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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 10, 2019)
A4 East Oregonian Tuesday, December 10, 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 Important that fire, police have adequate resources A recent award of a federal grant to the Pendleton Fire Department is good news for the community, but it also highlights the lingering challenge of finding enough emergency services personnel to safeguard our community. The grant — called SAFER or Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emer- gency Response — will give local fire officials about $300,000 to address personnel shortfalls. Interim Pendleton Fire Chief Jim Critchley said the grant will most likely be used to pay for a new slot to focus on recruiting and retaining new reserve firefighters. Now, the fire department boasts 21 members. That seems like a lot for a small town like Pendleton but, in reality, it isn’t. A good case in point, Critchley pointed out recently, was the We Sell Stuff fire in late Sep- tember. The big blaze gobbled up resources and 18 firefighters and para- medics, and eight more from outside departments helped douse the blaze. EO file photo Firefighters spray water on the burning We Sell Stuff building on Sept. 29, 2019, on South- west First Street in downtown Pendleton. The fire was eventually extin- guished, but Critchley said the blaze might have been squashed earlier if more personnel were available. That’s a significant fact and one city elected leaders should probably give more than passing attention to. The focus of the city’s leaders seems to be to create more taxes to beef up city streets. That isn’t a bad idea, though voters should always view new taxes — of any kind — with a healthy dose of skepticism. The No. 1 task of local elected leaders should be to ensure two key agencies — the police and fire depart- YOUR VIEWS Big Pharma skewing Walden’s priorities Can’t afford meds? Well, sorry, the relief that was in sight for runaway drug prices has been killed by Rep. Greg Walden. H.R. 3, the Lower Drug Costs Now Act, would allow the federal government to directly negotiate lower prices with private companies in Medicare’s prescription drug program. Trump was previously in favor of it. Things changed. Walden met with Trump recently to convince him against HR3. Trump’s tweet, “Pelosi and her Do Nothing Democrats drug pricing bill doesn’t do the trick. FEWER cures! FEWER treatments!” closely mirrored Walden’s earlier published statement that controlling drug costs in this way “will drive out innovation and result in fewer cures.” Walden’s has been leading the charge to maximize profits of his generous “donors” in the pharmaceutical and health products industries, at the expense of us constituents (and all Americans in need of affordable health care). Walden received the most campaign money from the pharmaceutical and health products industry in the last election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Pol- itics. So far he has taken the third high- est total from the industry of anyone in the House, despite his plans to retire. You’ll recognize the names: Abbot Labs, Amgen, Astra Zeneca, Biogen, Bris- tol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck and others. Some of my prescriptions have increased 500% in the last 10 years. I, and others, will pay close attention to 2nd District candi- dates’ approach to drug price control and who they take contributions from. Debby Chenoweth Hood River Save the salmon through lethal means, if necessary Your report of Barry Thom’s (regional administrator of the National Marine Fish- eries Service) directive on “what steps can be taken to stop or slow the slide” of listed steelhead numbers brings to mind a state- ment I heard my dad make to fellow fish hatchery managers. I don’t recall the sit- uation, but he said some day those people will get control of the salmon program and there won’t be a fish left in the river. Fortu- nately, for them, none of them are alive to see what has happened to their legacy. The report reiterated some of those things that have been done and for this they should be commended. It also listed some of the steps they could take if 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. ESA-listed steelhead and by extension ESA-listed salmon were to slide. In the Columbia River there are five ESA dis- tinct steelhead, six ESA distinct Chi- nook salmon, one ESA distinct sockeye salmon and one ESA distinct chum salmon listed for endangered species protection. This means they cannot be allowed to go extinct. The report did not mention the North- west Power and Conservation Council has been spending over $200 million annually on these ESA-listed fish, but it doesn’t look like they are making much headway. There is one area of management the old manag- ers would have all agreed on. Why are you not controlling the predators? They all would have confirmed that allowing predators to increase their carry- ing capacity would be foolish. It would end commercial fishing on the river. Through the use of bounties and the Fish Commis- sion hiring a seal hunter they were able to keep the California sea lions and the har- bor seals out of the Columbia River. Cor- morants were to be shot on site. They knew that there were 10,000 California sea lions and 3,000 harbor seals on the West Coast. Some other things they knew were that seals and sea lions consume three to five fish a day and they like salmon if they can get them. They knew that cormorants needed six to eight smolt-sized fish to sate their appetite. These men were not highly educated, but they could multiply numbers. Using the three fish per day figure for seals and sea lions meant that they were loos- ing at least 39,000 fish per day, and half of them were females headed to the spawn- ing grounds. That was too many in their minds, but they were willing to keep that number stable. If they knew there are now 300,000 Cal- ifornia sea lions and 40,000 harbor seals, and at times there are as many as 10,000 cormorants using the Astoria bridge and practically every