
be reconfi gured.
Though the McNary High School
construction project will continue
through September, 2020, students,
parents and staff will be greeted with
an enhanced entrance and front offi ce.
Beside the addition of a cafeteria
and kitchen, Gubser Ele-
mentary will welcome a
new principal: Tom Char-
boneau. He moves over
from Forest Ridge El-
ementary. Karl Paulson
takes up the helm at For-
est Ridge Elementary in
north Keizer.
With all the changes happening
at Keizer schools one thing remains
the same: the commitment of School
Superintendent Christy Perry, school
principals and hundreds of teachers to
deliver the best education.
Earlier this week the Keizer
Chamber of Commerce held its an-
nual Teacher Appreciation luncheon.
Parents can be secure in the fact that
their children are in the good hands
of those who have chosen education
as their profession. Teachers at the
luncheon introduced themselves and
said how long they have been teach-
ers. The veteran had been in the class-
room for 40 years, many others for 10
years or more. That’s dedication.
Some things, thankfully, don’t
change. Kids are taught math, science,
writing, reading and athletics.
Our kids are in good hands in our
schools. They deserve the best educa-
tion they can get and they deserve to
be safe on the way to and from school.
They may not see drivers but all driv-
ers should be aware of them.
—LAZ
our
opinion
How to expand freedom
By E.J. DIONNE JR.
Complaining about government
—its failures, its corruption and, in the
worst cases, its capacity to oppress —is
both an American pastime and a right
to be treasured.
But a wholesome desire to preserve
ourselves from foolish
or tyrannical rule often
devolves into disdaining
government
altogether.
The underlying assump-
iting process would make tion is that everything
government undertakes is
streets safer.
doomed to be less effec-
Mike DeBlasi
tive, less beautiful, less in-
Keizer
novative and less useful than the work
of the private sector.
To the Editor:
Yes, there are plenty of horror
I read today that our
stories about the misdeeds of public
president
commented
bureaucracies. We hear such tales es-
that “Jews who vote for Democrats
pecially from people who run small
are disloyal to Israel.”
businesses and fi nd government rule
My grandparents were born in To the Editor:
books and the people charged with
Poznan, Poland, of Jewish ancestry
It’s long past time for Congress enforcing them to be, well, less than
around the turn of the 20th century, to hold Trump accountable. It’s time
prior to emigrating to the United for a formal impeachment inquiry. user-friendly.
Let’s assume all of these stories are
States of America.
Here’s what we know: Donald
Since 1972, at the age of 20, I have Trump claims the Mueller report true. And then consider another truth:
voted in every election. I have vot- exonerated him, but Mueller clearly Nearly everyone also has a horror sto-
ed for Republicans, Democrats, and stated in his testimony last month ry about dealing with a private bu-
reaucracy—say, a cable or insurance
Independents. What would Senator that he did not exonerate Trump.
company, a phone service provider, or
John McCain have remarked today
Mueller’s investigation found a bank.
if he was still alive and heard his extensive criminal activity, uncov-
When a government bureaucrat
party’s president’s comments? Yet, ered over 100 secret meetings and
the Republican Party does not issue communications between Trump’s fails us, the response is often along the
any comments, particularly Repub- campaign team and Russia or Rus- lines of: “Typical government.” But
lican American Jews, denouncing sia-linked individuals, and found when a private sector bureaucrat fails
us, almost nobody says: “Typical pri-
this heinous statement.
at least 10 episodes of obstruction
I plan on voting for the candidate of justice by the president himself, vate sector.”
This habit is one of the victories
of the Democrat Party in Novem- including telling the White House
of
ideological conservatism. We rare-
ber, 2020, to allow our president counsel to lie during the investiga-
ly notice the moments when our free,
to “go home.” Send him back. My tion.
democratically-elected government
vote will count.
It’s unbelievable to watch the enhances individual freedom. It did
Jeffrey Auger
person who holds the highest offi ce so with civil rights laws on behalf
Keizer
in the land ignore the law when any of excluded minorities and for large
other American who committed groups of Americans whose freedom
those same crimes would be put in
jail. Two months ago, Trump went
To the Editor:
I read the article about Doug on national television and declared
Bish’s presentation to the TBSP. he’d accept foreign intelligence if it
While accurate, I have an issue with would help his 2020 campaign— By DAVID CHAVERN
News consumption is growing
the headline, which can affect how yet another crime. Congress should
someone perceives the propos- take him at his word; Trump pres- exponentially, but for the past de-
al. And, as you know, perceptions ents a clear and present danger to cade, the revenue to news publish-
our democracy.
ers has been on a decline. This is, in
drive policy.
There can be no more excuses large part, because of the unbalanced
The headline, New speed limiting
process could slow major streets, could or delays. It’s time for our represen- relationship between news publishers
be interpreted as a negative because tative to stand with the more than and tech platforms. But
it will take longer to get around if 130 members of the House that that relationship could be
your sole goal is unimpeded driving. support opening a formal impeach- changing thanks to the
bipartisan introduction of
A more appropriate and accurate ment inquiry.
the “Journalism Competi-
headline could read New speed lim- Barbara Lastfogel
Salem
tion and Preservation Act”
by House Antitrust Sub-
committee Chairman Da-
vid Cicilline (D-RI) and
House Judiciary Commit-
tee Ranking Member Doug Collins
(R-GA). A bipartisan companion bill
Wheatland Publishing Corp.
was also introduced by Senator John
Neely Kennedy (R-LA), Member of
142 Chemawa Road N. • Keizer, Oregon 97303
the Senate Judiciary Committee, and
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Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN),
Ranking Member of the Senate An-
MANAGING EDITOR
Eric A. Howald
SUBSCRIPTIONS
titrust Subcommittee.
editor@keizertimes.com
One year:
The bill, which would provide
$35
in
Marion
County,
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
news publishers a safe harbor in
Matt Rawlings
$43 outside Marion County,
news@keizertimes.com
$55 outside Oregon
which to collectively negotiate with
COMMUNITY REPORTER
platforms like Google and Facebook,
PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY
Lauren Murphy
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could help news producers receive
reporter@keizertimes.com
the fair distribution and monetization
POSTMASTER
ADVERTISING
Paula Moseley
Send address changes to:
terms we’ve long been fi ghting to get
advertising@keizertimes.com
from the duopoly.
