Page 2
The INDEPENDENT, April 21, 1999
The
n£ ,TRYne,user
INDEPENDENT
Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published twice
monthly, on the first and third Wednesdays of each
month, by Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd., 725 Bridge
Street, Vernonia, OR 97064, as a free newspaper. Edi
tors and Publishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen. Sports Edi
tor, Caren Cote. Phone/Fax: (503) 429-9410.
expemo/ce 5n>e
A
b lX e c rifl< \J op
tfj«.
ATTACK, Cftoun
¿ASH,
O ftC T o A ...
O u s t, ST«4Kfz tfiAAT
VASAt.
,r « /z
.
S tomach
tf€ A R T & U M / AZ«S< P U M & ,
■'A-/
'
z OtfT OF PoCKCTt/e/s —
»
I
By Elaine M. Hopson
State Representative, District 2
Occasionally, I find myself apologizing for my
passion for public education, for fear it would be
my only focus here at the Legislature. Since I’ve
been here, I have found that my horizons and
knowledge level have increased in leaps and
bounds in every area. With that in mind, I am go
ing to talk about education again since it has
been at the top of the agenda for most people in
the House.
Recently, many members of the House of
Representatives and the Governor and his staff
visited numerous schools around the state. Rep
resentatives Randy Leonard and Gary Hansen,
both from Portland, joined Representative Jack
ie Taylor and me as we toured Wilson Elemen
tary School in Tillamook, Warrenton High School
in Warrenton, and Lewis and Clark Elementary
School in Astoria. This tour provided an opportu
nity for urban legislators to see that problems in
the rural areas are similar to those found in the
urban areas. The message was clear; more
money is needed to provide adequate facilities
and programs.
We heard story after story from school em
ployees, parents, and students indicating their
concern that adequate, stable funding must be
found for education. Although the details were
different, the message was the same from
everyone. This same story was replayed across
the state. Now it is up to us to find a way to fund
education for our children’s future.
Another important bill has passed in the
Phone users in the 429 prefix have complained
loudly about the outdated switch for this area because House — SB100 on Charter Schools. Although
the Senate had previously approved SB100,
it prevented them from fully utilizing some of the tech
even they admitted it was not a good bill as writ
nology available in other areas, even though fiber op ten. Although I voted against SB100, it is not a
tic cable has been available here for several years.
horrible bill and the House did provide many
That is changing. As you read this, GTE is installing changes that make it more reasonable.
The premise behind the Charter School
the equipment necessary to bring this area into the
movement is to give parents and students more
20th century...a full three months before the 21st cen
choice in selecting their educational programs
tury begins.
and to allow charter schools to be innovative in
Joking aside, this is good news. In October, when order to develop methodologies that may then
Vernonia becomes part of the Portland Extended Area be adopted by the regular schools. This is done
Service (EAS), people here will also be able to access in part by allowing the charter schools to waive
many of the laws currently in place.
all of the technology available over telephone lines.
My main objection at this point is that the bill
This is not just a matter of being able to install Caller does not require licensed teachers. One argu
ID, far more importantly, it means that businesses can ment that continually surfaces is that students
now locate here without the burden imposed by an ex should have the advantage of educational op
pensive and inadequate telephone communications portunities from community experts, particularly
those in the arts and trades. I agree, but this is
system.
already possible and experts in many areas are
New phone switch is good
for the future of Vernonia
ft fcSfLfi*
oz / l y o z v o e f t . t H e
£ ***« « . J S £
Salem Report
v
c u e 5 / 5 * « a /<$J z
FCAK( a >6 JIQ a Z/
<W6ftACTWC
^
¿'••»*•*5/ f » # '-
/ a AS o a w IA , foA/STiRAT
Non-injury accidents not
important to law agencies
y o u a
AS *,*•»***
u P S tT 5TOrAiM
Opinion_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
There were three non-injury motor vehicle accidents
on the Nehalem River Highway (Hwy. 47) on April 8-9.
In two of them, both on April 9, hail, sleet and ice were
contributing factors in single-car rollovers.
The accident on April 8, though also non-injury, was
far more serious because it was caused by a driver
who passed another car and a log truck on the stretch
of road between the old trestle and the first curve up
toward Top Hill— a no passing zone. Before that driver
could get back in his own lane, a pickup truck came
around the curve and, though there was a collision,
good driving by the pickup driver avoided a head-on
wreck.
Why are these three accidents being discussed
here? Because only one, the second rollover on the
9th, has been recorded by any law enforcement
agency.
Why not? Apparently there is nothing that requires
keeping track of non-injury accidents. The one that
was recorded, was handled by Oregon State Police;
the two car collision caused by passing in a no pass
ing zone was handled by the Washington County
Sheriff’s office; the first rollover on the 9th was cleared
up before any emergency personnel arrived and was
not recorded.
It’s easy to understand why law enforcement agen
cies don’t want to bother with paperwork on non-injury
accidents. Most of them are short on personnel and
paperwork takes a lot of time.
OSP Troopers spend as much time as they can pa
trolling Hwy. 47 in both marked and unmarked cars,
but they are limited by inadequate manpower.
Another important factors is involved, too.
For a long time, people in this area have been ask
ing for safety improvements to Hwy. 47, however,
when the Oregon Department of Transportation looks
at the records, very few accidents show up. It’s no won
der ODOT puts those requests on the back burner.
use
r y
teaching in many places throughout the state.
However, I do believe that the major instructors
in our schools should be trained professionals.
Regardless of the outcome of this bill, it will
serve all educators and the public well if parents
and patrons become more involved and let the
schools know what they would like to see done
in their schools. There ismo reason why many of
the attributes of Charter Schools cannot be
achieved now. One of the major benefits of char
ter schools is the involvement of adults in the
communities. We need to find a way to encour
age that participation in all of our schools; the
schools need to open up the doors and welcome
people and the patrons need to come in and be
come a part of the process. If we do this, we can
achieve all the potential benefits of Charter
Schools in all of our schools for all of our stu
dents.
A major issue passed the House this week
and that was the Tip Tax credit bill. The various
aspects to this bill made it extremely complicat
ed and controversial. When the taxpayers
passed the minimum wage law that was gradu
ally implemented, there were no provisions to
count tips as part of any wage. There have been
several attempts to include tips but none made it
through the process before. Included within the
bill is a section that allows employers to pay
$1.00 less per hour to employees who work less
than 90 days and are under 18 years of age.
Several groups of students were able to visit
this capitol recently, although the timing prohibit
ed much interaction with them. When one group
was present, the issue was a law to limit insur
ance payments to drivers who had a blood alco
hol level above the legal limit or who were unin
sured, even if those drivers were not at fault.
The driver would still receive medical costs but
not receive insurance money for “pain and suf
fering.” This is just one of the issues that seems
easy on its face but is actually very complicated.
The legislature’s major concern and focus
continues to be on the budget...how to allocate
the revenues available and support the major re
sponsibilities we have as a state. As the pieces
start to come together, there will be more news
and I will keep you posted.
Please keep up your communications with
me.
Rep. Elaine Hopson S a le m O ffice:
H -3 7 6 S ta te C a pitol
S alem , O R 9 7 3 1 0
P h o n e (5 0 3 ) 9 8 6 -1 4 0 2
e m a il h o p s o n .re p @ s ta te .o m s
• ■ -. . •