Opinion
4A
Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020
Common Good
August
anniversaries:
nuclear war and
voting rights
August includes anniversaries related to major challenges
directly affecting lives of all Oregonians — nuclear war and
voting rights. The final words of U.S. Rep. John Lewis are
key to defending democracy, voting rights and peace: “Ordi-
nary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul
of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary
trouble.”
As children of the 1940s and ’50s my five sisters and I were
taught to defend ourselves by ducking and covering under our
school desks, huddling in the interior halls of our schools or
sheltering outside in roadside ditches. Basements in public
buildings were stocked with water and crackers and identified
as fallout shelters by yellow and black metal signs.
Aug. 6 and Aug. 9
mark the 75th anni-
COMMON GOOD
versaries of the U.S.
atomic bombing
BILL
of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. An esti-
WHITAKER
mated 130,000-
LA GRANDE
280,000 people died
there. Fallout shelters
would have been useless.
During the Cold War several incidents (for example, mis-
identifying flying geese as Russian missiles) could have
resulted in disaster. During 13 tense days in October 1962,
President John. F. Kennedy faced off with Nikita Khrushchev
over Soviet missiles being installed in Cuba. The world tee-
tered on the brink of nuclear war. We wondered if each day
might be our last.
The crisis was resolved when Khrushchev agreed to
remove the missiles and Kennedy promised not to invade
Cuba and agreed to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey.
Pressured in part by the civil disobedience of the anti-nu-
clear movement, the U.S. and USSR/Russia have held talks
aimed at avoiding “mutually assured destruction.” SALT I
dramatically reduced both nations’ nuclear stockpiles. The
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, negoti-
ated by Ronald Reagan and ratified 93-6 by the U.S. Senate
(May 28, 1988), required the United States and the Soviet
Union to verifiably eliminate all ground-launched ballistic and
cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilome-
ters — 2,692 missiles were destroyed. INF led directly to the
1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) that further
reduced Russian and American nuclear arsenals by one-third.
Since then both sides accused the other of violating the
INF. President Donald Trump withdrew from the INF (Aug.
2, 2019). The only remaining limit on U.S. and Russian
nuclear arsenals is New START signed by President Barack
Obama. With the treaty due to expire Feb. 5, 2021, Russia sup-
ported a five-year extension. Trump characterized the treaty
as an Obama deal favorable to Russia and demanded a new
three-way treaty including China. China is not interested.
New START will expire unless Biden is elected.
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ “Doomsday Clock”
measures the risk that nuclear weapons will be used. On Jan.
1, 2020, in response to worldwide governmental dysfunction
in dealing with global threats, the hands on the clock were
moved to 100 seconds to midnight, the highest level of risk
since 1945. That was before the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Another major challenge commemorated in August
involves voting rights. Aug. 6 also is the 55th anniversary of
the Voting Right Act, and Aug. 18 is the centenary of the 19th
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution stating the right to vote
“shall not be abridged by the United States or by any State on
account of sex.” Neither the 19th Amendment nor the Voting
Rights Act could have been passed had there not been mas-
sive mobilizations and civil disobedience, without supporters
willing to risk arrest, jail and mistreatment by police and
government officials.
The Voting Rights Act was crippled seven years ago by
the Supreme Court moving against voting rights after Repub-
lican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell prevented President Obama
from appointing a justice during the final months of his pres-
idency. Republicans are trying to suppress voting by persons
likely to vote for Democrats by limiting access to voting by
mail (thus forcing voters to risk exposure to COVID-19 by
voting in person), gerrymandering congressional districts,
reducing numbers of voting locations, requiring voter photo
identification, purging voter rolls and spreading lies about
voter fraud.
I agree with John Lewis that voting and participating in
the democratic process are powerful agents of nonviolent
change. I believe each of us must embrace “good trouble,
necessary trouble” as we help build what Martin Luther
King Jr. called “the Beloved Community, a nation and world
society at peace with itself.”
About the Author
Bill Whitaker lives in La Grande. He is professor emeritus
of social welfare at Boise State University. He taught commu-
nity organizing, social policy and planning for 40 years.
Letters
Legal, taxable product should be
allowed to work for us
I am writing to raise awareness for the growing
amount of tax revenue bypassing La Grande and Union
County on a regular basis.
We are currently losing out on our fair share of this
money because of the choice to disallow the lawful sale
of recreational cannabis. This aggravates and unnec-
essarily complicates the lives of a growing number of
our local residents and numerous visitors who simply
seek to purchase a legal, taxable product — no different,
now, than gas, groceries, alcohol and tobacco.
Each year, the state redistributes tax revenue from its
lucrative cannabis industry back to those — and only
those — cities and counties that have participated in
recreational sales. La Grande’s limited sale of medicinal
cannabis is a step in the right direction, but it fails to
properly serve the whole community, while also falling
short of helping the financial needs of the city and sur-
rounding county. If La Grande and Union County could
see the increasing benefit of allowing the lawful sale
of a legal product, our sizable share of the tax revenue
would be returned to us with significant financial ben-
efit to all concerned.
