ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
WYATT HAUPT JR.
News Editor
JADE McDOWELL
Hermiston Editor
TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2021
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Bentz has
bright
future in
Congress
O
ntario lawyer Cliff Bentz has some
big shoes to fill.
The newly elected congressman
— who will replace longtime Hood River
lawmaker Greg Walden — steps into the
hallowed halls of the U.S. Congress at
a key point in history. The nation is still
locked in a deadly pandemic while many
congressional GOP lawmakers are openly
proclaiming they will work to revoke Joe
Biden’s victory over President Trump.
Bentz, a staunch Republican with a long
political history in the Oregon House and
Senate, won his seat by 25%, a sure indica-
tion that most voters on the eastern side of
the state believe he can make a difference.
Bentz probably will not be able to
become a political powerhouse his first
term. Freshman congressmen and women
face an array of hurdles — mainly inexpe-
rience at the federal level — to be able to
make a big impact right off.
Still, Bentz will be in a good position to
do what remains the most important part
of his job: look out for the interests of the
Oregonians he represents.
That, by itself, isn’t an easy job. Still,
the big issues for Oregonians in his dis-
trict — which includes all of Eastern Ore-
gon — remain stable. Access to and pro-
tection of natural resources and careful,
but continued, use of water in our region.
Preservation and expansion of existing
infrastructure across the region, such as
better roads, highways and internet access,
should also be an important topic for the
first-term congressman.
Eastern Oregon also needs help eco-
nomically, but not with pie-in-the-sky con-
cepts that only benefit the few. The eastern
portion of the state has continued to lag
behind the rest of Oregon in the years after
the Great Recession and the pandemic
has only made things worse. Since 2014,
and up to the pandemic, large parts of the
state enjoyed a relative period of economic
growth, but in rural Oregon the recovery
from the recession lagged significantly.
No one, of course, expects Bentz to
work miracles. Instead we hope the first-
term congressional lawmaker can do what
he can, what is reasonable and obtain-
able, to help voters. He will be shackled, to
some extent, by his Republican Party over-
lords but he can do good things.
He will face, in the end, a choice
between joining the shrill voices of discon-
tent or of buckling down and working on
issues that will impact people in Eastern
Oregon.
We believe Bentz is not just another pol-
itician, but a lawmaker with a bright future
in Congress.
EDITORIALS
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.
LETTERS
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:
editor@eastoregonian.com,
or via mail to Andrew Cutler,
211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801
2020 in hindsight — what did we learn?
DANIEL
WATTENBURGER
HOMEGROWN
R
ather than starting by looking
directly at 2020, let’s go back
two decades. It may help put
things in perspective.
In the waning years of the 20th cen-
tury, we faced potential disaster. Many
of the computer systems entrusted
to run our critical services — power
plants, banks, medical facilities, air
traffic control, etc. — had been pro-
grammed to understand dates in six
digits. This was expected to become
a problem when 12/31/99 turned to
01/01/00 and automated calculations
were scrambled, causing shutdowns and
meltdowns as computers reset to 100
years prior.
The problem was dubbed “Y2K” as
a shorthand for the forthcoming year,
and nations across the world spent bil-
lions of dollars reprogramming critical
systems to allow for eight-digit dates,
allowing computers to smoothly transi-
tion into the new century on 01/01/2000.
If you’ve thought about Y2K at all in
the past 20 years, it’s probably been as
a punchline. I think of the 1999 com-
edy “Office Space,” in which the main
characters have the mind-numbing job
of reprogramming millions of lines of
code in preparation for the year 2000.
The task seemed like a futilely stupid
effort, especially in retrospect as there
were no major disasters on New Year’s
Day.
So what did we learn? That overreac-
tion to a perceived problem is a waste of
time and energy? That Y2K was a hoax
created to sell software patches? Or that
by collectively addressing a problem,
we can nullify and avoid it altogether?
About 21 months later, on Sept. 11,
2001, the U.S. suffered a blow we seem-
ingly hadn’t foreseen or prepared for.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed as ter-
rorists flew commercial jets into the
World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
It was a horrific day that resulted in two
foreign wars, the Patriot Act, and exten-
sive precautionary measures in air travel
that we still abide by today.
We vowed to never forget. But what
did we learn? That we are more vul-
nerable than we thought? That we are
stronger when standing together? Or
that by collectively addressing a disas-
ter, we can prevent it from happening
again?
The answers aren’t black and white.
Complex problems often require com-
plex solutions, and the best solutions
often make it appear the problem never
existed in the first place. We can only
rely on the best available information
and move forward.
Now, using that lens, let’s look at
2020.
Just as with Y2K, much of the work
done to mitigate pain and turmoil of
the coronavirus will be overlooked. Fif-
ty-seven people died of COVID-19 in
Umatilla County and more than 5,500
tested positive in 2020 — and that’s
with nine months of public measures to
stop its spread. Without these measures,
the toll would have certainly been much
worse.
