Wednesday, March 1, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Oregon
ending
involvement
in Kitz2aber
probe, defers
to feds
PORTLAND (AP) — The
Oregon Department of Justice
is ending its involvement in
the influence-peddling inves-
tigation of former Gov. John
Kitzhaber and Cylvia Hayes.
The
Oregonian /
OregonLive reports that the
department’s criminal justice
section head Michael Slauson
told federal prosecutors last
week that the state was offi-
cially out “and will not be
pursuing any further inquiry
into the misconduct” by the
former first couple.
Oregon Attorney General
Ellen Rosenblum opened an
investigation into the matter
on February 6, 2015, days
before Kitzhaber resigned.
Three weeks later she
agreed to suspend it at the
request of federal investiga-
tors, who took the lead in the
case.
A protracted legal fight
over evidence has delayed
the federal investigation. The
U.S. Justice Department has
yet to decide whether they
have evidence to support any
charges.
Kitzhaber insists he did no
wrong.
Life with a
Willing
Heart
Jayson Berray
Columnist
The hard battles
we fight
Be kind. Everyone you
meet is fighting a hard battle.
This simple tenet came
into my life several years
ago and struck me as pro-
found and necessary. I have
tried my best since then to
put it into practice whenever
I can, but I do fail from time
to time.
For whatever cruel rea-
son, it’s so easy for us
humans to forget this simple
truth. Assumptions are often
somewhat if not fully incor-
rect and they breed judg-
ments. To make matters
worse, judgments sometimes
breed harmful words and
actions. Think for a second
about how many interac-
tions you have in the span of
a week, which are driven by
incorrect assumptions, judg-
ments, and actions. I have
many. Simply being human
in this world seems like
kind of a scary game to play
when you really think about
it, because each of us is sim-
ply trying to do the best we
can with what we have been
given — but so many times
we assume the worst of each
other.
Every Wednesday morn-
ing while on my first break
at work I look forward to
perusing the latest issue of
The Nugget. This past week
I was particularly struck by
the first letter to the editor,
and I have to say, it wasn’t in
a good way.
I shudder at the language,
“put your big girl pants on”
and the idea that certain
people aren’t American if
they don’t appear to agree
with and support the views
of another group. Dealing
in absolutes and adhering
to an if-you’re-not-with-us-
you’re-against-us mental-
ity, in my humble opinion
and based on life experi-
ence, seems more harm-
ful than good. Do absolutes
have their time and place?
Possibly, but the politi-
cal arena isn’t the place for
them. It’s a spectrum, and
everyone’s views are based
on the battles that he or she
is fighting.
This letter seemed
charged with assumptions,
judgments, and verbal action.
I viewed it as cringeworthy.
But the tricky part was that
my emotions immediately
kicked in and drove me to
that same degenerative chain
— assumptions, judgments,
and actions. So I started
thinking, “Wow, how many
times over the past couple of
years have I felt like I was on
the receiving end of incorrect
assumptions, judgments, and
actions?” The answer was
R
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quite often, and it never feels
good no matter who you are.
Why is that? Because my
wife and I are often fighting
hard battles that no one else
really knows about. 2016
was riddled with them, chief
among which was losing a
baby at five months.
One thing that helped me
check my attitude and take
heart was the moving tribute
to Jack Fields, which was in
that very same issue of the
paper. Jack was a friend of
ours. Granted, we weren’t as
close with him as the other
great folks in our community
who called him a friend, but
we knew him well enough to
be more than acquaintances.
In fact, he lived in our house
with some other folks before
we moved in and put in a
good word for us with the
landlords.
Jack was one of the
friendliest people I have
met in recent years. The
fact that his life ended so
soon is a tragedy, unfortu-
nately, a familiar concept to
many of us. But my under-
lying response to the news
15
of his passing ended up
being thankfulness at hav-
ing known him because of
what a kind man he was. No
matter if it had been days,
weeks, or months in between
our interactions, he always
greeted us with that warm
smile, asked how our kiddos
were doing and made sure
to always check in with my
wife on if she had made any
great and interesting thrift
store finds. He admired her
talent for “thrifting.”
When I read that letter to
the editor it was easy for me
to adopt a bad attitude. But I
don’t think it was an accident
for the article about Jack to
be in that same issue because
I couldn’t help but think,
“What would someone like
him do?” The answer imme-
diately became clear and
reminded me of that truth:
Be kind. Everyone you meet
is fighting a hard battle.
Opinions will always
differ, but one constant is
that we are all fighting hard
battles and should be trying
to be in this thing called life
together.