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TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, May 31, 2000 The Official Newspaper Letters to the Editor 01 the City of Heppnei and the County ot Morrow Editor's note: Letters to the Editor must be signed The Cazette-Times will not publish unsigned letters. Please include your address and phone number on all letters for use by the G-7 office. The C-T reserves the right to edit. The C-T is not responsible for accuracy of statements made in letters H ep p n er GAZETTE-TIMES U S P S 240-420 Morrow County’s Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper Published weekly and entered as periodical matter at the Post Office at Heppner, Oregon under the Act o f March 3,1879 Penodical postage paid at Heppner, Oregon Office at 147 W W illow Street Telephone(5411676-9228 Fax (541 »676-9211 E-mail gt@heppner net or gt u rapid serve net W eb site www heppner net. Postmaster send address changes to the Heppner Gazette-Times, P O B o x 337, Heppner. Oregon 97836 Subscriptions $22 in Morrow County, S16 senior rate (in Morrow' County only, 62 years or older), $29 else where l)a\id Sykes April Hilton-Sykes Publisher Editor On the HEPPNER W EBSITE: www.heppner.net • Start or C hange a Subscription • Place a Classified Ad • Submit a News Story • View Real Estate for Sale • City Council & Planning Minutes • Local Businesses • County Park • Willow Creek Park Reservations • Free Digital Postcards • Senior Housing • and more! The Voice of Middle America Why It Isn ft Fun Anymore By David P. Price. Ph.D. America is full of conflict. Conflict that comes from many sources; government, being one of them. A primary reason for conflict in government is that politics are no longer based on fairness, merit or balance. Politics today are decided on power. This is the influence of campaign contributions and lobbying as criticized by Senator John McCain. But money has corrupted more than just government. Money has also corrupted advocacy groups. Indeed, organized advocacy could be deemed a growth industry. Represented as non-profit. .. these organizations collect an enormous amount of money. Likewise, executive staff are often highly paid; some receiving six figure salaries. Probably the most egregious example was the ministry of Rev. Jim Bakker. A non-profit church organization, Rev. Bakker paid himself a salary in excess of $ 1,000,000. But unlike Rev. Bakker's organization, most advocacy groups are not criminally corrupt. However, the formula for many non-profit organizations is the same. A corps of highly paid staff members greatly profit by the existence of the organization. Instead of preaching hell fire and damnation to solicit contributions . . . they harangue and exaggerate their causes. It makes no difference what the issue is; be it environment, diet and health, race, gender, foreign trade, gun control . . . for or against; the advocacy groups typically exaggerate the issues. As a result, the public becomes polarized. But worse than polarized . . . the public becomes misinformed. This makes reaching a consensus on reasonable solutions impossible. It also creates hostility. No matter what issue you are for or against. . . there is an advocacy group that will distort your position or motivation. This has created the "us against them" sbaety we live m: ftue longer matters what is right or wrong. It's "\vTi6£?Vide are voii on?", _•______________’ Tfiff’has to stop. Bin frou ? One wiy is to take the profit out of it. If the public knew how much the officers of many "non-profit" advocacy organizations made - they would be less likely to contribute the amount of money they do. Likewise, if the public knew how much many of the organizations spend on administration - they would likewise become more skeptical. What is needed is a federal law requiring that any non-profit organization inform their contributors as to how much each salaried employee receives; and what percentage of contributions are spent on internal administration. Upon receiving a contribution; within 30 days a disclosure must be sent to the contributor; and the contributor then has 30 days to request a refund. What would this accomplish? It would take the spin doctors and professional marketing people out of advocacy. If there were no pressing issues, there would be no motivation to create bogus issues as a means of perpetuating the organization. As it is today, no advocacy group is ever going to admit that a problem has been solved If it did . . . it would be out of a job. As logical as this sounds, enacting such legislation will be exceedingly difficult. The reason, of course, is that most advocacy organizations are heavily involved in lobbying. The politicians, lobbyists and advocacy executives all know their best interests are served by financial anonymity. As a result, groups