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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 2016)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Friday, January 1, 2016 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON TIM TRAINOR Advertising Director Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW Tip of the hat; kick in the pants A tip of the hat to Jane Hill, for her years of service to Pendleton as a city councilor. She is off to a better gig — one that actually pays a livable salary! — with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. We wish her the best in the new job, but will miss her in Pendleton city government. She was a reasonable, considered voice on a council that can sometimes lack them. Hill often helped get council discussion back on track after it had gone off the rails. What is Pendleton’s loss will be the CTUIR’s gain. And Hill’s move is yet another sign that the balance of power on local issues is resting more heavily with the Tribes than it KDVLQDORQJWLPHSHUKDSVVLQFH3HQGOHWRQZDV¿UVWSODWWHG :HKRSHFLW\FRXQFLOWDNHVWKHSURFHVVRI¿OOLQJKHUVHDWVHULRXVO\DQG appoints someone who can bring to the council a measure of what Hill did the last few years. A kick out the door to 2015, and a tip of the hat to the incoming 2016. We’ve no complaints about the year that was, but it’s important to welcome this new era with open arms. And there is a lot to look forward to in 2016: a presidential election, Olympics, spacecraft Juno’s arrival at Jupiter, another Fourth of July. It’s also a Leap Year, which we look forward to looking back on fondly. Here’s to 2016, and hope that the year offers more tips than kicks. 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 Sad demise of Klamath water compromise The (Eugene) Register-Guard T he omnibus spending bill that passed Congress recently was locomotive big and important enough to pull forward other pieces of legislation attached to it. One of those other bills should have been a Klamath Basin water agreement. But the Klamath proposal was left on a siding and may never get back on track. A Klamath bill was needed to implement an agreement reached in DPRQJIDUP¿VKLQJ and environmental interests, government DJHQFLHV3DFL¿F3RZHU & Light Co., Native American tribes and others — 45 parties in all. These sometimes warring groups came WRJHWKHUWR¿QGDZD\WRVKDUHWKHZDWHU of the Klamath River. It was a seemingly impossible task, akin to pouring eight quarts of water from a one-gallon jug. Astonishingly, the talks succeeded. The agreement involved a series of tradeoffs. PP&L agreed to remove four dams from the Klamath River, as long as ratepayers and California taxpayers paid for their demolition. Farmers pledged to use less water for irrigation in exchange for a guarantee of minimum amounts of during droughts. Three of the four tribes accepted diversions of water for irrigation, provided that water YROXPHVZHUHDGHTXDWHWRVXSSRUW¿VK populations. These and other aspects of the complex deal promised to restore a IUHHÀRZLQJ.ODPDWK5LYHUVWUHQJWKHQ DQLPSRUWDQW¿VKHU\SURWHFWWULEDO rights and put agriculture on a secure if reduced footing. Congressional action was needed before the deal’s Jan. 1 expiration date. Congress’ support was never assured — ORFDOJRYHUQPHQWRI¿FLDOVLQERWKVWDWHV have opposed the deal, one of the Indian tribes never signed on and agricultural interests were always threatening to back out. The strongest opposition came from members of Congress, mostly Republicans, who fear that dam removal RQWKH.ODPDWKZRXOGWLSWKH¿UVW domino, resulting in dam removals on rivers throughout the West. That fear is misplaced. The Klamath dams don’t produce much electricity, DQGWKHLU¿VKSDVVDJHIDFLOLWLHVDUHSRRU ²ERWKRIZKLFKZLOOPDNHLWGLI¿FXOW and expensive for PP&L to relicense the dams. Even without the Klamath agreement, the utility would be considering removal as an option. Yet to placate critics of dam removal, Rep. Greg Walden, the Republican who represents the Oregon portion of the Klamath Basin, offered a bill three weeks ago that did not include dam removal. Walden’s bill also proposed giving 100,000 acres of federal land to Klamath County in Oregon and Siskiyou County in California as a source of timber revenue. The tribes would not support a bill that left the dams in place. Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley said a federal land grant would go nowhere in the Senate. So the omnibus spending bill passed without Klamath water legislation attached, leaving no hope of meeting the Jan. 1 deadline. The parties ought to extend the agreement in hopes of congressional action next year. It’s more likely, however, that some of them will turn to the courts, arguing that they have a legal right to river water claimed by others. The result, particularly in a dry year, will EHLUULJDWLRQZDWHUVKXWRIIV¿VKNLOOV or both. Congress will be to blame for letting an opportunity slip, and Walden will be accountable for delivering the ¿QDOEORZ Walden helped doom the project. OTHER VIEWS Test your savvy about 2016 T repeal Obamacare, making it a major hose of us engaged in columny theme of the 2016 campaign. usually settle for writing about %7KHXQSRSXODULW\RI¿QHVIRU what has already happened. lack of insurance made it a growing But today, let’s not follow the easy embarrassment to the Democratic course. Instead, take my quiz of Party. what’s to come in the year ahead and C. Amid evidence of its success, see if we think alike. Republican candidates dropped the 1. At the end of 2016, Donald Trump caused a stir by ... Nicholas subject. 7. In response to the Black Lives A. Preparing for his presidential Kristof Matter movement ... inauguration by renaming the White Comment A. Princeton University House “Trump Palace.” announced that it would rename the B. Raising funds to renovate the Woodrow Wilson School and invited bids for Statue of Liberty so that its arms move, waving immigrants away. naming rights. Donald Trump bought them. C. Actually, no stir at all. After being B. Not much happened: Attention crushed in the presidential race, he has been switched to the presidential race. quietly trying to repair business relations C. After the election, Obama announced with Mexicans, Muslims, women — well, the formation of a National Truth and with everybody. Reconciliation Commission. 