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OPINION
East Oregonian
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JENNINE PERKINSON
TIM TRAINOR
Advertising Director
Opinion Page Editor
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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
A holiday
for all of us
In this bipartisan time, we rarely
that join the military defend all
have opportunities to truly come
Americans — our lives, our land,
together.
our culture and our traditions.
There’s Christmas, but apparently
It can be easy to forget, so far
there’s a war raging around it. We
from the battleield, what that
all watch the Super
sacriice means.
Bowl, but only half
That there are nearly
are satisied with the
7,000 young men
No one gives
outcome. Thanks
and women who
their life for
to the never-ending
have been killed in
political calendar,
the Democratic combat since 2001.
this country inds
it was for their
or Republican And
itself divided on a
hometown as well
daily basis.
as ours, for their
party.
Memorial Day
family and yours.
is an opportunity to
We understand
step back from this division — to
the impulse to spend the long
unite in remembrance and respect
weekend at the barbecue, car sale,
for those who gave the ultimate
camping or waiting in endless TSA
sacriice for this country. It is also an checkpoints at the airport. And we
opportunity to remember why they
hope you do enjoy the day off work.
gave that sacriice. What about this
But we also hope you take a
country and its principles makes it
few minutes to look out at your
worth ighting for?
cemetery, over to your neighbors, to
No one gives their life for the
the less fortunate, at the incredibly
Democratic or Republican party,
blessed, onto our bountiful lands.
or for their favorite sports team, or
They are what we all have in
for a single law or politician. Those
common.
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
Never forget the
true cost of war
By CAMERON SMITH
Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs
T
his year will mark 150 years
since the irst local ceremonies
decorating the graves of veterans
after the end of the Civil War. This
military family and community tradition
was later formalized as a national day of
honor in Decoration Day, and what we
now call Memorial Day.
In 1866, no family or community
remained untouched by the Civil War
— America’s bloodiest conlict resulted
in over 1 million casualties and claimed
over 620,000 lives. The impacts of the
war were intensely and personally felt
across the nation.
Today, there are over 320,000
veterans across Oregon. We are four
generations strong across 5 major
wars, plus all those who stood guard
over our peace and served in smaller
conlicts around the world. With every
veteran counted, we must also include
recognition of their spouses and families
who served in their own way on the
home front while their veteran was in
uniform.
At the same time, we must
acknowledge that our nation’s battles
today are fought by less than one
percent of our population. The weight
of the most recent conlicts in Iraq and
Afghanistan has been borne by the few.
Most of our citizens today have not
been directly impacted by the wars. The
same cannot be said for our Gold Star
families who have lost a loved one in
service to the nation.
We must never forget the true cost
of war — a cost far beyond dollars and
cents. Fifty years ago in Vietnam, we lost
over 58,000 dedicated service members
whose names are now immortalized in
polished black granite at the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Across the ages, from the beaches
in Europe and on Paciic islands to the
mountains and jungles in Asia, countless
Americans have stood up to serve and
have laid down their lives. At the most
basic level, they fought to protect the one
on their right and the one on their left,
but ultimately their ight protects us all
and preserves the values we hold dear.
This Memorial Day, as we kick
off the start of summer and turn to
enjoy Oregon’s incredible parks,
beaches, rivers and mountains, we must
encourage all citizens to pause and honor
our fallen and their families. We thank
all veterans for their service in uniform
and their continued service in using
their leadership, skills and experience to
enrich our communities across the state.
We must continue to share the stories
of our military’s service and most
importantly share the stories of all those
who have made the ultimate sacriice.
Thank you for all of your support for
Oregon veterans and God Bless all those
still serving overseas.
■
Cameron Smith served three tours
in Iraq as a Marine and is the Director
of the Oregon Department of Veterans’
Affairs.
OTHER VIEWS
Memorial weekend ranting
S
reaction has been good — really
ummer is upon us, and we are
positive.” We presume the market in
facing important travel decisions.
question does not involve the actual
Such as who to blame when we
passengers.
get stuck in interminable airport lines.
But the industry is so powerful
So many options. There’s the
that it seems to be able to get away
government, but how many times can
with squishing people into smaller
you can complain about Congress in
and smaller spaces. Last month, Sen.
the course of a lifetime? There’s the
Chuck Schumer of New York offered
public — air trafic up 12 percent since
Gail
2011. But really, people, don’t blame
Collins an amendment to a bill reauthorizing
the Federal Aviation Administration
yourself.
Comment
Let’s pick a rant that’s good for you,
that would have imposed a moratorium
good for me, good for the
on reductions in seat size
lines in security: Make the
and space between rows. It
airlines stop charging fees
failed, 54-42.
for checked baggage.
Nobody spoke out
Seems simple, doesn’t it?
against the proposal, but
Plus, if you do manage to
only one Republican, Susan
make it to your light, these
Collins of Maine, voted for
are the same people who
it. We salute Susan Collins,
will be announcing there’s a
who has been, for a number
$3 fee if you want a snack.
of years, virtually the entire
The largest airlines
population of the Moderate
charge $25 for the
Republican Caucus.
irst checked bag, thus
When Schumer lies, his
encouraging people to drag
irst move is to empty the
their belongings through the
seat pocket in front of him.
airport, clogging the X-ray lines and slowing
“I take out the magazine and the airsickness
the boarding process as everybody ights to
bag so I have an extra eighth of an inch,” he
cram one last rolling duffel into the overhead
said in a phone interview.
compartment.
