VIEWPOINTS
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Quick takes
Arm teachers to prevent
school shootings
Yes, but after speaking to some ill
informed teachers and knowing many more,
I’m thinking we need an even better idea.
— twenty20
I am a college instructor. I got an under-
graduate degree in my ¿eld, two graduate
degrees, and have published multiple books,
all of which are in my job description. Do
you know what is not in my job description?
Being armed in the classroom. I cannot
believe the people who make this ludicrous
argument.
— ShaindelR
Marijuana bans expand
To the eastern Oregon communities that
opted out: You can buy marijuana from
you local dealers that will not: check ID,
post warning labels, test the product, label
the product, oay taxes, Or otherwise be a
³good businessman´ as de¿ned by the local
community leaders.
— 123456what
I don’t believe the amount of revenue
that would go to the city and county from
pot sales would be very much, so why allow
it at all?
— disqus_klrI7jaLbZ
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 or email editor@eastoregonian.
com, and keep them to 140 characters.
East Oregonian
Page 7A
What subsidized city services can be cut?
I
n my last commentary I wrote
it totals $115,578. The cost to
about services: police, ¿re,
maintain the cemetery is $273,200.
ambulance, court and water and
The cemetery operates at a loss of
sewer. I will now ¿nish off services
$157,622 per year.
with cemetery, building, planning
There is an additional fund
and transportation.
called the Home Trust Fund. This
Cemetery
money can only be used to place
The cemetery is in the general
Àowers on the graves of the Home
fund. It is an operation of 49
family at speci¿c times during the
Al
acres including Olney Cemetery,
year. Therefore, it is of no bene¿t
Plute
Olney Memorial Garden and
to the cemetery operations.
Comment
Treehaven Pet Cemetery.
City departments
In addition to interment
The planning
services, cemetery
department administers
staff are responsible
to all land use and
for maintenance of the
zoning regulations of
grounds, irrigation system,
the city. This division
roads and the mausoleum.
provides staff support
Primary activities are
for the administration,
burials, turf mowing,
the city’s state mandated
irrigation, tree removal,
comprehensive plan
planting, leaf and snow
and they interpret and
removal and anything
enforce ordinances of the
else necessary to keep the
comprehensive plan. They
cemetery functional and
also provide support to the
attractive. Income is derived from grave
planning commission.
sites and monument sales, internments
The building department administrates
and the cemetery perpetual care fund.
various construction and safety codes
The income from everything
adopted by the city. The adopted codes
aforementioned except the cemetery fund
enforced are the Oregon structural
amounts to $103,550.
specialty code, Oregon residential
The cemetery perpetual care fund
specialty code, Oregon mechanical
has a balance of $735,000. However,
specialty code, dangerous building code
the guidelines of the fund allow only
and Oregon manufactured dwelling
for the income from the $735,000 to be
and park specialty code. The building
spent, not the principal itself. The income
division inspects projects involving new
for this year is $12,028. When we add
construction, additions, alterations and
$103,550 to the income of $12,028,
remodels of all types of buildings. The
The Pendleton
city budget can
be viewed in
its entirety
online at
pendleton.or.us
income from the building and planning
department is $340,300. The expenses of
the department are $786,850, which is a
loss of $446,850.
Transportation
Transportation provides limited
transportation services to seniors and
disabled citizens and a bus program for
the general public. The senior/disabled
services are subsidized taxi rides. Citizens
who have been determined by the city
to be eligible for the program receive
a packet of taxi tickets. One ticket plus
a small fee of $1.75 given directly to
the taxi company is good for a one-way
ride. The general transportation program
provides subscription rides to designated
places for $1 per one-way ride. Most
of the income comes from state and
county governmental agencies. The
city also provides a small amount for a
total income of $416,900. The cost for
transportation is $416,900. Without state
funding, public transportation described
above would not exist.
In summary, four out of four services
cannot exist without subsidy from the
general budget. I have used the 2015-2016
¿scal year city budget for reference to
support ¿gures used in all of my articles,
previous and present. The city budget is
available to view at the city of Pendleton’s
website; www.pendleton.or.us.
