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OPINION
East Oregonian
Tuesday, May 23, 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
‘Buying the farm’
takes new meaning
There’s more to an agricultural
pool of grazing land shrink, but
land sale than a willing buyer and a
nearby towns have seen the number
willing seller.
of visitors increase.
A farm or ranch changing hands
Overall, the biggest impact is
can impact neighbors and the local
when land is taken out of production.
economy almost as much as the
Because agricultural land is more
parties directly involved.
than real estate, buyers and sellers
That’s why when ag land goes up
need to take the local economy into
for sale it’s a big deal — far more
account.
important than just
For example,
dollars and cents.
taking
vast swaths
Because agricultural of ranchland
Last week, EO
out
land is more than of production will
Media Group reporter
other ranchers
Eric Mortenson took
real estate, buyers impact
and their ability to
a look at the sale
and sellers need to graze livestock. If
of agricultural land
livestock is no longer
across Oregon. What
take the local
raised, that will
he found was the price
economy into
impact the economy.
of exclusive farm use
Equipment will no
land — a designation
account.
long be bought or
used by the state to
serviced in nearby
identify the best ag
towns. Seed and fertilizer dealers will
land — has skyrocketed in recent
see the number of customers shrink.
years as it changed hands. Some
Cattle will no longer go to market,
remained orchards, vineyards, farms
impacting livestock auctions.
or ranchland, but other tracts were
Considering that the average age
taken out of production for a variety
of farmers across the West is about
of purposes including conservation,
60, what happens when agricultural
recreation and even a state park.
land changes hands takes on added
In each case, the sale can have a
importance.
profound impact. Some examples:
Whether land stays in the family
• Neighboring farmers and
or is sold to absentee landowners,
ranchers see the price of expansion
how it is used profoundly impacts the
increasing, potentially beyond
region.
their means. At the same time, the
Overall, the best case scenario is
comparable value of their land
the land will remain in agriculture,
continues to grow, impacting their
supporting ranchers, farmers and the
finances.
economy.
• The area where the state
Whether, or how, that can be
purchased ranchland for conversion
mandated will remain a continuing
to a state park has seen mixed
debate across the West.
impacts. Neighbors have seen the
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.
Culture Corner
A
slave once lived in Umatilla,
and not that long ago. Her name
was Lola. She was a “gift” to the
mother of Alex Tizon, the late Pulitzer
Prize-winning journalist and professor
at the University of Oregon School of
Journalism and
Communication.
to present day. It is clear in reading
that Tizon struggled with the conflict
after his family came to the United
States, where they moved a number
of times and lived for at least a
short period in
Umatilla.
Readers
Tizon died
may
also find
March 23. His
themselves
final article
wrestling with
— selected as
their conscience,
the June cover
alternating
story for The
between curious,
Atlantic — tells
sad, furious
the story of Lola,
and, perhaps,
a Filipino woman
empathetic.
who was taken in
Already, “My
by Tizon’s family
Family’s Slave”
to cook, clean
has garnered
and take care of
strong reaction
the children. She
on social media.
was not paid,
Some have
berated for poor
condemned Tizon
work and not
and his family
allowed to return
home after her
The cover of The Atlantic, May 2017 as monsters,
while others are
own parents died.
defending the
In the words
author
and
encouraging
a deeper
of Tizon, “No other word but slave
understanding of Filipino culture.
encompassed the life she lived.”
Issues of The Atlantic are
Tizon describes how Lola was
available
on newsstands, or the
brought home by his grandfather as
article
can
be read online at www.
an utusan, or “helper,” and details
theatlantic.com.
the history of Spanish slavery in
— Reporter George Plaven
the Philippines that has persisted
OTHER VIEWS
Unfreeing American workers
merican conservatives
any other manufacturing firm, or in
love to talk about freedom.
any occupation that makes use of her
Milton Friedman’s famous
engineering skills.
pro-capitalist book and TV series
At this point, in other words,
were titled “Free to Choose.” And the
noncompete clauses are in many cases
hard-liners in the House pushing for a
less about protecting trade secrets than
complete dismantling of Obamacare
they are about tying workers to their
call themselves the Freedom Caucus.
current employers, unable to bargain
Well, why not? After all, America
for better wages or quit to take better
Paul
is an open society, in which everyone
Krugman jobs.
is free to make his or her own choices
This shouldn’t be happening
Comment
about where to work and how to live.
in America, and to be fair some
Everyone, that is, except the 30
politicians in both parties have
million workers now covered by noncompete
been speaking up about the need for
agreements, who may find themselves all but
change (although few expect the Trump
unemployable if they quit their current jobs;
administration to follow up on the Obama
the 52 million Americans with pre-existing
administration’s reform push). But there’s
conditions who will be effectively unable to
another aspect of declining worker freedom
buy individual health insurance, and hence
that is very much a partisan issue: health care.
stuck with their current employers, if the
Until 2014, there was basically only one
Freedom Caucus gets its way; and the millions way Americans under 65 with pre-existing
of Americans burdened down by heavy
conditions could get health insurance: by
student and other debt.
finding an employer willing to offer coverage.
