OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2017
Founded in 1873
KARI BORGEN, Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND, Editor
JEREMY FELDMAN, Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
AP Photo/Mark Wallheiser
Willie Taggart is introduced as Florida State’s new football coach.
End the scam of
college football
O
regonians love our college football, especially since
the University of Oregon Ducks rose to prominence in
recent decades.
We’ve created good-natured dividing lines between Ducks
and Beavers, and some of us make treks to support our teams
from the stands and the sidelines.
And it’s not just our two big-time state schools that
earn our allegiance. Plenty of us root for Washington State,
Boise State, Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon, too. A
few even side with Alabama or Ohio State, UCLA or Notre
Dame. The fandom gives us joy, something to believe in and
hope for, as well as a way to pass cold Saturday mornings in the
comfort of our warm couches. Some even have degrees from the
schools they root for, and victories on the field give a sense of
pride and accomplishment for the old alma mater.
But this week has cemented what many have long known to
be true: College football is a morally repugnant scam that must
be dismantled. A safer and more equitable system needs to be
rebuilt in its place, somewhere far from America’s higher educa-
tion system.
Ducks coach Willie Taggart has flown the coop, just a year
after he was wooed to Eugene with a big contract, a $68 mil-
lion athletic facility, and Phil Knight’s unlimited pocketbook and
jersey colors. Taggart lasted a year, having made promises to
recruits, the local community and his own family that he did not
keep.
Taggart will replace former Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher,
who in turn took a job with Texas A&M, for which he will be
paid $75 million as a state employee. That is patently absurd on
the face of it — then add in the fact that he will be coaching a
bunch of teenagers who are the reason the stands are packed, in
some cases bringing millions of dollars to the university and the
athletic department.
The NCAA says they pay these athletes with a college
degree, an expensive piece of paper nowadays. But even that is
barely true when it comes to football players. About 55 percent
of FBS (top level college football) players earn a degree, accord-
ing to the NCAA. And many of the athletes that do graduate are
clustered into “easier” majors that allow them to focus on their
sport, but don’t set them up to succeed later in life when the
dream of the NFL disappears.
Even if they do graduate, that diploma is not free for many
football players — many pay mightily in medical expenses, both
in the short term and long term.
The NCAA allows schools to set their own policies when it
comes to paying their players’ medical expenses. While some
schools do pay, it is not a requirement. Many small schools
require athletes to shell out up to $10,000 from their own pocket
before the university steps in.
If we’re not yet ready to blow up the system — and
end college football for good and remake it as a for-profit,
developmental league — then we have a few small changes
that are the very least the NCAA can do for its football
athletes.
Each student who secures an athletic scholarship should
receive free tuition to that school until they earn a degree —
even if it takes them an extra year or two or three due to their
disrupted schedule.
And secondly, each should have full-coverage medical insur-
ance paid for by the school. If these young men are putting their
bodies on the line, universities should be on the hook for the
cost of injuries that occur in the line of duty, whenever those
injuries manifest themselves.
Perhaps that will make college football too expensive. So be
it. Let the best players make a buck in another league, and let
colleges concentrate on what they should be doing: educating
our nation’s young people.
Football is a dangerous sport, but all societies have had gladi-
ator games and likely always will.
The NFL must do what it can to make the game safer, but in
the end its athletes are paid handsomely for the risks they take.
That is not the case in the NCAA. Its athletes are treated like
chattel while its coaches and athletic directors accept millions
and millions in taxpayer dollars.
End it. Rework the NCAA soon, but end college football
now.
Big tax scam
he new tax “cut” that morphs
into a tax increase for the poor
and the middle class, passed by the
Republican Congress, contains some
logic that is puzzling. The great
recession is over: if the permanent
corporate tax cuts and temporary per-
sonal tax cuts for the middle class
work as planned, they will overstim-
ulate the economy and set up the
next recession.
If we have full employment
(defined as 4 percent or less unem-
ployment), then stimulating the econ-
omy to produce jobs will require our
country to import hundreds of thou-
sands of immigrants to fill the jobs,
or companies will have to send the
jobs overseas. Is this what the fake
president and the GOP planned on?
However, CEOs of major compa-
nies, when polled, said they did not
plan on expansion, but rather buying
back stock and taking care of stock-
holders. Forecasted expansion from
this tax “cut” will be a meager 0.6
percent. But wait, I’m just getting
started.
President Donald Trump
announced that he would not person-
ally make any money on the tax cut,
but an independent analyst calculated
that in 2018 (based on his 2005 tax
return), Trump would pay $22 mil-
lion less in taxes. Pants on fire again.
We know that trickle down eco-
nomics has never worked. We also
know that tax cuts do not pay for
themselves, so most of the $1 tril-
lion dollars the tax cut costs will be
added to the national debt. This is a
scam of biblical proportions to ben-
efit the wealthy, and Republicans
are counting on voters’ memories
to be short, and they will use their
increased donations to buy and lie
their way into power to keep the new
status quo.
DAVID FITCH
Astoria
T
Trump’s tax gains
his is for all those Joe and Mary
“sixpacks” who voted Presi-
dent Donald Trump into office. I can
see why you continue to show sup-
port for him, since he has not been
brought down by any of the multiple
accusations of sex abuse, unlike so
many in today’s climate.
He was going to “drain the
swamp” of those Wall Street fat cats
and bazillionaires who were ruin-
ing our country. Hmm, I guess that
meant to clean them out of Wall
Street, and move them into cabinet
positions and other federal agency
department heads.
