TOWNSHIP - Community information with local interest
IN THE KITCHEN - News about local Restaurants, Home Cooking and more
HUMOR ME - A lighter side of life perspective
ON THE GREENS - McNary Golf Club is the central hub of activities on the course and beyond
NEIGHBORS - The stories and goings on in McNary Estates neighborhood
MCNARY HOA NEWS - McNary Home Owners Association news
The McNary Newsletter is paid for and distributed by Tom's Professional Services within the community, however McNary Estates HOA does not contribute financially to the newsletter. Contributing writers: Mark Percy, Christine Dieker, and Bob Balmer. Contributing Photographers: Susan May
PUBLICATION INFORMATION
TOM DIEKER - ADVERTISING 503-949-O891 / tomdieker@comcast.net
CHRISTINE DIEKER - EDITORIAL 503-949-6099 / diekerchristine@gmail.com
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TOWNSHIP
Who Can’t Work From Home During a Global Pandemic?
Excerpts from article by Brandon Schrader with the State of Oregon Employment Department
COVID-19 rapidly spread across the United States and forced a patchwork of shutdowns that reduced business activity in order to save lives. Oregon is no exception as the “Stay Home, Save Lives” executive order was put into effect on March 23rd which enforced social distancing rules. While essential workers continued to brave the frontlines and millions of Americans were newly unemployed, a large portion of Oregon’s labor force has been working from home. The flexibility to work from home transformed from a highly sought-after benefit for employees to a coping mechanism for businesses to weather COVID-19.
While factors like government action and suppressed consumer spending habits also impact employment, telework has helped insulate a few industries from the effects of COVID-19. Sectors like information or finance don’t require much specialized equipment, industrial capital, or in-person experiences. As such, employees are able to continue helping customers. On the other hand, an industry like automotive manufacturing requires special equipment to build a car that can’t be taken home.
Access to telework and its benefits are far from equally distributed. Remote work is heavily stratified by industry and geographic area. To a degree, the root of access discrepancies are occupational type and educational attainment. However, much like the health effects of COVID-19, data suggests that marginalized groups like low-wage earners, individuals with less education, and Black communities have the least opportunity to telecommute. Understanding what demographics couldn’t work from home may offer some insight into who COVID-19 has disproportionality impacted and what sectors should be bracing for a possible second wave.
Adapting to COVID-19: What Tasks Can Be Done From Home?
Faced with few options, organizations who could shift to remote work did as a means to survive COVID-19. While only 8 percent of the American workforce telecommuted prior to the outbreak, more than half of workers were working from home in mid-May. Businesses that offered remote work may have been better positioned to adapt with social distancing policy. The ability to work from home stems from company culture, a job’s primary functions, and how customers receive goods or services. While workplace culture is malleable, especially under extenuating circumstances like a global pandemic, shifting the primary function of a job and service delivery is challenging.
To get a sense of whether or not a job could feasibly be done at home, a study from the University of Chicago examined “work context and generalized work activities” from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET). The surveys asked if there was frequent contact with customers, in-person experiences, or specialized equipment. Each of these factors limit an employee’s ability to work remotely. Jobs were given a ranking based on responses which helped determine if none, part, or all of a position could be done at home. According to the study, 37 percent of occupations in the United States could realistically be done from home.
Vast Gaps in Remote Work Between Occupations
Cities are sometimes defined by their business community: San Francisco and Silicon Valley or New York and Wall Street are great examples. A little closer to home and you have “Silicon Forest” in the Beaverton-Hillsboro area. Breaking this down further, businesses are made up of different shares of occupations. Someone would expect a high number of computer-related jobs in an information-focused business like Apple or Google. If we assume the national estimates on the share of workers who can telecommute roughly approximate Oregon, we can learn about our workforce and who can (and can’t) telecommute.
CREATIVE NOTIONS
Stories, poems, and posts focused on a lighter side of living.
APART FROM THE FINISH The feeling of loneliness encircled my thoughts.
I drove it away.
The need for communication appeared.
I drove it away.
My emotions are
hiding somewhere,
going somewhere,
escaping without me.