piling up the river, they would have begged the question, what are you thinking? California sea lions, harbor seals and cormorants have never been in danger of going extinct, but 11 distinct populations of salmon and steelhead are. Common sense should tell us we need to control the num- ber of predators through lethal means. A professed sense of helping undernourished countries tells us we should not waste the meat. Canneries for centuries have been processing all kinds of high protein meat. I am quite sure the canneries would be will- ing to employ additional help at a lot less than is now being spent for all of our ESA efforts. Some of my native friends tell me they would be willing to use their boats for the cause, and I suspect a number of con- scientious hunters would do likewise. Carlisle Harrison Hermiston ment — have enough resources, including personnel, to do their jobs. None of us like driving on rutted streets filled with potholes. But, then again, very few of us probably relish the idea of our fire and police person- nel hamstrung by a lack of resources. That is why the federal grant is such a good thing for our small com- munity. Critchely’s idea to find more reserves — and thus cut down on overall costs — to help his depart- ment is a good idea, and he deserves to be commended. The larger question, though, of whether the fire department has enough personnel to do its job effec- tively, remains somewhat murky. Spending tax dollars for public safety — whether it is police or fire — isn’t a bad idea under any circumstances. Our first responders are key. While paying a little extra for more fire and police may not seem attractive, it sure beats watching your house go up in flames because there are not enough fire personnel. OTHER VIEWS ’Tis the season for phony outrage and made up controversies T hanks in large part to social I don’t see what’s offensive about it. media, and in equally large part to It seems to me that Peloton has actually the mean-spirited discourse of the exercised (see, what I did there?) signifi- cant restraint, under the circumstances. day, virtually anything can be turned Peloton bikes feature an interactive into a national controversy. screen with live and on-demand fitness For Exhibit A, I go to Melania Trump classes led by a professional. Imagine or, more specifically, to the first lady’s the possibilities for offending. coat. “Pick up the pace, pork chop!” If you remember last holiday season, “Why is your house so dark? You Mrs. Trump was lambasted by the media must be blocking out the sun. and Hollywood types for her red Pedal faster!” Christmas trees. “Come on! Imagine there’s a This year, because there are pizza at the finish line! no red Christmas trees or other- wise scandalous decorations in Now, that’s offensive. the White House, Washington As it stands, I don’t see Post fashion critic Robin Givhan what’s objectionable about a went wardrobe on Melania. well-to-do, professional woman “Melania Trump’s Christmas getting an exercise bike as a R ich decorations are lovely, but that gift. But I’d clearly be in the M anieRi coat looks ridiculous,” Givhan minority in any survey of the COMMENT wrote. She also called it “a dis- frequently outraged and eas- comforting affectation taken to a ily offended, a growing group ludicrous extreme.” which now includes Vice writer Katie Based on Givhan’s criticism, you’d Way. “Her grim motivation that pushes her think the first lady was wearing a fresh to drag herself out of bed combined with bear carcass with the head still on. exclaiming at the camera how blatantly, I’m no expert in women’s fashion, as inexplicably nervous the Peloton makes any woman I know will attest. But I like her paint a bleak portrait of a woman the coat. I would encourage you to see in the thrall of a machine designed to for yourself, but in the photo released by erode her spirit as it sculpts her quads,” the White House, the coat is draped over Way wrote. “Titled ‘The Gift That Gives her shoulders. I’m not sure of the color. Back,’ the 30-second commercial is a Looks like an off-white or beige to me, mere glimpse into the barrage of hor- but I think it looks nice. But, as I say, ror its protagonist, a young wife and I’m no expert. mother, slogs through daily.” Was it Sigmund Freud or Calvin “Barrage of horror” might be just Klein who said, “Sometimes a coat is a bit strong. The woman is pedaling a just a coat.”? bike, not landing on Omaha Beach. For Exhibit B – and I could keep These bikes aren’t cheap – about going down the alphabet but there’s only $2,500 – and given the woman’s lux- so much time – I take you to Twitter, urious surroundings, some have said currently abuzz with criticisms and par- ody videos of a holiday Peloton com- the commercial smacks of “privilege,” mercial made by angry people with which I suppose means a privileged per- son can be defined thus: Someone who incredible amounts of downtime. has something I want but can’t afford so CNN ran a story under the headline, she shouldn’t have it either. “Peloton’s perplexing new holiday ad There is one thing a little odd about has incensed the internet.” the ad. The woman featured appears just The internet is always incensed about as fit at the beginning of the commer- something, so that’s not exactly break- cial as she does at the end. This is not ing news. But the ad itself, which you’ve a “before and after” scenario. The ben- probably seen by now, features a woman efits of her fitness journey seem a little receiving a Peloton indoor bike as a gift ambiguous. from her husband and then chronicling But why should I care? My workout her fitness journey on video. often includes hitting tractor tires with The ad has been called sexist, among a sledge hammer. Whatever gets you other things. through the day. In its report, CNN asks the ques- tion, “So what, then, makes this ad so Was it Freud or Jack LaLanne who offensive?” said, “Sometimes a bike is just a bike.”? The question, of course, assumes that ——— Rich Manieri is a syndicated columnist. everyone finds the ad offensive. 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
