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About The Hood River news. (Hood River, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (May 16, 2015)
A4 V IEWPOINT Hood River News, Saturday, May 16, 2015 O ur readers write 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. Not for CL 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 ‘Like’ Local Keeping your money close to home helps everyone H ood River is now a year-round destination, as publications including Sunset magazine have recently noted. Yet May-to-October remains the “high sea- son,” and with the winds and warm weather kicking in, that season is now. Canada’s Victoria Day (May 18) is the traditional “soft opening” of the visitor season, and so we welcome all our friends from north of the border who have ar- rived to enjoy wind sports and all that Hood River has to offer. Many wind-related businesses are year-round con- cerns along with a wide range of shops, restaurants, breweries, galleries and other businesses, and shopping locally is a 365-day idea around here. Hood River News works with local businesses in an annual campaign, happening now, as a way of showcasing the goods and services available to the community. Locally-owned businesses deserve the support of fel- low locals. There are few things anyone needs to buy that cannot be found in local stores, and those business- es are predominately owned and operated by a fellow local. The best way to support local jobs is to keep your spending money in the community as much as possible. You don’t have to use social media to “like” a busi- ness. Lack of parking in downtown is generally a misper- ception, and the city has taken steps in the past year to free up off-street parking — namely the Fourth and Cas- cade lot — so that customers have a convenient place to park. On the Heights, parking remains free, and locally- owned businesses are helping add real vibrancy to that commercial area. By supporting local business, residents can help with the multiplier effect that happens when local money stays local, and it’s simply a good way to maintain com- munity by making the direct and personal contact with businesses, and fellow customers, encountered at busi- nesses close to home. Flags Lowered Honoring Peace Officers G overnor Kate Brown ordered all flags at pub- lic institutions throughout Oregon be flown at half-staff from sunrise to sunset on Friday, May 15, in observance of National Peace Offi- cers Memorial Day and Police Week 2015. “We honor the brave men and women of Oregon who keep our communities safe and bring lawbreakers to justice,” Gov. Brown said. “Let us keep in our thoughts and prayers those peace officers who lost their lives in the line of duty.” The full Presidential Proclamation is available on the White House’s website. W HERE TO WRITE President — Barack Obama, White House, 1600 Pennsylva- nia 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 Build- ing, 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 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 Operations: Joe Petshow Publisher President, Eagle Newspapers JPetshow@hoodrivernews.com Chris Stenberg Bookkeeper CStenberg@hoodrivernews.com Front Office/ Classified Advertising: Kelly Gallagher Eagle Classified Director KGallagher@eaglenewspapers.com Stacey Methvin Classifieds/Receptionist HRNClass@hoodrivernews.com SMethvin@hoodrivernews.com News coverage and a slick YouTube video produced by Nestlé might lead Oregonians to believe that everyone who lives in our home town of Cas- cade Locks supports a water bottling proposal here. But that’s far from the truth; we have discovered many oth- ers who feel that the State and our city are failing to conduct proper due dili- gence of Nestlé’s proposal. Five years ago, it would have been hard for many to believe that Oregon, Washington, and the entire west coast would experience widespread drought. However, this new reality of global climate change gives us pause, especially with our own Gov. Kate Brown’s recent announcement of droughts in seven Oregon counties. Is inviting an extractive industry into our community really the right way to meet our economic development needs when the future of water avail- ability is so uncertain? City Hall seems to forget that our water rights are given to us by the state, who has the final authority on how best to protect it for all. In the end, water rights don’t matter much if there isn’t enough water to fulfill them, and if the city were to sign a contract allowing Nestlé to pump a specific amount of water, are they re- ally still our rights? If something goes wrong, will we be able to fight their ex- pensive lawyers, and how long would it take to force them to cease and desist while they continue pumping? As residents, we want local, sustain- able, and socially responsible long- term economic solutions that benefit us for generations to come. The ac- ceptability