Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Friday, April 8, 2016
OTHER VIEWS
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 the roughly hundred people from all over the
region who showed up Wednesday to discuss the Blue Mountains Forest
Plan.
An overÀow crowd packed a lecture hall at Blue Mountain Community
College for nearly two hours on Wednesday,
while the sun was still warm and high in the
evening sky. The East Oregonian helped
organize the panel discussion, which was
moderated by Oregon Public Broadcasting’s
“Think Out Loud” program.
People in the crowd were able to speak to
a statewide audience about something they
are passionate about. And dozens took the
opportunity.
You can listen to the show in its entirety by
visiting opb.org and clicking on the “Think
Out Loud” tab. Odds are you’ll hear someone
you know.
It’s always great to take part and speak up, but we hope people used
the opportunity to listen as much as talk. The forest plan is an immensely
complicated issue and competing interests will always keep it from being a
perfect product.
In our ears, the takeaway of the night was this People have speci¿c,
narrow focuses that are in tune with their own self-interest. That’s the kind
of thinking that brought human beings to the top of the food chain, so it’s no
wonder that we’ve become attached to it.
But the people in charge of the whole forest ² . million acres of
beautiful Eastern Oregon ² have to take a much wider view. And that is
what leads to friction.
We humans aren’t good at thinking generations ahead, about thinking of
land not within our line of sight, about repercussions of our actions that will
be felt long after we’re gone.
Yet that kind of thinking is necessary to make the forest plan a success ²
it will allow us to do all the things we love on the forest (hike, drive, ride,
camp) and all the things we need to do survive (log, mine, hunt, gather),
while still making sure future generations will be able to do those things too.
A tip of the hat to the Pendleton drone range’s plan to take a more
active role in marketing themselves and attracting customers.
It’s a necessary step to making the range
a ¿nancial asset to the city, instead of an
awesome possibility that never lived up to the
potential.
We think the city should kick in the
$10,000 in order to collect a $150,000 grant
and get the process started.
In a not totally unrelated note, the change
in tactics reminds us once again about how
much damage the movie “Field of Dreams”
has done to the economic development ¿eld
across the world.
“If you build it, they will come” might
work in a Hollywood movie, but it doesn’t work in the shovel-and-dirt real
world.
Convincing “them” to come takes hard work, smart marketing, real
material and ¿nancial advantages, social and cultural buy-in, good
communication and relationship-building. And yes, built infrastructure is
part of the equation.
The Pendleton drone range is probably better positioned to succeed under
the new plan than it ever was before. And it will de¿nitely be in the best
position it has been since the FAA rela[ed rules that stripped the monopoly
from of¿cial test ranges.
The “future farm” brand is worth a shot, and $10,000 is a small price for
the city pay to roll the dice, especially considering the money invested there
in developments with considerably higher odds.
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.
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.
Donald Trump
won’t leave us alone
I
though that’s a popular complaint,
n recent days I’ve read that Donald
narrative and apologia of late.
Trump is ¿nally done and I’ve read
Journalists gave news consumers
that these reports of his death are
precisely what they demonstrated
greatly e[aggerated. I’ve had smart
that they wanted. This is too often
people tell me con¿dently that a loss in
omitted from critiques of Trump’s
Wisconsin would almost surely prevent
media dominance, which comes
him from winning the Republican
at a time when news organizations
presidential nomination and I’ve had
can more quickly monitor precisely
equally smart people tell me with equal
Frank
which stories and interviews are being
con¿dence that it wouldn’t.
Bruni
watched and read. Watchers and
How and when does Trump end?
Comment
readers disproportionately favored
In terms of politics, it’s a fascinating
Trump, so they got more of him. Had
question, all the more so after Ted
they cast their gazes in another direction, news
Cruz’s victory in the Badger State.
organizations would have followed suit.
In all other senses, it’s a foolish one.
And news organizations
Trump doesn’t end.
didn’t set Trump up to
Whether he’s the nominee
soar in the polls and win
or not, moves into the White
primaries. From my seat,
House or consoles himself at
most of the Trump coverage
Mar-a-Lago, he’ll never shut
was negative the Me[ican
up and never slink off ² not
“rapists,” the Muslim ban,
after the convention, not
the blood coming out of
after Election Day, no matter
Megyn Kelly’s “wherever,”
how resounding his defeat,
the mocking of John
no matter how grotesque his
McCain’s imprisonment in
path there.
Vietnam, the boasts about
He won’t follow
his penis, the shrugging
vanquished candidates of
about the Ku Klu[ Klan.
the past into grudging e[ile.
These tempests could ² and
You won’t spot him where
someone saw Marco Rubio
should ² have done as
on Monday ² in Seat 1C
much to quash Trump as to
on an American Airlines
elevate him, unless coverage
Àight from Miami to
itself equals votes, in which
Washington with no aides in
case there’s more cause for
attendance and no reporters
more teeth-gnashing about
in pursuit, according to Mike
American democracy than
Allen and Daniel Lippman in Politico.
about CNN programming.
And that’s not Must because Trump has
Should producers and editors have ignored
private planes. It’s because he’s a showman,
metrics in favor of their own Mudgment
not a statesman, a point he copped to on
and sense of mission? They routinely do
Monday in one of his most revealing remarks
this ² otherwise, there’d be wall-to-wall pet
yet.
stories ² but to play down Trump speci¿cally
“I can be presidential, but if I was
once he’d emerged as the front-runner would
presidential I would only have ² about 20
have been elitist and paternalistic e[actly
percent of you would be here, because it
those qualities that the news media has been
would be boring as hell,” he told a crowd in
derided for.
