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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 22, 2016)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Friday, April 22, 2016 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON TIM TRAINOR Advertising Director Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW TiS oI the hat NicN in the Sants A tiS oI the hat to the PendOeton and +eSSner chaPEers oI coPPerce for hosting candidate forums this week. In Pendleton it’s an unwieldy ¿eld, with more contenders for the ¿ve open seats than we’ve seen in a long while. Eleven of the 14 people listed on the ballot spent the lunch hour brieÀy running through their thoughts on the city, its government and its future. Although the format didn’t allow for much more than broad strokes, it put the candidates at one table and gave a crowd of business and community leaders the chance to hear their pitch directly. Because Pendleton is divided into three wards, most ballots sent out will only have a voice in three of the races — mayor, at-large councilor and whichever ward they live in. But knowing a little bit about all of the candidates is a good ¿rst step into understanding what’s in store in the next four years. In Morrow County, with a less crowded ¿eld, the candidates had a little more time to speak their minds. You can look for a story on that forum in Saturday’s paper. Photo illustration courtesy of Women on 20s Harriet Tubman will replace Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 bill. A tiS oI the hat to the 86 Treasury 'eSartPent for ¿nally and rightfully planning to update the $20 bill with a praise-worthy ¿gure from U.S. history — Harriet Tubman — to replace a president who has had more than enough time in our monetary limelight — Andrew Jackson. Tubman was an abolitionist who helped rescue slaves through the Underground Railroad, and later worked as a Union spy during the Civil War. Jackson was the seventh president of the United States and the founder of the Democratic Party. He was a wealthy slave owner who made a name for himself during his military career for success against the British, Spanish and Creek. As president he signed the Indian Removal Act that led to the forced removal of the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole and Cherokee Nations tribes from their home in the southeast to reservations west of the Mississippi River. He was a man of his time, celebrated for expanding control of rich, white men into new corners of this country. But it is now time we expand our celebration past that demographic. Along with changing the face on the front, the new bills to be rolled out in the next four years will be harder to counterfeit and include tactile features that can be more easily identi¿ed by blind people. Our only disappointment with the change is that Jackson won’t be retired entirely, but instead will be moved to the back of the bill. 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 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com. OTHER VIEWS Obama in Saudi Arabia, exporter of oil and bigotry A college senior boarded a Àight Muslims worldwide. Its approach to and excitedly called his family to Islam has special legitimacy, its clerics recount a U.N. event he had attended, have great reach, its media spread but, unfortunately, he was speaking its views worldwide, and it ¿nances Arabic. Southwest Airlines kicked him madrassas in poor countries to sow off the plane, in the sixth case reported hatred. in the United States this year in which From Pakistan to Mali, these a Muslim was ejected from a Àight. Saudi-¿nanced madrassas have popped Such Islamophobia also ¿nds Nichilas up and cultivate religious extremism expression in the political system, with Kristif — and, sometimes, terrorists. A State Department cable released through Donald Trump calling for a temporary Comment WikiLeaks reported that in Pakistan ban on Muslims entering the country these extremist madrassas offered (“Welcome to the USA! Now, what’s impoverished families a $6,500 bounty for your religion?”) and Ted Cruz suggesting turning over a son to be indoctrinated. special patrols of Muslim neighborhoods To be blunt, Saudi Arabia legitimizes (in New York City, by the nearly 1,000 Islamic extremism and police of¿cers who are intolerance around the Muslim?). Some 50 percent of world. If you want to stop Americans support a ban and bombings in Brussels or San special patrols. Bernardino, then turn off the Such attitudes contradict spigots of incitement from our values and make us Saudi Arabia and other Gulf look like a bastion of countries. intolerance. But for those “Saudi Arabia is not an of us who denounce these enemy of the U.S., but it is an prejudices, it’s also important enemy of itself,” a Kuwaiti to acknowledge that there once told me. truly are dangerous strains of A new survey ¿nds that intolerance and extremism young Arabs in the Middle within the Islamic world — East and North Africa want and for many of these, Saudi to modernize, with 52 Arabia is the source. percent saying that religion plays too big a I’m glad that President Barack Obama is role in the Middle East. That’s true of many, visiting Saudi Arabia, for engagement usually many Saudis as well, and some have tried works better than isolation. But let’s not let to start a desperately needed conversation diplomatic niceties keep us from pointing about tolerance. One of them, Raif Badawi, a to the insidious role that Saudi Arabia plays blogger, was arrested and sentenced to 1,000 in sowing instability and, for that matter, in lashes. tarnishing the image of Islam worldwide. In the past I sometimes defended Saudi The truth is that Saudi leaders do far more to Arabia on the basis that it was at least moving damage Islam than Trump or Cruz can do, in the right direction. and we should be as ready to denounce their But in the past few years it has been bigotry as Trump’s. backtracking while also starting a brutal war Americans are abuzz about the “missing in Yemen. Obama’s biggest mistake with 28 pages” — unsupported leads suggesting Saudi Arabia was providing arms for that war, that Saudi of¿cials might have had a hand implicating America in what Human Rights in the 9/11 attacks. But as far as I can tell, Watch says may be war crimes. these tips, addressed in a still-secret section In short, as