No need for Joe or Mary to apply
unless they contributed $10 mil-
lion or more to his campaign. But it
seems as if he’s going to get his big-
gest tax plan through, just in time to
save Donald Trump, among other
billionaires, at least $30 million on
his own tax bill. He does this by get-
ting rid of something known as the
alternative minimum tax, which
made sure that no matter how many
exemptions your very expensive law-
yers could find, you had to pay this
tax.
Don’t worry Joe and Mary, he has
T
LETTERS
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not forgotten about you folks. Oh no,
he’s raising yours, because some-
one has to make up for all those taxes
the richest .01 percent are no longer
paying.
They also took another stab at the
affordable health plan by eliminating
the requirement for all Americans to
have health care. This will take mil-
lions of Americans off health insur-
ance, and raise premiums for others
to where they will not be able to buy
any insurance.
But, all is not lost, you no longer
will have to worry about the “death
tax,” so your estate will be able to
be passed on to your kids. Under the
nasty old tax plan, you had to pay
taxes on anything left after your indi-
vidual $5.49 million estate. Doesn’t
that make you feel good about Mr.
Trump and his fellow Republicans
removing this absurd limit on how
much you pass along, without pay-
ing any taxes to help support our
country?
Trump kept claiming that he was
going to make America great again.
When did we become not great?
When he came into office, the U.S.
had the lowest unemployment in
decades, a record Dow Jones, prob-
ably the best, if not most expensive,
military in the world, and the clean-
est air and water. What wasn’t great
about this?
CHUCK MEYER
Astoria
A time of lights, and
other thoughts
ith winter days and early dark-
ness, we journey into the hol-
iday and winter season. At dusk in
Astoria, which is as far north in Ore-
gon as one can get, we see the eve-
ning lights and colorful decorations
of this time of year.
W
I look over the hills and see the
dotted lights of houses. These are
houses of different shapes and colors.
They are homes to many — all with
a different story of life.
I travel down Commercial Street,
then up Marine Drive toward the
bridge. The seasonal lights and dec-
orations glisten. It’s hard not to feel
some joy, even with the burdens of
life.
Most of us are involved in the
holiday season. There are so many
things to do, and time seems to go
so quickly. We rush to get things
together for family and friends. We
are excited. There can also be a crazi-
ness to these days.
Perhaps it’s time to relax a little,
and enjoy, before the season is gone.
I’m thinking there is something that
connects the months gone by with
the end of the year. This is a reflec-
tion on what I have done, or didn’t
do, or didn’t do right.
People make New Year’s resolu-
tions, but that isn’t it. This is a reflec-
tion on life, and how to make it bet-
ter for me and others. We are small in
this universe, yet so important. It is
significant that we all live together in
harmony. To me this is a simple truth
that seems hard to do.
Of course this isn’t the only time,
but the season of winter lights and
the end of the year can offer a period
to perhaps heal, and be more com-
plete as a human, for myself and
others.
NORM HOOGE
Astoria
WGS thanks Roby’s
e at Warrenton Grade School
would like to thank Roby’s
Furniture in Astoria for their gener-
ous donation of furniture to our War-
rior Family Room. The Warrior Fam-
ily Room has been established in the
grade school building as a place of
refuge and resources for families in
the Warrenton school community.
The addition of the beautiful fur-
niture from Roby’s allows families to
feel more comfortable and welcome
as they enter the space. It is this kind-
ness and commitment to the commu-
nity and school from organizations
and people, like those at Roby’s Fur-
niture, which allows our school to go
above and beyond for our students
and families.
TRISH JANZEN
Warrenton
W
No mail delivery
wonder where Warrenton’s rural
mail delivery was on Monday,
Dec. 4. It certainly wasn’t in our
mailboxes. My neighbor and I had
outgoing mail that wasn’t picked up.
Well after dark we brought our mail
back into our houses. She left the
flag up, and lo and behold, the flag
was still erect in the morning. So, can
someone please tell me where the
mail carrier was?
My neighbor is an 89-year-old
widow who has to walk down her
long, steep driveway to get the mail
that wasn’t there.
JOYCE HOFFMAN
Warrenton
I
WHERE TO WRITE
• U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici
(D): 439 Cannon House Office Build-
ing, Washington, D.C., 20515. Phone:
202- 225-0855. Fax 202-225-9497.
District office: 12725 SW Millikan
Way, Suite 220, Beaverton, OR 97005.
Phone: 503-469-6010. Fax 503-326-
5066. Web: bonamici.house. gov/
• U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D): 313
Hart Senate Office Building, Wash-
ington, D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-
3753. Web: www.merkley.senate.gov
• U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D):
221 Dirksen Senate Office Building,
Washington, D.C., 20510. Phone:
202-224-5244. Web: www.wyden.
senate.gov
• State Rep. Brad Witt (D): State
Capitol, 900 Court Street N.E., H-373,
Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-
1431. Web: www.leg.state.or.us/witt/
Email: rep.bradwitt@state.or.us
• State Rep. Deborah Boone (D):
900 Court St. N.E., H-481, Salem,
OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-1432.
Email: rep.deborah boone@state.
or.us District office: P.O. Box 928,
Cannon Beach, OR 97110. Phone:
503-986-1432. Web: www.leg.state.
or.us/ boone/
• State Sen. Betsy Johnson (D):
State Capitol, 900 Court St. N.E.,
S-314, Salem, OR 97301. Telephone:
503-986-1716. Email: sen.betsy john-
son@state.or.us Web: www.betsy-
johnson.com District Office: P.O.
Box R, Scappoose, OR 97056. Phone:
503-543-4046. Fax: 503-543-5296.
Astoria office phone: 503-338-1280.