Superior, Wisconsin.
It’s because Mournalists remained Trump-
Boredom? Not on your life. If he had the
rapt and Trump-inquisitive that he said what
de[terity, he’d Muggle bowling pins while
he did about abortion and so many voters
riding a unicycle to stave it off. That’d
heard it in full. Same goes for Trump’s
certainly be more digni¿ed than many of the
troubling takes on violence at his rallies,
stunts and screeds he’s ginned up so far.
nuclear weapons in Asia, the future of NATO
Those stunts and screeds will continue,
and so much more.
because Trump is an attention Munkie who
There are legitimate questions of proportion
has become accustomed to the highest doses
in regard to Trump coverage, and perhaps he
imaginable of his beloved drug. He’ll say what has been accorded additional acres of news
he must and do what it takes for his ¿[.
media real estate because he’s so easy to talk
And while that’s nowhere near as terrifying and write about, a policy-free zone of quickly
as a Trump presidency, it’s still plenty scary.
digested, succinctly rendered struts and slurs.
Imagine Trump in December, braying as
But Americans took up residence on that
loudly as he does now. Imagine Trump in
terrain, and frolicked there, and if we want
January, during someone else’s inauguration,
the end of Trump, we have to set up camp
braying even more loudly.
elsewhere. He’ll resist it. He’s addicted to us.
The only way to discourage this is to ignore Soon enough, we’ll have to confront and deal
it We can stop feeding the habit. By “we” I
with our addiction to him.
mean the American people, not Must Mournalists,
Ŷ
because Mournalists didn’t determine, in a
Frank Bruni has been an Op-Ed columnist
vacuum, that Trump was the star of the show,
for The New York Times since June 2011.
The stunts
and screeds
will continue,
because Trump
is an attention
junkie who
has become
accustomed
to the highest
doses
imaginable.
YOUR VIEWS
Plute won’t be missed
in Pendleton
Sticks and stones will break my
bones, but words will never hurt
me.
Mr. Plute now calls us village
idiots. Before we were bullies. He
is leaving town because he doesn’t
get his way and relocates in city
that has a ¿ve cent gas ta[ for
infrastructure. Gee, that would be
an incentive for me to move.
He never fails to tell the citizens
of Pendleton what a great human
being he is and what prodigious
and wonderful accomplishments he
has done.
I am sure that there are many
who agree with him; however,
there seem to be many who do
not by the amount of signatures
that have been gathered to date.
He evidently doesn’t understand
character. It takes a lot of character
to admit defeat, or say, “I may have
been wrong.” He cuts and runs.
He claimed he invested $7
million. He failed to mention the
grants from the city and any others
he may have received.
I believe that by having a recall,
whether one is successful or not,
it has brought a spotlight on the
city council by the number of
individuals who now want run for
of¿ce.
What has transpired is not
personal, it has to do with his own
self-interest under the guise of
making Pendleton attractable. I
personally have not seen one plan
work. I have seen money thrown
around but no bene¿ts. We are still
stagnant.
I wish him a virtuous fortune.
Roesch Kishpaugh
Pendleton
Nothing sporting about
endangered animals
Living east of the Cascades, it
is often easy to feel as though we
are not represented in the political
process. The very number of voters
is destined to determine how
many races are won or lost based
on population base in different
areas. Our congressional district is
designed to represent our section of
Oregon.
Our elected of¿cial ²
Congressman Greg Walden ² is
up for re-election again and has
appeared locally to support a bill
that was mentioned in the news
article of Tuesday’s paper. His
support of this bill is one more
reason to vote for his opponent.
This is a form of negative voting,
but he has taken a number of stands
that lead me to this decision.
The protection included in
the Sportsmen’s Heritage and
Recreational Enhancement Act for
the importation of polar bear parts
or elephant ivory in contradiction
to the ban of importing ivory from
elephants is deplorable.
There is no reason whatsoever
to kill either species and bring
home body parts for mementos.
This support of benign destruction
by “sportsmen” in the name of
“hunting” is no different than
the two idiots who poached the
bighorn sheep last week in the
Columbia Gorge. When added
to his actions against a woman’s
reproductive rights, his opposition
to healthcare for all Americans, his
support for the illegal occupation
of the Malheur Wildlife refuge,
and his party line march against a
Supreme Court Justice nomination
all add up to a need to replace him
in his position.
Congressman Greg Walden
does not represent me in any of
his actions and I urge everyone to
consider his record and think about
what we e[pect an elected of¿cial
to do to represent us.
Armchair Books closure
not due to wage hike
published April 1st.
Armchair Books is
unfortunately closing. But not
because locals prefer a cheaper-
than-anybody big bo[ store, or
because the ease of Amazon is
pervasive. No, says the tongue-in-
cheek writer.
There is one simple
e[planation a law Must passed
and not yet in effect. That’s it
Oregon’s unrealistic minimum
wage law.
Any previous local merchant
that had to shutter their store had
a similar reason. They knew such
a law would one day be passed, so
they closed forthwith.
At the same time, the writer
e[presses concern for the store’s
owners and e[tends appreciation
for the service they provided,
their contribution to our local
culture and the loss Armchair
Books closure is. April 1st or not, I
heartily agree.
It was so subtle I almost missed
it. Then I realized the letter was
D.G. Reese
Echo
Colleen Blackwood
Pendleton
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