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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 3, 2017)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Friday, March 3, 2017 OTHER VIEWS 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 Tip of the hat; kick in the pants A tip of the hat to the purchase of well-traveled land along Hurricane Creek in Wallowa County, which will keep it in public hands in perpetuity. The 470-acre property along the stunning, salmon-populated Hurricane Creek included access to the popular Falls Creek trail as well. The parcel had been owned by the Hofstetter family and, when it came time to sell, there was the possibility it could fall into private hands who would lock out the public. That won’t happen thanks to the Land and Water Conservation Fund with help from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, who was able to make the purchase and convey the land back to the national forest for public use. We tip our hat to that, and the protection of some of the coolest land in Eastern Oregon, which all Americans can continue to access and enjoy. And speaking of public lands, we tip our hat to a new mountain bike trail on city land in Pendleton, near the airport. The volunteer-driven effort is a great use of land that had little development potential, and was used most recently to provide a few scraps of scrub brush to grazing cattle. A bike trail is a much better use of the land, and we look forward to watching it gain more mileage and signage in the coming years. As for now, with the first couple miles open for hiking and biking, Pendleton residents are already turning out to check on the turns and get in shape for cycling season. In general, giving locals fun and healthy outdoor activities so close to town is great for Pendleton’s livability. And the possibilities of hosting future races at the site is great for economic development potential, too. At little to no cost to the city, the benefit is clear. 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 What’s to believe about Russia, and how it affects Oregon The Oregonian t was the second questioner at Sen. Ron Wyden’s recent town hall meeting in Oregon City that hit the nerve. A woman stood amid at least 1,000 people packed into the city’s high school gymnasium and said: “The elephant in the room is the (Trump) administration’s current relationship with the Russians. This feels like the most dangerous time we’ve been in for decades.” Amid a roar of approval, she asked: “What can you do to get information declassified?” Wyden, a Democrat who ended a statewide 11-town-hall-meeting tour in Portland Saturday, paced about the basketball court in sneakers as he went straight to the elephant. In addressing it, he unmasked himself as something of a zealot — no surprise to Oregonians who’ve watched his persistent questioning of officials on Capitol Hill about the federal collection of metadata on unwitting citizens, cybersecurity in a world of terrorism, the erosion of personal privacy from technol- ogies that include drones. He pledged to the Oregon City crowd, as he did in other town halls: “I am committed to making sure this is not swept under the rug.” And then he characteristically went large in shouting above the cheers, “This goes right to the heart of the legitimacy of the government.” Oregon has plenty of federal concerns. Dam and wildlife management in the vast Columbia River Basin, whose hydro- electric output drives much of Oregon. Logging on federal lands, covering more than half of Oregon. Water brokering in the Klamath Basin. Boatloads of national taxpayer money funneled annually to Oregon agencies in support of health care, public education, highways that connect everyone and everything. Meanwhile, President Trump has placed everything in question. But Russia? In an interview with The Oregonian/ OregonLive Editorial Board following his Thursday town hall in Ashland, a hoarse Wyden was plain: “Yes, Russia. It comes up every time. I get asked about it when I’m buying a chicken at Fred Meyer.” He paused. “Oregonians want to be heard on this.” I Concern over the potential President Trump-Vladimir Putin association has escalated nationally over several months, from a presidential election in which Russian tampering was alleged and during which Trump flippantly invited Putin to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails. More recently, a spy-novel cast of char- acters comprising Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and a fired Gen. Michael Flynn lends intrigue, and in some case outrage. Throughout, Trump has refused to release his tax returns, which would likely reveal any business interests in Russia. Enter Wyden. He unsuccessfully introduced legislation last year that would require presidents to release tax returns, which he characterized for the Oregon City audience as representing “the lowest ethical bar.” And he has since hammered the message home that Trump has a lot of explaining to do. More than most, he is the voice associated with holding Trump to account. Wyden is right to consider the U.S.- Russia relationship of peculiar pertinence to Oregon. It’s what his bosses, the public, want him to focus upon. And, in a vital display of democracy, his bosses have shown up in great number to say so. “It’s just extraordinary,” Wyden said. “I have never seen anything like this before.” Significantly, Wyden opens his town halls recalling the fabled “Oregon Way,” which has no book, no code, no statute to neatly define it. But historically the “Oregon Way” is about cutting through public clatter on complex challenges and quietly finding solutions — as if democracy can work rationally and by consent of the governed. The names Vic Atiyeh, Tom McCall, Mark Hatfield get tossed about as “Oregon Way” leaders who bettered the state through steady advocacy while devising clear measures to be taken to achieve agreed-upon goals. Wyden has a shot at bringing the “Oregon Way” to Washington in a dark- ening time: for Oregon, for the nation. On behalf of Oregonians first, Wyden can’t do enough to lay bare whether the nation’s president has engaged improp- erly with an adversary, shattering trust so deeply that folks in Oregon City and across the state wouldn’t know whom to believe anymore. Wyden is right to consider the U.S-Russia relationship of peculiar pertinence to Oregon. We can’t bomb ebola B efore he became defense other countries to tackle the problems secretary, Gen. Jim Mattis once collectively. pleaded with Congress to invest That’s also true of terrorism. The more in State Department diplomacy. RAND Corp. examined how 648 “If you don’t fund the State terrorist groups ended between 1968 Department fully, then I need to buy and 2006. Most were absorbed by the more ammunition,” he explained. political process or defeated by police Alas, President Donald Trump took work; only 7 percent were crushed by him literally but not seriously. The military force. Frank administration plans a $54 billion On balance, terrorists are probably Bruni increase in military spending, less threatened by drones overhead Comment financed in part by a 37 percent cut than by girls with books. That’s why in the budgets of the State extremists shot Malala, threw Department and the U.S. acid in the faces of Afghan Agency for International schoolgirls and kidnapped Development. Nigerian schoolgirls. Terrorists That reflects a understand what most misunderstanding about threatens them, but I’m not the world — that security sure we do. is assured only when we’re The U.S. just lost a Navy blowing things up. It’s SEAL in Yemen, and it’s sometimes true that political useful to compare Yemen power grows out of the barrel with its neighbor Oman. of a gun, as Chairman Mao Until 1970, Oman was more said, but it also emerges from backward than Yemen, for diplomacy, foreign aid and Oman banned radio as the carefully cultivated goodwill. work of the devil, locked the gates to the Military power is especially limited when capital at night and offered no education for threats come from new directions. More than girls and almost none for boys. Then a new four times as many Americans now die each sultan took over and focused on education, year from opioids as have died in the Iraq and of girls as well as boys, and Oman is now Afghan wars combined, but warships can’t a boring, peaceful place, while Yemen defeat drug traffickers. To beat traffickers, we floundered — and is torn apart by terrorism need diplomacy and the goodwill of countries and civil war. like Mexico and Afghanistan. One can’t help wondering: If U.S. aid And we certainly can’t bomb Ebola or programs had invested in education in Yemen, climate change. might we have reduced today’s terrorism and Even before Trump’s election, we violence? One study found that a doubling of underfunded diplomacy and aid. Consider that primary school enrollment in a poor country the New York City police alone employ more halves the risk of civil war. than twice as many uniformed officers as the Education is no panacea, but it is a bargain: State Department has Foreign Service officers. For the cost of deploying one soldier abroad The military is one of the strongest for a year, we can start about 40 schools. advocates for nonmilitary investments I’m focusing on security interests here, but — because generals know that they need let’s also note that humanitarian aid is a matter diplomacy and aid to buttress their hard of our values as well as of our interests. Do power. That’s why 120 generals and admirals we really want to cut humanitarian aid just as recently signed a letter pleading with Congress hunger crises are spreading in Africa and the to fund the State Department and foreign aid. Middle East, threatening 20 million people Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates with starvation? used to lament that the military had more Our security is advanced not just by being musicians in its marching bands than the scary but also by winning friends. Trump State Department had diplomats. As I do the will face a crisis — maybe with North Korea, numbers, that statement is no longer true, maybe with China, maybe with some new but it does reflect the continuing reality that pandemic — and he will need not just a robust Congress feeds the Pentagon while starving military but also the cooperation of friendly the State Department. nations. “Two brigades in the armed forces Tanks can’t help when our president equal our entire diplomatic corps,” noted antagonizes Mexico or hangs up on the Nicholas Burns, a former senior diplomat Australian prime minister. Or when who now teaches at Harvard. Burns said immigration officials detain and humiliate that he agrees with Trump that the military to tears a beloved 70-year-old Australian should get more funding but emphasized children’s author on her 117th visit to that slashing diplomacy and foreign aid will America. make it more difficult to address crucial “In that moment, I loathed America,” Mem transnational challenges, from drugs to crime Fox, the author, wrote. That’s one way nations to immigration. lose their soft power and undermine their own “If you so dramatically underfund the State national security. Department, you defeat the Trump agenda,” ■ he said. Frank Bruni, an Op-Ed columnist for One of the biggest security threats the The New York Times since 2011, joined the world faced in recent years was Ebola — and newspaper in 1995. Over his years, he has the next pandemic may be much worse — and worn a wide variety of hats, including chief the only effective response was to work with restaurant critic and Rome bureau chief. The military is one of the strongest advocates for nonmilitary investment. YOUR VIEWS Bike Week a rare win for Pendleton Build more dams if you want to save salmon Congratulations to the founders of Pendleton Bike Week on their affiliation with Harley Davidson! This is real economic development that does not require millions of tax dollars like the road and pipes to a imaginary industrial park. It does not require nearly a million tax dollars to subsidize housing for imaginary workers. It does not suck millions of tax dollars from the city to prop up a failing regional airport through sketchy interfund transfers. It does bring many great people with disposable income to our town. Welcome bikers and ride safe. If you want to keep the water temperature in the Snake and Columbia rivers cold, a good way might be to follow the example shown by what has happened to the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam. The Colorado River historically had a summertime temperature of 80 degrees F and a wintertime temperature near freezing. Now the average temperature is 46 degrees F year-round. That is really a “shock to the system” when the air temperature is 120 degrees F in August. I have done that several times. Instead of re-fighting the same expensive battles over how to keep the rivers cool enough for our salmon, maybe it is time to put on our “thinking caps” and come up with a solution that might really benefit the salmon. Bruce Staley Pendleton Carlisle Harrison Hermiston 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 phone number. Send letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
