VIEWPOINTS
Saturday, October 20, 2018
East Oregonian
Page 5A
Pythagoras in diapers
A
couple of years ago my wife and I
were in the Pendleton Convention
Center, watching a basketball game
between the Coyotes and the Cougars.
The Cougars were chomping some serious
Coyote butt, 40-21. During a foul shot at
the other end of the court (after Coyote #22
was jerked to the floor by
his ponytail), we scurried up
the out-of-bounds line and
wedged ourselves into the
fourth row of the bleachers
behind a group of teenage
girls with greasepaint paw
prints on their cheeks and
wearing white T-shirts
emblazoned with Magic
Marker slogans like “Scott
is soooo hot” and “Number
Nine is mine. Hands off.”
A couple of minutes later,
while I was watching the
Cougar point guard bring
the ball up the floor with
that stop-and-go, dribble
between-the-legs, shuck-
and-jive stuff that nobody
but the Globetrotters tried
to do until 20 years ago, Caty nudged me
in the ribs and pointed with a finger in her
lap to the girl sitting in front of her who
sported raspberry Koolaid hair, designer-
mangled jeans, and a real live three-month-
old baby balanced between her knees.
The baby girl (I assumed because of the
pink headband and dress) was staring up
in the trussworks that supported the domed
roof of the basketball court, her eyes
following the glulams from where they
anchored to the wall plates, up to the center
of the court and then back down, back up,
back down, like a tiny engineer figuring
snow load. I am a father and I know that
my kids are way smarter than I, so it
was not difficult to believe that the child
actually understood what it was seeing. My
mind, as is its propensity, skipped across
the blue pond of the little mathematician’s
eyes right into the story of Pythagoras and
the bean field.
Pythagoras was a Greek, born about 575
B.C., on the island of Samos in the Aegean
Sea. At the age of 30, after having studied
the teachings of Thales (“You can’t stick
the same foot in the same
river twice”), and having
run into difficulties with
the local authorities about
his idea that maybe Greece
wasn’t the actual center of
the universe, Pythagoras
emigrated to the southern
portion of what is today the
Italian peninsula, to a small
Greek settlement called
Crotona.
Lacking any stonemason
or olive picker skills,
Pythagoras set himself up
as a teacher of mathematics.
Math was a new science, and
he soon had 300 students
in his unusual school. For
instance, for the first five
years of enrollment, the
student was required to maintain absolute
silence in the classroom, to wear only a
short skirt, male or female, to adhere to
the diet of strict, non-ovo (eggs), non-lacto
(milkshakes) vegetarianism, and to never,
ever, on punishment of expulsion, eat a
single, solitary bean.
Pythagoras left no written record of
why he was legumaphobic. Aristotle,
roughly his contemporary, does list a few
reason why Pyth asked his students to
abstain from beans, including “because
they are destructive” “because they are
like genitals,” “because they are like the
gates of Hades, the stems alone of all
plants being without joints,” and because
“a chewed bean placed in the sun smells
of human semen or of murderously spilt
human blood.” Aristotle also notes that
Bigshots
don’t like to
hear that the
ground they
walk on is
not the focal
point of all
divine
activity.
the students were forbidden to touch white
roosters.
But Pyth and his students did figure
out some important stuff. Any concrete
worker laying out a foundation knows the
Pythagorean Theorem: In a right triangle
(one with a ninety-degree angle), the sum
of the squares of the lengths of the short
sides equals the square of the hypotenuse,
or long side. Or: A times A, plus B times B,
equals C times C. (Concrete workers know
this as the 3,4,5 rule)
Pyth and the kids took the relationship
between numbers a few steps farther,
suggesting that there existed a harmonic
relationship between the objects in the
night sky, and that if a person studied
the heavens while imagining a bunch of
triangles in the sky, one must come to
the conclusion that the ground one was
standing on was just a big ball spinning in
space.
Bigshots don’t like to hear that the
ground they walk on is not the focal point
of all divine activity. The churchy Italian
ruling class took issue with the new
cosmology, and, finally, when Pythagoras
was in his early 80s, the bosses sent troops
out to find him and get rid of him. It is
testimony to his dietary restrictions that he
was able to flee at such an age. And flee
he did, with 10 of his top students, toward
the southwest into the flatland agricultural
areas of southern Italy.
He almost made it to safety, to the home
of an influential father of one of his little
math wizards. When Pythagoras arrived
at the edge of the guy’s farm, however,
with the posse hot on his tail, he stopped,
sat down in the dirt, refused to move, and
waited to be caught. The father was a bean
farmer. Rather than set foot in a field of
beans, Pythagoras was apprehended, and
executed, in Metapontum, Italy, in 493
B.C.
There is a footnote to this story.
