ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
WYATT HAUPT JR.
News Editor
JADE McDOWELL
Hermiston Editor
SATURDAy, JAnUARy 9, 2021
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Tip of
the hat,
kick in
the pants
A
kick in the pants to the
ever-widening divisions in
America that led to an angry
mob overrunning our nation’s Capitol as
members of Congress fled for their safety.
The images captured by photojournal-
ists who stayed behind are startling. A
man flies a Confederate flag in the halls
of the Capitol — something many Ameri-
cans died to prevent during the Civil War.
Others take selfies in the seat occupied by
the vice president before he was rushed
out of the room minutes before, and a
man puts his feet up on the Speaker of the
House’s desk, a crumpled American flag
tossed haphazardly behind him.
We don’t know if any local residents
were there. But what we do know is that
one look in the comment section of the
East Oregonian’s Facebook page and
other local social media shows the same
divisive rhetoric and lies inflaming the
violence at the Capitol is also present in
Eastern Oregon. Far too many people
here see half (or more) of their own fellow
Americans as an enemy that must be
defeated.
It is not too late to work on healing the
rifts in our nation and in our communi-
ties, but it’s not something our leaders can
legislate away. Strengthening our country
and bringing the “united” back to United
States will take hard work by everyone.
A tip of the hat to those working
to help Pendleton’s unmanned aerial
systems range continue its growth.
Despite the pandemic, Darryl Abling,
the UAS range’s manager, said operations
in 2020 were up compared to 2019, and
he expects the range to set new records in
2021.
Jobs at the range are currently at just
under 100 positions, and future growth
there means future growth for the entire
community.
A tip of the hat to Althea Huesties-
Wolf, an educator from the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reserva-
tion who rewrote the curriculum for the
CTUIR’s GED program.
Huesties-Wolf incorporated a wide
variety of literary genres and multicul-
tural topics and improved the structure of
the course with additional flexibility and
assessments to determine the readiness
of students to take the GED exam. She is
working hard to provide a rich, quality
education to students whose life circum-
stances took them outside the traditional
path of a four-year high school education.
We appreciate her efforts, and wish her
students the best of luck in their endeav-
ors after they leave her class.
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
YOUR VIEWS
Coronavirus rules have no
rhyme or reason
Here are a few observations I have
noticed. Oregon invented the mail-in
ballot. Ever since the mail-in ballot
there has not been a Republican gover-
nor elected and the same for every blue
state that uses mail-in ballots. Also,
their state legislators have reduced the
Republican representatives. Hum. Just
saying.
Gov. Kate Brown allows corpo-
rate America to be open, but not small
entrepreneurs, which will effectively
wipe out the middle class. Her coronavi-
rus tracing never finds out if a shopper
at Macy’s contacted COVID-19, only
industries. Macy’s can have 75% capac-
ity, but restaurants must shut down. One
should ask her tracers how many cases
came from restaurants. Walmart is
essential, dope stores are essential, and
of course liquor stores.
All public servants are still work-
ing, however, when one calls a state
office one can wait up to one hour to
speak to a real person or one can leave a
message and four hours later, they call
back. One example (game commission):
“Due to the volume of calls your wait
time will be approximately 20 minutes.
You can leave a brief message with your
name and telephone number and we
will return you call in the order it was
received.” If I had stayed on the phone
for 20 minutes, I would have gotten
faster service than waiting four hours
for a returned call.
Protesters to Gov. Brown’s draconian
rules in Salem get the bum rush, but the
protesters in Portland get kid gloves.
Effectively, the mayor of Portland and
our governor have lost control of a once-
great city.
The elites have rules for you, but not
me. That is why the French Revolution
took place. I foresee the pitchforks and
scythes coming out soon.
Oregon is 48th in the nation for
education, and now 40% of the students
are failing. Over 1,000 student suicides
in Oregon. That is a record to be proud
of, Gov. Brown.
Do not bother with the Oregon
Supreme Court if one has issues with
the laws the governor broke, because it
is just a little left of Cuba.
Roesch Kishpaugh
Pendleton
Not all bad news
Most of what we read about COVID-
19 is bad news. The daily body count,
the new more dangerous strain, the fear
of contracting or spreading the virus,
and the devastating economic shut-
downs. While all this is real and news-
worthy, we are missing some important
and optimistic developments that might
lift our collective spirits.
Firstly, the vaccines are here, are
effective, and soon will be available to
all. The current administration should
receive credit for Operation Warp
Speed, and our pharmacological compa-
nies should be honored for their incredi-
ble scientific diligence in developing the
vaccine in response to a world crisis.
Secondly, we have therapeutic drugs
available, which have shown great effi-
cacy in fighting the disease.
Anti-viral drugs, such as Remdesivir
and other anti-inflammatory medica-
tion,s are being used routinely to lessen
the symptoms of the virus. Lastly, we
can sense that our economy will soon
fully reopen. If teachers, front-line
workers and elderly folks can be quickly
vaccinated, then there is no reason the
country should remain in perpetual
lockdown. We need the media to accen-
tuate the positive news so that 2021
begins with some much needed opti-
mism.
Bill Eddie
Bend
CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES
U.S. PRESIDENT
Donald Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
GOVERNOR
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
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
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
Cliff Bentz
1239 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6730
Medford office: 541-776-4646
SENATOR
Bill Hansell, District 29
900 Court St. NE, S-423
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1729
Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us