FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016
4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
Opinion / Politics
— Editorial —
The power of
weakness
This week we observed from a
close range, the power of weakness
and its ability to hold a person back
from so many of God’s blessings.
In this particular situation, a man has
known in his head and heart for the
better part of a decade that he’s in a
situation that leaves him empty—and
because of the inherent personalities
of those involved, is very unlikely to
be fixed. He’s a square peg always try-
ing to force himself into a round hole,
because he thinks if only he looks
deeper, he can become ... round.
He has spoken openly for months
about the change he needs to make,
and how he has tried over the years
to find the courage to make that
change and pursue the life he’s always
dreamed of. Scripturally speaking, the
parties involved in the situation would
be perfectly justified in leaving it.
But when push comes to shove, as in
this time, he goes through every pos-
sible mental gymnastic to avoid facing
his weakness. This time around, he
sought out an only partially correct
spiritual argument to justify his lack of
action and explain his internal con-
flict—and somehow make it all seem
noble.
What better coping mechanism than
convincing yourself you’ve done the
“right” thing?
In looking back through this man’s
life, at each point when the grief that
came with inevitable loss and change
presented itself, he ran from it rather
than standing strong and letting the
process complete.
It’s devastating when a person’s
backbone is replaced only by a wish-
bone.
Joy is lost. People are harmed. Po-
tential is wasted. Love is walked past.
Men settle for half-lives, always living
inside the regret of knowing what
could have been, and pretending for
the world that they aren’t. Weakness
assaults dignity and respect.
When it comes down to it, weakness
is just the kissing cousin of fear—and
as we all know, fear is a great tool of
Satan, used to debilitate and freeze.
While weakness and indecision start
with the individual, they also spread,
becoming traits of any group or com-
munity to which he belongs.
We see it in government from top
to bottom, where individuals remain
silent and don’t take a stand. We see
it everywhere from law enforcement
to companies, school boards to church
leadership. We see it in couples who
remain in empty marriages with no
physical or mental connection, where
vows have been long since broken. We
see it in employees who don’t have
the courage to leave a miserable work-
place, and linger there for years.
From our point of view, a lifelong
embrace of fear and weakness is akin
to choosing a waking death.
We sin. We miss the mark and some-
times have to change our once-correct
paths in painful, imperfect ways. We
don’t believe God intends for us to
martyr the joy right out of our lives in
aiming for perfection. We can try to do
our best, and when we fall short, there
is forgiveness. Life can be beautiful—
but not if you’re afraid to ever really
live it.
—The Baker County Press Editorial Board
— Letters to the Editor —
To the Editor and Representative Greg
Walden:
The officers of the Oregon Republican
Party, Congressional District 2 wish to
express our sincere and heartfelt apprecia-
tion of the speech you made on the floor
of the United States House of Representa-
tives on Tuesday, January 5, 2016 relating
to the situation in Harney County. We
concur with you that the action of the
federal government in this case is a blatant
overreach of their authority and common
sense regarding public lands in Oregon
and elsewhere in the West. It is a rank
abuse of power.
Facts can be inconvenient for those in-
sistent on telling their own story. Govern-
ment agencies have time after time over
reached their authority all over the West.
In this case it is the BLM. In other cases,
the EPA. In still other cases, the USFS.
The agencies have no problem levying
massive fines against citizens for rather
inconsequential deeds and in the case of
the Hammonds, forcing the family to give
first right of refusal of sale to the govern-
ment for their ranch if they should be
forced to sell. Thanks to your help, more
facts are being uncovered like peeling an
onion.
Bottom line: It is time to start to dis-
mantle this overarching federal leviathan
that is choking the economy of the West!
Return the federally managed lands to
the states. The states need to maximize
their potential by using all of their lands
to contribute to their total economy and
not be saddled with an absentee landlord
detrimentally managing a majority of
the acreage in the West using oppressive
methods to no benefit of the states. We are
not Pollyanna enough in our thinking to
expect this to happen instantly.
The Oregon Republican Party
Congressional District 2 Executive
Team
Kate Adams, Chair, Jefferson Co.
Greg Barreto, Vice Chair, Union Co.
Suzan Ellis Jones, Alt. Chair, Baker Co.
Keith Trahern, Alt. Vice Chair,
Josephine Co.
Carole Dyke, Secretary, Baker Co.
Scott Waters, Treasurer, Deschutes Co.
Letter to the Editor Policy: The Baker
County Press reserves the right not to pub-
lish letters containing factual falsehoods or
incoherent narrative. Letters promoting or
detracting from specific for-profit business-
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the opinions of their authors, and have not
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Thank you to Rep. Walden
Walden to hold town halls
HOOD RIVER— U.S.
