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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 2, 2016)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Saturday, January 2, 2016 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON TIM TRAINOR Advertising Director Opinion Page Editor EO MEDIA GROUP East Oregonian • The Daily Astorian • Capital Press • Hermiston Herald Blue Mountain Eagle • Wallowa County Chieftain • Chinook Observer • Coast River Business Journal Oregon Coast Today • Coast Weekend • Seaside Signal • Cannon Beach Gazette Eastern Oregon Real Estate Guide • Eastern Oregon Marketplace • Coast Marketplace OnlyAg.com • FarmSeller.com • Seaside-Sun.com • NorthwestOpinions.com • DiscoverOurCoast.com MIKE FORRESTER STEVE FORRESTER KATHRYN B. BROWN Pendleton Chairman of the Board Astoria President Pendleton Secretary/Treasurer CORY BOLLINGER JEFF ROGERS Aberdeen, S.D. Director Indianapolis, Ind. Director OUR VIEW Looking forward to 2016 breaking through the bureaucracy What a year 2016 is shaping up which, now two years in, it has to be. Though having just arrived, QRW\HWGRQH&LW\RI¿FLDOVZLOO there is enough on the calendar for have to deal with housing, jobs and everyone to have something to be infrastructure problems or Pendleton excited about. will continue to shrink both in The biggest event in this country population and prestige. No more will be the presidential election in kicking the can November. Yes, down the road. still eleven months Editorial writers away. But at least If we could are rarely good at that’s something pick some of prognosticating, to look forward to. but we thought we After Election Day, the headlines would look into the we will only have to in 2016, this future for headlines listen to one of these we would like to see jokers, and can let is what we’d appear on the front the other dozen or so choose. pages of the East fade away. Oregonian in the On a local level next year. there is a lot to look Here’s a few we came up with: forward to, too. Hermiston, Pendleton play for Decades in the making, the state football title plan to pull more water from the Horse racing, roughstock cowgirls Columbia River into the Umatilla return to Pendleton Round-Up Basin may take solid steps to Excavation at EOTEC site fruition, and the water itself may uncovers $2 million cash trickle its way onto Umatilla and Obama will retire to North Hill Morrow county farms. It needs mansion to, if the Northeast Oregon Water Boeing tests pilot-less commuter Association wants to keep their plane in Pendleton coalition together and see this Wet spring follows snowy winter; potentially game-changing project drought broken WKURXJKWRWKH¿QLVK Governor Brown follows through (27(&EHVHWE\¿QDQFLDO on transparency pledge construction and public relations Robert De Niro, Al Pacino to star problems in the last year, will look to in Happy Canyon centennial rebound. In the midst of a last-ditch Watermelon returns to Hermiston effort to raise private funds, much water tower RIWKHFRQVWUXFWLRQZLOOEH¿QLVKHG Two brokered conventions cap in 2016. It’s possible the center will begin hosting some events this year. wild 2016 campaign Money trees sprout along 7KDWPD\JLYHWD[SD\HUVWKHLU¿UVW Umatilla River; a bounty for all chance to see where their money Compromise found on Blue went, Hermiston and Umatilla Mountain Forest Plan &RXQW\¿QDQFLDOPDQDJHUVZLOO Olive Garden coming to get a better idea on annual costs, downtown Hermiston and EOETEC can see what kind of Qatar out, Pendleton chosen as events it can attract. site of 2020 World Cup In Pendleton, the nascent drone Wolves, cattle sign peace accord range will need show some sign of 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 Achievable education goals The Oregonian I t’s a good thing that Oregon set the year 2025 as its target for achieving its “40-40-20” aspirations. Because setbacks this year are compounding the state’s already slow progress toward its goal of getting 40 percent of Oregonians to earn a bachelor’s or advanced degree, another 40 percent to earn an associate’s degree and the other 20 percent to have at least earned a high school degree. Consider that 10,000 students drop out of Oregon’s high schools each year. Nearly 94,000 students are chronically absent, missing more than 10 percent of school each year. Not only is Oregon’s overall graduation rate the fourth-lowest in the country, but white students’ rate is the worst and black students’ rate is second worst. Meanwhile, with the resignation by Gov. John Kitzhaber in the face of ethical allegations mounting against KLPDQGKLV¿DQFpH&\OYLD+D\HV momentum for education reform stalled. State leaders, with