Page 4A
OPINION
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Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
JENNINE PERKINSON
Advertising Director
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
OUR VIEW
Allow phones to
tune in FM radio
You might not know it, but
the U.S. have a plain old FM radio
your smartphone is more than just
receiver inside. But in many of
a machine to stalk Facebook and
the phones, the radio is disabled.
watch YouTube videos of cats.
In iPhones, for instance, the FM
There are some old-school
receivers are turned off, for no
technologies in your pocket that
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can be preciously important in
They are turned off for a simple
an emergency. First, it’s a phone!
reason: customers with a device
That means you can dial a string of
capable of receiving FM radio
numbers and connect with another
signals might stream less digital
person. That other
music and download
person could be
tunes. That
Inside of most fewer
an emergency
translated into fewer
dispatcher in the
dollars for cell
smartphones
case that you are
and app
is an FM radio companies
in danger, or your
makers.
mother in the case
But those lost
receiver, which pennies
that you are not.
in the short
has been
Secondly, your
term may turn
cellphone has a
lost lives in
disabled to no into
built-in FM radio
a time of tragedy.
benefit of the
receiver.
As all emergency
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responders know,
consumer.
might sound like
communication
outdated technology
is key to timely
as well, it won’t
response and
be in the event that a natural or
effective use of resources. FM
unnatural event severs our electronic signals can be an excellent way to
infrastructure.
reach citizens when electricity is
It’s not a far-fetched possibility,
sparse and Internet and television is
especially here in the Cascadia
knocked out. Using an FM signal is
Subduction Zone. It happened just
not nearly the battery suck as live
last week in Nepal, when satellite
streaming news and music via an
and Internet-enabled phones were
online application.
rendered useless after a powerful
Some of the largest radio
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lobbyists, such as National Public
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Radio, have been campaigning to
in the quake, a death toll that is
get those radios switched on. They
sure to rise considerably as rescue
want Congress to require cellphone
teams continue to work toward the
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epicenter.
least give customers the option to do
Sure, Nepal is one of the world’s
so themselves.
poorest countries and infrastructure
The industry even created an app
is of far lower quality than in
called NextRadio that manages local
America. But a quake that measures FM stations. It makes sense to have
7.8 on the Richter Scale will be
that communication device at our
terribly destructive wherever it hits.
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That’s where cellphones can save
Hopefully we won’t need to
lives, and they don’t require any
depend on our cellphones for radio
expensive infrastructure upgrades
signals in the case of a catastrophe.
or wonky emergency management
But someone, somewhere, will
decrees.
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Almost all smartphones sold in
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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.
YOUR VIEWS
Two issues on May ballot
is just the beginning
Voters of Pendleton, don’t spend all
of your fortune on the Pendleton School
District special levy and Blue Mountain
Community College bond election. The
city of Pendleton needs your money also.
In July the city council will raise your
water and sewer rates without your vote.
There is also a new utility (stormwater
system) that needs to be funded.
Last year the city proposed a $10
million bond issue that somehow missed
the ballot. I think there will be a repeat of
some kind of bond issue this fall.
The next thing that needs your money
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Avenue. The over $70,000 assessment
by a Portland company is not good. I
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standing up, according to the assessment.
Maybe anyone who owns a home built
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house does not fall down when they are
in bed. The city will probably be seeking
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Street in November.
The last thing is funding for street
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released. See if the council has added
any money from the general fund for
street repair. This can be done but it
will mean cuts in funding for parks,
recreation and the aquatic center. Fees
for use of city-owned property need
to be raised so that the taxpayer is not
paying the lion’s share of the cost of
operating these facilities. Free stuff
is good for some people, but not the
taxpayers. Enough is enough.
I am not telling you to vote no on
school and college issues. Just remember
more is on the way. Your vote counts.
Rex J. Morehouse
Pendleton
BMCC helps industries
at Port of Morrow
The ability to obtain a quality
post-high school education close to
home made sense to Morrow and
Umatilla county taxpayers when they
voted overwhelmingly to establish Blue
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That support has been rewarded as
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years into a respected provider of the
classes and training needed to prepare
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jobs available in our region. Continuing
on with that tradition of excellence, the
college is working in partnership with
key industries and the Port of Morrow
to identify and establish the courses
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workforce. A workforce training center
dedicated to that effort paves a bright
pathway to the future for our students
and citizens.
Please join us in voting yes for the
BMCC bond levy.
