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OPINION
East Oregonian
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
MARISSA WILLIAMS
Regional Advertising Director
MARCY ROSENBERG
Circulation Manager
JANNA HEIMGARTNER
Business Office Manager
MIKE JENSEN
Production Manager
OUR VIEW
Travel safely
during the holidays
With visions of Thanksgiving
turkey dancing in their heads,
thousands of Oregonians will get
behind the wheel before celebrating
the holiday with friends and family
this weekend. Others will jump on a
plane or take public transport, sweet
potato casserole resting on their
knees.
Oregon State Police Capt. Bill
Fugate said law enforcement
expects, starting today and lasting
through Sunday, “one of the highest
volumes of traffic in over a decade,”
on freeways and highways and
mountain passes across the state and
region. Expect traffic to be terrible
through much of urban Oregon, and
on Black Friday expect backups in
retail areas even in our region.
There is major precipitation
in the forecast, too, with heavy
rain predicted for low elevations
and snowfall on mountain passes.
There’s also that Civil War football
game on Saturday, and an Apple
Cup in Pullman on Friday, so readers
traveling to the Willamette Valley
or Palouse should be aware. And
for those hardy and blessed souls
traveling through downtown Ukiah
this Thanksgiving, plan to leave
2-3 seconds earlier than normal to
account for a rare car in front of you.
In all seriousness, traffic isn’t
something we worry about in
Eastern Oregon. But travel is.
We’re spread out in open country,
which means that drive to grandma
and grandpa’s house is often a
trip of more than 50 miles, over
dark and empty roads in our area’s
notoriously fickle winter weather.
Fugate said in a press release
that 10 people died on Oregon
highways in the past week, and
that number could spike again this
week if drivers don’t take additional
precautions. OSP is urging motorists
to travel safely, chiefly by planning
ahead, expecting heavy traffic and
poor driving conditions.
We’ll take the opportunity to pass
along the reminder. In short: slow
down. Give the car in front of you
additional room and show humility
to the elements and the roadway,
whether it be a driving rainstorm, a
swirling snowstorm or a strong and
sustained gust of winter wind. Keep
an eye on tripcheck.com, and news
sources like the East Oregonian
website, to be aware of slowdowns
and closures. Eastern Oregon drivers
should always be prepared for an
emergency, and should use the
change in the weather as a prod to
add water, food and blankets to your
trunk.
Because what good is
Thanksgiving if you don’t arrive
where you’re expected? You
wouldn’t rush your family’s secret
turkey-roasting technique, and you
shouldn’t rush the drive either.
Arrive safe and enjoy every bite.
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
When state gun laws
run afoul of federal law
The Hutchinson (Kan.) News
W
hen members of the Kansas
Legislature enthusiastically
supported in 2013 the
politically popular “Second Amendment
Protection Act,” some people raised
concern that the law — which said
federal law had no bearing on guns and
ammunition produced and sold only
within Kansas — might run afoul of
federal gun laws.
One of those people was U.S.
Attorney General Eric Holder, who
issued a letter to Kansas Gov. Sam
Brownback warning that federal officials
would continue to enforce laws in
Kansas and that any efforts to thwart
them would be met with litigation.
Secretary of State Kris Kobach — an
uber supporter of the bill and an investor
in a Kansas gun company that stood to
benefit from the state law — replied that
we’d be happy to meet the feds in court.
But now, it’s not Kobach or
Brownback who have to stand in court
facing federal prosecution; it is two poor
guys from Chanute who mistakenly
thought the sale and purchase of firearms
and gear would be protected under
Kansas’ much-ballyhooed, arm-flexing,
Second Amendment gun law.
Shane Cox, owner of Tough Guys
guns, and Jeremy Kettler, a disabled
veteran who purchased a silencer from
Cox, were convicted this week of federal
firearms violations, including illegally
making and marketing firearms and
purchasing an unregistered silencer.
Both men believed Kansas law protected
them.
“For believing and following the
laws of the state of Kansas, I now find
myself wrongfully accused in federal
court,” said Kettler, who served in Iraq
and Afghanistan before being honorably
discharged. “The whole thing is
ridiculous.”
It is ridiculous, because the law was
little more than a charade designed to
bolster the conservative bonafides of
a few Kansas lawmakers — and put
other lawmakers in a tough spot by
forcing them to vote “no” on a bill that
essentially said, “You love the Second
Amendment, don’t you?”
To his credit, Kobach at least
offered to assist the men in drafting a
defense, and he asked Kansas Attorney
General Derek Schmidt to join in the
defense of the case. Schmidt, however,
said he could only intervene if the
constitutionality of state law was in
question.
But the law was faulty from the
beginning, and the federal government
warned Kansas it would not stand
against federal authority. Some
lawmakers saw through the rhetoric and
immediately recognized the supremacy
of federal law in the matter. Yet, it was
primarily a politically motivated bill,
and when the careers of lawmakers are
concerned, who cares whether a couple
of Kansans get caught in the crossfire?
The Kansas Legislature, with its
overwhelming support for the Second
Amendment Protection Act, completely
failed the people of Kansas. Despite
concerns and warnings from lawmakers
and the federal government, nothing
was done to test the bill’s validity or to
explain to the state’s residents what did
or did not fall under the law’s scope.
And now, two men stand alone
without the support of the Kansas
officials who so brazenly told Kansans
that federal law had no authority here.
