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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 16, 2018)
Page 4A East Oregonian Saturday, June 16, 2018 CHRISTOPHER RUSH Publisher KATHRYN B. BROWN Owner DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor Founded October 16, 1875 OUR VIEW Hamley’s deserves better F or years, the fate of a venerable Pendleton institution has hung in the balance as the two co-owners of Hamley and Company have engaged in a personal dispute that has now spilled into the courtroom. Hamley’s is an important and valuable Pendleton brand, on the level with the Round-Up, the Woolen Mills and the Whisky. The business was created in 1883, and it has operated near the intersection of Court and Main in Pendleton since 1905. It has helped define Pendleton as a town of not just cowboys but of fine craftsmanship. And its long partnership with the Round-Up and some of the best rodeo riders in the world has helped define its own legacy. Parley Pearce and Blair Woodfield re-opened, restored and re-energized the business in 2005, adding the coffeeshop and steakhouse next door. That operation now dominates one of the most visible blocks in Pendleton, and its rehab helped revitalize Main Street when construction finished more than a decade ago. That is all in danger now, as the inability for Pearce and Woodfield to get along — or at the very least agree on a financial future for the company — has put Hamley’s at risk. And as anyone in business knows, a disagreement between principals on the future of the company, as well as a lack of a cohesive vision and plan, is no way to survive in the rapidly changing world of retail. It’s all the more disappointing when you see the incredible advantages that Hamley’s could have as an upscale, artisan, historic business with deep community roots. It’s the kind of business that could be growing and prospering in this moment, yet it has been torn between two warring factions — neither of whom are in the right. Both have made plenty of mistakes, and Pearce and Woodfield must do better if Hamley’s is to survive unscathed. It needs better marketing. An updated online presence. Ownership that understands the power of its brand and Staff photo by E.J. Harris The Hamley’s brand is stamped into the concrete sidewalk in front of the store in downtown Pendleton. takes full advantage. When someone owns an institution such as Hamley’s, they must do it for the right reasons and be in it for the long haul. Personal jealousies and bickering must be set aside for the good of a century-old company. Deference must be paid to its past and blood, sweat, tears and dollars must be expended so it has a prosperous future. It does Hamley’s no good, and it does Pendleton no good, for this company to be caught in a debilitating back-and- forth, and it becomes vulnerable via bankruptcy, auction, or being gutted and sold on the cheap. OTHER VIEWS Personalism: The philosophy we need ne of the lessons of a life people to their superficial function. in journalism is that people But personalism asks, as much are always way more as possible, for I-Thou encounters: complicated than you think. We talk that you just don’t regard people as in shorthand about “Trump voters” a data point, but as emerging out of or “social justice warriors,” but the full narrative, and that you try, when you actually meet people they when you can, to get to know their defy categories. Someone might be stories, or at least to realize that David everybody is in a struggle you know a Latina lesbian who loves the NRA Brooks nothing about. or a socialist Mormon cowboy from Comment The second responsibility Arizona. of personalism is self-gifting. Moreover, most actual human Twentieth-century psychologists like Carl beings are filled with ambivalences. Most Rogers treated people as self-actualizing political activists I know love parts of their beings — get in touch with yourself. party and despise parts of their party. A Descartes tried to separate individual whole lifetime of experience, joy and pain goes into that complexity, and it insults their reason from the bonding emotions. Nikolai Berdyaev said that tends to turn people into lives to try to reduce them to a label that self-enclosed monads, with no doors or ignores that. windows. Yet our culture does a pretty good job Personalists believe that people are of ignoring the uniqueness and depth of “open wholes.” They find their perfection each person. Pollsters see in terms of broad demographic groups. Big data counts people in communion with other whole persons. as if it were counting apples. At the extreme, The crucial questions in life are not “what” questions — what do I do? They are “who” evolutionary psychology reduces people to questions — who do I follow, who do I biological drives, capitalism reduces people serve, who do I love? to economic self-interest, modern Marxism The reason for life, Jacques Maritain to their class position and multiculturalism wrote, is “self-mastery for the purpose to their racial one. Consumerism treats of self-giving.” It’s to give yourself as a people as mere selves — as shallow gift to people and causes you love and to creatures concerned merely with the receive such gifts for others. It is through experience of pleasure and the acquisition this love that each person brings unity to of stuff. his or her fragmented personality. Through Back in 1968, Karol Wojtyla wrote, this love, people touch the full personhood “The evil of our times consists in the first in others and purify the full personhood in place in a kind of degradation, indeed themselves. in a pulverization, of the fundamental The third responsibility of personalism uniqueness of each human person.” That’s is availability: to be open for this kind of still true. giving and friendship. This is a tough one, So this might be a perfect time for a too; life is busy, and being available for revival of personalism. people takes time and intentionality. Personalism is a philosophic tendency Margarita Mooney of Princeton built on the infinite uniqueness and depth of each person. Over