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OPINION
East Oregonian
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JENNINE PERKINSON
TIM TRAINOR
Advertising Director
Opinion Page Editor
OUR VIEW
State of Oregon
owes rural counties
Across the West, rural
to duck the question of whether
the state owes the counties any
counties, school districts and local
money. They talked about “greatest
governments that once depended
permanent value” and that the
on natural resources such as timber
statute doesn’t require “revenue
have been slowly sinking into a sea
maximization.”
of red ink.
What they didn’t argue is whether
The problem: State and federal
the state has a moral and ethical
land managers have unilaterally
obligation to manage those lands
changed the rules of how natural
in a way that
resources are
doesn’t leave
managed. The
In many rural
the counties and
result has been
districts
less economic
areas, where once school
broke.
activity such as
It should
logging, leading
a thriving timber
be noted that
to ever-tighter
across the West,
local budgets.
industry existed,
the federal
Those local
there remains only government has
governments and
done its
school districts
abandoned mills or also
best to squeeze
once shared
resource
the revenue
a mill operating at a natural
companies out
from timber
cut on public
fraction of its capacity. of business. In
many rural areas,
lands. Now
where once a
they receive
thriving timber industry existed,
only a small fraction of what they
there remains only abandoned mills
previously received.
or a mill operating at a fraction of
Those who defend the change
its capacity. The only mills that
in resource management say those
counties and school districts should remain proitable are those that own
timber and don’t depend entirely on
just pass special tax levies to cover
government timber sales.
the shortfalls. Such statements
This is a direct result of federal
relect their ignorance about the
managers — Uncle Sam owns most
economy of the rural West. If
of the land in the West — deciding
logging is the primary economic
to shut down or vastly reduce
activity and it is curtailed, then a
tax levy will not cover the shortfall. logging in many areas.
With the state of Oregon
People collecting unemployment
managing timber land for “greatest
insurance cannot afford higher tax
permanent value” and the federal
bills.
managers tightening the timber
This argument is playing out in
supply, rural counties and school
a courtroom in Albany where Linn
districts have suffered inancially.
County oficials are suing the state
Instead of ducking this lawsuit,
for $1.4 billion they and 14 other
we’d like to see the state’s
counties have been shorted since
lawyers argue in open court that
1998.
precious few bigwigs in state
According to Linn County’s
government care one bit about
lawyers, that’s the year the state
rural communities. We want
changed the way it manages Forest
them to argue that the trees — a
Trust Lands. The counties gave
renewable resource — are more
those timber lands to the state to
precious than rural economies. We
manage on their behalf.
want them to tell the judge that
Under the change, instead of
it’s more important to the state of
managing the timber to produce
Oregon to protect as many trees as
revenue, the state decided to
its managers see it, no matter the
manage it for other objectives —
impact on rural Oregonians.
without the counties’ consent.
Of course, they won’t say that
During a hearing in July, the
outright, but that’s what they mean.
state’s lawyers essentially tried
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.
Culture Corner
‘All or Nothing’ perfect
warmup for football season
A
ll or Nothing: A Season with
the Arizona Cardinals” is a
documentary series unlike
anything else going. You know this is
not the same old sports
documentary when coach
Bruce Arians drops the
F-bomb in the irst scene.
The Cardinals, one of
the NFL’s hottest teams,
allowed award-winning
NFL Films to go behind
the scenes through the
entire 2015 season, from
draft night to player
meetings to the sidelines
during the easy wins
and the bitter losses. The
steady voice of actor Jon
Hamm delivers note-
perfect intonation as the
narrator.
The cameras also went
into Arians’ home, and the homes of key
players, Cardinals president Michael
Bidwill and general manager Steve
Keim.
Defensive end Dwight Freeney
makes a mean chicken dish. Arians and
his wife drink when they talk about the
bad news of coaching friends losing their
jobs, a painful experience they know
well. Defensive back Pete Peterson
makes just about any
outit look good, even an
elf costume.
Sure, “All or Nothing”
is something of image
rehabilitation for a pro
league that in recent years
fumbled and blundered
on issues of domestic
violence and players
suffering brain damage.
And “All or Nothing”
does not touch on those
topics.
But that’s not the focus
of “All or Nothing.”
We’re watching a team
aim for greatness, and
whether or not you know
how the season ended for the Cardinals
doesn’t matter. The eight-episode series
streaming only on Amazon Prime
reveals pro football most of us never get
to see. — Phil Wright, East Oregonian
senior reporter
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.
OTHER VIEWS
Marijuana black market
alive and well
they would take a hands-off approach to
what the voters had legalized as long as the
state cracked down hard on black-market
t’s been suspected for some time that a lot
production that sent marijuana out of state.
more marijuana was being produced by
The result was a new system of regulation
medical growers than could be consumed
for the medical marijuana industry, which had
by patients, and now the evidence is
operated without much oversight for years.
beginning to surface.
Growers and advocates protested that the
First came the arrest of a Jackson
new rules would jeopardize
County dispensary owner in
patients’ access to medicine
Siskiyou County for allegedly
Growers who
they need to counter the
hauling marijuana across the
pain of chronic and terminal
California line for illegal sale.
continue to
illnesses.
