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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 9, 2016)
3DJH$ 23,1,21 East Oregonian Saturday, January 9, 2016 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON TIM TRAINOR Advertising Director Opinion Page Editor (20(',$*5283 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 7KHELJLVVXHDW KHDUWRISURWHVW OUR VIEW For perhaps the only time in recorded history, Eastern Oregon is the setting of the nation’s biggest news story. For more than a week now, a group of armed protesters have IDLOHGDWSURYRNLQJD¿UH¿JKWZLWK federal agents while occupying facilities at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Harney County residents have largely rebuffed the militancy, and have made clear that they want the out-of-area occupiers to leave. The Harney County Sheriff has relayed that message, but thus far to no avail. We struggle to understand what the Bundy Bunch hopes to accomplish. Their action spurs headlines and editorial cartoons, Daily Show spoofs and impassioned ÀRRURIWKH+RXVHVSHHFKHVE\5HS Greg Walden. But it does nothing for the ranchers they allegedly came to town to support. And it does nothing to resolve the real issues of federal land management in the West. We empathize with the Hammonds. And as we editorialized earlier this week, we believe their sentence is too harsh. It is perfectly clear that the federal government wants to run the Hammonds out of business and wants ranching on the wildlife refuge to end. And if you are a ranching family on the refuge, that can rightfully make you feel targeted, bullied and imprisoned for doing what your family has been doing for decades. But the Hammonds — and the militia — fail to understand that the West is changing and modernizing, WRWKHEHQH¿WRIVRPHDQGWRWKH detriment of others. The cowboys long ago learned that lesson. Longer still, the fur trappers learned it. Most brutally, American Indian tribes learned the power dynamic in the region had changed forever, and their lands and way of life would never be the same again. The Hammonds and Bundys haven’t learned it yet. In the last half century, the importance of ranching, logging and mining has diminished dramatically in the American West. That is to the detriment of ranchers, loggers and miners, and also the economy and culture of rural Oregon. It has yet to recover, as the rural counties of the state dramatically trail the explosive economic and population growth in the Willamette Valley. These rural Oregonians are the descendants of homesteaders that ¿YHDQGVL[JHQHUDWLRQVDJRZHUH asked by the government to help settle the land. Now they have made it their home, and the same government is making life and OLYHOLKRRGLQFUHDVLQJO\GLI¿FXOW But to protest against the slow march of time is as useful as tilting against windmills. And that’s not a metaphor — instead a literal representation of a change in culture and land use priorities in the West. Windmills dot land that cows used to. It’s neither good nor bad, but it’s the truth. Before the cows, the West was full of bison and salmon and wolves. Government-supported action of homesteading, dam construction and Indian wars did untold damage to that world. Now there is a movement to right those wrongs. But for every wrong righted, another is made. There is plenty to be upset about, if you’re a westerner. There has been plenty of government overreach and enough bureaucratic ineptitude WR¿OOWKH*UDQG&DQ\RQ2XU country’s national forests need active management and they aren’t getting it. Rural livelihoods are at risk like never before — well, at least since the cowboy was introduced to barbed wire, the bottom went out of the beaver trade, the American Indian was systematically crushed in the name of Manifest Destiny. That has always been the way of WKH:HVW²DUHOHQWOHVVHEEDQGÀRZ of power, of drought and plenty, of booms and busts in oil and timber and gold. The present is no different. There is a bust afoot, especially for ranchers on fragile land surrounded by federal interests. For now, we can only hope the next boom is economic — and not from the barrel of a gun. Once the Bundys are gone, we can do something other than that. We can try to make the West freer and fairer, more open and more sustainable, more boom than bust. But we must realize that the times are always changing, for better and for worse. 