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OPINION
East Oregonian
Saturday, September 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
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OUR VIEW
The economic
engine that
needs the keys
The most important developable
bureaucracy, has stifled progress.
Now a new deadline approaches:
land in Eastern Oregon — the former
Dec. 1, 2017. Greg Smith, hired
home of the Umatilla Chemical
to direct the CDA, said he and his
Depot — sits just off Interstate 84
board will be there on site for a
and the Columbia River.
ceremonial securing of the deed that
These 17,000-or-so acres had
day, even if the other side doesn’t
been used for decades to stockpile
show.
chemical weapons. But since the
He’s requesting some
closure of the military base in 2012
(and the loss of more than 1,500 jobs congressional muscle to get that
done. U.S. Rep Greg Walden, who
that went along with it) the land has
been promised for private enterprise. stopped by our editorial board
Wednesday, said
Large corporations
he has offered
and major projects
The former
assistance multiple
have drooled over
times throughout
the property, which
Umatilla
last years, and
is not only along
Chemical Depot the
remains dedicated
two interstates and
to helping when he
a river, but also near
lands are the
can. But he says the
the railroad and
best chance for CDA must have all
good labor markets
its internal issues
in Hermiston and
major economic of
settled by Dec. 1
Tri-Cities.
Yet, here we are,
development in as well. No one
a reminder of
more than five years
Eastern Oregon. needs
the Coyote Island
after closure, and
Terminal near
the land remains
Arlington, where
unchanged. It is still
in the hands of the U.S. government, work started before all the Ts had
been crossed — an expensive lesson
despite multiple deadlines and
learned for everyone.
promises for handovers that have
Deadlines are critical. In
come and gone. With each missed
newspapering, we have one every
deadline, some major projects —
night, and the paper goes out the next
with jobs and taxes in tow — have
morning no matter what. Has been
come and gone, too.
that way for more than 140 years
The Columbia Development
here at the East Oregonian.
Authority was put in charge of
Clearly, the future of the
facilitating the handover, and
depot land is a more complicated
shepherding its transition into
arrangement, with lots of different
productive industrial lands. But the
responsibilities in lots of different
CDA still doesn’t have its hands on
hands. And those hands are in D.C.,
the land. They’ve spent much of
in Mission, in Hermiston, in Portland
the last five years working to secure
and the Pentagon, and they’re all
water rights, environmental cleanup
and a no-strings-attached deed. Now, operating with different amounts of
urgency.
after relics of religious significance
But now is the time to break out
to the Confederated Tribes of the
all the clichés: we need all those
Umatilla Indian Reservation were
hands on deck, we need many of
discovered on the site, additional
them making light work, and we
cultural studies are needed.
As the clocks ticks on, those major need all those ducks to line up in
their pretty little rows.
investors remain on the sidelines.
There is little that will bring a
While the CDA works to corral their
more clear, quick economic benefit
own cats, the organization has also
to Eastern Oregon than having these
been working to get a myriad of
lands in local control. This editorial
far-flung government factions (from
board will help as it can, and we
the Pentagon to the EPA) on the
same page. It hasn’t been easy. Little expect everyone else to do their part,
too.
problem after little problem, ground
See you Dec. 1.
even slower by the inefficiencies of
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
Oregon’s prisons shouldn’t
be nursing homes
In Oregon we are holding geriatric
seniors — ages 75 and older — in
our prisons. They are being denied
their earned Social Security benefits,
causing hardships to families. This cost
per family is a minimum of $200 per
month, just to maintain contact.
The access to adequate medical
care is compromised by the
shortage of medical staff and inmate
overcrowding, due to excessive
sentences handed down by prosecutors.
The overwhelming cost to taxpayers
to facilitate the medical needs is
astronomical: $40,000 per inmate
annually.
More and more aging people are
becoming seriously ill and dying in
prison. These prisons are not equipped
to be nursing homes.
There is a zero to 0.1 percent
recidivism rate in these older, first-time
alleged offenders; much lower than that
of the younger population of those there
for the first time.
An immediate first step would be
for legislators to work with parole
boards to give more weight to prison
transformation. The longtime lockup
of those who pose no security risk is
an excusable waste of money, human
potential and loss of life.
Early release of these geriatric
seniors is the sensible and humane way
to relieve the expense, overcrowding
and inadequate medical staffing.
It is unfortunate that financial and
occupational gain is more important
than human life.
Merrie Lee Cummings Engstrom
Portland
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. Send letters to 211 S.E.
Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
OTHER VIEWS
In Rome, a visit with
the Anti-Trump
R
OME — Walking to the Eternal
children, had heretics executed or
City, over stones worn down
chained to a cell in the belly of Castel
by the sandals of centurions,
Sant’Angelo, the fortress that fronts
on a pilgrim’s path nearly forgotten in
Vatican City. The Vicar of Christ
all the layers of Italian time, the mind
cut deals with dictators, including a
focuses as the muscles stiffen.
devil’s bargain with Mussolini. With
The Vatican is 62 miles away,
its institutional cover-up of pedophile
according to a Via Francigena
clerics, the church showed the Mafia
sign, and after another two-dozen
Timothy a thing or two about organized crime.