of selling public resources for private profit belongs in the past, and the only way to move forward is to discover new industries to develop. Cascade Locks has a history of pulling together to get things done, and Nestlé does not seem like a good fit or an appropriate industry. We can do better. It is disappointing that an agency charged with protecting our water as a public resource would disregard the potential long-term implications of this project. While we are especially concerned about what a water rights swap would mean for our community, we recognize that public water be- longs to all Oregonians. So the time to weigh in is now! Deanna Busdieker, Cascade Locks City Council Edward del Val Cascade Locks Budget breakdown I’ve always been confused as to why there should be a budget deficit when the expenditure per student is $11,656 in our district (a very high figure). Taking an example of grades 4-5, with an average class size of 26 students, that equates to revenue for each class of roughly $303,000 (26 x $11,656). An average teacher’s salary is around $65,000 (for a teacher with 14 years of experience). Adding in over- head of 35 percent (or $22,750) to cover health insurance, sick pay, vacation pay, operating expenses. The total ex- penditure for a teacher would be around $87,750.00 (or $88k) for that classroom. What is happening to the other $215,000 ($303k minus $88k)? It’s becoming painfully obvious that there is a tremendous amount of over- head and unnecessary support and services. For instance, there is a line item of almost $5.5 million for health insur- ance on total salary costs of $20,663,649. That equates to health in- surance being 26 percent of salary costs. That is an outrageous figure. Most companies’ health care costs are closer to 8 percent of salary costs. $3.6m a year is spent on building main- tenance. Considering this is for 8 schools for 8 months, that figure seems especially high. $2 million for some- thing called “office of the principal.” I couldn’t figure out if those were costs outside of the normal salaries. $1.5 million for English as a second lan- guage. $500k for counseling services. $1.8 million for school transportation. The list goes on and on. The other glaring figure is the amount of support staff. Within the entire district, there 505.9 full and part-time employees. Out of that num- ber, only 214.4 are teachers. Support staff takes up almost $8 million in Circulation: Esther K. Smith Circulation Manager (541) 386-1234 Ext. 205 ESmith@hoodrivernews.com News: Kirby Neumann-Rea Editor HRNews@hoodrivernews.com Ben Mitchell News/Features BenMitchell@hoodrivernews.com salary while teachers take up almost $13 million. That figure is simply un- acceptable. Support staff should be 20 percent of teaching staff and that number should be closer to $2.6 mil- lion. I understand that schools need to cater to a wide variety of needs and services. At a certain point, we need to get back to fundamentals of what ser- vices a school should be providing. The question isn’t getting more money, it’s effectively managing the money we have. That means making hard decisions. Cutting down on sup- port staff and services. Getting con- trol of building maintenance and health insurance costs. I see no reason why any of the humanities (art, music, literature…) or athletics should need to be cut and we why we can’t get the student ratio to 18-1 given our current budget. I’d also really like to see the budget and expenditures for individual schools (rather than being lumped to- gether). The budget provided was pret- ty good, but a lot of raw data without explanation. Joe O’Neill Hood River For Fairchild, Fenner, Watson As a student at CGCC, I have no- ticed firsthand how severely lacking the student services department is. We need Stu Watson, Lee Fairchild, and Guy Fenner on the board to fight the good fight. It is very clear to me that no one else on the CGCC Board of Educa- tion is going to fight for the wellbeing of the faculty and staff at CGCC or me and my education other than Watson, and I want to see the wellbeing of the school prioritized over the stagnant and political current Board of Educa- tion. The current board wants to cut 110 classes. Do they know that enrollment will stop if degree-seeking students can’t receive an education through Co- lumbia Gorge Community College? Do they know that cutting staff and faculty will decrease the quality of the education available at the college fur- ther dropping enrollment? Apparently, everyone on the current board (except Watson) has not thought about those aspects of budget cuts and layoffs. Please help me receive the education that I deserve by voting for Stu Wat- son, Lee Fairchild, and Guy Fenner. Watson is the only currently serv- ing board member who is dedicated to the students and faculty of the college; at all board meetings I have attended he is the only one who demands that