Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Friday, March 31, 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 volunteers who spent a rainy afternoon this week
picking up other people’s trash.
It’s no secret that Umatilla County has its share of illegal dump sites.
The area on Theater Lane in Hermiston
had become enough of an eyesore that the
Kiwanis Club decided to do something
about it. A dozen volunteers took a
few hours to toss refuse into a donated
dumpster.
There are surely many reasons people
have for throwing their soiled mattresses,
broken televisions, blown out tires and
rolls of carpet into empty lots on the edge
of town, but none are good.
We don’t suspect a kick in the pants to the inconsiderate litterers would
carry much weight. If you don’t have the decency to take care of your own
garbage, a chiding from the newspaper probably isn’t going to change your
mind. But if cost is truly the barrier, we’d suggest hauling your trash next
week to Hermiston Sanitary Disposal Station on North Highway 395. Most
items can be left there for free during the first week in April as part of Spring
Cleanup Week, and the city is also sponsoring a recycling event in the
Umatilla Electric Cooperative parking lot on April 8.
A tip of the hat to Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley for their support
of the Essential Air Service subsidy, which is a major factor in keeping
commercial flights at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport.
As we reported earlier this month, President Donald Trump’s budget
blueprint calls specifically for the end of
the EAS program. The cut would be $2.3
million, and would likely end regular
service to Pendleton.
Some argue that the federal government
should not be in the business of propping
up untenable services. If the market could
bear air service to Pendleton, a business
would come along to provide it.
We would argue that is exactly
the federal budget’s purpose, though
admittedly it must be wise about where it spends the dollars. As John Oliver
pointed out on his HBO show “Last Week Tonight,” cutting the subsidy
would literally turn much of the rural United States into flyover country,
Pendleton included.
If the goal is to add economic life to rural communities, cutting this mode
of transportation is the wrong step. We hope to see Rep. Greg Walden take a
stand for essential air service.
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.
YOUR VIEWS
Yes for 21st century
Fire Station 1
A lot has changed since 1959. We’ve
sent men (and women) into space and
even landed someone on the moon.
Something called the Internet was
invented. We fought one of our longest
wars to date in Vietnam. We elected
a black president. The only thing that
hasn’t really changed in all that time is
Pendleton’s Fire Station 1.
I was recently reminded that after all
those years, the roof still leaks. Oh, and
we now have women firefighters and
paramedics to house. A lot has indeed
changed since 1959. It is time we moved
our firefighters into the 21st century. It’s
a little bit embarrassing and ironic that
Fire Station 1, built in 1959, does not
meet current fire and building codes.
As our Pendleton homes get older
and older (mine was built in 1930), I
for one would like to know that my fire
department has the latest training, the
newest equipment, and a quick response
time to save my home should it catch
fire. Additionally, by upgrading our fire
station, we’ll be showing people and
businesses considering moving here that
we are a committed community — for
bucket brigades are what originally
brought neighbors together — to ensure
their investments in their homes were
protected. This eventually lead to fire
insurance as we know it today.
This bond measure is an investment
in Pendleton and our future — it
brings us into the 21st century with our
firefighting capabilities and creates a
beautiful new and efficient building
on an empty piece of land at a very
reasonable cost.
Join me in voting YES to replace Fire
Station 1.
Dave Fiore
Pendleton
School bond gives best
bang for buck
Is there wisdom in the Hermiston
school bond that would tear down
Highland Hills and build a new one?
The bond would replace Rocky
Heights Elementary, fix infrastructure
problems at Sandstone Middle School,
add onto the high school, and replace
Highland Hills Elementary. I recognize
that Rocky is a relic and needs replacing,
Sandstone has major structural and
safety concerns, and the high school
is bursting at the seams. But why
replace Highland Hills when most of us
remember when it was built?
Because tearing it down and building
an entirely new building is the finan-
cially prudent decision over the long-
term. It gives us more bang for our buck.
The building is structurally unsound,
regular maintenance costs are high, the
design is not safe for the children or
staff, and the capacity is smaller than
every other grade school.
