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OPINION
East Oregonian
Wednesday, April 19, 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
A growing
north county
Change is coming to northern
Umatilla and Morrow counties,
as once dry and dusty scrub-land
abutting the Columbia River is
becoming some of the most valuable
and productive land in the region.
Just last week, Umatilla County
commissioners approved a plan to
build four new data centers on 120
acres of what had been farmland
near Hermiston. Developer Vadata
estimates the complex would add up
to 160 new jobs and millions in tax
revenue.
The Port of Morrow continues to
expand, and is now the major player
in Eastern Oregon development. No
one knows that better than Larry
Lindsay, who was profiled in this
newspaper last week. Lindsay has
had a seat on the Port of Morrow
board for 50 years (50!), and over
those decades watched the dusty
patch of land transform into a
economic powerhouse.
In the last two years, Morrow
County’s total value has doubled,
from $2 billion to $4 billion —
which is largely due to growth at the
port. That kind of growth has the
ability to transform the rural county
and support education and public
safety within its boundaries.
The cherry on the top of this
economic sundae is the Columbia
Development Authority, which
(fingers crossed) may finally become
owners of the former Umatilla
Chemical Depot on Dec. 1.
The U.S. Army, in writing, has
submitted an agreement to transfer
ownership on that date.
It would be a major — if belated
— boon to the area. And thanks to
the development on all sides of the
former depot, commercial interests
are said to be lined up to locate
there. We’ll know soon enough how
serious those offers are, but have no
reason to doubt their veracity.
All of this development is positive
for the area. It brings true family
wage jobs to the area, as well as
tax dollars to city, county and state
coffers. They also help support other
businesses, including restaurants and
hotels, suppliers and retail.
But development brings its own
requirements and responsibilities.
Infrastructure needs are present in
the area already, and for places like
Boardman, a housing crunch has
been a problem for the better part of
a decade.
Big changes can bring big
headaches. Eastern Oregon is
far from having to deal with the
growing pains that the metro areas
are experiencing now — traffic,
housing and cost of living spikes,
cultural upheaval. And we have
some natural assets that places
like Crook County are finding
themselves lacking, including
abundant supplies of energy and
attainable water rights.
But future problems are worth
thinking about early, in order to
avoid them altogether if possible —
especially if current development
begets future development, and
growth along the river continues.
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
Limiting the use of antibiotics
The (Eugene) Register-Guard
T
he tenacity and adaptability of life
guarantees that the world’s arsenal
of antibiotic drugs will be depleted
one day. All that can be done is to reserve
antibiotics for their highest priority uses
— uses that do not include protecting
otherwise healthy livestock and poultry
against diseases caused by unsanitary
conditions. In the absence of federal
action, a bill in the Oregon Legislature to
prohibit such agricultural uses should be
approved.
Antibiotics kill microbes — most
of them, anyway. A few survive, and
the traits that allow them to withstand
the antibiotic onslaught are passed to
succeeding generations. These drug-
resistant microbes kill an estimated
23,000 Americans a year, according
to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
The problem is worsening as
microbial drug resistance strengthens
— public health authorities warn of a
post-antibiotic world in which common
diseases become fatal and minor
infections become deadly.
A post-antibiotic world can’t be
avoided, but it can be delayed — perhaps
until researchers develop new generations
of drugs or an entirely new means of
combatting microbes. The strategy
for delay requires limiting misuse of
antibiotics. Human misuse is common,
as when antibiotics are prescribed
for viral diseases. But 70 percent of
antibiotics used by humans are also used
on livestock and poultry, turning farms
into breeding grounds for drug-resistant
bacteria.
Senate Bill 785 would limit those uses.
Farmers and ranchers would still be able
to use antibiotics to treat sick animals, to
protect against contagion when diseases
are present or to prevent infections after
surgery. But SB 785 would prohibit the
use of antibiotics as a routine substitute
for clean and sanitary conditions. About
100 of Oregon’s largest farm operations
would be required to track their use
of antibiotics and file reports with the
Oregon Department of Agriculture.