that bitterly appose each other on advocacy issues, will all come together to lobby against publicizing their accounting. But if life and politics in America are ever to return to relative tranquility and common sense, we have to make advocacy a matter of conscience . . . not a profession. Therefore, if you support a presidential candidate advocating campaign finance reform, communicate to them that financial reform needs to be taken a step further. Urge them to initiate legislation to require public financial disclosure for non-profit organizations. Halls earn yard of the month Gene and Harriet Hall The home of Gene and Harriet Hall has been selected as the Heppner Garden Club yard of the month for May. The Halls have lived in their home on Chase Street in Heppner for the past six years. In addition to a beautiful garden, one of the special things about the Hall residence is the seasonal woodwork they make themselves and place in their yard. "The kids on the block can't wait til the I first of the month (when the Halls change the yard scene)," said Harriet. Harriet (Ball) was bom and raised in Heppner. Gene is a relative "newcomer", coming to the area in 1942. COPY PAPER Ream • Carton Gazette-Times 6 7 6 -9 2 2 8 Prevention, education not institutionalization To the Editor: The public need not be confused nor impressed by big words and false promises. Measure 11 doesn't stop crime or criminals. It institutionalizes the people who get sentenced under it. There are some inmates who, if re-sentenced under the former "guidelines" system, could get much more time if the judge deems it necessary. First time offenders and people with previous records ajike get the same time under Measure 11. All that will happen is that, for the young offender who gets sentenced to 7Vi to 15 years: his mind will be corrupted with prison life and his heart turned cold from lack of family contact over a long period of time. We should put the power of sentencing back in the hands of the judges. They can individualize cases. Yes, certain people the public doesn't like will have to be re-sentenced, but what makes anyone think the judges will have a soft spot for that person? They won't. Go back to education and prevention, not institutionalization. (s) Jason Walter c/o EOCI, Pendleton County residents deserve better advice from superintendent To the Editor: Morrow County residents de serve better advice from their Superintendent of Schools than they have been getting. Superin tendent Anderson needs to enu merate the pros and cons of build ing more high schools in the dis trict. Instead Superintendent Ander son has been quoted in a May 24 paper as saying, “Funding for a new school in Irrigon would come from anticipated growth in the north end. The more students at tending the district, the more state funding it would receive. Equip ping a new school may be a con cern because a construction bond levy cannot be used to pay for equipment.” However, he fails to state that state reimbursement for schools is based on the last year’s enroll ment so we are always playing catch up with growth and fund- mg. This is difficult to do with no ending fund balance. Superintendent Anderson’s consideration of a new high school ignores the fact that a high school is more expensive to staff than an elementary school And that an additional athletic program would need funding. If the school does not have a really adequate staff, the students will lose their flexibility in sched uling. Fewer courses will be of fered so students will have fewer paths to pursue. How can this be in the students’ interest? Why is Superintendent Ander son offering proposals that do not advance and serve students’ needs? Do county residents have the tax dollars for poor direction in our children’s education? Do our stu dents have the time? (s) Meg Murray lone Museum funding cut lops off link to the past To the Editor: Because my job as a travel writer takes me more than 10,000 miles a year along Oregon's backroads, I've discovered that the difference between a small town's survival and its demise is often determined by the presence or absence of three elements: a school to secure its future, a museum to preserve its past and a library to link its history with its destiny. Think of these three elements respectively as the heart, the memory and the intellect of a town, and you'll see that the Morrow County court's recent decision to cut funding from its museum lops off one leg of a tripod that provides stability to the community. The tragedy in this decision is that the Morrow County Museum is a jewel among the state's museums, a treasure of a storehouse that the Morrow County Tourism Committee calls, "the home of the largest and most comprehensive history of pioneer and homestead life in Eastern Oregon." This claim is more than a brag, for spread over the museum's 5,000 square feet is more than a century's worth of photographs, artifacts, and displays that tell the story of life on the farm and in the city. From buckets to bayonets, grade schools to hairdos, mammoth bones to massage vibrators, the museum celebrates our past: how we furnished our bedrooms, parlors, H E P P N E R BAR REL BLAZE B A R R E L RACE June 3, June 17 and July 8 !