6
CapitalPress.com
Editorials are written by or
approved by members of the
Capital Press Editorial Board.
November 18, 2016
All other commentary pieces are
the opinions of the authors but
not necessarily this newspaper.
Opinion
Editorial Board
Publisher
Editor
Managing Editor
Mike O’Brien
Joe Beach
Carl Sampson
opinions@capitalpress.com Online: www.capitalpress.com/opinion
O UR V IEW
Election results widen urban-rural divide
W
e have spoken often
in this space about
the “urban-rural
divide,” the differences, real and
imagined, that separate people
who live in cities and people who
don’t.
Nothing illustrates this
divide better, perhaps, than the
recent election. Throughout the
country, the Northwest included,
rural areas generally voted for
Donald Trump while urban
areas generally voted for Hillary
Clinton.
Trump has won, and urban
voters are distraught. They have
taken to the streets in Portland,
Seattle and San Francisco. Why
would rural voters in their own
states reject their candidate?
They lack the perspective to
understand.
The federal government holds
more than half the land in the
West. The economic and civic
fabric of rural communities
depends on trees cut from the
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
A Trump sign on the edge of a hay fi eld at roads 5 and G Northwest near Ephra-
ta, Wash. While rural voters may understand the disappointment of urban voters
with the election results, they don’t understand the continuing protests.
forest, livestock grazed on the
range and minerals gleaned from
the mining claims.
The government once
encouraged these activities in the
service of the country’s growing
population and in fulfi llment of
its manifest destiny. Now, policies
have changed and that same
government seems to be draining
the lifeblood of the rural West.
Many in the rural West don’t
think their government listens
to them and that their concerns
are given short shrift. They
believe that their livelihoods,
their very way of life, are in the
hands of bureaucrats controlled
by interests outside their
communities.
Displaced workers in the
Rust Belt and in the coal fi elds
have similar grievances. Life
as they knew it changed for the
worse, and they hold the federal
government unresponsive, if not
responsible.
Trump supporters, both
rural and urban, voted their self
interest, as they saw it. They do
not fi t the archetypes ascribed
by pundits. They are in the main
no more racist, misogynist,
xenophobic or homophobic
than the average Clinton voter.
They want their families and
communities to thrive, just as
Clinton voters do.
For their part, rural
voters understand urban
disappointment with the
election’s outcome, but not
the continuing demonstrations
against Trump’s election. They
have accepted without protest
the results of elections that
broke against them.
The division is stark and
deep.
As is often the case, we find
the words of Abraham Lincoln
speak as powerfully to our
present circumstances as they
did 150 years ago.
Lincoln was the winner of
the contentious 1860 election.
He wasn’t even on the ballot in
10 states, and failed to win the
majority of the popular vote.
The country was on a path to
a civil war that killed 500,000
Americans, certainly a greater
division than created by our
most recent contest.
He closed his first inaugural
address with a plea for
reconciliation that stands today.
“We are not enemies,
but friends. We must not be
enemies. Though passion may
have strained, it must not break
our bonds of affection. The
mystic chords of memory will
swell when again touched, as
surely they will be, by the better
angels of our nature.”
We are more alike than we
are different.
O UR V IEW
The rivers of Northwestern life
impacts. A steady agricultural
economy provides jobs and
allows families to put down
mb
10
Colu ia
roots. Whether it’s a larger city
Coulee Dam
Chelan
such as Portland or smaller
12
Spokane
11
cities such as The Dalles, Hood
Seattle
WASHINGTON
River, Umatilla, the Tri-Cities,
90
Wenatchee
90
Twin Falls, Lewiston or Burley
the rivers are a large part of the
Olympia
reason they even exist.
8
IDAHO
5
6 Snake R iver
Some people want to measure
Yakima
9
the
value of the Columbia and
7
Richland
Lewiston
Pasco
82
Astoria
Snake rivers in fi sh. They believe
Longview
Walla Walla
5
Kennewick
there needs to be more fi sh and
3
a
i
b
Pacific
R
m
fewer dams. At least that’s what
u
i
v
4
l
Vancouver
Umatilla
er
84
Co
Pendleton
Ocean
their fund-raising materials say.