Looking ahead, in the next article I will
feature Pendleton’s infrastructure.
Ŷ
Al Plute is an at-large city councilor for
the city of Pendleton.
Time to retire the Governor pick for ag board out of
step with Oregon agriculture
term ‘illegal alien’ R
T
he Associated Press,
Curb Illegal Entry?”
the international news
Sadly, some East Oregonian
organization whose
readers think “wetback” is also
stylebook many media outlets use
an acceptable name for Latinos,
for writing guidelines, made a
coming to the defense of an
very important change two years
89-year-old Milton-Freewater
ago.
woman who was arrested for a
Reporters were encouraged
hate crime after harassing a police
to no longer use the term “illegal
Antonio of¿cers while using the invective.
immigrant” to describe someone
For those who criticized
Sierra
who was living in the country
Milton-Freewater authorities,
Comment
without a visa or citizenship. The
the woman’s arrest was viewed
as another instance of political
preferred term was changed to
correctness gone too far.
“undocumented immigrant.”
But more than being offensive, the
Given that most people don’t use a
worst aspect of terms like wetback and
journalistic style guide to inform how
illegal alien is that
they talk, the term
they’re becoming
illegal immigrant has
increasingly antiquated
managed to stubbornly
in a world that has
stick to the American
evolved past them.
lexicon.
The country’s
At the time, AP
cultural makeup has
of¿cials said the change
changed dramatically
was made to better
since the 1950s and the
describe the group of
people.
next 50 years promise
“The Stylebook no
to uphold that trend.
longer sanctions the
According to the Pew
term illegal immigrant
Research Center, 18
or the use of illegal
percent of the American
to describe a person,”
population will be
Senior Vice President
foreign born by 2065.
and Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll
Whether they’re here illegally or not,
said in a statement. “Instead, it tells
Pew estimates Latinos will be 24 percent
users that illegal should describe only an
of the 8.S. population in 50 years, or
action, such as living in or immigrating to more than 105 million people. Eastern
a country illegally.”
Oregon will undoubtedly reÀect that
The AP’s logic was that human beings growth in some way.
can’t be deemed illegal, only the acts they
While they may make a dent, no
commit — people don’t call motorists
amount of multibillion dollar anti-
speeding down the highway “illegal
immigration projects like walls on the
drivers” or people crossing a crosswalk
border, mass deportations or veri¿cation
against a red light “illegal pedestrians.”
systems will reverse this trend.
“Illegal alien” is even worse.
The discussion of how to create an
A dogwhistle term that’s become
effective immigration system is a worthy
synonymous with stereotypes against
one to have, but no amount of incendiary
Mexican and Central American
language will ¿x it faster.
immigrants, and a tired one at that —
So instead of waiting for history to
mainly that most come to the 8.S. to
take its course and assign it to a dustbin,
steal jobs, commit crimes and bilk the
let’s get a head start.
American welfare system.
Retire the term illegal alien. Illegal
While illegal alien could ostensibly
immigrant won’t be far behind.
apply to immigrants from any country,
This isn’t censorship or a cultural
the term speci¿cally evolved from a
demand.
derogatory name for immigrants that
Most terminology has useful life, and
swam across the Rio Grande River to
illegal alien’s is just about up.
cross the border.
Ŷ
The Atlantic’s Garrett Epps tracked
Antonio Sierra is a reporter for the
down one of the earliest uses of illegal
East Oregonian. He covers the city of
aliens to a 1950s Stanford Law Review
Pendleton. Contact him at asierra@
article entitled “Wetbacks: Can the States eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0836.
So instead of
waiting for
history to take
its course and
assign it to a
dustbin, let’s get
a head start.
Be heard! Comment at eastoregonian.com.
ecently, Oregon’s Governor
been able to compete, and many have
Kate Brown appointed Marty
closed down their farms. Increased
Myers, general manager of
Asian demand for milk products is
Threemile Canyon Farms, LLC, a
likely to increase this problem in
subsidiary of North Dakota-based
Oregon. Dramatically increasing
R.D. Offutt Company, to the state’s
Oregon cow numbers to meet this
Board of Agriculture. In appointing
demand, as some have argued for,
Myers, the governor overlooked a
won’t help independent family dairies.
family farmer, Monmouth dairyman
If anything, our state will see a
Kendra
Jon Bansen, who had also applied for
surge
in the growth of dairy production
Kimbirauskas
the position. This appointment sent
from “Threemile-esque” operations.
