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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 2017)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Wednesday, February 22, 2017 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 Where there’s a ways, there’s a means Last week Hermiston hosted the Family Networks, the local drug task force, Oregon Cultural Trust, K-12 powerful Joint Ways and Means Committee, which is responsible for and higher education, noxious weed crafting budget policy for the state of control, mental health and addiction Oregon. services, and numerous community- specific projects. These are the kinds of meetings that happen throughout the Some of those are programs we legislative session, in corridors all report on all the time, others fly throughout the under the radar capitol. and affect few That every We should remain Oregonians. But that does two years such suspicious of not diminish a committee effect ventures forth new government the Eastern Oregon into the wilds of Developmental Eastern Oregon programs or Disabilities is news in and of regulations, but Resources has on itself. That more who have than 200 citizens work to understand citizens a loved one who took time out of their Friday night is disabled. the benefits. to speak in front Sometimes of the committee we can feel removed from the state government, makes it front page worthy. The people who testified in the halls of power and the pockets that receive the most dollars. front of the committee weren’t But the opposite is true, too. We the stereotypes that might come can be removed from the effects to mind when Eastern Oregonians government has in our lives. We imagine someone begging, asking can be removed from our friends and demanding of government. and neighbors who rely on those These were not your purple-haired, programs. We can vilify and dismiss genderless and jobless protesters dollars in a spreadsheet and forget asking government for handouts. about the real-world value it has. These were law enforcement That doesn’t mean we should officials. 4-H members. Nurses. Farmers. Students. Teachers. Parents lose our suspicion over a new government program or regulation, of disabled children. Each of them or forget to do our due diligence rely on a state program that will likely be under legislative cross-hairs about how our tax dollars are being this session, as the body tries to deal spent. But it does mean that when we look at a gargantuan budget — with a $1.8 billion budget deficit. such as the state of Oregon’s — and Each spoke in support of a state wonder where in the world billions government program that matters of dollars are going, we must to them, including the Oregon understand that some of it is making State Police crime lab in Pendleton, the lives of our friends and neighbors the Oregon Health Plan, Eastern easier. And yes, improving our own Oregon Developmental Disabilities lives, too. Resources, Oregon Consortium of 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 Sound the alarm about higher education funding The (Yamhill Valley) News-Register O regon’s dominant Democrats have been sounding the alarm about the future of K-12 school funding since Nov. 8. On that day, their widely ballyhooed revenue plan died at the hands of voters, who saw it for what it was — an attempt to pick consumer pockets by slapping a thinly disguised sales tax on Oregon’s largest and most successful enterprises. They had no Plan B, and the rebuff left them with a nearly $2 billion deficit to fill. But what of K-12’s elder stepchild, Oregon’s chronically underfunded state college system? Hardly a whimper, even from ground zero in Portland, Eugene and Corvallis. It’s not hard to discern the reason. The union representing K-12 teachers provides the money and manpower that propels Democrats into office, but it has no counterpart at the collegiate level. Unfortunately, it’s not hard to discern the result either. The University of Oregon responded earlier this week by announcing a 10.6 percent tuition hike, serving to add $965 to the annual tab, and other state schools have little choice but to follow suit. What’s more, incoming freshmen face the prospect of having to absorb similar hikes every year of a four- or five-year tenure, on top of soaring costs for room, board, books, transportation and other necessities. We are thus serving to saddle an entire generation with almost insurmountable student loan burdens. An infusion of new state funding is desperately needed, but so far this century, we have been heading inexorably the other direction. Adjusted for inflation, the decline now exceeds 50 percent. And taking up the slack falls largely to tuition, which has risen a compensating 43 percent. Tuition now accounts for 66.9 percent of state system support, compared to 21.4 percent for legislative funding and 11.7 for gifts, grants and other sources. If the disparity grows much larger, we’ll have erased the only meaningful distinction between private and public institutions. State bond support for campus construction has also become increasingly restrictive, to the point it is severely hampering development of a branch campus to serve fast-growing Central Oregon. We have not been able to provide the K-12 system with everything we would like, but it’s gotten Cadillac treatment compared to its college counterpart, which is equally vital to preparing the next generation for successful entry into an increasingly demanding workforce. The seven campuses are seeking a $100 million boost in the backsliding allocation recommended by Gov. Kate Brown, and that seems eminently reasonable from here. We are saddling an entire generation with insurmountable student loan burdens. 