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CapitalPress.com
Editorials are written by or
approved by members of the
Capital Press Editorial Board.
Friday, April 2, 2021
All other commentary pieces are
the opinions of the authors but
not necessarily this newspaper.
Opinion
Editor & Publisher
Managing Editor
Joe Beach
Carl Sampson
opinions@capitalpress.com | CapitalPress.com/opinion
When every day is an emergency,
oversight is required
N
ow more than a year on,
state legislators across
the country are taking
steps to check the nearly unlimited
emergency powers governors have
assumed to deal with the COVID-19
pandemic.
It’s about time.
A year ago, few of us would have
envisioned an emergency that would
prompt a governor to shut down large
segments of the economy for unde-
termined lengths of time, to close pri-
vate and public schools and colleges,
to forbid religious services and pri-
vate gatherings, declare some busi-
nesses “essential” and others not, to
rewrite the terms of rental contracts,
and restrict access to common health-
care procedures — all by decree and
without the explicit consent of the
people’s elected representatives.
The COVID-19 outbreak pre-
sented a clear and present danger as
it unfolded in the early spring. Little
was known about the disease when it
Gary A. Warner/Oregon Capital Bureau File
The Oregon House chamber in the state Capitol in Salem.
arrived in the United States, but the
catastrophic experiences of victims
in other countries — China, Iran and
Italy in particular — demonstrated
the need for some swift action to
curb infections.
Most Americans understood the
need and accepted, even if reluc-
tantly, that the exigencies of the sit-
uation required that governors use
the powers available to them under
state law to meet the immediate
emergency.
State laws generally give gover-
nors extraordinary powers to deal
with emergencies. But in only a few
instances did lawmakers have the
forethought to put into place manda-
tory legislative oversight or time lim-
itations on emergency declarations.
Our View
Don’t mess up food
box program
When COVID-19 took hold of the nation
market for commodities.
last year, everyone was suddenly thrown into
Then the food was given to families in
the deep end of the pool, farmers and ranch-
need. Because the pandemic disproportion-
ately erased low-wage jobs from the econ-
ers included.
omy, food boxes became part of the bulwark
But while other businesses sent their
that prevented starvation from becom-
employees home to work and others stayed
ing a secondary COVID-19
home to with their kids
symptom.
after schools closed, farm-
ers and ranchers were des-
Put into action by the
ignated essential workers.
USDA, the food box pro-
gram demonstrated that gov-
After all, people had to
ernment can move quickly
eat.
and effectively.
But at the same time,
Demand for commodi-
restaurants, school cafete-
ties returned and prices sta-
rias, and nearly all other
bilized. Combined with
food outlets were shut
direct aid that many farmers
down, many permanently.
received, food boxes righted
And while shoppers
the agricultural economy.
inundated grocery stores
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press File
The program was not per-
to stock up on food, about
half of farmers’ customers USDA is looking for ways to im- fect, and mid-course correc-
prove the Farmers to Families tions addressed problems as
remained closed.
they arose.
These gyrations threw Food Box program.
Overall, though, the suc-
U.S. agriculture into a tail-
cess of food boxes is self-ev-
spin. Prices plummeted as
ident. Since last summer, USDA has spent
commodities bound for restaurants and other
almost $5.5 billion on the program and deliv-
foodservice outlets no longer had a buyer.
ered about 143.5 million food boxes.
At one point, prices were in a free fall.
With a new round of contracts coming up,
Farmers were dumping milk, potatoes had
the Biden USDA is now rethinking the food
no buyers at any price and ranchers saw
box program.
the prices of their cattle plummet as pro-
cessors closed or slowed production to deal
We hope they don’t think too hard. Tens
with COVID-19 outbreaks among their
of millions of Americans — children, moth-
ers, fathers, grandparents and others — need
employees.
this program to get through this pandemic.
The outlook was grim. Congress did step
To politicize it at their expense would
up with several rescue packages for agricul-
ture and other segments of the economy.
hurt everyone involved, including farmers.
But in addition to those efforts, one
Other than a few tweaks such as opening
other initiative worked especially well.
it to smaller-scale farmers, it would be folly
Called the Farmers to Families Food Box
to change it for the sake of change.
program, it purchased food from farmers
Our advice to Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack
and distributors, providing a much-needed
and his crew at USDA: Don’t mess it up.
READERS’ VIEW
ODA should extend
pesticide license
deadline
In early 2020, the Oregon Department
of Agriculture, in a panic over COVID, took
the pesticide license certification program to
virtual only. License holders with poor com-
puter skills or a lack of devices or in areas
with poor internet connections were at a
loss.
ODA sent its employees home while
everyone else had to continue working,
regardless of risk. For a license due for
renewal in 2020, the five-year time frame
was shortened by 20%.
ODA doesn’t admit this. Training materi-
als could be made available in many forms.
Oregon State University has a modern print
shop. DVDs and audio tapes can be eas-
ily and economically made available. Even
OPB radio could be used. All that’s needed
is some imagination.
Larger employers could monitor and
coach their people to keep the licenses
current.
It’s the individuals and older people who
are being eliminated. Young people have the
skills and devices.
The 2020 deadline should be extended.
Considering all the loss and hardships of the
last year, ODA should work with people.