The federal government, not the states,
ought to be protecting what remains
of the antibiotic arsenal. The Food and
Drug Administration has been tightening
regulations on agricultural antibiotics
since 1977. New federal rules took effect
this year encouraging pharmaceutical
companies to stop selling medically
important antibiotics as growth-
promoting drugs for farm animals.
The FDA rules do nothing, however,
to discourage or prevent the use
of antibiotics to protect poultry or
livestock from the effects of living in
crowded or unsanitary conditions. The
U.S. Department of Agriculture says
animals’ health could be protected just
as effectively by providing clean pens
and by monitoring diseases. In the wake
of the FDA’s modest new rules, the
U.S. Government Accountability Office
issued a report concluding that more
action is needed — specifically in the
area of overuse of antibiotics for disease
prevention.
In the anti-regulatory climate now
prevailing in Washington, D.C., however,
no further action is expected. Through
SB 785, Oregon would do its part to fill
that gap. California has already passed
similar legislation, and if other states
follow, the path for federal regulators will
be smoother.
In the meantime, many leading
poultry, beef and pork producers are
going antibiotic-free. They’re making
the transition partly because they can
produce their products without the drugs,
and partly because of consumer demand
— including demand from such giants
as McDonalds. Increasingly, the absence
of laws such as SB 785 protects industry
laggards who still find that it’s cheaper
to give animals drugs than to provide
adequate amounts of clean living space.
If humanity were fighting a war, any
soldier who wasted ammunition would be
subject to discipline. The metaphor fits,
because microbial diseases and infections
have killed more people than all wars
combined. Oregon can, and should,
make an important contribution toward
extending the usefulness of the most
effective weapons against those killers.
LETTERS POLICY
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public
issues and public policies Send letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR
97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
OTHER VIEWS
How to leave a mark on people
oe Toscano and I worked at
leave a mark on their students (St.
Incarnation summer camp in
John’s, Morehouse, Wheaton, the
Connecticut a few decades ago.
University of Chicago) have the
Joe went on to become an extremely
courage to be distinct. You can love or
loving father of five and a fireman in
hate such places. But when you meet
Watertown, Massachusetts. Joe was a
a graduate you know it, and when
community-building guy — serving
they meet each other, even decades
his town, organizing events like fishing
hence, they know they have something
derbies for bevies of kids, radiating
important in common.
David
infectious and neighborly joy.
As I was thinking about my list
Brooks of traits, Angela Duckworth of the
Joe collapsed and died while fighting
Comment
a two-alarm fire last month. When
University of Pennsylvania shared
Joe died, the Incarnation community
with me a similar list, titled, “What
reached out with a fierce urgency to support
causes individuals to adopt the identity of
his family and each other. One of our number
their microculture?” She had a lot of my items
served as a eulogist at the funeral. Everybody
but more, such as a shared goal, like winning
started posting old photos of Joe on Facebook.
the Super Bowl or saving the environment;
Somebody posted a picture of
initiation rituals, especially
250 Incarnation alumni at a
those that are difficult; a sacred
reunion, with the caption, “My
guidebook or object passed
Family.”
down from generation to
Some organizations are
generation; distinct jargon and
thick, and some are thin. Some
phrases that are spoken inside
leave a mark on you, and some
the culture but misunderstood
you pass through with scarcely
outside it; a label, like being
a memory. I haven’t worked at
a KIPPster for a KIPP school
Incarnation for 30 years, but it
student; and finally uniforms or
remains one of the four or five
other emblems, such as flags,
thick institutions in my life, and
rings, bracelets or even secret
in so many other lives.
underwear.
Which raises two questions:
Thick institutions have a
What makes an institution
different moral ecology. People
thick? If you were setting out consciously to
tend to like the version of themselves that is
create a thick institution, what features would it called forth by such places. James Davison
include?
