PAGE A14, KEIZERTIMES, APRIL 22, 2022
Support for
Paige Clarkson
PUBLIC SQUARE welcomes all points of view. Published submissions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Keizertimes
It is time to vote on a library
By LORE CHRISTOPHER
Fifteen years ago, Councilor Richard
Walsh and I were chair and vice chair of
a library task force. It failed.
We were proposing a custom,
Chemeketa
Cooperative
Regional
Library System (CCRLS)-approved
library that met Keizer’s specific needs
in a cost-effective manner to be voted on
by the citizens in Keizer. We were denied
our proposal by the CCRLS.
The Chemeketa Cooperative Regional
Library Service, a co-op of 17 libraries
that share resources, databases, library
loan and tax dollars collected required
every new member to meet the mini-
mum requirements as established by
the Oregon Library Association (OLA).
Those standards were overly onerous
and would have required us to build and
staff a 24,500 square foot building and 12
full-time employees and purchase and
maintain two books for every resident of
Keizer among other factors.
We asked to build a custom-designed
library to meet Keizer’s specific needs
in a more cost-effective manner and we
were denied.
So, what has changed?
CCRLS has agreed to change their
by-laws allowing them to accept a library
without meeting the OLA standards.
Keizer will finally be able to determine
what is right for Keizer and not be
required to build a library we cannot
afford.
We have a billing method.
We have ARPA funds to help with the
costs.
In 2017, the Keizer City Council added
two “Fees for Service” (taxes) to our water
bills. The “fee for service” is a loophole
in tax law that allows elected officials to
add taxes without a vote if they choose
to. This action was taken without a vote
of the people of Keizer. It was voted on
by the seven city councilors only. It was
voted on after a year of “public educa-
tion” that included five public meetings
and a Parks Survey that was returned by
guest
OPINION
1,100 parks supporters. This was an awe-
some effort to educate the Keizer public,
it was a low, low bar and not enough to
tax the Keizer public. This action taken
by the 2017 Keizer City Council silenced
25,000 voters. None of us had an oppor-
tunity to vote for these taxes.
I am a supporter of public parks; the
current tax is $4 per month. This raises
approximately $500,000 per year for
public parks. It is capped at $8.00 per
month or $1 million dollars per year. It
was imposed without a vote.
I am a supporter of police, the initial
tax was $4 per month, it was recently
increased by 25% to $5 per month or
approximately $600,000 per year. There
is no cap. It was imposed without a vote.
The taxes for parks and police are a
done deal. This should never have hap-
pened without a vote, and it should never
happen again without a vote.
No new taxes for any reason should be
added to our water bills without a vote.
I have asked the 2022 members of the
city council to pass a resolution eliminat-
ing the imposing of taxes as a “fee for ser-
vice” without a vote of the people. Only
three of the 2017 councilors that imposed
these taxes are still on the city council.
The four newer councilors have agreed to
support this resolution.
The 2022 City Council has wisely
decided to establish a Library Task force
to determine the appropriate library
ballot to move forward with. This is the
right decision.
There are 26,033 voters in the city of
Keizer. This is our tax money. We can
decide.
Let us vote for a library.
(Lore Christopher lives in Keizer.)
To the Editor:
Here’s why I am endorsing Paige
Clarkson for re-election as Marion County
District Attorney:
I worked with Paige Clarkson for many
years while serving as a Salem Deputy
Chief of Police and as the Woodburn Police
Chief, so I have seen the results and rewards
of Paige’s work firsthand. An experienced
lawyer and prosecutor, Paige believes in
ensuring justice for victims with integrity,
compassion and transparency. Paige takes
great pride in her investment in Marion
County law enforcement by providing “best
practice” training to police officers, sheriffs’
deputies and state troopers.
Paige is relentless in pursuing criminals
who prey on victims, seeing those criminals
incarcerated to keep people and our com-
munities safe. Paige is committed to alter-
natives to incarceration when appropriate,
through demonstrated work with drug court,
veteran’s court, mental health crisis coordi-
nation, and other means of diversion that
gives offenders opportunities to improve
while ensuring justice for victims.
Paige focuses efforts of her office on pro-
tecting children and vulnerable adults in our
community from sexual and physical abuse.
