East Oregonian
A4
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
CHRISTOPHER RUSH
Publisher
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Editor
WYATT HAUPT JR.
News Editor
JADE McDOWELL
Hermiston Editor
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Tribes’ purchase of Hamley’s a fitting conclusion
T
he purchase of Hamley Steak-
house and Saloon and Hamley
Western Store by the Confed-
erated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation was a fitting, and satisfac-
tory, conclusion reached last week in
Portland.
The tribes decided to invest $3.55
million to buy the facility, which is
more than just an ordinary local histor-
ical landmark. The history of Hamley’s
runs deep in our community and even
deeper into our Old West heritage.
Hamley’s, which includes a western
store, a coffee shop and a steakhouse,
has been a part of the fabric of Pend-
leton — and Umatilla County — for
more than 100 years.
That’s why its purchase by the tribes
is so significant and poignant. The
tribes are our direct link with the Old
West, and they drifted across the vast
county rangeland for a thousand years
before Pendleton existed.
The Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation also have
proven to be able to create, manage
and navigate a successful business —
Wildhorse Resort & Casino.
EO Photo, File
The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation purchased Hamley’s restaurant,
coffee shop and store at auction. The tribes was one of several interests bidding at a Port-
land law firm in an auction for the iconic Pendleton business, the result of the split between
former Hamley’s owners and business partners Blair Woodfield and Parley Pearce.
Tribe members have shopped at
Hamley’s since the store opened and it
is comforting to know that a longtime
local business is now going to remain
owned by locals.
The only disappointing element to
this latest local saga was the evidence
of a lingering prejudice that still man-
ifests itself from time to time. In this
case there was an undercurrent — nar-
row, ill-defined and, fortunately, mod-
est — that the Confederated Tribxes
of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
should not really be in the running to
purchase the Old West-themed store.
While incredibly disappointing, those
sentiments also were somewhat sur-
prising as we are two decades into the
21st century. Prejudice, however subtly
it presents itself, needs to go away.
The Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation did not
have to buy Hamley’s. The tribes did
not get a “steal” of a bargain either.
That is unless you consider $3.55 mil-
lion to be pocket change.
No, the tribes made a business deci-
sion, but one that exuded overtones of
community service. No one wanted
to see Hamley’s fade away. Too much
history is tied up in the store, too many
memories from a large group of people
linger from the iconic place.
The cold hard truth is the Confed-
erated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation are a tremendous asset to
this community. They are a tremen-
dous asset to our state. They’ve done a
very noble thing by stepping into pur-
chase Hamley’s. Now Hamley’s stays
locally owned and its future is bright.
We salute the Confederated Tribes of
the Umatilla Indian Reservation and
thank them.
OTHER VIEWS
Now the real PERS
reform work begins
Bend Bulletin
W
YOUR VIEWS
Chiropractic care should be
part of Medicare coverage
Pendleton and Eastern Oregonian
Medicare recipients need to contact Con-
gressman Greg Walden and ask him to
support and co-sponsor The Chiropractic
Medicare Coverage Modernization Act,
H.R. 3654, a bipartisan bill just intro-
duced in Congress by Representatives
Brian Higgins (D-NY) and Tom Reed
(R-NY).
This legislation will provide Medi-
care patient access to all Medicare-cov-
ered benefits allowable under a chiroprac-
tor’s scope of practice. America’s seniors
need and deserve access to chiroprac-
tic’s broad-based services for common
conditions that cause acute and chronic
back and neck pain. However, Medicare
currently will not pay for a chiroprac-
tor’s consultation, physical examination,
X-rays, physiotherapies, exercise therapy,
etc., which of course is nonsense.
This bill does not add new services, it
provides Medicare patients the freedom
to access chiropractic care directly and
by so doing will save the Medicare pro-
gram money. A study published by the
The American Board of Family Medi-
cine (Journal of the American Board of
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.
Family Medicine, 28(4):481-490, 2015)
reported for Medicare patients with back
and/or neck pain, availability of chiro-
practic care reduced the number of pri-
mary care physician visits, resulting in an
annual savings of $85.5 million.
