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The INDEPENDENT, May 24,1995
INDEPENDENT
The
Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published
twice monthly on the second and fourth Wednesdays of
each month, by Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd., 1206
S tate A venue, V ernonia, OR 97064, as a free
newspaper. E ditors and P ublishers, Dirk & Noni
Andersen, (503) 429-9410.
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C om m unity e ffo rt
reflected in standing
Vernonia placed 10th on the Safest Cities Survey
of 100 cities and counties in the Portland Region, a
standing that reflects a community that cares about
the people who live here.
That level of safety is not easy to achieve; it re
quires far more than a good police department. It re
quires organizations and activities that keep people
involved in the community—summer youth programs;
community-wide clean-up and spruce-up events;
bake sales and car washes; senior citizen programs
and preschool programs; volunteer firefighters and
volunteer EMTs.
Crime statistics can be difficult to pin down be
cause the easiest way to demonstrate a low crime
rate is by not reporting incidents, ie., if a crime isn’t
reported, it doesn’t exist statistically. Another major
variable is the huge changes that can occur with an
increase of only a few crimes in an area such as Ver
nonia, with a small population.
Nevertheless, the community does make a differ
ence and Vernonians have reason to be pleased. As
the population increases, it will take more effort to
maintain a low crime rate, but it can be done.
As long as community activities include people of
all ages; as long as the local police continue to be
peace officers instead of law enforcement officers; as
long as the people of this community know and care
about their neighbors, and as long as people here are
aware of what is going on in the community, then we
have the opportunity to retain a low crime rate. It’s
certainly worth the effort.
Council must use caution
when setting precedents
The Vernonia City Council recently excused a large
water bill for a homeowner who had a broken water
pipe, deciding instead to charge her the average of
her prior three month’s usage. There was no negli
gence involved, only a worn-out pipe, which the
homeowner had fixed as soon as she was made
aware of the problem.
Though the city may lose some revenue with this
kind of arrangement, it seems like a sensible way to
handle a water bill that can exceed $200 in a very
brief period.
The precedent has been set, however, and the
council will have to respond in similar fashion to all
similar requests.
Now the council is considering a request to allow
members of a local family to live in a travel trailer be
cause their elderly family members need help. But
there is nothing to prevent people from helping others
while living in a legal residence.
The city ordinance that prohibits this was written to
eliminate the problems created by people living on
the street in facilities that have neither running water
nor plumbing, and who pay neither taxes nor fees for
an RV site.
This would be a terrible precedent. The council
must approach it with considerable caution.
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By Rep. TimJosi
Oregon Representative, District 2
Unions have played an important role in the
history of industrialized nations. They orga
nized to fight inhumane working conditions
that existed in mills, factories and mines as
the Industrial Revolution gathered momentum.
Workers, then, were paid subsistence level
wages with no benefits, while toiling in ex
tremely unhealthy and dangerous environ
ments. As working conditions and benefits
have improved, union strength has declined in
the private sector.
Public employee unions, however, are thriv
ing because the employees they represent are
under attack from those who want to cut gov
ernment spending. Some believe public em
ployees are paid better than private sector
workers for “cushy” jobs with huge salaries
and fabulous benefits.
This belief has given rise to legislation that
seeks to curtail public employees’ benefits
and bargaining rights. A bill rejected last ses
sion appeared on the November ballot as
Measure 8, requiring public employees to con
tribute six-percent of their salaries to their re
tirement fund. When this passed, some cities
and school districts raised their employees’
salaries to compensate for the loss; other gov
ernment bodies, including the state, did not.
State employees have not had a pay in
crease for two years, placing their salaries 6.5
percent below private sector employees with
comparable jobs. With the effects of Measure
8 added in, this creates real disparity between
public and private sector compensation.
Some legislators want to create a two-
tiered retirem ent system that provides de
creased retirem ent com pensation for new
public employees. There is also an attempt to
reduce the bargaining rights of public employ
ees by restricting methods and subjects for
bargaining.
The OPEU strike was probably justified, but
will it end up hurting public employees further?
Unions still serve an important function in our
society, to distribute the wealth and to reward
people’s labor fairly. Right now, the balance
may be gone; in Oregon 20 percent of the
workers take home 49 percent of the wages!
Complaints about too much government
regulation are common. Too many rules can
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make life too restrictive but, on the other hand,
an absence of rules may create another prob
lem: If we are all doing what we see as best
for ourselves, we may be doing harm to oth
ers. This is why government exists, to create
and maintain laws that allow individuals to
prosper within the confines of society’s collec
tive needs and interests.
The state legislature is charged with creat
ing, maintaining and/or abolishing laws. Once
the laws have been passed or modified and
the Legislature has gone home, the state
agencies that oversee compliance with those
laws develop rules and regulations to carry
out the will of the lawmakers.
Some people believe the agencies overstep
the parameters of the laws, creating rules that
are unnecessary or even contrary to the intent
of the Legislature.
Because of that belief, in November voters
w ill be asked to approve a co n stitu tio n a l
amendment requiring all administrative rules
written during interim periods to be ratified by
the Legislative Assembly or they will be null
and void. It also allows a review of regulations
by a committee consisting of the Speaker of
the House, the Senate President and other
members they appoint. Any person may ask
the committee to review any rule.
There are several problems with this pro
cess. Of approximately 5,000 rules written
each year, only one-percent may be in conflict
with legislative intent. This is an incredibly ex
pensive way to get at that one-percent. It will
cause confusion as to what is law and what is
not and, at its worst, will allow a few people to
manipulate the system to their own ends.
For instance, Fish & Wildlife manages hunt
ing and fishing seasons by rule, but a citizen
who is opposed to hunting could prevent an
entire season by objecting to each rule that
governs a p a rtic u la r sea son . W ater R e
sou rces, DEQ, H ealth D e p a rtm e n t and
Forestry regulations would all be at risk.
Controlling rule-making is a sensible idea if
done properly; placing our state in perpetual
limbo is not!
Rep. Josi may be reached at:
State Capitol Room H491
Salem, OR 97310
Phone: (503)986-1402
FAX: (503)986-1575
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