Tearing it down and building a new,
higher-capacity school with better,
longer-lasting materials is the prudent
choice and will save our community far
more dollars than continually patching
up the current building. Join me in
voting yes for the Hermiston school
bond.
Sally Anderson Hansell
Hermiston
Promises coming up
hollow for Trump
My gosh! I haven’t been able to stop
laughing long enough to write this letter
pertaining to Trump’s colossal health
care debacle. The Art of the Deal? More
like the Art of the Scam. It’s taken
Trump 70 days to sink to a Gallup poll
low of 35 percent approval rating. The
next shortest streak? Harry Truman at
564 days.
His only ability? To scrawl on
executive orders he’s no doubt not even
perused and then hold them up to the
camera like a proud toddler showing
a crayon drawing to his kindergarten
teacher. His empty promise to the
coal industry, not even knowing that
the market demand is what drove the
industry down in the first place. His
promise to use American steel to build
the Keystone pipeline when in fact it
will come from overseas. The list of
falsehoods and outright lies is almost
endless.
Jeb Bush was correct when he stated
during the campaign that Trump is a
chaos candidate and would be a chaos
president. I predict that in six months it
will be easier to find Bigfoot than it will
be to find someone who will admit to
having voted for this monstrous clown.
Can we now all see that you can’t run a
government like a business? Be careful
not to sprain an ankle or blow out a knee
jumping off of this clown car.
Dave Gracia
Hermiston
Devin Nunes is dangerous
R
his own agency’s investigation into
ep. Devin Nunes obviously
fancies himself Jason Bourne.
Trump-Russia ties, Nunes changed the
To sneak onto the White
subject to the media’s acquisition of
House grounds for that rendezvous
classified information, going on about
with an unnamed source last week,
leaks, leaks, leaks. He sounded more
he switched cars and ditched aides,
like a plumber than a politician.
vanishing into the night.
And when Nunes gathered reporters
But Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.,
around him two days later, it was to
looks at him and sees a different
say that he’d seen secret documents
Frank
character. Graham said on the “Today”
suggesting that people around Trump
Bruni
show on Tuesday that Nunes was
may indeed have been subject to
Comment
bumbling his way though something of
surveillance by our government.
an “Inspector Clouseau investigation,”
This was Nunes at his most
a reference to the fantastically inept
irresponsible. To the casual listener, he was
protagonist of the “Pink Panther” comedies.
insinuating that Trump’s wiretapping charges
I salute Graham’s movie vocabulary. I
weren’t so very far from the mark. But they
quibble with his metaphor. While Clouseau
were, and Nunes had to acknowledge that as
was a benign fool, there’s nothing benign
he clarified his remarks. He was talking about
about Nunes’ foolishness.
the surveillance of Americans who happened
As chairman of the House Intelligence
to be in contact with foreign players whose
Committee, Nunes, R-Calif., is a principal
communications were the real subjects of
sleuth in the paramount inquiry into whether
concern. He had no evidence — zilch — of
members of the Trump campaign colluded
any eavesdropping that targeted Trump.
with Russia, and from all appearances, he
This week we learned that Nunes got that
either doesn’t want to know the answer or has
information during that rendezvous, details
determined it already — in President Donald
of which he has not provided to his fellow
Trump’s favor.
committee members, just as he failed to share
Democrats are rightly calling on him to
the information itself with Democrats on the
recuse himself. They’ve been joined in their
committee before he went public with it.
alarm by Graham and Sen. John McCain,
All of this is irregular enough to peg him
R-Ariz. As Graham summoned the specter
as a puppet of the Trump administration or a
of Clouseau, McCain said on “CBS This
complete boob. Either way, he has surrendered
Morning” that “something’s got to change.”
his investigation’s integrity — and his own.
“Otherwise,” he continued, “the whole
A Republican insider who once worked
effort in the House of Representatives will
closely with him described him to me as an
lose credibility.”
