OCTOBER 15, 2021, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A13
Let a commission redistrict
Once again Oregon is going through
the sausage-making process of redisticting
the state's legislative and congressional
districts. Sausage-making is never pretty.
This year's redistricting process brings
to light two political altruisms: number
one: to the victor go the spoils; and num-
ber two, just because you can, doesn't mean
you should. The Democrats hold superma-
jorities in both houses of the state legisla-
ture, they were always in the driver's seat
regarding redrawing state House, state
Senate and U.S. House district boundaries.
A group of former Republican lawmak-
ers have filed a lawsuit to block the "egre-
gious partisan gerrymander" redistricting
they consider illegal.
At a time when everything is up for
debate, when some are ready to litigate to
stop what they don't like and those on the
other side have votes on their side.
There is nothing more political than
redistricting—one party or the other can
secure legislative and congressional seats
for a decade or more.
It is exactly these battles that turn the
average citizen off of politics and govern-
ment. The people should trust that the
playing field is level and fair for all. When
one party is in control, such as this year,
the process gets twisted—counties and cit-
ies are split between districts. That kind of
redistricting does not serve the people.
It is time to take the redistricting pro-
cess out of the hands of politicians and
place it in the hands of an independent
commission.
Editorial
PUBLIC SQUARE welcomes all points of view. Published submissions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Keizertimes
A commission should be comprised
of academics, citizens and non-parti-
sans—effectively a commission whose
members will not benefit by how district
lines are draw. The commission should be
appointed by the state Supreme Court who
would have to give the final sign off of any
final redistricting.
Districts drawn by such a commission
would be more equitable, ending the era of
safe seats for any party. Elections should
not be coronations, instead they should be
the result of sober, sane campaigns debat-
ing ideas. There are conservative parts of
the state just as there are liberal parts of
the state. Oregon's voters are generally
centrists. If a party wants to win a district
historically won by the opposing party, fair
and balanced redistricting will level the
field, if the parties run candidates palatable
to voters.
The future of Oregon depends on all
sides working toward the goals of improved
quality of life for all and a successful busi-
ness climate. Oregon worked best when the
legsilature was evenly divided—lawmakers
had no choice but to comprise.
Redisticting by an independent com-
mission would be a big step toward return-
ing common sense to the legislature.
—LAZ
The spirit of
volunteerism lives
By MATT LAWYER
Saturday, Oct. 9, was not a typical
Saturday morning for many of McNary
High schoolers. Rather than sleeping in or
enjoying the next trending show on their
favorite steaming service, students from
McNary’s Leadership program and the Air
Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps
(JROTC) met to complete a service project
the week prior to homecoming.
Miranda Colman, a senior at McNary,
City of Keizer Youth Councilor and secretary
of the Claggett Creek Watershed Council
(CCWC), wanted to do a community project.
She felt it was important to give back to the
community prior to homecoming and felt
a project was a great way to kick off spirit
week.
Working with the CCWC and the Keizer
Parks Department, she organized and devel-
oped a plan to add the recycled wood chips
from the Big Toy to the playground at North
View Terrace Park.
Parks staff had the wood chips pre-staged
in the parking lot of the park and volunteers
quickly spread all of the material out at the
playground. They reduced the distance
under the slides and the swings and fresh-
ened up the main play areas.
JROTC Master Sergeant Javiar Martin-
Vinas empowered his cadets in serving as
project leads. They orchestrated the work-
flow and guided the placement of the wood
chips. McNary Leadership and JROTC had a
well-choreographed method of filling wheel-
barrows, dumping in the appropriate areas
Guest
COLUMN
and then spreading the material efficiently
and effectively.
The project was scheduled for two hours.
