Editorial

Fund schools, not state cops

During a previous budget crunch for schools some years back, a teacher (now a principal) told the school board they would "rather do a few things well than many things poorly."

It is time to look at the current state budget crunch in the same way. It might be time to cut entire agencies, so that the ones that remain will be able to do an adequate job.

Our vote for the first to go is the Oregon State Police. The OSP budget is close to $321 million. Of that, $71 million comes from federal support. The remaining $250 million comes from the State of Oregon, with $147 million from the general fund and $102 million from "other funds."

There is no correlation between OSP patrols and highway safety.

Most of this anachronistic agency has ceased to have significant function since cell phones connect nearly everyone on the highways. Their job could be better done at less cost by county deputies.

A recent mission by top officers in the OSP was to fly one of the agency's two multi-million dollar King Air planes to Eastern Oregon and Idaho for a fishing trip.

The agency knowingly distorts highway statistics to justify its existence. Troopers have adopted an "us versus the public" attitude.

It's time for them to go. Some functions of OSP, such as protection of the governor, the state fire marshal's office and operation of crime labs, should continue, albeit under a different organization. Oregon also needs an agency that can investigate corrupt cops and departments.

But Oregon has no need any longer of blue troopers on highway patrol. Let's take two-thirds of the OSP general fund budget, $100 million, and spend it on schools. It would improve the livability of Oregon.

E.D.

A royal pain

Hey, we declared independence 225 years ago. Do we really care that a woman was given a crown in 1952? Why all this news coverage given to Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee?

I am sure the Windsors are a nice enough family, but I really don't understand the interest in their marriages, infidelities, parties or missteps. People right here in Sisters are going through the same kinds of upheaval and are much more interesting.

Was Diana's death any more tragic for happening to a princess than a death on the highway outside of our town? No. Was she worth more as an individual? No. A woman died in a car wreck. Happens every day.

Her family, such as it was, was well cared for ... her death mattered less to those around her than those without institutionalized "support systems." Greater tragedies befall thousands of people every day of every week. Yet, we obsessed about this death of a pretty girl on a fling in Paris with the son of a hotel magnate.

Was that the attraction? That life is so insecure that even the rich and famous can suffer?

Frankly, I would rather read about a family in Afghanistan struggling to find another kernel of wheat to split for breakfast than a bunch of pampered, spoilt and purposeless Brits.

Look at the jubilee schedule; "Queen will attend..." "Queen will host... " and get this, hold on to your hats... "The Queen will make a Balcony Appearance at Buckingham Palace and watch a Royal Air Force Fly Past..." The queen will watch an airplane! Watch an airplane! The queen will do that!

That is probably what stirs a republican soul more than anything else. Why does anyone care about a family whose primary role in life is to not DO anything?

There are problems in England that the monthly stipend given to the "Royals" would probably solve. The royals live "on the dole" just as much as an unemployed coal miner in Newcastle.

But the Royals get to watch, they attend, they host, they eat and we are fascinated because they breathe air that might be put to better use by the cabby taking tourists by the front gate.

OH! That's it! They are an attraction! Without the royals, there would be no guards at Buckingham Palace. There would be no reason to collect the millions of pounds of British Sterling from royalty-infatuated Americans who think that a few strands of DNA cloistered behind thick walls are somehow worth more than those littering the streets of London.

Perhaps Queen Elizabeth makes Buckingham Palace a little more real than Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland. But not much.

E.D.