a Saudi father named of a congressional report, were investigated Mohammed al-Nimr says, “Saudi Arabia and discredited; Philip Zelikow of the 9/11 is now going in the wrong direction.” He Commission tells me the 28 pages are should know: His brother, a prominent Shiite “misleading”; the commission found there was “no evidence” of the Saudi government or religious ¿gure, was executed in January, and his son, Ali al-Nimr, has been sentenced to senior of¿cials ¿nancing the plot. death for participating in protests when he was The much better reason to be concerned a minor. with Saudi Arabia is that it has promoted “Americans should care, because what extremism, hatred, misogyny and the Sunni/ happens here can affect the world,” the Shiite divide that is now playing out in a Middle East civil war. Saudi Arabia should be father told me, and he cautioned that Saudi repression destabilizes the entire Middle East. renamed the Kingdom of Backwardness. He’s right. It’s not just that Saudi women are barred Bill O’Reilly has denounced me as a “chief from driving, or that when in cars they are discouraged from wearing seat belts for fear of apologist” for Islam, and I’ll continue to decry what I see as Islamophobia in the West. But at showing their contours, or that a 19-year-old woman who was gang-raped was sentenced to the same time, let’s acknowledge that Saudi Arabia is more than our gas station; it is also a 200 lashes (after protests, the king pardoned wellspring of poison in the Islamic world, and her). It’s not just that public churches are banned, or that there is brutal repression of the its bigotry fuels our bigotry. Ŷ Shiite minority. Nicholas Kristof grew up on a sheep and As the land where Islam began, Saudi cherry farm in Yamhill. Arabia has enormous inÀuence among Saudi Arabia legitimizes Islamic extremism and intolerance around the world. YOUR VIEWS Two yes votes needed to create new district Just a reminder to everyone that will be voting for the formation of the Umatilla Fire District #1: You will need to vote yes for the dissolution of the old districts and yes for the formation of the new in order for it to pass. If you are still undecided, check www.hermiston¿re.com for more information. Or you can call Chief Scott Stanton or visit with him. He has been having coffee hour at different locations around town. You can also check gohermiston. com to ¿nd out where he will be next. Bruce Naugher 6tan¿eOd )ire 'eSartPent Eoard PePEer )airOey a SroIessionaO and a Sroven Oeader This letter is in reference to the Ward 2 race for Pendleton City Council and my support of Scott Fairley. I have had the opportunity to know Scott since he was very young. His professional background and community involvement provides him with the skills and experience to advance the interest of Pendleton in a very positive way. Scott has been working at a regional level in the area of economic development for nine years, providing excellent leadership for the communities of Eastern Oregon. He is the chair of the Pendleton Planning Commission and member of the Airport Commission. Scott is also a past president of the Farmers Market. His communication skills and connections at the local, state and federal level will be very helpful to the Pendleton community. Please support Scott Fairley for Ward 2. 3hiOOiS : +ouN Payor 3endOeton 9oters shouOd suSSort goOden schooOs Eond We urge all of our Milton- Freewater community members to vote yes for the upcoming school bond. As has been stated in many previous letters, this truly is a “once in a lifetime” opportunity to support our school system, our community and all of the residents within the school district. I grew up in this community and graduated from Mac-Hi in 1962, the year Milton-Freewater was named an “All American Community.” We were all very proud of our community and all that had been achieved. We must recapture that pride in our community and this is the golden opportunity to do so. A strong school system is the core of a vibrant community. If we don’t make this move for a new school, and the upgrading needed for those that are structurally acceptable, we will be required to make these changes in the not-too- distant future. And the cost will never go down; as the old Fram Filter advertisement used to say: “You can pay me now, or pay me more later.” If we do not pass this bond, we will have to pay the full $31.5 million, or in that proximity, before too many years pass. If that happens, then we will all be extremely unhappy with the taxes we will have to pay to upgrade our schools. We can avoid that unpleasant experience by voting yes now. I was a partner at Key Technology when we decided to move our operations to Walla Walla in the mid-1980s. It was not an easy decision for us; many factors were involved. However, one of the continual challenges we faced was recruiting top technical and management talent to Key. We had numerous strong candidates apply, but many turned us down because they did not think that Milton-Freewater was a healthy community and our schools were sub-par. Nearly all of those who did join Key lived in Walla Walla. That’s history, but the core issue is much the same as it was 30 years ago. No, none of us want to pay more taxes, but this opportunity will be one of the wisest investments we will ever be able to make. This bond will actually replace the current bond that was approved three years ago. It will provide the impetus for our community to become relevant again, and will increase the value of our community by substantial amounts. There is a great deal of truth in the statement: If you aren’t progressing and moving forward as a community, then your community is dying. -iP and BarEara 6tanton 0iOton)reewater )airOey a good addition to 3endOeton counciO We have known Scott Fairley for nearly 40 years and have watched him grow up to become an involved and productive member of his community, region and state. He has acquired vast experience in community and economic development while working with local and state leaders. He is forward thinking and believes in transparency, mutual respect and trust in local government and community relations. He is positive about our city’s future and is willing to contribute in a proactive way. We encourage Ward 2 voters to elect Scott Fairley to our city council. -aNe and &athy &aPEier 3endOeton
