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OPINION
East Oregonian
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
MARISSA WILLIAMS
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Circulation Manager
JANNA HEIMGARTNER
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OUR VIEW
Legislators must
take tax poll to heart
Oregon voters place a top priority
on K-12 public schools but don’t
really trust the state to tax and spend
wisely on education, new opinion
polling indicates.
Our Capital Bureau reported
earlier this week on a poll
commissioned by the Oregon
School Boards Association. All
polls, especially those sponsored
by entities with a vested interest in
their findings, must be viewed with
intelligent skepticism. But the new
poll results ring true.
According to the poll, 60 percent
of the public believes any new
tax money should be earmarked
for state education and should
be combined with spending cuts
elsewhere. Ironically, this mirrors
what the business community itself
has indicated it would support.
Legislators need to take this to heart.
Oregonians are big believers in
public schools. You don’t need a
poll to know this. Time spent in any
Oregon community or neighborhood
is a revealing lesson in how schools
are fundamentally bound up in
our lives and our sense of who
we are as a people. We’re united
around the idea that schools impart
essential knowledge and social
skills, partnering with families in
preparing children for lives every
parent hopes will be financially
rewarding, intellectually gratifying
and emotionally fulfilling.
Anxiety: As our nation and
world become more complex and
demanding, any sense that schools
aren’t fulfilling their vital mission
is certain to provoke anxiety. While
more money is rarely, if ever, a
complete solution to any problem,
Oregonians are strongly inclined to
bolster school funding. Ninety-three
percent of voters say it’s important
to fund K-12 education. Nearly
two-thirds would support boosting
taxes on corporations if the proceeds
were certain to go to schools.
But the state just overwhelmingly
rejected new corporate taxes in the
form of Ballot Measure 97. This
was despite the objective fact that
companies contribute less to state
coffers than voters commonly
believe — less than 6 percent
of general fund revenue, by the
Oregon School Boards Association’s
reckoning, while citizens believe the
number is around 36 percent.
In rejecting Measure 97, voters
didn’t trust that new revenue would
be well spent and feared the taxes
would be passed on to us in the form
of higher prices. And as a matter of
fact, Oregon firms already pay a lot
of taxes — an effective rate of 7.6
percent, third highest in the far West.
Budget gap: Faced this year
with a $1.6 billion gap between
revenue and expenses, legislators
are struggling to find enough money
for all the state’s priorities, including
more for schools. A majority of the
public may say they support targeted
cuts coupled with some tax fix, but
the devil is very much in the details.
The Tax Foundation on Monday
released its latest analysis of
fiscal burdens in the 50 states and
Washington, D.C. It found Oregon
ranks 10th in state and local tax
burden as a percentage of state
income. It has the sixth-highest
individual income tax collections
per person in the country, $1,814
compared to the U.S. average of
$967. On the other hand, it is smack
in the middle in terms of state and
local property taxes — 25th, with
average collections of $1,350, less
than the national average of $1,462.
It’s worth adding that the Tax
Foundation gives Oregon good marks
for its current business tax climate,
rating it 10th best in the country.
So it’s fair to say Oregonians
aren’t undertaxed, an understanding
reflected in the continuing strong
rejection of a general sales tax, even
if it went to education, according to
the poll. But it’s also fair to observe
that a state’s citizens get what they
pay for.
Difficult choices: Most
Oregonians want to protect and
enhance public education, but
will have to recognize that doing
so will force undesirable cuts
elsewhere. Elected leaders and
state agencies have to embrace the
same conclusion, that it is time
to zealously root out wasteful
spending, while circling the wagons
around schools and a few other
paramount priorities.
On the tax front, the new polling
suggests considerable support for
dedicating 2 percent of income tax
kicker funds to K-12 education —
particularly a rainy day fund to see
schools past budget crises like the
one they currently face. Beyond this,
a business tax hike with strict links to
education might just stand a chance.
Voters feel they have been burned
too many times. State leaders must
commit to governing in accordance
with the wise words of that favorite
primary school role model, Dr.
Seuss’ Horton: “I meant what I
said and I said what I meant. An
elephant’s faithful one hundred
percent.” Promise only what you can
reasonably achieve, tax only enough
to achieve it, and then rigorously
keep your promises.
