|
|
|
April 9, 2009 Opinions |
|
|
—Editorial—
Beer Cheaters Will Be Prosecuted
Having solved all of the state’s other problems, Oregon legislature is
tackling another very important issue. A bill went before a House committee
last week that will issue decals to establishments that meet the “honest
pint” to help beer drinkers know whether they are getting their full 16 oz.
worth.
Apparently some Oregonians feel that they are getting cheated by the use of
12 oz. specialty glasses and 14 oz. cheater glasses with a thick base.
There is also the head (foam on top of a beer when drawn from tap) to
consider in this equation. If a glass of beer contains an inch of head, then
chances are high that you are only getting 15.25 oz. of beer instead of the
standard 16.
And what if the server sloshes out a little beer on the way to your table,
you could end up with .25 oz. less than what you ordered. That server should
be punished with a good old-fashioned stoning.
Or at the very least as Evan Manvel, a conservative lobbyist addressed the
committee, "I would make serving cheater pints a Measure 11 offense." To
heck with Measure 11, let’s take matters into our own hands and string em’
up high.
With a looming economic crisis, high unemployment, statewide housing and
food shortages, a health care crisis, homelessness, school funding problems,
escalating crimes, drug epidemics and violence, getting a full pint of beer
is by far the most important issue our legislature has to deal with now. Our
country, our freedoms, our very existence is dependent on getting a full
serving of alcohol!
And while they are at it, there are some other very important bills that
should be brought up before the House:
• A bill that guarantees a smoker can get that very last puff of a cigarette
before it gets down to the filter.
• A bill that guarantees only two percent of a 12 oz. rib steak is fat.
• A bill that states if you step one foot off of the curb at a crosswalk
that it is illegal to change your mind, you have to go all the way across
the street.
• A bill that prohibits gas stations from raising prices just before summer
vacations.
• A bill that ensures retirement and stockholder investments can’t just
“disappear.”
• A bill that requires every citizen to have a subscription to their
county’s weekly newspaper.
• A bill that would put a freeze on fishing license fees, and that doesn’t
mean each fish can be taxed either.
• A bill that would make eating ice cream slowly illegal and fines imposed
on anyone who complains about the inevitable brain freeze afterward.
One would think all of these bills are too silly to even make it to the
House. But if they spend valuable time trying to pass a bill to ensure a
full 16 oz. beer, then who knows? I’m planning on proposing the sidewalk
crossing bill myself, that really is a little annoying...
Honest Abe is probably rolling over in his grave about Oregon’s honest pint
bill.
Cheers! (DS)
—Letters To The Editor—
Great Job, Public Works!
We are writing this letter to compliment the Baker City Public Works
Department on the excellent customer service we recently received from them.
We had a sewer drainage problem that the plumber couldn’t resolve. We
contacted Baker City and in less than five minutes Bruce Hayes arrived at
our house. Less than five minutes after that, Tom Fisk was there to help
analyze the problem. The manhole had been accidently covered up in a
pavement patching job so, less than thirty minutes after Tom Fisk arrived,
another public works department worker arrived to take care of that. That
same afternoon Tom Fisk contacted me, explained the problem and gave me his
recommendation on how to fix it. The next morning I had an estimate from
the Public Works Department and the day after that, they fixed it!
The Baker City Public Works Department should be commended for their
outstanding customer service.
For us, it is another reason why Baker City is such a great place to live.
Richard & Kathleen Chaves
Baker City, Ore.
Administration’s Shotgun Approach To Economy:
Part Two
To The Record-Courier:
The Obama Administration is throwing many hundreds of billions of dollars at
a multitude of programs, hoping for economic success. It appears the thrust
of the policies encompass Rahm Emanuel’s philosophy of “not letting a crisis
go to waste.”
Instead of concentrating on creating jobs to spark the economy, President
Obama’s proposed budget is diluting our limited resources. It includes a
prospective national health care system ($634 billion), promoting
alternative energy sources, and making college more available to low income
students. Alternative energy is important and it will create jobs, and
other programs might be worthwhile over the long term in a burgeoning
economy, but they pose a drain on us in the current recession. The $3.6
trillion budget will provide a deficit of $1.75 trillion in FY 2010 and
annual deficits of $1 trillion for many years to come, and our national debt
will go from $11 trillion to $23 trillion by 2019.
There are somewhere around 8,000 pork barrel earmarks in the proposed budget
worth an estimated $8 billion. They include $2.1 million for the Center for
Grape Genetics in New York, $1.7 million for a honey bee factory in Texas,
$1.7 million for Mormon cricket control in Utah, $819,000 for catfish
genetics research in Alabama, $650,000 for beaver management in North
Carolina and Mississippi, $2 million for astronomy studies in Hawaii,
$167,000 for the Autry National Center in California, $238,000 for the
Polynesian Voyager Society in Hawaii, $200,000 for tattoo removal to help
gang members forget their past, and $209,000 to improve blueberry production
in Georgia. These earmarks should be axed. It looks like and smells like
the same pork barrel politics of prior administrations, except the weight of
the thundering elephants has been replaced with the misguided socialistic
wanderings of the donkeys.
