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OPINION
East Oregonian
Friday, June 2, 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
Tip of the hat;
kick in the pants
A tip of the hat to Keystone RV Company, Lippert Components, Kirby
Nagelhout Construction, Pendleton Plumbing, Pendleton Electric, Sheeting
Painting and other volunteers who helped remodel a bathroom for a Pendleton
single mother of a disabled daughter.
Courtney Bissinger had been trying to secure state
assistance to repair her broken shower, so she did
not have to bathe her daughter in unsafe conditions.
But Keystone RV said a state contractor denied the
assistance, so it and other businesses and individuals
stepped in to help.
Bissinger’s entire bathroom was redone, and the
door to the tub was expanded 12-inches to make it easier to bathe 4-year-old
Ember. The entire bathroom was expanded by 16 inches as well.
The renovation looks great and works great, so we offer appreciation to local
businesses for helping a person in need.
Bath before
Bath after
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
Westland users have reasons to
oppose central water project
A
s the quiet majority, the Patrons
Our property is located in the middle
of Westland have grave concerns
section of the Westland canal system, so
about the management of
this didn’t make sense; the new water
Westland Irrigation District.
could only be delivered to the main
What might we be concerned about?
canal, where the Teel Irrigation District is
The last time there was a major water
located.
project in 1987, the senior water rights
We are for an affordable exchange
holders’ McKay allotment went from
project from the Columbia that will
3.5 acre feet to 2.3 acre feet and our cost
work in collaboration with CTUIR and
went up, while Teel, the junior water
the Bureau of Reclamation. We are not
rights holders as the Limited Water Users, for more water to benefit a select few
ended up receiving the benefit.
large farmers — the juniors Teel — at
A short history: The detriment to
the expense of Westland via a project of
Westland started when dry land wheat
misconception.
farms from Teel drilled
The patrons voiced
wells. The wells dried
their opinion by electing
We were told
up. Teel tried to get rights
two new directors in
to McKay, and this was
you can buy the the fall of 2016 — the
denied numerous times.
first time ever voting for
water, but we
So Teel came to Westland.
plaintiffs who purchased
Teel got their Umatilla
may not be able the Oregon Hereford
River water delivered with
Ranch in 1976.
to deliver it.
the flood water delivery
Furthermore, why
contracts in 1984.
did the district notify the
A boundary expansion
patrons on August 23,
was proposed by then manager, doubling 2016 “it is likely the district will need to
the site of the district with the same
increase assessments to cover the cost
amount of water, to include Teel inside
of defending the suits” — neglecting
the boundaries, despite a letter from
to mention there is an indemnification
OWRD on January 28, 1986, that citied
clause in the limited water users
serious concerns and violation of state
contracts, holding senior water rights
law. In 1987, Teel became the limited
harmless from cost of all claims, losses,
water users to get access to McKay.
damages, causes of action or suit arising.
Teel took control of the Westland
The will of the people could have
Board. Westland senior rights holders’
reached the same conclusion about the
McKay allotment decreased and
Central Project, potentially voting it
irrigation season shortened after the
down. Why was that opportunity denied,
senior water right holders went from
allowing for blame to be placed on the
flood to sprinkler at their own expense.
lawsuit instead?
(Records are available to verify this
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit will
history.)
always have a clear conscience, reached
With that, the senior water rights
by doing the right thing for the right
holders in Westland need to have a full
reason. Fighting to not allow an irrigation
season of water as we had in the past.
board to take your water to do with it as
Stop the prevention of people from
they please, at their discretion and by the
knowing the facts through destruction of
power of eminent domain — which is
records, as noted in the October 6, 1991,
what the Westland attorneys are arguing.
Oregonian article, “The Umatilla River
The Westland Irrigation District
Blues.” Also, patrons shouldn’t have to
Board has a fiduciary duty to the Patrons
put in a public records request to receive
of Westland with 1903, 1907 and 1961
meeting agendas, draft minutes and board water rights to deliver the water resources
packets prior to meetings.
to which each is entitled. Water delivery
The Central Project was first discussed by priority: first in time, first in right.
with patrons on March 31, 2015. We
■
were excited to have ability to purchase
Dixie Echeverria is one of the
more water. To our disappointment,
plaintiffs in the lawsuit, a small farmer in
though, we were repeatedly told by
the district. She wrote this with support
Westland: You can buy the water, but
with a group called the Patrons of
we may not be able to deliver it to you.
Westland.
OTHER VIEWS
Oh dear, the Trumps
keep multiplying
T
he kids are not alright.
were honoring Ivanka by donating
Let’s see now. Donald
$100 million to a World Bank fund for
Trump’s son-in-law, Jared
women entrepreneurs.