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 the Irish invaded Canada
W
e let these people into our
fought over that original sin, and the
country, and what did we get
hundred years of struggle afterward to
but an epidemic of cholera
grant full citizenship to the formerly
and criminals. They filled the jails and
enslaved, is the process — that upward
mental hospitals, the orphanages and
arc that Martin Luther King Jr. spoke
poor houses. More than half of those
about.
arrested in New York City, just before
Count me as a proud Celt, and a
the Civil War, were Irish.
Europhile, a lover of everything from
“Scratch a convict or a pauper, and
Timothy tiny French villages to the Gothic vast-
the chances are you tickle the skin of an
ness of a thousand-year-old cathedral to
Egan
Irish Catholic,” The Chicago Post wrote
the ruins of Greek theaters on Sicilian
Comment
in the 1850s. The Irish gangs of New
slopes. Of course, that same Europe
York — the Forty Thieves,
gave us religious wars that
the Roach Guards, the Plug
killed 3 million in the 16th
century, and up to 8 million in
Uglies — terrorized a big part
the 17th. And what savagery
of the city.
from any other civilization
These immigrants even
can match the Holocaust, the
had the gall to raise their own
slaughter of 6 million Jews by
army and invade a neigh-
the blue-eyed and the blond?
boring territory. On the first
The Irish were once hailed
day of June 1866, a thousand
for saving civilization, after
armed Irishmen crossed into
monks and scribes maintained
Canada, intending to hold
the rich record of Greek, Latin and Christian
key locations hostage until England loosened
writers that was being destroyed elsewhere in
its iron grip on the little island nation across the
Europe. By the time they’d clustered, poor and
Atlantic.
unwanted on American shores, a prominent
As of this moment, an estimated 50,000
undocumented Irish are living in the shadows of writer, George C. Foster, said their New York
community was “the very rotting skeleton of
our country. Will Donald Trump’s deportation
city civilization.”
police eventually get around to them?
The Mexicans and refugees from Muslim
On this St. Patrick’s Day, at a time when
countries targeted by Trump commit fewer
too many Americans want to close the door to
crimes than Americans born here, and certainly
the wretched and rejected, a time when some
fewer as a percentage than the immigrant Irish
politicians and pundits with Irish surnames
did. Imagine what Sean Hannity would say if
suffer from Irish historical amnesia, it’s worth
Mexicans burned down much of New York
recalling a few inconvenient facts.
City, as the Irish did in 1863, in what may have
As any deep dive into Irish-America, the
been the bloodiest riot in American history.
diaspora of nearly 35 million citizens, will
Those four days of carnage, spurred in part
reveal, it wasn’t all blarney and bagpipes for
these exiles. My father’s ancestors fled a famine by the disproportionate number of Irish drafted
to fight in the Civil War, was a spasm of racial
that killed 1 million people and forced another
hatred and mob violence at its worse. Blacks
1.5 million onto disease-ridden ships to live in
were hanged. Pro-Union Irish who tried to stop
squalor in a strange land.
the rioters were pummeled. The New York Times
Could these clannish, strange-sounding,
used a Gatling gun to defend its headquarters.
ragged people ever make America great? Not
This horrid episode was followed, just a few
to some in power today. Steve King, the Iowa
years later, by the Fenian Brotherhood raids
representative whose words are hailed by Klan
into what was known as British North America.
sympathizers and neo-Nazis, was channeling
the ghosts of the anti-Irish Know-Nothing Party Their song was a call to arms:
“And we’ll go and capture Canada,
when he spoke about the Americans who don’t
For we’ve nothing else to do.”
belong.
No ethnic group, and very few religions,
Civilization, he said, was about the right
are immune from violent madness. The Sunni
kind of demographics and culture: “We can’t
versus Shiite savagery in so much of the world
restore our civilization with somebody else’s
today was preceded by all the bloodshed
babies.” Last year, in trying to block Harriet
Tubman’s visage from appearing on the $20 bill, between Protestants and Catholics in Europe.
We raise a glass on the saint’s holiday for that
he said a similar thing. Putting a former slave on
part of civilization saved by the Irish, that part of
American currency, he said, was an attempt to
civilization enriched by the Irish and that part of
“upset this society and this civilization.”
the Irish story that shows a path of redemption
But civilization is not a people. It’s not a
after no small amount of crimes.
race. It’s a process. A refinement from tribal
■
hatreds and primitive fears to common bonds.