Concerns can be voiced at 971-719-6240 or
pestx@oda.state.or.us.
We may never have open meetings again,
and yes, we need to learn more computer
skills, but ODA needs some patience also.
The best stimulus check is a paycheck.
Ralph Locke
Sauvie Island
Portland, Ore.
And in those states, such as Ore-
gon, where the law gives legislatures
discretionary authority to weigh in,
few have cast votes to either affirm
or challenge emergency declarations
and the diktats issued in their name.
Until now. The New York Times
reports that there are now more than
300 proposals across the country that
would curb gubernatorial emergency
powers.
Good.
We appreciate the necessity for
quick and decisive action in the early
hours and days of an emergency.
Governors must be able to restore a
semblance of order and safety with-
out delay. But as the days stretch into
weeks, the people, through their rep-
resentatives, must be heard.
No elected official should be
allowed to rule indefinitely by
decree. Emergency powers should
be limited in duration and subject
to mandatory legislative oversight.
A benevolent dictatorship in all but
name is nonetheless tyranny.
A farmer’s opinion
of the Scout Energy
Wind Farm Project
T
o the residents of the Tri Cities:
In light of the ongoing debate
about the Scout Wind Farm Proj-
ect, I think it is time you are introduced
to your neighboring community in the
Horse Heaven Hills.
Yes, you heard that
GUEST
right. There are people
that live in this dry, barren
VIEW
and seemingly isolated
Christopher
plateau that borders the
Wiley
south of Tri Cities.
You see, these hills are
more than an afternoon
escape for your bike rides and hikes.
This is more than a place where you take
scenic Sunday drives. This is more than
the home of beautiful sunsets featuring
Mount Adams, Rainier and Hood. This
is more than the scenic view from your
backyard.
And to another group of Tri Cities
residents: This is more than a place for
you to dump trash, unwanted dogs or
dead livestock when you think nobody
is looking. This is more than a place for
your high school kids to take their girl-
friend on Friday night. This is more
than “the place where the dust comes
from.” This is more than a place for you
to drive your Jeep and tear up a freshly
seeded field. This is more than a place
for you to go shooting and start wild-
fires in July. This is more than the place
where the Hillbillies live.
This is the home of a family-based
community, which is very old. My fam-
ily has been here since 1946. Many oth-
ers were original homesteaders here,
who took a chance breaking out farm
ground in a desert. We are proud to be
dryland wheat farmers living on some of
the driest non-irrigated farmland in the
world.
This is the home of people whose
neighbors live miles away, not city
blocks. This is the home of people who
get excited when they see rain clouds for
the first time in weeks and are often dis-
appointed when they change their path
at the last minute, leaving their crops dry
and thirsty.
This is the home of people who do
without modern luxuries like wells or
city water service, sewage service or
reliable high-speed internet.
This is the home of people who
started a volunteer fire department
because they watched their friend burn
up in a tractor trying to save his crop
from wildfire. This is the home of peo-
ple who face frequent hardships such
as drought, blizzards, dust storms, poor
crop prices, constantly rising input costs
and increasing restrictions on how we
make a living.
This is the home of people who
watch housing developments pop up
on land that used to be the farm of
their grandfather’s best friend. This is
the home of people who patch up their
20-year-old harvester, their 75-year-old
plow and their 60-year-old planter year
after year because the new technology
coming out just isn’t designed for such a
small niche market.
This is a community
of survivors, forgotten
by the world and whose
numbers are ever shrink-
ing, but not going any-
where anytime soon.
And lately we are feeling
rather betrayed by our
neighbors in the Tri Cities.
You see, we have recently been given
a great opportunity. An opportunity to
diversify our farm operation, increase
our land value and raise our bottom line.
An opportunity to insulate ourselves
from unstable crop markets. An opportu-
nity to maybe update some of our farm
equipment and hopefully enter the 21st
century one of these days.
An opportunity to not be quite so reli-
ant on rain and financial aid to send our
kids to college. An opportunity that will
maybe let my father retire someday,
instead of working himself to an early
death like his father and grandfather
before him. The name of this opportu-
nity is the Scout Energy Wind Farm.
Now I’m not here to argue about how
much energy these turbines will pro-
duce, where they will send it, or how
they will store it. I’m not going to tell
you I think they look pretty. But I will
say shame on you for pretending to care
about the beauty of an area that up until
now, you have treated as your personal
playground, your dumpster, a short-
cut to Oregon, or the future site of more
houses.
Shame on you for condemning con-
struction on a ridge while hoping to
someday build a mansion on the very
same hill. Shame on you for being
this upset about something that at the
very most, would be a slight change to
your backyard view. Because this same
thing would be an absolute life-chang-
ing blessing to your neighboring
community.
In closing, please don’t feel this was
written to bash the Tri Cities. The Tri
Cities is a great community, which the
Horse Heaven community benefits from
as well. Every once in a while when we
get a wild hair, we do get off our tractors
and come to town. And guess where we
go to buy groceries and clothing? Guess
whose restaurants and small businesses
we love to support? Yes that’s right, we
deeply care for, respect and support the
Tri Cities community. We are just asking
for the same in return. May we all grown
and thrive together.
Christopher Wiley lives and farms
in the Horse Heaven Hills of Eastern
Washington.