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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 2017)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Saturday, November 25, 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 Hear women roar The latter half of 2017 will be women could achieve and what men remembered as the time that women could get away with.” A majority of Americans will no all over the globe drew a line in the longer stand by the results of that sand. No longer will sexual harassment referendum, and want immediate action to remedy the situation. The be endured silently. No longer will 2.6 million-strong Women’s March abusers operate with impunity. the day after Trump’s inauguration No longer will men dominate put the pressure on. discussion and decision making in That movement wasn’t just board rooms, capitol buildings and about sexual harassment and households across the country. And assault. It’s ultimately about a fair no longer will the people who hear society in which these stories demean all viewpoints are the accusers, and There are considered, and pick through their women are not lives like vultures few women held back when in search of rotten they choose not to meat. in leadership Everyone in this play games with positions in powerful men. country remains innocent until Eastern Oregon. And that has proven guilty. But made us look at our That’s own back yard. the onus is now on There is a those who have been unacceptable. noticeable dearth accused of heinous of female voices acts — accused by in Eastern Oregon, and Morrow people with nothing to gain but to and Umatilla counties in particular. bring some sense of justice. It’s an admirable, dangerous time. Umatilla County commissioners are all men (and, as far as we can find, Beware the court of public have always been men). Morrow opinion. And beware a moral County just added Melissa Lindsay flattening — where years of to their three-person board, but men predatory behavior require the have always been a majority there, same punishment as a poor choice too. of words or a momentary lapse. There has never been a female Or a thoroughly reported article is mayor in the history of Pendleton given the same weight as a Twitter or Hermiston. Neither city has had accusation. a woman city manager. We have The sword is coming for people found no evidence that its city we admire for their art, or athletic councils have ever had a majority prowess, or their control of a of women. No woman has ever corporate board room, or for their represented Eastern Oregon in the political views that mesh so well statehouse. Oregon has only elected with our own. Beware then, too, the desire make one female U.S. Senator in its history. And five of Oregon’s six sexual assault and harassment just current Representatives in the U.S. another partisan division. Find no additional joy from the demise of an House are men. These are deeply embarrassing, enemy, and do not give those who distressing statistics. you admire unfair protection from There are woman in positions of claims of abuse. That’s how this leadership in education and business issue became so prevalent and so in Eastern Oregon, but to have so powerful in the first place. many levers of power in the hands Politics certainly did play a of men is dangerous and limiting. part in the arrival of this moment. If we only include half of our Donald Trump’s electoral victory, population in important decisions, despite his deeply problematic those decisions are bound to be half relationships with women and his as good. televised brags of sexual assault, Eastern Oregon must do better. helped usher in this age. Charlotte Women across the region should Alter of Time Magazine wrote demand their rightful power and during the campaign that “the 2016 take it. election was a referendum on what OTHER VIEWS Bridging the canyon across the holiday table C 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. 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. The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com. ould you spot the Trump starting to rethink their view of W., supporter at the Thanksgiving who spoke out against the “nativism” dinner table? Maybe you and “casual cruelty” of the Trump were expecting a grump in a MAGA era. Or to praise Romney as an cap, obsessed with white meat. old-fashioned gentlemen. I count Or someone who started in with myself in that camp. Both of these whataboutism and the Clintons once men have stood up against the anti- the Russian connection came up. constitutional, zero-sum, resentment More likely, it was the silent Timothy presidency of Trump, while others in pessimist stewing across from the their party stand by meekly. Egan sweet potatoes, part of the large The Republican Sens. Bob Corker Comment majority of Donald Trump followers of Tennessee, Jeff Flake and John who believe life is worse today than McCain of Arizona, and Susan Collins it was 50 years ago. They are also more of Maine are rightly hailed by Democrats for likely to think that the country can’t solve its trying to put country above party. Or at the problems — that we’re all doomed to a tribal least, to call out Trump for having no sense of apocalypse. decency. We knew this profile going into the At the same time, talented polemicists from election, thanks to a number of surveys the red side of the spectrum — the quick- showing that Trump witted Republican strategist Republicans had thrown in Rick Wilson, the tireless the towel on the big issues Jennifer Rubin of The of the day. They don’t trust Washington Post, the prose diplomacy to ensure peace, stylist Peggy Noonan of The nor do they believe more Wall Street Journal — have ethnic diversity is a good found something to like in thing. In those two areas, Democrats. This is Trump’s thankfully, they are also out doing, albeit not by design. of step with majority sentiment. E Pluribus Unum has always been a Still, it’s a wonder we’re even talking. fragile construct, undermined by the Original Contempt is mutual. A Pew survey from last Sin of slavery. In 1856, Preston Brooks, year found that 45 percent of Republicans a congressman from slaveholding South think Democrats are a threat to the nation’s Carolina, physically attacked Sen. Charles well-being. And a majority of Democrats say Sumner of Massachusetts, an opponent of Republicans make them feel “afraid.” human bondage. Brooks fractured the other In the Trump era, we’ve reached peak man’s skull and split his nose with a walking domestic hatred. Though it has been building stick. The assailant became a hero in the for years, Americans of differing political South. About the same time, Sen. David views despise each other to a degree not seen