In matters of sex, it was medieval and
gut-busting hills, past too much litter
Egan
hypocritical. It was afraid of science.
in too many lovely places, now only
Comment
Now the pope uses science to
50 kilometers distant. At last you
shame Trump, who stares down a
come out sweaty and sunburned from
parade of hurricanes and says, nothing to
an urban forest to see a distant St. Peter’s
see there. “Whoever denies it has to go to
Basilica — the Oz of global Christianity.
scientists and ask them,” said Francis last
What awaits is — for now — the moral
week. “They speak very clearly. Scientists
center of the universe, and a very politically
are precise.” Can a statue of
adept pope. The collapse
Galileo in St. Peter’s Square
of honor and principle at a
be far behind?
White House led by a man
On Wednesday, a
with a pebble for a soul
glorious Roman morning
has allowed an enlightened
with a bite of fall in the air,
octogenarian to flourish. As
the pope holds his general
President Donald Trump
audience. The goofy smile
degrades his office by
is electric. He’s buoyant.
insults, lies and threats to
The day before, Trump
world peace and global
spoke to the United Nations,
health, Pope Francis throws
a tweet dressed up as a
ecclesiastical shade his way.
speech. He made a very real
“The more powerful
threat to wipe out a nation
you are,” the pope said
of 25 million people. He
earlier this year, “the more
would, if he has to, “totally
responsible you are to
destroy North Korea.”
act humbly.” Quick, Mr.
This has always been the
President, to the dictionary.
implication of having more nukes than the
Humble, humbly, humility.
other guy. But diplomacy — another word for
The pope waves from a window at his
Trump to look up — is the art of war by other
Sunday appearance. He still projects that
means. Trump pushed America first, which
lightness of being, wearing his soul on his
sounded like “Me, me, me.” He played the
sleeve. At almost the same time, Trump
petulance card, the grievance card.
forwards a tweet of the president of the
As Trump went low, the pope went high.
United States hitting a woman, his political
A few days earlier, Francis was asked about
opponent from last year, in the back with a
a Trump decision that could break up the
golf ball and knocking her down. Some very
families of 800,000 Dreamers in the United
funny stuff, believe me.
States. “If he is a good pro-life believer, he
The pope tells the crowd assembled in
must understand that family is the cradle of
the square to forgive, even if the person you
life and one must defend its unity,” Francis
cannot force yourself to forgive is, say, a
answered.
Trumpian monster, though he doesn’t name
People who are hung up on doctrinal
names. Those who cannot let things go, he
changes — angels-on-the-head-of-a-pin
says, “close our hearts to love for others.”
arguments over whether divorced Catholics
Yeah, well, what does he know? Much
can receive communion or not — are missing
more than Trump has yet to figure out.
the big picture. Behold the Francis doctrine:
One in four American voters is a Roman
an expansion of “pro-life” to include help for
Catholic. And a third of those Catholics are
refugees, the poor, the powerless.
Latino. They’re watching Trump, but they’re
Trump doesn’t get it. His nominee to the
listening to Francis — on climate change,
Vatican is Callista Gingrich, wife of Newt
immigration, refugees, war and peace.
Gingrich. Newt, you must remember, carried
The pope’s approval rating in the United
on a six-year extramarital affair with her
States was at 70 percent in a Pew survey at
while impeaching a president for having an
the start of this year, while Trump has been
affair. Her appointment was something the
at about half that for much of the last few
months. Throughout the world, every country Vatican of old would do — a cynical ploy.
The Vatican of today can marvel at how
but Russia (and to a small degree, Israel)
quickly history pivots on a single person.
has a lesser view of the United States under
■
Trump.
Timothy Egan worked for 18 years as a
For years at a time — make that decades
writer for The New York Times, first as the
— the home of the successor to St. Peter was
Pacific Northwest correspondent, then as a
a house of nasty intrigue, deceit and power
national enterprise reporter.
put to awful use. Popes fathered wars, and
Behold the
Francis doctrine:
An expansion
of “pro-life” to
include help
for refugees,
the poor, the
powerless.
OTHER VIEWS
Lawmakers shouldn’t lose ability to hire relatives
The Bend Bulletin
O
regon allows state lawmakers to
hire their relatives, a practice called
nepotism. The word itself has come
to imply something shady is afoot, although
that’s clearly not always the case.
About a quarter of Oregon lawmakers,
men and women in both chambers and from
both parties, hire parents, children or spouses
as office workers when they’re in Salem,
according to The Oregonian. The relatives
are paid out of the lawmakers’ budgets, as
are unrelated staff members. No one, not the
lawmakers or their family members, will
get rich on what they earn serving the state
of Oregon. Some also hire relatives for their
campaigns.
Nor is the practice particularly rare.
According to the National Conference of State
Legislatures, more than half of the states have
the same restrictions that Oregon does: While
lawmakers may hire relatives to work for
them, there are general ethical guidelines that
must be followed when doing so.
Oregon prides itself on its citizen
Legislature. Sending the men and women who
write our laws back to the communities where
those laws will be enforced puts lawmakers
in touch with their constituents in a way that
would be difficult to duplicate with a full-time
Legislature.
The Oregon reliance on part-time
lawmakers does have its problems.
The vast majority of legislators come from
someplace other than Salem, and because
they’re in the capital only part of the time, they
tend not to have houses or fancy apartments at
their disposal. Theirs can be a lonely existence,
which can be improved by the presence of
a spouse or child in the office. Moreover, as
more than one lawmaker told The Oregonian,
no one understands a legislator’s constituents
and issues as well as a close relative can.
Then there’s this: Scandal as a result of
nepotism has been something of a rarity.
Oregon’s is not a broken system looking for
a cure. Rather, it’s a system that has worked
well for years, and as such, there’s no need to
change it.