OFF PAGE ONE
Friday, May 1, 2015
East Oregonian
Page 9A
IRAN: Women are banned from sporting events to prevent mixing
forced it into Iranian waters.
Isom noticed sporadic
domes to the tops of the anti-American signs, one
square structures.
that took up the entire side
Isom stopped and chatted RI DQ RI¿FH EXLOGLQJ ZLWK
with Iranians underneath the message, “Down with
domes, in gardens and at other America.”
tourist hangouts. She found
Isom found herself drawn
herself charmed and surprised to Iranian women who
by their friendly hospitality.
seemed willing to share their
“Given our foreign policy hopes and goals. While in
issues, I would have expected some ways the laws and
more hostility,” said Isom, culture hamper women, they
former chair of the Oregon aren’t as restricted as Isom
World Affairs Council’s board had suspected.
of trustees.
“I was fascinated by the
Of course, Isom acknowl- women,” she said. “Women
edged, the visitors stayed in are very well-educated. They
the tourist areas where they drive cars. They have status
didn’t run into members of the and power. They can inherit
Revolutionary Guard, Iran’s (though less than men). They
SDUDPLOLWDU\ ¿JKWLQJ IRUFH can run family businesses.
This week, the Guard inter- They are very enterprising.”
cepted a cargo ship bearing
Yet, she said, they have
D 0DUVKDOO ,VODQGV ÀDJ DQG a dress code that requires
Continued from 1A
Photo by Harriet Isom
A group of Iranians picnic near the Garden of
Nightengales in Isfahan.
“I was fascinated by
the women. Women
are very well-edu-
cated. They drive
cars. They have
status and power ...
They can run family
businesses. They are
very enterprising.”
— Harriet Isom
She toured the Shah of Iran’s
palace. She wasn’t alone.
Tourists are more numerous
since the election of moderate
cleric Hassan Rouhani, who
says he wants to double
foreign tourism.
“He really opened up the
country to western tourism,”
Isom said.
Photo by Harriet Isom
7KH ÀRZ RI YLVLWRUV ZLOO
A woman prays at the Pink Mosque, the oldest mosque in Shiraz.
likely get larger as they build
covering all but face and except when in their hotel she said. “Exceptionally more infrastructure, Isom
hands.
rooms. Their visa photos must proud of their history, culture said. Her group stayed mostly
“Iranian women, partic- also show them in a headscarf. and modernization, Iranians in hotels “built in the Shah’s
ularly the younger genera-
The separation of men and today want world acceptance, day.”
While Isom felt relaxed
tion, often interpret this in women in public is a point stability and foreign invest-
and welcomed during her
differing and fashionable of consternation for many ment.”
Isom soaked in sights and visit, she said she noticed the
ways. Leggings and jeans women. Even at weddings,
seem acceptable as long as Isom said, males and females sounds with intense curiosity anti-American signage and
worn with a long tunic top celebrate separately. Women during the 12 days in country. remembered Washington Post
and a headscarf,” Isom said. are banned from sporting
“Iran has been something reporter Jason Rezaian and
other Americans jailed in Iran.
“A number of women do, events to prevent mixing.
of a mystery,” she said.
“It is, after all, Ayatollah’s
however, wear the tent-like
During conversations with
She gazed out the bus
black chador that makes them Iranians, Isom heard concern ZLQGRZ DW ZKHDW ¿HOGV WKDW Iran,” she said.
———
like a shadow.”
about nuclear negotiations reminded her of home. She
Contact Kathy Aney at
Female
tourists
are between the U.S. and Iran.
navigated colorful bazaars,
expected to don the traditional
“People are very anxious visited mausoleums and kaney@eastoregonian.com
hijab headscarf at all times for there to be an agreement,” ogled mosques and citadels. or call 541-966-0810.
RETIREES: ‘The Supreme Court
let them know that they can count
on a secure retirement’
Continued from 1A
have a contractual right to
receive the pre-amendment
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earned before the effective
date of the amendments,”
Chief Justice Thomas Balmer
wrote for the court.
Balmer
acknowledged
that a dollar spent on public
pensions is one that cannot go
toward other services.
“The Legislature’s interest
in enhancing those services
is entirely appropriate,” he
wrote.
“The
Legislature,
however, must pursue those
objectives consistently with
constitutional requirements,
including Oregon’s consti-
tutional prohibition against
impairing the obligations of
contracts.”
Five justices joined the
decision. Justice Jack Landau
recused himself and did not
take part.
The court rejected argu-
ments by the state and lawyers
for local governments that
a more compelling “public
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the contract.
“The
public-purpose
defense that respondents
ask this court to recognize
imposes a high bar to justify
the state’s impairment of a
state contract, like PERS,
and the record in this case
does not meet that standard,”
Balmer wrote.
At issue are two changes
made by the Legislature in
2013 to the Public Employees
Retirement System, which
was created in 1945 and now
has about 128,000 retirees.
The system has 925 govern-
ment employers and covers
about 95 percent of all public
employees.
One change affects cost-
of-living increases, which
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and which were capped at 2
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Starting on July 1, 2014,
the 2013 law applies the full
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of a pension, then 1.5 percent
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WR WKH QH[W DQG
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The rate for 2013-14 was a
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The other change affects
the extra payment lawmakers
granted to retirees in 1991,
after the state taxed public
pensions in line with a deci-
sion by the U.S. Supreme
Court. The change denies
the extra payment to out-of-
state retirees who do not pay
Oregon taxes.
The
changes
were
projected to pare the system’s
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over the next few decades.
In the current two-year
budget cycle, governments
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billion — unless the court
reverses them.
Lawmakers in 2013
allowed for legal challenges
to go directly to the Supreme
Court, bypassing the circuit
court and Court of Appeals.
Public employee unions,
and two out-of-state retirees,
challenged both changes.
The unions argued that
cost-of-living increases —
and the formula that deter-
mines them — are part of the
contract between government
employers and workers. The
state argues they are not.
There are two related
lawsuits; the lead plaintiff is
Everice Moro of Portland, a
retired school employee who
is among 14 named in the
main lawsuit.
The out-of-state retirees
argued that discontinuance
of the extra payments to
them violate state and federal
constitutional guarantees of
equal protection under the
law.
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by Michael Reynolds, who
retired in 2003 and is living in
Seattle, and George Riemer,
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living in Arizona. Reynolds
is a former solicitor general,
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the state in state and federal
appellate courts. Riemer
worked for the Oregon State
Bar, and is executive director
for the Arizona Commission
on Judicial Conduct.
Plaintiffs hailed the ruling.
“The state made a
good-faith deal with these
employees, who devoted so
much of their working lives to
serving their communities,”
said Greg Hartman, a Port-
land lawyer who represented
14 plaintiffs in the main case.
“Today the Supreme Court
let them know that they can
count on a secure retirement,
and will be able to afford
groceries, medical bills, car
repairs, and other day-to-day
living expenses which rise
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Local government and
business associations said the
decision will result in higher
pension costs under the
Public Employees Retirement
System.
The Oregon Business
Association also decried the
decision, and offered a state-
ment by a leading economist,
who said millions will go into
public pensions rather than
education and other services.
“Oregon made a genera-
tional mistake in public policy,
and the court has essentially
ruled that we have to live
with it,” said John Tapogna,
president of ECONorthwest.
“That puts Oregon in a chal-
lenging economic position for
the next couple of decades.
Families and businesses can
choose Washington, with
similar amenities, but without
the legacy costs of an ill-de-
vised pension system.”
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