Recently, a couple of scholars, Robert
YOUR VIEWS
Murdock understands
role of public safety
Please join me in voting to re-elect George Murdock as
Umatilla County commissioner, Position 1.
As the undersheriff for Umatilla County, I and Sheriff
Rowan have worked closely with Mr. Murdock and our
other county commissioners to grow and improve the
sheriff’s office. Mr. Murdock understands the important
role that public safety plays in the vitality of our county,
and has made it one of his top priorities.
He has a wide variety of knowledge and experience
in education, business, and management, to name a few.
George is approachable and is easy to work with. I’m
proud to call George and his lovely wife, Donna, my
friends.
With your support, we can look forward to working
with Commissioner Murdock for many years to come!
Jim Littlefield
Hermiston
Say no to George Murdock
I voted for George as commissioner in the last race, but
will not vote for him this time. You see, I received a flyer
yesterday from the Re-Elect George campaign, and I say it
lacks of integrity and honesty. Let me explain:
George had a photo of the Harkenrider Center
dedication with two of our Senior Center board of
directors, Willard and Judy Fordice. Nice, but the photo
was taken several hours after the dedication that George
did not attend. I know, I was at the dedication. He was at a
wedding and showed up right about the time the Fordices
were closing up. He and his wife wanted a tour. The
Fordices obliged. Then George pulled a photo op and left.
In my five years working on this project, have I ever
seen or heard of George’s involvement? I did not see him
on the long range planning committee, the site selection
committee, or the numerous times I and others went to city
hall to council meetings garnering support from the council
for the center. In addition, nor has he aided in the financial
aspect through grants or personal contributions, like many
of us in the project have done. Just a shame!
It is sad when a politician uses these types of photos to
make it look like he had any tangential involvement to the
process, which he did not. I will vote for Rick Pullen now,
as well as my family and friends who know well about how
the Senior Center came to be. It was from my and others’
steadfast, daunting, and long involvement of hundreds of
personal hours that this happened, and not your one photo
op in the center, which is dishonest.
George, you were dishonest in this flyer and integrity
lacking, and people in the county should send you packing.
Perry W. Hawkins
Hermiston
Vote no on Measure 105
Part of the state and local taxes I pay fund public
safety: our state police, county sheriff, and city police. It
is a big job and we need to keep those resources focused
on keeping our highways and communities safe. Measure
105 would expand that job without providing additional
funding and without improving public safety. It removes
the prohibition that keeps state, county, and local law
enforcement agencies from looking for or arresting
people whose only violation is being here without proper
documentation.
Our state and local resources can already work with INS
when needed to respond to crimes. We don’t need them to
do the work of INS by detaining people just because they
are undocumented. People who aren’t documented commit
crimes at a much lower rate than the general population;
seeking them out and deporting them is not a priority for
protecting us. Part of my federal taxes pay for immigration
management. That work should stay at the federal level so
we have a clear picture of what it costs and a clear picture
of the extent to which our immigration system needs
reform.
I am a Christian and my religion, like many others,
tells me to treat my neighbor as I treat myself. Everyone
benefits when everyone can live without fear, regardless
of the circumstances under which they came to Oregon.
Everyone benefits when everyone can approach law
enforcement officials for help without worrying about
being detained because of lack of documentation. Everyone
benefits when no one is asked, based on the color of their
skin, to prove they are here with documentation.
Measure 105 is not in the best interest of Oregonians. I
urge you to vote no on this issue.
Lindsay Winsor
Milton-Freewater
Walden has failed to use
his powers for good
The East Oregonian’s endorsement of Greg Walden to
represent ORD2 in Congress is a great disappointment.
Yes, Walden holds significant power in Congress. But
when that power is used to further the interests of out-of-
state corporate donors over the well-being of this district’s
citizens, he is part of the problem, not part of the solution.
The most notable problem is his leadership in support
of a piece-by-piece dismantling of the Affordable Care
Act. The ACA is a step in the right direction toward
ensuring that everyone has health care coverage, and
without fear of denial or higher premiums for age or
preexisting conditions. Other problems, to name a few,
include Walden’s votes in support of tax cuts for the rich
and against a livable minimum wage, votes for the fossil
fuel industry and against renewable energy, and votes
for cutbacks to Social Security and Medicare, paycheck
investments entrusted to the government, which most have
paid into throughout our working years.
Walden proudly touts how much legislation he has
sponsored and passed, but is it the best legislation for
the issues facing our district and country? My answer is
a resounding no. Why is the opioid crisis only an issue
worthy of legislation now that it’s election time? Why are
tariffs and the resulting government aid better than our
farmers’ being able to profitably sell their wheat and other
crops?
A vote for Walden is a vote to continue the mean-
spirited policies of the current administration, policies
which create fear, distrust, and chaos — both nationally
and internationally — policies which favor the rich at the
expense of the ordinary citizen. Continuing these policies
does not create the Oregon or America that I want for
myself or my family and friends.
