Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Thursday, July 28, 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
Incoming Portland
mayor offers hope
for rural Oregon
Portland Mayor-elect Ted Wheeler chronically understaffed, mistrusted
could be one of agriculture’s best
by many residents, plagued by poor
friends in a city that has over-sized
morale. There are miles of city streets
inluence on Oregon’s vast rural
that are still unpaved, and many
expanses.
more miles of paved streets that need
We’ve written often on the divide
repair.
between urban and rural America.
As people lock to Portland in
The divide between Portland and
costume and in character to become
rural Oregon is a chasm.
part of the city’s quirky, offbeat
Farmers and ranchers may
fabric, they ind rents are sky high
not fully appreciate Portland’s
and vacant housing hard to come by.
importance as a market and a hub of
Any development not nixed outright
vital services. But
by strict land-use
there’s no mistaking
policies will almost
Portland’s willingness In Ted Wheeler, certainly be opposed
to push its agenda on
vocal activists.
rural Oregon by Then
farming practices,
there are the
labor, economic
homeless — 4,000
may have a
development and the
largely substance-
partner in
environment on its
addled or mentally
rural neighbors.
ill souls who have
Portland.
It’s a problem.
overwhelmed both
“What can
the services available
agriculture do,” the Oregon Farm
to help them and the patience of a
Bureau’s Dave Dillon asks, “to better town that prides itself on tolerance.
connect with city government and
Their situation is desperate and tragic.
thought leaders who seem to have
Portland’s situation is made more
insularity and sometimes utopian
dificult because solutions to these
vision of food production that does
and a host of lesser problems must
not match the marketplace and
be crafted, spun, bent and twisted
the demands of a growing world
— perhaps beyond recognition —
population?”
with care so as not to offend the
In Wheeler, rural Oregon may
sensibilities of a wide variety of
have a partner in Portland. His
progressive interests that will take to
family made its money in the
the streets at the drop of a hat.
timber industry. He appreciates the
Wheeler’s plate is full. If he could
urban-rural divide and urban-rural
get more of Portland’s activist class to
interdependence.
focus on the city’s problems instead
“You can’t talk about success in
of exporting their agenda to rural
the agricultural industry without
Oregon everyone would be better off.
talking about the role urban areas
From our distant vantage, Wheeler
play,” he said. “Urban communities
seems the best choice Portland has
in America are increasingly clueless
made in recent years. He’s a smart
about the challenges facing rural
guy, a sensible choice for voters who
communities.”
often prefer the unconventional.
And though Wheeler is sincere
Though we won’t know for sure
and earnest on the subject of the
until he takes ofice in January,
urban-rural divide, it’s not the biggest Wheeler seems like someone
problem he faces. Not by a long shot. agriculture can work with to advance
The police bureau is in turmoil —
both rural and urban interests.
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
Is summer vacation too long?
The (Albany) Democrat-Herald
A
n interesting story in the
Democrat-Herald recently
examined the phenomenon that
educators have termed the “summer
slide” — the natural tendency for
students to lose academic ground during
the long, warm weeks of summer
vacation.
School districts around the mid-valley
have started programs intended to help
students keep an educational mindset
during the summer months, and those are
showing some signs of success.
Engaged parents and guardians also
have a role to play: Something as simple
as frequent trips to a public library can
keep kids reading during the summer,
and libraries themselves increasingly are
offering innovative programs intended to
keep young brains buzzing in that stretch
between the end of the last school year
and the start of the next.
Summer can be a good time to
encourage children to follow their own
passions and to explore them. If that
means one of your kids spends a long
afternoon taking a long, careful look
at bugs, well, that’s probably for the
best. And savvy parents often are on the
lookout for opportunities during family
vacation to sneak in some learning under
the guise of fun (that is, until the parents
collapse, exhausted, at the end of each
vacation day).
All that is worthwhile. But it seems
that we continue to dance around a
question that we should be asking more
directly: Is the summer vacation too
long?
