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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (May 15, 2015)
OPINION 4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MAY 15, 2015 Living in the present ... and the future L iving in the present matters. Now we must also live in the future — to respond to where trends are taking our econo- my and our culture. Unless we grasp where the world is head- ed, we waste time quibbling over things that no longer matter. Gerald Seib of The Wall Watch. He also said it was im- Street Journal captured that phenomenon when he said the immigration debate is caught in a time warp.” Seib’s May 5 col- umn described what Republican presidential candidates are say- ing. Wrote Seib: “...the premise of this immigration de- portant for agriculture bate — that waves of to take its perspective Hispanic immigrants into urban areas. And are sweeping across he is looking at growing our southern border, organics on his farm. swelling the naiton’s As Madison de- population of undoc- scribed his plans and umented immigrants where he believes and transforming the Eastern Oregon agricul- Steve culture and economy ture must go, he exhib- Forrester — is caught in a kind ited no sense of regret of time warp dominat- or retribution. In other ed by trends of decades past and words, he does not carry bag- largely missing the immigration gage that might have inhibited issues that really matter today.” many farmers in prior genera- Seib pointed out that in 2013, tions. “China replaced Mexico as the In fairness, I would add that top country sending immigrants farmers are among the most to the U.S.” And this year appre- practical people I have known. hension of immigrants coming They also tend to be well in- up from Mexico had fallen by formed. 28 percent. Also Seib noted that oliticians are stuck in the the number of young and unac- past, largely because there companied minors crossing the southern border “has plummet- is a high percentage payoff in beating a dead horse. The ed.” Republican base wants to hear olitics is not the about the wave Politicians only arena that of Mexican im- dwells in the past. are stuck migrants because Some industries they’ve been sold in the miss opportunities, that image for because they are years, and they past, ¿JKWLQJROGEDWWOHV earnestly believe because it Smart companies that’s what’s go- accept the obvious works for ing on. Don’t and fashion new count on any of them. initiatives. the presidential The most refreshing voice candidates to acknowledge that I’ve heard lately was Jake the Mexican immigration wave Madison, a young farmer in the has been supplanted by what Eastern Oregon town of Echo. Gerald Seib said is the current Madison spoke last Friday to our and future reality — the Asian Capital Press Board of Directors. wave. At the age of 30, Madison is one- For most of the 20th century, half the median age of Oregon American politics were subser- farmers. For three generations, vient to a region that was stuck in the Madisons have been promi- false Civil War imagery, fed by QHQW¿[WXUHVLQ(DVWHUQ2UHJRQ DZRUNRI¿FWLRQ²Gone With agriculture. Now Jake has taken The Wind. That nostaligic and ownership of 8,100 acres. And violent era ended with passage he is looking squarely into the of a Civil Rights Act in 1964 and future. a Voting Rights Act. Now we Water was Madison’s topic have a black president, whom ²VSHFL¿FDOO\DERXWDSURSRVDO Republican leaders demonize. to pump Columbia River water What those GOP leaders fail to into an aquifer and withdraw it realize is that Obama is only the for crops. Madison talked about ¿UVW RI WKH QRQZKLWH SUHVLGHQWV the importance of working with whom we’ll see in this century. — S.A.F. the environmental group Water P P Submitted photo Echo farmer Jake Madison poses with rows of onions at his farm. Open forum Friends are great F riendship is a good thing to have in any school you go to. It’s nice to have friends around who care for you, people to talk to is really nice to have, too, and when you have friends you create amazing mem- ories together and bond together. It’s a good thing to have loyal friends whom you can trust. Friends who will have your back no matter what happens. To have friends who love you through thick and thin. In school it’s nice to have someone who understands you. It’s a good thing to have a friend who doesn’t judge you for either mis- takes you made, or things you have done. To find a friend who doesn’t judge you will be the long-lasting friend for you. A friend who understands you still can judge you. It just means they will be nice to you about it, but to have both is really nice to have. Friends who like you for who you are and not because you’re rich, or have something they want, is a loyal friend — someone who has fun hanging out with you, and enjoys your presence. In friendship you have someone to talk to. Friends will help you. When you want someone to talk to, they will be there. When you have friends you can talk about any- thing the both of you want to talk about. You can talk about boys or girls that you like or have a crush on. Or, you guys could talk about plans in the future you guys are going to do together like camp, sleepovers, parties and going to fun parks. Some types of friends like to gossip with one another, either about boys they like, boys they don’t really like, girls they like, girls they don’t like, celebrities they like or movies coming out. Some cool friends like to talk about new clothes or shopping. When you have friends you create mem- ories together that you can never forget in your life. They can be good or they can be bad. It is better if they are good ones, but you never know. You can have good memo- ries by going on double dates with friends. Or going to the movies and having a really fun time. You can have good memories of camping with friends, too. In this summary, I wrote about how friendship is a good thing to have in school, and really anywhere else. Friends are nice to have around. Having friends, you have people to talk to about. With friends you create memories together. Friends help friends out. HOLLY WOOD Broadway Middle School Seaside Disappointed with Boone I was very disappointed to see that state Rep. Deb Boone voted to pass Senate Bill 941, requiring gun checks for private transfers of guns. She had emailed me prior to the vote to say she would be voting no on the bill. Instead, she voted against allowing any amendments to the bill, against sending it back to the committee to correct prob- lems, and for the bill. I wish Rep. Boone would explain how she could vote for this bill. The bill requires the following: If you want to leave your gun with someone for safe keeping, or loan it to someone for hunting, you will have to do a background check to leave the gun with the other person, and another one to get your gun back. Background checks do two things: They check to see the person getting the gun can own one; and they transfer the legal owner- ship of the gun to the other person. So what do you do if the person you loaned or left your gun with refuses to do the background check to give it back? They now own the gun. What if the gun is lost or stolen when in the other person’s possession? Do you honestly think your insurance company will pay you because a gun belonging to some- one else is stolen? So much for not infringing on the rights of legal gun owners. IRENE GILBERT La Grande STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher • LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager • CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager • DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager Founded in 1873