Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Friday, July 3, 2015
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
JENNINE PERKINSON
Advertising Director
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
OUR VIEW
Tip of the hat;
kick in the pants
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Whether Helix farmers or Pendleton urbanites, people in both environs
have stepped up to help save lives and property recently when a frightening
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We have professional hose haulers in a
few Umatilla County municipalities, but
for many people, saving your residence can
come down to how willing and able you and
your neighbors are to protect your property.
And it should be noted: people should never
put their own safety, or the safety of others, at
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straw.
But it is admirable when people do what
they safely can to help themselves and the
people around them. We’re happy when we hear it and see it, and it makes
us glad to live in a place where the community supports each other.
A kick in the pants to the mess that is the Oregon Trail Library
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It seems like the library district and the city of Irrigon were the weekly
recipients of a kick in the pants when the
Columbia River town’s library remained
closed because the two groups could not
get in the same room and each sign the
same piece of paper.
Frankly, we should have been kicking
twice a week. Barring taxpayers from
something they paid for because of the
squabbling incompetence of public
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organization was disgraceful.
It’s now clear that the library
district was the least functioning of the two. Later, board members went
incommunicado for months and the district was barely able to legally
conduct business. Often they were not even able to do that.
Richmond deserves much of the blame for steadily diminishing
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sinking ship and be hired as coordinator of the Umatilla County Special
Library District. Did anyone in the district check Richmond’s work history,
or read media reports of the mess she left behind in a neighboring library
district?
We hope her damage is more limited in the new position than her last, but
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A tip of the hat to those truly patriotic and conscientious citizens who
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likely to ruin everyone’s day.
It doesn’t take a meteorologist to know
this spring and summer have been brutally
hot and unusually dry. Your basic sparklers,
poppers and snakes aren’t going to get too
out of hand (with proper adult supervision,
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be a real hazard. Especially if the users aren’t
paying close attention.
If you are going to set off your own
display, remember to keep a hose and bucket
of water nearby, small children away and pay
attention to the burnt out shell even when the spectacle is over.
But the real question is, why bother? Pendleton will kick off the weekend
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offer their own shows Saturday night.
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
National Park fees go up again
The (Eugene) Register-Guard
N
early a century ago, Congress
passed the National Park Service
Organic Act, creating a federal
agency to manage the nation’s parks and
monuments. The agency’s mission was
as broad and impressive in scope as the
lands to which it applied: to “conserve
the scenery and the natural and historic
objects” of the parks and to “provide for
the enjoyment of the same ... by such
means as will leave them unimpaired for
the enjoyment of future generations.”
That mission has been endangered
in recent years by a massive backlog in
maintenance and construction projects
— nearly $12 billion worth — that
threaten to cast a shadow over the
National Park Service’s celebration of its
centennial in August 2016.
The agency’s maintenance needs
have been exacerbated by congressional
budget cuts that have taken an increasing
toll on both operating and capital
budgets. In a recent report, agency
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park system’s paved roads are in “fair to
poor condition” and dozens of bridges
need repair. An estimated 6,700 miles of
hiking trails need maintenance.
Name the park, and the agency
has a corresponding list of deferred
maintenance projects. At Crater Lake,
the list consists largely of roads,
including the iconic Rim Road, which
takes visitors around the lake and is
scheduled for a major renovation later
this year. At Yosemite, the list ranges
from up. The park headquarters at
Lassen Volcanic National Park needs a
new utility system, and Sequoia National
Park needs a water treatment facility.
The list goes on. And on.
The National Park Service has asked
Congress for $243 million in new
funding over the next 10 years to restore
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condition. That’s a modest request in
light of the maintenance backlog and the
increasing popularity of national parks
— an estimated 292 million people
visited national parks last year.
At 130 national parks across the
country, the agency recently began
charging visitors more to get inside, with
entrance fees doubling, even tripling at
some sites. The price of daily admission
went from $10 to $15 a couple of weeks
ago at Crater Lake. Across the nation,
park visitors will also face higher fees
for other amenities.
It’s unfortunate that park visitors will
have to pay more to visit and play in
national parks, and it’s possible the new
increases will price some Americans out
of visiting them. National parks, which
represent some of the most extraordinary
examples of America’s landscape and
heritage, should be available for the
enjoyment of all citizens.
Yet most national fees have not
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say 80 percent of the fees stay at the park
where they were collected.
Americans can also take solace in the
fact that revenue from the fee increases
will be used to keep the nation’s parks
from falling further into disrepair and,
hopefully, to reduce a monumental
— and unacceptable — maintenance
backlog.
OTHER VIEWS
GOP searches for
strategy to counter
Obama winning streak
R
epublicans have tried to pin the
policy, popular with the American
lame duck label on President
people, or good healthcare,” noted
Obama for quite a while now.
Curt Anderson, a top adviser to the
But for a lame duck, Obama is doing
Bobby Jindal campaign.
pretty well.
Some saw Obama’s wins as
He won on Obamacare. He won
tangential to the issues that matter
on gay marriage. He won on trade.
most with voters, explaining that
His party was even able to leverage
Obama is still a loser when it comes to
a horrendous crime — the killings in
the big stuff.