I have requested this matter be placed on the
upcoming ballot. Despite the sudden and severe restric-
tions of COVID-19, nearly 1,000 signatures have been
collected from those who support the local sale of legal,
adult-use cannabis. It is time to repeal the ban, allow
our citizens to vote on the matter and let this legal, tax-
able product finally work for us.
Rona Lindsey
La Grande
Council’s Measure 5 vote illustrates
need for transparency
The La Grande City Council voted to support a leg-
islative proposal to partially repeal Measure 5 at their
July meeting. This matter was originally couched inside
the “consent agenda,” where routine items of “lim-
ited public interest” are grouped for a collective yes/no
vote. The item in question, authorizing the city man-
ager to submit city legislative priorities to the League of
Oregon Cities, was pulled for public discussion where-
upon innocuous “property tax reform” was listed among
four legislative proposals supported by the council.
The proposal, available on the LOC website, entails
a state constitutional amendment to enact “a system
that allows voters to adopt tax levies and establish
tax rates outside of current limits and not subject to
compression.”
Many La Grande residents likely oppose property tax
increases, especially when sky-high unemployment may
make property tax payments difficult for homeowners
and landlords to afford in November. Full council
meeting materials have not been posted online since
June 2018, so most city residents were likely unaware
that modifying Measure 5 was on the agenda.
As a candidate for mayor of La Grande, I believe the
city should post all meeting materials online one week
before each meeting, post all public records online,
and broadcast/stream all city commission meetings.
Informed citizens will help the council make the best
decisions for our community.
Alex McHaddad
La Grande
Teachers are heroes
My heroes have always been teachers, and I marvel
at that mysterious something deep inside them. I’m not
sure what it is or how they got it, but I’m positive the
“something” they have is not found in the rest of us.
Virtual learning cannot be as good as in-class
learning, or we would have been doing it years ago.
But the virus won’t stop teachers from teaching. It’s
what they do, no matter what. The year 2020 has been
extremely difficult for students, but I can’t imagine the
anxiety teachers are feeling in today’s world. The chil-
dren will learn, regardless of its origin, as long it’s not
canned knowledge off the shelf. My heroes need to dish
it out, and they will.
With age comes wisdom or lunacy, or something in
between, I guess. With all the insight acquired over 73
years, I’m finally old enough and wise enough to know
all that wisdom and $2.75 will buy me a cup of coffee.
Old man wisdom is only meant for other old men, to
badminton back and forth as they sit and spit around
potbellied stoves. It’s wasted on the ears of youth.
The young will acquire wisdom of their own, but
only through knowledge. That’s where my heroes come
in, as they teach not just numbers and ABCs but also the
skill of how to learn. As a bonus, and for no extra pay,
they teach such things as compassion, forgiveness and
tolerance. They teach our children in all aspects of life,
and our children will grow wise from it.
Wise enough to someday gather on a back porch in
bibbed overalls to sit and spit for a spell, to talk about
things that matter and to look back on a good life — a
good life due in some small part to those with the mys-
terious “something” deep inside.
Hug a teacher — but not yet.
Mike Hayden
Cove
Contact your public officials
President Donald Trump: The White
House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Wash-
ington, D.C. 20500; 202-456-1414; fax 202-
456-2461; to send comments, go to www.
whitehouse.gov/contact.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley: D.C. office:
313 Hart Senate Office Building, U.S.
Senate, Washington, D.C., 20510; 202-
224-3753; fax 202-228-3997. Portland
office: One World Trade Center, 121 S.W.
Salmon St. Suite 1250, Portland, OR
97204; 503-326-3386; fax 503-326-2900.
Pendleton office: 310 S.E. Second St.
Suite 105, Pendleton 97801; 541-278-
1129; merkley.senate.gov.
U.S. Sen. Rown Wyden: D.C. office:
221 Dirksen Senate Office Building,
Washington, D.C., 20510; 202-224-5244;
fax 202-228-2717. La Grande office: 105
Fir St., No. 210, La Grande, OR 97850;
541-962-7691; fax, 541-963-0885; wyden.
senate.gov.
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (2nd Dis-
trict): D.C. office: 2182 Rayburn Office
Building, Washington, D.C., 20515, 202-
225-6730; fax 202-225-5774. La Grande
office: 1211 Washington Ave., La Grande,
OR 97850; 541-624-2400, fax, 541-624-
2402; walden.house.gov.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown: 254
State Capitol, Salem, OR 97310; 503-
378-3111; www.governor.oregon.gov.
Oregon State Treasurer Tobias
Read: oregon.treasurer@ost.state.
or.us; 350 Winter St. N.E., Suite 100,
Salem OR 97301-3896; 503-378-4000.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen F.
Rosenblum: Justice Building, Salem,
OR 97301-4096; 503-378-4400.
State Sen. William S. Hansell (29th
District/Athena): Salem office: 900
Court St. N.E., S-423, Salem, OR 97301;
503-986-1729. Website: www.oregonleg-
islature.gov/ hansell. Email: sen.billhan-
sell@oregonlegislature. gov.
State Rep. Greg Barreto (58th
District/Cove): Salem office: 900 Court
St. N.E., H-384, Salem, OR 97301; 503-986-
1458. Website: www.oregonlegislature.
gov/barreto. Email: rep.gregbarreto@
oregonlegislature.gov.