Kushner, is under investigation for
Perhaps you remember a
weird cloak-and-daggerish meetings
presidential debate last fall in which
with the Russians. Ivanka just took a
Trump denounced the Clinton
bunch of money from the Saudis for
Foundation for accepting money from
her favorite charity. Eric and Don Jr.
conservative Arab nations like, um,
are traveling the world to promote
Saudi Arabia. (“You talk about women
Gail
Trump hotels and golf courses while
Collins and women’s rights? So these are
being looked after by the Secret
people who push gays off buildings.
Comment
Service on our dime.
These are people that kill women and
Tiffany is going to law school. If
treat women horribly. And yet you take
only the others were in law school.
their money.”) Ah, well.
Pop question: Who’s your favorite mini-
Jared’s current issue is the mysterious
Trump? I’m sort of attached to Eric, the one
back channel he attempted to set up with the
Russians. Like so very many things involving
who compared waterboarding to a fraternity
this administration, it’s a controversy in which
hazing.
the most positive interpretation is that he had
In theory, Eric and Don Jr. are supposed
no idea what the hell he was doing.
to be totally unconnected to the government,
In December Kushner met with Sergey
running the family business in a manner so
Gorkov, the head of a Russia bank, to talk
separate from the president that they might
about setting up a special communication
easily be working in a totally different
system, apparently so he could talk without
dimension.
U.S. intelligence overhearing.
Hahaha.
It had to be disastrous in some way, since
“I do not talk about the government with
Mike Flynn was involved. Among the possible
him and he does not talk about the business
explanations:
with us. That’s kind of a steadfast pact we
A) The incoming administration had
made, and it’s something we honor,” Eric told
directed a 36-year-old real estate developer
Forbes earlier this year.
Then, Forbes reported, about “two minutes with no government experience to solve the
Syrian crisis while keeping the whole thing
later” Eric volunteered that he’d still be
secret from everybody except Vladimir Putin.
making “profitability reports and stuff like
B) Jared was trying to do a favor for his
that” to the president. He and Dad are, Eric
sister-in-law Lara by setting up a channel to
added, “pretty inseparable.”
Darned tootin’. Besides traveling the world smuggle abused beagles out of Russia.
C) This is something about Russian money
to publicize Trump golf courses and hang
backing Trump businesses.
out with potential investors, Eric and Donald
I am of course going for the beagles. But
Jr. are also working the political side of the
street. The boys recently met with Republican feel free to be cynical.
“We know Kushner’s business operations
leaders to discuss 2018 election plans. (Don
are in constant need of loans and investors. It’s
Jr., by the way, is the one who was recently
off shooting prairie dogs during their breeding highly suspicious,” said Fred Wertheimer of
the good-government group Democracy 21.
season.)
He used to specialize in campaign finance
Eric’s wife, Lara, was at the meeting,
reform, but now Wertheimer lives in a world
too. More relatives! When she’s not talking
where a president’s daughter joins Dad at a
with Republican leaders, Lara is active in
dinner with the Chinese president the very
an animal rights group called the Beagle
same day she receives trademark rights for
Freedom Project. It helps find homes for dogs
selling Ivanka Trump glitz in China.
that were used in scientific studies, which is
And speaking of sleazy contacts with
commendable. On the other hand, one of its
foreign investors, last week Senate Judiciary
leaders spent six years in jail for harassing
Committee chairman Chuck Grassley
research workers.
called for an investigation into “potentially
Her father-in-law isn’t really into pets,
fraudulent statements and misrepresentations”
which is now looking like a good thing.
made by a Chinese company promoting
Given the way he operates, if Trump had, say,
deals that seemed to involve U.S. visas for
a cocker spaniel it would probably now be
financiers who made big investments in a
deputy secretary of agriculture.
luxury condo project in New Jersey.
Lately, the Trump relatives we’ve been
The condos are being developed by
hearing most about are Ivanka, an official
Kushner Cos. and were being marketed by
presidential adviser, and her husband, Jared,
Jared’s sister. Yes! There’s no end to them.
whose portfolio includes modernizing
Stay the course, Tiffany.
government and bringing peace to the Middle
■
East. They recently accompanied the president
Gail Collins joined The New York Times
on his overseas trip — the one that began
in 1995 as a member of the editorial board
in Saudi Arabia with fun festivities and the
and later as an Op-Ed columnist. In 2001 she
glowing orb.
became the first woman ever appointed editor
While the Trumps were there, the Saudis
and the United Arab Emirates announced they of the Times’s editorial page.
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 re-
serves 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.