Paige believes public officials should be held
to a higher standard and has a proven track
records of holding public officials account-
able. Paige works hard to coordinate pre-
cious public safety resources to obtain the
most value in keeping Marion County a safe
place to live, work and visit.
Elections have consequences. Make the
right choice. Re-elect Paige Clarkson as
Marion County District Attorney.
Jim Ferraris
Woodburn Police Chief (Ret.)
Unequivocal support
for a public library
To the Editor:
I am excited by Keizer Community
Library (KCL)'s decision to seek public
library status and I support their request for
American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding.
All Keizerites should.
KCL’s attempt at joining the Chemeketa
Cooperative Regional Library Service
(CCRLS) will do so much more for Keizer
than expanding the selection of books
and e-books available to residents. CCRLS
membership will afford Keizerites access to
research literature, academic journals, his-
torical archives, legal materials and other
important publications and media. It will
also enable KCL to strengthen its available
offerings in Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese
and other languages spoken within Keizer.
Beyond broadening the reserve of mate-
rial, KCL’s metamorphosis into a public
library would fulfill the library’s promise
since its inception: Access to the world at
large, regardless of means or measure. A
full-fledged public library furthers Keizer’s
standing as a city that values education and
access to services for all citizens, including
its most vulnerable. Keizer would, once again
in its 40-year history, meet the moment.
Obstacles nonetheless remain. Should
KCL successfully join the CCRLS, it would
need a commitment of resources to success-
fully unlock the promise of expanded cata-
logues and programming—in staff, in hours
of operation, in organization, in programs,
perhaps even in physical space. Such a com-
mitment may be iterative by necessity.
It would be in the best interests of
Keizer’s state legislators to support this bur-
geoning effort throughout those iterations,
Letters
to help the public library bring out the best
in Keizer, and vice versa. As a candidate
for the Oregon House of Representatives,
District 21, which includes Keizer, I would
unequivocally support the direction of avail-
able funding and resources toward KCL, to
help Keizer’s public library realize its mis-
sion. All elected officials in this city should.
Robert Husseman, Keizer
Brutalities in Ukraine
To the Editor:
After seeing on TV and reading in
newspapers about the callous brutalities
and monstrous behaviors carried out by
Russian troops in the Ukraine, I was tem-
porarily led to believe that DNA, having
to do with humans practicing civilized
behaviors, must be missing from the
Russian mental makeup.
Of course, I was wrong, remembering
that virtually all wars in recorded history
have involved behaviors known to involve
totally unacceptable, horrible, inhumane,
brutal, uncivilized, even insane behav-
iors. For Americans, the most poignant
example visited us when members of our
military behaved badly during the war in
Vietnam. Yet, there are countless other
bad behavior examples from every war
ever fought.
My point here is that there’s noth-
ing notably unique about these Russian
troops.
We should keep in mind that many
Russians have made great contributions
to the West. Examples include aviation
pioneer Igor Sikorsky, who’s given credit
for inventing the helicopter and fixed-
wing aircraft, Vladimir Zworykin who
helped create the television set, Moscow-
born Sergey Brin co-founder of Google.
No one has provided a better understand-
ing of war’s unpredictability than Leo
Tolstoy'sWar and Peace. Then there are
the many musical geniuses exampled
by Tchaikovsky, Rimski-Korsakov and
Rachmaninoff. A thick book could be
written on Russian contributions to our
modern world.
At the same time this piece is being
written, by the reckless, feckless invasion
of Ukraine by Russia’s Putin, it’s well-
known that many of Russia’s best and
brightest are fleeing Russia, taking their
brains, talents and aspirations with them.
Coincidentally, we have a huge and grow-
ing shortage of medical doctors and, while
our competition with China heats up, we
also need persons in the fields of science,
technology, engineering and mathemat-
ics. Taking in these young Russians with
brains full of ability, eager for freedom
and western culture, who typically and
already speak English, could help America
immeasurably.
All this information leads the casual
observer to suggest that, in addition to
helping Ukraine fight Putin’s war machine,
we could directly help ourselves by recruit-
ing and placing able Russians who see a
future for themselves in America. We now
send overseas a “King’s Ransom” in guns
and ammunition when we at home could
practice our great wealth’s use in modera-
tion, investing in the multiplicity of chal-
lenges here, now in dire need of attention
and resolution.
Gene H. McIntyre, Keizer