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East Oregonian
Friday, August 24, 2018
CHRISTOPHER RUSH
Publisher
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
Founded October 16, 1875
Tip of the hat,
kick in the pants
A tip of the hat to the generous
bidders who pitched in to make
Henry the lamb the most expensive
animal at auction during the
Umatilla County Fair.
The lamb was raised by Maddy
Thomas of Echo, who was diagnosed
one year ago with a brain tumor.
Money from the sale is going toward
high deductibles for her treatment and
some college savings.
We’re hardly surprised by the
generosity we see when a member of
one of our tight-knit communities is
hurting. And this, like so many other
charitable efforts, is done without any
expectation of praise.
But we also feel it’s worth pointing
out.
The sale has raised about $27,000
as of this publication, according to
livestock auction superintendent Marie
Linnell, and the last day to donate to
the cause is Friday. If you’d like to
add on to that total, email Linnell at
mlinnell5@gmail.com or stop by the
fair offices at the Eastern Oregon Trade
and Event Center.
A kick in the pants to careless and
dangerous drivers who heed no mind
in construction zones or around farm
equipment.
A flagger in one such zone was
struck and killed earlier this month
on Highway 11 near Athena, and a
combine driver was seriously injured
when hit from behind on Interstate 84
last week.
With potato and onion harvest on the
horizon, more slow-moving trucks and
equipment will be on the road.
Distractions are a real safety
concern, and the nonstop buzz of the
smartphone has made keeping our
mind (and eyes) on the road even more
difficult.
It may seem like the wide open road
is a good place to get caught up on
social media or that email to your mom,
but two seconds of distraction can have
deadly results.
For all of our sakes, keep your
eyes on the road and be aware of your
surroundings.
A tip of the hat to the new Echo
School addition, which was truly
built with the community in mind.
The gathering space and workout
room can be sealed off from the rest of
the school, allowing the opportunity
for community use without district
employees present.
Schools have long been the hubs of
small towns, and new buildings backed
by local dollars should always keep the
community at large in mind. As long
AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File
A herd of bison grazes in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone National Park. An Oregon
man has been sentenced to 130 days in jail after pleading guilty to misconduct in
two national parks, including harassing a bison that had stopped traffic in Yellow-
stone National Park.
as the funds are being spent to make
a better educational experience for
students, we’re all for finding ways to
keep the taxpayers plugged in to their
investment.
A kick in the pants to negative
ambassadors from our fair cities.
A recent high-profile case of bison
harassment at Yellowstone National
Park has put Pendleton in newspapers,
television broadcasts and social media
posts for all the wrong reasons. We’ll
leave the name out here — we try
not to kick while somebody’s already
down — but you can read about his
exploits and punishment on the front
page today.
It’s a shame, really, that many in
Pendleton have put so much effort into
branding the city as a fun place worth
either a weekend visit or a full-on
relocation. We’re seeing that work
take off — Pendleton has been written
about extensively and even made the
Smithsonian Magazines Top 20 Small
Towns list. There’s so much good
press out there, but one wayward son
puts a taint on that image, even though
the city has nothing to do with it.
The lessons are plentiful, first and
foremost to leave wild animals alone.
But in this world, your dumb exploits
will travel far and wide before you
can even sober up. Think of your own
reputation, your family’s and even
your town’s when you’re out in the
world.
YOUR VIEWS
Walden hard at work
LIMEY PASTOR
A sorrowful week
T
ing for the approval of lost fathers
his has been a week of sor-
row. A person very close to
perhaps, are instruments for the dis-
torted will of a modern Nero. Men
me attempted suicide and was
saved by police who found them
of good will on both sides of the
and smashed a car window to get
aisle are praying to our Heavenly
them out. They are out of the hos-
Father for repentance and truth and
pital now with a medication that has
that God’s love will begin to show
temporarily altered the personal-
up in this strange and disabling
Colin
ity and it seems that another being
story of conscienceless passions.
Brown
has taken over their body temporar-
Over the valleys of Oregon the
Faith
ily. This has occupied much of my
stench of smoke has hung, as if
concern.