Now an economic analysis
operate illegally
The ECONorthwest study
has concluded that a huge
looked at the number of
percentage of marijuana
are doing their plants allowed the number
ostensibly grown in Josephine
of patients, and concluded
County for medical patients
law-abiding
that large quantities are
is instead feeding the black
colleagues no
“disappearing” from the
market.
market.
The Grants Pass Daily
favors.
One grower in Williams
Courier reports the study,
disputed the 70 percent
prepared by the consulting
irm ECONorthwest on behalf of Grants Pass igure, saying the real numbers are probably
reversed. That would mean 30 percent of
and Josephine County, estimated 70 percent
of the medical marijuana produced in Oregon the crop is being diverted. Even if that’s the
accurate igure, it’s still too much if the goal
is not being consumed by patients. The
is a functioning legal marketplace operating
analyst who made that estimate admits it’s a
guess, but it’s probably a fairly good one. And in the light of day and accountable to
it suggests that those who defend the medical regulators who are trying to keep federal drug
agents at bay.
marijuana industry should get serious about
The new world of legal recreational
cleaning up the image of what is supposed to
marijuana and stricter reporting requirements
be a compassionate endeavor.
for producers of both recreational and
When Oregon voters legalized marijuana
medical marijuana will take time to sort out.
for recreational use by adults, it put state
In the meantime, growers who continue to
statutes in conlict with federal law, which
operate illegally are doing their law-abiding
still considers marijuana illegal for any
purpose. Federal authorities told state oficials colleagues no favors.
The (Medford) Mail Tribune, July 26
I
YOUR VIEWS
BMCC pool helps our
community’s health
As a former Pendleton High School and
Pendleton Swim Association swimmer,
the potential of closing the Blue Mountain
Community College pool is heartbreaking,
as I’m sure it is to all the people of the
community for whom it has a direct impact. I
know there have been previous letters pointing
out how much being able to use the pool has
meant personally to speciic individuals, and
I hope more people will continue to speak
out in a similar way against the potential pool
closure.
The purpose of my letter, however, is
to hopefully point out to those community
members for whom there is no direct impact
that this issue still concerns you and you
do beneit from our community having this
facility open. Both the Centers for Disease
Control and the National Institute of Health
consider drowning a public health concern due,
in part, to its high ranking in causes of death
among children. Furthermore, research has
shown that drownings are more likely to occur
in rural areas than in urban centers.
When you consider the close proximity
of multiple bodies of water to and within
Umatilla and Morrow counties, this region has
the potential to be just another statistic. So far,
however, we have been lucky and I strongly
believe that is related to the fact that our
community has done a great job in teaching
swimming and water safety.
We have excellent instructors and lifeguards
who keep us safe and prepare our children for
safety in the water in other areas. And where
do these lifeguards and swim instructors come
from? A lot of them are either current or former
competitive swimmers who have a passion
for swimming. Many of your children have
learned from them, have interacted with them
at the pool, and are safer because of them.
Unfortunately, without access to an indoor
pool, it would be more dificult for PSA,
PHS, and Hermiston High School to continue
viable swim teams, and while some would
ind a way to continue, many will not; this can
have signiicant long-term consequences for
the health and safety of our children and the
community as a whole.
I hope those of you who enjoy going to the
pool or who have children who love to swim
will consider this and will support the efforts
to reopen a pool that truly beneits us all in one
way or another.
Mary Sara Wells
Pendleton
Citizens denied information
about massive proposed
transmission line
We are members of the coalition to STOP
B2H. We believe that most citizens will be
negatively impacted by this high voltage
transmission line.
Property owners who would have the
line cross their property will be the most
impacted, and we believe they should have
access to information beyond what the Bureau
of Land Management and Idaho Power
choose to provide them. The Bureau of Land
Management is completing the Environmental
Impact Statement for the transmission line.
They have refused to provide the list of
landowners who will be impacted because
the line either runs directly through their
property or close to it. The decisions regarding
this industrial line are occurring with those
most impacted being denied full disclosure of
information and impacts the line will have.
We believe that landowners should not
have to absorb the damages and costs of being
forced to allow a 250-foot right of way to go
through their property in order to meet the
needs of customers living in Idaho. Irwin and
I are part of a sub-group of STOP B2H that
is identifying actual costs to landowners who
will be forced to allow this 250-foot right of
way to cross their land.
We want to identify landowners who will
provide us with information such as: What
use is being made of your property? (Raising
cattle, raising crops, timber, recreation, home,
etc.). What is the current assessed value of
your property? What are the economic losses
you expect if the transmission line is built and
how did you come up with that igure? Will
the proposed transmission line run through
your property? If not, how close are you to the
proposed line?
You can get information about how far your
property is from one of the proposed routes by
calling the local planning department.
Call 541-963-8160 or e-mail ott.irene@
frontier.com if you are willing to help us by
providing information on how you are using
your land so that we can identify what the
real costs are to those taking the brunt of the
impacts this line will have.
Anyone who would like to join the STOP
B2H coalition can leave your name and phone
number or e-mail address and we will add it to
our mailing list.
Irene Gilbert
Irwin H. Smutz
La Grande