The economic and social pain may
be what’s remembered most vividly,
especially for those who don’t suffer the
loss of a loved one. In reality, these mal-
adies are a by-product of our collective
failure to stop the virus’ spread, not a
direct effect of the biological enemy.
We can look at the presidential elec-
tion in the same way, assuming we
uphold the legal and fair results of the
open electoral process. Will we remem-
ber and reinforce the steps it took to
ensure the will of the people and pre-
scription of the Constitution prevailed
against the spurious claims of the pow-
erful? Or will we forget the threat to our
democracy because it didn’t end in a
full-blown crisis?
History books are full of things that
have happened. It’s harder to under-
stood what could have happened, both
good and bad, and which actions made
the difference.
As we leave 2020 behind, we know
2021 will bring challenges of its own.
But time will move on, and the details
will blur. This is the time to start taking
the lessons of 2020 to heart, before we
forget what was at stake.
———
Daniel Wattenburger is the former
managing editor of the East Oregonian.
He lives in Hermiston with his wife and
children and is an account manager for
Pac/West Communications. Contact him
at danielwattenburger@gmail.com
I understand that some people don’t
like President Trump. I understand that
the media want him out of office and that
there have been constant efforts over the
last four years to remove him. I under-
stand that Democrats never accepted his
presidency and also attacked him like
the liberal press. Somehow, an American
means of fairness needs to overcome the
prejudice against President Trump and
convince me and others that the election
wrongs will be investigated and right
will prevail. I may not like, but can cer-
tainly accept, a Democrat president if
fairly elected. It would take great effort
to convince me Biden’s election was fair
and that he is fit for the office given his,
and his family’s, reported business ties
to communist China.
I don’t agree with all of President
Trump’s style, opinions and actions
but, overall, he has achieved very good
results for America. At the very least, he
deserves fairness.
Jim Carnahan
Baker City
solution is “30 by 30,” a national and
local effort to protect 30% of Ameri-
ca’s land and oceans by 2030. “30 by
30” prevents the destruction of natu-
ral ecosystems, preserves the miracle of
biodiversity and, critically, sequesters
vast amounts of carbon while simulta-
neously creating economic opportunity.
“30 by 30” is a key component of the
incoming Biden/Harris administration’s
science-based, economically astute,
forward-thinking environmental pol-
icy platform and is embraced by many
national and local conservation organi-
zations, including The Nature Conser-
vancy, The Wilderness Society and the
Oregon Natural Desert Association, as
well as businesses, such as Patagonia
and REI.
Part of this endeavor includes pro-
tecting our public lands. Oregon has
the opportunity to again lead due to
the efforts of Sens. Ron Wyden and
Jeff Merkley. The Malheur Commu-
nity Empowerment for Owyhee Act (S.
2828) is making its way through Con-
gress. This pragmatic bill addresses cli-
mate change impact by safeguarding
large areas of public land and preserving
natural wildlife corridors.
There are many ways to address the
climate crisis; they include protecting
our public lands and waters. I implore
Oregon’s elected leaders to refine and
pass the Malheur Community Empow-
erment Act for Owyhee Act as soon as
possible.
Mark Molner
Bend
YOUR VIEWS
Americans at least deserve
to have a fair election
I’m frustrated and discouraged. As a
conservative Republican in a, sadly, lib-
eral Democrat state, I’m typically dis-
appointed on Election Day. However,
this presidential election is significantly
different and way beyond disappoint-
ing. I’m among the 77% of Trump vot-
ers who see a fraudulent process. Yes,
I’m aware that the Trump legal team has
been dismissed in 59 of 60 lawsuits, but
I don’t understand how these suits can
be so blithely dismissed without a fair
hearing.
Aside from the compelling arguments
made by the Trump legal team, there has
been witness after witness describing
what they saw as fraud, or at least very
questionable acts. Also, people reported
they were victims of fraud when they
showed up to vote, but were told they
had already voted. A man stated he had
hauled a trailer loaded with ballots from
New York to Pennsylvania. Republican
poll watchers were forced to leave poll-
ing locations. One state mailed out 1.8
million absentee ballots, but received
and counted 2.5 million. Dead people
voted. Experts have provided amazing
information about the questionable accu-
racy of Dominion voting machines. All
of these issues needed to be thoroughly
and honestly investigated and given their
day in court. And the arguments that
recounts have been completed are super-
fluous: recounting fraudulent ballots
doesn’t prove anything.
Climate change
threatens all of us
The climate crisis threatens us all.
The dangers are real and familiar and
upon us: unprecedented storms, fires,
drought, climate-ignited conflict, too
many more. Fortunately, there are solu-
tions that steer us toward a healthier,
safer, more climate-resistant future.
One exciting and transformative