Thoughts
I would like to hear people's thoughts on this movie and the people in it.
shareAm I missing something here? Even if Steve Lowther is a backwoods, retrograde, right-wing loudmouth dolt, isn't he free to administer his uncle's trust as he feels fit? While I might not agree with him on almost any (reads: any) of the issues relevant to this documentary, I'm also not about to ask him to pay for me or my children's tuition. Not that anyone shown in the film actually asked for anything - they simply expected it and somehow deemed it "unfair" when he placed conditions upon his offer. Unlike taxpayer-funded scholarships, private individuals and institutions are free to do with their funds as they please. Their sense of entitlement was easily as repugnant, if not more so than Lowther's "handle it like men with tar and feathers" cro-magnon boorishness.
shareI agree. The bottom line is that it is his money. Now, I think he would have looked less like an ass if he just placed the limitations on the scholarships without revealing his motives were right-winged. How fair is it to the foundation that parents from all over the country are sending their children to Philomath High School their senior year to get free college? When people take advantage of such an obvious loophole, of course it causes problems. It wasn't their intent to run a soup kitchen for the nation; it was just meant for long-term citizens of Philomath. And PS: if you've ever been to Philomath, you know that they need it. It's really a shame that it was ruined for everyone.
shareActually, it's not his money. The money belongs to the Clemens Foundation trust. He can't take the money out personally and there will be a document somewhere that details exactly what can be done with the money and how it is to be administered. There may or may not be some means of amending the rules. I'm surprised this entire affair has not run into a bunch of lawsuits (and it still may) or even seen the trust taken away from them. Trustees do not own the trust. It's a legal entity unto itself and a judge can rule that they have violated the terms of the trust and appoint independent trustees. There may be enough slop in the rules, but the mission of this foundation was very clear; I'd be surprised if that mission was not made clear in the documents that set up the trust.
Lowder can do what he darn well wants with 'his' money.....that is entirely secondary to the essential point, IMO.
BUT - I DO think it's tremendously preposterous for Lowder to act as a Messiah and hold this trust like a carrot so he can hand-pick PUBLIC officials, dictate policy, ect...the attempt to circumvent due process by sheer blackmail is very unsavory.
I'm not sure where you live, but in THESE parts (Mid-Willamette Valley), Rex Clemens words resonate and it is a shame that his legacy is being trashed by his nephew.
DIRECT QUOTE from Rex Clemens:
"...You can see the demise of this industry....We want to give the Children of Philomath an opportunity to get a college education, to save them from .... uncertian future of the timber industry. This FOUNDATION SHALL SUPPORT SCHOOL BUILDING PROJECTS AND PROVIDE A FULL FOUR YEAR SCHOLARSHIP TO ALL STUDENTS WHO GRADUATE FROM PHILOMATH HIGH SCHOOL."
Granted, FOR YEARS AND YEARS folks from all over the country - and kids right here in Corvallis once transfered a few miles west near the end of HS to sponge off the Clemens Foundation - it GOES WITHOUT SAYING that those people are entirely immoral and wrong.
HOWEVER, Mr. Lowther is equally wrong in his attempts to manipulate his uncle's legacy within his twisted political and social agenda. Lowther is as immoral as an Alley-Cat....I am ashamed that he evokes God and seems to believe he symbolizes Christian Morals....May God have mercy on his soul.
Has anyone heard the quoute "Don't bite the hand that feeds you!". The students sided with the liberal professor who had new age ideas, one of which was logging was wrong and then got upset they weren't going to get scholarships from a logging company. I'm betting I'll get called an ass for this but screw those ungreatful liberal *beep*
shareWhen a company says, "We will offer a scholarship to any student who graduates from Philomath High School," what the students believe should have nothing to do with that arrangement. They did not say, "We will offer a scholarship to any student who graduates from Philomath High School, as long as they hold sacred the almighty axe."
