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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 22, 2015)
VIEWPOINTS Saturday, August 22, 2015 Quick takes John Day battles blazes After being there yesterday and seeing what they’re already dealing with, this makes me sick. — Josey Grant 7o all those who say ¿re is a natural Sart of the Srocess. 7he ¿res of old, before the settlers came, were small and merely kissed the trees. 7he ¿res now destroy eYerything and swallow trees whole. You see, 30 million bison used to roam the Americas in massiYe herds. As the herd Sassed, they tramSled and ate eYerything to the ground. — Natalie Fleming Log it, graze it, or watch it burn. The )orest SerYice used to be self funding, through timber sales, and ¿res like this didn’t haSSen. 1ow they waste si[ billion dollars watching the timber burn. Welcome to the “green” future. — Logan Wood *lad the 1ational *uard will be helSing. 1eed the boots on the ground — Peggy Blais ,n addition to the human liYes and SroSerty lost, where will the wildlife go to ¿nd food and shelter this winter" Thanks to the EPA, BPA’s mismanagement of the forests, and state/federal laws shutting down resSonsible logging ² all of us suffer. — April Dyntera Sending Srayers for eYeryone, esSecially our ¿re¿ghters who are working so hard to contain and Sut out these ¿res — Anji Turner One of the great lessons of the Twitter age is that much can be summed up in just a few words. Here are some of this week’s takes. Tweet yours @Tim_Trainor East Oregonian Page 5A Oregon’s Independent Party wants to be different I would like to thank that our Sarty has not the East Oregonian rallied around a single for its recent coYerage “charismatic leader” of the IndeSendent as other third Sarty Party’s emergence as moYements haYe done Oregon’s third major e.g., Teddy RooseYelt Solitical Sarty. Your and the Bull 0oose editorial SromSted some Party or Ross Perot and thoughts about the work the Reform Party. Sal we haYe done and what Instead, what has Peralta the IndeSendent Party driYen the growth of the Comment could mean for the state IndeSendent Party of of Oregon. Oregon is the massiYe First, I would like to caution leYel of frustration that Yoters folks against setting the across the sSectrum haYe e[Sectations too high. Although towards the two major Sarties. the state is now calling us a Only one third of Oregon Yoters “major Sarty,” the reality is that feel wellreSresented by the we are just 5 Sercent of Oregon two major Sarties, comSared Yoters. 2015 is the ¿rst year that with 0 Sercent who do not feel we haYe been able to hire Said wellreSresented and belieYe Srofessional staff. that a third Sarty is needed. We haYe been criticized So, for the last eight years, in some circles, unfairly I the Sarty’s of¿cers haYe worked think, for haYing a consensus almost entirely in a Yolunteer Slatform. &ritics should caSacity to deYeloS and remember that the Sarty’s imSlement a Yoting system to growth is unSrecedented for a allow our members to choose third Solitical Sarty. The largest the Sarty’s candidates and helS minor Sarties in the state, the decide the Slatform. In 2010, Libertarians and the Paci¿c we became the ¿rst Solitical Sarty in Oregon to conduct our Greens, which are much older own binding statewide Srimary than the IPO, both haYe a election and the ¿rst Sarty in the membershiS that has ranged United States to conduct such from 10,000 to 15,000 oYer the an election using the Internet to years. By comSarison, our Sarty has deliYer ballots and our Slatform questionnaires. added 109,000 members in 8 We can’t take any credit for years ² more than double the the Solitical climate that has number of new registrants than the 'emocrats and ReSublicans driYen so many SeoSle to join combined during that time sSan. the IndeSendent Party, but as of¿cers we make no aSologies Folks should also remember for creating a Srocess to allow all of the SeoSle who joined to meaningfully SarticiSate and e[Sress their Sreferences. What we haYe learned from that Srocess is that there is a lot of common ground from the left to the right in terms of what needs to be done for a grouS that chooses to de¿ne itself based on the things that we agree about. The easiest way to characterize our agenda Increase transSarency, reduce undue inÀuence, grow the economy and stick uS for the little guy. In terms of actual Solicies, in the 20115 legislatiYe session, our members asked us to Srioritize the following sSeci¿c legislatiYe goals Pass a constitutional amendment to allow Oregon to limit camSaign contributions Oregon is one of only si[ states with no contribution limits Sass legislation to oSen the state’s Srimary elections to more nonaf¿liated Yoters our Sarty will be oSening its own election to nonaf¿liated Yoter’s suSSort increased funding for Yocational training in high schools and community colleges and ensuring that ta[ dollars sSent for economic deYeloSment return greater Sublic bene¿t than they cost. Those may not seem like controYersial issues. Our data suggests that they are broadly suSSorted by Oregonians across the Solitical sSectrum. So why are so few of