“overeager goofball” who can’t see “the line
But Nunes was defiant when asked by
between ingratiating and stupid.” The insider
reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday whether
said that Nunes crossed that line with John
he would continue to guide that effort, saying, Boehner, the former House speaker, who
“Why would I not?”
gave him the committee chairmanship but
Oh, many reasons.
grew weary of Nunes’ indiscriminate pep and
Let’s start here: The Intelligence
constant bumming of his cigarettes.
Committee isn’t supposed to be a partisan arm
Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary,
of the majority party (though it has behaved
complained to reporters Tuesday afternoon that
that way in the past). And any collusion with
“if the president puts Russian salad dressing
the White House is a betrayal of its special
on his salad tonight, somehow that’s a Russian
oversight role.
connection.”
But Nunes is so deep in the tank for Trump
Spicer is right that we’re obsessed
that he needs scuba gear. With his words and
with Russia, wrong that it’s as random as
deeds, he has labored mightily to redirect
condiments. We’re obsessed because every
attention from Trump’s alleged wrongdoing to signal from the administration and its allies is
his claims of persecution, recasting villain as
that they don’t want us looking any further or
victim. It’s Trump’s gratitude that he’s after,
any closer, and Nunes’ Bourne identity is the
not the truth.
most glaring signal of all.
When politicians on both sides of the aisle
If Trump and his associates have nothing to
upbraided Trump for his baseless accusations
hide, why all the cloak and dagger? And why
about the wiretapping of Trump Tower, Nunes such clumsiness?
swooped in to say, “I don’t think we should
■
attack the president for tweeting.” But Twitter
Frank Bruni, an Op-Ed columnist for The
was hardly the issue. The president’s paranoid New York Times since June 2011, joined the
hallucinations were.
newspaper in 1995 and has ranged broadly
When James Comey, the FBI director,
across its pages. He has been both a White House
appeared before Nunes’ committee to confirm correspondent and the chief restaurant critic.
Bottle bill ready to be tossed out
The Bend Bulletin, March 25
O
regon’s famed bottle bill has seen the
percentage of containers redeemed
decline for several years, and now
lawmakers should consider ending it
altogether.
That’s a better option than what could
happen: The deposit on returnable bottles
will double April 1, and beginning next year
a slew of new bottles will require deposits as
well, without a substantial change in consumer
behavior.
The deposit increase, to 10 cents per bottle
from the current 5 cents, is a sure thing. A 2011
law requires the increase if bottle redemptions
fall below 80 percent for at least two years, and
the state has been below that mark since 2014.
In 2015, for example, only about 64.5 percent
of returnable bottles were redeemed. Some
other percentage was recycled, however.
Meanwhile, starting January 1, Oregonians
will have to pay deposits not only on beer,
soda and water bottles, but on everything from
orange juice to kombucha and coconut water. A
measure in the Oregon Legislature, House Bill
3349, would delay expanding the bottle bill’s
reach until there are enough redemption centers
to handle all the returnables that come in.
Today there are only 21 redemption centers
in the state, with just three in Southern Oregon
and four east of the Cascades, according to the
Oregon Bottle Drop website.
The price increase may persuade some
to be more conscientious about redeeming
bottles, but there’s no guarantee of that. The
process for many Oregonians is both messy
and smelly, and putting cans and glass into
curbside recycling bins feels like a reasonable
alternative. Grocery stores hate having to
deal with frequently dirty, smelly returnables,
which must be stored until they’re picked
up by distributors. And, as the redemption
center program lags, grocers are stuck with a
redemption business they’d rather not have.
With curbside recycling available to the
vast majority — about 80 percent — of
Oregonians, it makes little sense to keep
the bottle bill alive. DEQ officials argue
redeemed bottles are easier to deal with: They
need not be separated from other recyclables,
including paper and some plastics that
are routinely part of what’s in curbside
co-mingled recycle bins. But what’s easy
for those who send Oregon’s returnables on
for further use is not necessarily easier for
consumers, and in the end, that’s what counts.
Without consumer buy-in, even a 10-cent
deposit will accomplish little. Better to rely
on recycling and let the bottle bill go.
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.