President Obama plans on paying for half the health care costs from
increased taxes on families earning more than $250,000 per year, and these
families will see a significant decrease in allowable itemized tax
deductions for charitable contributions and mortgage interest. These
actions will depress charitable contributions during a time of great need
and will hurt the housing market. The programs are a means of
redistributing money from more successful families to the less successful,
which runs counter to our free enterprise system. They should not be
implemented.
The Administration has to cease exploiting our economic fears, including the
media campaign to the American people, which is designed to enable it to
implement very expensive domestic social programs. Long term social programs
should be debated after the turnaround of our economy.
Donald A. Moskowitz
Londonderry, NH
What Goes Around, Comes Around
Well in my last letter I made mention about the Dow Jones being down and up
and up down—seems like it is so with the weather lately. Down and up and up
down. We all know that our weather can be unpredictable no matter when.
Now remember the old saying, that is a Biblical saying, whatever is
measured out shall be measured back to you, of course depending on what the
subject is at that...well bite my tongue...while out digging the dirt and
getting it ready for potatoes that are sprouting like crazy, here I dug up a
marble....and thinking, well what goes around comes around in my subjects
lately. Can’t seem to stay up with them.
You can well imagine the shock treatment that gave me. Almost thought I had
lost my marbles in the midst of my garden don’t think so, though. I am sure
some of you have experienced this in your life time given the age of the
human mind so to speak—awk!
And yes I have had some ask of my many letters being printed. It seems like
almost every week, but I know the editor has just as much fun with them too,
but with all the gardening etc. it might not be as often, just whenever I
have a spur working on me, then I commence to writing. So finding one’s
marble like I did brought this one about, who knows what else I might find
digging in the dirt, kinda of like politics. Now I am not into horses etc.
with their hooves and all and how they like to kick up now and then when
their stubbornness sets in, kinda of hard on the old body at that. Need to
keep our dukes up to be prepared for whatever.
Made mention of potatoes sprouting etc. well I do know alfalfa sprouts are
good for a lot of things. I take alfalfa powdered pills, that help with a
lot of issues in our system that help eliminate things that can be
undesirable and all one would need to read up on what the alfalfa pills can
do. Walmart is the place to get them for a better buy and of course to make
sure one needs to check in with their doctor to see if it will do the same
for them. Everyone’s system is different. My system can’t seem to take all
the vitamins etc. it is pretty balanced to some degree and I do take a few
things, but like a once a week thing so not everyone can take all that there
is recommended to take. I found that out during the blood draw and cut back
and since then the results have been normal. Be sure once again to check
with your doctor.
Another one, good for a lot of issues is cayenne pepper. Go on-line to check
for information regarding some of these remedies or check with the library.
It seems like one can override the other...now lets see what can come of
that one issue.
Anyway, my morning coffee seems to be better suited for me...it would be a
heartbreaker if I had to give up that for any one reason to speak of. Wonder
if that will be a prescribed issue down the road?
Coffee Anyone?
Brenda Dickison
Baker City
April Is Child Abuse
Awareness Month
April is National Child Abuse awareness month. Child abuse is everywhere,
yet we do not often enough think about the impacts it has on not just the
child and their family, but also on the community as a whole. The impacts of
child abuse and neglect are profound, and it is happening in Baker City
every day.
Child abuse happens in all families, no matter what their race, ethnicity,
socio-economic status or religion is. Child maltreatment found that in 2006,
there were 905,000 children who were found to be victims of child abuse.
That is 12.1 children for every 1,000. According to Oregon DHS, for the
fiscal year of 2007, there were a total of 13,306 children who were found to
be victims of child abuse. Baker County has one of the highest rates of
child abuse cases in the state of Oregon.
It is not just children and their families who are affected by abuse, the
entire community is. Every year, taxpayers pay for law enforcement, judicial
and public service systems, and non profit agencies that respond to child
abuse. According to the child welfare information gateway, child abuse and
neglect costs the nation as much as $253 million every day. That is $94
billion every year.
The best way to stop child abuse is by preventing it from ever happening in
the first place, and the best method of prevention is through education.
Through parent education classes, parents can learn how to mange the stress
of caring or a baby and how to build a healthy relationship with them.
Parent education classes also focus on how to be a good parent. They teach
about child development, age-appropriate expectations and the roles and
responsibilities of parenting.
If you suspect any form of child abuse or neglect, or if you are an abuser
yourself and what to get help, call the child help national abuse hotline at
1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453). They have 55,000 emergency social service
and support services ready to help, and all calls are anonymous.
Annika Yates
Baker City
|
|
|
