VIEWPOINTS
Saturday, January 14, 2017
Quick takes
— Chrystal Moore
So happy that he has his property back.
Now if they can find the person or persons
who took it and get things straightened out
for him.
— Kathy Rager Horn Hess
Now please tell him to put a GPS monitor
in this house.
— Leys Knight
Mega-dairy construction
This does not sound like a very humane
and organic operation. Looks like the
quality of the dairy product would not be
very high. Looks like a corporate bully
operation to me.
— Sharla McDonald
I live in an area (Idaho) that has many
dairies within 20 miles. My county has
more than 280,000 cows, we are healthy
and they are managed well and have created
hundreds of job. I hope things work out
well.
— Sharon Lee Huff Cheney
Bring back the tree farm! I keep hoping
that part of it will be salvaged!
— Shilo Smith
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.
By ROB KLAVINS
Oregon Wild
A
ppreciation for native wildlife is
something nearly all Americans
share. Wildlife bring value and
belong to all of us — not just those of us
lucky enough to live near our state’s big
wild places or those who shoot them with
cameras rather than rifles.
Some animals challenge us, but
poaching is a crime against us all. Recent
efforts to address the problem are welcome,
but show just how far we have to go.
Too often, poaching is considered an
exotic problem on faraway continents
where animals like elephants and rhinos
are prized for their ivory and horns. Less
recognized is the enormous problem closer
to home.
Exhibit A is the easy passage of Measure
100 in the same year that saw Oregon’s
legislature create legal loopholes for
poachers and its wildlife agency defend
allowing hunting of wolves as soon as this
year.
Poaching laws are difficult to enforce,
but the problem has deep roots that make
powerful interests uncomfortable.
Even in wildlife-loving Oregon, our
efforts show a reluctance to take the first
step of admitting we have a problem — and
the influence of politics.
When one of Oregon’s rare moose was
illegally killed in Wallowa County, it was
front page news. New laws mean that if
the animal was sporting antlers, the crime
is punishable by $50,000. News of wolf
poaching is usually buried in annual agency
reports. The fine for killing a wolf or cougar
maxes out at $7,500.
Wolf recovery in Northeast Oregon is no
longer a novelty. However, that’s not true
everywhere. OR-28, the matriarch of the
Silver Lake wolves, was killed in October
in Southern Oregon. The investigation
into her death remains
shrouded in secrecy. Had
she, her pup, and her
8-year old partner (another
Wallowa County disperser)
survived, they might have
officially been designated
the second known wolf
pack outside Oregon’s
Northeast corner.
It’s not an isolated
incident. In 2015, one-in-
five monitored wolves
were illegally killed — or
died under mysterious
circumstance — a number
sadly in line with states
like Idaho and Wyoming.
That rate is also consistent with deer
poaching in Oregon. A recent migration
study incidentally revealed just as many
mule deer killed legally by hunters as were
killed illegally.
Does that startling rate of poaching apply
to other wildlife? We simply don’t know.
While most law-abiding hunters share a
disdain for poachers and do their part, far
too many make excuses or turn a blind eye
to it in their own communities — especially
when its wolves, condors, or other wildlife
viewed as controversial.
Poaching has become so accepted
in some communities that it is not only
tolerated in online forums, but on bumper
stickers proudly proclaiming the poacher’s
cowardly creed to “shoot, shovel and shut
up.”
Despite all this, even acknowledging
Why Americans care about Trumps’ tax return
W
Page 5A
Predator poachers must be held responsible
Stolen tiny home found
So happy when I passed them hauling
it into town when I was on my way home
from work. I literally yelled out loud in my
car “Yay they found it!” Lol!!
East Oregonian
ASHINGTON — In
we know is bad enough. Mr.
his news conference
Trump is preparing to take
on Wednesday,
office without having cleared
President-elect Donald J.
the lowest ethical bar required
Trump claimed that the
to lead our nation.
