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