The reality is that Americans, especially
Some employers were in fact willing to do
American workers, don’t feel all that free.
so. Why? Because there were major tax
The Gallup World Survey asks residents of
advantages — premiums aren’t counted as
many countries whether they feel that they
taxable income — but to get those advantages
have “freedom to make life choices”; the U.S. employer plans must offer the same coverage
doesn’t come out looking too good, especially to every employee, regardless of medical
compared with the high freedom grades of
history.
European nations with strong social safety
But what if you wanted to change jobs, or
nets.
start your own business? Too bad: you were
And you can make a strong case that we’re basically stuck (and I knew quite a few people
getting less free as time goes by.
in that position).
Let’s talk first about those noncompete
Then Obamacare went into effect,
agreements, which were recently the subject
guaranteeing affordable care even to those
of a stunning article in The New York Times
with pre-existing medical conditions. This was
(the latest in a series), plus a report from the
a hugely liberating change for millions. Even
Obama administration pushing for limits to
if you didn’t immediately take advantage of
the practice.
the new program to strike out on your own,
Noncompete agreements were originally
the fact was that now you could.
supposed to be about protecting trade secrets,
But maybe not for much longer.
and therefore helping to promote innovation
Trumpcare — the American Health Care
and investment in job training. Suppose that a
Act — would drastically reduce protections
company trying to build a better mousetrap hires for Americans with pre-existing conditions.
a new mousetrap engineer. Her employment
And even if that bill never becomes law, the
contract might very well include a clause
Trump administration is effectively sabotaging
preventing her from leaving a few months later
individual insurance markets, so that in many
for a job with a rival pest-control firm, since she cases Americans who lose employer coverage
could be taking crucial in-house information
will have no place to turn — which will in
with her. And that’s perfectly reasonable.
turn tie those who do have such coverage to
At this point, however, almost one in
their current employers.
five American employees is subject to some
You might say, with only a bit of hyperbole,
kind of noncompete clause. There can’t be
that workers in America, supposedly the land
that many workers in possession of valuable
of the free, are actually creeping along the
trade secrets, especially when many of these
road to serfdom, yoked to corporate employers
workers are in relatively low-paying jobs. For
the way Russian peasants were once tied to
example, one prominent case involved Jimmy their masters’ land. And the people pushing
John’s, a sandwich chain, basically trying to
them down that road are the very people who
ban its former franchisees from working for
cry “freedom” the loudest.
other sandwich makers.
■
Furthermore, the terms of the clauses are
Paul Krugman joined The New York Times
often defined ridiculously widely. It’s as if
in 1999 as a columnist on the Op-Ed Page
our hypothetical mousetrap engineer were
and continues as professor of Economics and
prohibited from seeking employment with
International Affairs at Princeton University.
A
YOUR VIEWS
Controlling invasive animals
best way to maintain balance
Many biological studies have been done
showing how invasive species affect the
natural species of an area. In Wyoming the
mountain goats are gaining in population and
the bighorns are declining in population. I
believe that we as humans should take some
measures to try and prevent the natural species
from being wiped out.
Some of the reasons that these animals are
moving together are weather-related and just
a lack of land. Both of these are consequences
of human activity, and we need to take
responsibility for this and try to keep these
species from interacting. As the article said,
the mountain goats carry pathogens that can
kill the bighorns. We should try and keep the
mountain goat population under control so the
bighorns don’t go extinct.
We also should not introduce any species
that are not indigenous to an area. For
example, the wolves that were released in
Yellowstone National Park and have spread
throughout most of the Northwest are not
the native species of wolf and are causing
a ton of damage. They are not being held
in check and are diminishing deer and elk
populations. They are also killing livestock
and costing many farmers money and
hurting their lifestyle.
We need to take action and start controlling
the species that we force to move and the
species that we introduce into an area.
Hunter Sater
Athena
Hermiston School District
must go back to basics
The recent Hermiston school bond issue
reminds me of a professor I had in college. He
was very smart but had no common sense. This
is why I think the school board needs to change
their thinking — you can’t keep building large
campuses like schools with high maintenance.
Hermiston is a small city, not a college-like
atmosphere. You can not expect the taxpayers
to keep funneling money for huge school
projects. I suggest you stop looking for the
moon and get down to basics. You can start
with the fact that a lot of us were educated
in buildings three or four stories high with
reasonably sized playgrounds. And the fact
that we had to climb stairs didn’t seem to
bother us; perhaps it was good exercise.
My suggestion is to learn to live within
your means and use some common sense
when planning for the future.
Jim Tiede
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 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.