Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Saturday, April 16, 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
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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
Why we endorse
It’s strange in this day and age,
who we see on a regular basis in our
when everyone has an opinion and
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everyone else is going to hear about
Yet we feel that we can offer
it, that newspapers are rethinking the some helpful information to voters.
endorsement.
We have the opportunity to discuss
Editorial opinion was the
political issues with all of the
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candidates running in local elections.
newspapers, when
This year is the
people of means
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Your vote is
sought to sway
included audio
the public toward
recording of those
powerful in
their own interests
which
local elections. interviews,
through the power
will be published at
of the press. That
Our attempt is eastoregonian.com/
became big business
podcasts and on
not to influence iTunes by searching
in the U.S. as
citizens became
East Oregonian.
it as much as
more literate.
Some are published
we’re trying to already.
Then the
humanitarian
We also speak to
empower it.
people on both sides
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of local bond and
and they sought
levy proposals, from
to look out for the
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common man and the taxpayer
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instead of corporate interests.
district proposals in Hermiston and
And they had the perfect platform
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— the only means of daily news
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consumption and an industry in full
county commissioners and the
bloom.
sheriff receive a healthy salary from
But as the news options have
become more varied, the newspaper taxpayers, so we hold them to higher
standards. City councilors and
business has withered. And in an
mayors receive a pittance in return
attempt to appeal to a wider range
for the thankless tasks they take on.
of readers, many newspapers have
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toned down or eliminated the
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them require a critical eye to their
endorsements of candidates and
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measures come election season.
Our endorsements will run
Those endorsements can be
over the next two weeks on this
contentious. Almost every election
page and will be peppered with
season we hear from someone
discussions about candidates in the
who so heartily disagrees with our
May elections, a primary election
recommendation that they cancel
for some partisan races, a binding
their subscription.
general election for others.
And they can be especially
Your vote is powerful in local
fraught in local elections, when
we’re not arguing about dense
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economic policy or tax brackets.
it as much as we’re trying to
We’re talking about local people
empower it.
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.
YOUR VIEWS
Wilderness areas should
remain free of bicycles
In reply to the Bend Bulletin’s “Other
Views” editorial entitled “End the ban
on bikes in wilderness areas,” I would
like to point out that The Wilderness Act
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of certain uses section “there shall be no
other form of mechanical transportation.”
Mountain bikers are already allowed
on other federal, state and private lands;
they should not be allowed in wilderness
areas. The idea of mountain bikes has
already been considered and debated.
In 1964, after eight years of
discussions and compromises, the
United States House of Representatives
and Senate unanimously passed The
Wilderness Act that offers outstanding
outdoor recreation, watershed protection,
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sanctuary of quiet, far from mechanical
contrivances such as mountain bikes.
The long history of this vital
legislation must not be violated.
Marilyn Cripe
Pilot Rock
Primmer has experience,
dedication for council seat
I am excited to see a great guy like
Dale Primmer running for city council.
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trip about eight years ago.
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impression was that he was a bright,
informed guy with a good sense of
humor. I assumed he was successful at
whatever it was he did and as I got to
know him and his family better, I learned
my assumptions were correct.
Primmer brings an energetic
combination of heart and mind that
would make him an exceptional city
council member.
He has many things that make him
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experience, proven dedication to this
community, and a knowledge of the
challenges and opportunities facing
Pendleton.
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supporting Dale in his run for city
council Ward 3.
Genna Banica
Pendleton
What does Pendleton
council have to hide?
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East Oregonian about a communication
person for Pendleton, and that the city
manager thinks that the city council
should not be able to respond to any
criticisms.
I would deduce that someone is afraid
of truth. If the city has money for that
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Al Plute has every right to voice
his opinion. I may not agree with
him, however, if he wants to defend a
position and have his voice heard in the
newspaper he certainly has that right.
More and more government people
believe they are above the people, that
they know better how we should live and
breathe, but they do not have to follow
the rules that they made for us.
If I want to make a fool of myself I
have that right. If government wants to
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then pay the consequences.
I wonder, what is our city afraid of?
What the heck is all government afraid
of? Could it be the people? I suppose
so — they might lose the power. They’re
not there for power, they are there for
you. Remember it’s your money not
theirs, and your vote.
