FRIDAY, AUGUST 5, 2016
4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
Opinion
— Guest Opinion —
— Special Column —
A better way
forward for
America
So I was
thinking ...
Life by the
battery bar
By Jimmy Ingram
Special to The Baker County Press
If you’ve spent any time in an air-
port in recent years you may have
noticed the most popular spots are
within three feet of an electrical
outlet.
It’s a place where businessmen
in suits, 20-somethings traveling
to Europe, and 10 year old kids
with iPads rub elbows and fight for
positioning like NFL linemen and
guard their spots like a mother bear
protects her cub.
After all, little strikes fear in the
hearts of millennials more than the
dreaded red battery bar.
It may sound strange but lately
I’ve become overwhelmed with re-
chargeable batteries and the cords
that give them life. Cordless power
tools, cell phone chargers, laptop
chargers, rechargeable razors, cam-
eras, gps, Bluetooth devices. A/C
and USB chargers are everywhere
in my home.
Half the time I can’t remember
what cord charges what.
I’ll sift through drawers of cords
tangled like last years Christmas
lights praying that the one I’ve
managed to wrestle away is the one
I need. Nope, wrong one. I don’t
even recognize this one. That’s a
shoestring. I give up.
Don’t get me wrong, the con-
venience of our electrical devices
keeps us on the go, informed and
in touch. It also turns us into crazy
people.
The panic that accompanies the
By US Rep. Greg Walden
Submitted Photo
Jimmy Ingram is a local farmer and
father of two who enjoys people
watching within our wonderful
community and beyond.
red battery bar is like the fear of
being stranded in the desert. We
quickly send out group texts to
family and loved ones to notify
them of our impending dead bat-
tery as though we’re about to exit
the earths atmosphere and may not
return.
And of course we’ve all had that
moment when we left for a trip and
realized two hours later we forgot
our cell phone charger.
“What am I gonna do?!! I’ll be
completely disconnected from the
universe for four to six hours!”
We bravely carry onward cross-
ing our fingers that aunt Martha or
cousin Eddie will have a charger
compatible with our phone ... but
we know better. They’ve both had
their phones since Clinton was
president. Off to the store to buy
(you guessed it) another charger.
Somewhere in a parallel universe
is an unknown planet with piles of
socks without mates and mountains
of misplaced/misidentified elec-
tronic chargers.
Until that planet is discovered,
or until someone can patent a
universal charger and manage to
sell their idea to every tech mogul
in the world we’ll just have to deal
with the amalgam of cords and
chargers that fuel our batteries.
Just try not to panic when the red
light flashes.
National Work Zone
Memorial Wall to be
displayed at Union
County Fair
The National Work Zone
Memorial wall will be
on display at the Union
County Fair this year
near the Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation
fair booth, August 3 – 7.
Unveiled in April 2002,
“The National Work Zone
Memorial - Respect and
Remembrance: Reflec-
tions of Life on the Road”
program is a living tribute
to the memory of lives lost
in work zones. The Memo-
rial travels to communities
cross-country, year-round
to raise public awareness
of the need to stay safe in
roadway work zones.
ODOT’s Region 5 Traffic
Safety Coordinator Billie-
Jo Deal coordinated efforts
to bring the memorial to
Union County.
“Summer construc-
tion season is a busy and
dangerous time for city,
county and state mainte-
nance crews, as well as
contractors working along
the highways,” Deal said.
Having the National
Work Zone Memorial on
display provides an op-
portunity for fair patrons
to learn more about work
zone safety and the need
to be extra cautious when
traveling through highway
construction projects.
The 20-foot-wide by
seven-foot-tall memorial
wall lists approximately
1,400 names of people
who died in work zones,
including motorists,
contractors, maintenance
crews and other people
working on highway proj-
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-
es will not be published. Word limit is 375
words per letter. Letters are limited to one
every other week per author. Letters should
be submitted to Editor@TheBakerCounty-
Press.com.
Advertising and Opinion Page Dis-
claimer: Opinions submitted as Guest
ects. The name of ODOT
maintenance employee
Don Kendall was added
to the memorial last year.
Kendall died in July 2014
while working on a chip
seal near Echo, Oregon.