Jim Golden, the superintendent of the
Greater Albany Public Schools district, is
among the educators who’s been asking
that question. (We should emphasize here
that the district is nowhere near making
any decision about summer vacation,
and any decision along those lines
will be made only after considerable
opportunities for input from parents,
students, teachers, administrators and
school staff members.)
The idea Golden was loating last
year involved shortening the 10-week
summer vacation and scattering what
he called “mini-breaks” throughout the
year.
For example, schools could schedule
mini-breaks around holidays such as
Memorial Day to give families ive-day
weekends. (The mini-breaks in the
schedule also could offer stressed
students a chance to catch up on their
schoolwork, an opportunity students
likely would embrace.)
There’s nothing particularly new
about the idea of trimming back summer
vacations; the notion has been kicking
around ever since it became apparent
that most children were no longer
required on the farm during the summer.
In fact, some Oregon schools have
experimented with the idea of doing
away with extended summer vacations:
Rosa Parks Elementary School in
Portland, for example, has used what
amounts to a year-round schedule. The
school operates on a nine-weeks-on,
three-weeks-off rotation. (Rosa Parks
students do get ive weeks off at the end
of the school year — and the school
offers extra instruction during the
three-week-off periods to students who
need it.)
No one is saying yet that this is the
model that all Oregon schools should
follow. And any plan to shorten summer
vacations will require working through
a long list of details. It likely will come
with some increased costs. (Although
Rosa Parks students have about the
same number of school days as other
Portland students, the extra instruction
during the three-week-off periods costs
about $60,000.)
But it stands to reason that a student
who stays sharp in the summer will be
better equipped to attack the new school
year with gusto. Would a different
approach to vacation time improve
the quality of education we provide
our students? No one knows for sure,
but it seems silly not to at least ask the
question.
In Cleveland, the GOP’s
‘Come to Trump” moment
LEVELAND — There’s always
Those conlicts oficially ended
been a disconnect between what
when the 1,237th delegate cast a vote
pundits and political insiders
for Trump, making him the party’s
hear when Donald Trump speaks and
nominee. Cruz tried to extend the ight.
what rank-and-ile Republicans hear.
It didn’t work.
But when Trump gave his acceptance
In conversation after conversation
address on the last night of the GOP
over four days, delegates and other
convention here in Cleveland Thursday
attendees said something like this:
night, the opinion gap was absolutely
“Donald Trump wasn’t my irst choice.
Byron
But he’s the nominee. The primaries are
vast.
York
over. It’s time to get behind him.”
To the critics offering irst opinions
Comment
Some added this: “I wasn’t all that
on Twitter, Trump’s 75-minute
happy about supporting John McCain,
speech was dark, angry, bigoted,
fear-mongering, deceitful and more. And to the but they told me to support the party’s nominee.
I wasn’t all that happy about supporting Mitt
thousands of Republicans in the room at the
Romney, but they told me to support the party’s
Quicken Loans Arena, it was ... great.
nominee. Now it’s time to support the party’s
Immediately after Trump inished, as the
halls illed with delegates and activists on their nominee.”
Trump’s speech generally followed the
way to after-convention parties, I asked people
for quick reactions to the speech. These are the themes his campaign mapped out for each night
of the convention — make
irst 20 reactions I got:
America safe again, make
“Awesome.”
America work again, make
“He rocked it.”
America irst again and make
“I loved it — it was
America one again. But
fabulous.”
“Wonderful — everything
— GOP delegates, Trump’s strongest moments
— and by far the passages
about law and order and the
On Donald Trump’s speech
that won the most enthusiastic
military — it was huge.”
response from the audience —
“Oh my gosh, I was blown
focused on safety and security.
away.”
Pointing to Dallas, Baton Rouge, Orlando,
“Great — very presidential, actually.”
San Bernardino and more, Trump said, “The
“A grand slam.”
attacks on our police, and the terrorism in
“Fabulous — will go down in history as a
our cities threaten our very way of life. Any
great speech.”
politician who does not grasp this danger is not
“LGBTQ — I was so happy. He nailed that
it to lead our country.”
one.”
