Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Thursday, August 4, 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
BMCC pool
needs a life raft
Blue Mountain Community
is a pretty darn good price for one of
College’s pool is treading water —
the best facilities in the region.
barely — and its future is in serious
Yet it does seem unfair that those
doubt.
groups were not given advance
Some members of the community warning of the pool’s dire straits.
have come to rely on the pool, built
Casey White-Zollman, vice
in 1974, for health and recreation
president of public relations at
BMCC, said the
and competition.
school irst realized
Yet during that
this winter the
same time, BMCC
Facing $2.3
had serious
changed its focus
million in repair building
air circulation
and nixed all of its
Fixing those
academic offerings
costs, the future issues.
issues is most of the
at the pool.
of the pool is in $2.3 million cost,
Now that it is
in need of serious
and they represent
doubt.
repair, it is clear
the biggest hurdle
that ixing the pool
to opening the pool
is higher on the
this year. Little
priority list of some community
action has been taken thus far. And
groups than BMCC’s administration. with the school year right around
The cost of doing the ixing is
the corner and swim season close
signiicant — north of $2 million — to diving in, there are plenty of
and that’s not money the community unanswered questions.
college has laying around. Were it
Voters did have an opportunity
to somehow further delay needed
to boost the pool’s budget, and they
and possibly required maintenance,
chose not to.
BMCC estimated $85,317 in annual
The college loated a bond in
costs for operating the pool and only 2013 that included an $850,000
$2,960 in revenue.
earmark for the pool. That
Some disagree with those
money would have been used for
numbers. At Tuesday’s Pendleton
maintenance, decking replacement
School Board meeting,
and HVAC work. But voters rejected
superintendent Andy Kovach called
the bond, and the line item was
the cost estimate “a little bit out
removed in the later incarnation that
there” and other board members
passed in 2015.
insinuated inlation and questioned
White-Zollman said that pool
BMCC’s desire to help ind a
upgrades were not important
solution.
to many community members
But Kovach also noted that
surveyed, and the college felt that
Pendleton has not been paying their
leaving it out of the bond was
fair share.
prudent. That feeling has traveled
“You can’t also deny that we, the
to the college, where its board has
Pendleton School District, aren’t
to deal with the “have-to-haves and
paying anything for use of the pool,” the like-to-haves.” It’s clear the pool
he said. “We haven’t for years. It has is a “like to” and it’s also clear the
to cost something.”
money doesn’t go that far.
Perhaps some people took the
If Umatilla County wants an
pool for granted — few high school
indoor, competition-quality pool,
programs, and none in Eastern
it can no longer expect BMCC to
Oregon, have one as nice. And free
provide it.
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
State timber harvest declines
The (Corvallis) Gazette-Times
T
he Oregon Department of Forestry
last week announced that timber
harvests in the state declined about
8 percent in 2015 when compared to the
year before.
It was the irst time in three years that
Oregon’s timber harvest came in at less
than 4 billion board feet. Last year’s tally
from the state’s forests worked out to be
about 3.79 billion board feet.
If that sort of number boggles your
mind, the state provided this helpful
fact: One board foot of lumber is 1 foot
wide, 1 foot long and 1 inch thick. The
construction of a house that’s about
1,800 square feet requires about 10,000
board feet. So now, we’ll do the math
for you: Oregon’s 2015 timber harvest
would be suficient to build about
379,000 houses.
We often have argued that Oregon’s
economy would be healthier, especially
in the state’s rural areas, if we were able
to put more people back to work in our
forests. The report from the Department
of Forestry starts to suggest some of the
reasons why that isn’t happening, and
while some of those are our making,
other factors are out of our control.
First, consider this: According to the
state, about half of Oregon (49 percent)
is forested. (It works out to be about 30.2
million acres of forested land.)
About 60 percent of those forests
are under federal control, either by the
U.S. Forest Service or the Bureau of
Land Management. We already know
how dificult it can be to get timber sales
approved on federal lands. The harvest
on BLM land dropped about 8 percent in
2015. The harvest on Forest Service land
dropped about 5 percent.
In an ironic (but somewhat
encouraging) note, the Forest Service
actually reported an increase in the
harvest in certain eastern Oregon
counties, notably Grant and Harney.
That work there is being driven by
stewardship contracts.
But the Forest Service harvest in
western Oregon declined, dragging
down the totals. It makes you wonder
if the stewardship examples in eastern
Oregon can help unlock the federal
forests in the western part of the state.
State-owned forests make up
just 3 percent of the total in Oregon.
Interestingly, the timber harvest on these
state lands was up about 26 percent,
according to the Department of Forestry,
jumping from about 230 million board
feet to about 290 million board feet
— important, but just a fraction of the
harvest from federal forests.
Industrial forests make up 19 percent
of Oregon’s total, and family forests
add another 15 percent. Harvests on
these private lands were down in 2015:
Industrial harvest was down about
9 percent, the state said, while the
harvest on nonindustrial private lands
(essentially family forests) was about
453 million board feet, a decline of
about 19 percent.