When I cast my ballot, I’m voting for a return to policies
that support the ordinary citizen! I’m voting for clean
energy, for environmental protections, for health care for
all, for humane immigration policies, for laws which do
not apply solely to women, and for laws which maintain
separation of church and state. I’m voting for Jamie
McLeod-Skinner. I urge you to join me.
Helena Wolfe
Hermiston
Murdock doesn’t know how to coast
Our vote is for Commissioner Murdock.
In a recent letter to the editor it was noted that the
candidate running against Mr. Murdock “is not a candidate
who will sit back and coast like his competitor” and “he
truly loves Umatilla County, not just a select group or city
whom he can benefit from.” These statements are far from
reality.
We have found Commissioner Murdock to be a man of
his word, sets goals and gets things done. Commissioner
Murdock is a kind and generous person who has the
time, desire and experience to serve our county well. He
is thoughtful of all community members, is not afraid to
make tough decisions and stands behind them.
His altruism should also be noted but Mr. Murdock
needs no fanfare. His work in community action and
Rotary is a small glimpse of working and doing for others.
If you want a commissioner who has never “coasted”
through life or work, re-elect Commissioner Murdock.
Roger and Paula Hall
Pendleton
J.D. S mith
FROM THE HEADWATERS
OF DRY CREEK
Brumbaugh and Jessica Schwartz, have
made the argument that the Pythagorean
prohibition of beans is best understood
as a “commonsense injunction aimed at
preventing acute hemolytic anemia in
individuals with a hereditary deficiency
of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase
in their red blood cells, or favism.” In
other words, certain people under the
age of 15, about 2 in 10,000, are allergic
to fava beans, even to the touch. Those
were the types of beans grown universally
in pre-Christian Italy. So maybe the old
mathematician was not totally off his
rocker after all, and sacrificed his life to
save a couple of his young students.
■
J.D. Smith is an accomplished writer and
jack-of-all-trades. He lives in Athena.
Measure 102 will
ease housing crisis
across Oregon
By DOUG CHRISMAN
A
cross our state, Oregonians are experiencing
a housing crisis. As one of our state’s leading
affordable housing developers, we believe we
have a responsibility to ensure that everyone in our
state has a safe and affordable place to call home.
Chrisman Development has rehabilitated over a
thousand affordable apartment homes across our state,
particularly here in Eastern Oregon, for seniors, people
with disabilities, and families just starting out.
Our work is focused on ensuring we maintain our
affordable housing for the long term. Many of our
properties were built decades ago, and have been
the only source for affordable housing in some of
our smaller communities. Every week, our property
managers hear from members of our communities,
looking for an affordable place to call home.
Over the years, we’ve learned that putting together
the pieces of funding needed to finance affordable
housing is a large and complicated puzzle, and we
don’t always have all the pieces. In fact, every year
Oregon leaves some federal housing dollars, a very
important piece of the puzzle, off the table. Money
from the federal government goes unspent in Oregon
each year because we don’t have the local matching
funds required to unlock those resources.
Why? One reason is that Oregon’s constitution
prohibits local governments from working with
affordable housing developers to build affordable
rental homes with locally approved bond dollars. This
constitutional ban means that if local governments
want to use locally approved bond dollars, they must
own and control any housing built with bonds, and
cannot use those dollars to leverage other resources
— like federal tax credits — to build affordable
housing. It also means that local governments cannot
access the expertise of affordable housing developers.
We’ve built that extensive experience in building and
maintaining affordable housing over our decades of
work, and we’d like more Oregonians to benefit from
what we know.
Put another way: when we’re putting together the
puzzle to build new or maintain existing affordable
housing, we can’t use local bonds to finish the picture.
Right now in Oregon, voters can approve bonds for
affordable housing, but our law is outdated and simply
makes it too expensive for smaller local governments
to build homes. That’s why federal matching funds are
so vital to making progress, and why we’re advocating
for Measure 102. It is a bipartisan solution that would
easily fix the problem, and it would fix it without a tax
increase. It simply makes good sense.
Measure 102 is a very small change to the Oregon
Constitution that could yield huge results. Local
governments from around the state would have the
flexibility to build more affordable homes in our
communities, while ensuring accountability.
We know our state also has a strong system of
accountability in place to ensure that affordable
housing dollars are well spent — they target people
with the lowest incomes in our community, and our
system of accountability ensures that the housing is
affordable for the long term. Ultimately, this is about
ensuring all Oregonians have a place to call home.
We believe it’s not only our responsibility, but the
community’s as well. We urge you to vote yes on
Measure 102.
■
Doug Chrisman is the president of Chrisman Devel-
opment, Inc. in Enterprise.