The
Portland
1
Dalles 2
Ironically, there are plenty of
84
101
OREGON
fi
sh
that spawn in the Columbia
5
Basin, and there always will be.
Dams included in the recent court ruling
The dams on the rivers have been
1. Bonneville 6. Lower Monumental 11. Grand Coulee
modifi ed and managed in a way
2. The Dalles 7. Little Goose
12. Chief Joseph
that allows for fi sh passage.
N
3. John Day
8. Lower Granite
13. Libby (Mont.)*
But the impact of the Columbia
4.
McNary
9.
Dworshak
14.
Hungry
Horse
(Mont.)*
and
Snake rivers on the Pacifi c
20 miles
5. Ice Harbor 10. Albeni Falls
*Not shown
Northwest — and the rest of the
nation — isn’t about numbers, or
Sources: U.S.
U.S. Army
Army
Corp.
of Engineers
Sources:
Corp.
of Engineers
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
about fi sh. It’s about the people
or swaths of prairie grass are
most other riverside cities and
is a factor that is too often lost
who live and work in the region,
now thriving farms, orchards
towns wouldn’t exist if it were
on critics. Just ask the people of
all of whom rely on the rivers
and vineyards that grow billions
not for the dams that control the
Vanport — oh, wait, that city in
for their livelihoods. Without the
of dollars of crops — crops that
surging waters of the rivers.
North Portland no longer exists.
dams the region would be a faint
wouldn’t exist without irrigation
Beyond the judge’s backyard,
Its 40,000 people were left
shadow of what it is today.
water from the Columbia and
the economic impacts of the
homeless — 15 were killed —
The Columbia and Snake rivers
Snake and their tributaries.
Columbia and Snake rivers are
during a fl ood of the Columbia
and their tributaries are in every
Beyond the economic impact,
almost beyond numbers. Where
River in 1948.
sense the rivers of Northwestern
though, are the many social
A large portion of Portland and once were only dryland farms
life.
S na
ke
R
.
Columbia and
Snake river dams
97
R i ver
A
federal judge in Portland
has asked residents of
the Pacifi c Northwest to
comment on the impact of the
Columbia and Snake rivers.
We’re glad he asked.
All he has to do is turn on a
light in his offi ce, have lunch
and take a walk around Portland
to understand the rivers’ direct
contributions to him and millions
of other residents of the Pacifi c
Northwest.
Most of the electrical power
he uses is generated by the dams
on the rivers. About two-thirds
of the region’s electricity comes
from hydropower, according
to the Northwest Power and
Conservation Council.
Much of the food he eats
was irrigated with water from
the Columbia and Snake rivers
and their tributaries. And those
barges the judge sees plying the
the Columbia and Snake rivers
bring bulk grains such as wheat to
downriver export terminals. From
there much of the grain and other
commodities are loaded onto
oceangoing vessels for the trip to
Japan, South Korea or elsewhere.
About $1 billion of grain is
shipped overseas each year.
Flood control on one of the
world’s mightiest river systems
Readers’ views
County should have
defended Hammonds
Sometimes I think we need to re-
mind ourselves of some of the histo-
ry of the Hammond issue and how it
came about.
Around 50 years ago, the Ham-
monds sold out in California and
bought a ranch in Diamond, Ore.,
which had extensive real estate on
Steens Mountain.
They now also own a ranch right
over the fence from the Malheur
National Wildlife Refuge. History
proves that anyone who has property
next door to the federal government
is in danger of having it taken away.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s
the feds took 3,000 acres north of Sod
House by condemnation. During the
fl ood a few of the ranchers let some
of their land go to the refuge.
Not too long back, a place on the
south end became refuge property.
