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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 18, 1983)
3 Last month, the National Com mission on Excellence in Education presented its report on the quality of education in America. Its message was dear and simple: " T h e educational foundations o f our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.” This charge is not one to be taken lightly. As the Commission report ed, if an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on Ameri ca the mediocre educational perfor mance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. Some of the indicators supporting this charge of "unilateral education al disarmament" include: • Some 23 m illion American adults are functionally illiterate by the simplest tests of everyday read ing, writing and comprehension. • Approximately 13 percent of all 17-year-otds in the United States can be considered functionally illiterate. Portland Observer, May 18, 1963 Page 5 Washington Hot Line by Congressman Kon Wyden Functional illiteracy among minority youth may run as high as 40 percent. • The College Boards' Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT) demonstrate a virtually unbroken decline from 1963 to 1980 Average verbal scores fell over 30 points and average mathematics scores dropped nearly 40 points. • Average tested achievement of students graduating from college is also lower. What is worse, these deficiencies come at a time when expanding high technology opportunities in new and traditional industries are burgeon ing. It is easy to point the finger at these problems, but it is obviously more difficult to arrive at solutions to these dilemmas. The report calls for two kinds of changes. The first are changes which may cost no money, but which require changes in policy and priority — such as rethinking each school's use o f classroom time, or insistence by local school boards that publishers produce higher quality textbooks. Other proposed changes w ill be more expensive. These include higher teacher pay, longer school days and longer school years, expansion o f required curriculum offerings to include more years of math, science, language and com puting, and reforms in teacher education. But the Commission points out — and 1 wholeheartedly agree — the nation cannot a ffo rd not to make these changes. A ll levels o f the public and private sector have a stake in these changes and will need to share in their cost. We need to develop a national educational policy that looks beyond our immediate fiscal con straints at our needs through the end o f the century. Our current short sighted. bargain basement approach to education in this country has left us high and dry. Other efforts I have supported this year in the Congress include the Emergency Math and Science Edu cation Act, which passed the House 1 of Representatives in February and is now awaiting action in the Senate, and the American Defense Educa tion Act. Both these measures ad dress the glaring inadequacies pres ent in the teaching o f math and sciences — areas o f crucial im por tance if we are to keep pace with foreign counterparts in a booming high-technology era. Saturday M ay 21 1983 Hogar« Thee Barber Shop 407 N.E. M ason On Ih« cornar ot Union 284-4181 In short, our educational system, and, therefore, our nation and its security, face some very real problems. Yet, we are the products o f past generations that have risen to similar challenges and overcome them. We need to move beyond lamenting our shortcomings and begin the uphill climb that will bring us to the pinnacle o f educational excellence. Citizen Utility Board proposed by State Rep. Watlv Priestley One o f the most exciting ideas being proposed in the 1983 legisla ture is House Bill 2934, a bill to set up a statewide Citizens U tility Board. I f you’ve ever been frustrated about rising utility bills, but didn't know what to do about them, you'll like CUB. The Citizens Utility Board would be a statewide, citizens organization which would represent residential ratepayers in electric, phone, and gas utility rate hearings. Through a special notice included in their u tility bills, consumers w ill learn about C U B and will be invited to join for a few dollars a year. CUB's board of directors will be elected by its membership. The proposal is modeled after sim ilar legislation passed in Wisconsin in 1979. Wisconsin's CUB now has over 60,000 members and its estimated budget for 1983 is about $400,000. Having hired a staff of experts, it has participated in over 20 rate and policy hearings. Estimates have pegged C U B 's savings to Wisconsin consumers at over $43 million. Opponents (primarily utilities) of a Citizens Utility Board argue that a C U B is unnecessary because the Public U tility Commissioner a l ready represents ratepayer interests. I strongly disagree and I'm sure most ratepayers don't buy that argument either. In fact, our present Commissioner, John Lobdell, has adopted policies which make it much harder, if not impossible, for citizens to participate in a utility rate case. Ratemaking has become a one sided affair and Oregon's tradition o f fair and open government has been tarnished as a result. Death penalty on state agenda by Greg Wasson In 1914, Oregon voters abolished capital punishment only to bring it back in 1920. Between then and 1933, thirty-three people died at the hands o f the state. In 1964, the voters again abolished the supreme sanction. Just a little over ten years later — in 1976 — a group that included the late Rep. Dick Magruder filed an initiative to put the state back in (he execution business. The measure failed to make the ballot. During the 1977 session. Senate Pres. Jason Boe warned that the people wanted protection from a perceived increase in violence. "The public wants a program that assures that when a guy like Brudos has been tried and convicted, he's going to be put away forever. He's gone, he's away and we never have to worry about him getting out again.'