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About The Hood River news. (Hood River, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (April 15, 2015)
A4 V IEWPOINT Hood River News, Wednesday, April 15, 2015 JOE PETSHOW Publisher/President, Eagle Newspapers, Inc. CHELSEA MARR General Manager JODY THOMPSON Advertising Manager DICK NAFSINGER Publisher, Emeritus (1933-2011) TOM LANCTOT Past President, Eagle Newspapers, Inc. KIRBY NEUMANN-REA Editor TONY METHVIN Columbia Gorge Press Manager DAVID MARVIN Production Manager Subscription $42 per year in Hood River trade area. $68 outside trade area. NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION Printed on OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION 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 ON THE AGENDA O ur readers write These are the regular meeting times of governing bodies for these agencies: Cascade Locks Cascade Locks City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall Council Chambers, 140 W. WaNaPa St., second and fourth Mondays of the month. Cascade Locks Planning Commission, 7 p.m., City Hall Council Chambers, 140 W. WaNaPa St., second Thursday of the month. Cascade Locks Port Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall Council Chambers, 140 W. WaNaPa St., first and third Thursdays of the month. Hood River City of Hood River Planning Commission meeting, 5:30 p.m., Hood River City Hall Council Chambers, 211 Second St., generally the first and third Mondays of the month. Place and dates subject to change. Hood River Port Commission, 5 p.m., 100 E. Port Marina Drive, board room, first and third Tuesdays of the month. Hood River City Council, 6 p.m., Hood River City Hall Council Chambers, 211 Second St., second and fourth Mondays of the month. Hood River Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Di- rectors meeting, 4 p.m., OSU Extension Service Building, 2990 Ex- periment Station Road, first Thursday of the month. Hood River Valley Parks and Recreation District, 6 p.m., Aquatic Center, 1601 May St., third Wednesday of the month. Place subject to change. Hood River County Hood River County Board of Commissioners regular session, 6 p.m., 601 State St., first floor conference room, third Monday of the month. Time subject to change. Library District Board meeting, 7 p.m., 502 State St., conference room, third Tuesday of the month. Hood River County Planning Commission meeting, 7 p.m., 601 State St., first floor, generally second and fourth Wednesdays of the month. Hood River County Water Planning Group, 2 p.m., 601 State St., first floor conference room, generally first Wednesday of the month. Hood River County Commission on Children and Families Board meeting, 5:15 p.m., Providence Hood River Memorial Hospi- tal boardroom, generally first Tuesday of the month. Hood River County School Board, 6:30 p.m., meets at schools and district facilities on a rotating schedule (visit hoodriver.k12.or.us for location), second and fourth Wednesdays of the month unless school vacations or other holidays interrupt the schedule. Hood River County Transportation District, 9 a.m., Hood River County Transportation District Board Room, 224 Wasco Loop, sec- ond Wednesday of the month. W HERE TO WRITE President — Barack Obama, White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington D.C., 20500 E-mail: president@whitehouse.gov U.S. Senators — Jeff Merkley, SDB-40B, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington D.C., 20510. Phone: 202-224-3753; E-mail: oregon@merkley.senate.gov; Ron Wyden, 717 Hart Office Building, Washington D.C., 20510. Phone: 202-224-5244. Web address: www.senate.gov/member/or/wyden/general/ 2nd Congressional District Representative — Greg Walden, 14 N. Central Ave., Suite 112, Medford, OR 97504. Phone: 541-776-4646; E-mail: www.walden.house.gov/contactgreg Governor — Kate Brown, 254 State Capitol, Salem, OR 97310. Phone: 503-378-3111; E-mail: www.governor.state.or.us/email.htm District 26 State Senator — Chuck Thomsen, 900 Court St. N.E., S-307, State Capitol, Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-1726; E-mail sen.chuckthomsen@state.or.us District 52 State Representative — Mark Johnson, 900 Court St. N.E., Bldg. H-385, State Capitol, Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-1452; E-mail: rep.markjohnson@state.or.us Hood River County Board of Commissioners — Chair Ron Rivers, Vice Chair Maui Meyer, members Les Perkins, Bob Benton and Karen Joplin, Hood River County Courthouse, Hood River, OR, 97031. Phone: 541-386-3970. County Administrator — Dave Meriwether, Hood River Coun- ty Courthouse, Hood River, OR, 97031. Phone: 541-386-3970. Hood River City Council — Mayor Paul Blackburn, members Laurent Picard, Mark Zanmiller, Kate McBride, Becky Brun, Peter Cor- nelison and Susan Johnson Hood River City Hall, Hood River, OR, 97031. Phone: 541-386-1488. E-mail: cohr@gorge.net Hood River City Manager — Steve Wheeler, Hood River City Hall, Hood River, OR, 97031. Phone: 541-387-5252. Cascade Locks City Council — Mayor Tom Cramblett, Glenda Groves, Jeff Helfrich, Richard Randall, Bobby Walker, Bruce Fitz- patrick and Deanna Busdieker Cascade Locks City Hall, 140 S.E. WaNaPa, Cascade Locks, OR, 97014. Phone: 541-374-8484. Cascade Locks City Administrator — Gordon Zimmerman, Cascade Locks City Hall, 140 S.E. WaNaPa, Cascade Locks, OR, 97014 Phone: 541-374-8484. Help K-12 budget The Oregon Joint Ways and Means Committee is conducting a “road show” with various stops over the next couple weeks. This Thursday, April 16, will be the nearest to Hood River, at Mt. Hood Community Col- lege in Gresham. Testimony / statement opportuni- ties are from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Get there early to sign up. There is anoth- er event the following week at PSU in Portland. HRCSD alone is facing an $896K budget cut due to the current budget proposal. Most districts in the state are facing massive cuts. Don’t believe the propaganda com- ing out of Salem. Come to a school board meeting and you can see what reality is. Come to this Road Show event and state your opinion in per- son to the Committee. Hold the Gover- nor accountable: # K12 Be a Hero. A car pool / caravan of parents and stu- dents will be leaving the southwest corner of the Walmart parking lot at 5 p.m. Thursday, headed to MHCC. Rich Truax Hood River Priorities Our schools are faced with an $896,000 budget cut and all that Mark Johnson can come up with is a license plate? That is what’s called an ineffec- tive representative. Jim Greenleaf Hood River PE as a CORE subject On April 8, physical education teachers in the Hood River County School District should have celebrat- ed. The US Senate announced bipar- tisan legislation that aims to classify physical education as a core subject in the reauthorization of the Elemen- tary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), otherwise known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). This is significant because it would allow federal Title funds to be spent to support physical education. Unfortunately, April 8 was a dark day for physical education in HRCSD. Superintendent Goldman estimated an $896,000 reduction in funding as we plan next year’s budget. This is not Goldman’s fault as he has advocated tirelessly for more funding than the $7.235 billion approved. In a letter to staff, potential cuts could include elimination of K-5 physical education and reductions to 6-12 physical educa- tion. This would be short-sighted and awful for kids. The benefits of daily, quality physi- cal education (QPE) are numerous in improving academic and behavioral outcomes. Emerging brain research is summarized in the books SPARK by John Ratey and Brain Rules by John Medina; they both demonstrate the impact QPE has on the whole student. We now know that QPE sets up stu- dents to be more successful in the classroom by boosting cognitive func- tion. This is especially true with liter- acy, one of the district’s priorities. Knowing this, Oregon passed House Bill 3141 in 2007 giving school districts 10 years to increase PE in- structional time. Starting in 2017-18, state law will mandate students K-5 re- ceive 150 minutes and 6-8 receive 225 minutes of PE per week. To prepare, Oregon school districts are required to report their average weekly PE minutes every year. While still below the mandated amount, HRCSD isn’t even on par with state averages: State Average (minutes/week): 3rd grade, 71 minutes; 7th grade 163 min- utes Hood River County (min- utes/week): 3rd grade, 33 minutes; Wy’east Middle, 150 minutes; Hood River Middle, 78 minutes HRCSD is far behind the rest of Oregon in recognizing and prioritiz- ing the value quality physical educa- tion has on improving outcomes for students. If Excellence, Every Stu- dent, Every Day is what we aspire to, eliminating physical education is not the way to do it. Adam Howell, PE teacher Hood River Attend workshop On April 25, fathers and grandfa- thers have an opportunity to attend the “Pathways to Responsible Father- hood,” 9-5 p.m. at Hood River Middle School. I attended part of this work- shop in The Dalles the last two years and it was excellent. It had good speakers with a sense of humor, lots of interesting topics, and the fathers I saw were enjoying being at the work- shop. Some fathers told me that the workshop gave helpful information, a time to focus on the very important role they have in their child’s life, and an opportunity to talk to other fa- thers. This is likely a onetime oppor- tunity! The time is NOW to be the best dad you can be! You can learn more ways to be an effective parent, in- cluding the use of praise in promot- ing positive behaviors, logical and natural consequences, your disci- pline style, the power of a father, teaching and modeling your values through your behavior, and “Love and