Rep. Greg Walden (R-
Hood River) will hold
town hall meetings in
Sherman and Gilliam
counties on Friday to give
an update on efforts in
Congress to reduce burden-
some federal regulation, as
well as historic legislation
recently signed into law
to improve education for
children and support roads,
bridges, and highways.
Full details are below.
Later on Friday, Walden
heads to Morrow County
to tour the Boardman Tree
Farm. He’ll then visit the
site of the new Eastern
Oregon Trade and Event
Center in Hermiston.
Afterwards, Walden will
attend Pendleton’s annual
Chamber of Commerce
dinner.
On Thursday, Walden
was in Wasco County to
speak to local business
leaders at The Dalles
Chamber of Commerce’s
annual banquet.
Friday, January 22, 2016
Sherman County Town
Hall. When: 9:00 a.m.
Where: Bob’s Texas T-
Bone, 101 East 1st Street,
Rufus.
Arlington Town Hall.
11:00 a.m. North Gilliam
County Fire Hall, 1500
Railroad Avenue, Arlington
Boardman Tree Farm
Tour. 1:00 p.m. Boardman
Tree Farm, 77200 Poleline
Road, Boardman
Eastern Oregon Trade
and Event Center Tour.
3:15 p.m. 1705 East Air-
port Road, Hermiston
Pendleton Chamber
Dinner. 5:30 p.m. Rivers
Event Center, Wildhorse
Resort & Casino, 46510
Wildhorse Boulevard,
Pendleton.
— Guest Opinion —
Statement
from the
ORP on the
Hammond
situation
Submitted Photo
Bill Currier is the Chair of the
Oregon Republican Party.
By Bill Currier
The Oregon Republican Party stands
with the Hammonds, who have suf-
fered through many years of federal
bureaucratic aggression and lawless
behavior by federal agencies.
When fires and invasive species
threatened their grazing land they took
action, as would you or I, to save that
land.
And when that action resulted in the
accidental burning of less than a few
hundred dollars worth of federally
managed land the federal agencies
saw this as an opportunity to seize the
Hammonds’ private land, and so they
brought charges of terrorism against
them.
Even a casual observer understands
that federal terrorism laws were never
intended to apply to ranchers attempt-
ing to protect their grazing land!
Amazingly, similar land-saving
actions by the federal agencies that
resulted in losses on private land have
never been charged or prosecuted.
This is clearly a double standard on
the government’s part.
Unfortunately, the Hammonds are
not the first ranchers in Oregon and
other states to lose their land through
such abusive high-handed government
tactics.
These tactics are a violation of sev-
eral constitutional protections.
This is why Americans should take
notice of what is happening in Or-
egon.
This is why the Oregon Republi-
can Party speaks out in support of the
Hammonds, and others who are in a
similar situation.
The federal abuse of power must
stop.
When citizens violate the law, indi-
vidually or in a group, we should take
notice.
When the government, who is
charged with protecting all of us under
the law, violates those very same
laws and the principles upon which
they are based, we should all be very
concerned, and take active steps to put
government back on track.
While we believe the group occu-
pying the vacant federal buildings in
Harney County is breaking the law in
doing so, and do not condone their un-
lawful actions, we see the real threat
as a detached out-of-control federal
bureaucracy that threatens us all.
Governor releases policy agenda
Today, Governor Kate
Brown announced the
following 2016 policy
agenda:
A Seamless System of
Education
• Establish the Education
Innovation Officer charged
to improve Oregon’s high
school graduation rate.
• Create the Governor’s
Council on Educator
Advancement: Executive
Order establishes the
Governor’s Council on
Educator Advancement,
charged with coordinating
comprehensive support to
deliver excellence in teach-
ing through leadership
development, mentorship
and best practices
A Thriving Statewide
Economy
• Support small business:
o Legislation to expand
the Office of Small Business
Advocate to help small busi-
nesses navigate state and local
policies and procedures.
o Governor’s Small
Business Advisors: Execu-
tive Order creates a diverse
advisory group to develop
recommendations to support
Oregon small businesses, such
as increasing access to capital
and streamlining state agency
processes.
• Legislation to increase
the minimum wage.
• Legislation to continue
the expansion of affordable
housing issues statewide.
Excellence in State
Government
• Accountability and
Transparency:
Healthy, Safe Orego-
nians
• Establish the Gov-
— Contact Us —
ernor’s Campus Safety
Working Group.
• Umpqua Community
College funding proposal –
funds to enhance safety on
the UCC campus.
• Harney County funding
proposal – funds to offset
expenses incurred during
the occupation of the
Malheur Wildlife Refuge.
Responsible Environ-
mental Stewardship
• Appointment of State
Resilience Officer.
• Drought package fund-
ing proposal – funds to
help local communities
plan for and address persis-
tentdrought.
• Wildfire funding pro-
posal – funding to cover
costs incurred during the
2015 wildfire season.
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