Working through the pain will justify the end.
I'll not focus on the what if or how come.
I'll keep going forward
step by step,
mile by mile.
The finish line cannot be seen.
Angry and hurt I chance a moment to care,
I drove it away.
Developed frustration shown on my face.
I drove it away.
My emotions are
hiding somewhere,
going somewhere,
escaping without me.
Every second, every minute is not remembered.
Time only happens when the effort is made.
I'll disassociate the now,
concentrate on the end.
The finish line cannot be seen.
Submitted by Christine Dieker
A Zen master goes to a hot dog vendor and says, "Make me one with everything." The hot dog vendor fixes a hot dog with everything and hands it to the Zen master, who pays with a $20 bill. The vendor puts the bill in the cash box and closes it. "Excuse me, but where’s my change?" asks the Zen master. The vendor responds, "Change must come from within."
Nextdoor Neighbor Post from Michele Dunkin
“When you graduate from ‘Being In Love’ to ‘Loving Someone’ you understand – Love is not about owning, Love is about wanting the best for them, It’s about seeing or Helping them achieve great heights, with or without you. Love is not what you say, it’s what you do.”
Wordions
Do you have a creative side or a family member who inspires you with stories, poems, or fun posts on social media? We are looking to fill this column of The McNary Newsletter with some happy and lighter side of life content.
Please submit to:
diekerchristine@gmail.com
IN THE KITCHEN Local Chambers of Commerce start new Facebook Groups to assist restaurants/public with new promotions and information during pandemic
During the pandemic options for dining at local area restaurants have changed. Keizer Chamber is doing their best to get you all the details you want in one place! Created in March, this Facebook "open to the public" group is active for Keizer area eateries, etc to share what they are serving, when and how! Facebook users are able to find posts about delivery options, menu choices, daily operations, and more. The Keizer Chamber encourages seeking more information on the main business page of these restaurants and eateries who post in this group.
Salem Eats (23.1K Members)
Also created in March, Salem Eats is a group where local restaurants can post their menus, specials, and takeout information for future customers to see! Salem Chamber hopes this brings value to both customers and businesses alike! Their social media interaction count is more than impressive:
Posts: 22,000
Engagements: 251,000
Interactions: 823,500
Total: 1,21,6000
Success story:
Dough Hook Bakery, at the time was only 9 months in business and within the first week restaurants being forced to close dine-in service, Dough Hook lost 12 commercial contracts with other restaurants. The first few weeks of the regulations affected their business strongly. They went from making 500 doughnuts a day to 150. After being featured on Salem Eats business shot up, they had to hire 4 new employees and were making over 800 doughnuts a day.
Impact:
The impact that Salem Eats has had on our restaurant industry has been incredibly positive. Many restaurants initially had to lay workers off and greatly reduce their purchase order size to adjust to decreased commerce. After Salem Eats took off, restaurant owners quickly brought workers back, sought out new employees and ramped up their food orders in order to accommodate increased traffic.
Story:
As much as this could be a story on the Chamber as an organization, this is TRULY a story on how amazing our community is in times of crisis. We have an incredible small business population and citizens who both value the work of small businesses and love to see them succeed. Salem Eats success is simply a byproduct and example of the remarkable individuals that make up this special place we call home.
Both groups frown on comments to the sites that are reviews of the restaurant's service or quality of food. They do encourage recommendations or questions like the post shown below that was submitted by group member Nick Williams, with Salem Eats. He was able to get feedback on his question about favorite places to take visiting family or friends from 53 group members commenting on his post.
HUMOR ME
By Bob Balmer
"They're Back" I’ve got my rake out! Brandishing it as if preparing to defend the Maginot Line. It’s time!! I won’t allow my leaves to escape into my neighbors’ yards, cover their sidewalks so the last fifty steps to their house they silently say this prayer: Oh Lord, the leaves are wet and slippery, please get me to my house without spilling my coffee.
Spilled coffee: a secular sin!
