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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 28, 2018)
Page 4A East Oregonian Thursday, June 28, 2018 CHRISTOPHER RUSH Publisher KATHRYN B. BROWN Owner DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor Founded October 16, 1875 OUR VIEW Fire season is here, be safe I t’s that time of year again. In Northeast Oregon, fire season officially kicked off Thursday. For most residents of the state, fire season started weeks prior. Our part of the state was actually the last of the state’s 12 fire districts to declare their fire seasons are underway. When fire season is declared in a district, it means that the Oregon Department of Forestry and related agencies impose certain restrictions on public and work- related activities in the state’s forests. For our neck of the woods, this is about a normal start time for fire season. But for the rest of the state, the environment drier and more flammable than usual this time of year. Last year, the Northwest Oregon District, typically one of the last in the state to declare the start of fire season, didn’t do so until July 10. This year it was June 21. Northwest Oregon typically gets a good dose of rainfall during the spring, and that delays the start of an active fire season. But this spring was drier and warmer than usual, and that presages a busy fire season. And for us in Eastern Oregon, a busy smoke season. We have already seen our fair share of grass fires catching in the Stanfield and Umatilla Staff photo by Tammy Malgesini Firefighters from Umatilla County Fire District 1 continue mop-up work after a blaze caught scrub brush on fire late Tuesday afternoon in the vicinity of Joy Lane and Alpine Drive, northeast of Hermiston. areas. Early signs suggest that we can expect a fire season that could stretch into September: Already, more than 156 square miles are burning in central Oregon, the largest near Maupin. As of last week, more than 200 wildfires already have been reported on Oregon Department of Forestry lands. More than 80 percent of them were caused by humans, the department said. Which brings to mind another bit of timing surrounding fire season: It’s not at all unusual to have the start of the season roughly correspond with the stretch of time during which fireworks legally can be sold in Oregon. Fireworks stands in Oregon opened on June 23 and will continue sales through July 6. In the wake of last year’s Eagle Creek fire, started when a teenager dropped a smoke bomb onto extremely dry ground in the Columbia River Gorge, we probably don’t need much of a reminder about the potentially dangerous combination of fireworks and tinder-dry forest lands. But here goes anyway: Oregon law prohibits possession, use or sale of any firework that flies into the air, explodes or travels more than 12 feet horizontally on the ground, unless you have a permit issued by the Oregon State fire marshal. Bottle rockets, Roman candles and firecrackers are illegal in Oregon without a permit. All fireworks are prohibited on all Oregon beaches, in state parks and campgrounds and on all federal public lands. Officials can seize illegal fireworks and charge offenders with a class B misdemeanor, which could result in a fine of up to $2,500 per violation and a civil penalty of up to $500. People who misuse fireworks or who allow fireworks to cause damage may be required to pay fire suppression costs or other damages — witness the Washington teenager who started the Eagle Creek fire, now saddled with a $36 million restitution bill. Here’s something else to keep in mind as we approach the heart of fire season: If you’re responsible for starting a blaze, you put firefighters at risk. Those firefighters will have plenty to do this summer; lightning strikes will keep them busy. There’s no need for you to add to their workload. Act with care this summer while you’re enjoying our wildlands. OTHER VIEWS Will Trump waste another chance to build the wall? B YOUR VIEWS Sad to see The Oregonian pull out of Eastern Oregon When I picked up my Sunday Oregonian at Dave’s Chevron this weekend, I found a yellow sheet inside informing me this was the last Sunday Oregonian that would be delivered in Pendleton, as well as Milton-Freewater and Walla Walla. What used to bill itself as Oregon’s newspaper has decided to leave Eastern Oregon. As someone who is involved in government and bent on trying to remind Western Oregon that we exist, it seemed like another chilling message to the contrary. There are of course options, and I read The Oregonian online six days a week, but our family has gotten the printed version on Sunday since I was old enough to read. It has been a long-standing tradition. I can, of course, read the Sunday paper online as well, but not everyone has technological options at their disposal in our part of Oregon that would permit such access. Rep. Greg Walden was in town this weekend talking to area communities about helping them enjoy the benefits of technology that are commonplace in the Valley. However, as several Umatilla County mayors reminded him, we still are not there yet. Moreover, besides the options of technology, there are still a good many Eastern Oregonians who like the feel of a newspaper in their hands. During the past few years, the price of the Oregonian has skyrocketed to $3.50 while the product has gotten thinner. Remember the days when the Sunday paper almost filled the living room? But that being said, I did not intend to discontinue my weekly trek to get the Sunday paper. It provides a summary of the week’s events. Since our television news comes from Washington, the Sunday