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The INDEPENDENT, January 16, 2002
It must have been a
really slow news day
Being a part of the “media” is sometimes uncom-
forable; lately it’s just plain embarassing.
Most of our readers will recall a letter in the Jan. 2,
2002, issue of The INDEPENDENTXhat asked why the
formation of a KKK group was included on a list of his
toric dates in a kiosk at Vernonia Lake. This was a real
letter from a real person who was seeking an answer
to a real question about a matter of concern.
The information on the sign was put together by vol
unteers from Vernonia Pride, using data from the his
tory book, Vernonia, a Pocket in the Woods. The KKK
reference was there, just as it is in the history of Port
land and most cities in Oregon. The City’s response
was to remove the one line from the sign because
there was no reason to make people uncomfortable.
Additionally, funds for the kiosk came from a tourism
grant so the reference probably shouldn’t have been
included.
This wasn’t a problem.
Unfortunately, it must have been a slow news day.
The Willamette Weekly, The Daily Astorian and KXL
commentator Lars Larson all apparently felt the need
to make A STORY out of it.
The Willamette Weekly’s approach was, predictably,
that the information should have remained in the book.
Larson’s appproach was, predictably, that removing
the information was “rewriting history.” The Daily Asto
rian straddled the fence, but still felt that this one line
on a sign in Vernonia was worth a front page STORY.
Let’s try to keep this in perspective: This is a small
town that must rely on volunteers to accomplish many
things. The community has greatly benefited from Ver
nonia Pride’s efforts over the years. The all-volunteer
organization has worked very hard on beautification
projects, has raised money to install welcome signs at
both ends of town, maintains decorations with season
al themes throughout the year and organizes the an
nual clean-up day.
If there are others who want to do as much work as
this group does, wonderful, their efforts will be wel
comed. On the other hand, if the goal is to criticize vol
unteers’ efforts because they may have made a mis
take, then it’s time to put life - and history - in per
spective.
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Bee Says...
By Betsy Johnson,
Rep., District 31
The economy, both nationally and statewide
was weakening well before the disastrous
events of September 11th, however those
events seemed to have the very real effect of
both exacerbating the decline and making the
public keenly aware of it.
Even as the State Legislature adjourned from
passing a $12-billion biennial budget reports in
dicated that Oregon would be in a deficit position
before the end of the year. In August, numbers
began to show that State revenues would be
nearly $300 million less than budget estimates,
immediately exhausting the $86 million reserve
left by the Legislature and creating a deficit of
some $214 million. At the beginning of October,
that estimate had increased to as much as $600
million and, with the December forecast, the
number could be as high as $800 million.
If there is any good news in all of this, it is that
economists are projecting that things will im
prove beginning in June and will continue to gain
strength through the third quarter of 2002.
The immediate difficulty is what to do between
now and then. The State’s budget must be re
balanced.
Several options are being considered. Some
of these include the use of certain “pots” of ex
isting money (Tobacco Settlement money, Med
icaid and current utility surcharge reserves); ex
pansion of video poker to include line games
(slot machines); tax increases on beer, wine and
cigarettes; surcharges on corporate and person
al income taxes, and reductions in compensation
to video poker vendors.
However, even if all of these revenue-raising
activities were used, their estimated total is only
around $446 million. If the personal and corpo
rate surtax were removed, this revenue number
would drop to $321 million - not nearly enough
to cover the estimated short-fall. Many of these
proposals will be unpopular with the more fiscal
ly conservative legislators. The $254 million
“kicker” has already been distributed and there
fore will not be part of the debate. The average
amount of individual “kicker” checks - $157.00.
Cuts in services loom large as a component of
rebalancing the budget and the Governor has
asked State Agencies to cut 2% from immediate
budgets as well as a long term “prioritized” re
duction plan.
During public hearings in December, testimo
ny showed strong support for preserving the ar
eas of education, social services and public
safety; these three areas make up roughly 90%
of the General Fund and Lottery budgets. There
was also testimony in support of maintaining a
wide variety of new and existing programs, both
large and small.
If the agencies are able to cut 2%, it would
provide approximately $240 million. If all of the
above revenue increases, except personal and
corporate surcharges, were implemented, they
would raise approximately $321 million - for a
total of $561 million. With the $86 million ending
balance, that total would be $647 million - still
far short of the $900 million dollar target. We still
must search for the balance. One possible place
to find additional funding would be in new pro-
Please see page 3