Monthly News Roundup: March 2022
By The Sunset Scroll Staff
Proposed Constitutional Amendment That Would Limit The Governor’s Emergency Powers Is Not Acted On By Legislative Assembly
By Dillon Bergmann
SALEM, Ore., March 3 — The 2022 meeting of the 81st Oregon Legislative Assembly adjourned for the final time, causing the effective rejection of a proposed constitutional amendment to the Oregon State Constitution as it was not acted on. The amendment proposed by Republicans, would make it so that the Governor can only declare emergencies when state law allows for it, the counties where the emergency exists would also have to be specified by the Governor’s emergency declaration, and would only last for 30 days. The emergency could only be extended by each county’s governing body (e.g., the county commissioners) to extend the emergency only by 30 day increments.
Proponents argue that it would be vital to preserve the balance of power, and would prevent the governor from growing too powerful, citing the near unilateral authority of the Governor in the COVID-19 pandemic. Opponents however, feel that this would cause only more division and lack of consistency in times of crisis. This would result in ineffective responses to key crises such as COVID-19, which would harm the state.
If the amendment was approved by the Legislative Assembly it would have been voted on by the people of Oregon in a referendum at the November election.
Letter to the Editor: Women’s Bathroom Vandalism
Letters to the Editor do not necessarily reflect the views of the Scroll. They are written by students and are published anonymously.
If you use the women’s restrooms at sunset you’ve probably noticed that a lot of them are closed. Have you ever wondered why? It cracks down to one major problem: vandalism.
Although many students respect the bathrooms and take care of them, some students find it funny to vandalize bathrooms or make them unusable. Many vandalisms have been harmless; shout out to the shrine to “The Rock” for being funny and harmless. Another nice addition to the bathrooms was the encouraging sticky notes left in many of the women’s restrooms. Many of them held positive vibes and were kind-hearted.
Now to get to the more harmful vandalisms. Near the beginning of the year, a few students took it upon themselves to clog a few of the toilets in the bathroom near the gym. Not cool guys. Also, many students use smaller bathrooms or bathrooms that are empty to vape or smoke weed. That is one of the main reasons multiple restrooms have been closed. Many teachers have also become more strict about going to the bathroom and having multiple bathrooms be closed simply isn’t helping.
Lastly, there is the issue with the women’s locker rooms. A few weeks ago the ventilation stopped working and during this time a few students took it upon themselves to smoke in the locker rooms. This resulted in them being very stuffy and not smelling good for a few days.
Please do your best to respect the spaces that we all have to share. Is it really worth it for a few minutes of fun?
Cow-Tastrophe On I-5
By Dillon Bergmann
WILSONVILLE, Ore., March 13 — The portion of Interstate 5 near the Wilsonville Road exit was shut down due to a large truck carrying 31 cows tipping over and causing its cargo to roam free on the freeway. The incident occurred around 2 p.m., with rescue workers from Tualatin Fire and Rescue along with Washington County Police being on the scene. According to officials tip over was caused by the trailer on an overpass bridge causing the top half of the trailer to be removed on impact. There has been no confirmed official cause at this time. There has been no official death count at this time. Officials did say that some of the cows died on impact or had as police said “be put out of their misery.”
An offramp, which is usually used to herd cars off the freeway, was used to herd the cows off, and into a trailer for transport. The final cow (who was difficult to control) was removed at 5 p.m. allowing traffic to resume. Sources say that the cows now have a beef with the Wilsonville overpass.
