COFFEE BREAK
Saturday, April 16, 2016
PARENTS TALK BACK
Debt-free
college is
not entitled
thinking
L
ike many families, we talk about
college a lot in our home.
In a recent conversation, my
seventh-grader made an offhand remark
about how she needed to ¿nd a way to
earn some money for college. It wasn’t
the ¿rst time I’d heard her say something
along those lines.
It hit me that she had internalized my
own incessant worry: How would we save
enough to send two children, close in age,
to great colleges?
The soaring cost
of college is the top
¿nancial concern for
American parents.
In its 2001-2015
Economy and Personal
Finance survey, Gallup
found that 73 percent of
Aishi
U.S. parents worry about
Sultin
paying for their children’s
Parents talk back
college education. That’s
a higher percentage than
any other subgroup worries about any
other common ¿nancial concern. The
second-highest percentage goes to lower-
income Americans, 70 percent of whom
worry about paying for medical costs in
the event of a serious illness or accident.
The fear of saddling children with
years of staggering debt is not con¿ned to
lower-income parents: Sixty-one percent
of parents making $100,000 or more per
year still worry about it. Families who
earn “too much” to qualify for need-based
aid bear the brunt of massive loans that
can mortgage a child’s future and eat into
parents’ retirement hopes.
By some measures, college tuition has
increased in cost more than any other good
or service in the U.S. economy since 1978,
according to a recent NPR report. Student
debt has nearly tripled in the past decade
to $1.2 trillion, taking a huge toll on young
people trying to start their adult lives.
Crippling debt is a loss of freedom. It
keeps future generations from entering
the middle class, which has long been the
engine of America’s economy.
The debate between the Democratic
presidential candidates over tuition-free
vs. debt-free college highlights what a
centerpiece issue this has become to the
middle class.
Bernie Sanders’ overwhelming support
from millennials — exit polls in Iowa and
New Hampshire, and entrance polls in
Nevada, found more than 80 percent of
18- to 29-year-olds supported Sanders —
shows that he’s speaking to their concerns.
The Vermont senator has proposed that the
federal government cover about two-thirds
of the cost for states to eliminate tuition
at their public colleges and universities
through a new tax on :all Street ¿nancial
transactions. States would have to agree to
cover the remaining third.
Hillary Clinton’s “debt-free” plan
would have the federal government send
large grants to states, to ensure students
can pay tuition without loans. States would
be required to increase their allocations,
while schools would face new constraints
on spending. There’s a component for
family and student contributions, as well.
Both ideas have faced scrutiny for the
associated costs and likelihood of getting
state legislatures to comply. Republican
candidates have criticized both plans
as creating too large a tax burden on
corporations.
At a time when we’ve indoctrinated
students about the need for a college
degree for future success, we’ve placed it
further out of reach. That feels like a cruel
joke.
I’ve told our children about how I
worked throughout college and found two
or three jobs each summer to help offset
my living expenses. My parents kicked in
what they could (not much, considering
they had ¿ve other children to provide
for), and I borrowed the rest. My husband
worked his way through college, which he
entirely self-funded.
We were part of generations that could
do that.
We want our children to have the same
sweat-equity investment in their future
degrees. But we are aware of how much
has changed.
Today’s average college student,
without support from ¿nancial aid and
family resources, would need to complete
48 hours of minimum-wage work a week
to pay for his or her courses, according
to an analysis of credit-hour costs and
the minimum wage by analyst Dr. Randy
Olson.
That’s just tuition — not textbooks,
rent, food and other living expenses.
Those who say that this generation’s
desire for affordable access to college
reÀects an entitled mentality could not be
more wrong. If you were able to attend
college when it was affordable yet want
to deny the same opportunities to young
people today, you are the entitled one.
Their future is also our future. It’s
sel¿sh and obtuse to shortchange it.
Ŷ
Aisha Sultan is a St. Louis-based
journalist who studies parenting in the
digital age while trying to keep up with her
tech-savvy children. Find her on Twitter:
@AishaS.
East Oregonian
Page 9C
FENCING: One thing he can do on his own
Continued from 1C
about wheelchair fencers.
“And then the fencing
came along and that was huge,
because, you know, he doesn’t
get to do a lot of things that are
really fast,” Miller said.
Barrilleaux had tried other
activities but never was as
excited about them.
He rode horses but had to
rely on help. A few people
would lift him onto the horse.
Once in the saddle, he had one
person lead the horse and a
person on either side to prevent
his sliding off.
