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OPINION
East Oregonian
Friday, May 20, 2016
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 Helix elementary students who will pitch in to
their cross-county neighbors in Hermiston’s effort to build a well in Africa.
The older students have been studying water, and speciically the need for
clean water in Africa. When their teacher
Monica Curtiss read an East Oregonian
story about Hermiston Altrusa’s efforts
to build a well, they decided to donate 10
percent of the proceeds of their annual
walk-a-thon to the project.
When Helix students set their minds to
something, watch out.
The 78 students in the school raised
$7,500 in pledges, meaning they’ll hand
a $750 check to Altrusa at Friday’s Walk-
4-Water. The rest of the money will go to
building an outdoor drinking fountain and
funding for ield trips.
That donation will be added to $1,608 raised between the website and
private gifts made directly to Hermiston Altrusa. But the goal of $5,000 is
still a ways off, and the deadline for donations is the end of May, according
to Stephanie Hughes who has led the effort.
If you’re inspired by the Helix students and want to help Altrusa reach
the goal, you can donate online at www.thewaterproject.org (search for
“Hermiston”) or drop a donation at American West Properties for Hughes.
A tip of the hat to voters in Milton-Freewater, Athena-Weston and
Echo school districts for their overwhelming support of bonds that will
make a huge difference in the lives of their children.
A ‘no’ vote is easy when it comes to
tax increases. All it takes is one look at
your monthly bank statement to see where
you’d rather spend your income. Or one
look at the amount you’re already paying
to other places in government.
But the voters of these three
communities looked past the easy answer.
For Milton-Freewater, a town that has not
built a new school in almost a century, it
was time. For Echo, which has one school
building and is in desperate need of safety
upgrades, it was time. For Athena-Weston,
where too much of the school’s budget is spent on operating costs rung up
by old facilities, it was time.
Plus, all three districts will get nice boosts from matching grants from
the state — a total of $12 million rolling into Umatilla County. And Milton-
Freewater got the best deal of all with an additional $15 million from Wayne
and Gladys Valley Foundation.
The heart of rural communities are their schools, and passing these bonds
was good for the heart.
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
Rules protect both
visitors and wildlife
The Bismarck (N.D.) Tribune
T
ourism season has barely started
and already there’s alarming
behavior by visitors to our national
parks. Their intentions might be good
but their actions violate park rules and
the laws of nature.
Two visitors to
Yellowstone National
Park last week
thought a newborn
bison calf needed
help and loaded it in
their vehicle and took
it to a park facility.
Unfortunately, efforts
by park oficials to
return the calf to the
herd failed and it had
to be euthanized.
The calf had been
wandering between vehicles and
approaching people, posing a danger.
Park oficials said even if the calf
could have been rehabilitated, it would
have required months of quarantine to
test for brucellosis, and Yellowstone
does not have the facilities needed to
monitor the calf. “Nor is it the mission
of the National Park Service to rescue
animals,” oficials said on Facebook,
adding, “Our goal is to maintain the
ecological processes of Yellowstone.”
The visitors who picked up the calf
were cited for their actions. They should
have never handled the calf and, if they
had followed park regulations, never
been close to it. Yellowstone regulations
require visitors to be at least 25 yards
away from all wildlife such as bison,
elk and deer and at least 100 yards away
from bears and wolves. Park oficials
can ine tourists for violating the rules
and the wildlife can hurt, and kill, those
who violate the rules.
Yellowstone has been fascinating
tourists for decades and the temptation
to get close to the animals and even
feed them has always existed. The
danger existed when the park opened
and it won’t go away. These can be
dangerous animals and, if disturbed,
they will defend themselves. Some
visitors violating the rules aren’t shy
about it, with park oficials noting some
recent Internet videos showing visitors
approaching bison at “extremely unsafe
and illegal distances.”
Five visitors were
seriously injured last
year after getting
too close to wildlife,
according to park
oficials. And it’s not
just Yellowstone,
other parks across
the country are
having problems.
A 50-year-old
Missouri woman was
hospitalized last week
after being gored in the
stomach by a bison in Custer State Park
in South Dakota. Theodore Roosevelt
National Park in North Dakota warns
visitors not to feed animals and to view
wildlife from a distance because they
can attack without warning. There have
been encounters with bison at the park.
The parks provide an opportunity for
tourists to see wildlife in their habitat;
the only chance many people from urban
areas have to see animals in a natural
setting. It’s a lot different than going to
a zoo. Since there are no cages, visitors
need to follow the rules. Those rules,
oficials point out, are pretty simple:
Keep your distance, don’t feed them and
don’t harass them.
It’s for the safety of the people and
the animals. By taking the calf away
from the herd the visitors destroyed its
connection with the other bison and
doomed it.
