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About The Hood River news. (Hood River, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (March 14, 2015)
A4 V IEWPOINT Hood River News, Saturday, March 14, 2015 O ur readers write JOE PETSHOW Publisher/President, Eagle Newspapers, Inc. TOM LANCTOT Past President, Eagle Newspapers, Inc. CHELSEA MARR General Manager Question price on carbon KIRBY NEUMANN-REA Editor JODY THOMPSON Advertising Manager TONY METHVIN Columbia Gorge Press Manager DICK NAFSINGER Publisher, Emeritus (1933-2011) DAVID MARVIN Production Manager Subscription $42 per year in Hood River trade area. $68 outside trade area. NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION Printed on recycled paper. Official Newspaper, City of Hood River and Hood River County Published Every Wednesday & Saturday by Hood River News, P.O. Box 390, Hood River, Oregon 97031 • (541) 386-1234 • FAX 386-6796 Member of the Associated Press Stop Scree The slippery slope of school funding A ny hiker knows the feeling of climbing on scree. It’s the loose rocks or dirt that shift under- foot and send boots slipping backward a few inches – or feet – for every step taken. Progress is slow and arduous, falls or injuries happen, and the hiker tires as energy feels futilely expended. Schools have been stuck on a funding scree for years. It is time for some stability. Investing in schools makes sound economic sense. A well-educated workforce will be ever more critical in the next five years. Continued support of engineering and sci- ence programs in 2015 could have a positive support on the local and state economy within just a few years, based on rapid entry to the workforce by current high schoolers. The letter-writing campaign by citizens, described on page A1, is a noble effort and it is not too late for anyone to get involved; four key addresses are provided below. However, the time is long past for decision-makers to find some solution to school funding that does not feel like school administrators are sliding on slippery peb- bles each year on a routine and frustrating incline. At 37 percent each, property tax and personal income taxes total more than two-thirds of the revenue used for Oregon schools. Another 10 percent comes from taxes and gross receipts including timber, and 12 percent from “other”. That leaves the interesting little figure of 3 per- cent: corporate income taxes. If Oregon businesses and legislators are interested in elevating the economy, they should look at all investment options, including supporting schools financially now for greater gains in a few years. Back to that 3 percent corporate tax figure (2010). Ac- cording to the U.S. Census bureau, the national average in 2010 was 3.4 percent. What if Oregon business interests de- cided that agreeing to a phased-in increase until Oregon comes up to that national average, was a modest way to add education budget enhancements? ■ However you feel the state might scoop away the scree and give schools firm footing, here are those four address- es to let your legislators know: Sen. Richard Devlin, co-chair, Ways and Means: sen.richarddevlin@state.or.us Rep. Peter Buckley, co-chair, Ways and Means: rep.peterbuckley@state.or.us Sen. Chuck Thomsen (Hood River): sen.chuckthomsen@state.or.us Rep. Mark Johnson (Hood River): rep.markjohnson@state.or.us Where does the City Council go from here? There are countless places they can find pet projects to raise taxes, and don’t make any mistake, this is a tax on citizens without their consent, voted into place by four peo- ple who say they represent us? I had to read the whole story to find out what they were trying to do and it is finally spelled out at the end, “effi- cient way to discourage use of fossil fuels.” They never give us how much per kilowatt, gallon or therm, etc., this will add to the cost to the citizens they represent, who will be the ones paying this tax when it passes, and it will pass in the halls of our state govern- ment. A few answers on the tax money we are going to be paying. What will this cost the city, county and state for each of the fossil fuels they now use? How will this discourage their use of these fuels? What will be the service we are now receiving from our governments that they will eliminate as they are discouraged from the use of fossil fuels? Reduced employees, work hours, etc. should be expected, I would assume. Will these governments go for a double tax on us to replace the additional costs they will be paying when they use these fuels? Now the individual citizen, how much will this cost for each of the fuels to discourage our use of said fuels? How does this help the problem of people having to commute to the city for their jobs by taxing them for using a fuel to access their jobs? Make sure to add on the additional taxes for all the