They are constitutionally bound to
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special interests or other special interest.
Roesch Kishpaugh
Pendleton
Be heard! Submit your own letter to the editor
OTHER VIEWS
What is inspiration?
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or decades, Anders Ericsson
Inspiration is not earned. Your
has reminded us of the value of
investment of time and effort prepares
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you for inspiration, but inspiration is
psychologist did the research that led
a gift that goes beyond anything you
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could have deserved.
his informative new book, “Peak,” he
Inspiration is not something you
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can control. People who are inspired
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have lost some agency. They often
David
(even in people like Mozart) and
feel that something is working through
emphasize the importance of deliberate
Brooks them, some power greater than
Comment
practice — painstaking exercises to
themselves. The Greeks said it was the
perfect some skill.
Muses. Believers might say it is God
Anybody who has observed
or the Holy Spirit. Others might say it
excellence knows that Ericsson is basically
is something mysterious bursting forth deep in
right. Dogged work is the prerequisite of
the unconscious, a new way of seeing.
success. Yet there are some moments — after
Inspiration does not happen to autonomous
much steady work and after the technical
individuals. It’s a beautiful contagion that
skills have been mastered —
passes through individuals.
when the mind and spirit take
The word itself comes from
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the Latin inspirare, meaning
of inspiration. They kind of
“to breath into.” One inspiring
steal upon you, longed for and
achievement — say, the space
unexpected.
program — has a tendency to
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raise the sense of possibility in
domesticated, amorphous
others — say, a little boy who
and secular word for what is
dreams of being an astronomer.
actually a revolutionary, countercultural and
Then the one who is inspired performs his
spiritual phenomenon. But what exactly is
own feats and inspires others, and so on down
inspiration? What are we talking about when
the line.
we use that term?
Inspiration is not permanent and solid.
Well, moments of inspiration don’t quite
It’s powerful but ephemeral, which is why
make sense by normal logic. They feel
so many people compare it to a gust of wind.
transcendent, uncontrollable and irresistible.
And when it is gone people long for its return.
When one is inspired, time disappears or alters
The poet Christian Wiman wrote that
LWVSDFH7KHVHQVHVDUHDPSOL¿HG7KHUHPD\ inspiration is “intrusive, transcendent,
be goose bumps or shivers down the spine, or
transformative, but also evanescent and,
a sense of being overawed by some beauty.
all too often, anomalous. A poem can leave
Inspiration is always more active than
its maker at once more deeply seized by
mere appreciation. There’s a thrilling feeling
existence and, in a profound way, alienated
of elevation, a burst of energy, an awareness
from it, for as the act of making ends, as the
of enlarged possibilities. The person in the
world that seemed to overbrim its boundaries
grip of inspiration has received, as if by
becomes, once more, merely the world, it can
magic, some new perception, some holistic
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understanding, along with the feeling that she
original moment of inspiration. That memory
is capable of more than she thought.
of that momentary blaze, in fact, and the art
Vladimir Nabokov believed that inspiration that issued from it, can become a kind of
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yourself most of the time.”
being” that banishes all awareness of physical
Most important, inspiration demands a
discomfort. The feeling does not yield its
certain posture, the sort of posture people feel
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and some wind has blown in.
and mysterious.
Then, a few days later, Nabokov continued,
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the writer “forefeels what he is going to tell.”
surrendering and also powerful. When people
There’s an instant vision, the lightning bolt of
are inspired they are willing to take a daring
inspiration, that turns into rapid speech, and
lark toward something truly great. They’re
a “tumble of merging words” that form the
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nucleus of a work that will grow from it over
of the truth and to try to express it in some
the ensuing months or years.
new way.
Inspired work stands apart from normal
Yes, hard work is really important for
OLIH,QWKH¿UVWSODFHLW¶VQRWDERXWVHOILQWHUHVW achievement. But life is more mysterious than
as normally understood. It’s not driven by
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a desire for money or grades or status. The
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inspired person is driven intrinsically by the
David Brooks became a New York Times
work itself. The work takes hold of a person.
Op-Ed columnist in 2003.
Inspiration is
powerful but
ephemeral.
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.