This is Floyd Wynne with THE VIEW FROM HERE    3/03/05

            A couple of items from upstate that caught my eye.

            First:  A case of overkill.

            It seems that the Chemawa Indian School was the subject of an investigation recently involving the death of a sixteen year old student in a holding cell last December.  Police determined that she had been drinking.

            So….this past week construction crews began erecting an 8 foot high barbed wire fence around the school.

            The federal government had ordered the fence in an effort to improve campus safety and more clearly define the grounds of the school.   Larry Byers, the school supervisor said he was not told about the barbed wire atop the 8 foot fence before the crew\s arrived.

            Nedra Darling a Bureau of Indian Affairs spokeswoman in Washington, D.C. said the barbed wire was originally meant to be temporary.  It will be taken off, she said, “We certainly understand the sensitivity of this.

            The school was celebrating its’ 125^th Anniversary this weekend, and the actions brought on a protest by the students as well as some tribal members who said it felt like an attempt to “keep the animals” from escaping.

            The students hastily gathered more than 250 signatures , presented them to the schools advisory board.  Board member David Harding, a tribal judge on the Coer D’alene reservation said “They’re not fencing problems out.  They’re destroying the morale of the students by fencing them in.

            No word yet on whether the fence will come down, but obviously the barbed wire is definitely out.

            Another story was headlined “Oregon budget just got richer.”

            A new revenue estimate raised the expected state revenues some $202 million. The state also dodged a bullet when the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that the Legislature’s decision four years ago to keep what they call the tax kicker rebate was a legal action.

            So….does it mean the budget problem becomes easier.   Not necessarily. 

It may ease things a bit, but the fact is that even with revenue around 12.3 billion, that is still some 800 million short of meeting the cost of state government at the current level.

            One of the lobbyists for the Oregon School boards said “Obviously the 300-pound gorilla in the room are education, public safety and human services, and all of them could make a case for these additional revenues.”

            Earlier some Legislators returned some of their expense moneys, adding about another 200,000 or so to the state coffers.

            All of which takes me back to my often stated position:  Government at all levels never has enough money….period.

            This is Floyd Wynne and that’s THE VIEW FROM HERE.