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
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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Administration, which is taking its
a drone onto the White House
sweet time. “In 2011, Congress asked
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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
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at its handiwork: “They won’t make
Ben Trapnell, an aviation professor
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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
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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,
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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
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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
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have written tips that include “don’t look for a and later as an Op-Ed columnist. In 2001 she
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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
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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
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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
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I totally agree with Mike Forrester and
Fritz Hill on the Requa bronze not being
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I conducted a simple straw poll that had
a net result of 96 percent against the bronze
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school.
I realized the same straw poll could
save the city council about $75,000 on the
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speed bumps generated on Perkins Street.
John Borgerson
Pendleton
Be heard!
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