American public did not
Mr. Trump does not care
care that he had not released
about conflicts of interest. His
his tax returns, as has been
proposal to separate himself
routine for every presidential
from his business would
Ron
nominee since Watergate. He
have him continue to own
Wyden
could not be more wrong.
his company, with his sons in
Comment
When I asked users on
charge. This
Twitter, the president-elect’s
arrangement
favored megaphone, to
“doesn’t meet
retweet if they cared about Mr.
the standards,” said
Trump’s tax returns, within hours
the director of the
more than 79,000 people responded.
nonpartisan Office of
The reason is simple. Without
Government Ethics,
these returns, Americans cannot know that “every president
whether he is using the presidency
in the past four
to enrich himself and his family.
decades has met.”
Americans won’t know whether a
Other American institutions have
policy he proposes primarily benefits
not done enough to force Mr. Trump
steelworkers in Pennsylvania or lines
to be accountable. On Tuesday, the
his own pocket.
F.B.I. director, James B. Comey,
They will also be unable to tell
refused to answer my question about
whether Mr. Trump is telling the
whether the bureau had investigated
truth when he claims to have no
ties between Trump associates and
connections to Russia, contradicting
Russia that had been widely reported.
public evidence and statements by
Mr. Comey claimed that he did not
his own son. His stated excuse about
speak about investigations, yet his
being under audit doesn’t pass the
actions of the past few months clearly
smell test. Previous presidents and
contradict that statement.
nominees have released their returns
Without transparency about the
under the same circumstances.
extent and nature of his business
That’s why I and dozens of
dealings, it will not be possible for
congressional colleagues have
the American public to track whether
introduced legislation to force future
Mr. Trump is abusing his power, other
presidential nominees and presidents
than through leaks and unverified
to release their tax returns. As
reports that will simply tear this
representatives of the people, if we
government down cut by cut. The
can’t trust the executive branch to act
Republican-controlled Congress has
ethically, we must force it to do so.
not only failed to hold Mr. Trump
The portents were already not
accountable, but it has even taken
good. In this election, Mr. Trump
steps to roll back existing ethics rules.
engaged in a profoundly cynical
With the notable exception of
campaign that bulldozed faith in our
my colleague Orrin Hatch of Utah,
government institutions. Now, in the
Republican Senate leaders have
most bizarre presidential transition
attempted to rush Mr. Trump’s cabinet
in memory, he has combined praise
picks through the Senate with a
of Russia’s “very smart” president,
rubber stamp. By scheduling eight
Vladimir V. Putin, with exceptional
confirmation hearings in one week,
secrecy over his taxes and business
in many cases even before the Office
dealings amid persistent reports about
of Government Ethics had finished its
his associates’ connections to Russia.
vetting, Republican leaders have put
In this environment, every claim
political expediency ahead of their
takes on an air of credibility. It is no
duty.
surprise, then, that the sensational
Meanwhile, leaders in the House
and unverified accusations published
attempted to neuter the independent
online this week stirred a media
Office of Congressional Ethics — a
frenzy. I cannot comment on these
move that was opposed by Mr.
reports, or on whether there is any
Trump, apparently a fan of oversight
truth to their contents.
for anyone but himself — and they
succeeded in passing a law that
This is not the real issue, for what
would allow political retribution
against individual federal employees,
by cutting their salaries to $1. This
heralds a return to the days when
public lands and public policies were
up for sale to special interests at the
bidding of powerful congressmen.
Americans expect better of their
elected officials. But Mr. Trump
has done nothing to live up to the
responsibilities of his office.
When negative
news stories surface,
he goes on the attack.
This week, Mr. Trump
said that the release
of the unconfirmed
memo was a smear
akin to “something
that Nazi Germany
would have done and
did do.” This bluster was not only
antagonistic toward the intelligence
agencies that serve this country, but
deeply insulting to victims of the
Holocaust.
My parents lived in Nazi Germany.
They saw institutions being corrupted
and turned against them, merely
because they were Jews. My father
was kicked out of school for being
Jewish. He and my mother spent years
living in fear of the knock on the
door. They were fortunate to escape to
America and to make good lives here,
but we lost family in Kristallnacht.
