The INDEPENDENT, March 7, 2012
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 Suzanne
Bonamici, (Dem) OR District 1
620 SW Main, Suite 606
Portland, OR 97205
Phone: 503-326-2901
2338 Rayburn House Ofc. Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-0855
Website: http://bonamici.house.
gov
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
Commissioners are
acting wrongfully
To the Editor:
Now it seems that the attor-
ney for the commissioners is
attempting to interfere with the
sale of the property on Millard
Road. Peter Mercereau is his
name. Remember him – he’s
one of the attorneys who works
for SDAO – the same outfit
which gave really bad informa-
tion to the current CHD board
when SDAO was pretending to
work for them.
The current CHD board ap-
pointed Joe Cason and Brady
Preheim as trustees to sell the
property. The trustees, with a
Warranty Deed in hand, listed
the property with an agent so
that it could be sold and the
money credited to the taxpay-
ers.
Mr. Mercereau and his
clients, your county commis-
sioners, decided that was not
such a good idea and have
filed or are filing for a motion to
stop the sale. Remember, the
commissioners want to turn the
property over to the City of St.
Helens at no charge and ap-
parently do not want it to be
credited to the taxpayers.
There is currently a lawsuit
filed in this matter. That should
not affect the sale of the Millard
Road property. If the sale oc-
curs, the money can be held in
escrow until the suit settles and
then it can be decided who will
return the money to the taxpay-
ers. Under no circumstances
should it be turned over, free of
charge, to the City of St. He-
lens. The Oregon Constitution
prohibits taxing one district for
the benefit of another.
The commissioners are ad-
vocating against their own peo-
ple and that is just wrong.
Nancy Whitney
St. Helens
Sentry employees,
citizens helped drive
To the Editor:
The Vernonia Lions Club
would like to thank the entire
staff at Sentry Market for their
help with our food drive on
Sunday (Feb. 11, 2012). We
were able to raise $168 and 50
pounds of high quality protein
and shelf stable milk items to
benefit Vernonia Cares Food
Bank. We would also like to
thank the wonderful citizens of
Vernonia, whose generosity al-
ways is amazing!!
Thank You All!
Randal Harvey, Secretary
Vernonia Lions Club
Enjoy dinner to help
Roberts’ transplant
To the Editor:
On Saturday, March 24th,
between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., at
the Scout Cabin, we are spon-
soring a Spaghetti Feast to
benefit Ryan Roberts’ desper-
ate need for a kidney trans-
plant.
Ryan is a hardworking fami-
ly man in our community who
needs our help, and Vernonia
is known for its compassionate
and giving heart.
A fine group of your neigh-
bors have started a campaign
to raise funds so that Ryan can
have his surgeries.
Chef Mario will be doing the
cooking. There will be “to-go”
meals available and also a
silent auction will be presented
for bids.
The price per meal is $7.00
and all proceeds will benefit
Ryan due to donations already
made.
So, please, mark your calen-
dars for March 24th to turn off
your kitchen stove and plan on
an evening of good food, good
company and good deeds.
Thank you,
Sally Harrison,
Shirlee Daughtry
Vernonia
Policy on Letters
The INDEPENDENT will
not publish letters with per-
sonal attacks on private citi-
zens. Preference will be giv-
en to brief letters, 300 words
or less.
All letters must be signed
and include a verifiable ad-
dress or phone number.
Salem Scene
By Representative Brad Witt
Oregon District 31
Last Thursday, the Co-chairs of the
Ways and Means Committee announced
a budget agreement that will prioritize
services, and hold the line on any further
cuts to the most important programs that
Oregonians rely upon. I expect the House
and Senate to approve the final budget
next week. Here are some highlights:
• K-12 and early childhood education
are protected from cuts, keeping intact a
crucial program that helps Oregon pros-
per in the long term.
• College students will have access to $10 million more in state
financial aid, helping middle class Oregonians attain the educa-
tion and training that helps them prepare for the 21st century
economy.
• $8.5 million is restored to programs for people with develop-
mental disabilities, further safeguarding our most vulnerable Ore-
gonian.
• We’ve been able to restore funding to Temporary Aid for
Needy Families (TANF), mitigating the worst of the cuts.
• We are pursuing elimination of some middle-management
positions within state agencies to free up resources for the most
critical programs.
• We have been able to maintain dental, prosthetics and other
benefits in the Oregon Health Plan, and to re-open enrollment in
OHP.
• In public safety, we will be able to keep the Santiam facility
open and restore drug and alcohol treatment within the prison
system. Unfortunately, I’m concerned that we will not be able to
preserve 12 State Police positions, which may impact law en-
forcement on a statewide level.
Make no mistake, this budget still includes cuts, and after the
last three years of economic recession, it is impossible to balance
our budget without feeling pain. We could not have cut $3.8 bil-
lion over the biennium without incurring some major wounds. As
an example, our Community Colleges are still woefully underfund-
ed considering the load that they carry in retraining our unem-
ployed workers. K-12 is also still laboring under class sizes that
are some of the highest in the nation. And state subsidies for day
care benefitting low income workers will be capped at 8,500 fam-
ilies, down from 10,000. It it were up to me, I'd encourage a seri-
ous conversation that included alternative methods of funding.
Because of the lean budget proposed by the Co-chairs, we
have made sure that there will still be an ending balance of $117.8
million as a buffer should revenues continue to drop. In addition,
there will be a $46 million rainy day fund that will be held until the
beginning of the next biennium. It was my hope that we could
have accessed some of that rainy day fund to improve education
funding, but it was not to be.
Last week I shared a remonstrance with you addressing our
failure to move ahead on foreclosure legislation. One week later,
we have not been able to reach a compromise. At the heart of this
is a philosophical difference of opinion about whether or not
banks should be required to meet at least once, face-to-face, to
discuss the possibility of a loan modification, and to stop the dual
track practice of pursuing foreclosure at the same time they are
discussing loan modification with the homeowner.
There has been a lot of discussion surrounding who were of-
fered home loans and whether or not they were truly qualified.
First of all, the number one job of lending institutions is to vet both
the buyer and the property. If they failed to do that because they
were pursuing the enormous profits that were being generated at
the time, they must accept part of the responsibility for their lapse
in judgment.
Second, we cannot do anything about the past, but we can do
something about what is happening now, namely shoddy and de-
ceptive practices that continue to displace homeowners and im-
pact the entire real estate market.
Let’s hope we can come together on this issue before we ad-
journ sine die.