PAGE A18, KEIZERTIMES, DECEMBER 24, 2021
PUBLIC SQUARE welcomes all points of view. Published submissions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Keizertimes
Council goes for a Starr
To fill a vacant council seat, the Keizer
City Council had a rich and diverse roster
of applicants to chose from at a special
session on Monday, Dec. 20.
After two ballots the council voted for
Shaney Starr, an excellent choice by any
measure.
Starr currently serves as executive
director of CASA (Court Appointed
Special Advocates) of Marion County,
where her work to serve and protect the
county's children has resulted in more
volunteers for the organization.
Keizer's newest councilor has a long
history of working with organizations
and agencies that assist those in our soci-
ety whom need help.
Starr is good addition not only because
she is smart, she is knowledgeable about
the world in general and is intimately
involved with the issues that challenge us
locally everyday.
With a focus on diversity, inclusion
and equity at the city these days, Starr
can be leader on those issues right out of
the gate.
She cares about children (obviously)
Editorial
but also civil rights and equality for all.
As a former director of the Marion Polk
County Medical Society and Medical
Foundation of Marion & Polk Counties,
she is no stranger to wellness issues,
especially in a time of a global pandemic.
Despite her background and experi-
ence, Shaney Starr will not be a one-issue
councilor. As a long-time Keizer resident,
she understands what concerns residents
and will add an important voice to future
policy debates on the council.
We welcome the voice of Ms. Starr to
the council.
In a town where our friends and neigh-
bors serve on the city council, she would
rather be called Shaney then councilor
Starr.
Alright, welcome aboard Shaney, we
expect great things from you.
—LAZ
It's always the season
to be an American
‘Tis the season for believing’ arrives
again as a time to be thankful. I have been
equally thankful all year 'round, every
year, for being born an American citizen.
As a school child, I pledged allegiance
to the American flag and learned about the
U.S. Constitution, rule by law, our institu-
tions, norms and traditions, all adding up
to what has been a mainly wonderful life
for me in the United States. Meanwhile,
I took what we have for granted until my
studies inspired more deep thought and
serious contemplation while jobs and
travel overseas took me to places where
democracy is a foreign idea.
As a matter of fact, my freedoms and
opportunities would not have been pos-
sible in many foreign lands. Besides, I
was born to a working family without
financial means beyond daily-bread-with-
roof-overhead status, where no member
of the larger family could claim wealth,
fame or “connections.” Nevertheless, by
working after school and summers, I had
the prerogative and opportunity to earn a
higher education, thereby free to broaden
my horizons, realizing personal goals and
objectives.
These liberties by birthright here have
provided a life about which I have no com-
plaints. There have, of course, been the
required rules, procedures and laws I had
to follow along the way, serving mostly to
keep me safe and healthy throughout my
life. Now I wear a mask to protect others
and myself. I have been vaccinated against
diseases and had to work diligently to pass
programs of study, enabling ultimately
a peaceful existence in a mostly orderly
G ene H.
M cIntyre
America, one copied by other nations also
seeking success.
What presently confounds and
depresses is the number of Americans
who apparently no longer want a peaceful,
orderly nation where we can be safe and
successful. Those among us want order
gone, no rules and laws. Also, these same
Americans want to rid the nation of our
Constitution and laws, opting for an auto-
cratic, dictatorial government led by the
personal whims and desires of one-person
rule.
What’s not known by those who want
a despot is what will become of the
American character. Such a new order will
find only a select-by-leader small group of
survivors with freedoms where protests of
any kind lead to imprisonment and loss
of privileges. The new America will be
unfortunate should we allow such a gov-
ernment to take control of our nation, hav-
ing been the case elsewhere in the world
when the old order is replaced by a new
order characterized by total subjugation.
Almost always then, sooner or later, the
country deteriorates into civil wars within
its borders and wars delivered by outsid-
ers, those ready to step in and control the
created “vacuum.”
(Gene H. McIntyre lives in Keizer.)
Meeting about schools
misrepresented in column
guest
By ANNA MUNSON
Rebutal to Andrea Smith column
(Meeting about schools an eye-opener,
Dec. 18, Keizertimes):
I have been a community member of
the city of Salem for over 40 years. I have
raised my children in the Salem-Keizer
schools. I have been concerned about our
schools, hearing about the increase in
violence as well as the curriculum being
taught to our children.
I, too, attended the SK We Stand
Together/Oregon Mom's Union meeting
on Dec. 12. I observed that you wore a
mask. My background has been in health-
care. I worked in hospitals for most of my
career. I have also taken high school sci-
ence, and a multitude of science classes.
Because of my experience I know the
true value of a mask in stopping a virus.
Especially the cloth mask you wore.
It has been scientifically proven in
multiple studies that it is ineffective.
“Coronavirus is 0.125 microns. therefore
these masks wouldn’t protect you from
the virus” Ms. Smith, you mentioned that
literature was handed out at the meet-
ing. This is a false statement. Literature
was available, but everyone had to go to
a back table for review before picking it
up. Everyone and anyone in attendance
could review or take it. Nobody “handed
it to you."
I did notice that you took at least one
copy of all the literature that was on the
table. Dr. Satya Chandragiri's talk was on
safety—about how the most important
thing to parents are their children. He
gave some examples of history, both good
and bad. He understood that when fami-
lies feel that their most important treasure
and responsibility, their children, are not
safe or cared for properly it is natural for
them to want to stand and defend them.
He pointed out that this is the state
of Oregon, a part of the United States of
America where we still have a Constitution
(actually two Constitutions, one state and
one federal) and a Bill of Rights, that
allow us to go and speak to anyone about
our concerns. Parents and community
Letters
Guest column
enlightening
was
To the Editor:
Excellent guest column by Andrea
Smith. (Meeting about schools as an
eye-opener, Dec. 17) Enlightening, to say
the least (sex education as….Marxism?!)
Keep up the good publishing!
Jo Williams
Keizer
OPINION
members have a very legitimate right to
go to board meetings if they have con-
cerns about their children's education:
safety or curriculum, or anything else in
regards to their child.
If a parent is told by their child that
they feel pressured into doing things that
they don't feel comfortable doing in a class
it is that parent's right and responsibility
to seek out the truth. In regards to your
description of the Heritage Foundation, as
a “far right-winged” group. That is false. It
is a conservative group. In fact, as stated
on their website, “Heritage (Foundation)
works in our nation’s capital to build an
America where freedom, opportunity,
prosperity, and civil society flourish for
the benefit of all. ”
As many of us have discovered, sex
education that we or our children were
taught in the past is not what is being
taught in our schools today. Today it's
called Comprehensive Sex Education.
“Comprehensive Sexuality Education
(CSE)" has many highly controversial
components that can be harmful to
children.
World Health Organization (WHO)
programs have CSE concepts targeting
children. I believe that parents know their
children best. Every parent has the right
and responsibility to teach and protect
them as they choose. This group, SK We
Stand Together/Oregon Mom's Union pri-
orities are to stand together to increase
community engagement and respectfully
advocate with one voice for parents rights,
educational transparency, opportunity,
excellence, and choice for every student.
You have the right to your opinion. Be
sure that it is verified with facts and not
false statements.
(Anna Munson lives in Salem.)
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