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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (May 13, 2015)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Wednesday, May 13, 2015 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN Publisher JENNINE PERKINSON Advertising Director DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW Telling ag’s story up-close and personally The Wild West world of social media provides more heat than light to the online discussion of agriculture. Rare is the discussion about farming or ranching that doesn’t attract a high-voltage rant based on ignorance, some political DJHQGDRUÀDWRXWIDOVHKRRG That’s too bad, because there really is a lot to talk about. Last week, the Ag Chat Foundation had its regional meeting near Spokane, Wash. The speakers talked about what they do — write about food and agriculture — and encouraged those in attendance to join the conversation. Their counsel was to tell their story and not get into a verbal wrestling match with the skunks that lurk online ORRNLQJIRUD¿JKW That’s sage advice. These days, the skunks seem to outnumber everyone else online. Even the most straightforward expression of fact will draw a screed personally attacking the author. Such is the nature of 21st century “communications.” We’ve long favored communicating with members of the ag community and the public at large. That’s what we do. Our printed newspaper and our online website allow folks from all walks of life to learn about farming and ranching and the many issues that face agriculture. We also encourage bloggers and other pro-farming folks to tell their stories in a personal and factual way. But we also support another means of helping the public understand farming — up-close and personal. A couple of weeks ago in Salem, Oregon Ag Fest gave about 18,000 children and their parents and grandparents a glimpse of the wonders of agriculture. From a petting zoo to hands-on workshops, many exhibits and activities allowed young and old to meet farmers and ranchers and learn about what they do, and why. As much could be learned standing around petting a sheep and asking questions of a nearby 4-H or FFA member as could be learned anywhere online. Agriculture is a miracle. Coaxing plants from the rich earth, helping a new calf that’s just taken LWV¿UVWEUHDWK²WKLV is what attracts farmers and ranchers to a profession and lifestyle that is IXO¿OOLQJLQVRPDQ\ ways. The only way to understand that is to ZLWQHVVLW¿UVWKDQG Other efforts to inform the public about agriculture include the Oregon Agri-Business Council’s Adopt-a- Farmer program, in which school children visit farms and learn about agriculture directly from farmers; county and state fairs; and farmers’ markets, roadside stands, U-pick operations and pumpkin patches. All of them add up to memorable experiences that help the public understand agriculture in a personal way. There’s no single answer to addressing the noisy critics that clog the Internet with their snide comments, rude insults and astounding displays of ignorance. If you took that away from them, they would have nothing. The best thing farmers and ranchers can do is to open their doors to the vast majority of the public, who are genuinely interested in farming and UDQFKLQJDQGKRZWKHLUIRRGDQG¿EHU are produced. Tell your story and don’t get into a verbal wrestling match with the skunks that lurk online —even if those skunks seem to outnumber everyone else on the Internet. 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. OTHER VIEWS Let rural Oregon pump own gas The (Eugene) Register-Guard You know those T-shirts that say “Keep Oregon weird”? They should include a drawing of a hippie (it’s always a hippie, right?) merrily pumping his or her own gas into a VW microbus. For those not steeped in service- station lore, Oregon banned self-service gasoline in 1951, seven years before the QDWLRQ¶V¿UVWSXPS\RXURZQJDVVWDWLRQ opened in Omaha, Neb. The prohibition is embedded in statutes dealing with explosives, suggesting that safety was lawmakers’ primary concern six decades ago. Opponents argued that a 1982 initiative to lift the ban would cost jobs, and would inconvenience the elderly and people with disabilities. The initiative ran into an electoral ditch, failing 58 percent to 42 percent. Oregon remains one of only two states — the other is New Jersey — that ban motorists from pumping their own gas. So far the same arguments have not been marshaled against legislation authored by Rep. Cliff Bentz, D-Ontario, that would allow stations in counties with fewer than 40,000 residents to keep self-pay pumps turned on when no owner, operator or employee is around to serve customers. Bentz and co-sponsor Sen. Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, say the bill is needed because businesses in remote areas can’t afford to man the pumps 24 hours a day. The bill would apply to roughly half of the state’s counties and would include the Columbia Gorge, Eastern Oregon and most coastal communities. “If you’re a tourist going into the outback of our state without a full tank of gas, you better be prepared to sleep in your car, because it’s going to be tough WR¿QGDJDVVWDWLRQWKDW¶VRSHQDIWHUD certain hour,” Ferrioli says. Ferrioli emphasizes that House Bill 3011 is not likely to lead to a full repeal of the ban on self-service. That’s a pretty safe bet, since Oregonians have swatted down every attempt to overturn the ban since it was instituted 64 years ago. Opposition has been so overwhelming that state lawmakers, despite industry prodding, haven’t dared introduce a measure to overturn the ban since 2003. With the proliferation of credit- card-reading pumps and spill-prevention mechanisms, another look at self-service gas might make sense. Most of the RI¿FLDOUHDVRQVIRUWKH law, listed in statute, don’t stand up to scrutiny, including “Exposure to toxic fumes represents a health hazard to customers dispensing (gasoline),” which is followed by “The hazard described ... (above) is heightened when the customer is pregnant.” Then there is “Self-service dispensing at retail contributes to unemployment, particularly among young people,” a claim that might make sense if economists didn’t dismiss it as unsubstantiated, based on the experience of the vast majority of states that have self-serve. The House has unanimously approved HB 3011, and the Senate should do the same. But there’s no evidence of widespread public support for changing Oregon’s self-service ban. It’s one of those quirks that Oregonians ¿QGHQGHDULQJ²DQGWKDWZHOOKHOSV keep Oregon weird. But keep self-serve gas in Oregon’s large population areas, and keep Oregon weird in the process. OTHER VIEWS The center-right moment T he most surprising event of candidates who believe in their this political era is what hasn’t country’s exceptionalism. happened. The world has not Second, they have been basically WXUQHGOHIW*LYHQWKH¿QDQFLDOFULVLV VHQVLEOHRQ¿VFDOSROLF\$IWHUWKH widening inequality, the unpopularity ¿QDQFLDOFULVLVWKHUHZDVDELJGHEDWH of the right’s stances on social issues over how much governments should and immigration, you would have go into debt to stimulate growth. thought that progressive parties would The two nations most associated be cruising from win to win. with the “austerity” school — those David But, instead, right-leaning parties Brooks who were suspicious of debt-based are doing well. In the United States, stimulus — were Germany and Comment Republicans control both houses of Britain. This will not settle the debate, Congress. In Israel, the Likud Party but these two nations now have some led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the strongest economies in Europe and their pulled off a surprising win in an election that political leaders are in good shape. was at least partly about economic policy. In Third, these leaders did not overread Britain, the Conservative their mandate. Cameron in Party led by Prime Minister Britain promised to cut the David Cameron won a size of government, and he parliamentary majority. did, from 45.7 percent of What’s going on here? GDP in 2010 to 40.7 percent Well, there are some today, according to The issues in each election Economist. The number of VSHFL¿FWRWKDWFRXQWU\ public-sector jobs there has but there are a few broader gone down by 1 million. trends to be observed. The But he made these cuts ¿UVWLVWKDWWKHFXWWLQJHGJH without going overboard. progressive economic Public satisfaction with arguments do not seem to be government services has swaying voters. gone up. And there have Over the past few been some sensible efforts years, left-of-center to boost those at the bottom. economic policy has moved from As The Economist pointed out, “The richest opportunity progressivism to redistributionist 10 percent have borne the greatest burden progressivism. Opportunity progressivism is of extra taxes. Full-time workers earning the associated with Bill Clinton and Tony Blair minimum wage pay a third as much income in the 1990s and Mayor Rahm Emanuel of tax as in 2010. Overall, inequality has not Chicago today. This tendency actively uses widened — in contrast to America.” government power to give people access to The British electorate and the U.S. markets, through support for community electorate sometimes mirror each other. Trans- colleges, infrastructure and training programs Atlantic voters went