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(Dbarrurr
March 20, 2002
O pinion
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LETTER TO Tl IE EDITOR
Oregon’s Working Families Suffer
Repeal Student Aid Drug Provision
f d o n ’t know , m aybe 1 am
frorp the "old school" where
education was a right for all
those
that w anted to obtain it,
4
b u tit looks like things sure have
changed these days.
Even the university that we
all;g o to was created to give
educational access to V eterans
thaj returned from the w ar and
w ouldn’t have otherw ise had it.
O ur legislators how ever, one in
particular, D avid Wu, have a
different opinion on w ho de
serves to get an education to
change their lives for the better.
In the H igher Education Act
o f 1998, there w as a drug pro
vision that was added that lim
ited access to higher education
by denying financial aid to those
that had been convicted o f a
drug offense.
D o n ’t get m e w rong, I do
b elie v e that p eo p le should be
p u n ish ed if they break the law ,
but I also b eliev e th at if you
h a v e b een p u n is h e d fo r a
c rim e once, you should not
b e p u n ish e d a g a in fo r th e
sam e crim e.
C om m unities o f color and
low -incom e people are the ones
that really get hit hard by this
drug provision. People o f color
are convicted o f drug offenses
at higher rates due to racial pro
filing, and low -incom e students
need financial aid the most.
T he H ig h e r E ducation A ct
w as c re a te d o v e r th re e d e
cades to in crease o p p o rtu n i
ties to c o lle g e for m illio n s o f
stu d en ts, but today it has the
p o tential to lim it it.
There is w ay to correct this
p roblem : w ith HR 786, the
am endm ent w ould be repealed.
H opefully our legislators will
regain their sanity and vote for
this repeal.
Cynthia Sartin
Associated Students of
Portland State University
Advertise
w ith diversity
LOTTERY NOW OPEN
in
J J n r tla n b
OPAL SCHOOL
(Obserncr
Á unique Portland Public Schools Charter
Elementary located at C M 2—Children's Museum
at Washington Park across from the Zoo
call 503.288.0033
or email:
ads@portlandobserver.com
N O T U IT IO N
for morning preschool & kindergarten
N O T U IT IO N
for grades 1 -2
BUS T R A N S P O R T provided fo r families in North
and Northeast Portland
serve Pre-K through 2nd-grade students (ages 3 -7 years
•
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old) in Fall 2 00 2 , with additional grades added in
subsequent years. Students living in the Portland Public
School District are selected through an open lottery. To
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get a lottery application, stop by the Children's Museum
'
or call (503) 471-9900, ext. 100. All applications must
be postmarked by March 31, 2002.
<
«
i
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’1
firmed that over 65 percent o f O r
egonians support raising taxes on
After two disappointing spe
cigarettes and alcohol to balance
cial sessions in the legislature, I
the budget. Unfortunately, there
want to share my thoughts with
was not support for these mea
you on our efforts to balance the
sures among the Republican mem
state budget. Lawmakers had to
bers o f the House.
make up an $830 million budget
Thank you to all the dedicated
shortfall by cutting programs,
folks who went to Salem to express
finding new sources o f revenue,
their concern about potential bud
or emptying state reserves and
get cuts. My office has been inun
one-time revenue sources such
dated with calls and letters from
State Rep.
as the Educational Endowment
parents, seniors, educators and
Jackie Dingfelder
Fund or the national tobacco
concerned citizens demanding that
settlement.
we protect vital programs. The stu
It had been my hope that the House could
dents who took an active role in opposing cuts to our
com e together as a bipartisan group to make
schools particularly impressed me.
these difficult decisions, as our colleagues in
Gov. K itzhaber’s veto o f portions o f the latest
the Senate did. Instead, conservative Repub
budget means that we will likely return to Salem in
licans pushed for unacceptable cuts to educa
June for a third special session. I will continue to
tion and social services and drained nearly all
fight for a balanced approach to the budget shortfall
o f the sta te ’s reserves. I refused to support a
and hope that we can find a bipartisan compromise.
budget solution that w ill further drain our
In addition, we must address the consequences o f
schools’ lim ited resources and create a half
the state’s economic recession. Oregon has the
billion shortfall next year. I heartily supported
highest level o f unemployment and hunger o f any
Gov. K itzhaber’s use o f his veto to dem and
state in the nation. It is our responsibility as legis
that House Republicans negotiate a balanced
lators to provide assistance for working families that
and fair budget.
are suffering in this economic downturn.
Prior to the first special session, I sent out a
It is my commitment to continue working to pro
survey to the members o f my district to better
tect programs and services that are vital to providing
understand their priorities in the budget process.
a high quality o f life for all Oregonians. Hopefully
I would like to thank the hundreds o f people who
with this breather between the sessions, some o f my
took the time to respond. The overwhelming
colleagues in the House will start to see things the
majority supported new sources o f revenue to
same way.
fund the budget shortfalls in education and so
Jackie Dingfelder, represents northeast Port
cial services. In addition, statewide polling con
land, in House District 45.
Gun Safety Efforts Leave No Child Behind
by
O pal School—a program of the Children's Museum—will
by S tate R ep . J ackie
D ingfelder
M arian W right E delman
The shameful and sad fact is that 3,761 children and teens were
killed by gunfire in the United States in one typical y e a r— 10 every
day. One thousand, four hundred and sixteen o f them were black.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rate
of firearm deaths among children under age 15 in the United States is
almost 12 times higher than in 25 other industrialized countries combined.
Over half o f our children and youths killed by gunfire were
murdered, and another one-third were victims o f suicide. And 261
other children were simply accident victims - they were in the wrong
place at the wrong time.
About 40 percent o f American households own a gun. Children live
in nearly half o f those households. One study found that 1.4 million
homes with 2.6 million children living in them had firearms that were
stored unlocked and loaded, or stored unlocked and unloaded but
kept together with the ammunition. Every one o f them is a disaster
waiting to happen.
It is time for adults to wake up and protect their children.
During this dangerous time in our nation, many o f our children are
worried about external threats and about how adults will keep them
safe. Doing everything we can to keep all children safe is our job but
it must include protecting them from the gun violence epidemic in our
own country.
Marian Wright Edelman is president o f the Children's Defense
Fund, which coordinates the Black Community Crusade fo r Chil
dren. C D F’s mission is to Leave No Child Behind.