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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 2015)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Saturday, January 31, 2015 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON TIM TRAINOR Advertising Director Opinion Page Editor EO MEDIA GROUP East Oregonian • The Daily Astorian • Capital Press • Hermiston Herald Blue Mountain Eagle • Wallowa County Chieftain • Chinook Observer • Coast River Business Journal Oregon Coast Today • Coast Weekend • Seaside Signal • Cannon Beach Gazette Eastern Oregon Real Estate Guide • Eastern Oregon Marketplace • Coast Marketplace OnlyAg.com • FarmSeller.com • Seaside-Sun.com • NorthwestOpinions.com • DiscoverOurCoast.com MIKE FORRESTER Pendleton Chairman of the Board STEVE FORRESTER Astoria President TOM BROWN Bigfork, Mont. Director KATHRYN B. BROWN Pendleton Secretary/Treasurer JEFF ROGERS Indianapolis, Ind. Director OUR VIEW Advice to legislators as session kicks off Our trio of local legislators — Democrat-dominated state Senate Greg Barreto, Bill Hansell and Greg and House seem on board. Hansell Smith — are heading to Salem for said securing the water would bring the 2015 legislative session that ³PLQGERJJOLQJ´EHQH¿WVWRWKH begins Monday. area. And anything with that kind of While we’re sure they’ve already impact on the mind is worth putting been barraged by all sorts of at the top of the priority list. DGYLVRUVZH¿JXUHGWKDWZHPLJKW Hansell looks to be on the far- as well throw in our two cents, too. right watch list, but hopefully he So on their drive down the Gorge, doesn’t let that pressure change his we’d like our three representatives to YLHZSRLQW+HGLGD¿QHMREODVW consider a few things and keep them session, learned some lessons, and top of mind throughout the session: we don’t have any reason to believe Greg Barreto he won’t be ready for Round 2. Get off on the right foot. But sending more water into First-time representative Greg the basin would be a feather in the Barreto has had to cap that no shadowy endure far too much of political action our advice already, so committee could Keep we’ll keep it brief this constituents touch. time around. Greg Smith We hope only Quit working concerns that Barreto goes to with your private in mind Salem with an open development company mind, a willingness to bring a coal export throughout to facility listen and learn, and to Boardman. the term. applies the work ethic We’ve that has grown his uncomfortably business over the last acquiesced to Smith’s three decades and got him elected economic development business in LQ,IKHDSSOLHVWKDWWR¿JKW the past, because it does seem that exhaustively for his constituents, he takes every opportunity to squash regardless of their political leanings, any semblance of impropriety. it will be a successful freshman But the controversial nature of the campaign. coal transport facility at Boardman We have so few Eastern Oregon — and the power that politicians voices in Salem we can’t afford a hold on its future — make it too voice that only speaks for some of delicate a situation for the man who us. represents the area to be taking Bill Hansell such a strong stand and accepting a Show us the water. paycheck while he’s standing there. ,QFUHDVLQJWKHÀRZRI&ROXPELD It’s enough. River water into the Umatilla And while the controversy will Basin has been a priority for probably be caught up in the court area legislators for a long while. for years and years, it should go on But while past efforts have been without Rep. Smith being gainfully consumed with the laborious task of employed by one side of the debate. laying groundwork, Hansell and the Smith has proven himself as a rest of the local contingent seem to key member of the legislature and have the water issue square in their a valuable voice on the Ways & sights for completion this session. Means Committee. We’ve come to Local organizations have expect solid returns from his trips to united behind a common front, Salem and expect nothing less this the governor is supportive and a time around. OTHER VIEWS The days of wine and droning T Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of Publisher Kathryn Brown, Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, and Opinion Page Editor Tim Trainor. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. online. Regulating their behavior is the he case of the intoxicated responsibility of the Federal Aviation JRYHUQPHQWZRUNHUZKRÀHZ Administration, which is taking its a drone onto the White House sweet time. “In 2011, Congress asked ODZQODXQFKHGDPLOOLRQMRNHV the FAA to come up with rules. Finally Although none was actually better this fall they came out with rules,” said than the straight-faced headline in The Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who’s New York Times: “White House Drone been complaining about the delays. Crash Described as a U.S. Worker’s But wait, there’s more! “We don’t Drunken Lark.” Gail even know what they say,” Schumer ³0\¿UVWTXHVWLRQLVZKHWKHU Collins continued. The FAA isn’t sharing until the guy’s going to get a DUI for Comment more of the bureaucracy gets a crack GURQLQJXQGHUWKHLQÀXHQFH´VDLG at its handiwork: “They won’t make Ben Trapnell, an aviation professor WKHPSXEOLFXQWLOWKH2I¿FHRI0DQDJHPHQW at the University of North Dakota. I had a and Budget reviews them. OMB then sends great phone conversation with Trapnell about them to other federal agencies.” drones, aka unmanned aerial vehicles. It led While we’re waiting around, confusion me to conclude that, like so many other things abounds. Commercial drone uses are in American society, this is a matter about theoretically prohibited, but there’s a which people differ depending on whether widespread feeling that they live in a crowded place in the absence of rules, or an empty place. anything goes. Empty, like North Take Rep. Sean Patrick Dakota, and you think of a Maloney, D-N.Y., whose À\LQJFDPHUDGRLQJFURS wedding photographer had inspections. Maybe an a drone taking pictures Amazon drone arriving at during the happy occasion. your house on the prairie When critics accused him with the espresso maker you of violating FAA rules, MXVWRUGHUHG Maloney said he “wasn’t Crowded, and you up-to-date on the lack of imagine a mini-helicopter regulations around the crashing through your emerging technology.” The apartment window. Or same thing was true, the hitting a light pole and congressman argued, of falling down on a baby “most people who are about in a stroller. Or running to get married.” Excellent into a plane, which has point! Although most people nearly happened on several who are about to get married occasions. are not serving on the House Even the much-heralded transportation subcommittee on aviation. promise of drone-delivered pizza sounds One of the very few drone regulations that awful if you envision hundreds of pies GRHVH[LVWSURKLELWVÀ\LQJQHDUDLUSRUWV%XW smashing into one another over Brooklyn clearly some do it anyway. And if you catch every Friday night. one, there’s no ID number to tell you who But about the drunk droner. This saga owns it. “The ones being reported in near starred an off-duty employee of the National FROOLVLRQVDUHÀRZQE\KREE\LVWVDQGWKH\ Geospatial-Intelligence Agency who had can go up to 55 pounds,” said a spokesman been drinking at an apartment not far from for the Air Line Pilots Association, which is the White House when he decided, in the deeply unenthusiastic about the whole drone middle of the night, to try out a friend’s drone. He then quickly lost control of the little idea. “These aren’t like geese. The ones that can be purchased on the Internet can go as fellow, which crash-landed in what is at least high as 7-8,000 feet.” theoretically the most heavily protected lawn And then you’ve got privacy issues. “They in the United States. better beware, because I’ve got a shotgun,” The public conversation instantly turned said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., when asked about to terrorism and whether a maniac could use drones after the White House incident. This a recreational drone to drop a bomb, or start a chemical attack. This is a terrible worry. But at was during an interview, in which CNN was least we have multitudes of dedicated, vigilant trying to demonstrate that it is possible to communicate with a prominent politician via public servants, virtually all of them totally sober, working night and day to make sure this Snapchat. (It is possible, but probably not a good idea.) kind of thing doesn’t happen. Trapnell in North Dakota wasn’t impressed However, we’re not giving enough by the privacy argument. “I’d be more