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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 29, 1982)
Portland Observer, April 29, 1962 Page 5 •« > iw Washington Hot Line by Congnsaman Ron Wyden The new i out o f Washington these days is filled with budget nego- • tiation stories. One day, the papers report that Congress and the White House are dose to a compromise on spending cuts for 1983. The next day, all bets are o ff. A m idst a ll this w rangling, one fact has been obscured: that is, the true magnitude o f the budgetary d if ficulties we'face. The A dm inistration would have the Am erican people believe we're dealing with a $100 billion deficit in 1983. I f that were true, it would be bad enough. But the truth is even grimmer. Ac ceding to the Congressional Budget Office, when you figure in the Presi dent's requested defense increase. the federal deficit will actually total' $180 billion in 1983, $220 billion in 1984, and $240 billion in 1985. These statistics point out the serious need for spending cuts—cuts that can only be realized if the A d m in is tratio n is w illin g to com pro mise on some o f the big ticket items. U n fo rtu n ately, such a compromise does not look extremely promising at this point. One o f the biggest stumbling blocks to such a compromise is the President's refusal to budge on the budget-busting tax cut he ramrod- ded through Congress last year. Such stubbornness is at best, short-sighted. W e cannot reduce interest rates and get our economy back on track, unless we reduce the d efic it. A n d one o f the only places we can turn to achieve that goal is the tax cut The A d m in is tra tio n has made some moves in recent days to make cuts in another sacred cow, the de fense budget. F or the good o f the country— and the Pacific Northwest — I hope it moves ahead w ith such cuts— and then takes the second step o f rolling back the tax cut. We have no other alternative ex cept to place the burden o f addition al cuts on the poor and needy who have already bren asked to bear more than their share— or simply to let the economy continue its down hill slide. And that is no alternative at all. Mill closure needs policy Part II E U G E N E — Public policies must be developed to lessen the impact o f wood products industry m ill c lo sures in small Oregon communities, a pair o f University o f Oregon re searchers says. Ed Weeks, an assistant professor, and graduate student Sandra D rengacz, both o f the W allace School o f C om m unity Service and Public Affairs, have studied 12 Ore gon communities which have experi enced perm anent m ill closures or temporary employee lay-offs. They have found an escalation o f alcohol consumption and child abuse fo l lowing these events. Weeks and Drengacz arc now at tempting to develop public policy options which might counteract the social devastation caused by clo sures and lay-offs. " W e feel strongly that this prob lem is not just a problem of the pre sent recession," says Weeks. "T h e recession has simply aggravated it and increased public perception o f the problem o f mill closures." Weeks views the problem as one which will continue to exist in Ore gon. " I t has been going on for a long tim e, and it is going to con tinue,” he predicts. H e sees many m ills closing be cause they can't compete with more technologically advanced m ills. "Am ong those mills that can't keep up are some that provide the economic lifeblood to small com munities. "1 think it is much better to plan responses to the problem so that we can be pro-active rather than taking one closure at a time .and always re acting to it ," Weeks says. "But it is very d iffic u lt to figure out what would be a good solution." Weeks and Drengacz have looked at a number o f ways to case the im pact o f closures on local communi ties. O ptions include increasing the cost o f closures, decreasing the ad vantages o f modernization, or try ing to make older mills more compe titive. Some have obvious disadvan tages, they point out. Weeks fears the first two options might "chase away” the wood pro ducts industry. " M i l l owners are going to be less willing to invest lots o f money in their plants, and the Oregon wood products industry is going to lose out to the south, Cana da and overseas," the U O social scientist says. H e thinks a c are fu lly managed com m unity stab ilizatio n , log set- aside program might work. Present ly, sm aller m ills bid on logs "set aside" to increase their ab ility to compete with larger mills. Weeks suggests a program be de veloped that would targe, small Ore gon communities experiencing crisis for short-term aid. Included would be a log