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 The self-reliant generation L ast month Fox News released This leads to detachment from a poll showing Hillary Clinton large entities. Just 32 percent of leading Bernie Sanders in Iowa millennials say America is the greatest country on Earth, compared with by 14 points. But the amazing part 50 percent of boomers. Millennials of the poll was the generation gap. are very suspicious of organized Among likely caucusgoers under 45, UHOLJLRQ7KLUW\¿YHSHUFHQWVD\WKH\ Sanders was crushing Clinton 56 to DUHXQDI¿OLDWHGZLWKDQ\UHOLJLRXV 34 percent. Among the older voters, group, compared with 23 percent of Clinton was leading 59 to 24. David Generation X (born between 1965 and When you look at numbers like Brooks 1980). that you get the impression that this Comment Just 26 percent of millennials are millennial generation, having endured married, compared with 48 percent WKH¿QDQFLDOFUDVKDQGVWDJQDQWZDJHV of boomers at that age. Only 42 percent plan is ready to lead a big leftward push. to have kids. They are also having less sex. Indeed, a Harvard Institute of Politics poll A study in the Archives of Sexual Behavior of Americans 18 to 29 found that 56 percent projected that millennials would have eight want a Democrat to win the White House sexual partners by middle age while boomers while only 36 percent favor a Republican. had 10 or 11. According to a survey from The leftward shift is striking even within the the online dating service GOP. According to the Match, 49 percent of Pew Research Center, people in their 20s have young Republicans are not had sex in the past much more moderate year. than older Republicans. The general impression Among millennials who one gets is of a generation lean Republican, only 31 that is stressed, energetic, percent have consistently creative, skeptical and in conservative views. About WKHPLGGOHRIUHGH¿QLQJDQGWKLQQLQJRXW 51 percent have a mixture of liberal and WKHQDWXUHRIDI¿OLDWLRQ,WVPHPEHUVKDYH conservative views. been thrust into a harsher world where it is But philosophically millennials are harder necessary to be guarded, and sensitive to to pin down. According to the Harvard Public risk. They want systemic change but there Opinion Project, 37 percent of 18- to 29-year- is no compelling form of collective action olds identify as liberal and 35 percent identify available. Their only alternative, which is their as conservative. JHQLXVLVWRWU\WR¿[WKHLUOLYHVWKHPVHOYHV If you look at how millennials actually through technology and new forms of social live, you certainly don’t see a progressive interaction, rather than mass movements. counterculture. In fact, you see what you’d Their attitudes toward Social Security expect from a generation that lived through a ¿QDQFLDOFULVLVIDPLO\LQVWDELOLW\DQGSROLWLFDO SHUIHFWO\UHÀHFWWKLVVWDQFH0RVWPLOOHQQLDOV dysfunction. You see an abstract celebration of H[SHFWWRVHHQR6RFLDO6HFXULW\EHQH¿WVE\ the time they retire. But they oppose reforms creative transformation but a concrete hunger to take money away from older workers to for order, security and stability. GLVWULEXWHLWGRZQZDUG7KH\MXVW¿JXUHWKH\¶OO According to data from the Bureau of take care of retirement individually, often Labor Statistics, millennials change jobs less using algorithm-based investment vehicles frequently than people in other generations. like Wealthfront. And a study of 25,000 millennials in 22 Politically, this means that millennials may countries by Jennifer J. Deal and Alec Levenson found that at least 40 percent expect lean Democratic, but unless Barack Obama (or Bernie Sanders) is on the ticket, they don’t to stay with their current employer for at least nine years. Forty-four percent said they would strongly attach to the party and it is not clear that they will vote. They didn’t in the 2014 be happy to spend the rest of their career at midterm elections. It could be they are more their current organization. interested in improving their lives by having Millennials travel and move less than richer experiences, and not through the sort of earlier generations. They are less likely to income transfers that come out of Washington. have cars, and their relative lack of driving My own guess is that millennials will be time is not compensated for by the use of a muted political force, at least in 2016. But other modes of transportation. there will be some giant cultural explosion Another glaring feature of millennial down the road. You just can’t be as detached culture is they have been forced to be from solid supporting structures as millennials self-reliant and to take a loosely networked individualism as the normal order of the now are and lead a happy middle-aged life. universe. Millennials have extremely low Something is going to change. social trust. According to Pew Research, just Ŷ 19 percent say most people can be trusted, David Brooks became a New York Times compared with 40 percent of boomers. Op-Ed columnist in 2003. Philosophically, millenials are hard to pin down. 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. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include city of residence and phone number. Send to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com. YOUR VIEWS Have Hammonds GRQDWH¿QHJRIUHH The Hammonds did do wrong; they have paid a large amount of money to right their wrong. So, to make a positive out of a negative, give them a choice to go to jail or pay $100,000 to stay out of jail, and send the money to the Wounded Warrior program. -HUU\%ULVWRZ 7LOODPRRN +DPPRQGVDUHQRW UHVSRQVLEOHUDQFKHUV Steve and Dwight Hammond, the ranchers who sparked the recent Harney County protests, were characterized by Congressman Greg Walden as “responsible ranchers.” Walden has a different idea about responsible behavior than I. The Hammonds are convicted of poaching at least seven deer, a fact that they to tried to hide by VHWWLQJD¿UH7KH+DPPRQGVZHUH also convicted of setting a second DUVRQ¿UHDIHZ\HDUVODWHURQ Steens Mountain. The Hammonds harassed federal employees to keep them from building a fence designed to keep the Hammonds’ cows from trespassing on federal lands. And on more than one occasion, the Hammonds threatened the lives of federal employees. These are responsible citizens according to Walden. Despite their vitriol rhetoric and disdain for the federal government, the Hammonds gladly collected at a minimum of nearly $300,000 in direct subsidies from taxpayers, not to mention the below-cost grazing fees they enjoyed while feeding their cattle on public grasslands, as ZHOODVWD[SD\HU¿QDQFHGSUHGDWRU control, and who knows what else. “Responsible ranchers” like the Hammonds remind me of my teenagers who wanted me to give them the keys to the car, pay for the gas, but protested when I required they be home at a certain hour. The fact is that the Hammonds are like spoiled teenagers. Instead of showing gratitude for the many EHQH¿WVWKHUHVWRIXVEHVWRZXSRQ them, they only show disdain. Rather than more local control as Walden, the Hammonds and the militia all demand, we need less. Public lands are one of our best democratic institutions where every citizen should have an equal voice in their management. Plus, no one has a right to abuse these lands, especially those using public resources for their private gain. Grazing on public lands is a privilege, not a right. Public lands are part of our national patrimony. It’s time that Walden started representing all of us, not just the interests of wealthy welfare ranchers of Harney County. *HRUJH:XHUWKQHU %HQG *RYHUQPHQWKDVWROHW UDQFKHUVOLYHDQGZRUN “Mr. President, free the Hammonds.” Thank you, East Oregonian editors, but that ZRXOGRQO\EHWKH¿UVWVWHS The Hammonds’ ranch has been enduring relentless government oppression, harassment and tyranny from overzealous bureaucrats since 1970. Why would government RI¿FLDOVWDUJHWWKH+DPPRQG Ranch? The Federal Bureau of Land Management and the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service has systematically driven virtually all the other private ranchers out of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. All except the Hammonds. Beginning in 1970, the BLM/ FWS revoked 32 of 53 grazing permits of MNWR area ranches DQGVLJQL¿FDQWO\UDLVHGWKHIHHV of the remaining 21 permits. In 1980 there were still 31 ranchers that refused to sell their heritage. 7KH%/0):6ÀRRGHGWKHLU ranches, destroying their property and forcing them to sell their now worthless ranches. In 1994 the BLM built an illegal fence around a Hammond ranch water source. The Hammonds rightfully objected and the Harney County sheriff arrested Dwight Hammond and he spent two nights in jail. Because the BLM actions ZHUHLOOHJDOQRFKDUJHVZHUH¿OHG The BLM and the FWS continued their illegal attack against the Hammonds by barricading a public road that connected their ranch and revoked their grazing permits without cause or a court order. By now the Hammonds knew they would get no support from the local sheriff’s department so they had no choice but to endure the government tyranny against them. The Hammonds were next informed the “Oregon Fence Out Law” now only applied to ranchers, not the government, forcing the them to sell cattle on portions of the ranch they could not afford to fence. By the turn of the century Hammonds were the last ranchers left within the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. No matter what the BLM and FWS did the Hammonds would not yield their ranch or their heritage. That is when the BLM, FWS and ORFDOJRYHUQPHQWRI¿FLDOVFDPH up with a brilliant plan: Use the courts and a 1996 terrorist law to arrest and convict these ranchers that refused to yield their land and heritage and use the press to brand them as arsonists. Once the Hammonds were convicted as arsonist/terrorists, the next step was to force the Hammonds to sign a ULJKWRI¿UVWUHIXVDOVRWKH\KDYHQR choice except to sell their ranch to the BLM. The U.S. government and ORFDOJRYHUQPHQWRI¿FLDOVQHHG to admit they have failed to honor their constitutional responsibility and immediately work with local ranchers, loggers, farmers and citizens to restore our God-given liberty and heritage. Harney County Sheriff David Ward has done nothing to aid, support or protect the Hammonds and needs to be recalled before he instigates bloodshed. 6WXDUW'LFN,UULJRQ
