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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 29, 2016)
YOUR VIEWS Saturday, October 29, 2016 Think hard before casting vote for Hillary If you can trust a person to lead this country that lies to Congress, the FBI and in person to the Benghazi victims’ families as they stand before the flag-draped coffins at the airport, then vote for Hillary. If you want to see the national debt continue to soar to unsustainable figures, then vote for Hillary. A continuation of Obama’s reign is a ticket to continued runaway spending. If you like Obamacare, stick with the Democrats and watch premiums continue to rise to unaffordable rates. It was Hillary that first promoted universal health care while her husband was in office. If it’s OK for a Secretary of State to use an unsecure email server for messages about our nation’s most guarded secrets, then vote for Hillary. Destroying government documents and email devices must be acceptable also. If you think undocumented, illegal residents should be given a pass to citizenship, then vote for Hillary. The past eight years of democratic control has seen no change when it comes to border security. If you think it all right for major donations to the Clinton Foundation should come from countries with questionable human rights, then vote for Clinton. If you believe that the taxpayers can afford free tuition for college students, then vote for Hillary as she proposes raising tax rates. If you believe that Hillary will make wise decisions when it comes to combating terrorism and the use of our military, please give it more thought. If it’s important that the Supreme Court should be balanced with both conservative and liberal judges, then consider your vote. It would be great if this country elected a woman president for the very first time, but above all people want a person with high moral fiber who upholds our Constitution. Merlyn Robinson Heppner Response to this paper’s Clinton endorsement If we had news agencies today as in the 1970s there would be no need for Wikileaks to provide emails, for James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas, or for National Enquirer to report on Mr. Fix It. The press would be investigating and writing those stories. The information from these three sources is documented and vetted in multiple ways. But the main news agencies are mostly ignoring it. Fortunately this information is pouring out of other media outlets, especially on talk radio and online. That is why I am surprised at East Oregonian’s opinion piece supporting Clinton for president. Very few points can be countered here in this limited space. However, every opinion point can be countered considering the above information. It is clear in current reports, reports of voter fraud of prior years, and in one of the Veritas videos that voter fraud is widespread (all by Democrats). What candidate who loves America wouldn’t have a “wait and see” approach to election results? That Trump oozes greed and narcissism is the East Oregonian falling prey to the bought-and-paid-for manipulation by big news agencies, per the Clinton campaign. Respected FBI and other investigators have said the emails from Wikileaks chart the same as organized crime. Trump loves America. He has no need to be president. He has a great life, great businesses, and wonderful, although multiple, families. He’s running for us, the American people: the people who have been ignored by the main group of both parties in D.C. for decades. We and Trump want law and order, secure borders, common sense trade agreements, Islamic terrorists eradicated, sensible health care plans, state and local control restored in multiple areas, reasonable energy policies, a vibrant economy, jobs, the federal debt greatly reduced and more. From the above news sources, Clinton has committed multiple felonies. Yes, we, the people, do need to be judge and jury. The executive branch is charged with enforcing the laws of the land. From the continued emails, we know Clinton has already compromised FBI work and the Attorney General’s office. She would be a wolf guarding the henhouse as president. The only thing Clinton is worthy of is an orange jumpsuit (not exaggerating). She has been actively involved with corruption for at least 25 years. We need every honest vote, in every state, for Donald Trump. Fill in that oval and get your ballot turned in! Garnet Olson Pendleton Trump bashing conveniently ignores important issues Over the last year I have watched with interest the unfolding of events leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Early on, numerous detractors treated Donald Trump as not a serious candidate and considered his success in the primary elections to be only temporary. As time went by Trump’s appeal did not fade, but instead increased, and his competitors withdrew one by one, to the dismay of most of the news media. Unable to stop him at the polis, many