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