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OPINION
East Oregonian
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
OTHER VIEWS
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
Need is clear for
psychiatric hospital
The lack of mental health care
doctors, police officers and the
options in Eastern Oregon comes up rest of us can expect to completely
in nearly every circle.
hand off mental health treatment
Schools and hospitals and police
to organizations like Lifeways.
and prisons and
We all need to be
parents and courts
knowledgeable
and even mental
the signs
Aspen Springs about
health professionals
of psychosis,
would be able depression and
themselves talk
about the burden
and
to treat people addiction
shouldered by
ready to act in the
our communities
best interest of our
in mental
because there aren’t
and friends.
health crises far family
adequate facilities
But having a clear
and funding to treat
to treatment is
better than an path
mental illness in a
fundamental. As is
comprehensive way. emergency room having a place to
The prospect of a
care for people in an
or a jail cell.
16-bed psychiatric
emergency situation.
hospital in
It was promising
Hermiston — called Aspen Springs
to see local health and county
to be operated by Lifeways — has
leaders stand up to support
given us hope that the problem is
Lifeways’ certificate of need for the
being recognized, though we know it new center at a hearing Monday
won’t fill the enormous need.
with the Oregon Health Authority,
and we hope the message is received
Aspen Springs would be able to
at the state level.
treat people in mental health crises
We also hope more help will
far better than an emergency room
come in the form of comprehensive
or jail cell. In turn, it would allow
mental health care programs here in
those agencies to do what they’re
rural Oregon. Aspen Springs is just
supposed to.
In reality, there’s no way teachers, one step in that journey.
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
Free speech for me ... and thee
The (Champaign, Ill.) News-Gazette
T
fit.
oo many people either don’t know
or don’t care about people’s rights
to express themselves as they see
The Urbana police should have
known better.
Because they didn’t,
Bryton Mellott is
$15,000 richer. It’s the
best and easiest money
he’ll ever make.
Mellott’s lawyers did
even better, collecting
$20,000 for work they
did in a legal case that
was impossible to lose.
For those who don’t
recall — or are trying
to forget — Mellott
caused a ruckus on July
4, 2016.
To express his
disgust and disdain for
his country, he posted
on Facebook a picture
of himself burning
the American flag. It
generated an angry response, creating
concerns about both his personal safety
and the safety of fellow employees and
customers at his workplace.
To make a long story short, Urbana
police officers, relying on an inarguably
unconstitutional statute, unlawfully
arrested Mellott and detained him for
five hours on charges of flag burning.
There’s a lesson here, one that
cuts both ways in the incessant battle
between those on the political left and
right.
It’s all about an individual’s right
to freedom of speech under the First
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
People are free to disagree with
Mellott’s viewpoint, particularly the
manner in which he expressed it. But
that’s as far as it goes.
Mellott has and had an absolute
right to symbolically express whatever
viewpoint he wishes by burning the
flag. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld
that expression of free-speech rights in a
1989 decision.
Free speech, particularly on college
campuses, is getting a lot of attention
these days, mostly because many people
not only don’t understand the concept
but sharply disagree with it.
So-called Antifa members, in fact,
think it’s their duty to physically assault
those who express views they do not
share. Faces covered
with masks and
sometimes armed with
clubs, they attack those
they view as fascists in
communities across the
country.
The First
Amendment exists to
protect individuals who
utter unpopular speech,
characterized by some
these days as “hate
speech.”
Those who utter
non-controversial
speech don’t need
protection — it’s
the speech of those
who dissent from the
majority that needs protection.
But that is at odds with the long-held
view of many Americans — free speech
for me, but not for thee.
Everyone is entitled to have their
say. Everyone is not required to listen to
someone having their say, and they’re
certainly free to disagree.
Mellott said he posted the picture of
the burning flag “to address the issue of
violence brought against members of
my queer community and against every
community considered to be ‘other.’”
It was not exactly a well-thought-out
protest against violence. But those who
exercise their free-speech rights — like
those who oppose others’ free-speech
rights — often emphasize blind emotion,
rather than clarity of purpose, in their
demonstrations.
That’s their privilege in this country.
Those who disagree, whatever their
political perspective, need to remember
that and pay the appropriate respect to a
venerated American tradition.
The First
Amendment
exists to protect
individuals who
utter unpopular
speech,
characterized
by some these
days as “hate
speech.”
Trump’s big problem:
He talks too much
P
resident Trump’s speech in
reaction, every so often look across the
Alabama Friday night lasted one
room.”
hour and 23 minutes. A transcript
“I can hold an audience for about
of his remarks runs to just over 12,000
20, 23 minutes,” Reagan told Rollins.
words.
“A half-hour TV show is 23 minutes.”
To say the speech wandered all
“The first five minutes, everybody
over the lot is an understatement. Of
is excited about seeing the president,”
course Trump covered the Alabama
Reagan said. “You sort of cruise in the
Senate race — he was in Huntsville
middle, and you kick at the end with a
Byron
to campaign for candidate Luther
strong close for the last five minutes.”