Gary and Kathy Neal
Boardman
OTHER VIEWS
Goodness and power
T
here was an interesting poll
internal voice. After a while they can’t
result about Hillary Clinton last
accurately perceive themselves or
week. According to a Quinnipiac
their situation. Sooner or later their
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believe that she has strong leadership
Maybe once upon a time there
qualities. But when these same voters
was an environment in which ruthless
were asked if she is honest and
Machiavellians had room to work
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their dark arts, but we don’t live in
Sixty-one percent said she is not
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David
honest and trustworthy. Apparently
Brooks of universal media attention. Once
there are a lot of Americans who
there is a hint of scandal of any kind,
Comment
believe that Hillary Clinton is
the political world goes into maximum
dishonest and untrustworthy but also a
frenzy and everything stops.
strong leader.
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dispersed. You can’t intimidate people by
second. These poll results raise a larger
chopping your enemies to bits in the town
question: Can you be a bad person but a strong square. Even the presidency isn’t a powerful
leader?
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The case for that proposition is reasonably
You have to build coalitions by appealing to
straightforward. Politics is a
people’s self-interest and by
tough, brutal arena. People
luring them voluntarily to
play by the rules of the
your side.
jungle. Sometimes to get
Modern politics, like
anything done, a leader has
private morality, is about
to push, bully, intimidate,
building trust and enduring
elide the truth. The qualities
personal relationships.
that make you a good person
That means being fair,
in private life — kindness,
empathetic, honest and
humility and a capacity
trustworthy. If you stink at
for introspection — can be
establishing trust, you stink
drawbacks on the public
at politics.
stage. Electing a president
People with good private
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morality are better at
friend or lover. It’s better to
navigating for the long term.
hire a ruthless person to do a
They genuinely love causes
hard job.
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I get that argument, but
the news cycle distracts
outside the make-believe
and the short-term passions
world of “House of Cards,” it’s usually wrong. surge, they can still steer by that distant
Voting for someone with bad private morals is star. They’re less likely to overreact and do
like setting off on a battleship with awesome
something stupid.
guns and a rotting hull. There’s a good chance
People with astute moral sentiments have
you’re going to sink before the voyage is over. an early warning system. They don’t have
People who are dishonest, unkind and
to think through the dangers of tit-for-tat
inconsiderate have trouble attracting and
favor-exchanges with billionaires. They have
retaining good people to their team. They
an aesthetic revulsion against people who
tend to have sleazy friends. They may be
seem icky and situations that are distasteful,
personally canny, but they are almost always
which heads off a lot of trouble.
surrounded by sycophants and second-raters
Of course, private morality is not
who kick up scandal and undermine the
enough. You have to know how to react to
leader’s effectiveness.
unprincipled people who want to destroy you.
Leaders who lack humility are fragile.
But, historically, most effective leaders
Their pride is bloated and sensitive. People
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are never treating them as respectfully as they
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think they deserve. They become consumed
dual consciousness. They had an earnest, inner
with resentments. They treat politics as
moral voice capable of radical self-awareness,
battle, armor up and wall themselves off to
rectitude and great compassion. They also
information and feedback.
had a pragmatic, canny outer voice. These
You may think they are championing your
two voices were in constant conversation,
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checking each other, probing for synthesis,
they are really only interested in defending
wise as a serpent and innocent as a dove.
themselves. They keep an enemies list and
I don’t know if Hillary Clinton possesses
life becomes a matter of settling scores and
this double-mindedness. But I do know that
imagining conspiracies. They jettison any
if candidates don’t acquire a moral compass
policy that might hurt their standing.
outside of politics, they’re not going to get
It is a paradox of politics that the people
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who set out obsessively to succeed in it
effective there.
usually end up sabotaging themselves. They
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treat each relationship as a transaction and
David Brooks became a New York Times
don’t generate loyalty. They lose any honest
Op-Ed columnist in September 2003.
Voting for
someone with
bad private
morals is like
setting off on a
battleship with
awesome guns
and a rotting
hull.
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BMCC board post
Do you want a person on the Blue
Mountain Community College Board
who is experienced, dedicated and
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the person you will want to vote for.
Susan is experienced. She has over
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including the last ten years of her career
as director of grants for BMCC.
She knows the strengths and
challenges of a community college
in a rural area. She understands
that a community college provides
students with opportunities while also
supporting the economic growth of those
communities which the college serves.
Susan is dedicated. As director of
grants for BMCC those ten years, she
worked on special projects and was
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of external revenue for BMCC. These
revenues supported academic programs
and student services as well as the
physical plant.
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experience in higher education, she
understands the responsibilities of a
board member. She sees that BMCC
needs to look forward; she will continue
to seek information to help determine the
best course for the future of BMCC.
Bob and Jill Heffner
Pendleton
LETTERS POLICY
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues
and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. 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.
The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send
letters to Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801
or email editor@eastoregonian.com.