2. In the Republican presidential race 8. Chinese-U.S. relations ... ... A. Were set back after a naval clash in the A. Ted Cruz built on his Iowa caucuses South China Sea near the Spratly Islands. victory to make further gains on Super B. Deteriorated because of President Xi Tuesday and win the nomination. Jinping’s nationalist policies in the South B. The failure of any candidate to win China Sea and oppressive human rights enough delegates led the convention to draft policies at home. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan. C. Improved because undetected Chinese C. Marco Rubio overcame his failure government hackers wrote glowingly about to win either Iowa or New Hampshire to China in the President’s Daily Brief. narrowly win the nomination. 9. The technological breakthrough of 3. Hillary Clinton ... 2016 was ... A. Dropped out of the race after a series A. The Amazon-Uber joint venture to of scandals, and a last-ditch effort to draft send a drone to pick you up and carry you to Joe Biden came too late. Bernie Sanders your destination. won the Democratic nomination and became B. The spread of bloodstream bots that $PHULFD¶V¿UVWGHPRFUDWLFVRFLDOLVWSUHVLGHQW roam your arteries and veins, looking for after Ted Cruz split GOP votes with the cancer cells to destroy. independent candidacy of Donald Trump. C. The formation of a company to operate B. Easily won the Democratic nomination self-driving taxis. but then lost in November as Sen. Marco 10. The refugee crisis ... Rubio and his running mate, John Kasich, A. Ameliorated as Europe guarded its portrayed her as a crony capitalist whose borders more tightly. time had passed. B. Deteriorated but received less attention &%HFDPHWKH¿UVWZRPDQHOHFWHG as Europe bribed Turkey to curb the passage president. of refugees to Greece and make the problem 4. In Russia, President Vladimir Putin less visible. ended 2016 ... C. Worsened as hundreds of thousands of A. By appearing in a television Iranians, Nigerians, Ethiopians, Afghans and documentary riding bare-chested across others left for Germany. Siberia on a dragon borrowed from “Game 11. Democracy ... of Thrones.” A. Was the title of a smash Broadway B. By dispatching provocateurs to show about early America by Lin-Manuel instigate unrest in Estonia, then dispatching Miranda, who also created “Hamilton.” troops “to protect Russian lives” there. B. Retreated in central Africa, as leaders NATO responded by holding meetings. of Burundi, Rwanda and Congo all tried to C. By crushing growing anti-government cling to power. demonstrations across Russia. C. Came to Belarus, often described as 5. President Barack Obama’s 2016 the last dictatorship in Europe. Syria strategy consisted of ... ANSWERS: We’ll see in a year how A. Persuading Sunni Arab countries to ZHDOOGLG0\FKRLFHIRUWKH¿UVWVL[LV& battle the Islamic State in conjunction with for the remainder it’s B. May our hopes be Kurdish forces. realized and our fears prove unwarranted. B. Reluctantly dispatching 10,000 ground And happy New Year to all my readers! troops into northern Syria to destroy the Ŷ Islamic State capital, Raqqa. Nicholas Kristof grew up on a sheep and C. Really? You think he has a Syria cherry farm in Yamhill, Oregon. A columnist strategy? for The New York Times since 2001, he won 6. Regarding Obamacare, in 2016 ... the Pulitzer Prize two times, in 1990 and A. Republicans voted 23 more times to 2006. YOUR VIEWS Measure 11 too costly, needs to be reformed I am writing in response to the letter written about the mess our police departments are in across this area and, I imagine, across the state. The Legislature, or a lot of them, do not seem concerned with the lack of police, lack of their equipment, and inability of the police to be able to cover Pendleton, Milton- Freewater, Hermiston, etc. They appear to not be worried over the safety of the citizens of their districts. They have shown no interest in cutting back on prison costs, by reforming Measure 11, and while to many it may sound ridiculous to cut prison costs by reforming M11, for police presence we badly need to do it. There are 4,300 out of over 6,000 inmates that are LQXQGHU0IRU¿UVWWLPHRIIHQVHZLWKQR criminal background. That costs $137 million per year to cover those 4,300. I am not saying that we should just release every one of those, but M11 was for repeat and violent offenders and not all of those 4,300 are violent offenders. 7KHUHIRUPZHKDYHSURSRVHGLVWKDW¿UVW time offenders with no criminal background be heard, reviewed, and decided by the judge, not the District Attorney. The judge can use M11 if he so chooses, but he can also determine another sentence if he feels that the WLPHGRHVQRW¿WWKHFULPH 2XUVHFRQGLVVXHLV¿UVWWLPHRIIHQGHUV with no criminal background be given a second look halfway through their sentence, and no time or charges can be added. We need to work on prevention of crime and education (Oregon pays for more prisons then education, second in the country for that), We need more drug and alcohol treatment centers, good ones — shoving everyone into prison does not work. There is no rehab in prison, none. If even 1,000 were able to be released, after a thorough review, and on probation, strict, that would be $32 million per year that could be utilized to build up our police forces across the state, education, etc. I believe Oregonians deserve safety. I am not soft on crime, I do not want violent and repeat offenders to be let out. I do want checks and balances and justice put back into our system, where the judge makes the decision — otherwise, why do we have judges? Barbara Dickerson Milton-Freewater 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.
