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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 7, 2016)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Thursday, April 7, 2016 OTHER VIEWS Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON TIM TRAINOR Advertising Director Opinion Page Editor OTHER VIEWS It’s spring season for the exciting sport of botany T possibly a species of pollen here was a particular beetle, though I don’t know my willow-studded meadow bugs. Northwest plant gurus Jim along the Sweetwater River Pojar and Andy MacKinnon note where columbines and Rocky trilliums are mostly noted for Mountain irises rippled in the a relationship with ants, which grass like delicate pastel asteroids relish their seeds. After eating zipping in a verdant emerald sky. an oil-rich appendage on these Family rock-hunting expeditions seeds, ants carry them to rubbish often paused there as my dad Matt and uncle made certain it was Winters piles, where new trilliums spring up. “This is a reasonably safe to ford the snow-fed stream Comment effective mechanism for seed in lumbering four-wheel-drives. dispersal, especially There was for plants of the time to wander dim, becalmed around picking IRUHVWÀRRU´WKH ZLOGÀRZHUV² experts write. ostensibly for mama, though truth Older than be told, I just liked the trees them. Botany, zoology On March 24 in and geology were southern Oregon, our family sports, Umpqua National so by age 6 I knew Forest issued a plea irises are less for people to leave innocent than they trilliums alone. appear. “Roots 3LFNLQJWKHÀRZHUV were ground by this early in the the Indians, mixed season means that with animal bile, Matt Winters/Eo Media Group the plant is stripped then put in the A trillium was backlit by the evening of its ability to gall bladder and sun on a ridge just above the Pacific make more energy ZDUPHGQHDUD¿UH Ocean this week. to store in the root, for several days. the U.S. Forest Arrow points were Service said. The depleted root then dipped in this mixture, and it is reported lacks nutritional reserves necessary for by old Indians that many warriors only next year’s showy bloom to appear. slightly wounded by such arrows died “The interesting thing about trillium within 3 to 7 days,” my uncle’s 1963 is they can grow to be very old,” said 3HWHUVRQ¿HOGJXLGHUHPLQGVPH Umpqua National Forest botanist 3RLVRQRXVRUQRWZLOGÀRZHUV Richard Helliwell. “There are trillium pumping with life force before plucking in the Siskiyous that always swiftly wither are greater than 80 into pathetic victims, years. In some cases, becoming limp the trillium can be corpses within minutes older than the trees of being picked. As I surrounding the plant.” would eventually learn Like many native about fashion models, plants, trilliums were they are best cherished much cherished by in their native habitat. traditional healers. (Jim Harrison, a They contain a literary hero of mine uterotonic, which who died last week, induces labor and amusingly observed reduces postpartum “If you’ve known a hemorrhaging, giving lot of actresses and rise to a folk-medicine models, you return to waitresses because name of birthroot. “King’s Medical at least they smell like food.”) Dispensatory” of 1898 attributes many DGGLWLRQDOEHQH¿WVWRWULOOLXPURRWV Bloom season begins including treating “tumors, indolent or 6RPHZLOGÀRZHUVRQ:DVKLQJWRQ¶V offensive ulcers, anthrax, buboes, stings outer coast are running a few of insects, and to restrain gangrene.” days behind last year. It has been Good to know, I suppose, if you’re ever comparatively warm, but heavy overcast stranded in the wilderness. denied plants the ambitious head start I recommend the sport of botany they got during 2014-15’s bizarrely ²DQGDOOVFLHQFHV²WRHYHU\RQH VXQQ\ZLQWHU$VRI¿FLDODVWURQRPLFDO Knowing a little about our incredible spring began March 20, some local world will make your life far richer. rain gauges pushed above 6 feet for the (Closing with a personal boast, my ³ZDWHU\HDU´WKDWVWDUWHG2FW²WZR uncle Tom Bell, who helped spark these feet more than our recent normal. Any interests in me and his many students, VHQVLEOHZLOGÀRZHUFDQ¶WEHEODPHGIRU will this spring be presented an honorary feeling a little washed out and depressed. doctorate from our alma mater, in Wake-robins, better known in these company with similarly inspirational parts as trilliums, may be an exception. science writer John McPhee.) They’ve been in bloom on the forest Ŷ ÀRRUVIRUWKHSDVWGD\VZKLOHLQ Matt Winters is editor and publisher they weren’t feeling very enthusiastic of the Chinook Observer and Coast until almost mid-April. River Business Journal, sister papers in They are crawling with little insects, the EO Media Group. As I would eventually learn about fashion models, they are best cherished in their native habitat. ‘Fresh face’ might be best GOP nominee ne thing that unites many 5RYH¶VVXJJHVWLRQ²KHQHYHU supporters of Donald Trump QDPHGDQ\QDPHV²EOHZXS7ZLWWHU and Ted Cruz is the suspicion Thursday night, with many Trump that party elders might try to hand the and Cruz supporters expressing Republican presidential nomination outrage. But Rove is not the only one to another candidate if neither Trump contemplating, or at least open to, a nor Cruz arrives in Cleveland with the non-Trump, non-Cruz nominee. 