A towering maple once graced my property. In the fall, as its leaves dropped, it seemingly grew replacement leaves, like a shark that immediately replaces a tooth when it loses one. I’d rake the leaves on Sunday, and on Monday the lawn was covered with: More leaves! I’d rake the new leaves, thinking: “Why are there as many leaves in the tree today?” I’d look for Bill Murray and the rest of the cast from Groundhog’s Day, positive that my maple had been an extra in that movie. A gust of wind, more leaves would fall, and I swear leaves had replaced the leaves that had fallen. I’d stare at the tree, daring it, as if it were a playground bully, to grow a leaf while I watched.
I do not doubt the wisdom and the miracle of nature-- (Who can doubt a system in which sentient beings and foliage exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide?), but I do wonder about nature’s thought processes. Why do tree’s leaves fall? Rhododendrons don’t. Do Rhoddies have a better union? In lieu of falling, why don’t leaves change colors every six months, make Nature a variety show. Vibrant greens and reds in spring and summer. Fall and winter red leaves turn orange; green leaves turn blue. I imagine my neighbor saying: I love it when the leaves turn orange and blue. Don’t you love how they contrast with the evergreen wreaths and their red ribbons? I’d festoon my orange trees with black Christmas lights. I’m an Oregon State fan. For my holiday soundtrack, I’d alternate Silent Night with the Beaver fight song. It might confuse Santa, but it will provide excellent music for my neighbor, coffee in hand, as she marches to her house without worrying about slipping on leaves.
ON THE GREENS
McNary Golf Course…By the Numbers
By Mark Piercy, Golf Club Member
Not like baseball. Not basketball. Certainly not football. Not even soccer. About the only thing these sports have in common with golf is a ball, albeit golf’s is an exceedingly small one, produced in an abundance of dimple sizes, shapes, and patterns. And every golfer gets to use his favorite brand. Not like the MLB where it must be a Rawlings or the NFL where it must be a Wilson. By the way who ever decided the shape of the football. That must have happened by mistake. Maybe the football making machine went bananas on start-up day…”hey this one looks pretty cool.” Golfers do not need to be large or fast, just skillful with the ball and club. Another commonality is numbers…or statistics to be precise, the bane of all professional sports. Golf has fallen into its own crevasse of numbers and statistics and evolved with its very own vernacular. It seems who finished first comes in second to all those numbers and acronyms…like scoring average and driving accuracy, and GIR’s and SGA’s. But golf differs in another important aspect…the playing field. Every NFL field has the same dimensions. Every NBA court has the same dimensions. Granted the outfield fences may vary but the measurements of every MLB baseball diamond are identical. Does not matter what city you travel to…they are always the same. Not so with golf. This is where golf separates itself from the others. Every playing field on each tour stop differs greatly. In fact, even though the same course is played for four consecutive days, the holes and tees are moved around each day! Every venue presents its own visual treat, flowers, shrubs, and trees in a meticulously planned landscape, finely manicured greens, fairways precisely mown in varying patterns, always in the most beautiful shade of green. Adding to their visual appeal, many are purposely poised near the ocean, along meandering streams and creeks, or on the edge of cliffs, each eagerly awaiting to engulf your hapless and wayward ball. This one is 7,200 yards, that one 7,300 yards. Par 3’s, par 4’s, and par 5’s randomly tossed together in no particular order. This course is a par 70, that one a par 71. It varies. Then there is Course Rating and Slope…more numbers! For the uninitiated, McNary possesses its very own set of numbers. For starters it is the standard 18 holes, at 5960 yards, or 3.4 miles...if you hit it straight. It opened in 1962. So how does McNary compare? Let’s use arguably the most well-known golf course on the planet for comparison. Even hockey fans might recognize Augusta National, opened in 1932, as the course where golf’s greatest drama, The Masters, plays out. Both may be par 72’s, but from the “tips,” which means the farthest tees for those who don’t speak golf, Augusta measures 7,485 yards to McNary’s 6,239. That means Augusta’s holes average about 69 yards longer each! Then throw in Augusta’s 44 bunkers vs McNary’s 27. This may have a little to do with Augusta’s Course Rating and Slope of 76.2 and 148 respectively compared to McNary’s 70 and 133. Both numbers are a measure of difficulty and figure into a golfer’s course handicap. Course Rating represents difficulty for the scratch or expert golfer or the score the scratch golfers are likely to average, a number around par, broken down to a single decimal digit. Course Slope on the other hand represents the difficulty of the course for a bogey golfer, or more precisely the difference between the difficulty for a bogey golfer and the difficulty for a scratch golfer. Slope has a range of 55-155, the higher the number the more difficult the course. The standard or average is 113. The term slope derives from the slant of a line drawn on a graph between average scores shot by the scratch golfer and average scores shot by the bogey golfer. A scratch golfer averages around 76.2 on the par 72 Augusta and 70.0 on the par 71 McNary. Augusta’s Slope of 148 vs McNary’s 133 means that the difficulty spread between scratch and bogey golfers is much greater at Augusta than at McNary. Thus McNary plays much easier. That is if you go…by the numbers!
