Letters to the Editor 02/10/2010

To the Editor:

The letter to the editor from Ed Beacham in the February 3, issue of The Nugget was logically and factually incorrect.

Mr. Beacham stated that "... we have just authorized the State of Oregon to collect a 1.5 percent sales tax." While he referred to both Proposition 66 and 67 in his opening statement, I believe he was alluding to the change in corporate tax rates which are only in Proposition 67. So the tax rate that I think he is referring to is actually an additional tax bracket added in Proposition 67 which is actually 1.3 percent and not 1.5 percent. Being an additional bracket on net profits, it is certainly not a sales tax by any stretch of the imagination.

For the corporations that are affected they will pay the old tax rate of 6.6 percent on the first $250,000 of net profit and then pay the new tax rate of 7.9 percent on any amount of net profit over $250,000.

It is clear that this is not a sales tax, it is a progressive income tax, just the same as we have on individuals in the state.

In fact, since the Supreme Court now believes that corporations must be treated as people, granting them all of the constitutional protections of a citizen, especially those protections in the first and 14th amendments, I think that corporations should be taxed as citizens, in which case their tax rate would be 9 percent on the first $250,000 of net profit (adjusted gross income), 10.8 percent on the next $250,000 and 11 percent on any amount over $500,000.

As it is now corporations get special treatment. Which also makes the statement "... there is no guarantee they won't amend this to S Corps, LLC and sole proprietors" truly ludicrous because all of those entities are treated as individuals under the state tax code, which means they are paying a higher tax rate than corporations. The individuals operating under these business structures should be so lucky.

Dean Billing

•••

To the Editor,

For the past 12 years, the Sisters Schools Foundation has made significant contributions to the excellence of the Sisters schools. These contributions have included new technology (both hardware and software) and various resources for a wide range of programs.

With the recent news of the Starry Nights hiatus until 2011, we of the Sisters High School English Department would like to express our gratitude for the foundation's most recent grant.

The continued support of the foundation has enabled our department to continue to promote high standards as well as increase student accountability for success in writing. It is an honor to be part of a community that not only asks for these high standards, but strives to raise the support necessary to achieve those standards.

We hope that the members of the foundation and the many volunteers who make Starry Nights a success enjoy a well-deserved break.

Thank you for the twelve years of hard work and the ongoing dedication to the youth of this community.

Sisters High School English Department

Samra Spear, Colin Price, Gail Greaney, Mary Thomas

•••

To the Editor:

Sisters is a beautiful town in a gorgeous setting. It has a good reputation for its public schools in Central Oregon.

Sadly however, Oregon ranks near the top in per-student spending, at $9,000 per student, yet performs poorly at - No. 38 out of 50 states - in academic achievement. Neither Sisters nor Bend or Redmond are known as a pocket of academic excellence. In fact, none of Oregon's schools are mentioned as one of the 100 best high schools in the nation in a recent U.S. News & World Report.

In essence, Oregon's public schools rank poorly in what has become known as the broken public school system of the nation. That can and must be changed.

This citizen is attending school board meetings in Central Oregon. After a career in the military and after having taught high school in public schools for five years, he knows that there are many facets of junior high school and senior high school efforts that can be vastly improved. Such as: 1. Mastery of course materials before a student passes a class, 2. Far better oversight of classes, class progress, adequacy of teachers, and class discipline, 3. The need to terminate the endless appeasement of self-serving teachers' unions, 4. The need to promote quality academics versus the present overdone focus on sport.

I attended a Sisters school board meeting on February 4. The meeting was to define requirements for a new superintendent. What better time to discuss expectations and improvements? I promoted the four concepts above. I was met with closed minds and hostility by most school members and special-interest teacher representatives. It was no surprise, however, when fellow citizens were quite receptive to these new initiatives and ideas.

Desperately needed improvements are unlikely without hiring and voting-in those with leadership, courage and vision. Great schools are created by local school boards, not by Washington or Salem. Please get involved with the selection of your new Sisters superintendent.

Ronald Deady

•••

To the Editor:

A recent Outlaw flyer, advertising the golf fundraiser, listed about 11 activities that would benefit financially from the tournament. About three of these MIGHT result in gainful employment in the future; the rest were sports.

A knowledgeable party pointed out to me that 20 percent or so of students who excel in these sports are the same percent who usually excel in studies and in community life in the future. Great! They are probably the same percent whose parents do not have to hold two or three of America's part-time (that means without benefits or health care) jobs in order to put food on the table, pay a mortgage, food and clothing.

Now we are facing what I term "part-time" education - about 80 percent of full-time. Will that result in the same 80 percent winding up in the same two-or-three-part-time-job rut? In my work years, a work week was 40, 50, 60 hours a week but it enabled us to pay our mortgages, feed, clothe and educate our children as well as pay our medical bills.

I wonder if there is a connection between our current medical funding crisis, part-time work without benefits and part-time education. Is America destined to be a nation just 80 percent of what it once was, and how much of it will be determined by our education?

Russell B. Williams