In sabre, once his mom straps
him into the frame meant to
keep the wheelchairs steady, it
becomes a one-on-one sport. He
is equal to his opponent.
And Barrilleaux is often
better than his opponent.
“He’s got an incredibly
cheeky cut to wrist,” Aldridge
said. “Everyone who fences
him, they always think, ‘Yes,
I’ve got a point,’ and then you
realize he’s already hit you on
the underside of your wrist.”
———
Barrilleaux has no intention
of developing his fencing into
anything but a recreational
activity. However, a professional
sphere for able-bodied and
wheelchair fencers is a reality
for some.
Ten years after being
discharged from the Army
because of injuries from
a bombing, Leo Curtis of
Beaverton is one tournament
away from qualifying for the
2016 Paralymics in Rio de
Janeiro.
Curtis began wheelchair
fencing in 2012, mainly as a
way to get out of the house. He
had gone through depression
and PTSD after the IED
explosion that left him with
major injuries to his brain, spine,
ankles and other body parts.
Now Curtis is one of the
world’s top wheelchair epee and
sabre competitors.
He enjoys fencing for
many of the same reasons as
Barrilleaux: the speed and the
mental challenge.
“It’s the same sport, but
it’s a different game,” he
said of wheelchair fencing
compared with standard fencing.
“Whatever I do with my blade
has to be right. If it’s not right,
Anna Reed/Statesman-Journal via AP
In this Friday, Feb. 12 photo, Julie Miller helps her son, Chris Barrilleaux, get dressed for his
weekly sabre lesson at their home in Aurora.
Anna Reed/Statesman-Journal via AP
In this Jan. 8 photo, Chris Barrilleaux, left, duels with his coach
Sam Aldridge during his weekly sabre lesson at Salem Fenc-
ing Club in Salem.
I’m going to get hit. So in a
wheelchair, you have to be more
technically precise with your
blade work.”
Beyond training for
competitions, Curtis spends
his time teaching fencing to
disabled children. He gives them
an outlet.
“Unfortunately, no matter
where you live, there’s not a lot
for kids with disabilities to do,”
Curtis said. “We live in an area
where the wintertime can be
very dif¿cult with children with
disabilities, and even adults with
disabilities.”
He enjoys opening their eyes
to fencing but also to the fact
that they are able to do the same
activities as others.
“It’s really fun when you take
somebody who has not been
able to do any type of sporting
event ever, or not found the one
that ¿ts with their disability
needs, and they get the concept
the ¿rst time,” Curtis said.
“They really understand what
you’re telling them, and they’re
able to do it.”
———
“Ready.”
“Fence.”
The clanking of metal swords
echoes through the Salem
Fencing Club. After each hit,
lively chuckles and squeals ring
out.
Barrilleaux “is great fun to
fence,” Aldridge said. “He’s
always able to have a laugh
while he’s fencing. He will
laugh at you. He will laugh at
himself.”
While at home, Barrilleaux
is quiet, but at fencing his
demeanor changes.
“When he does a really good
hit, he gets his giggle or his
squeals,” his mother said, with a
laugh herself. “He’s just having
a great time.”
Each time his distinctive
giggle is heard, others around
him smile.
The half-hour each week
that Barrilleaux is fencing gives
him the chance to do something
on his own, a rare luxury. For
everything else in his life, he has
and will always have to rely on
his mom or an aide.
But with the sabre in his
grasp, Barrilleaux opens up. He
laughs. He is able to make his
own choices and communicate
physically with his competitor.
“I know that it’s given him a
lot of con¿dence of just getting
out and being able to do stuff,”
Miller said. “So that way it’s
really been huge.”
OUT OF THE VAULT
Loose talk leads to murder conviction
L
oose lips sink ships — or,
in the case of Charles
Monte, help ship you off
to the penitentiary.
A daring escape on June
9, 1902, from the Oregon
state penitentiary in Salem by
inmates Harry Tracy and Dave
Merrill also led to the death of
guard Frank Ferrell. Alleged
to have aided in the escape
was Charles Monte, who was
accused of smuggling guns over
the prison wall to the escapees.
He in turn implicated a friend,
Harry Wright, in the caper.
Sheriff Til Taylor discovered
Monte’s role in the escape after
a jail inmate, James Morris,
came forward in April 1905
to offer information about
a conversation he had with
Monte while both were jailed
in Umatilla County. Monte
was in jail
awaiting trial
for a burglary
charge, and
evidently got
a little loose in
the tongue after
drinking too
much, bragging
Renee
Struthers about how he
Out of the vault was one of the
two people who
helped Tracy
and Merrill escape. Morris was
hoping his information would
result in a lighter sentence
for his own crimes; he ended
up being sentenced to the
penitentiary anyway.