Men’s Club Completes Tournament Season By Mark Piercy, Men’s Club Secretary The McNary Men’s Golf Club completed their 2020 tournament season Saturday, October 17, with their final official event, the Fall Classic. Forty-eight competitors, 24 2-Man teams, competed in 9 holes of Best Ball followed by 9 holes of Chapman. Each player plays his own ball in Best Ball with the team score being the best of the two individual scores. In Chapman both players tee off then switch balls and play a second shot. The team then selects the best of the two second shots and alternates shots until the ball is holed. Perry Sinasone and Wayne Neuburger finished atop A Flight Gross with an even par 71, good for $120. Two teams, Brad Wirt and Danny Lewitzke, and Robbie Wood and Terry Jacques, tied for 2nd at 75 earning $75 each. Net A Flight ended in a tie with 67’s. That was Jeff Jones and Tim Bowman, and Mark Morris and Don Baer. Both teams won $105 for their efforts. Third and $60 went to Brian Canini and Dan Proulx who shot 69.
In B Flight Gross Jerry Splonski and Willy Goff blistered the field with a 74 (and net 58), pocketing $120. Jeff McDonnell and Jim Marion finished 2nd with an 81, good for $90. John McGregor and Mark Piercy followed closely at 82 to earn $60. B Flight Net team Bob Cyran and Roger Ousey collected $120 for first with a 64. Glen Zielinski and Tom Nicolai, second with a 66, took home $90. $60 went to Don Croy and Dan Hedges, coming 3rd with a 68.
The only competition remaining for the Men’s Club is the unofficial Beavers vs Ducks event scheduled for Sunday, November 8. In this event, paralleling the Beavers and Ducks football game, an equal number of players representing the Beavers will square off against a same number of Ducks in a Match Play format. Glen Zielinski and Jerry Splonski are the team captains and will decide which players will be matched against each other. It will be a 9:00 a.m. shotgun start. There are sign up forms in the pro shop. When signing up be sure to sign up for the correct team. And you will be expected to wear your team’s colors!
Pictured above: Men's Club Member, Wayne Neuburger on 1st hole tee box.
NEIGHBORS
Now You Know .....Cheryl Ousey, Robert (Bob) Glass, and Troy Sanders
Submitted from McNary HOA Annual Meeting Notice
BOARD OF DIRECTORS CANDIDATE BIOGRAPHIES for NOVEMBER 2020 ELECTION OF THE BOARD
Cheryl Ousey
Cheryl is currently serving as the interim position on the McNary Estates Homeowners’ Association Board member. She retired as the Paralegal and Office Manager of her husband’s Law Practice Roger Ousey, P.C. managing a staff of four to six employees. The office specialized in Workers’ Compensation and Social Security Disability law. While Roger handled the legal aspect of the office, Cheryl specialized in Social Security Disability in which she interviewed clients, filed claims, interacted with the Social Security Department staff and read through and briefed files. She was the main contact with clients during the sometimes extremely long process of getting a client’s disability claim granted. She took care of all financial matters including, but not limited to; advertising, purchases, income, expenditures, payroll, Workers’ Compensation insurance, 401Ks and the monthly and yearly taxes.