Although several states
have created memorials to
acknowledge their sacri-
fice, the National Work
Zone Memorial stands as
the only monument to the
loss of roadway workers,
drivers, and public safety
personnel in all states.
More information about
the National Work Zone
Memorial program is
on-line at http://www.
atssa.com/TheFoundation/
TheFoundationPrograms/
TheNationalWorkZone-
MemorialRespectandRem.
aspx.
Opinions or Letters to the Editor express
the opinions of their authors, and have not
been authored by and are not necessarily
the opinions of The Baker County Press, any
of our staff, management, independent
contractors or affiliates. Advertisements
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services advertised.
As I listen to people during meet-
ings throughout our state (I recently
held my 51st town hall since the
beginning of last year), Oregonians
too often voice the same concerns: an
overreaching federal government that
ignores our pleas, overregulates our
lives and depresses job growth in our
communities.
That’s why I put forward legislation
that positively addresses the problems
we face. Seven of my proposals have
passed the U.S. House so far this
term—most with unanimous sup-
port—including my bills to help bring
commercial air service back to Klam-
ath Falls, provide needed funding for
bridges in the Columbia Gorge, and
to improve rural internet service for
consumers.
Within the past year, Congress has
given law enforcement and drug pre-
vention advocates new tools to help
fight addiction in our communities.
We’ve passed plans to help veterans
get better health care in the com-
munities where they live. Seniors no
longer face a planned drastic spike in
Medicare premiums or a cut for Social
Security disability recipients. A long-
term transportation funding plan and a
major education reform proposal have
also become law.
While I’m proud of these successes,
there is still much to be done to push
back against an overreaching fed-
eral government. That’s why House
Republicans have proposed a new
agenda—called “A Better Way”—to
offer solutions to some of the biggest
challenges we face in Oregon and
America. I encourage you to go read it
yourself on my website: www.walden.
house.gov/abetterway. Some high-
lights of our plan include:
Growing jobs and the economy: Too
many small businesses, farmers, and
ranchers in Oregon face overbearing
federal regulations that are often writ-
ten by agencies far away in Wash-
ington, D.C. Last year alone, federal
regulations cost the national economy
about $1.89 trillion in lost growth and
productivity. Our plan makes sure the
regulatory regime works for us—not
against us. For instance, we’d require
that the Congress, accountable to the
people, approve all major regulations.
Our plan would also help boost af-
fordable, reliable energy and preserve
internet innovation so that jobs can
flourish.
Combating poverty: Fifty years ago,
the U.S. government launched the
Submitted Photo
Greg Walden represents Oregon’s
Second Congressional District,
which covers 20 counties in south-
ern, central, and eastern Oregon.
“War on Poverty.” American taxpay-
ers have invested $22 trillion since
then, yet you are just as likely to stay
poor if you were born poor today as
you were then. And according to a
state report last year, Oregon’s poverty
rate is higher than the national average
(and the rate is even higher in many
rural counties). The current system
too often replaces work, instead of
encouraging it. There’s a better way
to help the over 46 million Americans
who are trapped in a cycle of poverty.
Our plan offers solutions to expand
opportunity and reward work.
Implementing real health reform:
The new health care law, known as
Obamacare, is driving up insurance
costs and reducing choices for too
many Oregonians. The state wasted
hundreds of millions of taxpayer
dollars on Cover Oregon and now
is mired in costly litigation. Mean-
while, people are left to cope with
more insurers leaving the market, and
two new health “co-ops” set up by
the law have already folded. There’s
a better way to give everyone access
to quality, affordable health care. Our
plan would replace Obamacare with
a new one that provides consumers
more choices, lowers costs, focuses on
curing deadly diseases like cancer, and
strengthens and preserves Medicare.
Our “Better Way” plan upholds our
Constitution rights and makes govern-
ment more accountable and transpar-
ent to the people. We have ideas to
boost our national security, combat
terrorism, and ensure our troops and
veterans have what they need. And
we propose reforming the nation’s tax
code to make it simpler and fairer for
Oregon families and small businesses.
I’d encourage you to go read the
entire plan, with hundreds of ideas to
solve problems in our communities,
on my website at https://walden.house.
gov/abetterway. There, you can let me
know what you think of these ideas
or offer some of your own. Together,
there’s a better way to get Oregon and
America back on track.
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