The INDEPENDENT, October 19, 2011
Where to Find Them
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden
(Dem)
1220 SW 3rd Avenue, Suite 585
Portland OR 97232
Phone: 503-326-7525
223 Dirksen Senate Ofc. Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20510-0001
Phone: 202-224-5244
E-Mail: http://wyden.senate.gov/
contact
Website: http://wyden.senate.
gov
U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley
(Dem.)
One World Trade Center
121 SW Salmon St., Suite 1250
Portland, OR 97204
Phone: 503-326-3386
313 Hart Senate Ofc. Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3753
E-Mail: http://merkley.senate.
gov/contact
WebSite: http://merkley.senate.
gov
U.S. Representative David - Wu
(Dem) OR District 1 ace
pl
620 SW Main, Suite e 606
r
Portland, OR 97205
o on
Phone: 503-326-2901
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d e Ofc. Bldg.
2338 Rayburn
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ne ti House
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i
Washington,
s un DC 20515
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Phone:
R en 202-225-0855
Website:
m http://house.gov/wu
Senator Betsy Johnson
(Dem) Senate District 16
PO Box R,
Scappoose, OR 97056
Phone: 503-543-4046
900 Court St. NE, S-314
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503-986-1716
E-mail: sen.betsyjohnson@
state.or.us
Website: http//www.leg.state.or.
us/johnson
Representative Brad Witt
(Dem) House District. 31
21740 Lindberg Road,
Clatskanie, OR 97016
Phone: 503-728-4664
900 Court St. NE, H-373
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503-986-1431
E-mail: rep.bradwitt@state.or.us
Website: http//www.leg.state.or.
us/witt
Representative Deborah
Boone
(Dem) House District 32
PO Box 926
Cannon Beach, OR 97110
Phone: 503-717-9182
900 Court St. NE, H-375
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503-986-1432
E-mail: rep.deborahboone@
state.or.us
Website: http//www.leg.state.or.
us/boone
Page 3
Letters
Fund raising problem
is nearing correction
To the Editor:
We all want to believe in the
greater good of someone and
believe that they genuinely
care about an organization
they want to provide a fundrais-
er for. That is not always the
case as we have recently
learned. The repercussions of
one’s actions can be disap-
pointing, time consuming and
hard to understand.
Last Spring our youth base-
ball program was approached
with an offer to do a fundraiser
to help raise money for our
boy’s baseball program, oper-
ated though our local Booster
organization. At the time this
seemed like a good and easy
way to raise a couple hundred
dollars to support our program.
Unfortunately, things did not go
as planned and the fundraiser
that should have been all
wrapped up by the end of June
is still an ongoing problem! We,
as a nonprofit organization, as
parents of baseball players, as
friends, family and coworkers
of baseball players, and most
of all our kids have been taken
advantage of.
Many untruths were told
along the way only to confuse
and prolong the process of get-
ting this situation straightened
out. Our number one goal has
been to get people the prod-
ucts that they paid for back in
June. Our second goal has
been to get our baseball pro-
gram the money profited by this
fundraiser. It has not been with-
out countless hours and effort
put into this matter that we
have almost reached our goals.
We will not stop working on this
until everyone has been taken
care of.
We have definitely learned
from this experience as a base-
ball board. Although our main
fault was being trusting, we
certainly never predicted the
problems that were to come.
We know now to get everything
in writing no matter who the
offer to help comes from. We
also learned to better research
the financial benefit to our
cause as well as the customer
satisfaction history on the per-
son leading the fundraiser.
Throughout this fundraiser
the business in question has
been helpful and understand-
ing, and has been fulfilling
those orders that still had not
been delivered by the repre-
sentative in charge of the
fundraiser. We hope that this
does not poorly reflect on the
business or other representa-
tives. This was a problem with
an individual, not the company
in general.
And for those of you out
there whose intentions are less
than honorable; please leave
our kids and nonprofit organi-
zations alone!
Junior Baseball
Organization Board,
Pres. Brooke Morrison
Treasurer Amy Cieloha
Secretary Cami Archer
Being homeless is a
learning situation
To the Editor:
Our family arrived in Oregon
over a year ago. We have seen
so much since our decision to
vacation for three months while
my husband and I tried to see
who could obtain work. The
idea was for him to retire and
mom (being me) would go back
to work. This plan didn’t go as
we had hoped. In a way it has
been enlightening.
