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OPINION
East Oregonian
Wednesday, May 10, 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
Pendleton
schools at
a precipice
OTHER VIEWS
enrollment is multifaceted, and not
A decade ago, the graduating
solely the fault of the district. A lack
classes of Pendleton and Hermiston
of opportunities and leadership has
high schools were nearly equal in
hampered the city of Pendleton for
size. But this June, when the Class
much longer than a decade. A lack
of 2017 earns their diplomas, twice
of jobs and housing, combined with
as many hats will be thrown in the
a culture resistant to change, are the
air in Hermiston compared to their
main culprits.
neighbors down the road.
Hermiston High will graduate
But the school district has lost
students to online offerings, and
more than 400 while Pendleton
others who live in
High just half that,
the district choosing
according to our
Hermiston
to attend Helix or
East Oregonian
elsewhere, parents
graduation section.
will
graduate
who chose instead
Those numbers
more than 400
to homeschool,
speak volumes
about the growth
students this year, others who have
dropped out.
and health of both
Pendleton half that. simply
Increasing the
communities.
number of students
Hermiston’s
A decade ago,
the district was on
school enrollment
the schools were in
the mind of school
has soared while
board members
Pendleton is on a
almost even.
and the public
precipitous decline
as they peppered
— down more than
30 graduates from last year alone.
superintendent candidates last week.
The winner of that four-man derby,
Declining enrollment is a danger
Chris Fritsch, will have to deal with
for every aspect of community life,
enrollment issues right away.
from businesses to public safety
to housing prices. But the effect is
That means talking about
felt most immediately within the
development in Pendleton. Schools
have largely been sidelined from this
Pendleton School District itself.
conversation, but they cannot afford
Taxpayers forked over big bucks
to be sidelined any longer.
just two years ago to build three
Creating a more stable district
new schools, but a reduction in
requires a stable, but preferably
state funding combined with fewer
increasing number of pupils.
students may soon mean those new
Achieving that will take a stronger
buildings will not be adequately
partnership with city government
staffed. The district will lay off 10
and development organizations, an
when it’s clear that more employees,
improved classroom product, more
not fewer, are needed to turn around
the decline. Other important jobs will state funding and more programs
likely go unfilled after people leave or that keep reduce dropouts. It should
be among the new superintendent’s
retire.
highest priorities.
The reasons for the decline in
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.
Letters regarding the May election will not be published in print after
Saturday’s newspaper. To give your letter the best opportunity to be
published, please email editor@eastoregonian.com by noon Thursday.
A French lesson for
the American media
T
he hacked emails from
about the candidates. The answers
Emmanuel Macron’s French
about Donald Trump were all over the
campaign appear to be
place: immigration, his speeches and
spectacularly mundane, according
his criticism of Barack Obama, among
to people who have read them. They
other things. When people described
include briefings on issues, personal
what they were hearing about Clinton,
exchanges and discussions of the
by contrast, one subject towered over
weather. No doubt they also include
every other: email.
some embarrassing thoughts, but so far
That’s a pretty harsh indictment of
David
they are notably lacking in scandal.
Leonhardt the coverage (and Gallup’s research
Does this description remind you of
was done well before James Comey
Comment
anything?
wrote his infamous letter). It is a sign
Ah, yes. Last year, Russian agents
that Clinton’s private server and the
stole thousands of emails from Hillary
hacked emails crowded out everything else,
Clinton’s campaign and published them via
including her plans for reducing inequality,
WikiLeaks. The dominant feature of the
addressing climate change and conducting
emails was their ordinariness.
a more hawkish foreign policy than Obama.
They contained no evidence of
It’s a sign that the media failed to distinguish
lawbreaking, major hypocrisy or tawdry
a subject that sounded important — secret
scandal. Even the worst revelation — a
emails! — from subjects that were in reality
Democratic official and CNN contributor
more important.
fed a town hall question to the campaign in
Last weekend, France’s mainstream media
advance — qualified as small beer. Ronald
showed how to exercise better judgment.
Reagan’s 1980 campaign engaged in much
Late Friday, two days before the election,
more consequential debate skulduggery.
hackers released the Macron campaign emails.
The Clinton emails were instead full of staff
French media laws are stricter than American
members jockeying for position, agonizing
laws, and government officials argued against
over strategy, complaining about their bosses
publication of the hacked information. But
and offering advice to those same bosses.
only the campaigns themselves were legally
Imagine for a moment that your inbox,
barred from making statements during the
or your boss’, was released to the world.
final weekend. Publications could have
I’ll guess that it would not be free of
reported on the substance of the emails.
embarrassment.
They largely did not. “It was a
Despite the mundane quality of the Clinton manipulation attempt — people trying to
emails, the media covered them as a profound manipulate our voting process,” Gilles van
revelation. The tone often suggested a big
Kote, deputy chief editor of Le Monde, told
investigative scoop. But this was no scoop.
me.
It was material stolen by a hostile foreign
French journalists rightly did not focus
government, posted for all to see, and it was
on what seemed like big news, because the
only occasionally revealing. It deserved some
emails surely did. They evaluated what truly
coverage, but far less.
was major news.