Keizertimes Circulation
PRODUCTION MANAGER
142 Chemawa Road N.
Because of their market domi-
& GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Keizer, OR 97303
EDITOR & PUBLISHER
Andrew Jackson
nance—and
access to billions of us-
Lyndon Zaitz
graphics@keizertimes.com
Periodical postage paid at
ers—the major tech platforms set the
publisher@keizertimes.com
Salem, Oregon
LEGAL NOTICES
2019-2020 President
rules for news publishers and deter-
legals@keizertimes.com
Oregon Newspaper
mine how journalism is displayed,
BUSINESS MANAGER
Publishers Association
Leah Stevens
prioritized and monetized. They also
billing@keizertimes.com
capture the vast majority of all digi-
RECEPTION
tal advertising dollars because of their
Lori Beyeler
facebook.com/keizertimes twitter.com/keizertimes
unique ability to collect consumer
INTERN
Brooklyn Flint
data across the web.
Not disloyal
for voting
Democratic
was hemmed in by a shortage of in-
come. Just start with elderly Ameri-
cans on Social Security and Medicare
and move on from there.
We don’t associate government
with beauty, but what other word de-
scribes our national parks or so many
of our great public universi-
ties? We rarely say the words
“government” and “innova-
tion” in the same sentence.
But the technology behind
the internet through which
many will be able to read
this column grew out of
government-sponsored re-
search and development. And ponder
how many lives have been saved or
improved thanks to the brilliant minds
at the National Institutes of Health.
We should worship neither the
state nor the private sector. But after
decades of refl exively running down
government, we need to rediscover
what it actually does, and can do.
For this reason, I hope every 2020
presidential candidate—yes, I’m being
optimistic about President Trump—
reads the policy book of the summer,
The Public Option: How to Expand Free-
dom, Increase Opportunity and Promote
Equality, by Ganesh Sitaraman and
Anne Alstott. The two law professors
are not interested in government tak-
ing over everything. On the contrary,
what they seek is to expand choice.
A public option, they write, “pro-
vides an important service at a reason-
able cost, and it coexists, quite peace-
ably, with one or more private options
offering the same service.” Thus: You
can use the post offi ce, or ship with
FedEx or UPS. You can stay in a na-
tional park or go to a private resort.
You can use a public library or buy a
book. You can head down the fairway
at a municipal golf course or join a
other
voices
letters
Time for
Congress to act
A better headline
country club.
Notice that while public options
are available to everyone, they’re espe-
cially useful for those who don’t have
a lot of money. Sitaraman and Alstott
suggest new areas where they could be
helpful: for health insurance, where the
idea is already popular; for child care;
for retirement savings to supplement
Social Security; and for basic banking.
The last could address the needs of
roughly 14 million Americans, many
with low incomes, who have neither
checking nor savings accounts.
The authors are under no illusions
that every public option will work
well all the time, and they acknowl-
edge the diffi culties faced by public
schools and public housing. But they
also rightly insist that the problems
facing both are aggravated by “Amer-
ica’s intense residential segregation by
race and by class.”
Critics of public options might
call them socialism. But as Sitaraman
and Alstott note, “public options can
benefi t the private sector.” They can
create a more fl uid labor market by
providing health insurance and re-
tirement coverage that individuals can
take with them from one employer to
another, thus easing “job lock.” They
can also introduce more competition
into concentrated markets. Munici-
pally provided broadband, for exam-
ple, might provide a consumer-friend-
ly alternative to a monopoly provider
of high-cost, poor-service internet
connections.
“We think it’s not only possible
but critical to take a pragmatic look
at what government can do well,”
they write. Such practical hopefulness
would be an excellent antidote to the
poisonous election campaign we’re
about to endure.
(Washington Post Writers Group)
Safe harbor is answer to news business needs
All of this has degraded the rela-
tionship between news readers and
publishers and rewarded low quality
“click-bait” over quality informa-
tion from real journalists. It has also
greatly reduced the fi nancial ability of
publishers to invest in newsrooms at
a time when our society
most needs great, sub-
stantive reporting.
It is simply not pos-
sible for any individual
news publisher to change
the basic terms offered
by the online behemoths.
They are simply much
too big and much too
infl uential.
However, there is power in num-
bers, which is what we need in order
to have a fi ghting chance. The anti-
trust safe harbor bill would provide a
four-year window for news publishers
to collectively negotiate for fair terms
guest
opinion
Keizertimes
that would fl ow earned subscription
and advertising dollars back to the
publishers, while protecting and pre-
serving Americans’ right to access
quality news. Parameters included in
the bill ensure that these negotiations
would strictly benefi t Americans and
news publishers at-large, not just one
or a few publishers.
If passed, this bill would allow our
industry to more fully control our
product by allowing market forces,
not two companies, to determine how
and for what price our content is of-
fered. It would allow everyone from
small local publications to major on-
line publishers the opportunity to re-
ceive a return on their investment and
therefore sustain quality journalism,
which is necessary for an informed
democracy and civic society.
(David Chavern is President and
CEO of News Media Alliance.)