the years people like Walt Theological Seminary has written that personalism is a middle way between Whitman, Martin Luther King, William James, Peter Maurin and Wojtyla (who went authoritarian collectivism and radical on to become Pope John Paul II) have called individualism. The former subsumes the individual within the collective. The latter themselves personalists, but the movement uses the group to serve the interests of the is still something of a philosophic nub. It’s self. not exactly famous. Personalism demands that we change Personalism starts by drawing a line the way we structure our institutions. A between humans and other animals. Your dog is great, but there is a depth, complexity company that treats people as units to simply maximize shareholder return is and superabundance to each human showing contempt for its own workers. personality that gives each person unique, Schools that treat students as brains on a infinite dignity. stick are not preparing them to lead whole Despite what the achievement culture lives. teaches, that dignity does not depend on The big point is that today’s social what you do, how successful you are or whether your school calls you gifted. Infinite fragmentation didn’t spring from shallow roots. It sprang from worldviews that worth is inherent in being human. Every amputated people from their own depths human encounter is a meeting of equals. Doing community service isn’t about saving and divided them into simplistic, flattened the poor; it’s a meeting of absolute equals as identities. That has to change. As Charles Péguy said, “The revolution is moral or not both seek to change and grow. at all.” The first responsibility of personalism ■ is to see each other person in his or her full David Brooks became a New York Times depth. This is astonishingly hard to do. As Op-Ed columnist in 2003. He has been a we go through our busy days it’s normal senior editor at The Weekly Standard, a con- to want to establish I-It relationships — tributing editor at Newsweek and the Atlan- with the security guard in your building tic Monthly, and is currently a commentator or the office worker down the hall. Life is on PBS. busy, and sometimes we just need to reduce O YOUR VIEWS Shifting priorities for Pendleton development The Stillman Park street and shelter area and the walkway above the Little League Park, both designated no smoking areas, are going head-to-head for the undisputed title of the city’s largest ashtray. Stillman does get a few bonus points as a repository for empty whisky, beer and pot containers that appear on a daily basis, plus the convenience of camping either on a table or the river bank. Though there is currently no scholarship available, the sport of “bottle breaking” seems to be gaining in popularity at Stillman. City priorities continue to favor the downtown area. How about those Pendleton Development Commission urban renewal projects: Bowman Apartments, $338,428; Sisters Cafe, $126,167; Old City Hall $33,318; Bela Bakery, $10,000; Community Bank, $220,000; Quarterly Pendleton Downtown Association (PDA) donation, $13,750; OMG Burgers, $19,000; Fenton and Marier demolition, $10,000 and $26,933. Can you guess how much they are including for sorely needed sidewalk and street improvements in the urban renewal district? That would be $0. Despite having some of the worst in the city, again they don’t seem a priority. It’s now official, the mayor and city manager agree: Creating living-wage jobs with the drone program is just not working out and is no longer a priority. It’s kinda like that old adage says: “Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?” when it comes to any meaningful private sector investment at the airport. It looks like more bed-making jobs in the tourist industry is the new target. When is enough, enough? The Pendleton Heights contractor, in his latest plea, is, you guessed it, asking for more. Evidently, he’s got City Hall figured out, a lot of confusing doubletalk seems to work. I’ll bet he tries selling them a bridge next. A possible $25,000 in grants is Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. available to study opening up the north side of the river for greater public access. It should provide additional camping space for those professional outdoorsmen and relieve the overcrowding along the levee walkway. Rick Rohde, Pendleton Housing in Pendleton being held for ransom by developer This is my opinion on the article posted in the East Oregonian June 14 about the developer housing project in Pendleton. It astonishes me how cities work with so-called developers. Why do I always hear city councils or school districts being held hostage? Big or small cities sign winning bidder contracts with businesses all the time agreeing to conditions, and sign an agreement to a price. During the work process the company comes across unforeseen circumstances that may raise the original cost by 30-75 percent, or higher. The company goes back to the city and asks for much more money than the contract was signed for. The city feels they need to help for the good of the people. Then the company returns with more needs. Now the city is being held hostage. Already in unforeseen debt, they hope by paying the ransom the city will be okay. But that’s not how it goes. Now, a project that should have been completed a long time ago has been brought back with another demand. Any signed contract should stand. Period. I believe there should be an added section to the contract. Any bid should include a certain percentage (10-15 percent) additional cost, for unforeseen expenses occurring during the set agreed time of the job completion. It is not to go over this cost. And the city is not responsible for the overage. It should be covered by the business’ insurance. Something has to change. All these ran- som tactics only hurt the taxpayers. Bernie Sanderson, 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. 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. 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 managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