After state law enforcement
gathered evidence on the
pair, Monte and Wright were
indicted on ¿rst-degree murder
charges in Salem circuit court
on April 25, 1905. Monte was
brought from his cell at the
Salem penitentiary, where he
was serving his sentence on the
burglary charge, and Wright
was brought to Salem from the
penitentiary in Walla Walla.
Monte’s jury deliberated 18
hours, and required 16 ballots,
before returning a verdict of
“guilty of murder in the second
degree.” He was sentenced to
life in prison. While waiting for
the street car to take him back to
the penitentiary, Monte turned
to Sheriff Culver and said,
“How would you like to try me
for something I had really done?
You may have that chance in
the future.” It was supposed that
Monte meant to have revenge
on Morris, who he claimed gave
false witness during his trial.
Wright was acquitted of
the murder charge in his trial,
but he didn’t get off scot-free.
Before the murder charge was
dismissed, the district attorney
¿led a new charge against
Wright, one of larceny. He
was accused of hiring a team
and buggy in May 1902 under
the pretense of making a short
drive. He promptly drove the
team from Salem to Portland
and attempted to sell the out¿t
at a livery barn there. Wright
was brought before Judge
Barrett and plead guilty, and
was sentenced to a year in the
pen.
Ŷ
Renee Struthers is the
Community Records Editor for
the East Oregonian. See the
complete collection of Out of
the Vault columns at eovault.
blogspot.com
ODDS & ENDS
Robot ¿nds µmonster¶ in Loch
1ess ² but it¶s a movie SroS
LONDON (AP) — An underwater robot
exploring Loch Ness has discovered a dark,
monster-shaped mass in its depths.
Disappointingly, tourism of¿cials say the
30-foot object is not the fabled Loch Ness
Monster, but a prop left over from a 1970
¿lm.
Billy Wilder’s “The Private Life of
Sherlock Holmes” puts the great detective
on the trail of the monster — which turns
out to be a disguised submarine. A model
of the submarine-monster sank during
production to the bottom of the 750 foot-
deep lake.
Tourism body Visit Scotland is backing
a survey of the Highlands lake by a marine
robot to study its depths and see if there is
any sign of the fabled monster, which helps
attract hundreds of thousands of visitors a
year to the region.
Visit Scotland chief executive Malcolm
Roughead said that whatever the survey
¿nds, “there will always be a sense of
mystery and the unknown around what
really lies beneath Loch Ness.”
PrinciSal Zon¶t Sunish ninth-
graders Zho hired striSSer
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Des
Moines principal has decided not to punish
and asked the stripper to leave.
Roosevelt High School Principal Kevin
Biggs said Wednesday that the girls didn’t
do anything illegal and didn’t violate the
district’s conduct code.
The club has been operating outside of
direct school supervision, with members
raising all the money for its support. But
Biggs says the district plans to place the
club and its ¿nances under the control of
Roosevelt High’s activities department.
Rescued calf noZ comSanion
for blind coZ Zho lost Sig Sal
AP Photo, File
This is an undated file photo of a shad-
owy shape that some people say is a
photo of the Loch Ness monster in Scot-
land. An underwater robot exploring
Loch Ness has discovered a dark, mon-
ster-shaped mass in its depths. Disap-
pointingly, tourism officials said Thurs-
day the 30-foot object is not the fabled
Loch Ness Monster, but a prop left over
from a 1970 film.
the ninth-grade girls who arranged for
a male stripper to perform at their high
school’s synchronized swimming club
banquet.
Of¿cials say the girls employed the
stripper as a joke and that the stripper
didn’t totally disrobe at Friday evening’s
event at the Des Moines Social Club. A
club employee interrupted the performance
DARTMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — A calf
that spent several days on the loose in
Massachusetts is now a companion for a
blind cow that recently lost a pig playmate.
The cow, Baby, lives at the Don’t Forget
Us Pet Us animal sanctuary in Dartmouth.
The unnamed calf had escaped from
Robinson’s Livestock and was returned to
the farm last week. It had been destined for
the slaughterhouse. But Jean Briggs saw
stories about its escape, used her tax refund
to buy the calf from Robinson’s for $450
and turned it over to the sanctuary.
Deborah Devlin, who runs the sanctuary,
says the timing is perfect. She says Baby’s
friend for the last eight years, Lulu the
pig, died Sunday and that the cow was
heartbroken.
The cow and the calf were introduced
Tuesday.