The story of the calf has gone viral on
the Internet along with being covered by
newspapers and other media around the
world. Hopefully it will remind people
tempted to push the rules not to do so.
Not a happy ending for the calf, but
maybe improved behavior by visitors.
Tourists visiting
parks in the
West have
violated park
rules and the
laws of nature.
OTHER VIEWS
Subtract one Clinton
B
ill Clinton should go home.
But some still rose to do fantastic things
It’s easy to see why his wife’s
on their own. Margaret Chase Smith
campaign is giving him a major
got into Congress as a replacement for
role. His political skills are legendary.
her late husband, but she became the
And he’s the spouse, for heaven’s sake.
foremost opponent of McCarthyism
Presidential candidates always rely on
in the Senate all by herself. That’s the
their families to ill out the schedule,
spirit the Clinton campaign needs. Not
show up where they can’t, spread good
running as part of a team with your
cheer.
male predecessor.
Gail
But we all know this is different.
Our country is now full of women
Collins who’ve become senators, governors,
Campaigning in Kentucky — where
Comment
her husband is more popular than she
CEOs, diplomats without familial
is — Hillary Clinton told voters that
assistance. If they have spouses, they’re
Bill would be “in charge of revitalizing
off doing their own thing. Or — yes! —
the economy” in her administration. At another taking care of the family. It’s a new world order
stop she promised that if they returned to the
Hillary has always championed. But the way
White House, “I’ll expect him to go to work ...
she’s running her campaign isn’t doing the new
to get incomes rising.”
world any favors.
She presented herself as part of a duo that
Bill isn’t the only man overshadowing her
knows “a little bit about how to create jobs. I
political life. Hillary has also been campaigning
think my husband did a heck
as a sort of Barack Obama
of a job.”
surrogate who’ll carry on the
Hillary wants to be the irst
president’s legacy for another
woman ever elected president
term or two. During a debate
of the United States. The
in South Carolina, she brought
economy is the central issue
up Obama 10 times — more
in the campaign. The fact that
than the other two candidates
she’s assuring voters that Bill
on the stage combined. In
will take care of it is ... totally
another debate, she laced into
wrong.
Bernie Sanders for disloyalty.
It would be better if he
(“The kind of criticism that
wasn’t on the scene at all. Let
we’ve heard from Senator
us count the ways:
Sanders about our president I
— Implanting a husband
expect from Republicans.”)
in the center of White House
All this identifying with
policymaking is just a bad
the last two Democratic
idea. All other advisers, from
presidents has left her own
the vice president to the
political image fuzzy. She’s
chief of staff to the Cabinet
pledged to do more to crack
members, fade in authority
down on Wall Street, but she
when there’s one person sitting
hasn’t really said whether
at the table who happens to
the deregulation during her
be married to the boss. It
husband’s administration was
didn’t work very well when the Clintons were
a mistake. She’s disagreed — briely — with
offering “two for the price of one” in the 1990s. Obama on matters like immigration, trade and
Turn the marital partner into a former president Arctic drilling, but the details are very hard to
and it’s like adding a blue whale to the goldish pin down.
bowl.
What we haven’t gotten is a vision of how
If Hillary wants Bill in her administration,
a Hillary Clinton administration would be
she can give him one of the useful-but-largely-
different from either of her predecessors’.
symbolic roles a irst spouse traditionally plays. That’s been the great weakness of her
The Clinton Foundation, for all its messes, has
campaign from the start. She’s become the
done good work in developing countries. Let
opposite of change. (Continuity You Can
him be international ambassador to the poor.
Believe In?)
— The sex scandal issue isn’t really central,
Even if she keeps going the way she’s been
since Americans have a long record of voting
going, voters may be so horriied by Donald
for the candidates they think can deliver,
Trump that she’ll win in November. But you
regardless of private peccadilloes. And Donald
don’t want the irst woman president elected by
Trump has a history of boorish public behavior default.
that could even overshadow the marital
This is one of the most qualiied people
baggage Hillary has to tote. However, she’d be ever to run for the ofice, and she doesn’t need
in a much stronger position if she was toting on to hold on to anybody’s coattails. It’s time for
her own.
Hillary to stand alone.
— It’s not surprising that the irst serious
■
female presidential contender would be
Gail Collins joined The New York Times
someone attached to a famous male name.
in 1995 as a member of the editorial board
For most of our history, women who rose in
and later as an Op-Ed columnist. In 2001 she
American politics were generally illing in for
became the irst woman ever appointed editor
a deceased (or sometimes indicted) husband.
of the Times’s editorial page.
If Hillary wants
Bill in her
administration,
she can give
him one of
the useful-
but-largely-
symbolic roles
a irst spouse
traditionally
plays.
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.