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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 23, 2016)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Friday, September 23, 2016 OTHER VIEWS Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JANNA HEIMGARTNER TIM TRAINOR Business Ofice Manager Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW Tip of the hat; kick in the pants A tip of the hat to emergency planning committees in both Morrow and Umatilla counties for working hard to prepare for a potential oil train derailment and crash. The explosion and emergency response in Mosier this summer offered response crews up and down the gorge some lessons to learn from, and made clear some best practices. It’s good to know our local crews took it to heart. “It may never happen in your area, but if it does, you’re going to be ready for it,” LEPC program coordinator Terry Wolfe said earlier this week. On Tuesday, they met jointly in Hermiston and decided to collaborate on a rail safety plan, as well as a response plan should a similar accident happen in the region State and regional oficials were on hand, too, offering their expertise. And the planning session was done at Good Shepherd Medical Center in Hermiston, which likely would be needed in an emergency situation too. That’s the all hands-on-deck, all-possible-actions-considered attitude its going to take if — God forbid — the next terrible train accident is along our tracks. A tip of the hat to allowing Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution inmates outside the prison to do manual labor and community projects. Pendleton’s nearly three decade-long ban on inmates doing such work was overturned this year by city council. It was the only city to have such a ban, and we think it’s high time it was removed. Crews from Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla are hoping to train both inmates and supervisors. We believe once that training is done, and inmate crews start to work, the inmates and the prison and the city will beneit. We think outside work programs are a good way for inmates to learn the importance of good behavior and following rules, allows them to be productive to the outside world, and help a cash-strapped city receive cut-rate labor. There are public safety risks, and the prison will be responsible for choosing only the safest inmates to go outside its barbed wire fence. The prison will also be responsible that they ind their way back to their cell at the end of a day’s work. But both can be done, and we’re excited that it will soon be the case. 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. Be heard! Send us a letter or comment online. The best news you don’t know he world is a mess, with billions and the humanitarian worlds don’t of people locked in inescapable err by focusing so much on human cycles of war, famine and misery that we leave the public with poverty, with more children than ever the misperception that everything is perishing from hunger, disease and always getting worse. violence. I’ve covered massacres in South That’s about the only thing Sudan, concentration camps in Americans agree on; we’re polarized Myanmar and widespread stunting about all else. But several polls have Nicholas in India, but it’s also important to found that about 9 out of 10 Americans Kristof acknowledge the backdrop of global believe that global poverty has progress. Otherwise, the public may Comment worsened or stayed the same over the perceive poverty as hopeless and see last 20 years. no point in carrying on the ight — at Fortunately, the one point Americans agree just the point when we’re making the most on is dead wrong. rapid gains ever recorded. As world leaders gather for When I irst made the U.N. General Assembly the acquaintance of the this week, all the evidence developing world, as a suggests that we are at an backpacking law student inlection point for the ages. in the 1980s — sometimes The number of people living riding on tops of trains or in extreme poverty ($1.90 per buses and writing articles person per day) has tumbled to pay my expenses — the by half in two decades, and most gut-wrenching aspect the number of small children of poverty I encountered was dying has dropped by a similar ubiquitous blind beggars, proportion — that’s 6 million lives a year robbed of dignity and any chance to be saved by vaccines, breast-feeding promotion, productive. pneumonia medicine and diarrhea treatments! This is much less common today, partly Historians may conclude that the most because humanitarian aid — despite real important thing going on in the world in the shortcomings — has made a profound early 21st century was a stunning decline in difference in health. The heroic work human suffering. of former President Jimmy Carter and OK, you’re thinking that I’ve inally pharmaceutical donations from Merck have made river blindness less common. Vitamin A cracked up after spending too much time in capsules costing 2 cents a dose have reduced desperate places. So a few data points: blindness as well. Antibiotics have helped curb — As recently as 1981, when I was blinding trachoma. And a simple $25 surgery inishing college, 44 percent of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty, according developed by a Nepali ophthalmologist, Dr. Sanduk Ruit, lets people suffering from to the World Bank. Now the share is believed cataracts see again. to be less than 10 percent and falling. “This The scenes of blind beggars on every street is the best story in the world today,” says Jim corner will soon be gone forever. Yong Kim, the president of the World Bank. Cynics scoff that if more children’s lives — For the entire history of the human are saved, they will just grow up to have more species until the 1960s, a majority of adults babies and cause new famines and cycles were illiterate. Now 85 percent of adults of poverty. Not so! In fact, when parents worldwide are literate and the share is rising. are assured that their children will survive, — Although inequality has risen they choose to have fewer of them. As girls in America, the global trend is more are educated and contraception becomes encouraging: Internationally, inequality is on available, birthrates tumble — just as they the decline because of gains by the poor in did in the West. Indian women now average places like China and India. The U.N. aims to eradicate extreme poverty just 2.4 births, Indonesian women 2.5, and Mexican women just 2.2. by 2030, and experts believe it is possible to So in a moment we