I wonder how many loggers, and truck drivers actually went to college. I wonder how many of the graduated. Do people actually think it takes a 4-year degree to chop down a tree? Maybe it takes a 4-year degree to drive a big logging truck.
It makes perfect sense that they did it though. The blue collar population in Philomath is obviously in decline if there are enough 'liberals' to scare the foundation into only offering college money to a select few. They need to keep the Philomath youth away from higher education so the 'conservatives' can get their numbers back up again.
Don't say "IMO", we know it's your opinion; you're the one who posted it.
I watched this last night and was left not liking either side of the arguement.
I think the second half of the movie shed more light on the motivations of the loggers and the Clemens Trust, where first it was about teachers teaching anti-logging themes, it turned into a us vs them dispute over religion in schools. I think the closing caption at the end was very telling about the refusing to fund scholarships to OSU based on their teaching methods or values, due to a fight with a football player.
There is talk of how Lowther wants the kids to stand up for themselves and stand up for what's right - but then has a problem about a protest for Gay rights. Which is totally contradictory and purely based on his own personal beliefs.
It's okay to fight for this, but not for that.
It's okay to pray and preach, but then want to "tar and feather" or even slander others????
In the end it's his money and he can place as many restrictions on it as he wishes, or even stop paying for kids to go to college at all. What I don't agree with is him using this as a way to force his beliefs on the school system. If he didn't like what was happening he should have become a member of the school board instead of sowing discontent.
In the end no one won. Philomath has now been tainted by this very public dispute.
It turns out North Korea and Iran are not like Doctor Octopus and Magneto at all...
"I'm betting I'll get called an ass for this but screw those ungreatful liberal *beep*"
You meant "ungrateful." Why am I not surprised at the illiteracy?
When Lowther dies, will he have left the world a better place, or a worse place? I think that the answer is clear.
shareI believe the world is a much better place WITH him in it.
shareI absolutely agree! The world needs to see morons like Steve to understand that he is the very antithesis to a good Christian. The example that fits him best is the old saying......"Not all conservatives are stupid but most stupid people are conservative". Let's just say Steve is the latter and not the former. The world needs fools and hypocrites like Steve to show that ignorance....particularly when worn as a badge of honor....is day by day becoming and anachronism....a relic of prejudice and hate the will fall as the educated world leaves their kind behind. He possesses the very mindset that his uncle sought to change and educate....the fact that he is too ignorant to realize this....is the height of irony.
Clifford Stern...."Last time I was inside a woman was when I visited the Statue of Liberty"
It is a private scholarship, however you must understand something about how students view all of this. I graduated from Philomath High School in 2006. Many of my friends who graduated before me were able to go to college, something many families in Philomath could not otherwise afford. These were students setting out to study a variety of different subjects; science, math, English, education, etc. You didn't have to be a forestry student or a Republican, you simply had to be a good student and graduate.
The Lowthers were no doubt already in power, but their grip on our school board soon began to choke the liveliness of what had once been an extremely artistic and eclectic student body. Art depicting androgenous couples could not be displayed among other students' art because it might have been viewed as a GLBT political statement. Theater productions costing hundreds of dollars (that we students spent our summers fundraising, since the class was officially cut because of budgetary constraints) and months of work were canceled half an hour before our opening night production.
This is about the time when the Lowthers decided not to fund students who would start going to OSU, following an assault incident involving an OSU football player who was not a Philomath alumni and had no ties with the Clemens scholarship or Philomath high school. Being the closest college--and cheapest to commute to--many students were already worried about their prospects of continuing their education after high school.
My senior year, less than half of the students obtained the Clemens scholarship (many of whom had already been accepted into colleges that they had budgeted for including the already-promised scholarship). This left students who had once been accepted into private colleges and large universities stuck going to community college and living with their parents, while others who could only afford community college in the first place would have to find minimum wage jobs instead of going to school at all.
So no, it is not fair. Not fair at all.
So no, it is not fair.