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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 20, 2019)
A4 East Oregonian Tuesday, August 20, 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 Purchase of body cameras should get green light I t is rare when elected officials face a clear-cut, black-and- white decision but the Pend- leton City Council will face one Tuesday when it ponders an initia- tive to purchase body cameras for the police department. The council should carefully consider a bid from an Arizona company to supply the body cam- eras, and then approve the move. The details of the move are straightforward. To furnish body cams, software, hardware and data storage, Axon of Scottsdale will charge the city a little more than $27,000 for the first year of ser- vice. Part of the cost will be cov- ered by a $31,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, but Pendleton is still required to come up with another $31,000 for the venture. Chief Stuart Roberts supports the move and the council should too. While there is a lot of debate about the usefulness of body cam- eras for police, the bottom line is such devices provide our law enforcement personnel with a val- ued tool. Body cameras furnish police with yet another fail-safe EO file photo During Tuesday’s Pendleton City Council meeting, members will vote on a bid from Axon Enterprise of Scottsdale, Ariz., to supply body cameras to the Pendleton Police Department. when they face a dangerous situ- ation and, later, their actions are reviewed. Body cameras allow a degree of oversight and transparency that is often not available to taxpayers and their elected representatives. They also provide police depart- ments who are doing their job right a ready and useful outlet to show they acted appropriately during a crisis. That is no small matter. Our democratic system is one that not only demands accountability of its police but also tends to delve into every detail of a high-profile situ- ation where police are compelled to use force. With a body camera, the actions of our police person- nel are there to see, in real time. A police department that elects to uti- lize body cameras sends a message it is, indeed, ready to protect and serve, that it is not above the law and is confident in its policies and procedures. Roberts and the rest of his department should get more than their fair share of praise on this move. It is a signal that Pendleton PD desires to be transparent and is willing to take the steps necessary to ensure that occurs. A depart- ment that chooses such a course of action illustrates it sees itself as a valued member of the community. The city council shouldn’t spend more than the necessary time to review this move, and then it should give it the green light. OTHER VIEWS A proposed compromise solution for Lostine River Corridor E CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES U.S. PRESIDENT GOVERNOR Donald Trump The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414 whitehouse.gov/contact/ Kate Brown 160 State Capitol 900 Court Street Salem, OR 97301-4047 503-378-4582 U.S. SENATORS Ron Wyden 221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg. Washington, DC 20510 202-224-5244 La Grande office: 541-962-7691 Jeff Merkley 313 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 202-224-3753 Pendleton office: 541-278-1129 U.S. REPRESENTATIVE Greg Walden 185 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 202-225-6730 La Grande office: 541-624-2400 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. REPRESENTATIVES Greg Barreto, District 58 900 Court St. NE, H-38 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1458 Rep.GregBarreto@state.or.us Greg Smith, District 57 900 Court St. NE, H-482 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1457 Rep.GregSmith@state.or.us SENATOR Bill Hansell, District 29 900 Court St. NE, S-423 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1729 Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us astern Oregon Legacy Lands, spon- ate. This approach will save the mature sor of Wallowology Discovery Cen- and older trees with their thick fire-resis- ter, has watched the Lostine River tant bark, large carbon stores, and cool understory microclimate. It will also pro- Fuels Reduction project unfold over several tect valuable fisheries and wildlife hab- years. The conflation of values, science, itat, and reduce impacts on the sensitive politics and strong emotions has left little cool-adapted forest understory species. room for productive dialogue. Nonetheless, This way we can move forward everyone agrees they love the Los- tine River and Eagle Cap Wilder- reducing tree density and fire ness. The Lostine provides us with risk where it matters most (small trees and flashy fuels) while an abundance of cold, clean water, retaining the large, older struc- rich fish and wildlife habitat, a riv- tures, in this cool, moist, ripar- erine paradise, and access to our ian forest environment. Local state’s largest Wilderness Area. fire crews do an excellent job It would be beneficial to find a removing small-diameter trees, solution to this problem and avoid D aviD and could provide an efficient actions that cause lasting divisions M ilDrexler way to do this important work. in our community, or a lost sense COMMENT This simple approach would of place for the Lostine River Cor- ridor. For whatever reason, rela- reduce fire risk, provide employ- tively low interest in the project resulted in ment, and largely maintain the character of at least one bid that was eventually with- the Lostine River Corridor we all cherish. drawn. While a slightly modified version of It might also help soothe the wounds many the sale has already been advertised, there people on both sides of this issue have is still time for a different course of action. experienced, and provide opportunities for In the spirit of solving this problem in everyone to move forward together in a everyone’s favor, we’d like to proffer a more unified manner. compromise. Move forward with an 8-inch ——— David Mildrexler is a systems ecologist diameter limit and remove the smaller, for Eastern Oregon Legacy Lands in Joseph. most flammable trees where appropri- YOUR VIEWS PERS a cancer that keeps growing in Oregon The possibility of an economic down- turn is well worth addressing, and thank you to the Republican senators with the courage and integrity to make the case. Oregon is in a very bad situation. Although the economy here is at least via- ble (and at least statistically improving), it is seriously compromised by the Pub- lic Employees’ Retirement System. PERS, designed and controlled by the people who benefit from it, is the single greatest threat to economic stability in this state. It’s upside down regarding cash flow and the commitments continue to grow. These feckless progressive superma- jorities and openly malfeasant governor continue to create and chase tax increase opportunities to address the problem and continue to push for expanded funding for education. Oregon’s system is one of the most expensive and poorest performing public education systems in the entire U.S. The public education system is also one of the major funding sources for PERS. Thankfully, we’re getting “cage free” chickens by 2024. Eggs and meat will cost a lot more while PERS continues to grow like a cancer. Enjoy the progressive supermajor- ities while you can. Soon they’ll run out of everyone else’s money to spend and we’ll hit a major recession. Maybe by 2024 our K-12 education sys- tem can make spelling “cage free” a liter- acy benchmark for a high school diploma. It could happen: We’re 48th of 50. Joe Bullard Scio 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