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 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com. OTHER VIEWS NATO to U.S.: Yes sir, Mr. Trump C andidate Donald Trump set off our allies to keep their word and to do a furious controversy when he more in our common defense, and the said NATO countries should president expects real progress by the pay their “fair share” of mutual end of 2017. ... It is time for actions, defense costs and, later, that the treaty not words.” organization was “obsolete” because Just in case anyone missed the not enough of its efforts were directed message, Pence encouraged the NATO against radical Islamic terrorism. countries that don’t spend two percent On Monday, Vice President Mike on defense to accelerate their plans Byron Pence took the Trump message to to get there. “And if you don’t have a York NATO headquarters in Brussels. plan,” Pence said, “get one.” Comment And after all the controversy and To which NATO quickly acceded. complaining, NATO’s response could “I fully support what has been be boiled down to a single sentence: Yes sir, underlined by President Trump and by Vice Mr. Trump. President Pence today, the importance of News reports from Pence’s burden sharing,” Stoltenberg news conference with said. “I expect all allies to NATO Secretary General make good on the promise that Jens Stoltenberg focused on we made in 2014 to increase Pence’s effort to “reassure” defense spending and to make nervous NATO officials that sure to have a fairer burden of the U.S. will stand behind its sharing.” treaty commitments. “It is my On the issue of terrorism, privilege here at the NATO Stoltenberg said yes again. headquarters to express the First, he noted that NATO is strong support of President helping train security forces Trump and the United States in Afghanistan and Iraq and of America for NATO and is contributing surveillance our transatlantic alliance,” planes to the fight against the Pence said. “I can say with Islamic State. Then he added confidence, America will do — Jens Stoltenberg, what Pence wanted to hear: our part.” NATO Secretary General “But we agree that the alliance But at least as newsworthy can, and should do more, in was what happened next. the fight against terrorism.” Pence dropped the hammer of Trump’s It’s hard to overstate the near-hysteria demands, and NATO quickly went along. that met Trump’s “fair share” and “obsolete” “Europe’s defense requires Europe’s comments. But the fact is, burden sharing commitment as much as ours,” Pence said. is an old idea, and a non-controversial one. He reminded the group that in 2014 all 28 Modernizing NATO’s approach in the age of members of NATO promised to try to spend the Islamic State is also eminently reasonable. two percent of their GDP on defense by 2024. And now NATO, facing the reality of a Trump Only four countries, in addition to the U.S., presidency, has little choice but to go along. are now meeting that standard. As a candidate, The bottom line is that Donald Trump Trump repeatedly called for NATO to pay moved the NATO debate. After much fretting, more, Pence noted. and complaining, and denouncing, NATO did And now Trump is president. “So let me the simplest thing: It went along. say again what I said this last weekend in ■ Munich,” Pence said. “The president of the Byron York is chief political correspondent United States and the American people expect for The Washington Examiner. “I expect all allies to make good on the promises we made in 2014 to ... have a fairer burden of sharing.” YOUR VIEWS Hard to get a bottle deposit anywhere in Pendleton I read your story about collecting 10 cents on cans and bottles you only paid a 5-cent deposit on. What a joke. I can’t even get stores in Pendleton to take cans that I have bought at their business. I thought there was a bottle bill in Oregon. David Kosey Pendleton Waste of time to protest against America’s laws A day without immigrants? What a farce. Everyone in the United States of America is here as the result of immigration except for American Indians and Eskimos. I don’t know of anyone who has a problem with legal immigration. It is illegal immigration and unsafe immigration that are cause for concern and are the reasons for legal action by our president to stop them. The president has the full legal right to do an executive order as he did regarding travel from seven ISIS-filled countries that, by the way, the former president identified. The Washington State judge who started proceedings against the executive order on travel has no legal leg to stand on, only emotions and opinions. Obviously President Trump has the right to direct the agencies in the executive branch to enforce the existing immigration laws, as he has done. I realize many people aren’t used to the rule of law, as our prior president didn’t enforce it consistently. Also, many countries don’t have the rule of law. Instead they have the rule of the bullies. I realize that many wealthy organizations and individuals have skewed our laws here and there to their advantage. However, the rule of law is as good as it gets for imperfect humanity. The rule of law is the best chance for a level playing field and safety for all. Enforcing the law is not being a bully. The anarchy and other protests against lawful efforts serve only to undermine everyone’s wellbeing. President Trump needs to be supported in his recent legal actions, which are for the stability and safety of our country. That’s for everyone in the country, even those who so ignorantly fight against the actions. You protesters all waste time and the nation’s energy, and the East Oregonian wastes front page space, on ridiculous immigration protests. How about instead putting forth time and effort and newspaper space on improving the nation’s immigrant guest worker programs? That’s what will really make a difference, especially for Eastern Oregon. Garnet Olson Pendleton Time to overhaul government, justice system is now These are very interesting times. A time of change. Now is the time to drain Oregon’s swamp. Our public employees retirement systems must be changed and all of the public employees need to join Social Security with the rest of us. Why should they be able to retire 14 years earlier than us with higher retirement amounts? It’s time to abandoned the statewide land use planning laws and return the planning to the local levels. This process has failed us miserably. It’s time to completely overhaul our justice system. Honesty must be demanded in our courts. Incarceration rates must be reduced. The Bar must become a balanced board with private citizens listening to the complaints. Attorneys must be required to disclose whom they truly represent and prove their employment agreements. Our court system an embarrassment to civilization. Talk to or write your legislators now. Kalvin B. Garton Pendleton