can return to urgent get quite close. In short, on our watch, we needs worldwide, from war to climate have a decent chance of virtually wiping out change to refugees. But irst, let’s pause for ills that have plagued humanity for thousands a nanosecond of silence to acknowledge of generations, from illiteracy to the most the greatest gains in human well-being in devastating kind of hand-to-mouth poverty. the history of our species — not to inspire Yet the public thinks the opposite, that complacency, but rather to spur our efforts to poverty is getting worse. A poll to be released accelerate what may be the most important Thursday by Motivaction, a Dutch irm, inds trend in the world today. that only 1 percent of Americans surveyed ■ realized that global extreme poverty had fallen Nicholas Kristof grew up on a sheep and by half over 20 years. cherry farm in Yamhill. I wonder if those of us in journalism T The one point Americans agree on is dead wrong. YOUR VIEWS Parade announcers not hospitable to Dems I had the privilege to attend the Westward Ho! Parade last Friday. What a terriic parade. I loved seeing all the beautiful Native Americans showing well-deserved pride for their heritage. The horses were awesome. We were fortunate to have seats right below the announcers so we heard all about every entry. Well ... not every entry. There was silence when the governor of our state rode by on her horse. The governor of the great state of Oregon! Another huge silence when Senator Ron Wyden came by the announcers. Our governor and one of two of our state senators are in Pendleton for this great event, and not one word of welcome could be uttered? Sad. I did hear a welcome and many good comments when Representative Greg Walden came by the announcers. Hmmm, could it be that you only get mentioned in this parade if you are Republican? I was very disappointed. Vesta Smith The Dalles Railroad honker taking Round-Up revenge Is the Union Paciic playing childish games for Round-Up? I can’t help but notice when a train comes through Pendleton during daytime hours, their horns seem to pick up a lot of energy, especially during show time. It makes me think of little boys getting revenge for obeying a request (I guess?) from upper management to not blow your horns (silence them) while blowing through Pendleton. It seems to me that enough has been accomplished to protect pedestrians from these monoliths. Shame, Mr. Engineer, or should I say conductor? Chuck R. McKee Pendleton Donald Trump a laughingstock Amazing! It’s the irst word that comes to mind when I hear someone gush over the current Republican nominee. This cretin belongs nowhere near the Oval Ofice and the responsibility that comes with it. This petulant, immature, bombastic blowhard who has never been so much as a dog catcher would bring irreparable harm and disgrace to this country and its standing in the world. If one of his supporters ever cracked a history book in their miserable lives they would see the direct correlation of his rise to that of history’s past despots and strongmen, who ran on fear and promises of immediate change for the better. His promises of restoring law and order in short order can only be attained by calling out the National Guard. His declaration of knowing ISIS better than the generals, even though he had multiple draft deferments and was too cowardly to actually go to war, is ridiculous. In an interview, when asked who he would confer with in the event of a national crisis, he stated he said he would confer with himself, because he has a good mind for these things. He had no clue what the nuclear triad is, he didn’t know Russia had already gone into Ukraine, he cozies up to Putin and hasn’t got the good sense to know when he’s being played. His race baiting, disrespect for women and penchant for name calling when he doesn’t get his way only implies that if elected, he would be the irst openly spoiled brat to become president. He is playing to the dark side of our souls, and only those without the backbone to investigate this charlatan further will vote for him. Once again, amazing! David Gracia Hermiston If Oregon is booming, why Measure 97? The state of Oregon is said to have a booming economy. Why, then, are most of its agencies hoping to cash in on the corporate windfall if Measure 97 passes? Voters should carefully read the voter’s pamphlet on Measure 97 because the information is factually incorrect and misleading and the Legislature can alter any non-constitutional ballot measure, including Measure 97. That caveat has rarely been included in statutory changes and if passed has the capability of hurting all Oregonians and to slow economic growth. Originally called Initiative Petition 28, Measure 97 proposes to charge a 2.5 percent tax on certain Oregon corporations’ annual gross sales exceeding $25 million. The measure would raise approximately $3 billion a year. This fund was to provide better public schools, better health care, and better services for senior citizens. It has become apparent every department in Oregon is expecting a handout from Measure 97, if it passes. State agencies have been asked (by the governor?) to submit proposed budgets based on the passage of Measure 97 and budget cuts if it fails. It is inevitable that state expenses will rise — they do every year. This measure, however, is an indirect sales tax on Oregon consumers, you and me. Large corporations such as Paciic Power, Wal-Mart and CenturyLink have said they will be forced to raise their costs — and who pays? The consumer. A question has been raised that corporations do not pay a fair share of their proits. Proof is needed to determine whether or not this is true. The state should maintain current tax rates and spending on services. Public employees favor the measure because it might beneit them but they too would pay more for food, clothing and other services, estimated at about $600 a year per household. This is a sales tax and a sales tax is going to cost you more than it’s worth. Oregonians already pay a personal income tax and this tax reeks of double taxation, illegal under the law. Voters need to understand this is a gross receipts tax and how it does not act in their favor. The outcome of the election will depend on whether the voters understand who will actually bear the costs of Measure 97. The Legislature needs to ind other options to raise funds for Oregon’s agencies. Dorys C. Grover, Pendleton 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. Send letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