The response was strong from an
“A phenomenal job. I get how he speaks to
overwhelmingly pro-police crowd. And later,
people.”
when a Code Pink demonstrator staged what
“It was a total out-of-body experience. I’ve
has become a traditional disruption of the GOP
never been so illed with hope and gratitude
gathering and was taken out by authorities,
and excitement for our kids. He was John
Trump ad-libbed, “How great are our police?”
Wayne — the cavalry is on the way.”
The ovation was thunderous.
“Ronald Reagan on steroids.”
If the applause meter were the only guide,
“A home run, full of red meat for
Trump should probably talk about police all the
Republicans and conservatives.”
time.
“Incredible — touched all the bases.”
It was just one part of Trump’s appeal
“Superb — he hit every point. Just great.”
to voters who believe something has gone
“He’s going to make American great again,
terribly wrong in the United States. “This is a
and I believe him.”
speech trying to speak to the seven out of 10
“He’s so articulate about his vision and his
Americans who say we are on the wrong track
plan, and he gives us conidence he can do it.”
and the half who say we are less safe today,”
“Entertaining and uplifting, with substance
tweeted the Republican pollster and Washington
too.”
Examiner columnist Kristen Soltis Anderson.
“Absolutely pitch perfect, full of details.
There’s no doubt that for the Republicans
There’s so much we have to ix.”
who came to Cleveland, the convention,
“I loved it. Four years ago it was one-man-
occasionally troubled, ended on a high note.
one-woman, and this year we actually heard
(As such things go, the balloon drop at the end
‘LGBTQ.’ I teared up. It made me so happy.”
Of course, those were the people in the hall, was epic.)
This is impressionistic, but there seemed to
committed Republicans all. They weren’t the
be an unmistakable enthusiasm deicit in the
millions of general-election voters watching
convention’s irst three days. Of course there
on TV. But their reactions, along with a lot of
other signs, suggested at the least that whatever were moments, like Rudy Giuliani’s amped-up
address on Monday night. But in general, the
Republican disunity existed going into the
excitement level seemed lower and signiicant
convention had disappeared going out.
numbers of seats remained empty, even during
“Everybody has a come-to-Trump
the prime-time parts of the program.
moment,” a Southern politico who originally
That changed with Trump’s appearance on
did not support Trump explained not long
Thursday. At the very least, the RNC inally had
after Trump formally won the Republican
a lot of happy customers. The (vastly) bigger
nomination Tuesday night. The GOP’s
get-on-board moment came later this year than question, of course, is what those millions
watching on TV thought.
in recent presidential elections, but it inally
Did they see darkness and anger, as
arrived at Quicken Loans on Thursday.
the commentariat did? Or did they see an
In a backhanded way, the previous night’s
extraordinary political performer with the
Ted Cruz debacle helped make it happen.
potential to actually ix the nation’s problems?
What the widely negative reaction to Cruz
showed was that the delegates and Republican Now the campaign begins in earnest.
■
activists gathered here no longer have any
Byron York is chief political correspondent
appetite for the conlicts of the GOP primary
for The Washington Examiner.
season.
C
“Awesome.”
“He rocked it.”
YOUR VIEWS
Sanders supporters should now
back Clinton
An open letter to the people who worked
very diligently on Bernie Sanders’ campaign:
Thank you for your efforts, be they in work,
cash or both. Your work has not been trashed
or forgotten. Now it is time to shift gears and
think party, not personnel.
On election day you can do a number of
things:
1. Not ill out your ballot and not vote at all.
2. Write in Bernie’s name
3. Write in someone else’s name
4. Vote Republican
5. Vote for Hillary Clinton
Numbers 1-4 will not provide any solace
for your hard work and can only lead to a
disastrous outcome.
Number 5 will lead to fruition of your hard
work and solidify Bernie and Hillary’s work of
the past few weeks, since the agenda of both
has been marginally similar throughout the
campaign.
If I heard Bernie’s speech correctly, he will
continue to work legitimately on his agenda but
will have very little success with a Republican
president and will need a Democratic president.
Think it over between now and November
— attitude can only provide short term solace.
John Gilson
Pendleton
LETTERS POLICY
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