I have wondered over the
past three years where people
were going after the banks
foreclosed on their homes. We
have now met many of those
folks. I have also talked with
and listened to many people
over the years. Many think
homeless people are lazy – just
looking for handouts and don’t
want to work. I have to say
even I have viewed the home-
less in a similar way – as those
that didn’t wish to face the chal-
lenges of alcohol or drug abuse
and maybe even mental chal-
lenges. My view came from the
news and how they portray
homelessness. It also came
from how my parents viewed
the homeless people they
called “hobos”.
That was yesterday’s home-
less. Today we have a new
homeless. I didn’t see it until
our trip to Oregon, after our
plan to relocate didn’t go as we
planned. Today’s homeless are
renters, the unemployed, peo-
ple whose homes have gone
into foreclosure. The younger
and older generations who
can’t afford a home. All mixed
with yesterday’s homeless.
The sad part is that some of
us have income and can’t get
into a home. We have also had
bad experiences with home-
owners who foreclosed on
homes we rented. Many of us
have paid off bills in hopes of
relocating to an area where we
could own a home only to find
ourselves listed as homeless.
It cost a bit more sometimes
to camp than rent, but the feel-
ing of security we have know-
ing we won’t be losing our shel-
ter outweighs the costs.
The new homeless are good
folks just trying to make it. The
sad part is many of us are la-
beled as those who may not
want to make it. The future
homeless are going to have
even more people like us. Until
one experiences homeless-
ness one can’t even under-
stand how it feels. Just being
called homeless, or to hear
someone refer to someone as
being lazy due to being home-
less still hurts.
We knew the economy was
a mess. We believed that mov-
ing and starting over was a
good idea. We have met some
really good people. When one
is camping, one blends in with
other campers. We didn’t hear
ourselves referred to as home-
less until the church and school
labeled us as homeless. So if
one doesn’t live in a home that
is attached to solid ground, one
is homeless in the eyes of
today’s people. Many seniors
today live in mobile homes as
they did when I was a child.
Many of them serve as camp-
ground hosts due to the high
cost of living in a home. So we
are looking into being camp
hosts. Our only issue is we still
have school-aged teens and
we would like to stop moving
so they can finish school. Our
youngest is done with school in
five years.
Our hope is still to own a
home with land to pass on to
our kids and grandkids. It is
pretty sad that our government
has let things get this out of
hand. During the Great De-
pression, the President signed
a law which didn’t allow proper-
ty or land to be taken until the
economy and jobs recovered.
That was very smart as taxes
continued to be paid, farms
continued producing crops and
people were able to find work.
Today we are just increasing
the problem; banks, loan com-
panies and realtors don’t pay
property taxes until a property
is sold. So jobs will continue to
be lost and homes foreclosed
on.
Many people think that
someone going through fore-
closure is walking away. Many
don’t understand how people
ended up in foreclosure.
Renters are also now being af-
fected. Our family was renters
– we owned our own home and
sold it 15 years ago when we
needed a larger place when a
family member needed to stay
with us. Then the house we
were renting went into foreclo-
sure.
Some people might ask,
how can homeowners not see
foreclosure coming? But I be-
lieve the more important ques-
tions is, why is this happening
in our country? The answer –
because we all trusted that we
as Americans (our assets, how
companies operate, control of
monopolies)
were
being
watched over. But we were
fooled – had the wool pulled
over our eyes. Whatever one
wants to call it, we lose. What
can we do to fix it? Stand up,
educate ourselves and our
youth and vote.
Our family has tried many
things, advertising on Craigslist
that we would help a family if
they had a second home on
their land they could rent, or
park our trailer and help them
pay their mortgage so our fam-
ily had a place to stay and at
the same time help them save
their home. We have not had
any takers. We continue to go
month by month hoping some-
thing might change. Our prayer
is that no one else has to go
through what our family has
had to go through.
Yes, it has been an adven-
ture. We have been helped and
have helped others, too. We
have met some really special
people. I have fished with many
good hearted folks and even
had good friends come and
stay with us for a few nights.
That made our temporary
home really feel like our home.
So, at times I have not felt
Please see page 21
Policy on Letters
The INDEPENDENT will
not publish letters with per-
sonal attacks on private citi-
zens. Preference will be
given to brief letters, 300
words or less.
All letters must be signed
and include a verifiable ad-
dress or phone number.