governments we will be paying to replace that spent for their fuels. Where will this money end up and who will benefit? Why was this part of the information not given in the news- paper story — surely that must be one of the main issues that was consid- ered by the city council as they exer- cised their Bully Pulpit? Norman B. Holman Hood River Carbon tax ‘practical’ I appreciate Mike Teems, Jr.’s ef- forts to “encourage conversation” on the merits of a carbon tax (“Offer Incentives,” March 4, 2015). The need to take action on global warm- ing is urgent. As Republican former Secretary of State George Shultz said recently, “The climate is chang- ing. If you don’t like the science, use your eyes.” Also, at his MIT address he ar- gued that a revenue-neutral carbon tax is a good insurance policy. (Google mit.edu, shultz-climate- change.) In this proposal, green- house gasses would be taxed from where they originate (wellhead, mine). The money raised would then be distributed to citizens. Meaning, the government would not take in added revenue. It is also called Carbon Fee and Dividend (citizensclimatelobby.org). The beauty of this proposal is that it is national, nonpartisan, and prac- tical. Everyone can get behind it. A major study shows that it will gener- ate thousands of good paying jobs. It is a way we can demonstrate Ameri- ca’s leadership worldwide, and it will insure a good future for chil- dren. Will Congressman Greg Walden stand up? As chair of the National Republican Congressional Commit- tee, he is in a key position to make it happen, to co-sponsor this legisla- tion. Surely he believes the science, that there’s nothing more important than insuring our children’s future. Lawrence Jones Hood Rive Contact legislators Hood River County school district is expecting yet another significant budget cut, about $1 million. I am asking each of you to contact the listed state legislators to ask that no budget cut be made this year. Legislators have found it easy to balance the state budget on the back of K12 education. We have had a budget cut each of the last seven years and parents have come to ex- pect this. K12 education has slipped to 39 percent of the state budget down from 45 percent in 2003. Other constituencies are demanding and receiving more funding and public education is paying for this. Here are some appalling statistics for the proud Oregonian. We have the second highest class size, rank 46th in funding education and we rank 46th in the nation for on-time graduation rates (dead last in 2013). All Oregonians have a stake in this. Parents and grandparents want a bright future for their students. Business needs a well-educated pub- lic and the general economy will slowly suffer as Oregonians can’t compete with other states and busi- nesses emigrate. The irony of the current budget cut is the state is anticipating the income tax kicker rule to apply and will re- fund tax dollars. The cup runneth over, yet our district gets a $1 million shortfall. The state has recently an- nounced that it plans to have 100 per- cent of its students graduate in 2025. It is a nice goal but continued budget cutting won’t get us there. The current education budget is on the fast track to be approved at $7.2 billion. To prevent the current budget cut, we need that number to be $7.9 billion. Please contact the fol- lowing and ask that they fund edu- cation at $7.9 billion. Thank you. Senator Richard Devlin Co-chair Ways and Means sen.richarddevlin@state.or.us, 503- 986-1719 Representative Peter Buckley, Co- chair Ways and Means rep.peterbuckley@state.or.us, 541- 488-9180 Tina Kotek, House Majority Leader, rep.tinakotek@state.or.us, 503-286-0558 Peter Courtney, Senate President, sen.petercourtney@state.or.us, 503- 986-1600 Senator Chuck T hompsen, sen.chuckthompsen@state.or.us, 503-986-1726 Representative Mark Johnson rep.markjohnson@state.or.us, 503- 986-1452 Linda Gray HRVHS Site Council Member Parkdale Help Oregon’s K-12 Kids The current 2015-17 K-12 budget proposed by Salem is $7.2 billion, a continued 10-year slide in funding while requiring all-day kindergarten (a good thing but requires funding). Oregon K-12 ranks at the bottom na- tionally (46th or worse) for student in- struction time per year, high school graduation rates, and dollar per pupil spending. The 2015-17 budget pro- posed by Salem will hit home again in Hood River (and all of Oregon) with continued reductions in teachers, pro- grams, and services. Are you satisfied with this state of affairs for Oregon K-12? Do you agree with faster growth of prison funding over K-12 funding? Apparently Salem is, as they are on a “fast track” to ap- proval. Please email Senators Richard Devlin, Peter Courtney, Arnie Roblan, Rod Monroe, Chuck Thompsen, Tim Knopp, and Representatives Tina Kotek, Peter Buckley, Betty Komp, Mark Johnson; urge them to put