Their lives have been irreversibly
altered, while some of the failed law’s
champions are busy eying the next rung
on their career ladders.
OTHER VIEWS
A jolt of blue-collar hope
N
EW CASTLE, Del. — The
It’s home to the state’s largest high
nearby factory that made
school, William Penn, which has long
Dodge Durangos closed
educated the children of workers from
eight years ago. The General Motors
General Motors and the refinery. By
Boxwood Road Plant — open since
2011, enrollment had fallen by nearly
1947 — closed the next year. So did
20 percent as students fled for other
the oil refinery in Delaware City.
options.
In the span of a year during the
“People came out and said,
financial crisis, once-prosperous
‘The high school is not serving the
David
northern Delaware had to confront
Leonhardt community,’” the former principal,
post-industrial devastation.
Jeffrey Menzer, told me. “They
Comment
It’s sort of the devastation that
wanted more career opportunities,
now has the country’s attention.
more hands-on stuff.”
Donald Trump won the presidency with huge
Markell makes a similar point: “A lot of
margins in places left behind. He lost the
kids who drop out of high school — they
don’t drop out because
popular vote but won 26 of
they’re not intelligent. They
the 30 lowest-income states,
including the old powerhouses “A lot of kids who drop out because they think
they’re learning is not
of Pennsylvania, Ohio and
drop out of high what
relevant to the rest of their
Michigan.
lives.”
These places are stuck in
school ... drop
William Penn reorganized
what I call the Great American
out because they itself into 20 “majors,” and
Stagnation. Tens of millions of
student must pick one,
people have experienced scant
think what they’re every
progress for decades. Median
be it manufacturing, computer
net worth is lower than in
science or agriculture. (The
learning is not
the 1980s, and middle-aged
state has a broader version of
relevant to the rest the program, called Pathways
whites, shockingly, aren’t
living as long as they used
to Prosperity.) One goal, of
of their lives.”
to. Ending this stagnation is
course, is to prepare students
— Jack Markell, for a career. When William
the central political problem
Governor of Delaware Penn tried to start a nursing
of our age: It fuels Trumpian
anger and makes every other
major, the state pushed back,
societal problem harder to
pointing to a glut of such
solve.
programs — and the school started a medical-
I came here to New Castle looking for
diagnostics major instead.
a jolt of hope after the terribly dispiriting
But having a major can also help students
presidential campaign. I came to see one
who don’t know what they want to be when
of the more promising attacks on the Great
they grow up. It connects book learning
American Stagnation.
to real life. It can help launch them into
In the wake of the financial crisis,
college or a certificate program and avoid
Delaware’s new governor, Jack Markell, and
the epidemic of academic drift. No wonder
other officials did obvious things, like using
enrollment at William Penn has improved.
stimulus money to stem the damage and
Kiara Roach, a senior, told me that she
even managing to reopen the refinery. But
didn’t care about her grades, or do very well,
Markell, who’d run as an insurgent Democrat, until she became passionate about cooking.
understood that nostalgia alone wouldn’t help (As she told me this, I was enjoying a moist
pork sandwich in a teacher cafe she helps
families pay their bills. So he began looking
run.) Mike Rodriguez, who one day hopes
for ways both to save old jobs and to create
to start a heating-and-cooling business, said:
new ones. His answer wasn’t original — but
“I get bored in class. I like standing up and
that’s OK, because it was right.
working on something.” Jacob Sobolesky, a
In his almost eight years in office, he has
junior, told me: “There’s only so much you
made his No. 1 priority lifting the skills of
Delaware’s citizens. He worked on traditional can learn from word of mouth.”
Many people in New Castle, not to
education, expanding high-quality pre-K and
mention the industrial Midwest, feel a deep
helping low-income teenagers go to college.
And he worked on what academic researchers cultural connection to craftsmanship — to
like Robert Schwartz call “the forgotten half”: making things and working with their hands.
They’re not inspired by working in cubicles
the many students who won’t graduate from
or comfortable offices.
college but who also need strong skills to
At the same time, they can’t simply do
find decent jobs. Their struggles are a major
as previous generations did and graduate
reason that America’s workforce is no longer
from high school into a good job. They can’t
considered the world’s most highly skilled.
It’s too early for a final verdict in the state, bring back yesterday’s economy. They need
blue-collar skill-building to thrive.
but the signs are encouraging. High school
The country has failed to provide nearly
graduation rates have jumped. Educational
enough of that skill-building, and we’re all
attainment is above average — as are
living with the consequences.
incomes. The jobless rate is 4.3 percent.
■
New Castle, on the Delaware River,
is telling, because it has focused on skills
David Leonhardt is an op-ed columnist for
while staying true to its blue-collar roots.
The New York Times.
YOUR VIEWS
FBI should prosecute
police at Standing Rock
The FBI is responsible under law
to protect the natives on federal treaty
lands, just like in the case of a murder on
a reservation.
They are present now at Standing
Rock and looking for the perpetrators.
They will prosecute the bad cops,
and the mercenaries and thugs when
convicted will do hard time in a federal
prison.
Any police caught in lies protecting
the perpetrators will be prosecuted as
accessories to criminal acts committed
on natives. The FBI should take
statements from injured water protectors
— each injured person needs to and has
to make a statement to the FBI — so
they can prosecute. The bad cops,
mercenaries and thugs hurting people
at Standing Rock, North Dakota, must
stop.
Mike Yeager
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 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.