new Gov. Kate Brown’s blessing, spent much of the year more focused on unwinding some of the efforts, dismantling the powerful Oregon Education Investment Board, which had been charged to build a more rigorous education system to carry students from birth to age 20. Legislators also narrowed the role of the Kitzhaber- FUHDWHGFKLHIHGXFDWLRQRI¿FHU There were other leadership changes as well: Deputy superintendent for public instruction Rob Saxton, who advocated for Oregon schools to adopt and teach to tougher standards, retired from the state to take a position with the Northwest Regional Education Service District. Salam Noor, who previously worked for the Higher Education Coordination Commission and served as assistant superintendent for Salem- Keizer schools, was tapped to take over. But he has largely kept a lower and less FRQWURYHUVLDOSUR¿OH Students taking the Common-Core aligned Smarter Balanced exam for the ¿UVWWLPHIDUHGEHWWHUWKDQH[SHFWHG but backlash over testing led to passage of a bill, signed by Brown, that allows Oregon families to opt their student out of standardized testing for any reason. This could bode poorly for Oregon which, like other states, faces federal mandates requiring participation from at least 95 percent of students and various subgroups of students. The state recently received a warning from the U.S. Department of Education that it could lose federal funding if it doesn’t improve its participation rates which fell short in many schools and districts across Oregon, according to a report by Oregon Public Broadcasting. Still, the state notched a few wins. The Legislature funded full day kindergarten for students across the state, broadening access to early education for students regardless of household income. The state, which had slashed per-student funding for higher education more than nearly every other state over the previous 14 years, dramatically boosted investment to pre-recession levels. And there’s signs that Brown is paying more attention to education. She recently announced that she will QDPHDQHGXFDWLRQLQQRYDWLRQRI¿FHU to her administration who will focus on improving high school graduation rates, although there’s been little information since on what that will entail. But clearly, the state needs someone to push the effort to move ahead in education. Oregon, not the federal government, will be responsible for GH¿QLQJVXFFHVVDQGWKHZD\VLQZKLFK it will hold schools accountable for students’ progress. How will a state that has lagged the rest of the nation in accomplishing one of the most basic elements of public education — graduating students — perform? Hopefully 2016 will show some more encouraging signs than 2015. OTHER VIEWS The juicy subplots of 2016 I n American politics, one narrative All Eyes on New Hampshire. I — one question — eclipses all don’t mean the state’s Republican and others: Who will become the 45th Democratic primaries in February. president? I mean the U.S. Senate election in But there are dramas within that November. The balance of power in drama. There’s also suspense aplenty the chamber could hinge on the battle beyond center stage, and much of between the Republican incumbent, it does notinvolve Donald Trump, a Kelly Ayotte, and her Democratic third-party candidacy or the specter challenger, Maggie Hassan, the state’s Frank of a brokered Republican convention. governor. Bruni This column, in the spirit of the It won’t look like many other Comment holidays, will be a Trump-free zone. Senate contests. New Hampshire’s Some of the following subplots peculiar political realities mean that FRXOGJUHDWO\LQÀXHQFHWKHRXWFRPHRIWKH neither candidate is likely to be especially presidential contest while others have big nasty or ideologically strident; each may well implications for the sway and the health of the emphasize consensus-building and look for Republican and Democratic parties. RSSRUWXQLWLHVWRÀH[LQGHSHQGHQFHIURPWKH They’re just a glimmer of what 2016 has in party that’s paradoxically pumping enormous store. resources into her race. Barack Obama And their matchup Unbound. He’s zipping will underscore New down the road with Jerry Hampshire’s encouraging Seinfeld. He’s unzipping his record of electing lip with Steve Inskeep of women to prominent National Public Radio. He’s SXEOLFRI¿FHVZKHUH LQWHQVLI\LQJKLV¿JKWDJDLQVW they’re still frustratingly climate change. underrepresented As Obama pivots into nationwide. WKH¿QDOSKDVHRIKLV A Tale of Two Mayors. presidency, he seems to be The Democratic mayors heading in a new direction, of two of the nation’s three toward greater candor, fewer most populous cities are inhibitions, no apologies. under enormous strain, their He