politicians and media representatives unleashed a furious campaign of “Trump bashing” that has continued to this day. An East Oregonian editorial attempting to analyze Trump’s success in the primaries mentioned his celebrity status and his wealth as possible factors. But to me this situation was no mystery. As has often been stated, a large segment of the electorate is dissatisfied with the status quo. To such people, voting for a person likely to continue conditions as they are is not an acceptable option. Trump is the only candidate who would likely enact the changes desired by many of the voters. Not content with letting voters make up their own minds, the media have gone to great lengths in an attempt to discredit Trump as a serious contender. A largely one-sided array of columnists in the East Oregonian have spouted vicious attacks against him throughout the campaign on almost a daily basis. Why is so much effort being expended against this candidate? Perhaps the liberal media believe they would have much to lose if Trump were elected. Unfortunately, they are attempting to stop the only person proposing to make many of the changes desired by a large number of Americans. In this election campaign neither major candidate is seen as an exemplary person. However, there are numerous important issues at stake. Sadly, the contest has been largely an exchange of negative attacks that divert the voters’ attention from important issues. In my opinion a newspaper’s business is to report the news, not to manipulate public opinion. But often relatively unimportant matters are given great coverage and important issues are scarcely mentioned. Personal accusations against Trump, whether true or not, are treated like major issues, and important policy considerations are conveniently overlooked. Accusations against Clinton, however, receive far less attention. The East Oregonian’s recent endorsement of Hillary Clinton contains a shamefully brutal prolonged personal attack against Trump. But if Clinton should become president, we probably can expect a continuing influx of illegal aliens, continuing border and security problems and, worst of all, a continuing erosion of moral values and hostility toward Christian ideals. Can such a situation be good for our country and its people? Ron Ingle Hermiston Measure 97 deceptive, costly My wife and I have been a part of the central Oregon community for over 11 years. We are both retired school teachers and we have dedicated much of our life’s work to improving education. I’d be hard-pressed to recall a time when we didn’t support a funding measure for schools and teachers. But Measure 97 is so costly and damaging, my wife and I are forced to vote NO. We don’t usually get involved in politics, but we’re greatly concerned about Measure 97 and what it means for Oregonians like us who live on a fixed income. Measure 97 is a nothing more than a hidden sales tax. It’s nonsense to suggest that companies will simply absorb this largest-in- the-nation tax. They won’t because in most cases, they can’t. They’ll pass along the cost to all of us, which means higher prices for everything we need. It’s important to note that there are NO exemptions in Measure 97. Literally everything we buy on a daily basis would be taxed — food, insurance, gas, utilities, and even medicine and healthcare. It’s hard to comprehend why the proponents would levy this type of back-door sales tax on such basic necessities, unless of course they simply don’t care about the little guy. The state’s own economists, independent of any campaign or political influence, have determined that Measure 97 would cost the average Oregon family more than $600 each year. And that’s just the average. This is an alarming tax increase on everyday essential items that would make it even harder for low-income and fixed-income families, like my wife and I and the hundreds of neighbors in our community, to afford basic items. The fact that Oregon consumers would pay for a majority of this $6 billion is troubling enough, but it’s even worse when considering that we don’t get any guarantee for how the money would be spent. There’s no plan, no accountability. It’s nothing more than a blank check for Salem politicians. My wife and I were school teachers — we care about kids and schools and we’ve supported responsible taxes in the past. This isn’t one of them and the supporters of Measure 97 are being deceptive by telling Oregonians the money will go somewhere it won’t. Please vote NO on Measure 97. It has the capacity to cause enormous financial hardship on Oregon families that can least afford it. Jack Baldwin Terrebonne Hermiston mayor supports Rowan for sheriff As a citizen of Hermiston, I’ve witnessed many positive benefits Sheriff Rowan has had on our community during his time as both the Umatilla County Sheriff and undersheriff. There was a period when Hermiston had a revolving door of property crime criminals that were rotating