worried attention to the threat of normal American about somebody sticking a cellphone on a pole idiots. The kind of people who think it’s fun and holding it over the fence,” he argued. to sit in the backyard and point laser lights at Like I said, it’s crowded versus empty. the cockpits of incoming planes, or participate Ŷ in a YouTube challenge that involves trying Gail Collins joined The New York Times to snort a condom up one’s nose. The folks in 1995 as a member of the editorial board IRUZKRVHEHQH¿WFRXQWOHVVXWLOLW\FRPSDQLHV have written tips that include “don’t look for a and later as an Op-Ed columnist. In 2001 she EHFDPHWKH¿UVWZRPDQHYHUDSSRLQWHGHGLWRU gas leak with a candle or lighted match.” of the Times’s editorial page. Drones are supereasy to buy in stores or Much-heralded promise of drone-delivered pizza sounds awful when you envision hundreds of pies smashing into one another over Brooklyn. LETTERS POLICY The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication . The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime phone number. Send letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendle- ton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com. YOUR VIEWS Editorial didn’t refute Hansell’s voting record Hansell voting with his constituents in mind I saw your editorial personally attacking me and questioning the tactics of Capitol Watch PAC. What you never refuted was the central point our ad: Senator Hansell’s voting record. Senator Hansell voted for and even co-sponsored the attempt to give illegals special Oregon drivers licenses. Eighty-two percent of the voters in his district disagreed. Senator Hansell did vote for Oregon’s ObamaCare (HB3458, HB2859). Senator Hansell did vote for the boondoggle light rail bridge in Portland that would have diverted transportation dollars from his district. And Senator Hansell did vote to provide a pathway for early release of sexual criminals (HB3194A). Attempting to kill the messenger doesn’t change Hansell’s voting record. When I read the full page ad in the January 17 East Oregonian I couldn’t believe my eyes. Four red X marks negatively accuse Senator Bill Hansell of his YRWLQJUHFRUGLQKLV¿UVWOHJLVODWLYHVHVVLRQ I don’t always agree with Senator Hansell. When he voted to give special driver’s licenses to illegals, he probably had in mind those involved in agriculture, for certainly agriculture has relied on immigrant labor in Eastern Oregon. I think Senator Hansell’s ability to “cross the aisle” to get things done for Oregon is commendable and I have been trying to ¿JXUHRXWZK\KLVVXSSRUWRIDOLJKWUDLO bridge in Portland wouldn’t help Oregon. The senator has a lot of issues coming up in the 2015 Legislature, including important matters for business and farming. There is a plan to cut taxes for small business in Oregon and a plan to lower taxes on Eastern Jeff Kropf Sublimity Oregon farmers who export wheat (HB 2616). The senator is working to pass a law to control wolves that attack livestock (HB 3452) and protect farmers growing wheat crops (SB 663). I didn’t know about the rodeo issue but apparently there is a Senate bill (SB 835) protecting the right of the people of Oregon to hold rodeos and another bill (SB 833) prohibiting treating rodeos less favorably than other organized events. Certainly, these bills are important to the Round-Up City. There are other issues to come before the Legislature, including matters on water, domestic and spousal abuse, forests, environment, global warming, health and education. I expect he will even have to deal with the Bureau of Land Management about grazing rights of ranchers vs. wild horses in Central Oregon. Get behind Senator Hansell. He needs your support to help make Eastern Oregon a better place for all Oregonians. Dorys C. Grover, Pendleton Informal poll against 5HTXDEURQ]HDW%URZQ¿HOG I totally agree with Mike Forrester and Fritz Hill on the Requa bronze not being SODFHGDW%URZQ¿HOG3DUN I conducted a simple straw poll that had a net result of 96 percent against the bronze DW%URZQ¿HOGDQGWKDWLWVKRXOGEHQHDUWKH school. I realized the same straw poll could save the city council about $75,000 on the ¿UHKRXVHDQDO\VLVDQGDSSO\WKHIXQGVWRWKH speed bumps generated on Perkins Street. John Borgerson Pendleton Be heard! Comment on these letters and more at eastoregonian.com