Oregonian offered a weekly opportunity to catch up on what is going on in our own state. Yes, it is less comprehensive than it used to be, but we still get the high points. And, it filled the hiatus between Saturday and Tuesday when a newspaper is not available locally. As a former newspaperman, I am admittedly a bit subjective about the need to start each day with at least an idea of what I might encounter once I reach the courthouse. In the case of the EO, the E-Edition provides fair warning before it actually arrives in the flesh. If six or seven thousand of my friends and neighbors were fully satisfied with online options, the EO would cease to print a hard copy. But not everyone has made the transition. I guess, in the end, this just seems like one more example of metro Oregon dismissing Eastern Oregon as an irrelevant market. We deserve better. George Murdock Pendleton CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES GOVERNOR Kate Brown 160 State Capitol 900 Court Street Salem, OR 97301-4047 503-378-4582 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. SENATOR Bill Hansell, District 29 900 Court St. NE, S-423 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1729 Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us uilding a wall on the U.S.- The only way a wall will Mexico border was Donald ever happen is with determined Trump’s premier campaign presidential leadership. Yes, promise, and he is running out of Congress has supported extensive chances to keep it. border barriers in the past — look Trump has been president for up the Secure Fence Act of 2006 nearly a year and a half, and has not — but the political system has yet won anywhere near the funding never wanted to actually do it. Byron needed to build the wall along the Actually building a wall would York 1,000 or so miles of border that he take a president who will not give Comment pledged to voters. Now, there have up and not settle for anything less been two Republican immigration than what he promised. bills in the House, each calling for around Incredibly enough, Trump made it $25 billion for the wall, and Trump has to 2018 with a real chance to get wall blown them both off, saying he’d rather try funding. His maneuvers on DACA, again after November’s midterm elections. President Obama’s Deferred Action for “Republicans should stop wasting their Childhood Arrivals program, set up a time on immigration until after we elect simple and obvious deal: legalization of more Senators and Congressmen/women DACA recipients in exchange for money in November,” Trump tweeted Friday. for the wall. “Dems are just playing games, have no That money, by the way, had to be intention of doing anything to solve this real money. It couldn’t be just a down decades old problem. We can pass great payment, or a promise to come up with legislation after the Red Wave!” real cash later. It had to be real live, appropriated, placed in a trust fund, ready Now, it is entirely possible for the president to use to construct a Republicans will keep control of the wall. House and Senate. It’s also possible But Trump and Republicans in they will lose. But does anyone believe Congress always threw other issues into the GOP will gain enough seats to pass the mix. Chain migration. The visa lottery. difficult legislation without somehow Guest workers. Now, the hot issue of the settling their internal disputes? Unlikely. moment is family separation. Whatever And of course Democrats are playing the specific add-ons, a clean DACA- games with immigration. They still will be for-wall deal morphed into a sort of lite after the election, no matter what happens. version of comprehensive immigration The point is, a president only gets so reform, which is an endeavor that has a many chances to do something, and when long record of failure in Washington. it comes to the wall, Trump is running out In all of the back-and-forth, the simple of time. clarity of the president’s promise to build There’s no need to go through the the wall was lost. But it will not be lost on number of times Trump promised his voters. Can Trump run for re-election campaign audiences that he would build in 2020 by promising to build a wall in the wall. He did it so much that during his second term, coming up with some rallies his loyal voters developed a call- excuse for not doing it in his first? and-response on the subject. They knew He can certainly try, but even his that promise better than any other. supporters might not buy it. And no, the promise was not a wall Recently I texted an influential along the entire 2,000-mile border lawmaker to ask whether he thought between the United States and Mexico. Trump would eventually win funding for Agreeing with a number of pro-wall the wall. He sent back an emoji of a boy experts, Trump said on many occasions with his hands in the air in the universal that a wall was not needed along the entire how-should-I-know gesture. stretch of sometimes-impassable land. That’s not good enough. Trump About 1,000 miles would do the job well. voters expect him to do what he said, or The odds were probably always against give everything he’s got trying. At the Trump on the wall. Everyone knew moment, the president is acting like he Democrats would throw their bodies in has all the time in the world. He doesn’t. front of any wall effort, do anything to ■ stop it. And even if Trump got a wall Byron York is chief political appropriation through Congress, the correspondent for The Washington politically motivated litigation designed to Examiner. stop and slow the wall would be fearsome. 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.