in and out of jail, almost beating the officer home to commit another crime. Some had been arrested 30+ times without serving any meaningful jail time. Sheriff Rowan worked to close the rotating door by opening more jail beds, increasing staffing, while working with the city of Hermiston to make sure these criminals were held accountable. As a result, property crimes over the last four years in Hermiston have reduced significantly. Cities in Umatilla County also went through a dramatic change in dispatching services. Sheriff Rowan worked diligently with the city of Hermiston to make these changes as seamless as possible. He retained dispatchers, kept the quality of service and response times consistent while helping the East Oregonian city save money. These savings assisted Hermiston in maintaining appropriate staffing levels to ensure our community’s public safety needs are adequately met. Through his leadership, the county, in coordination with all its partners, has developed a fair-share agreement for the cost sharing of dispatch services. Sheriff Rowan has worked vigorously to increase patrol services to all areas of Umatilla County by increasing officers on staff with limited impact to the county budget. In the past, we’ve had times where there wasn’t a patrol officer available to respond to an incident. Those times are now thankfully nonexistent. In closing, Sheriff Rowan has proved to Umatilla County that he works to create collaborative solutions, holds criminals accountable and keeps our communities safe. That’s what we need in our sheriff! Please join me in retaining Terry Rowan as our sheriff. Dave Drotzmann Hermiston Sheriff Rowan a man of integrity, should keep job With all the negative campaigns out there, it is reassuring to have a person like Terry Rowan willing to serve Umatilla County. Knowing Terry as a friend and family man for 22 years has given us many opportunities to see his integrity, leadership and professionalism first hand. When we told Terry we wanted to support his campaign, Terry told us that he does not want any opponent bashing, he just wanted us to focus on his merits. Terry Rowan is a man of integrity. Terry and his team have an impressive list of accomplishments that have been mentioned in other letters and articles. Whenever we compliment Terry on an award or accomplishment he is quick to give credit to the whole “team” that was involved. Terry has been able to bring about an atmosphere of mutual respect, accountability and a shared vision to his department. Terry Rowan is an effective leader who has received the endorsement of all the staff and employees of the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Dept. As friends, we spent many evenings and weekend activities with Terry and his family during which he would get a call about a work issue. He never complained about taking the calls or having to leave our activity to take care of an issue. If someone asked him what was going on and it was not an open situation, he would merely say, “Sorry, I can’t discuss it.” Terry respects the position of sheriff and treats it with professionalism and responsibility. Terry Rowan is a good role model for his staff, keeping his own actions consistent with the expectations that he has of them. A person’s character is what determines how they will act regardless if someone is looking or not. We endorse Terry Rowan as a man of integrity, whose track record has merited him to be re-elected as sheriff of Umatilla County. Dave and Anna Rademacher Hermiston Myths against Measure 97 Three myths about Measure 97: Myth 1: It’s a hidden or “stealth” sales tax. It’s not. It taxes corporations 2.5 percent on gross receipts in excess of $25,000,000. It’s only 2.5 percent and only on the excess of $25,000,000. Corporations don’t generally oppose sales taxes and did not oppose the six different sales tax proposals in Oregon history. The letter written by Barry Featherstone (East Oregonian, Oct. 21) opposing Measure 97 tellingly goes on to promote the idea of a 4 percent sales tax paid by the consumer. Corporations aren’t anti-tax, they just want someone else to pay them! Corporations have paid over $20 million to defeat this measure. If the tax would simply be passed on to the consumer, why would they care? They are gambling $20 million on defeating the measure so they can continue to pay the lowest corporate taxes in the nation. Myth 2: The money raised could be spent however the legislature wants. Nope. This is quoted from section three of the measure: “All of the revenue generated from the increase in the tax created by this 2016 Act shall be used to provide additional funding for: public early childhood and kindergarten through twelfth grade education; healthcare; and, services for senior citizens.” When the measure passes it becomes law. By the way, those three areas compose 80 percent of the budget anyhow and are the areas hardest hit by our systemic disinvestment over the past 25 