\1C Fairgrounds, Open Arena 10 a.m. first race start time, p.m. race will start after tim e onlys OPEN NOVICE, AMATEUR & YOUTH CLASSES E n tries o p e n t h e T h u rsd a y b efo re ra c e day, 8 - 1 0 p .m . E n trie s c l o s e ra c e d a y Call S u e a t ( 5 4 1 ) 6 7 6 - 5 4 4 6 Farm Foundation seeks donations To the editor: The Farm Foundation was formed to accept tax deductible contributions for the antique farm equipment museum as well as the existing museum. The recent loss of tax funding for the museum has accelerated the need for contributions to help sustain the existing facility and to get the antique farm equipment portion ready to open to the public. The museum commission is working to organize a volunteer group to keep the museum open. If you can donate some time to help, please contact Sharon Harrison. The Farm Foundation is offering lifetime memberships for $500 which may be paid at the rate of $100 per year. Annual family memberships are available for $25 and individual at $15. All members will be granted free admission to the museum facilities. We also need contributions of any size to help us build an endowment fund to ensure future operation of the museum facilities. Please send your membership dues and contributions to: FARM Foundation, P.O. Box 515, Heppner, Oregon 97836. If you have already send your membership dues we appreciate your support. (s) Cliff Green President, Farm Foundation Heppner and kitchens; how we delivered our babies, played our games, taught our kids, and did our work. In short, it's one of the best small town museums you'll find anywhere-but now the county will pull the funding that once guaranteed its quality. Sure, money is tight; sure, volunteers will do their best to keep the museum going, yet by cutting everything from the museum's budget except its utilities, judge Terry Tallman and commissioners Dan Brosnan and John Wenholtz show they underestimate the museum's value to the community as well as to the visitors who gain their impression of Morrow County from what they find inside those doors. "It's one of the best small town museums I've ever seen," was the comment of a recent visitor. "It seems to be a reflection of the people who live here-the community's face to the outside world." She's right, for to step inside the Morrow County Museum is to discover the lessons it teaches us as well as the values the community holds dear: that the lives and the deeds of the people who came before us are deserving of our respect, our care, and our remembering. And that, in turn, deserves not only the commitment of the Morrow County community, but also the support and vision of its leaders. (s) Mark Highberger Wallowa Nice serie s awards offered with nomination fee of $5 RACES OPEN TO EVERYONE Sponsored by local merchants and OBRA-proftts go to local 4-H club 5C • Jennifer Christenson & Jason Palmer ft 8 8 * St. Patrick7; Senior Center ___ Bulletin B o a rd ___ m Success for the memorial dinner project came with about 130 guests including representatives of pioneer families: Adkins, Anderson, Batty, Beamer, Beckett. Bergstrom, Brosnan, Buschke, Christianson, Clark, Cox, Crawford, Doherty, Drake, Gonty, Green, Hoskins, Huston, Jones, Kirk, McCaleb, McDaniel. McMurdo, Morgan, Munkers, Nelson, Peck, Robinson, Steers, Thomson, Wilkinson, Wright and others. Over 20 were members of the Adkins family, planning this event as part of a family reunion. On the program our able emcee Greg Smith introduced Rick and Cecilia Drake for a duet of "The Star-Spangled Banner," Jane Rawlins who read "In Flanders Field," and Rev. Grace Drake, who gave the invocation. Several members of early pioneer families spoke briefly. The Heppner Garden Club made the table centerpieces. After a plentiful buffet, prizes were given to the oldest one there, Velma Huston Parker (Pasco); the youngest, Megan Malvrick (Milwaukie); and the one coming the farthest, Jim Adkins (Cupertino, CA). The central planning committee was Jane Rawlins (chair), Judy Buschke, Judy Rickert, Jo Anne Burleson, Kathryn Hoskins. Meredith Walters and Alice Voluntad. Many others helped. Many expressions of thanks and appreciation were received that day and in phone calls coming in since then. & wedding: June 10, 2 0 0 0 charene Coe & Randolph Brncher wedding: July 8 , 2 0 0 0 M umuj ' j D auq ü ft 9? « 217 North Main • Heppner • 676-9158 Serving Heppner, Lexington S lone «dC« (Black JôilLL 4 ôar Peterson’! Jewelers