Timothy Egan writes about the environ-
Certainly, much of American civilization was
ment, the American West and politics.
built on the backs of human property. The war
No ethnic group,
and very few
religions, are
immune from
violent madness.
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.
YOUR VIEWS
Safety si top need
in school bond
I write to urge you to support
the current $104 million bond
proposal to include replacement of
Rocky Heights and Highland Hills
Elementary Schools along with
expanding Hermiston High School.
The existing schools pose a
unique challenge. The design and
layout of the buildings make it easy
access for intruders and put our
children in harm’s way. Each of the
schools has at least 25 doors and
give intruders access at multiple
points, and unless there’s security
at each door it makes it extremely
difficult to monitor and extremely
dangerous for our loved ones.
How do you keep track of
visitors and/or intruders? While
visitors are supposed to sign in at
the office, how do you keep track of
those that would go directly to one
of the rooms? It’s next to impossible.
Our children, teachers, staff
and administrators deserve to be
in a safe learning environment.
Endangering their lives because of
lack of financial resources is not
something that we should gamble
on. The security issue should not be
left unanswered because we don’t
want to spend on the safety of our
children. As a longtime community
resident I am very concerned for the
safety of our children.
To have new schools built where
perhaps there can a place to be
used for vetting all visitors before
given access to proceed to enter the
school would make it much safer for
all students, faculty and approved
visitors. While there are no absolutes
or guarantees, we should try to
ensure we have done all we can to
significantly reduce risks.
Ultimately, the security issue
exists because we haven’t prioritized
the safety of our loved ones.
Unfortunately, schools are often
overwhelmed with conflicting
priorities such as lack of funds to
provide the right number of teachers
needed or books or curriculum, etc.
However, how do we put a price on
our children’s lives?
Let’s not be reactive in fixing this
problem, let’s be proactive! Let’s
vote yes for the May 2017 School
Bond. Vote yes for kids!
Eddie De La Cruz
Hermiston
Time to comment on
get-out-the-cut plan
The Malheur National Forest
has proposed the Camp Lick timber
sale 10 miles northeast of John
Day in the Upper Camp Creek,
Lower Camp Creek and Lick Creek
subwatersheds that drain into the
Middle Fork John Day River.
Supervisor Steve Beverlin has
announced he will amend two
forest plan standards to allow
more logging. Amendment 1 will
eliminate 700 acres of existing,
dedicated old growth. Amendment
2 will allow removal of old-growth
trees greater than or equal to 21
Inches DBH (see page 44 of the
Camp Lick draft EA).
Maintaining large old-growth
trees is important. This is why the
standards are in his forest plan to
save them. Forest plans should be
amended for good reason. Amending
the plan to get-out-the-cut isn’t
appropriate.
The comment period closes April
8. The EA is posted online and is
available in hard copy by calling
541-575-3100.
Dick Artley
Grangeville, Idaho
Pendleton pot shop OK,
but not there
Citizens of Pendleton, I ask for
your help. I sat in the Pendleton
Planning Commission meeting
Thursday night that was full of
concerned neighbors and watched
an attorney from Portland, Oregon,
make a plea for Mr. Thurman to
open a marijuana shop on Tutuilla
Road where I live. It broke my
heart that it was approved by a few
local people.
I have lived in Pendleton
since 1962 and my children,
grandchildren and now great-
grandchildren attend Pendleton
schools, and I love my community.
We have two new beautiful schools
and now the Tutuilla area has
become one of the fast growing
areas for young parents to have
affordable housing. Our parks
are used daily and children are
everywhere. I have wonderful
neighbors.
I am urging those who will
make the final decision to drive out
here and see the small lot where the
marijuana shop would be operating.
If Pendleton needs four marijuana
shops then so be it; however,
there are many other appropriate
locations. Why should a large bus
stop for small children have to
move and all the middle school
children that attend nearby have
one more temptation at this curious
tender age? We already have a huge
traffic problem to add to this area.
It just doesn’t make sense.
I wish Mr. Thurman success in his
business, however, this is not a good
fit for this location. Please, Pendleton,
let’s come together to make our
community a better place for our
youth and continue our strides in
developing a positive future for them.
I ask for your support.
Jan Leonard
Pendleton