years. Myth 3: Corporate taxes are high enough already. Not in Oregon. Oregon ranks dead last in percentage of overall corporate tax burden and second to last in the percentage of state tax revenues paid by businesses. Back in the 1970s businesses contributed 18.5 percent of the state tax revenue collected; that number has withered to a meager 6.7 percent. So, who is picking up the slack? You and me, the Oregon taxpayer. End the corporate welfare and make corporations invest in our state again. Join me in voting yes on Measure 97 for a better Oregon. John Scanlan Pendleton Trump right on important issues facing this country Are we electing candidates on social issues or are we electing candidates who will do the best job on the following issues: nominating some Supreme Court justices, job creation, reduction of taxes and improving our economy, controlling immigration and the sanctuary cities, supporting police in the inner city, more support for the military and worldwide Page 5A Quick takes Occupiers not guilty HECK yes! Now every dissatisfied person in this country knows they can arm themselves and take over other national wildlife refuges, national forest offices, national parks, IRS, Fort Knox, and even the White House without worrying about being found guilty. Isn’t it wonderful? Ken Thompson Yes it is wonderful and thank God for people like them who are willing to stand up to people like the national wildlife refuges, national forest offices, national parks, IRS, Fort Knox, and even the White House Roka Adams Tell them to help us out at Standing Rock ... Clifford Stanger Finally some good news after years of government overreach. Todd Siex The first victory in Trump’s “great” America! Once again proving that it’s only terrorism if you have brown skin. John E. Thomas 230,000 new Oregon voters in this election Sounds like people are excited to vote this year across the nation! A lot of enthusiasm this year compared to recent elections! Jason Lange Swelling is normally a sign of a problem ... Oregon trail voters? Clint Earle Hermiston to extend trail It’s such a great place to ride your bike. Can’t wait till the loop is extended. GunnWalker Homestead Every great town has awesome walking paths. Sharla McDonald Oh good — put out some places for old folks to rest a bit along the trail? Carol Ludwick One of the great lessons of the Twitter age is that much can be summed up in just a few words. Here are some of this week’s takes. Tweet yours @Tim_Trainor or email editor@ eastoregonian.com, and keep them to 140 characters. issues, and abolishing or improving Obamacare. Donald Trump has the support of many ecumenical participants and has promised to change the power of the intellectual elite. He has the support of the national Republican Party, many influential economists and some of the press; he has mine and I hope yours. Donald Peterson Pendleton Barreto endorses Rowan It is my pleasure to endorse Terry Rowan for Umatilla County Sheriff. His leadership, and desire to serve and make the community safer, are qualities that make Terry the kind of public servant we need. Sheriff Rowan has always been accessible for information, advice, and I have appreciated working with him. Greg Barreto Oregon State Representative for House District 58 Cove Health district measures are a vote for the future I am writing to support the East Umatilla County Health District ballot measures 30-122 and 30-120. Ballot Measure 30-122 is to redistrict the service area to include Adams, Helix and outlying areas into the ambulance taxing district. Measure 30-120 is to increase the permanent tax rate to reflect the needs of the district — 24/7 service, consistent and faster response times, and peace of mind in knowing that professional care is only minutes, not hours, away. Currently, the permanent tax rate is $0.14/$1,000 and in 2014, voters in the district approved an additional $0.50/$1,000 levy. Thus, people in the current Athena Weston School District boundary pay $0.64/$1,000. The new permanent tax rate, should this pass, would be $1.00/$1,000 and applied to the entire service area, which is over 400 square miles. I know that times are tight: they are always tight. Community members will have to decide which services they want to pay for and which they want to jettison, but that decision should not be made lightly or without a thought for the future. Our communities are worth these kinds of services and these kinds of decisions should be made with our future selves in mind. In my mind, this means that we should vote with a clear idea of the community’s LIVABILITY. What do we want our communities to look and feel like? Absolutely, vote your conscience, but do so with a close look at how our present actions will most definitely affect our futures. Please vote YES on both EUCHD ballot measures — a YES vote will preserve and expand essential services necessary to allow all to enjoy a certain way of life. Elizabeth McIntyre Athena