Comment
a message to agricultural producers
Not only will these massive factory
across Oregon that Governor Brown,
farms present signi¿cant challenges
when given a choice, will side with corporate
for the communities in which they set up
agribusiness over hard-working family
shop, they will make it even more dif¿cult
farmers.
for independent producers to compete —
While Myers is a nice man, the fact is
possibly driving the ¿nal nail into the cof¿n
he represents an out-of-
of many already-struggling
state corporation with a
independent dairy farmers.
checkered past in our state.
Myers’ appointment
Threemile Canyon Farms
should also draw
is the very de¿nition of
considerable scrutiny of
a factory farm, con¿ning
the appointment process
over 60,000 cows in an
for the Oregon Board
intensive milk production
of Agriculture. 8nlike
operation where the cows
most agency boards and
never graze on pasture. Over
commissions, appointments
the years the facility has
to the Board of Agriculture
been at the center of several
are not con¿rmed by the
controversies, including
Senate.
labor violations, allegations
This allows the
of animal abuse, and a major
Department of Agriculture
source of air pollution.
and the governor’s of¿ce to
In 2005, Threemile revealed they were
work in secrecy to secure the appointment of
releasing 5.6 million pounds of ammonia into
their preference without any public scrutiny.
the air each year, a byproduct of decomposing Further, the Board of Agriculture is exempt
liTue¿ed manure. The 8.S. Forest Service
from Oregon Government Ethics requirements
¿ngered Threemile’s ammonia as one of two
that public of¿cials provide statements of
major sources of acid rain and haze in the
economic interest to ensure ¿nancial conÀicts
Columbia Gorge.
of interest are disclosed and addressed.
Rather than mitigating ammonia emissions,
This is not good government.
Threemile lobbied for the operation to be
At a time when Oregonians have cause
exempted from Oregon clean air laws. During to be on high alert for inappropriate conduct
a Dairy Air Quality Task Force created by
at the highest levels of state government, it
the Legislature, Myers was instrumental in
would appear that this appointment to the
crafting a “do-nothing” plan of action.
Board of Agriculture is simply more of the
Myers stands in stark contrast with
same “pay-to-play” politics that we’ve seen
Monmouth dairyman Jon Bansen. 8nlike
in the past. Threemile Canyon Farms LLC
Myers, who lives in the Portland area, Bansen has spent $178,500 on lobbying in Oregon
lives and works on his farm with his wife
since 2012, and gave $30,000 to Governor
and children. He is a third-generation dairy
Kitzhaber’s reelection campaign in 2014.
farmer producing high-quality organic milk
It’s time for serious reform to prevent
for the Organic Valley Cooperative. Bansen’s
the kind of backroom dealings that allowed
farm, Double J Jerseys, is a pasture-based
an out-of-state corporation to gain a seat on
system, where the cows are grazed rotationally Oregon’s Board of Agriculture. With nearly
outdoors nearly year-round on 600 acres.
85 percent of Oregon farms family-owned
The appointment of Myers over Bansen
and operated, and most small and mid-sized,
should raise the eyebrows and the concerns
Governor Brown’s appointment is completely
of farmers across Oregon. Notably, a 2013
out of step with the future of Oregon
Oregon Employment Department report found agriculture.
that between 2002 and 2007, shortly after
Ŷ
Threemile doubled the number of dairy cows
Kendra Kimbirauskas is a third-generation
in the state, nine family dairy farms went out
producer and currently raises a variety of
of business every month on average.
pasture-raised livestock in Linn County. She
Factory-scale dairy operations across the
is co-founder of the group Friends of Family
country have expanded herds, driving down
Farmers and chief e[ecutive of¿cer for the
milk prices. Family dairy farmers haven’t
Socially Responsible Agricultural Project.
This
appointment
is more of the
same “pay-to-
play” politics
that we’ve seen
in the past.