York
Strange — but he also discussed, in
“Anything beyond that, you
Comment
basically start to lose the audience,”
order: 1) the United Nations; 2) the
recent hurricanes in Texas, Florida and
Reagan concluded. “Twenty minutes is
Puerto Rico; 3) North Korea; 4) the GOP’s
plenty to get your message across.”
failed effort to repeal and replace Obamacare;
On Friday in Huntsville, President Trump
5) the 2016 election; 6) Mitch McConnell;
gave not one, not two, not three, but four
7) John McCain; 8) the beauty of the White
Reagan speeches, in one long, 83-minute
House; 9) wife Melania’s footwear when
stretch.
visiting hurricane victims;
Trump has never been a
10) his own political clout
disciplined speaker. During
and whether supporting
the early months of his
Strange was wise; 11) the
campaign, he would often talk
defense budget; 12) NAFTA
for more than an hour. Back
and other trade deals; 13)
then, he would go on about
Luther Strange’s height (six
his TV show, about his golf
feet nine inches); 14) White
courses, his businesses, his
House chief of staff John
billionaire friends — all sorts
Kelly; 15) drugs brought
of topics.
into the U.S. from Mexico;
It wasn’t at all unusual to
16) the proposed border
see people walking out of
wall; 17) the Border Patrol;
Trump speeches, especially at
18) religious liberty; 19) the
night, after half an hour, and
Second Amendment; 20)
certainly after 45 minutes.
the Electoral College; 21) Hillary Clinton’s
When I asked why they were leaving, most
2016 strategy; 22) the Russia investigation;
explained they had to work the next day.
23) the filibuster; 24) China; 25) the stock
Attending a marathon political rally just took
market; 26) the Veterans Administration; 27)
too much time, even if it was Donald Trump.
his cuts in federal regulation; 28) NASA;
Trump’s logorrhea also increased the
29) immigration; 30) taxes; 31) health care
chance he would go off in some troublesome
premiums; and 32) making America great
direction. As the campaign progressed, his
again.
staff made an effort to get him to deliver
And yes, the president discussed
shorter, pre-written speeches from a
professional football: “Wouldn’t you love to
teleprompter. (That wasn’t easy; reading from
see one of these NFL owners, when somebody a prompter was something Trump specifically
disrespects our flag, to say get that son of a
mocked in many of his speeches.)
bitch off the field right now, he’s fired.” That
The staff had some success. Trump read
aside came between Trump’s discussion of the more of his speeches and improvised less.
Border Patrol and his discussion of religious
He would never stick completely to script
liberty — about 38 minutes into the speech.
— digressions could go on for quite a while
Put aside the merits of what Trump said
— but he got better. His improved campaign
about NFL players refusing to stand for
performance was one of the factors that won
the national anthem — a point on which
him the White House.
a majority of Americans agrees with the
In Alabama, Trump did some serious
president. What is striking is that the football
backsliding. And sure enough, he found a way
remarks, which set off another media/political to make trouble for himself.
firestorm for Trump, are in the simplest sense
What now? It’s impossible to imagine
a result of the president just talking too much.
Trump disciplining himself to a Reaganesque
Ed Rollins, the veteran Republican
20 minutes. But Trump did improve during the
strategist, was a top aide to Ronald Reagan.
campaign. Now, he has regressed to the worst
He saw nearly every speech Reagan gave as
excesses of his early speeches.
president.
Ronald Reagan knew that people want to
“Reagan said to me one day, ‘How long do hear only so much, even from the President
you think I can hold an audience?’” Rollins
of the United States. At some point, Donald
recalled in a conversation Monday.
Trump will realize that hasn’t changed.
When Rollins said he did not know, Reagan
■
explained, “Here’s what I do. I pick someone
Byron York is chief political correspondent
in the audience. I watch them. I watch their
for The Washington Examiner.
Trump’s
logorrhea
increases the
chance he will
go off in some
troublesome
direction.
YOUR VIEWS
Dynes still stinks — residents
should keep up pressure
Luke Dynes’ recent guilty verdict was the
start of the good people of Hermiston fighting
back to finally stop his dirty deeds from
smelling up our town.
We don’t have to accept as a “fact of
life” the rotten vegetable stench that has
unrelentingly invaded our neighborhoods since
2014. It comes directly from wet feed stored
on Mr. Dynes’ operation on Highway 207 and
wafts in with the prevailing southwest breeze.
No one disputes Mr. Dynes’ right to make a
living, but his Highway 207 property is within
city limits, zoned residential, and is less than
a mile upwind of two schools and several
residential neighborhoods. In exchange for
operating a feed operation at that location,
he made an agreement with the people of
Hermiston in 2013 that he would not bring in
wet feed like the sludge of processed onions,
carrots and potatoes. That was the deal.
But inspections to keep him honest ended
a year later, and the potential profits from
wet waste must have proved too irresistible
to Mr. Dynes. A stench began to invade our
neighborhood. We all scratched our heads and
thought it was the cumulative odor of multiple
operations that had somehow melded together
and dropped onto our properties by fluke
atmospheric conditions.
But the stench became common — daily
even. People became more frustrated as
the smell (and hordes of flies in some
areas) chased them indoors. Subsequent
investigation points squarely at Mr. Dynes. In
calls from frustrated neighbors, he placates
them with promises to stop his dirty deeds
“soon,” effectively admitting his guilt. He
also promised the city in May that his sludge
operations would be gone in July, so it agreed
to hold off on pursuing code enforcement.
But Mr. Dynes still stinks. He’s a scofflaw
who years ago drowned his word in the muddy
sludge of his rotten vegetables.
Help keep up the pressure. Whenever you
suffer the stench, email your complaint to Code
Enforcement Officer Marcum (mmarcum@
hermiston.or.us). Include date/time, description
and duration of the stench, your location,
how the stench affected you (e.g. chased
you indoors), and details of how you tried
to ascertain the source. The city may issue a
violation if your complaint matches two others
within a 12-hour period. Each violation will
help give the city teeth to finally inspect and
enforce. Let’s help Mr. Dynes clean up his act.
Will Anderson
Hermiston
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. Submitted letters
must be signed by the author and include city of residence and a phone number. Send
letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.