I say this as someone who likes journalism
Material released by a hostile foreign
so much that I’ve never had another full-time
government, with the aim of confusing
job. I also say it with reverence for the many
voters and evidently without significant new
journalists doing good, hard work that,
information, failed to qualify. Van Kote said
as Thomas Jefferson explained, is vital to
reporters are continuing to read the emails to
democracy. With a president who lies all
see if they warrant future stories.
the time, often about the media, journalism
The two cases obviously are not identical.
becomes all the more important. And because
(And van Kote wasn’t criticizing American
it’s so important, those of us practicing it need journalism; the criticisms are mine.) But they
to be open to reflection and criticism.
are similar enough to say that the French
The overhyped coverage of the hacked
media exercised better, more sober judgment
emails was the media’s worst mistake in
than the American media.
2016 — one sure to be repeated if not
This issue isn’t going away. Our digital
properly understood. Television was the
world ensures that the private information of
biggest offender, but print media was hardly
public figures, and not-so-public ones, will be
blameless. The sensationalism exacerbated
released again in the future.
a second problem with the coverage: the
The media cannot always ignore that
obsession with Clinton’s private email server.
information, tempting as it may seem. But
I disagree with people who say that the
it also should not pretend that the only two
server was a nonstory. Clinton violated
options are neglect and sensationalism. There
government policy and was not fully honest.
is a middle ground, one where journalistic
The FBI conducted an investigation, whatever judgment should prioritize news over the
you think of it. All of that adds up to a real
whiff of news.
news story.
■
The question is scale. In the fall, Gallup
David Leonhardt is an op-ed columnist for
asked Americans what they were hearing
The New York Times.
YOUR VIEWS
Pendleton fire station
too big for small town
I grew up in Pendleton but now
live in Boise, Idaho. Boise recently
passed a $17 million fire station
bond that will build three new fire
stations, remodel a fourth and also
build a training facility on 17 acres.
The detailed specifications and
master plan can be found on the
city website.
I found information on
Pendleton’s city website, but there
are no specifications, no details
or drawings of the project. It
would be interesting to get similar
information from Pendleton and
lay them down side to side to
compare what you are getting for
your money.
Boise is a fast-growing
community that has high rise
buildings, warehouses, various
manufacturing facilities, multi-
level residential condominiums
and a wide assortment of diverse
structures that our firefighters need
to have a facility to train for.
Boise also has a population
of about 225,000, so the $17
million dollar bond is at a cost
approximately $76 per person.
Pendleton has a population of
about 16,000, so the $10 million
projection would cost around $625
per man, woman and child.
Again, for our money, we are
getting four new or remodeled
stations and training center. I have
no doubt Pendleton needs to update
their fire facilities, but it appears
you are paying for a Mercedes on a
Ford pickup truck budget.
Kelly Temple
Boise
Pendleton community
supports its own
My husband is a lieutenant/
paramedic at Pendleton Fire and
Ambulance. Our family moved
here just before our first daughter’s
first birthday, over 19 years ago.
We have had the opportunity to
raise our family in the beautiful
area among a community
committed to rolling up their
sleeves and working shoulder to
shoulder to make sure needs within
the community are fulfilled.
It’s really incredible if one looks
at all this community accomplishes
by its members: The Pendleton
Round-Up, Happy Canyon, Cattle
Barons, Farmer’s Market, Doolittle
Raiders Gala, Whiskey Music
Festival, Oktoberfest, Movies in
the Park, free classes at the Arts
Center and library, etc. And just a
few short years ago, we saw how
this community rallied around
repairing and painting an elderly
man’s home.
Now, as a community we are
being asked to rally around a group
of men and women who serve and
protect this community 24/7, our
firefighter/paramedics. Outside
reports and assessments have been
done, showing the fire station is
insufficient for appropriate sleeping
quarters, training capabilities, and
also contains hazardous materials
and carcinogens. When we are
presented with a house too small for
our family or it’s determined that
our home contains toxins such as a
gas leak or black mold that is known
to cause health issues and diseases,
we would do everything within our
power to get our loved ones to a
new home and a safe environment.
The firefighters in our
community chose their profession.
Ask any one of them and they
will tell you how much they love
their job and are grateful for the
opportunity to serve and help
this community on their worst
day. They did not choose and
should not have to be made to live
one-third of their lives in station
that is compromising their health.
On behalf of the men and women
who proudly serve Pendleton, and
their families, I ask that you would
please rally together once again
and vote yes for the fire station
bond.
Kristi Keene
Pendleton
Scientific research
a bipartisan concern
This week in a show of
bipartisan commitment Congress
voted to increase the National
Institutes of Health budget by $2
billion. OHSU is deeply grateful to
our entire Oregon Congressional
delegation for recognizing that
NIH funding allows for lifesaving
scientific discoveries that improve
the health and well-being of all
Oregonians.
OHSU scientists rely heavily
on NIH funding to carry out
life-saving scientific research, and
to make that research available for
the benefit of patients across the
entire state of Oregon. More than
50 percent of OHSU’s patients
come from outside the Portland
metro region and many of these
patients are receiving treatments
and cures that would have not been
possible without NIH funding of
research discoveries that happen
in the lab. NIH funding also helps
OHSU train the next generation of
research scientists, while working
to ensure that scientific discoveries
benefit urban and rural America
equally.
Cuts to NIH would also have
an economic impact to the state of
Oregon. Besides funding university
research, these dollars create jobs
and foster new businesses that spur
economic growth. Simply put, cuts
to NIH would have a ripple effect
across the entire state.
We know that the President’s
budget has proposed cuts to NIH
and we in Oregon are fortunate
to have members of Congress
like Rep. Greg Walden and Sens.
Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden
who stand up for science and the
promise of cures.
Joe Robertson
President, OHSU