A4
East Oregonian
Saturday, April 13, 2019
CHRISTOPHER RUSH
Publisher
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
WYATT HAUPT JR.
News Editor
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Reconnecting with rural America
T
here has been a
spate of recent
articles and anal-
ysis about the chal-
lenges facing today’s
rural America. Building
up to the 2020 election
cycle, East Coast pundits
C hristopher
are busy attempting to
r ush
get their heads wrapped
COMMENT
around “fly over coun-
try” in order to craft
political platforms and messaging that will
gain traction in places like rural Nebraska,
Kentucky, or Eastern Oregon.
Our newspaper recently published a
pair of such opinions — from two differ-
ent New York Times columnists, Paul Krug-
man and David Brooks — side by side in an
attempt to convey the emerging conventional
wisdom. Krugman’s column, while sin-
cere, seemingly smacks of an eastern elitist
attempting to instruct his fellow urbanites on
the foreign ways and customs of the people
who inhabit the continent’s interior and why
their culture is not thriving.
In contrast, Brooks actually landed in
Nebraska and spent time with his subjects,
got to know them, their motivations, their
aspirations, and portrayed a far more opti-
mistic view of rural America’s strengths and
its “way of life.”
The social ills and economic challenges
facing rural America have been well docu-
mented: declining populations in rural coun-
ties, shrinking tax base to improve or main-
tain vital infrastructure, and where industries
are on the wane (think West Virginia coal
country) some parts of rural America can
appear like forlorn ghost towns filled with
higher than normal chemical dependency,
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
An old bicycle adorns a planter on a street corner on Main Street in Echo.
bad diets, economic despair, and hopeless-
ness. But such problems equally infect many
of our largest inner cities as well.
The point is there is both good and bad
in rural America. It’s a vast, diverse area —
from the Appalachians to beyond the Rocky
Mountains and all points in between. It is
not easily defined and quantified, nor should
it be.
The difficulty for many of those who
inhabit large population centers on either
coast, is that they may rarely experience the
real rural America. Yes, our popular national
parks like Yellowstone, Grand Canyon,
and others are part of rural America. But
these federally operated lands set aside for
their majestic beauty can often more closely
resemble glorified amusement parks during
the height of summer vacation season.
The real rural America is found off the
interstate, typically along lonely two-lane
highways in which few Americans travel in
this day and age. Before air travel and the
advent of the Interstate highway system,
motorists once had a connection to these
remote places. They traveled through them
on roads like historic Route 66 and stopped
in small towns along the way for a gasoline
fill-up, a meal, or an overnight stay. Now,
we merely fly over them or speed around
them. We can miss towns like Grand Island,
Nebraska, or John Day. They disappear from
our collective view. Out of sight, out of mind.
But they’re still out there and the peo-
ple who inhabit these out-of-the-way places
choose to live there for a strong sense of
community or a feeling of independence, or
in the case of America’s farmers and ranch-
ers, an attachment to the land itself. These
small rural towns often represent gathering
spots in which rural families carve out a life
and endure for generations. Think of the cen-
tennial farms and ranches right here in East-
ern Oregon.
For city dwellers on each coast, it may be
difficult to truly understand and appreciate
rural America and the people who live here
without engaging in purposeful travel. Plenty
of time and an open mind is required. Dis-
covering the heartland should not be viewed
as a safari in which the traveler sees some
sights, briefly observes the natives and their
customs, buys a few trinkets, then returns to
their self-satisfied urban existence.
Another recent column on this topic by
economist Lawrence Summers, writing for
the Financial Times, is instructive. He and
his wife took a two-week drive from Chi-
cago to Portland across the the Great Plains
and Rocky Mountains on exclusively sec-
ondary highways. He sees rural America dif-
ferently now, through a different lens.
Summers’s experience shows that rural
America can still be found and understood
by urbanites if they will but seek it. We’re
still here and we’re not going anywhere.
———
Chris Rush is the regional publisher for
the East Oregonian, Hermiston Herald, Wal-
lowa County Chieftain and Blue Mountain
Eagle.
OTHER VIEWS
It’s time for a time change
Senate Bill 320, which now moves to the
House. If the bill becomes law, all but one
he Oregon Senate last week took a
of Oregon’s 36 counties would move to
step toward ending our generally
year-round daylight saving time — in other
pointless (and potentially harmful)
words, we’d spring forward and never fall
twice-annual ritual of changing our clocks,
back. (Malheur County is the exception;
joining a resistance that seems to be gaining
that county actually is on Mountain time so
momentum across the nation.
that it syncs with nearby Boise, Idaho. That
By a 23-4 margin,
county would continue
senators approved Sen-
to switch between day-
EVIDENCE
ate Bill 320, which
light time and standard
would move Oregon to
time, to stay in sync
CONTINUES TO
year-round daylight sav-
with Idaho.)
ing time. The bill isn’t
The bill that passed
MOUNT THAT THESE
perfect (we have some
the Senate isn’t exactly
TIME SWITCHES
quibbles with it), but it
a stirring denuncia-
tion of the changing
still is worth noting as
COME WITH RISKS
of the clocks: It would
an important first step
TO OUR HEALTH
only become effective
forward.
if Congress approves
Evidence continues
AND WREAK
the time change and if
to mount that these time
Washington and Cali-
switches (spring ahead
HAVOC WITH
fornia also adopt day-
an hour every spring;
SLEEP-DEPRIVED
light time on a perma-
fall back an hour every
nent basis (the good
fall) come with risks to
AMERICANS
news there is that pro-
our health and wreak
posals to do exactly that
havoc with sleep-de-
prived Americans (which include quite a
are making progress in both those states).
large number of us).
