FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2015
4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
Opinion
— Editorial —
For our teens
Over the last week, both the benefi ts
and potential drawbacks of media involve-
ment came to light in a singular story—
that of a missing teenager from Baker
City. This was a situation in which local
media of all types had a chance to spread
the word in order to help bring someone’s
child back to safety. Our job, in our view
at least, was to report that he was missing,
give details that would assist in his being
located, and then report again when he
was found. Past that, we have no desire to
work on a follow-up article. Some details,
which are clearly complex here, aren’t for
public consumption and should remain
within the teen’s family to work through.
Mostly, there are things we wish we
could say to this young man—or to any
teenager going through a tough time for
that matter. So here it goes:
Dear Teenager,
We wish we could get across to you
just how precious your life is. When you
become a parent, you’ll probably realize
it profoundly and immediately, but right
now you might just have to take our word
for it. Across all this world, there isn’t an-
other single person alive exactly like you.
There’s no one else who was born with the
same eyes, the same hair, the same laugh,
the same voice. There’s no one who was
given the same interests or abilities. God
put into you a one-in-a-zillion set of gifts
entrusted only to you. Run with them. Use
them brilliantly.
We hope you know that whatever hap-
pens in life, most bad things pass. The
ones that don’t pass? Well, you’ll be
strong enough to get through those, too.
We’ve been around a lot, lot longer than
you, and our perspective is different. Even
when life seems overwhelming, there are
always brighter times ahead, and in those
brighter times you’ll eventually be able to
see why you went through the bad times.
It’ll all make sense if you hang in there.
Please know that even if your situa-
tion made the media and a lot of people
heard about it, most will forget. Faster
than you’d guess, too. So don’t walk
around fearing that people are wondering
if you’re that guy from that story. Most
aren’t wondering anything past what
they’ll make for dinner.
Life is one long series of decisions—
one after the next, after the next. Make
good ones. Why? Because as a general
rule, good decisions will draw good into
your life and bad decisions will draw the
bad. It sounds simplistic, but it’s true.
Manage your life deliberately, and realize
each decision is part of that management.
Stop and think. Is your decision illegal,
immoral or unethical? If it is, change it.
Surround yourself with decent people.
By decent, we mean people who won’t try
to push you into bad decisions. You know,
the illegal, immoral, unethical kind. Good
people will help you make good decisions
that will draw good into your life. Don’t
fi ll your life with “friends” who don’t help
you accomplish that. They just take up all
the room for the decent ones who would.
And fi nally, we wish you knew that
when times get rough, there are people all
around you who would help you if you
ask. You’d be surprised how many.
— Guest Opinion —
Labor crisis at
ports affects
agriculture
By U.S. Rep. Greg Walden
For the past nine months, operators
and workers at the Port of Portland
and 28 other West Coast ports have
been locked in bitter negotiations
over a collective bargaining agree-
ment. Like pebbles thrown into a
pond, the slowdowns and delays
caused by the dispute have had a
ripple effect throughout Oregon’s
economy. Crops are sitting, rotting on
the docks. Trucks sit idle at the ports.
Prices of commodities are plummet-
ing. Farmers are losing their custom-
ers and communities are losing their
livelihoods.
And negotiations are still at an
impasse after nine months, despite
the involvement of a federal media-
tor. The situation will only get worse.
Since growers cannot reliably export
their products, foreign customers
have been forced to go elsewhere and
may never come back.
