Opinion
A4
Saturday, September 3, 2022
OUR VIEW
Divisions are
accentuated
when ignorance
prevails
he event happened far south of Union
County but a recent tour of legislative law-
makers through Malheur County to learn
about economic development priorities in that
section of our great state should be a prototype
for local lawmakers.
The tour was spearheaded by state Sen. Lynn
Findley, R-Vale, and included state Reps. Bobby
Levy, R-Echo, Ken Helm, D-Washington County,
along with state Sens. Chris Gorsek, D-Trout-
dale, Lew Frederick, D-Portland, Bill Hansell,
R-Athena, Kate Lieber, D-Beaverton, and Lee
Beyer, D-Springfi eld.
The ultimate goal of the tour was to familiarize
lawmakers from diff erent parts of the state with
the unique challenges faced by Malheur County
because of its location on the Idaho border.
Union County doesn’t share a border with
Idaho but the general idea Findley used as a base
for the tour is the right one and our own elected
offi cials should seriously consider something
similar.
The state — and the nation — are politically
divided. Those divisions are accentuated when
ignorance prevails.
Oregon is a diverse state but the political battle
lines often seem to be very wide and deep. Much
of rural Oregon often feels cut off and sidelined
by the more prosperous parts of the state. There
is a growing perception that certain sections of
the state — read urban Oregon — make the deci-
sions. Those decisions are often out of touch with
the reality on the ground in a place like Union or
North Powder. What works in downtown Port-
land almost always fails in a place such as La
Grande.
Added to the mix are a group of lawmakers
who do not know the challenges faced in places
like Elgin, and often legislation is passed that has
unintended consequences for rural parts of the
state.
One of the best ways to avoid those unintended
consequences is to ensure legislators know and
understand the diff erent cultures of the state.
Eastern Oregonians may not see problems and
solutions the same way a longtime Portland resi-
dent does. Neither is wrong in their perception —
just diff erent.
Those diff erences can make us stronger as a
state. Yet those who make the decisions with leg-
islation need to understand how their judgments
impact voters in every portion of Oregon.
That’s why tours such as the one sponsored
by Findley make a lot of sense and would go, we
believe, a long way toward closing a perception
gap that continues to widen.
T
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Sports coverage continues to evolve
ANDREW
CUTLER
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
urnover in the newspaper
business is not a new nor
unique element, and The
Observer is no stranger to fi nding a
way to overcome a temporary per-
sonnel shortfall.
We like to pride ourselves in our
ability to eff ectively plan to avoid
problems created when there is turn-
over and manage a series of com-
peting priorities.
Recently, our news/sports
reporter Davis Carbaugh moved on
and that left us with a fairly sizable
hole in our coverage matrix.
The timing of turnover is never
good, no matter the time of year,
and with the prep sports season
about to begin in earnest, Car-
baugh’s departure was especially
poignant.
We’ll miss Carbaugh and wish
him the best as he restarts a journey
in higher education, but we felt we
needed to give prompt attention
to the high priority of prep sports
coverage.
We were able to fi ll the news side
of Davis’ duties with the addition
of Isabella Crowley. She’s done an
admirable job in hitting the ground
running, providing timely, inter-
T
esting news coverage. But fi lling the
sports duties has been a bit of a chal-
lenge. As a short-term solution to our
prep sports coverage template, we’ve
partnered with EasternOregon-
Sports.com to provide nightly game
coverage for our website. No doubt
replacing a key employee at this spe-
cifi c time of year appeared to be a
formidable challenge, but I think we
were able to develop a resourceful,
short-term plan.
There is also no doubt that
making changes to our existing
product — no matter how short term
— can be unpleasant. Yet rather
than bemoan the fact we faced a dif-
fi cult obstacle we sought and cap-
tured ideas to create a stop-gap
solution.
I’ve mentioned in this space
before the eff ect COVID had on The
Observer and our parent company,
EO Media Group. It forced our hand
on a few fronts and accelerated
some timelines into decisions that
— at the time — seemed unthink-
able, and one of those changes is in
our ability to cover sports like we
did before the pandemic. Post-pan-
demic we are doing the best we can
with the limited resources we have
on staff .
Last year, I made the deci-
sion to utilize our website more
and that’s something that will con-
tinue. Our digital news coverage
is 24-7, reported as it happens.
Andrew Cutler is the interim editor of The
Observer and the regional editorial director for
the EO Media Group, overseeing The Observer,
East Oregonian and four more newspapers in
Eastern Oregon.
STATE REPRESENTATIVES
GOVERNOR
Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court St.
Salem, OR 97301-4047
503-378-4582
Bobby Levy, District 58
900 Court St. NE, H-376
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1458
Rep.BobbyLevy@state.or.us
STATE SENATOR
Greg Smith, District 57
900 Court St. NE, H-482
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1457
Rep.GregSmith@state.or.us
Bill Hansell, District 29
900 Court St. NE, S-415
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1729
Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us
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