those things actually getting done" I understand that some SeoSle haYe a hard time wraSSing their heads around a Solitical Sarty that is Sositioning itself between the 'emocrats and ReSublicans. I can understand that some SeoSle haYe a hard time wraSSing their head around a Solitical Sarty that looks for collaboration rather than controYersy. But should it really come as a big surSrise that in an era of Solarization and hySer SartisanshiS, that a Solitical Sarty would emerge seeking to Sromote greater collaboration" PeoSle who want the Hat¿eld and 0c&oystyle feud that de¿nes 'emocratic and ReSublican Solitics will neYer be satis¿ed with our Sarty’s Slatform or aSSroach, but we hoSe that SeoSle looking for more Hat¿elds and 0c&alls might just ¿nd what they are looking for. Ŷ Sal Peralta is secretary of the Independent Party of Oregon. He lives in McMinnville with his family. People interested in running for local or state legislative of¿ce or in connecting with other Independents in eastern Oregon can reach Sal via telephone at 503-437-2833 or email him at info@indparty. com. Systemic road problem needs a new approach I haYe thought about SroYision would like to thank Larry before or after the action" Which O’5ourke for his Yiew Srinted would giYe the most desirable in the East Oregonian last week. result" It was well written, concise, astute The system we should change and thought SroYoking. to is running our cities like Larry had three statements that homeowners associations. I’Ye should be further e[Slored made some bold statements in the 1. “+ow is it Sossible so many Sast. +ere is another one Any cities suffer from the same fate"” Al city not running like an HOA is 2. “PerhaSs we should look Plute either bankruSt or on the Yerge of elsewhere for answers to how we Comment bankruStcy. An HOA is a longterm got here.” Slan for deSreciating assets. It is a 3. “You unjustly attribute the detailed Slan for maintenance of streets, local Sroblem to many councils Sast buildings and infrastructure. It is not and Sresent when in fact the Sroblem is subjectiYe and does not giYe room for systemic in Oregon and the U.S., and mismanagement, unless the SeoSle of the e[acerbated by inaction from the local, association or the management comSany state and national leYels and is growing allow it. worse.” General budgets are subjectiYe. They There is a lot of meat to chew on in giYe lots of room for moYing money these statements. Larry, in my oSinion, around, unlike HOAs, which do not. It is a hit the nail on the head when he used the term systemic. We get to choose the action system that makes eYeryone accountable. If you buy a truck, it is added and the we would like to take, but we don’t get to maintenance cost of it is added as well. choose the consequence of our actions. The cost and the maintenance should be When the SeoSle of the state chose to considered before the Surchase. limit the amount we Say in SroSerty ta[es, This is why I am oSSosed to a new ¿re they caSSed the amount of money local goYernments had to work with. I Sersonally station at this time. Our council has not come to an agreement on how to maintain haYe no Sroblem with the Sresent SroSerty it. There is no line item for maintenance ta[ation because I am a senior, and with and furthermore no thought to where the ¿[ed income right around the comer I do money will come from. 'o we build it and not want the added burden of e[tra costs. just let our kids ¿gure out how they will When this limitation came into being, cities of our great state neYer changed their maintain it" I think we haYe done enough of that It is time we Say as we go, not model to comSensate for the change in counting on handouts or our children to future reYenue. They still thought growth would saYe them. Unfortunately that neYer Say for it. What I am SroSosing is a change in the stood a chance. Growth for the sake of SroSerty ta[es will bury you. 0ost cities system, a change in the model. It won’t follow the same Sattern They build or be easy but the consequence will be much acquire by bonds with little or no regard more desirable in the long run. If we haYe as to how they will maintain what they $50 million in deferred maintenance now, are building. E[amSle Barnhart 5oad we will haYe $52 million ne[t year. The eYeryone’s faYorite toSic, was built with following year it gets worse and eYery year goYernment funding and city contribution thereafter, if no action is taken. by fuel ta[. The road was built. The road We must start with a system such as was Said for. The gas ta[ was sunset. the homeowners association to identify Great We haYe a road that is Said for. the amount of our actual budget. We must +oweYer, to SroSerly maintain this ¿Ye carefully go oYer all assets of the city and mile road a yearly contribution of $150,000 decide as citizens what we want or do not is required to be added to the street fund. want. We need to know the cost of these The goYernment giYes us aSSro[imately assets. We must be honest with ourselYes. $15,000. That leaYes us $135,000 short on What can we afford or do without" We an annual basis. cannot satisfy chamSagne tastes with a Where does that come from" The beer income to suSSort them. answer is nowhere, unless we make Ŷ Al Plute is a Pendleton city councilor. SroYision for it. 