set-aside fo r the m ills in transition as well as other assistance aimed at easing the com m unity crisis. Development o f economic substi tutes for the closed mills is another o p tio n . But he advises that rural com m unities be cautious about spending scarce resources on im provements for potential businesses which may not materialize. Remote communities "really run the risk o f finding themselves en ticed into investing money in sewage treatm ent plants, roads and build ings to attract some marginal firm that is n 't going to be able to sur vive,” Weeks asserts. "Perhaps it would be more prom ising to find a way to develop an in digenous business," he says. " M a y b e parts o f the m ill can ac com m odate specialty m anufac turers.” Drengacz prefers employee buy out programs. " I prom ote employee ow ner s h ip ,” she says, " b u t i t ’ s com pli cated. Legislation that creates finan cial incentives and good research on the viability o f the mill are needed.” In the course o f her research, Drengacz has spoken w ith several wood products corporate represen tatives about the impact of mill clo sures. "Th ey weren’t very coopera- tive,” she reports. " I t ’s business as usual for them.” Longer notices o f impending mill closures might ease the immediate impact on communities facing em ployee te rm in a tio n or la y o ff, she suggests. Length o f notice ranged from 6 months at the Kinzua mill near Fos sil to no advance notice o f closure in Bly, Burns and S h erid an. "S o m e people heard it first on radio and television,” says Drengacz, noting most notices varied from 1 day to 2 weeks. In some com m unities, workers began to sense upcoming closures when local banks refused them credit. The corporations that own the mills notified the banks o f the planned shutdowns, but not the workers, Drengacz claims. Whichever direction social policy goes, Weeks and Drengacz feel that national coordination is needed to avoid " p ittin g O regon against W ashington, W ashington against C a lifo rn ia , and the Northw est against the South.” I f other strategies fail, "then we are limited to trying to find ways of mitigating the impact o f plant clo sures in small com m unities,” says Weeks. One answer might involve sending teams o f professionals with business and social service skills into commu nities " to assess their needs and try to give them sup p o rt,” says D ren gacz, who views that only as a "Band-aid approach.” She and Weeks both see the need fo r m ore extensive change. " I t ’ s going to be expensive, and that 'send in the experts' approach doesn’t get at the underlying prob lem ," they assert. The problem is an extremely com plex and pressing issue, the U O re searchers admit. " W e have to be sensitive to the very terrible and tragic costs o f mill closures in these sm all com m uni ties,” says Weeks. “ U ltim ately, it’s a question o f values, not only for Oregon but the whole country. How much do we care?” EXODUS 1B3BN.E. A lb e rta PORTLAND. OREGON 97211 2 8 4 -7 9 9 7 APPEAL The House o f Exodus Clean Team requests your support! The Exodus Clean Team is P ortland’ s only to ta lly voluntary group o f citizens who teach children to practice respect, courtesy and responsibility through regularly scheduled classes; and by cleaning property within the neigh borhood. The Exodus Clean Team’ s motto is: "A clean spirit, a clean mind, a clean body and clean property w ill produce a clean citizen who lives in a clean com munity, and we will make it so. ” We estimate that it will cost about $500,000 per year to operate a Drug/Alco hol prevention and aversion program for youth; plus the on-going community responsibility training for neighborhood youths. We believe this initial budget is quite small when compared to the direct costs of vandalism, thieves, burglaries and other property damages and losses rans/vt by irresponsible youths; plus, when you add those losses to the cost o f building and maintaining jails, correction facilities and prisons, plus the cost o f maintaining police and judicial systems. The truth is the cost o f irresponsible youth is stag gering. Respect and responsibility is all that your dollars can buy for youth at the House of Exodus, but we believe that respect and responsibility is all that our youth really need to become an asset to our communities, rather than a liability. Give what you can and join the many supporters o f the Exodus Clean Team. Make your checks payable to the: E X O D U S CLEAN T E A M P.O. Box 11345 Portland, Oregon 97211 The Professional Super Conditioning Butch Coors Curl "He's got a new special formula! 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