1,237 delegates required to win. As it happened, I had a Important voices in the conversation Thursday afternoon Byron conservative world have voiced such with Milwaukee conservative radio York concerns. Rush Limbaugh, for one, host Charlie Sykes, who has played Comment has speculated that the Republican DOHDGLQJUROH²SHUKDSVWKHOHDGLQJ establishment will try to “install UROH²LQWKH1HYHU7UXPSPRYHPHQW whoever they want” at a contested convention. in the days leading up to Tuesday’s Wisconsin /LPEDXJKJXHVVHGVXFKD¿QDOFKRLFHPLJKW primary. I asked Sykes whether the GOP nominee has to be someone be Jeb Bush or Paul Ryan.) Now Karl Rove, a for whom people actually man many view as the voted in the 2016 primaries physical embodiment of the and caucuses. establishment, has poured “It’s got to go to an open convention,” Sykes told gallons of fuel on the me. “What I want to see is 5HSXEOLFDQ¿UH$SSHDULQJ (Trump) to come in with on Hugh Hewitt’s radio fewer than 1,200 votes. If show Thursday evening, KHGRHVQ¶WZLQRQWKH¿UVW Rove said a “fresh face” chosen at the convention might turn the GOP’s ballot, there’s no way he wins the nomination. And frankly, anything that happens after that, fortunes around and win in November. ,¶P¿QHZLWK´ Hewitt asked Rove, “Who is the most “Does it have to be Cruz for you?” electable Republican ... of the people who “No, absolutely not.” could be available to run?” All the current “Does it have to be a candidate that people candidates have their problems, Rove answered. But there might be an outsider with have voted for in this primary season?” “No. Look, at this point, there are no good just the right combination of attributes who options. There’s no scenario in which you go, could lead Republicans to victory: well that’s fantastic. They’re all sort of less “If we have somebody who we think bad. It’s going to be messy no matter what. I has, has been battle-tested, and has strong don’t see any easy exit here. But nothing is as conservative principles and the ability to articulate them, and they are nominated at this bad as nominating Donald Trump.” After word of Rove’s statement came out, convention, there will be a lot of acrimony another radio host, Atlanta’s Michael Graham, from the people who were seeking the agreed with Rove. “If US wakes up Tues after nomination. But if it’s somebody who has, Labor Day w/a sane, likable GOP ticket vs you know, has those convictions that they can Hillary, nobody will care re: process,” Graham express in a compelling way, we could come tweeted Thursday. out of the convention in relatively strong Ŷ position ... And a fresh face might be the thing Byron York is chief political correspondent that could give us a chance to turn this election for The Washington Examiner. and win in November against Hillary.” O Karl Rove has poured gallons of fuel on the Republican fire. 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 YOUR VIEWS Big difference between a poacher and a hunter I appreciate the East Oregonian using the term “poachers” for the two criminals who killed and decapitated the two rams along Interstate 84 (something we hear happens to elephants and rhinos by poachers in Africa). Too many times poachers are referred to as hunters. Anyone who is a hunter resents criminals called by any other name. I have applied for ram tags since they ZHUH¿UVWRIIHUHGEXWKDYHQHYHUEHHQ drawn for this once-in-a-lifetime tag. Every trip on I-84 I watch for the sheep along the road and love seeing them. I will never understand why someone would want a trophy head that they didn’t get in “fair chase.” Do they make up a story about their great skill and the thrill of the hunt? How pathetic! Your picture shows a mature full curl ram and an immature baby ram. What is the point? These stupid criminals deserve no human compassion. I only hope, and insist, that these two idiots are punished to the fullest extent of the law. This is the time to make an example of these poachers. I don’t want WRKHDUWKH\UHFHLYHGD¿QHDQGZHUH released. If the state won’t do it, let some real hunters have a try at them. Bill Wilson 6WDQ¿HOG 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 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com. Managing Oregon’s national forests contractors to do forest thinning on 200 acres outside of Lakeview on the Fremont-Winema National Forest. Federal timber sales money he state of Oregon signed a new will help cover the costs. agreement this week that should bring In the watershed of the John Day River, more cooperation between the state and national forest staff members are going to be the federal government in managing national getting help from the Oregon Department of forests. (YHU\VXPPHUDVWKHZLOG¿UHVUDFHWKURXJK )LVKDQG:LOGOLIHDQGRWKHUVWRSURWHFW¿VK They’ll be doing things like installing screens the national forests and the air in Bend gets RQLUULJDWLRQGLYHUVLRQVWRNHHS¿VKIURP smoky, it’s tempting to throw up your hands getting sucked in. and think the federal government is never But hold it. going to get forest management right. Doesn’t this mean that the federal %XWWKLVDJUHHPHQW²RI¿FLRXVO\QDPHG government isn’t doing enough to manage Oregon Good Neighbor Authority Master $JUHHPHQW²FRXOGPDNHDELWRIGLIIHUHQFH federal land? Yes, it does. The state and the federal government already But if Oregon doesn’t do something about work together on projects in Oregon. This will LWLWPHDQVPRUHZLOG¿UHULVNLWPHDQVPRUH enable them to do more. challenges with endangered species, it means What kinds of things do they do? Here are less revenue for what could be a thriving a few examples: Oregon has committed $7.9 million to help sustainable industry in wood products. 7KHUHLVVWLOOJRLQJWREHZLOG¿UHVPRNHLQ the federal government do projects on federal the air and wasted resources. This is another lands in the state. step, though, toward making things a bit The Oregon Department of Forestry is better. SODQQLQJWRXVHVHDVRQDO¿UH¿JKWHUVDQG The (Bend) Bulletin T