* The legislature refused to adopt such a plan, however. The people responded by restoring capital punishment the next year almost two to one. The State Supreme Court entered the debate in 1981, overturning Oregon's death penalty for what it termed fatal constitutional prob lems; the 1981 legislature refused to deal with the issue; and a 1982 initiative drive failed. However, Republican Gov. Vic Atiyeh is championing the return of executions. The middle o f last month, Atiyeh demanded that the House Judiciary Com mittee approve legislation referring the death penalty to the people, citing a public clamoring to bring it back. Rep. Dick Springer, a member of the committee, answers that there has to be a limit to government by applause meter and that no matter what the public wants, the death penalty is wrong. A majority of the legislators who control crime and punishment issues this session share Springer's views and it’s unlikely that the body will refer the issue to the people. A proposal given a greater possibility of success is advanced by Rep. L arry H ill, D -S pringfield. Known as the civil death penalty, Hill's idea is to provide the possibili ty of a life sentence that means just that — locked up for the duration. " It 's the death of the person's civil rig h ts ," explains H ill. "T h e sentence for the conviction of aggra vated murder (for example, murder for hire) would be the permanent loss of the ability to live among the rest of the people in society.” Legislative opponents o f capital punishment would do well to consider H ill’s proposal against the backdrop of the last five years. The fate of those who ignore history is well established. A second suggestion for quieting public fears comes from Rep. Peter C ourtney, D-Salem . Courtney proffers that the state be required to notify the sentencing judge and district attorney if the Parole Board is considering letting a prisoner out before he or she has completed the minimum sentence imposed at trial. The effect, says Courtney, would likely be to make parole less likely in instances where local officials chose to appear before the board. Seniors, people on fixed incomes — all of us — have a great deal at stake in u tility issues. A C U B can help assure that consumers have an effective voice and strong represen tation in rate cases. 1 look at it not as a duplication of the PUC staff, but a much-desired addition to what we currently have. Recent experi ence has shown, for both private and public utilities, that when citi zens are actively involved in the process, you get better public policy in the end. CUB has a very valuable role to play in making the utility rate-set ting process more fair, equitable, and open. That's why I ’m proud to join House Speaker Grattan Kerans and many other legislators as a sponsor of this very important bill. Thomas Edison and his staff at Menlo Park invented something new every ten days. • A skywriter travels about twenty miles for a three word advertisement. One fourth of the body's bones are in the feet. • Snails and slugs have a remarkable homing in stinct. Each has been observed to return to the same area, even the same plant, from which it was removed. as We do oot do business w ith South Africa America n State B a n k - Street Beat by Lanita Duke and Richard Brown To tha Editor: Lately, Governor Atiyeh has been pushing for the re-instatement of the death penalty. For government officials and Correctional Officers, only. In addition to this Bill, Governor Atiyeh and other agencies through out the State are pushing, for another penitentiary. Eastern Oregon State Hospital is the main focus of attention, and in the eyes of the government, this new facility would provide an economic up swing for the city o f Pendleton, while presenting nothing more than a temporary patchwork solution to the long range problem o f over crowding; as will the 200 man dor mitory that is still under construc tion here at OSP. There are ironies involved, that you, the public should become aware of: I j O n t w occasions the Prison Bond Iss nas been voted down by the public. The Legislature, how ever, has the power to provide the funds for the acquisition of another penitentiary. I f this is in fact, true, then what purpose is there — in voting? 2) You, the public, are being asked to reinstate the death penalty. But only for the purpose of protect ing those whom you have elected to public office; who in turn, have hired family members and friends as Correctional Officers, to insure that whatever policies and standards set forth are enforced. Why not provide the same protection for one and all? Or, why at all? 3) Predicting the over-crowding problems, as they now exist, as well as the results o f having these problems, took place in 1977, or, at the same time the M a trix System (Parole Standards) was first intro duced into Oregon. Government Officials were aware then, that these predictions held tru th , and yet, ignored them anyway, and instead, threatened the life of this writer if he continued to challenge the political aspirations of the Corrections Divi sion for Oregon. I am 31 years young, and already I have been threatened for my life on three occasions, fo r my out spokenness, and for my affiliation with the Native Americans. I have been paralyzed in one leg; the result of a shotgun blast while trying to re solve a situation initiated out o f frustration. And, I've been vindic tively sentenced for an unlawful act Jarry L. Albera Commissioner Charles Jordan an nounced his decision not lo run for m ayor. The Street Beat team w on dered how his announcement wen, over with the public with, "H o w do you feel about Commissioner Jordan’s decision not to run for mayor?” Paulatta Davis CSD "Charles feels that he was so railroaded last time when they put him into the frying pan and forced him into the fire. I don't think (hey would have given him the chance to win. In cam paigning the d irt would have been worse than what was thrown in Chicago.” Ron Vandyk Manufacturing Englnaar I committed after being denied com pensation and the physical and emotional stress that I yet endure, as a result of being shot. I am only one inmate among thousands, lucky enough to be gifted with 'insight.* There are programs that have been im ple mented w ithin the C orrectional System, that has an inmate's signa ture stamped on the program ’ s origin. These programs, however, are only accepted if they provide a step toward the ultimate goal of ex panding the Corrections System. I have a story to tell that w ill prove (beyond a reasonable doubt) that the problems, you, the public are confronted with, were premedi tated in their implementation by a number o f Government O fficials and Agencies. I am frightened by what I see taking place, in the Corrections System. Most people could care less what happens to a prisoner, until that prisoner becomes one of their own. There is a great deal o f pro gressive thought within the minds of the inmates, but it requires the at tention of you, the public to under stand the reality o f what is going on. Head Ottlcs 2737 N. E. Union Portland, Oregon 97212 & Letters to the Editor. Prison practices bring fear AN INDEPENDENT BANK " H is decision is based upon his own personal situation at home. I kinda wish he had ran. He would have made a good mayor.” / f W.W. Simmons J. Ovarland Houaawlfa " I l ’ s nice. He's concerned about his fam ily. I felt his chances to win were fair.” 1 Ratlrad " T h e reason I understood him giving was that his wife was ill. I think that is reason enough. He has done a pretty good job. He would have given the other candidates a run for their money.” Lillian Ball Taachar " I accept it with regrets. He is a wonderful person. I believe his type of leadership is badly needed right now in Portland, O r." L Bob Rogara Prlvata Conaultant " I t was a tough decision for Jordan. He did the right thing by considering the health of his wife. He was the best one for the jo b and he would have beaten Ivancie.”
