INBOX ABYSMAL GRADUATION RATES
Thank you for this article [“Flunk Factories,” WW, Nov. 13, 2013]. I agree with School Board member Tom Koehler that Portland Public Schools’ evaluation of management is slack. If you are breathing and know how to hide problems, you’ll continue to collect a paycheck at [district headquarters]. Poor administration and no oversight are ruining our schools. The School Board is breaching its duty of care to PPS by failing to supervise and manage Superintendent Carole Smith. For her part, Smith has failed to manage her staff. Incompetence is glaring at her, and she looks the other way and asks her political consultant to deal with it for her: “Please return with candy for me and the board to happily suck on.” Like a good boy, he does. —“KimS” I have spent time at several of the communitybased alternative high schools mentioned in the article, and I advocate for kids who end up there. These kids get a sense of belonging and understanding they are not able to get in our standard high schools. And they often get more creative ways of learning. Simply throwing them back into environments run by the district that further marginalize them would be irresponsible and retraumatizing. —“Dana Brenner-Kelley”
HALES’ SPECIAL INTERSECTION
If Charlie Hales were smart, he would pick up the phone and get the paving and sidewalk crews out there today [“127th and Hales,” WW, Nov. 13, 2013]. Then he would go out and check the progress and make sure it gets done. It’s small stuff that counts. Come on, Charlie, for once be smart. Just do it. —“Irving Berliner” LETTERS TO THE EDITOR must include the author’s street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words. Submit to: 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Fax: (503) 243-1115, Email: mzusman@wweek.com
The most inventive Oregonian? Probably Douglas Engelbart, who invented the computer mouse. Frances Gabe patented the self-cleaning house in 1984. And Henry Phillips invented—wait for it—the Phillips screw in the 1930s. —Brett Stern, author of Inventors at Work
to journalism: When you have to eat shit, don’t nibble. I could nickel-and-dime you about how, technically, Henry Phillips bought the patent for his self-centering screw from the forgotten real inventor, John P. Thompson. But then, Thompson was a Portlander, too. The truth is, I forgot about the Phillips screw. Yum, delicious poo. Engelbart’s contributions to computing history are legion; however, I elected to skip them because they’re too complex for a 300-word column. I also omitted Frances Gabe’s remarkable invention—it never caught on, and in any case, if you look at the videos available online you’ll see there’s a very, very fine line between “selfcleaning house” and “live-in dishwasher.” However, I certainly should have included Tim Leatherman’s eponymous multitool. Most glaringly, it was inexcusable not to mention the locally invented View-Master stereoscopic viewer, which for decades offered Portlanders their only opportunity to see a 3-D representation of what direct sunlight might look like.
Sadly, the Phillips screwdriver wasn’t invented until 1967, forcing a generation of tinkerers to tighten the new screws with butter knives or an especially pointy key. But seriously, folks: In last week’s column, I said famous inventions from Oregon were a bit thin on the ground. Mistake! Within minutes, the readers were revolting (a lot of ’em were ugly, too), massing with pitchforks and torches to tell me just how wrong I was. I haven’t been called out this hard since an unfortunate rounding error led me to assert that Abraham Lincoln was a member of New Kids on the Block. There’s a saying in politics that also applies Willamette Week NOVEMBER 20, 2013 wweek.com
Three guys were squatting in an abandoned house. Cops rousted them out. And other than the house remaining vacant, that was pretty much the end of that. Yet WW sees fit to go the busted route, and all the mindless lemmings predictably pile right on, as if there were something they actually needed to be worried about. —“Damos Abadon”
FELONS INHABIT VACANT HOUSE
Leaving a house unsecured for squatters to flop in is irresponsible of the banksters [“Haunted House,” WW, Nov. 13, 2013]. The bank that
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foreclosed should be routinely billed by the city for security issues for criminal activity being conducted on the property. It should be part of crime-enforcement legislation. Justin Dollard might have to take things into his own hands by boarding up the house and locking all the doors to deter squatters. Barring that, he should just keep calling the police. The criminals who flopped there (including one sex offender) are a danger to the community. —“catd1”
QUESTIONS? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com