Onion growers in Malheur County
—The Baker County Press Editorial Board
(whom I met with this week) are
shipping at less than their production
costs, if they are able to ship at all
For the record, the counties do not
due to a backup on the railways. Pear
“lose their seat at the table” if they refuse
growers in the Columbia Gorge are
to sign the MOU accepting cooperat-
seeing shipments of perishable fruit
ing agency status with the forest service.
delayed by over a month, degrad-
This narrative has been passed around by
ing the value of the product. Cherry
county offi cials far too long. What it does
require is elected offi cials doing their jobs growers have lost thousands of dol-
and being held personally accountable for lars due to the disruption, and Or-
their actions. Instead of giving themselves egon’s potato farmers have seen their
political cover when they sell our access
sales decline 15 percent. Manufac-
down the river.
turers and transportation companies
One county has shown personal integrity
are also reporting a heavy reduction
to protect its residents to see a forest plan
in sales, reverberating throughout
revision developed that protects the qual-
Oregon’s economy.
ity of life for all their residents, not just
Nationally, agriculture exports
the few infl uential companies that benefi t
from the “go along to get along” mental-
have been reduced by $1.75 billion
ity, and that is Baker County.
every month because of the labor
Integrity isn’t about doing what is easy,
slowdown. At the Port of Portland,
or personally advantageous. Integrity is
Oregon’s largest port, 95 percent of
standing behind the words you say and
shipments are being delayed, with
doing what is right. That seems to be
sorely missing from a great deal of elected delays averaging four to six weeks.
— Letters to the Editor —
About Intregrity
To the Editor:
Integrity - “An adherence to moral
principles, honesty.” Where has that gone,
and why can’t we fi nd it in the discussion
on the motorized access restrictions to The
Blue Mountains.
Some work in shades of gray, elected to
positions they feel they need to protect to
continue their paychecks and their posi-
tions of power. Some work in backdoor
deals to protect their business venture
to access resources they need to keep
themselves afl oat. Some work in “partner-
ship” with groups that strive to see general
motorized use removed from the forest
under some moral calling of protectionist
dogma that infl ates their egos and swells
their pocketbooks with lawyer fees. When
companies begin to state “why does the
public need to be there” and civil servants
tell business’s that ‘any interference or
preventing the Forest performing road
closures will jeopardize timber outputs
on the Forest,” we see the lack of Integ-
rity from both elected offi cials and civil
servants alike.
The
offi cials and civil servants nowadays.
John George
Bates
Baker County Press
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Submitted Photo
Greg Walden represents Oregon’s
Second Congressional District,
which covers 20 counties in south-
ern, central, and eastern Oregon.
On top of that, the Port’s largest car-
rier, Hanjin, announced recently they
are cancelling service to Portland, a
double whammy for Oregon agricul-
ture and other industries.
Enough is enough. It’s time to
end this crisis. I’ve teamed up with
members of Congress from both sides
of the aisle to introduce a resolution
calling on both sides to swiftly reach
an agreement. It’s time they get their
work done before more people suffer.
And we’re calling on the President
to get involved too. A similar situa-
tion in 2002 was only ended when the
President got involved to end a lock
out.
While it is encouraging that
President Obama has sent a member
of the cabinet to help mediate the
dispute, he must do more to publicly
urge both sides to end this confl ict as
soon as possible. And if the situation
should move into a strike or lock-
out, he should immediately use the
legal authority Congress has granted
him to settle the dispute and end this
crisis.
More than one in fi ve Oregon jobs
depend on trade. And 40 percent of
our agriculture products are shipped
internationally, according to the
Oregon Farm Bureau. The labor dis-
pute at West Coast ports has already
harmed our fragile economy, and it
will only get worse if not resolved.
It’s time to end this crisis and get Or-
egon products—and our economy—
moving again.
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YOUR ELECTED
OFFICIALS
President Barack Obama
202.456.1414
202.456.2461 fax
Whitehouse.gov/contact
US Sen. Jeff Merkley
503.326.3386
503.326.2900 fax
Merkley.Senate.gov
US Sen. Ron Wyden
541.962.7691
Wyden.Senate.gov
US Rep. Greg Walden
541.624.2400
541.624.2402 fax
Walden.House.gov
Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown
503.378.3111
Governor.Oregon.gov
State Rep. Cliff Bentz
503.986.1460
State Sen. Ted Ferrioli
541.490.6528
Baker County
Commissioners Bill Harvey;
Mark Bennett; Tim Kerns
541.523.8200
541.523.8201