Members of Congress want to hear
from you, the constituent voter, more
than anyone else. Seniors can con-
tact Congressman Walden’s Washing-
ton, D.C., office at 202-225-6730. Staff
will answer the phone, or if you receive
a recorded message, ask Greg to support
H.R. 3654, The Chiropractic Medicare
Coverage Modernization Act.
Dr. Vern Saboe
Oregon and American Chiropractic
Association
Albany
Obesity a serious health crisis
The Center for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) has released findings on
obesity in the USA. The most obese state
is West Virginia (38.1%), followed by Mis-
sissippi, then Oklahoma. Colorado was
found to be the least obese, and Oregon
comes in 31st with 29.4% of the population
obese. This serious health crisis affects
some 93.3 million adults in the USA. Keep
in mind, this is not overweight — this is
even beyond that when a person is obese.
In 1990, less than 15% of adults were
obese, but in 2010 12 states had an obesity
rate of over 30%. The rate has been ris-
ing with non-Hispanic blacks, Hispanics,
and Mexican Americans. The CDC has
also developed the “Couch Potato Index,”
which accounts for adults with “zero phys-
ical leisure activity.” Kentucky is first in
this category with 34.4% with no exercise
or activity.
This crisis is as real as the one at our
southern border, as it results in more sick-
ness, more days off of work, shortening
of life expectancy, and more visits to the
emergency room. The saddest part of this
is that most of this is voluntary and pre-
ventable. Poor diet, including the normal-
ization of fast foods as real meals and too
many sugary drinks, combined with little
or no exercise, results in a serious health
crisis in the country.
The average American female now
weighs almost 170 pounds, while the aver-
age male weighs about 197 pounds. I was
shocked when I learned this fact — how
about you?
David Burns
Pendleton
hile the 2019 Oregon Legislature
did pass one law aimed at bring-
ing reason to the state’s Public
Employees Retirement System, that effort
must not be the end of the reform road. Too
many problems remain, and a pair of bal-
lot measures being prepared by former
Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski and for-
mer Republican lawmaker Chris Telfer,
who used to represent Bend in the Legisla-
ture, would strengthen the new law. They’ve
taken a step toward getting their proposals
on the ballot. Hard work remains.
The Legislature’s effort, Senate Bill
1049, does a couple of things. It stretches
out the length of time required to pay the
state’s unfunded liability in the pension
system, and that should help ease the pain
nearly every public employer in Oregon will
face in the next few years. Of course, that’s
just like taking longer to pay off a credit
card bill. State taxpayers will end up pay-
ing more.
The bill also required that public employ-
ees put at least a bit of their own money into
the retirement system, something they hav-
en’t done since 2004. Finally, it caps how
much PERS will pay out to future employ-
ees at well under the nearly $1 million that
goes to Dr. Joe Robertson, a former head of
Oregon Health & Science University. After
Jan. 1 the cap is $195,000 a year.
Those reforms are a beginning. The bal-
lot measure efforts led by Kulongoski and
Telfer would be a vital next step, and the
pair is off to a good start. They have turned
in the necessary 1,000 signatures for each
that allows them to work on ballot titles
and, ultimately, begin the job of gathering
112,020 signatures each to place them on the
ballot.
Initiative Petition 22 would give
new state employees an option: Join a
401(k)-style plan and contribute 6% of their
salaries, matched by employer contribu-
tions, to their accounts or stay in today’s
plan without the current supplemental
accounts now available. Again, as of July 1,
2021, they’d have to put in 6% of their own
money.
IP 23 would also reinstate employee
contributions to the retirement system and
have lawmakers study and recommend a
401(k)-style plan for adoption.
Gathering a total of more than 224,000
signatures is no slam dunk, even with paid
signature gatherers. It’s a reachable goal,
however, and an important part of the
effort to reform PERS.
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 the editor to
editor@eastoregonian.com,
or via mail to Andrew Cutler,
211 S.E. Byers Ave.
Pendleton, OR 97801