Knocking on the OSAA's Door

Brian Wagner

While I hate to beat the drum too much, I have to point out Steve Duin's excellent call to action in the Oregonian today, providing readers with an incentive and also the means to contact the OSAA and protest their hideously incompetent attempt to realign high school sports in Oregon to better serve high schools. The nearly unanimous opposition of the 4A schools, along with most other schools in the state, doesn't seem to register to them as "opposition" per se, as Tom Welter, Executive Director of the OSAA claims, "We haven't heard from a lot of school administrators saying they're opposed to what's being proposed. This office hasn't heard from Salem that it's upset. We haven't heard from Eugene or Medford or Beaverton or Bend. I've heard from you [Steve Duin] and (The Oregonian's) Ken Goe . . . (but) we don't have any written correspondence from school districts, asking the committee to reconsider."

Hell, I've talked with both Steve and Ken about this, because I didn't know who better to approach as an individual than the media. But now Duin has published the contact info for the OSAA, along with more reasons to speak up to oppose a thoroughly autocratic decision-making process that will rupture the PIL and many other leagues, and make traditional rivalries nothing more than non-league games in the future. I know I'm going to use the contact info Steve Duin provides to sent a scathing letter or two; I hope others will speak up as well. The Lake Oswego school district will officially register its opposition this week, and I hope other districts will follow. I'm going to e-mail every PPS board member as well, just because I'm hopping mad right now, and I'm not employed until Wednesday ;-)

Here is the contact info Duin provides for the OSAA:
"They need to call Welter at 503-682-6722 (ext. 230) or e-mail the man at [email protected]. They need to fax the OSAA at 503-682-0960 or write the organization at 25200 S.W. Parkway Ave. Suite 1, Wilsonville, OR 97070."

For background info, see my two previous posts on this issue:
The original outrage
The Ken Goe post

By Brian Wagner June 12, 2005