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.