She graduated from Southern Oregon University with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a minor in Criminology. She worked for four years at the White City Veterans Rehabilitation Center in the Psychology department serving the Veterans who have served our country.
In 1976 she joined Lockheed Ocean Systems as a Temp Girl aboard the Hughes Glomar Explorer. After 4 months she was offered a full-time position. A year later she was granted a Top-Secret Clearance and was placed in charge of the Document Control Center for the next 10 years. She was then given a second Top Secret Clearance and began working on other Close Door Programs.
In the 90s, she worked for the City of Central Point as the Administrative Assistant to the City Manager interacting with the Mayor, City Board Members, the public, the Police and Fire Department. She attended all public meetings taking detailed notes, and answered questions to Board Members the general public.
Robert (Bob) Glass
Bob was the Finance Director for Hertz Car Sales in the Pacific Northwest from 1996 – 2014. From 1980 – 1990 he was in the Interior Design Industry as a Manufacturers Representative in the Pacific Northwest. He owned wholesale interior design showrooms in Washington and Oregon. From 1984 – 1990 he worked at DIFFA/ASID, as a Pacific Northwest Board member. Fund raising and public awareness of AIDS in the United States. He also raised funds to open the first home in Seattle for AIDS patients.
Celebration of Hope “Dixie Belcher” Bob helped organize a grass roots (1990) organization in the Middle East in an attempt to connect Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities and their respective countries in the international concert in the Middle
East. His position was to communicate with the countries in the Middle East and (along with the US government) their ruling government to get permission to proceed.
MiraMed Institute; Based in Seattle and Moscow (1991) where their initial mission was to furnish a Hospital in Russia that focused on supporting women’s health needs. He was a board member from 1991 – 1995. They then attempted fund raising to ship medical supplies and medicine to clinics in Russia. Their last efforts were to support an orphanage in Russia with their medical needs. Bob’s position was raising awareness and funds in the US, contact politicians for their US support in shipping these products to Russia and act as a go-between with the media on their efforts.
From 1991-1992 Bob served on the Ross Perot Presidential Campaign where he supported Mr. Perot during the early days of his campaign in Washington State. Bob eventually volunteered to help in communicating with the media and was asked to coordinate the Perot campaign in the Pacific NW with all aspects (printed media, television & radio) of the media in the Pacific Northwest.
Bob served as a Cherrywood Village Board Member from 2015-2019 of the Sunnyside SDA Church, Portland, OR. Bob was a board member from 2014-2019 and a member of the Finance Committee.
Troy Sanders
Troy is currently serving the interim position on the McNary Estates Architectural Review Committee. For the past 9 years he has worked for the Oregon Youth Authority as an IT Manager. He manages 11 staff with a budget of approximately $7.5 million. Before that he worked at a software development company for seven years as a Sr. IT Manager managing 24 staff with a budget of over $10 million.
Troy served 6 years in the United States Marine Corps as an administrative clerk and 2 years for a non-profit organization working with leaders around the world with a focus on the United Nations.
Over the past 30 years he has volunteered for organizations such as the Naval Sea Cadet Corps in Virginia and supporter of local school booster clubs, serving on the board of trustees for a non-profit organization and serving as the secretary and administrative volunteer for a global speaker.
Troy attributes his success to practice leadership skills through communication, team collaborative problem solving and proven ability to innovate, adapt and to overcome challenges presented by complex environments, threats and conditions.
MCNARY HOA NEWS
Dear McNary Estates Owners,
I would like to introduce myself as the new Assistant to Joel McDonell. In the past few days, you should have received in the mail an Annual Meeting packet for this year’s meeting. If you have any questions or trouble returning the ballot let us know. There is a stamped return envelope inside for your use. Thank you.
Thank you and feel free to contact me with any questions.
Layne Fonseca
Community Administrator
Community Management, Inc.
2105 SE 9th Avenue, Portland, OR 97214
Direct: 503-445-1225
Main: 503-233-0300
Fax: 503-233-8884 www.communitymgt.com