The Department of Forestry attributed
much of the decline in the timber harvest
to factors that have little, if anything, to
do with the long-running environmental
battles in the United States: The main
culprit is the slowdown in timber exports
to Asia. As Asian economies cool, so
does the demand for logs.
We still believe that it would be
helpful to Oregon’s economy to get
more people working in our forests. But
the state report suggests some of the
reasons why that task is more complex
than it might appear.
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.
How Clinton could
knock Trump out
M
preparation for the presidency, relying
aybe I just missed it. But
in all the testimonials at
instead on feeding tweets to an anxious
the Democratic convention
Republican base. His candidacy should
about what Hillary Clinton has done
be over by now. But it isn’t.
for other people, I don’t recall anyone
It scares me that people are so fed
saying, “I started a business because of
up with elites, so hate and mistrust
Hillary Clinton.” Or, “I hired someone
Clinton and are so worried about
because of Hillary Clinton.”
the future — jobs, globalization and
We heard from irst responders,
Thomas terrorism — that a bare majority could
veterans, grieving parents and victims
Friedman still fall for this self-infatuated carnival
of terrorism, rape and various forms
barker if he exhibited half a political
Comment
of discrimination. There was just
brain.
one group that was conspicuously
And that leads to my second reason
absent: the people who drive our economy by
for pushing Clinton to inject some capitalism
inventing things or by borrowing money to
into her economic plan: The coalition she
start companies that actually employ people.
could lead. If there is one thing that is not
Watching the convention, you would never going to revive growth right now, it is an anti-
know that what also makes America great is
trade, regulatory heavy, socialist-lite agenda
that generation after generation, people full
the Democratic Party has drifted to under
of ideas risk their savings to start companies
the sway of Bernie Sanders. Socialism is the
that provide work and paychecks. And only by greatest system ever invented for making
generating more of these risk-takers will more people equally poor. Capitalism makes people
people get hired for the good jobs Clinton
unequally rich, but I would much rather grow
promised.
our pie bigger and faster and better adjust the
The only things that were remotely
slices than redivide a shrinking one.
growth-related in her speech
There are a lot of center-
were glancing references
right, business Republicans
to a government-led
today feeling orphaned by
infrastructure investment
Trump. They can’t vote
program (Go for it!) and
for him — but a lot of
her vow “to give small
them still claim they can’t
businesses a boost. Make it
bring themselves to vote
easier to get credit.”
for Hillary, either. Clinton
To do that, though,
should be reaching out to
would run smack into the
them with a real pro-growth,
anti-bank sentiment of the
startup, deregulation,
Democratic Party, since
entrepreneurship agenda and
small community banks
give them a positive reason
provide about half the loans
to vote for her.
to small businesses, and it
It makes sense
is precisely those banks that
politically: Take Trump
have been most choked by
on at his self-proclaimed
the post-2008 regulations. We need to prevent
strength. And it makes sense economically: If
recklessness, not risk-taking.
Clinton wins, she will need to get stuff done,
I raise this for two reasons. The irst:
not just give stuff away.
Donald Trump may not stay stupid forever
I get that she had to lean toward Sanders
(although he might!), and therefore Hillary
and his voters to win the nomination; their
will have to beat him on the central economic
concerns with fairness and inequality are
issue of growth. Trump spent the past few
honorable. But those concerns can be
days trashing the parents of a heroic Muslim
addressed only with economic growth; the
American soldier who lost his life in Iraq. The rising anti-immigration sentiments in the
parents had — rightly — criticized Trump.
country can be defused only with economic
But in his return ire, Trump shot himself in
growth; the general anxiety feeding Trumpism
both feet, losing support in his own party.
can be eased only with economic growth.
Trump defended his Twitter tantrum
Sanders had no plan whatsoever for
against the soldier’s parents with a sixth-
growth. Trump doesn’t, either, but he can fake
grader’s playground defense: “He called me
it. It’s time that Hillary pivoted. The country
a name.” He forgot that his own convention
today doesn’t need the irst female president.
engaged in a mad chant of “lock her up” about It needs the irst president in a long time who
Clinton, but she ignored it and stayed on her
can govern with a center-left, center-right
message. That’s what adults do.
coalition, and actually end the gridlock on
Mind you, I hope Trump remains in his
iscal policy in a smart way.
total whack-job mode, because it distracted
If Trump continues to melt down into a
attention from the latest economic news —
puddle of bile, more and more Republicans
that was perfectly set up for Trump to take
will be up for grabs. With the right pro-growth
political advantage of — that the economy
economic policies, Clinton would have an
grew an anemic 1.2 percent in the second
opening to not only enlist them to help her
quarter, and growth in the irst quarter was
win, but to build a governing coalition for the
revised downward. That economic news was
morning after.
teed up for Trump, the self-styled job-creator,
■
and he shanked it deep into the woods, for it
Thomas L. Friedman won the 2002 Pulitzer
never to be heard from again.
Prize for commentary, his third Pulitzer for
Trump has gone amazingly far without
The New York Times. He became the paper’s
having done an ounce of homework in
foreign-affairs Op-Ed columnist in 1995.
Trump may
not stay stupid
forever and
Hillary will have
to beat him
on the central
economic issue
of growth.