has felt muzzled and approval ratings low, their misunderstood for much of approaches to governing his time in the White House. under attack. I speak of Bill I sense a catharsis coming. de Blasio in New York and Rahm Emanuel in And it could complicate the inevitably Chicago, each of whom has acknowledged the strained etiquette between him and the need for redemption in 2016. Democratic presidential nominee, meaning But while de Blasio’s greatest problems Hillary Clinton. She’ll have to defend many are with white voters, Emanuel has lost the aspects of his legacy and disparage others trust in particular of minorities, who are justly as she does and doesn’t campaign for a third outraged by the deadly actions of his city’s Obama term. He’ll react to this as someone SROLFHRI¿FHUV who’s losing his limited patience with political The methods and success with which gamesmanship, who’s tired of playing the these remarkably different men chart their punching bag and whose aides and associates comebacks warrant scrutiny, harboring lessons are sometimes aghast at the Clintons. about the Democratic Party’s ability to bridge Side note: Watch for Joe Biden, by design diverse constituencies and about the most or accident, to blurt out something harmful to effective style of leadership for fractious, tense her at some point. times. Bill Clinton on the Loose. Until recent Religion on the Run. Same-sex marriage weeks, it was almost possible to forget him as became the law in 50 states despite the presidential-race factor. Then Hillary Clinton, RSSRVLWLRQRIPDQ\SURPLQHQWFKXUFK¿JXUHV in the last Democratic debate, tagged him as a The percentage of Americans who don’t key economic adviser in any second Clinton subscribe to any organized religion steadily DGPLQLVWUDWLRQ+HUFDPSDLJQFRQ¿UPHG grows. that he’d be popping up more often on the And that means that whoever winds up campaign trail. And references to his Oval ZLWKWKH5HSXEOLFDQQRPLQDWLRQKDVWR¿JXUH 2I¿FHPLVGHHGVDQGWKH&OLQWRQV¶PDULWDO out how to play down the primary’s degree of psychodrama started to creep back into the God talk and moralizing without alienating news. voters on the so-called religious right, who All of that was a fresh reminder that his could cause a distracting scene, impede the proper role in, and impact on, his wife’s party’s outreach to moderate and younger candidacy is unsettled and unclear. He remains voters, and decide to sit out the election. both wildly charismatic and maddeningly Can the party soften its image, adapt to the undisciplined. He connotes both prosperous times and expand its appeal while satisfying times and cynical scheming. evangelicals? Its success in presidential There’s no legitimate worry that his contests could hinge on that. presence might eclipse and diminish hers, but Ŷ the two of them together root her candidacy Frank Bruni, an Op-Ed columnist for The as much in the past as in the future. So how to New York Times since June 2011, joined the deploy and integrate him? Is it controllable? newspaper in 1995. Watch for Joe Biden, by design or by accident, to blurt out something harmful to Hillary Clinton at some point. YOUR VIEWS Liberalism driving state into castes, unbending systems The problem with Oregon being a so-called “nanny state” has to do with the creation of a caste system. Liberalism fails to comprehend why unchecked agencies are so dangerous to our way of life here in America. Our schools cater to those seeking degrees, which set people up for careers in civil service, social work, psychology, etc. We have college graduates seeking professional status working for what is known as “the system.” So what could possibly be wrong with so many educated people entering the workforce? Vested interests. Our healthcare is suffering due to unnecessary government entanglement. Do we realize how many people are working for the state of Oregon and the agencies thriving here? It is truly a booming industry. We have a ruling class of liberals who sustain themselves by pulling more and more disadvantaged people into the vicious cycle that is welfare dependency and foster care. 7KHUHLVQR¿QDQFLDOLQFHQWLYHWRJHWWLQJ people out of the system, as these industries survive on the addition of more human lives. Human life is a commodity in liberal America. We the people are footing the bill for this chaos. Tyranny is growing when really that growth belongs in the private sector. We the disadvantaged need to stand up for ourselves alongside leaders who care about the future of America. Oregon, it’s time for a change. Carlin Sacco Pendleton 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. Be heard! 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