for Reagan and Thatcher and the like, but it doesn’t interfere that much together and Clinton and Blair together. In in the market, and it hesitates before raising policy terms, Cameron is a more conservative taxes. version of President Barack Obama. This tendency has been politically Cameron’s win suggests the kind of successful. Clinton and Blair had long terms. candidate that would probably do well in a This year, Emanuel won by 12 percentage general election in this country. He is liberal points against the more progressive on social policy, green on global warming candidate, Chuy Garcia, even in a city with a and pragmatically conservative on economic disproportionate number of union households. policy. If he’s faulted for anything, it is for Redistributionist progressivism more not being particularly ideological, although aggressively raises taxes to shift money he has let his ministers try some pretty bold down the income scale, opposes trade treaties institutional reforms to modernize the welfare and meddles more in the marketplace. This state. tendency has won elections in Massachusetts Globally, voters are disillusioned with (Elizabeth Warren) and New York City (Bill large public institutions. They seem to want to de Blasio) but not in many other places. Ed reassert local control and their own particular %DOOVWKH1R¿JXUHLQWKH/DERXU3DUW\ nationalism (Scottish or anything else). But in Britain, co-led the group from the Center they also seem to want a slightly smaller for American Progress that wrote the most public sector, strong welfare state reform and LQÀXHQWLDOVWDWHPHQWRIPRGHUQSURJUHVVLYLVP more open and vibrant labor markets as a path a report on “inclusive prosperity.” Balls could to prosperity. not even retain his own parliamentary seat in For some reason, U.S. politicians are the last election. ÀHHLQJIURPWKLVSUR¿OH+LOODU\&OLQWRQWRWKH The conservative victories probably have further left and Republicans to the right. more to do with the public’s skepticism about Ŷ the left than with any positive enthusiasm David Brooks became a New York Times toward the right. Still, there are a few Op-Ed columnist in September 2003. He things that center-right parties have done has been a senior editor at The Weekly successfully. Standard, a contributing editor at Newsweek First, they have loudly (and sometimes and the Atlantic Monthly, and is currently a offensively) championed national identity. In commentator on “The Newshour with Jim this era of globalization, voters are rewarding Lehrer.” Globally, voters are disillusioned with large public institutions. They seem to want to reassert local control. YOUR VIEWS People have right to motorized access on U.S. forest lands Do you want your access to public lands treated like a basketball game, where you have to worry about if you are “in bounds” or “out of bounds” and having to live with the penalties of not staying within the boundaries set forth by the Forest Service? That is exactly what your life will be if the proposed designation of routes language and travel management plan are put into place on our national forest. Currently you are allowed to openly and freely access the Wallowa-Whitman and Malheur national forests via motorized means at your discretion unless otherwise noted by ZLOGHUQHVVDUHDVRUDUHDVVSHFL¿FDOO\WDUJHWHG as non-motorized. Once roads areas are designated a use, all motorized use off those roads will be prohibited (within a given buffer along the road), going from an open forest system to a closed forest system. Much like the basketball court where you are not allowed to leave the court, motorized access will be disallowed from roughly 95 percent of your public lands. You may only play on the court the Forest Service allows, which will be along their selected roads, and if you play outside those lines you will be penalized up to $5,000 and/ or one year in jail. When did you turn over your right of motorized access to the U.S. Forest Service? Did any of you sign a document giving Mr. Montoya or Mr. Pena the authority to decide when and where you traveled? Offenses that will get you penalized if you JRRXWVLGHWKHGHVLJQDWHGDUHDDUH¿UHZRRG cutting, retrieving big game, dispersed camping, accessing historic berry and mushroom picking areas, accessing historic hunting areas, or simply recreating in your favorite area, just to name a few. If you do not agree that our motorized access should be restricted, please let Secretary Tom Vilsack (tom.vilsack@usda. gov) and Robert Bonnie (robert.bonnie@usda. gov) to let them know how their staff is failing our communities and families. LETTERS POLICY John D. George Bates, Ore. 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.
