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.