Hunter and Ryan Olson of the University of
A thick institution is not one that people
Virginia study thick and thin moral frameworks.
use instrumentally, to get a degree or to earn
They point to the fact that thin organizations
a salary. A thick institution becomes part of a
look to take advantage of people’s strengths and
person’s identity and engages the whole person: treat people as resources to be marshaled. Thick
head, hands, heart and soul. So thick institutions organizations think in terms of virtue and vice.
have a physical location, often cramped, where
They take advantage of people’s desire to do
members meet face to face on a regular basis,
good and arouse their higher longings.
like a dinner table or a packed gym or assembly
In other words, thin institutions tend to see
hall.
themselves horizontally. People are members
Such institutions have a set of collective
for mutual benefit. Thick organizations often
rituals — fasting or reciting or standing in
see themselves on a vertical axis. People are
formation. They have shared tasks, which often members so they can collectively serve the
involve members closely watching one another, same higher good.
the way hockey teammates have to observe
In the former, there’s an ever-present
everybody else on the ice. In such institutions
utilitarian calculus — Is this working for me?
people occasionally sleep overnight in the same Am I getting more out than I’m putting in? —
retreat center or facility, so that everybody can
that creates a distance between people and the
see each other’s real self, before makeup and
organization. In the latter, there’s an intimacy
after dinner.
and identity borne out of common love. Think
Such organizations often tell and retell a
of a bunch of teachers watching a student shine
sacred origin story about themselves. Many
onstage or a bunch of engineers adoring the
experienced a moment when they nearly failed, same elegant solution.
and they celebrate the heroes who pulled them
I never got to see Joey T. fight a fire. But I
from the brink.
watched him run a bunch of the camp reunion
They incorporate music into daily life,
fishing derbies. If you’d asked him, are you
because it is hard not to become bonded with
doing this for the kids or for yourself, I’m not
someone you have sung and danced with.
sure the question would have made sense. In a
They have a common ideal — encapsulated,
thick organization selfishness and selflessness
for example, in the Semper Fi motto for the
marry. It fulfills your purpose to help others
Marines.
have a good day.
It’s also important to have an idiosyncratic
■
local culture. Too many colleges, for example,
David Brooks became a New York Times
feel like one another. But the ones that really
columnist in 2003.
J
Some
organizations
leave a mark
and some you
pass through
with scarcely
a memory.
YOUR VIEWS
Remembering the heroic
Jimmy Doolittle raid
On April 18, 1942, Jimmy Doolittle led
16 B-25 bombers from the U.S.S. Hornet
to attack Japan. The Navy risked two of
four aircraft carriers and 10,000 sailors. The
Japanese six-carrier task force knew the
Americans had sortied to the Western Pacific
and planned to counterattack them.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt insisted
the home islands be attacked after Pearl
Harbor. The audacious venture occurred
because a submariner proposed the idea of
flying Army Air Corps medium bombers from
an aircraft carrier. As one of the first MIT
aeronautical engineering graduates, Doolittle
was just the man to turn that possibility into
reality. He selected the 17th Bombardment
Group flying anti-submarine patrols from
Pendleton because they were experienced in
open ocean navigation.
The aircraft launched 170 miles further
away than planned, because extending the
home islands patrol line was one of Japan’s
intelligence measures. A Navy officer twirled
a flag, listened for the right tone from the
revving engines, and felt for the precise
moment to release them on the pitching
deck. The pilots, who had never flown from
a carrier, saw the ship’s bow reaching into a
gray sky, and then plunging into a dark angry
ocean sending salt spray across the deck.
Every plane lifted off safely from a rising deck
into the stormy sky.
Doolittle considered the raid a failure.
Every plane was lost and 11 of 80 crewmen
were killed or captured. However, the Imperial
Navy suffered a devastating loss of face, and
Americans received a critical boost in morale.
Nolan Nelson
Eugene
Promoting data centers is
irresponsible development
Your April 12 edition featured an article
about the Columbia Development Authority
obtaining ownership of the former Umatilla
Chemical Depot. Director Greg Smith said a
number of industries have shown interest in
the property, which happens to be in a critical
groundwater area.
In fact, Umatilla County contains four
of the seven critical groundwater areas in
Oregon. How do local officials reconcile
their desire for industrial development with
this reality? As the aquifers continue to drop,
why would a rational person encourage more
industry?
Promoting data centers is especially
irresponsible. Their enormous demand for
water competes with the established regional
industry, which is agriculture. They also
have small economic multiplier effects and
house data that may have no value to county
residents.
There’s nothing wrong with economic
development, but two criteria must be
addressed first: resource constraints and
sustainability. Development for development’s
sake is an outdated concept.
Larry Minckler
Tigard