August 14, 2002
Page A4
O pinion
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Mark Washington
I) I S T » I » V T I ON
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David Plechl
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D rop O u t o f S c h o o l
not my view o f helping people becom e
M atthew R othchild
Lost in the flood o f big new s stories—
independent. And if scertainly not my view
Iraq, the financial scandal, Israel and Pal
o f understanding the im portance o f w ork
estine, fast track— w as a little gem from
and helping people achieve the dignity nec
G eorge W. on the subject o f w elfare re
essary so they can liv eafree life, free from
form.
Speaking in C harleston, South C aro
governm ent control
lina, on July 29, B ush castigated Senate
becom e independent or achieve dignity?
D em ocrats for trying to take som e o f the
nastier edges o ff o f his welfare bill.
“U nderthew aythey’rekindofw ritingit
right now, out o f the Senate Finance C om
Bush w ould rather force poor w om en
into any low-paying job than have them get
a col lege degree.
This is compassionate conservatism from
our Education President?
entire five years— there ’ s a five-year work
Matthew Rothschild writes fo r the
Progressive Media Project to bring di
versity to America's opinion pages
lege,” Bush said to applause. “Now, that’s
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sentative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc, New York, NY, and The West Coast Black Publishers
Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver.
A higher education doesn ’ t help people
m ittee, som e people could spend their
requirem ent— on w elfare, going to co l
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All created design display ads become the sole property of the newspaper and cannot be used
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W ITHOUT PERM ISSION IS PROHIBITED.
Some banks charge you
for cancelled checks even if
you have free checking.
Bush to Welfare Recipients:
by
»
Paul Neufeldt
Michael Leighton
4 7 4 7 NE M a rtin Lu ther King, Jr. Blvd.,
E
Joy Ramos
Charles H. Washington
Mediation Figures Wrong
I want to correct several quotes and fig
I did not give Lee any such statistic, and
ures attributed to me in a story entitled ‘ ‘M e
in fact, took pains to point out how difficult
diation Program LabeledToo Expensive,”
it is to quantify “successful” in different
which appeared in your July 18 issue.
m ediation program s. In fact, I carefully
I was m isquoted as follows: “Portland is
cautioned him to simply use “cost per case”
driving a big, fat, gas-guzzling C adillac
rather than “cost per successful c ase.” I
w hileeveryoneelseisdrivingT oyotas.”
also provided him w ith a printed page o f
You should know that I did not use the
statistics to avoid gross errors like this one.
N ow here on the page I provided him will
word “fat.”
A second m istake is far m ore serious
you find a statistic regarding the average
and has caused som e people to question
cost per successful case in other program s.
statistical m ethods used by this office.
This distinction is more than technical.
So where's the free?
L ee P erlm an w rote: “ L ast year,
W hile the P ortland program is indeed
It's at W ashington M u tu a l. Where free checking means exactly th a t. There's no fee for
P o rtla n d ’s p ro g ra m c o st $ 3 7 2 ,0 0 0 ,
co n sid erab ly m ore expensive to operate
return of your cancelled checks. No required minimum balance. No mandatory direct deposit. No
handled 575 cases a n d ' successfully’ m e
than m ost other program s in the country,
hidden fees and service charges. Free access to tellers and customer service telephone lines. Free
diated 216 o f them . T his com es to a cost
it is certain ly not on the o rd er o f m ag n i
24/7 access to your account at our ATM s. Even a free VISA check card. So if you ve been wondering
o f about $ 1,700 a resolved case, co m
tu d e su g g e ste d by the M r. P e rlm a n 's
where's the free in your so-called "free" checking account, come to Washington Mutual. We're where
pared to $500 elsew here, Lannon said.”
article.
it's at. For the location nearest to you call 1 -8 0 0 -7 8 8 -7 0 0 0
-T hom as Lannom, Fiscal and Ad
ministrative Manager, Office of Neigh
borhood Involvement
Q Washington Mutual
W hile the first sentence is fine, the sec
ond one im plies that $500 is the cost o f a
“successfully resolved case” in other cities.
Where free checking really means free.
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