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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 17, 2017)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Saturday, June 17, 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 EO MEDIA GROUP East Oregonian • The Daily Astorian • Capital Press • Hermiston Herald Blue Mountain Eagle • Wallowa County Chieftain • Chinook Observer • Coast River Business Journal Oregon Coast Today • Coast Weekend • Seaside Signal • Cannon Beach Gazette Eastern Oregon Real Estate Guide • Eastern Oregon Marketplace • Coast Marketplace OnlyAg.com • FarmSeller.com • Seaside-Sun.com • NorthwestOpinions.com • DiscoverOurCoast.com OUR VIEW The sighting that shook the world Today’s front page story describes around the fact that the explosion of UFO culture helped prove that one of this newspaper’s claims to humans love to believe in mystery, fame, and surely one of our most indelible impacts on popular culture. that we relish it and build on it, and that we love to debate it and make Without that reporting 70 years ago, the UFO you imagine when art about it and tell stories about it. Think back on 1947. It was much you close your eyes would probably closer to the Wright look pretty different Brothers’ first flight than it does. So too would “Close Arnold’s sighting than to today’s of unmanned Encounters of the wasn’t that far era drones. Third Kind” and Da Vinci “E.T.” and countless removed from had Sure, sketched flying other movies the Wright machines in his and television journal hundreds shows, comics and Brothers — of years prior, but cartoons. human beings had Admit it: Even many still only recently figured though we have no considered out how to take to blueprints or specs of what an alien flight a marvel the sky safely, and very few people had spacecraft looks beyond actually done it. It like, we all likely was still mysterious imagine it saucer- comprehension. and strange and a shaped and gray, marvel beyond the moving horizontally, comprehension of many. fast as can be and just too darn fast Add to that another World War, for our eyes and brains to make which had also taught us about sense of it. Popular culture based much of that description on Kenneth other kinds of marvels — planes that bomb and shoot. It introduced Arnold’s sightings near Mt. Rainier us to weapons so terrible and in 1947. destructive that they too were hard Arnold landed in Pendleton and to comprehend, though they proved told an East Oregonian reporter there was technology out there so about what he saw, the Associated powerful and so complex that nearly Press picked it up and lent it anything was possible. credibility and the immortal phrase It was in this moment of “flying saucer.” Arnold’s sighting technological advancement and helped spur supposed sightings across the Northwest and the world, aviation experimentation that Kenneth Arnold touched down and the idea of unidentifiable in Pendleton and touched off the flying objects hasn’t left the human modern UFO craze. The sky was a imagination since. You can believe Arnold witnessed tinderbox of mystery and hope and fear — and we were all looking something out of this world, or up. We were flying, by god. Which you can believe it was some trick begs the question, was someone else of the eye or secret government flying, too? experiment. But there is no dancing 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 Don’t rag on Oregon’s excellent state flag Your editorial of June 14 “A flag worth celebrating” about the U.S. flag was very good, except for its dig at the state of Oregon flag. I love the Oregon flag. If you cannot see the symbols on the Oregon flag, get a bigger flag. Each symbol has a rich history. Even the Oregon Blue Book does a very poor job of explaining them. Being distinctive on two sides is great. Costing more than other flags is a “so what.” When I was a young lieutenant in Vietnam, I wrote to Governor Tom McCall and asked for an Oregon flag. I received a flag along with a letter from him and a letter from Secretary of State Clay Myers. I still have all three. Rodney Thompson Pendleton OTHER VIEWS Why fathers leave their children M illions of poor children and fathers often retain a traditional and teenagers grow up without idealistic “Leave It to Beaver” view of their biological father, and marriage. They dream of the perfect often when you ask them about it, you soul mate. They know this woman hear a litany of male barbarism. You isn’t it, so they are still looking. hear teens describe how their dad used Buried in the rigors of motherhood, to beat up their mom, how an absent the women, meanwhile, take a very father had five kids with different practical view of what they need women and abandoned them all. in a man: Will this guy provide the David The children’s tales often reinforce Brooks financial stability I need, and if not, the standard image we have of the can I trade up to someone who will? Comment deadbeat dad — the selfish cad who The father begins to perceive the mother as bossy, just another authority spreads his seed and leaves generations figure to be skirted. Run-ins with drugs, the of wreckage in his wake. Yet when you ask absent fathers law and other women begin to make him look themselves, you get a different picture. You even more disreputable in her eyes. meet guys who desperately did not want to By the time the child is 1, half these leave their children, who swear they have couples have split up, and many of the rest tried to be with them, who may will part ways soon after. feel unworthy of fatherhood Suddenly there’s a new guy but who don’t want to be the living in the house, a man who missing dad their own father resents the old one. The father was. redefines his role. He no longer In truth, when fathers aims to be the provider and abandon their own children, caregiver, just the occasional it’s not a momentary decision; “best friend” who can drop by it’s a long, tragic process. A and provide a little love. This is number of researchers have a role he has a shot