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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 2019)
A4 East Oregonian Saturday, October 26, 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 Tip of the hat, kick in the pants A kick in the pants to the two teenagers facing felony charges for assaulting a Pendleton man on the river parkway. No one should feel any kind of appre- hension or fear when they take a walk in one of the city’s parks or down by the riverfront. That’s why the case of resident Wil- liam Wehrli is so disturbing and should provoke some thought. As readers probably already know, Werli was doing his workout Tuesday along the Pendleton River Parkway when he was allegedly assaulted by two teens. The circumstances of the case are straightforward and police quickly arrested two suspects. Police say the two teens face felony charges over the case. The entire situation is unfortunate and especially calamitous for Wehrli. The case will now go to the Umatilla County District Attorney’s Office. If the two individuals are guilty of the assault, the district attorney’s office should punish them to the fullest extent of the law. This kind of behavior has no place anywhere. We live in a rural area that offers a great way of life for all. Being afraid to walk along the parkway isn’t the type of atmosphere Pendleton wants to stimulate. A tip of the hat to the Good Shep- herd Health Care System, which is working to create new “community health improvement” program. Good Shepherd and St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton united to survey county residents regarding health care needs. The survey helped build a database to create a better, overall response to health care needs locally. The idea is a sound one and shows that our health care pro- viders are working to address the con- cerns and needs of the local population. A kick in the pants to the results of a new report that shows the vaping rate among youths in the state contin- ues to climb. The report is one more key EO file photo A man rides his bicycle down the river walk. A Pendleton man was assaulted on the parkway earlier this week. piece of evidence that vaping is becom- ing a gateway for youths and addiction to nicotine. Nicotine addiction among youths isn’t a new paradigm, but what makes this new report so troubling is the nearly 80% rise by youths in the 11th grade between 2017 and 2019. The boost in youth vaping should give health care providers, parents and youths pause. The next big question is, how do we as a community stop the rise? A tip of the hat to the effort by the Oregon Water Resources Commis- sion to reach out to local communities to guarantee there will be clean and abun- dant water for our state. Officials are now moving across the state and talking to community stake- holders to get input and be updated on each region’s water issues. Water is so essential to life and the region’s biggest industry — agriculture — that we sometimes take it for granted. We shouldn’t. As the Earth warms, water will become another key factor in cli- mate change. That means having a long- term plan in place is not only a good idea, but essential. FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK Letter verification ensures readers are not shortchanged I 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 tributed letter to the editor — though I can’t n an era of the “fake news” mantra, ver- ification and accountability are far more think of one — but for us it is just bad policy. important than ever before for news orga- We’ve moved too far down the road in this nizations like the East Oregonian. We boast a nation where the passive-aggressive can hide variety of procedures to ensure that what you behind a Facebook chat screen or anonymous online comment section to spew hate and lies. do see and read in the paper is as close to the We tolerate it — why I don’t know — truth as possible. and often shrug it off. We shouldn’t. A good case in point regarding Especially in a place like East- verification and truth is our letters to ern Oregon where a person’s word is the editor policy. We welcome letters their bond. Eastern Oregon is an area to the editor. Even now, in the digi- tal age and the ascendancy of social where values, such as integrity and media, a good, vibrant letters to commitment, are learned at an early the editor section is a sign that your age and promoted vigorously. When local newspaper is doing its job. someone has something important A ndrew The key piece of our letters to to say, even if it is controversial, they C utler should have the fortitude to back it up the editor policy is the fact all letters COMMENT with their name. we print must come with the indi- viduals’ name, address and phone When someone doesn’t do that, number. That’s so we can verify the it is a copout. And I question any individual exists. On a blog or on some social “media outlet” that would print an unsigned media bulletin board, or other “media outlets,” letter and its commitment to journalism. such important items as verification may not We won’t print letters to the editor without be as important (or are nonexistent) but with a a name and address and phone number for lots daily and most weekly newspapers such issues of reasons, but one of those is we must at least know the writer is a real person, with a real are critical. complaint or idea. That’s because, at the end of the day, we It may be a clunky process, but it ensures, want to provide a discourse for our readers, at the end of the day, that our readers are not but that discourse can’t be a free-for-all. going to be short-changed. In my experience, running an anonymous ——— letter to the editor is not only foolish, but just Andrew Cutler is the editor of the East plain bad journalism. There are probably Oregonian. plenty of justifications for printing an unat- YOUR VIEWS Echo City Council merits praise, support This is in praise of the Echo City Council. I attend council meetings as often I can, not because I have a griev- ance, not because I consider it enter- tainment, but because I can. I want to give them my visible support. And I ought to. These MCs, members of council, are business owners and retired, experi- enced in civic duty and novices. They are doing what democracy is, government of the people and by the people. They are unpaid, seldom thanked, duty bound. Thank you, Echo City Council. This is to honor you, and all those who serve their town and city here in Northeast Oregon, and across the nation. You reas- sure the rest of us that we are doing the right thing by governing ourselves. Don Reese Echo Hermiston Community Center sale a poor decision If the city of Hermiston follows through with the sale of the Hermiston Community Center, then Bryan Wolfe and Tim Mabry need to dust off their donation list and see that the city return that $665,000 in donations received from community and business donors. This is a community building run by the city, not an asset the city can sell off at their leisure. Another poor decision being considered by our city council and mayor. Gary Quick Hermiston 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