Mr. Trump’s brush with rumor
and innuendo is nothing like their
experience. It is something he has
brought on himself by running a
campaign of disinformation rather
than making full disclosure to the
American people. He must ensure that
a Trump administration will not return
us to the days of Richard M. Nixon,
or, worse, the scandal-ridden term of
Warren G. Harding.
To do so, Mr. Trump must face
the fact that independent nonpartisan
bodies like the Office of Government
Ethics are not out to get him; they are
here to help him govern according to
the rule of law. Mr. Trump chose to
run for president, he won and is about
to assume office as the most powerful
man in the world. His responsibility
now is the American people, not his
family, his companies or his own
bottom line.
■
Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon,
is a United States senator. This op-ed
first appeared Thursday in the New
York Times.
Mr. Trump
does not care
about conflicts
of interest.
poaching can be controversial. Oregon’s
leaders and Department of Fish and
Wildlife lack the resources — and the will
— to study the problem.
What Oregon has done
instead is propose policies
to suppress carnivore
populations by killing
them if less controversial
and common wildlife
decline. So, while it is
estimated that 20 percent
of some game populations
are killed illegally by
humans, rather than
increase enforcement
or risk angering some
constituencies, Oregon
leaves the door open
to reward poaching by
increasing the legalized
killing of native hunters.
Scapegoating wolves, cougars,
cormorants, sea lions, and ravens — and the
people who appreciate them — is deemed
a higher priority than enforcing the law
or addressing root problems that make
powerful interests uncomfortable.
Oregon needs to take poaching seriously,
not just the illegal trafficking of exotic
animal parts from around the world, or
charismatic game species — but all illegal
killing. Right here at home. The issue of
poaching cries out for more study, funding
for enforcement, and wildlife policies that
are in line with broadly held public values.
Wildlife belong to all Americans. It’s
time to stop letting poachers steal from us.
■
Rob Klavins is northeast Oregon field
coordinator for Oregon Wild. He lives in
Enterprise.
Even in wildlife-
loving Oregon,
our efforts
to combat
poaching show
a reluctance to
admit we have
a problem.
Through rain and
snow to get sworn in
Editor’s note: This is Sen. Bill Hansell’s (R-Athena)
account of getting to Salem during a snow storm Monday
to swear in as a state legislator. He was accompanied by his
wife, Margaret.
B
ecause of
the weather
I decided to
fly, avoiding the
possible closure in
the Gorge. I flew
out of Pendleton
Saturday night
only to have
the flight return
because of
freezing rain in
Portland.
I then booked
the first flight
Sunday morning,
but when I arrived
at the airport, all
flights had been
canceled for the
day.
Contributed photo
Sen. Bill Hansell (R-Athena) swears
We decided
in to his second term in the state
if I was going to
legislature in Salem on Monday
make it, we had
with his wife, Margaret, at his side.
to drive. On our
journey to Salem
we experienced almost every kind of winter road condition
— packed snow, unplowed snow 8-10 inches in much of the
fast lane a little less in the traveled lane, and black ice from
Multnomah Falls to Portland.
The same would be true for the winter weather. We
started off with sleet and snow, then just sleet, and then the
other side of Boardman pretty heavy snow. We could not
see the Washington side of the Columbia. Into the Gorge we
encountered wind that blew the snow. Freezing rain greeted
us at Multnomah Falls, which continued until we hit 35
degrees on Highway 205 in Portland. From there we were in
pouring rain until Salem.
It took us around seven hours, but make it we did. I am
reminded of a phrase Lewis and Clark often used to close or
begin a journal entry: “We proceeded on.”
Senate President Peter Courtney made comment of
the effort Margaret and I made to be there for the opening
session.
The Bible Margaret is holding in the picture is the same
one I have used every time I took an oath of office. If I have
counted right, eight times as a county commissioner, once
when I took office as president of the National Association of
Counties, and now twice as an Oregon state senator.
■
Bill Hansell (R-Athena) is beginning his second term in
the state senate. He will serve on the Workforce Committee,
Special Committee on Conduct, Joint Committee on Ways
and Means, Transportation and Economic Development
Subcommittee and Legislative Administration Committee.