transparent and proactive decisions. Also earning my endorsement is Guy Fenner. He has a Master’s Degree in Engineering believes that “it is CGCC’s responsibility to provide these students with the support ser- vices they need to achieve their acade- mic goals.” He also believes in a trans- parent board, one in which the an- nouncement of the potential closing of the Hood River Campus won’t be a knee jerk reaction to a budget crisis thoughtlessly overlooked. Lastly, Lee Fairchild is an extremely important addition to the CGCC Board of Education. He recognizes that “the CGCC budget over the last few years is unsustainable” and has experience in education. He has both taught at the University level and has worked in corporations and run his own business. We need more board members who are engaging in open and honest com- munication with the employees and addressing their concerns instead of leaving a feeling of helplessness and Forest Plan needed Northwest logging towns and en- dangered forest ecosystems are in de- cline and will disappear unless we re- tain the current Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) and reverse these trends. Timber workers are not heard de- manding an end to mechanized log- ging and the export of raw logs and milling jobs to foreign markets. “Joy- stick logging” allows one person to re- place many, costing careers. The cul- prit is not owls living in the few re- maining old growth stands. In Oregon there are already five times more jobs in forest recreation than in logging. These include habitat restorers, trail workers, guides, camp- ground workers, etc. Indirect jobs are in hospitality, transportation, equip- ment sales and rental, etc. Decommis- sioning roads, defragmenting water- sheds, and rebalancing the forest for nature increases its appeal as a recre- ational resource and supports towns and people even in the short term. In forestry, the motive is to reduce human participation. In recreation, the goal is to increase it. More habitat means more recreation and more jobs in rural towns. Forests will continue to provide careers in the wood prod- ucts and recreation industries if we improve them via the protective stan- dards of the NWFP and include buffers protecting riparian areas, re- duction of the harmful impacts of old logging roads on streams, water quali- ty, and fish habitat, and maintenance of public access to trailheads, camp- grounds, etc. To achieve maximum profitability, USFS should manage the NW forests as a whole, not forest by forest. All mature and old-growth forests should be off-limits to salvage and logging to protect wildlife habitat, provide carbon storage, and build the recreation industry. We can increase rural paychecks, protect habitat, and “sink” carbon in healthy old-growth trees, all by man- aging forests as one, limiting “no- labor” logging and exportation of un- milled logs, and embracing recreation and habitat. John Wood Hood River A note on letters Several of the letters in this edition of “Our Readers Write” are beyond the stated 350-word limit. They have been edited down from longer (and in two cases, much longer) original lengths. Realizing that this goes back on our re- peatedly-stated policy of limiting letters to 350 words, we are allowing the over- age because in this case we lacked the time to send the letters back to the writ- ers and ask for reductions. In light of the circumstances, and the fact that some ofthese authors are first- timers, we are allowing these that go be- yond 350, albeit in edited form. Mean- while, we’ll try to refine our system so that more timely response can be made when letters do go over 350, with the earnest reminder to all readers to limit letters to 350 words. Thank you. Kirby Neumann-Rea, editor Trisha Walker News/Features TWalker@hoodrivernews.com Liana Stegall Advertising Sales LStegall@hoodrivernews.com LisaAnn Kawachi News/Features LKawachi@hoodrivernews.com Kirsten Lane Advertising Sales KLane@hoodrivernews.com Patrick Mulvihill News/Features PMulvihill@hoodrivernews.com Ailene Hibbard Archivist Advertising: Jim Drake Entertainment JDrake@hoodrivernews.com betrayal among staff members. Is it possible that the current board should be working with the staff and faculty to come up with decisions about how to fix the problems in my school? It’s time for board members who are on the side of the employees and students of Columbia Gorge Community Col- lege. Ashley Platt White Salmon, Wash. Jody Thompson Advertising Manager JThompson@hoodrivernews.com Production: 419 State Street Hood River, OR 97031 P.O. Box 390 Phone: (541) 386-1234 David Marvin Production Manager DMarvin@hoodrivernews.com Tony Methvin Plant Manager (541) 386-1234 TMethvin@columbiagorgepress.com Jim Drake Production JDrake@hoodrivernews.com Sarah Methvin Sales/Customer Service SDMethvin@columbiagorgepress.com Lisa Becharas Commercial Printing LBecharas@columbiagorgepress.com