It’s a matter of some passion — when the
The idea that travelers should be hit by an
presidents of three airlines visited Schumer’s
extra charge for, um, having luggage began
ofice for discussion of a totally unrelated
in 2008, when the cost of fuel went through
issue, he moved the coffee table so it was an
the roof. We understood the airlines’ pain,
inch from their knees. “I said: ‘OK, now you
sort of. Maybe. But now fuel prices have
know how it feels.’”
fallen into the cellar. The airlines are taking
But about the bags.
in stupendous proits — last year nearly $26
Rather than reducing the number of bags
billion after taxes, up from $2.3 billion in
in security lines, the airlines would like the
2010.
government to deal with the problem by
Yet the baggage fees are still with us. In
adding more workers to screen them. And the
fact, they’ve gone up by about two-thirds.
perpetually beleaguered Transportation Security
Last year, the nation’s airlines made more than Administration is going to spend $34 million
$3.8 billion off what I believe it is fair to call a to hire more people and pay more overtime this
scam. It’s also an excellent way to make your
summer. Which, it assured the public, is not
prices look lower than they really are when
really going to solve much of anything.
people surf for the cheapest ticket, a number
(Who, you may ask, pays for the security
that never includes details like the special
lines anyway? For the most part you the
fees for bags, food, canceling a reservation,
taxpayer do. Also you the passenger pay a
booking by phone, sitting in a minimally more special security fee on your tickets. Which
comfortable emergency row or, in some cases, Congress tends to grab away from the TSA for
requesting a pillow.
use in all-purpose deicit reduction. I know, I
Shouldn’t the airlines offer up the baggage
know.)
fee as a token of solidarity with their miserable
A spokesman for Delta Air Lines, which
passengers? The idea has come up. Homeland took in more than $875 million on baggage
Security Secretary Jeh Johnson asked the
fees last year, told The Atlanta Journal-
airlines to “consider possibly” this modest
Constitution that bowing to the extremely
bow to air travel sanity. Two U.S. senators,
modest Markey-Blumenthal request for
Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Richard a summer suspension of the baggage fee
Blumenthal of Connecticut, wrote a letter to
wouldn’t “really help alleviate a lot.” It would
the airlines asking them to just drop the fees
also, he said, require a “considerable change
during the high-trafic summer months.
to the business model.”
We pause now for the sound of silence and
Heaven forfend we mess with the business
crickets chirping.
model.
The airlines have maximized proits by
■
making travel as miserable as possible. Boeing
Gail Collins joined The New York Times
found a way to cram 14 more seats into its
in 1995 as a member of the editorial board
largest twin-engine jetliner by reducing the
and later as an Op-Ed columnist. In 2001 she
size of the lavatories. Bloomberg quoted a
became the irst woman ever appointed editor
Boeing oficial as reporting that “the market
of the Times’s editorial page.
Shouldn’t
airlines offer up
the baggage fee
as a token of
solidarity with
their miserable
passengers?
The plight of the endangered farmer
The (Bend) Bulletin, May 21
C
entral Oregon farmers should not be
allowed to become an endangered
species.
If the Endangered Species Act is going to
require big or small changes in how irrigation
districts take water from the Deschutes Basin,
Congress needs to provide the money to
protect the farmers from being threatened.
It’s encouraging to see that Oregon
Sen. Jeff Merkley, the top Democrat on the
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on
Agriculture, has taken a step toward making
money available. The Senate agriculture
appropriations bill contains some $50 million
in new funding that is more speciically aimed
toward ixing the kinds of problems Central
Oregon has. The money has criteria attached
to it that its the region’s irrigation districts
— a need to make improvements to conserve
water, improve eficiency or otherwise
improve habitat.
It doesn’t mean the districts are going to
get $50 million. The language would have to
survive intact on a journey through Congress
and be signed into law. Local districts would
still have to apply. They would have to
compete with other applicants that face similar
challenges. But it would be new money
available.
Think of it as a nonearmark earmark in the
post-earmark era.
A key issue in the Deschutes Basin is
using water better. Nearly 90 percent of the
streamlow from the Deschutes River in
Bend is diverted during irrigation season to
irrigation canals, according to the Deschutes
River Conservancy. The change is particularly
noticeable in the winter when water is stored.
Just below Wickiup Dam, lows in the
Deschutes River can drop to 20 cubic feet
per second starting in the fall, compared to as
much as 1,500 cfs in the spring.
There may be partial solutions that can be
done for no money. One analysis suggested
more water could simply be let through the
Wickiup Dam in most years, as much as 100
cubic feet per second more. There’s also a
ongoing study of the Deschutes Basin that will
attempt to identify other ixes.
Most solutions cost money. Piping
canals conserves water, but it’s expensive.
For instance, piping all of Central Oregon
Irrigation District’s main canals could save as
much as 400 cfs for the Deschutes River. It
might cost more than $300 million.
That’s why it’s so important for Oregon’s
congressional delegation to look for ways for
the federal government to help.
Send letters to 211 SE Byers Ave., Pendleton, OR, 97801 or editor@eastoregonian.com