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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
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MARCY ROSENBERG
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JANNA HEIMGARTNER
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Production Manager
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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.