Byron
Charleston — to put Republicans on
“When the voters start giving
York
the defensive over the Confederate
the president credit for a booming
Comment
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A president’s approval rating, and
of foreign policy successes, then the
his general image of success or failure, affect
Republicans will have to worry,” said Vin
the candidate of his party seeking to succeed
Weber, a longtime GOP strategist who is an
him. From that perspective, Obama’s victories outside adviser to the Bush campaign.
are a gift to Democratic frontrunner Hillary
Finally, others saw Obama’s wins as mainly
the work of a Washington establishment out
Clinton.
of touch with economic suffering going on
Indeed, Clinton was quick to embrace
beyond the Beltway.
the Supreme Court Affordable Care Act
“President Obama and
decision. “Yes!” she tweeted
America’s elites are winning,
just minutes after the news
winning, winning,” said Alex
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Castellanos, a longtime GOP
what we know is true in
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our hearts & under the law:
with any campaign this time
Health insurance should be
around. “Let the peasants
affordable & available to all.”
eat cake, Obamacare, and
A short time after
unemployment. A lot of steam
Clinton’s statement, I sent
notes to several Republican
is building up in the populist
operatives, some working on
pressure cooker. In 2016,
SUHVLGHQWLDOFDPSDLJQVDQGVRPHXQDI¿OLDWHG some very angry peasants are going to storm
How do GOP candidates deal with a president Washington with torches and pitchforks.”
on a winning streak? How does it affect the
One could spend a long time searching
campaign? Does it give Clinton a stronger
those statements for a single, fully coherent
hand? The answers that came back showed a
strategy to counter the president and neutralize
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deal with the Democrats’ recent run.
Hillary Clinton. That’s not really a surprise,
Some stressed that the president’s wins
given that there are currently 13 declared
aren’t really his, pointing especially to the
candidates, with three more likely to come, in
trade deal, in which Obama succeeded almost
the race for the Republican nomination. But
entirely because of Republican help.
whichever course they choose, Republicans
“Yes, he can claim some victories, but
will have to connect with the people who lose
few of his own making and mostly due to
when Obama wins.
other actors, for their own reasons, making
After the Supreme Court decision, the
things happen,” said Dave Carney, the New
GOP candidates themselves issued mostly
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Perry in the last election. “He has become the
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Forrest Gump of presidents.”
said, to make the 2016 election “a national
Others laid blame on GOP lawmakers in
referendum on repealing Obamacare.”
Congress, arguing they must do more to stop
They promised to replace Obamacare with
the president’s agenda.
something better.
“Republicans in Washington need to
But what’s going on now is bigger than
act and put pressure on Obama to veto
simply Obamacare. The president is on a roll
conservative legislation or come to the
at the moment, and the Democrat who hopes
table,” said Tim Miller of the Jeb Bush
to follow him to the White House is looking
campaign. “There has been a lot of talking, but to roll along. Republicans need a focused
Republicans need to start getting results.”
strategy to stop that momentum. So far, the
Still others argued that Obama’s wins don’t GOP is still looking.
say much about the merits of his agenda. “He
Ŷ
won the (Obamacare) case, but just having the
Byron York is chief political correspondent
Court say it was legal doesn’t make it good
for The Washington Examiner.
Some see
Obama’s wins
as tangential
to the issues.
YOUR VIEWS
Meth is the real problem in
Pendleton — not marijuana
Marijuana is legal. Months have gone
by since the election but there is no plan
for the implementation of this law. There
are hundreds of locals who rely on medical
marijuana for its medicinal qualities.
There was a recent East Oregonian
editorial on the topic of medical marijuana
dispensaries. It reminded me of the movie
“Reefer Madness,” made in 1936 and based
on the exaggerated effect of marijuana.
The EO had a quote from our police chief
that was alarming: “How many deaths is it
going to take?” I have read dozens of obits
in the EO and have never seen one where
the death was caused by marijuana. Former
city councilman Keith May said that “he
would close his business and move away if a
marijuana shop opened on Main Street.”
That is amusing because his store is
equidistant to two businesses that sell drug
paraphernalia, Thur’s and Pandora’s Box. The
third head shop, “Out of Action,” is located
nearby on Main Street. The fourth business,
“Wicked Kitty,” is on Main Street and it sells
paraphernalia in its “green room.”
In an EO story published in November
2014, Wicked Kitty manager Angela
Treadwell stated that glass products are their
number two revenue generator.
The distressing news is that these
businesses do not simply cater to marijuana
users.
Pendleton has had a history of drug abuse
for years. Meth is an epidemic in the town.
Residents in a motel manufactured meth in a
room.
Since meth is made from battery acid,
drain cleaner, lantern fuel and antifreeze, I
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employees had no knowledge of this activity.
The same thing occurred in another Pendleton
motel. Both were shut down for months to
detoxify the rooms.
The glassware that is sold in the four head
shops are not just for marijuana. It is also
purchased by meth users. Meth addiction is
a major issue in Pendleton and accounts for
many of the crimes committed in town.
With the city council prohibiting rigidly
controlled medical marijuana dispensaries,
the city is forcing local residents to purchase
marijuana on the black market. As a result,
Pendleton will lose millions of dollars over the
long term from taxes that won’t be collected to
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Jerry Cronin
Pendleton