In the Hammonds’ case they don’t
have a willing seller, so the strategy
was to paint as black a picture of the
family as they could to get the pub-
lic on their side. When Dwight and
Steven Hammond set a backfi re to
protect their property, it was perfect
to call them arsonists and terrorists.
The fi re wound up burning around
130 acres of federal sagebrush.
In Harney County, 130 acres
is like a pinhead in the ocean. Any
property owner in the county would
have done the same thing. In the
Hammond case, it was 5 years in
federal prison and a civil damage
case for $1.3 million. Somewhere
the government told them that if they
went broke they would have to sell
to the refuge.
Remember, Harney County is 75
percent federal land and 25 percent
private, so if they somehow are al-
lowed to acquire the Hammonds’
property, that is a huge amount of
land taken off the tax rolls because
the federal government doesn’t pay
taxes.
Our neighbors in Malheur Coun-
ty stand to lose 2.5 million acres
taken off the tax rolls. We can only
imagine what that would do to the
county budget.
To me, this travesty will not pass
the smell test because four years ago
the Miller Homestead fi re burned
through the Frenchglen country and
the BLM backfi res burned 10 times
the 130 acres of private ground plus
many cattle. The silence is deafen-
ing on that issue.
I’ve known the Hammonds for
over 50 years and they are great
neighbors, good friends, generous,
hard-working, humble people and
certainly not criminals of any kind.
If we had county leaders who
understood the Constitution, they
could have defended the Hammonds
against the overreach of the federal
government. The 11th Article of the
Bill of Rights in the Oregon Con-
stitution says: “In all criminal pros-
ecution, the accused shall have the
right to public trial by an impartial
jury in the county in which the of-
fense shall have been committed.”
Article 12 says: “No person shall
be put in jeopardy twice for the
same offense, nor be compelled to
in any criminal prosecution to testi-
fy against himself.”
I believe if you were a member
of the county court or the sheriff,
you could have defended the Ham-
monds on these issues alone and
asked the feds where in the Consti-
tution does it give you the right to
take a citizen out of our county to a
biased court and a biased judge who
you know will give a biased verdict.
Had they done this and truly de-
fended the Hammond family, the
Bundy issue and the occupation
would have been a non-issue.
All the Bundys wanted to do was
support the Hammonds and educate
us on our constitutional rights as cit-
izens, and they did that very well.
I truly believe if we had stuck
to these issues instead of barricad-
ing the courthouse, frightening the
townspeople, calling in the FBI and
forbidding open meetings, LaVoy
Finicum’s blood would not have
been shed. All of our county fathers
have to accept some responsibility
for this shedding of innocent blood.
Jerry Miller
Crane, Ore.
County opposes
national monument
We are writing this letter in op-
position to the proposed expansion
of the Cascade-Siskiyou National
Monument (CSNM).
Taking more private land away
from Klamath County and off our tax
rolls will be detrimental to the liveli-
hood of our county and its citizens.
We are also very concerned that the
additional “non-management pro-
tections” placed on monument land
would greatly increase the risk of
catastrophic damage from wildfi re.
Klamath County continues to
struggle to fund basic services, due
in part to the large amounts of feder-
al lands that are currently within our
county. These lands are exempt from
important taxation that funds vital
services for our local government.
Of the 53,100 acres in the propos-
al, 50,900 of those acres are O&C
Lands with approximately 19,000 of
those O&C acres being in Klamath
County. Including O&C Lands in the
proposed monument expansion goes
against the very purpose of the O&C
Act, “...to sustained timber yield pro-
duction to generate revenue for the
O&C Counties....”
The proposed expansion would
also remove private lands that are
currently used for grazing cattle and
ranching. Both are large industries
in Klamath County that are critical
to our economic success.
Again, we oppose the expansion
of the CSNM that would take more
private lands off the tax rolls putting
them under additional “protections”
that will reduce Klamath County’s
economic success and complicate
adequate fi re prevention.
Kelley Minty Morris
Chair
Jim Bellet
Vice Chair
Tom Mallams
Commissioner
Klamath County, Ore.