And a provision originally in the bill, call-
ing for a public vote on the issue, was elim-
And the reasons we’ve been given to jus-
tify the time switches simply don’t pan out.
inated. While we appreciate the Senate’s
For starters, daylight saving time never
willingness to take this matter into its own
was intended as a boon to farmers: In the
hands, we have to admit that we thought a
words of a memorable report on “Last Week
vote on this would have been fun.
Tonight with John Oliver”: “Cows don’t care
In such a vote, we could have gauged pop-
ular sentiment on the main dispute that faced
what time it is.” And crops get exactly the
same amount of light every day, regardless of senators in last week’s deliberations: whether
whether it’s daylight saving or standard time. the state should shift permanently to daylight
Daylight saving time wasn’t implemented or standard time.
While most senators favored daylight time
on a large scale until 1916, when Germany
(which is our preference as well), the argu-
and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary
ments raised by others supporting standard
set clocks ahead an hour to save on energy
time have some merit. For one thing, stay-
costs. Other nations, including the United
ing on daylight time year-round could have
States, followed suit. After World War I,
an effect on some religious observances. In
other nations abandoned the idea, but not
Judaism, for example, the daily morning
the United States. The idea of daylight sav-
ing time really picked up steam during the
prayer is held shortly after sunrise. In Janu-
ary, the sun wouldn’t rise until nearly 9 a.m.
energy crisis of the 1970s.
But here’s the deal: Evidence suggests that in western Oregon, making it difficult for
some worshipers to make it to work on time.
daylight saving time hasn’t saved on energy
But, really, on some level, the question of
costs. It may reduce lighting use, but that’s
daylight vs. standard time doesn’t matter that
offset by increased costs for air conditioning
much: The point here is to do away with the
and heating, and increased consumption of
time switch. Senate Bill 320 helps loosen the
gasoline.
bonds of this time tyranny.
So the time was right, so to speak, for
(Corvallis) Gazette-Times
T
YOUR VIEWS
SB 978 and its ramifications
I have had it with the antics of the loo-
nies that are pushing anti-gun legislation
that, taken in toto, are directed to restrict
usage of firearms to the point of law-abid-
ing citizens not being able to possess and
use firearms as protected by the Second
Amendment to the Bill Of Rights.
I have lived in the state of Oregon 77
years. SB978, if passed, is the “straw that
broke the camel’s back.” I will join many
others in Eastern Oregon and will advocate
for the secession of that part of the present
state of Oregon east of the crestline of the
Cascade Mountains and whatever coun-
ties laying west of the Cascade Mountains
that wish to join us and form a state that
will be noted as a “common sense” politi-
cal division.
Hopefully, the residents of Eastern
Washington will join us and a new state
can be born, perhaps named the “State of
Columbia” for the great river that flows
through the area. The possibility exists that
Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington
could unite with the state of Idaho to form
a formidable political entity.
Bill Timmermann
Helix
Let residents decide on
streets vs. airport
The mayor stated that the number one
concern of the residents was street repair.
Why, then, is the city borrowing millions
of dollars for the airport again? So far the
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.
return on the investment has been poor at
best, and now they want another $11 mil-
lion. They will want more money for new
fire trucks and building upgrades for the
station at the airport also, wait and see.
Did the people of Pendleton get a say
in borrowing that money? No, the city
decided to put all its eggs in one basket.
Their words, not mine.
When will the money flow to the airport
stop and a good return start to flow back
into city coffers?
The road to nowhere has almost zero
traffic; it was supposed to bring in new
customers to the airport and that never
panned out. That money could have fixed
streets for 10 years or more.
Sooner or later all these loans will have
to be paid. How much per year will be
spent repaying these loans? Will the rents
at the airport cover the payments? There is
a point where the city will go broke — how
much longer? All the extra fees that the
city can levy without a vote will also reach
the point that even the silent majority will
start to speak, or quit paying taxes. “Taxa-
tion without representation” ring a bell?
Pendleton must start living within its
financial means, just like all its residents,
or it too will fall into bankruptcy — and if
the people want streets fixed as a priority
the city must put its efforts to the task. And
maybe the city should borrow $11 million
for street repairs instead of for the airport.
Tell the people what the loan would cost
per year on their taxes and let them choose
between the airport or city streets.
Randy Holman
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
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211 S.E. Byers Ave.
Pendleton, OR 97801, or email
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