K-12 Kids first, move more funds to K-12 with a “bare bones” minimum goal of $7.5 billion. Your 5-minutes now will be noticed! You may receive a “can’t do it” response, but your efforts will support a growing effort to reverse this Oregon K-12 10-year slide! Re- member their responses at the next election! Rich Truax Hood River YOUNG VOICES Julia Skwarczynski: Taking on the world, one language at a time E By AMI SANTILLAN very high school student has a tal- ent, something interesting about them, or perhaps a little quirk to them. Some students are talented in math, some in science, but there are very few students who know and are learning more than four different lan- guages. Whether she is up at the mountain skiing or in a classroom studying, sopho- more Julia Skwarczynski is always trying her best to achieve the goals she has set for herself and have success in the future. Julia is a very busy student, but enjoys what she does every day. She has a job at her parents’ restaurant, she goes to ski up on the mountain whenever she can, and also does jazz and modern dance, all while keeping up with her studies. Julia fluently speaks Polish and English, and on top of that she also is learning how to speak Ger- man, Spanish and French. “I find it very beneficial to know all these languages. I’m hoping I’ll be able to use them in the future, like a profession or just when I travel,” Julia states. Julia’s parents, Kate and Greg Skwar- czynski, immigrated to the United States from Poland in 1990 to find new opportu- nities here. Her parents lived in Chicago for 11 years before coming to Hood River. Now, they own two restaurants here in the gorge, The Mesquitery and Egg River Cafe. Julia was taught how to speak Pol- ish as her first language because her par- ents thought it would be fundamental for her to learn it — not to mention that her whole family speaks Polish. She was recently named the World Lan- guage Student of the Month in November at HRVHS. She is studying both Spanish and French at the high school. “Julia is a distinguished scholar of both the French and Spanish languages. She can be counted on in class to serve as a model to others and produce thoughtful work,” French teacher Nicole Goode states. At home, Julia speaks mostly Polish and she is taking German classes on her Chelsea Marr General Manager CMarr@hoodrivernews.com Founded in 1905 419 State Street Hood River, OR 97031 P.O. Box 390 Phone: (541) 386-1234 Fax: (541) 386-6796 Operations: Joe Petshow Publisher President, Eagle Newspapers (541) 386-1234 JPetshow@hoodrivernews.com Chris Stenberg Bookkeeper CStenberg@hoodrivernews.com Front Office/ Classified Advertising: Stacey Methvin Classifieds/Receptionist HRNClass@hoodrivernews.com SMethvin@hoodrivernews.com News: Kirby Neumann-Rea Editor HRNews@hoodrivernews.com Ben Mitchell News/Features BenMitchell@hoodrivernews.com Jim Drake Entertainment JDrake@hoodrivernews.com Circulation: Esther K. Smith Circulation Manager (541) 386-1234 Ext. 205 ESmith@hoodrivernews.com Trisha Walker News/Features TWalker@hoodrivernews.com own. People who know that Julia can speak so many languages are fascinated by the fact. “ I think it’s awesome that she knows what she does and has good habits be- cause it will definitely help her in the long run,” sophomore Emma Ouzounian said. It is quite impressive to have the ability to know the languages, but Julia just replied, “Once you learn the first few lan- guages you start to notice a lot of similar- ities between them. It gets easier as you learn more.” She will continue studying French, German and Spanish until she has fully mastered them and then she might move on to another language. “I re- ally love learning different languages and I just want to be able to see where all those languages will take me.” ■ Ami Santillan is a sophomore at Hood River Valley High School. This article originally appeared last month in the HRVHS on-line newspaper, The Talon. Patrick Mulvihill News/Features PMulvihill@hoodrivernews.com Photo by Jesenia Guzman POLYGLOT Julia Skwarczynski looks forward to see- ing the places her language abilities will take her. Production: David Marvin Production Manager Ailene Hibbard Archivist DMarvin@hoodrivernews.com Advertising: Jim Drake Jody Thompson Advertising Manager JThompson@hoodrivernews.com Production/Commercial Printing Liana Stegall Advertising Sales LStegall@hoodrivernews.com Production/Commercial Printing Kirsten Lane Advertising Sales KLane@hoodrivernews.com JDrake@hoodrivernews.com Andy Taylor ATaylor@columbiagorgepress.com Allen Diers Commercial Printing ADiers@hoodrivernews.com 419 State Street Hood River, OR 97031 P.O. Box 390 Phone: (541) 386-1234 Fax: (541) 386-6796 Tony Methvin Plant Manager (541) 386-1234 TMethvin@columbiagorgepress.com Andy Taylor Commercial Printing/Production ATaylor@columbiagorgepress.com