Hades’ flames were licking at the
Then a lightning bolt of revelation of edges. I pray for the continuing work of
hit the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania the holy people of Oregon by being close
and many of the clergy there unmasked as to their families, ignoring the arrogance of
deceivers and deviants. An investigation in power, feeding the good and holy in their
the United States revealing at least 1,000 friends and protecting the welfare of the
children molested by these counterfeit vulnerable.
holy men (some 300) – leading many other
I particularly give thanks for the politi-
states to now start the process of discover- cians of Oregon, who seem genuinely com-
ing the wolves in sheep’s clothing in their mitted to make the state as good as it can
own parishes. It seems likely that this grand be. I sat down on the previous weekend and
action could begin to erode the church in met in offices in the Salem and discussed
such a way that all of its structures could problems of the elderly and the disabled
fall in reparations for the evil that men have and felt a genuine concern with our people
done. I am certain that this crime is not just was held by all.
located in one denomination — it is a crime
May God protect our children, our poli-
that takes advantage of secrecy and entrap- ticians, our preachers and our people. May
ment of promises. Let the purifying fire do the Spirit of the Living Christ be abundant
its work.
and alive fully in our beautiful state.
As a demonic third act, the courts
Amen.
brought a damning set of indictments for
Paul Manafort, the campaign chief for our
Colin Brown is the former pastor of
new president, and for the attorney Michael Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Board-
Cohen. It appears both of these men, look- man. Contact him at colin.brown@usa.net.
CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES
U.S. PRESIDENT
Donald Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the
East Oregonian editorial board. Other
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express the opinions of the authors and
not necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
What does a U.S. representative do? I
can tell you what Greg Walden, the U.S.
representative for Oregon’s 2nd Con-
gressional District, does.
He finds lost Social Security checks,
helps get funding for economic develop-
ment projects and cuts through red tape
to secure veterans’ benefits. He is work-
ing on legislation that addresses forest
health and managing our rampant wild
fires. He has worked to expand rural
broadband and roll back regulations that
have hurt small towns. He is fighting to
fund crucial rural health care for the chil-
dren’s health insurance programs and
community health centers.
I am amused at recent letters to the
editor from folks who say they can’t
find
Greg. Let me tell you why. HE IS
WORKING! He is busy addressing the
needs of his Oregon constituents.
It is the plot of a made-for-TV movie
that a new, fresh-faced person from Cali-
fornia, who has just been elected to Con-
gress from Oregon, goes to
Washington, D.C., and convinces all
the seasoned and experienced legislators
to immediately join her and endorse her
ideas. It is a great fantasy for the cam-
paign trail but the reality of the job of
representative involves years of hard
work, study of the issues and experi-
ence working with other legislators. It
is not an instant process, like mixing a
Cup-o-Soup.
Real life involves gaining experience,
trust and making friends and allies on
both sides of the aisle. Real life involves
representing Oregonians since Greg was
first elected in 1998.
Congressman Greg Walden is the
chairman of the House Energy and Com-
merce Committee. That prestigious
honor only comes by virtue of knowl-
edge, experience, being bipartisan and
working hard. We need to keep that
experience and knowledge working for
Oregon.
We need Greg Walden.
Zee Koza
La Grande
Getting the budget right
The previous Pendleton City Council
led you believe that maintenance on
streets and public buildings was deferred
because the public demanded funding
of other projects like those ridiculous
speed bumps on Main Street, relocating
the Eighth Street Bridge to Main Street,
and the restoration of the Rivoli Theater.
Had the choice been given to the public
on those projects versus street repairs,
there’s no doubt street repairs would
have been their first choice.
We were most recently given the
choice of passing a gas tax, an Extension
Service tax, and a Humane Society tax
or suffer the consequences. Those tax
measures ultimately failed to be adopted.
The city council erroneously interpreted
the failure of the gas tax as public
indifference for repairing the streets.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Rather than fixing streets, the mayor
and city council were more interested
in honoring themselves with plaques
on statues, and that was just plain
unacceptable.
The recent donation of $150,000 to the
Farm II project would have been better
spent on widening the Bedford Bridge or
upgrading Southwest 18th Street. With
all the proposed development in that
convention center area, preparations for
an alternate exit route for large events
would seem a more prudent plan for the
future. Likewise, the grant funding of the
Pendleton Downtown Association for an
office, secretary, more studies on parking,
and a few Christmas lights cluttering up
our historic street lights could have been
more wisely spent on reducing deferred
maintenance on facilities such as the Vert
Auditorium.
Now we are on the verge of taking
on yet another ill-conceived project,
relocating that Eighth Street Bridge to
Main Street. Its current condition results
from years of neglect. Rather than
wasting scarce funds, cancellation of
this project rather than creating another
maintenance headache would be an easy
step towards a sustainable budget.
The city has a significant amount of
unused or vacant property collecting no
taxes. With such a significant amount
of funding for the budget coming from
property taxes, you’d think there’d be a
stampede to divest.
As our unfunded PERS liability
continues to climb, I get the feeling that
the mayor, city council and city manager
are realizing that the time to act is now.
The question is will they act or punt
again?
Rick Rohde
Pendleton
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
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