Logic” parenting. The most im- portant thing you can do is to spend time with your child in play letting them lead, eat together as a family, tell your child you are proud of them, limit screen time, give plenty of hugs and kisses, listen carefully, acknowledge their feelings, and help them see their “greatness” as a per- son. Besides covering parenting, the workshop will cover how to have a healthy relationship and good com- munication with your child’s moth- er. Re gister online at www.northwestmarriage.org or call 360-260-1100. The workshop is free and provides lunch, child care, and a $40 gift card for Walmart to fathers who are attending the workshop for the first time. Mothers can attend the workshop if they go with a dad. The workshop is in English and Spanish. Nancy Johanson Paul The Next Door Parenting Education Program Hood River Not the solution In response to the article on April 11, 2015, about Dr. Johannes Loschnigg’s presentation about the climate (“Look beyond ‘easy solution- s’ on climate”), I comment: Dr. Loschnigg’s argument “was that national conversations about climate change have been murky and mis- guided, more focused on the confu- sion over the scientific veracity of global warming than on actions U.S. citizens can take to best reduce their carbon footprint.” If “veracity” (truthfulness) is not valued, how can intelligent and useful solutions to the supposed problem be accomplished? Studies have actually shown that carbon dioxide has minimal effect on the climate. On the other hand, the various effects of the sun have very good correlation with climate control. So it makes no sense to push for a solution that is no solution, but in fact is an economically destructive process. Don Rose, MD Hood River Walden kudos Kudos to Greg Walden for taking a stand and working to balance the bud- get! We need more like him in Wash- ington, D.C. to help clean up the feder- al government’s fiscal mess. The national debt is over $18 tril- lion and growing every day. And Pres- ident Obama has proposed a budget that increases spending and taxes, but never balances. Enough is enough! The federal government must cut spending and balance the budget. Fortunately, Greg Walden and other Republicans in the House of Repre- sentatives have passed a balanced budget. This common-sense plan gets spending under control, doesn’t raise taxes, and puts America on a path to paying down the debt. We’ll never get the economy going again if we don’t put our fiscal house in order. I’m glad that Walden is doing the right thing and looking out for us. John Brennan Hood River Election time again It’s that time again. Lies, meaning- less promises, double talk, political rhetoric, name calling, finger point- ing, more lies, empty speeches, sense- less debates, inane interviews, com- mercials, endorsements, buying votes, personal attacks, more lies and money. It’s time to elect our president. Jerry Giarraputo Hood River For Wilhelm It is vital for our children that we place important decisions about their future in capable hands. Those hands must advocate for the chil- dren and their families. That is why I wholehearted endorse Kris Wil- helm for Position 1, Westside Hood River and Cascade Locks, Hood River County School Board. I have known Kris for 20-plus years (as a student, athlete, friend, wife and mother) and have found her to be hard working, thoughtful and thor- ough. She possesses character and integrity. Kris will do the work of fact finding prior to important deci- sions. She stands for kids, parents, teachers and sound financial deci- sions. Your vote for Kris Wilhelm is a vote for a positive voice on the Hood River County School Board. Cynthia L Phelps Parkdale Be well- informed With the 2016 election looming on the horizon, our new president will be elected by either a majority of well-in- formed voters or a majority of low in- formation voters. It depends on which category is largest. I believe the well informed voters will take the time to drink from the Fountain of Facts, while the lower information voters will merely gargle. Bill Davis Hood River ABOUT LETTERS Hood River News reminds letter to the editor writers that shorter is better. Concise letters are not only better-read, they are more likely to be published because limited space is available. Almost any point can be made in 350 words or fewer, so this is set as an upper level for length. Thank-you letters are no longer accepted, neither are unsigned let- ters, letters signed with fictitious signatures and copies of letters sent to public officials. We limit letters on a subject when we feel it has been thorough- ly aired, to the point of letters be- coming repetitive. Also rejected are letters that are libelous, in bad taste or personal attacks on individuals or private businesses. Writers must include addresses and telephone numbers. These are for identification pur- poses only, and will not be pub- lished.