Atchison of Missouri urged his constituents in the modern era. Never, even at the height of to “kill every goddamn abolitionist in the impeachment fever around Richard Nixon and district.” Bill Clinton, did so much bile run through our The Big Sort — documented in a waterways. groundbreaking 2008 book of the same name In 1960, just 5 percent of Republicans and — gets much of the blame for a landscape 4 percent of Democrats said they would be of ideological silos. Liberals are more urban, upset if their child married someone from conservatives less so, and the twain seldom the other party. By 2012, nearly half of all meet. Republicans and 33 percent of Democrats said It’s one thing to be drawn to the like- they would not welcome an in-law of the other minded, birds of a feather. It’s another to party into the family. see the other birds as vile. For this, you can But here’s one bright spot in the Divided blame the right-wing press, which has built a States of Trump: In a strange way, he has also profitable industry on hatred of a caricatured brought many of us together. Trump brings “other.” Thus, Rush Limbaugh says “feminism out the worst in his supporters, dragging them was established so as to allow unattractive down to his adult day care center. By contrast, women easier access to the mainstream of his opponents have become more inclusive. society.” Because he is so singularly coarse and vulgar, In this biosphere, the birtherism lie was so ill informed and small-minded, he has nurtured until it produced a candidate, and a made people see the better side of those they president. But as bad as things are, a majority had long written off. of Americans, an increasingly bipartisan pool, Until this year, you were hard-pressed are appalled at the monstrosity of Trump’s to find a Democrat to say nice things about presidency. Pass the gravy, friend! George W. Bush — see Worst President Ever ■ — or Mitt Romney, often cast as a heartless Timothy Egan worked for 18 years as a plutocrat. writer for The New York Times, first as the Now barely a day goes by when some Pacific Northwest correspondent, then as a partisan on the left doesn’t say he or she is national enterprise reporter. We’ve reached peak domestic hatred. YOUR VIEWS Eastern Oregon is being carved up for Idaho’s benefit A travesty is happening in Eastern Oregon and it seems there is no way to stop it. The Boardman to Hemingway power line proposed by Idaho Power, of all companies, is on the path to approval. We in Oregon are about to let an Idaho company gouge a 250-foot wide path 300 miles through our forests and desert in sparsely populated Eastern Oregon. A number of people, very few really, are learning the rules of the bureaucratic maze and are fighting back. It is easy to get discouraged in this effort against a large professional company. With so few people in Eastern Oregon, B2H has remained pretty much under the radar of those in the rest of Oregon, who ought to be mad as heck. The Oregon Public Utilities Commission receives, every two years, from Idaho Power an Integrated Resource Plan. This plan has included B2H, and Idaho Power makes it the least cost, least risk portfolio of resources for the next 20 years. The commissioners have a very good staff who they depend upon to make recommendations for changes. As members of the public, we can scream and holler, but emotion has no effect — the rules take precedence. So, this year we are asking the commission to require Idaho Power to analyze other resources like battery storage, solar, and more accurately determine the effect of demand response and energy efficiency, in order to eliminate the B2H. The Oregon Energy Facilities Council determines the route of the power line on private property in Oregon. Another set of 25 rules — another technical exercise for the few against the large staffed departments at Idaho Power. We challenge the “need.” Our basic objection is that by the time the power line is built it will not be needed. Even with sage grouse, Oregon Trail, and salmon being damaged, a trail of 190-foot high towers will scar the Eastern Oregon landscape. The ironic part is an Oregon government council and commission may approve an Idaho company to do the damage. This would never happen in the Willamette Valley. Gail Carbiener Bend Symphony orchestra keeps Pendleton tapping its toes If you worry that things in Pendleton are too slow, think about dropping in on the Oregon East Symphony concerts at the Vert Auditorium for great music and a roomful of enthusiasm. Keeping a 50-member orchestra going in northeast Oregon is not for sissies: competition with other orchestras, seeing grant money decline, asking guest musicians to travel. A recent article made the Vert out to be in such bad repair that a friend called from Portland to ask if events were still being held there. Anyone who attended the Nov. 5 season opening concert got some assurance and their money’s worth. Music Director Beau Benson, connected to the music program at Baylor University in Texas, is in his fifth year with Oregon East Symphony. The opening concert drew an audience of 250, including 15 who were invited as part of a “Take a Friend to the Symphony” promotion. Benson blends familiar concert pieces with those newer to the audience. Another blending: 53 musicians on stage, two-thirds of whom came from Walla Walla, Boise, Vancouver, etc., and one-third of whom were local. There was an air of enthusiasm over the Nov. 5 concert despite tough economic conditions for symphonies. A few days before the concert, the orchestra played in front of fourth grade children. And four young musicians from Oregon East Symphony’s youth program played the last two numbers onstage with the older musicians. Remaining concerts this year and next are Dec. 10, Feb. 10, March 10 and April 21. The OES office is in the basement of the Vert. Mike Forrester Pendleton New four-way stop should include lighted signs I’m glad to see that there will finally be a four-way stop on Feedville and Edwards. But one thing needs to be added: The stop signs with the flashing lights should be used. There will be fewer excuses for drivers who still run the signs to use. It makes the visibility excellent for daylight and nighttime driving. One life saved is worth the cost. While I’m at it, I would also like to suggest the same signs with cross walking flags, crossing lights and crossing lanes available for pedestrians. When a pedestrian needs to cross Highway 395 safely, where there is no crossing within a block of normal traffic crossings, this allows a safe place to cross with a shortened time for flow of traffic. This is better than issuing crosswalk tickets or vehicles hitting people. Just a thought. Bernie Sanderson Hermiston