at fulfilling, tried to understand how father but it destroys parental abandonment happens, most responsibility. importantly Kathryn Edin and Timothy J. He believes in fatherhood and tries it again Nelson, who moved to Philadelphia and with other women, with the same high hopes, Camden, New Jersey, immersed themselves but he’s really only taking care of the child in the neighborhoods there and produced an he happens to be living with at any given amazing account, “Doing the Best I Can.” moment. The rest are abandoned. Pregnancy is rarely planned among the The good news, especially from the populations they studied. Typically the parents Edin-Nelson research, is that the so-called are in a semirelationship that is somewhere deadbeat dads want to succeed as fathers. between a one-night stand and an actual Their goals and values point them in the right boyfriend-girlfriend bond. The couple use direction, but they’re stuck in a formless contraception at the beginning, but when it romantic anarchy. They need help finding the becomes understood they are “together,” they practical bridges to help them get where they stop. They don’t really talk about pregnancy, want to go. but they sort of make it possible. People are rising up to provide that help. When the men learn that their partner In Chicago, the poet Harold Green has been is pregnant, they don’t panic, or lament all championing fatherhood. the freedom they are going to miss. On the Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a vocal leader contrary, three-quarters of the men in Edin and in this cause, had Green recite his poem Nelson’s research were joyous at the news. “Something to Live For” at his inaugural in The men are less likely than the women to 2015, and this Sunday the two of them will be want to end the pregnancy with an abortion. appearing together to honor role model fathers These guys have often had a lot of on the South Side. negativity in their lives. The child is a chance It would be great if society could rally to turn things around and live a disciplined around the six or seven key bridges on the life. The child is a chance to have a respected path to fatherhood. For example, find someone role, to find love and purpose. you love before you have intercourse. Or, The men at this stage are filled with earnest make sure you want to spend years with this resolve. They begin to take the relationship partner before you get off the pill. Or, create a more seriously and commit to the kid during couple’s budget to make sure you can afford infancy. According to the Centers for Disease this. Control and Prevention, black single fathers The stable two-parent family is what we are more involved in their kids’ lives than want. A few economic support programs white single fathers at this stage. and a confident social script could make an The key weakness is not the father’s bond enormous difference in getting us there. to the child; it’s the parents’ bond with each ■ other. They usually went into this without David Brooks became a New York Times much love or sense of commitment. The Op-Ed columnist in 2003. It’s not a momentary decision; it’s a long tragic process. OTHER VIEWS Airbus arrival signals growth at Pendleton test range O n June 10, Senator Ron nearly a half-million dollars and Wyden and A 3 by Airbus the actual amount of revenue will executive Herve Hilaire probably exceed that. cut a ceremonial ribbon to open a This does not include the benefits new hangar at the Eastern Oregon from having flight test teams Regional Airport. from around the world coming to The result is a strong new Pendleton year round, staying for relationship between the world’s weeks and often months, dining, second-largest commercial aircraft shopping, and staying in our hotels. John manufacturer and the airport’s Because of this new source Turner Unmanned Aerial Systems Range. of income, our airport is finally Comment This means an expansion of operating with a profit, after years range operations that could last of running in the red. We will soon for years and comes with significant new be at a point where the test range revenues revenues to help strengthen our local will allow us to start modernizing our economy. airport’s infrastructure and begin paying In spite of this, my conversations with back its debt to the city. several well-informed citizens lead me For example, using state grant dollars, to believe that many of them don’t yet we are in the process of transforming a understand the positive benefits of the recently purchased empty building into transformation that has been taking place a state-of-the-art mission control and at Pendleton’s airport for more than a innovation center with office spaces for year. Pendleton is becoming well known UAS test teams to use. among the manufacturers and testers of All of the airport hangars are rented and UAS (drones) as a place that is easy to Boutique Airlines is booking hundreds of work with, knowledgeable about flight enplanements every month. Boutique even operations, flexible in scheduling, and brought back the rental car business. safety conscious. Keep an eye on our airport and its UAS Consider the growth in revenue over just test range. It is going to be fun to watch the past couple of years. In fiscal year 2015- operations and the corresponding dollars 2016 the UAS test range only generated a grow in the coming years. few thousand dollars. We have contracts ■ for the coming fiscal year of 2017-2018 for John Turner is the mayor of Pendleton. Courtesy photo Senator Ron Wyden, center, helped open the new hangar at the Pendleton UAS range with Pendleton Mayor John Turner, far right, and other dignitaries on June 10. The hangar will be used to test an experimental Airbus drone. LETTER POLICY: The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and policies for publication. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address con- cerns 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 phone num- ber. Send letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