The efficiency and expertise of these young
people expedited the process and they were
complete in just one hour. This allowed
Master Sergeant Martin-Vinas to barbeque
for his cadets. Each year the cadets have
to raise funds to participate in JROTC
events and competitions. This year, Master
Sergeant Martin-Vinas had challenged them
to reach a certain fundraising goal. He prom-
ised a barbeque for the success. Having met
their goal, Master Sergeant Martin-Vinas
took this opportunity to enjoy a beautiful
day in the cool sun after a service project. In
the spirit of community, he offered his bar-
beque to the leadership students and others
that came to help.
As the day wrapped up, the students were
throwing a football around and enjoying
some time in the park. The spirit of volun-
teerism is still very much alive, especially
among the more than 30 amazing high
school students and others that chose to
give back and spend a day in the sun.
(Matt Lawyer lives and volunteers in
Keizer. He is a member of several city
committees.)
Commitment to
equity and
anti-racism
To the Editor:
Re: My position on Resolution No
202122-2:
While I deeply continue to be con-
cerned about the issue of addressing
white supremacy and racism, but I am
more concerned about our district and
board’s ability and credibility to sus-
tainably undertake this task at this time.
Furthermore, I am concerned about con-
tinued alienation of our large sections of
moderate community who are wrongly
labeled as supremacist, race traitors,
threatened, shamed, doxed, or further
alienated or made invisible or discounted
in this discussion.
I think this is an important issue as
we are sitting on top of a dangerous
pandemic and any fanning of distrust,
divisive rhetoric or false accusations can
increase and accelerate the risk of health
and safety in the midst of this COVID-19
pandemic.
I believe any attempts by any groups
to highjack, weaponize and stoke the
flames of our primal fears around white
supremacy and racism will only inflame
the synergistic effects and cause more
harm to the vulnerable communities
already suffering.
While I am committed to working to
heal the racial divide and address this for
the sake of our nation and our children, I
will not be a party to a plan that can divide
my community and cause more harm.
The real hard question is how do we make
critical changes in the policies that will
address the problems of educational ineq-
uities, helping our students catch up the
learning losses that has disproportion-
ately impacted communities that have
always been left behind?
This is a time for us to calm our com-
munity, bring groups together and help
humanize each other. Hence I will not be
able to support this resolution at this time.
I have sent a detailed email to our
superintendent explaining my position.
Satya Chandragiri, MD
Salem
(The writer is the Salem Keizer School
Board director for Zone 4.)
Letters
Uphold the oath
To the Editor:
Recently, while asleep, I experienced
walking a steep, high mountain trail that
dead-ended only to have the return path
blocked by a slide. I could jump and risk
death or starve. Thankfully, I awoke to a
safe bedroom in Keizer.
The dream just may have been inspired
by political events where one political
party follows a leader who’s indicated he
wants to take our nation to an autocratic
form of government. Meanwhile, the other
party says it wants to serve all Americans
through “social infrastructure” enhance-
ments but cannot agree among its own
members to pass legislation that’d accom-
plish such objectives. All and more of the
same are enough for a mere mortal like
myself to acquire a regimen of nightmares.
So, our elected leaders bicker and fight
among themselves, day after day, year
after year, while the nation (and state, too)
lingers in a kind of a national stalemate
where it often seems that only the wealthy
make gains. As a result, those of us who
care what becomes of our nation wring our
hands in helpless distress, nostalgically
recalling the days when our politicians
were adequately mature, secure enough in
themselves to make decisions, dedicated
to compromises to keep the nation afloat,
with practiced values that exceeded more
than acquiring more power, more money
and more re-elections.
One answer to what ails us is to elect
a new slate of politicians who’ve proven
they can get along with others, recognize
fact from fiction, and do the hard and
responsible work of governing. Opinion
also leads one to believe we need term
limits at single numbers, requiring those
representatives who leave their voting dis-
trict for another state to resign.
These conditions appear vital to pos-
itive futures for our children and coming
generations. Meanwhile, we must insist on
and demand of those in public office that
they uphold their sworn oath of office.
Gene H. McIntyre
Keizer
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