'o you think we should 0edia focusing on the election sideshows T o resSond to the editor’s will likely reset the record. Global question The ne[t Sresident &O2 aYerage just e[ceeded 00 will not necessarily be the SSm, about 50 Sercent higher than candidate with the best name Sreindustrial times, but how much recognition, the most money, or &O2 is too much" Is there a Soint at the highest faYorability rating 1 which the effects are irreYersible" months in adYance of the election. What actions should we take to 1or will it be the Sseudocandidate reduce or reYerse the effects of with the silliest name or longest William climate change" What will our great tail and whiskers. In my oSinion, Perkinson grandchildren say about this Soint in these nonsensical stunts are the history" This is also an interesting Comment body Solitic’s cry for helS to the two and Yital toSic. Solitical Sarties who haYe sSent more Immigration is a Yery comSle[ time ¿ghting each other than addressing the issue in dire need of oYerhaul. &onsider issues that daily affect ordinary Americans. those “illegal” immigrants that haYe The major media indulges it. contributed to our society by engaging in There is no reasonable way to Sredict at SroductiYe work for decades, Saying ta[es this time which candidates will surYiYe to the due, committing no crimes, and integrating general contest. We, the SeoSle, get to decide into our communities as our family and this one. And the corSorations, but that’s neighbors. Sanctions and deSortation are another issue. the wrong answers, clearly, but what is the 0ost major media haYe focused on correct aSSroach that SreserYes the social money, Solling, manufactured controYersies bonds this “undocumented” Serson has built and diYisions, and other sideshow toSics within our society" How can we make it ² features of the camSaigns that are not easier for deserYing immigrants to enter the substantiYe. This is unfortunate for the country ef¿ciently and legally, both to meet quality of discourse required to address this labor demands and to SroYide immigrants critical juncture in our nation’s and sSecies’ with a shot at the American dream" This is history. )rankly, these toSics are also not another interesting toSic. interesting to many. I could go on describing many more race 0edia should do a better job of issues and injustice, the SrohibitiYe cost of informing its readers and Yiewers about the higher education, the corruSting Sower of challenges facing us and the substantiYe money in Solitics, the highest incarceration differences among the candidates to guide rate in the world, the failed war on drugs, the discussions necessary to shaSe our future crumbling Sublic infrastructure, mass through the ne[t rounds of federal elections. surYeillance of innocent citizens, etc. These Why are the middle and working classes issues need immediate and focused attention. continually being squeezed while the Regarding the democratic contest, e[treme uSSer crust enjoys increasingly indeSendent Bernie Sanders’ SoSulist higher Sro¿t margins" One Sercent of U.S. message and reasonable Solicy Sositions citizens own as much as the bottom 90 aSSeal to many Americans, left and right. Sercent, and 55 Sercent of all new gains He consistently draws the biggest crowds of since 2009 haYe gone to that one Sercent. any candidate way more than 0c&ubbins. Some of your readers haYe been forced to His strong Soll numbers are comSetitiYe work two jobs to make ends meet, and some with or ahead of 0s. &linton’s. He’s funded cannot make ends meet at all. oYerwhelmingly by indiYidual donors and While there is nothing inherently wrong eschews money from corSorations. 9oters with wealth, e[treme and Sermanent are Saying attention to him, but the media inequality is a serious Sroblem. The absence treats him as an afterthought. of oSSortunity for uSward mobility is the &ontinuing to Sresume &linton will death of the American dream. What can we become the nominee will require the major do to ¿[ this" This is an interesting and Yital media to continue aYoiding analysis of the toSic. candidates’ Slatforms. It’s anybody’s guess Since the industrial reYolution, the with the ReSublican contest, but substance amount of &O2 in the atmosShere has still matters, regardless who is nominated. skyrocketed. &O2 traSs heat from the sun, 0ajor media’s reSetition of what it causing minutely but incrementally warmer belieYes to be the status quo of the future global aYerage temSeratures, melting ancient falls far short of the serYice that it could ice, changing ocean currents, and bringing SroYide to its subscribers, readers, and eYer more e[treme weather eYents. There Yiewers the Yoters who will decide these is no serious scienti¿c debate on this Soint, contests. 0edia should aim higher and dig because it is beyond settled. Eight of the 10 into the substance, not the sideshows. hottest years haYe been in the last decade, Ŷ 201 is the reigning chamS, and 2015 Will Perkinson is a Pendleton attorney.
