ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
WYATT HAUPT JR.
News Editor
JADE McDOWELL
Hermiston Editor
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2021
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
New river
protections
may have
unintended
consequences
O
regon lawmakers at the state and
national level do far more work
regarding unintended consequences
when they craft new legislation.
That isn’t an easy task, especially when a
politician is trying to get reelected, salve the
often-sharp political edges of his constitu-
ents, or is besieged by special interest groups.
Yet, it is a real issue that typically
goes unnoticed until a piece of legislation
becomes law. Then, the unintended conse-
quences are obvious and a whole new set of
problems exist.
A good case in point is a recent proposal
by Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff
Merkley to add more than 4,000 miles of
Oregon rivers and streams to the National
Wild and Scenic Rivers system.
The bill is set to greatly expand the
amount of terrain protected from a quar-
ter-mile strip on each side of a specific river
to one-half mile.
At first glance there is something in the
bill for everyone. The fears of environmen-
talists are assuaged, hikers and other outdoor
enthusiasts will see their favorite pristine
piece of land near a river safeguarded, and
it’s a giant step forward in terms of conser-
vation.
A lingering question, though, should
be, “What would be the unintended conse-
quences to this legislation?” If you are an
environmentalist, the answer would be none.
However, if you are not firmly rooted in the
conservation camp, what does such a bill
really mean?
Wyden said in a press release regarding
the bill that Oregonians made it “loud and
clear: They cherish Oregon’s rivers and want
them protected for generations to come.”
Wyden is probably correct. Generally,
most people want to see our rivers and moun-
tains protected from damage, not only now
but for future generations.
Still, what Oregonians made it “loud and
clear?” Umatilla County? Morrow County?
Folks in Union County? If so, how many?
Let’s be clear. We are not in opposition to
the bill. What we do hope is the lawmakers
who have carefully — we hope — crafted the
legislation have thought the idea all the way
to the end.
Making wide-sweeping proclamations to
appease conservation groups is all well and
good, but the impact of the legislation to the
folks on the ground should be a key question
with a readily available answer.
Too often lawmakers develop a grand idea
that sounds great. On paper it makes every-
one happy. Then it becomes law and some-
one, somewhere, loses. We think Wyden’s
and Merkley’s legislation is too important to
fall into the category of unintended conse-
quences.
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.
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of 400 words or less on public issues and public
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SEND LETTERS TO:
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or via mail to Andrew Cutler,
211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801
Tending the flock through life’s storms
REGINA
BRAKER
ANOTHER MILE
W
hen I visited my friend Marie’s
farm last month, the alpaca,
cattle, sheep and horses were
in their usual routines, in the field or
barn. But the work of tending to the
flock (chickens too) recently brought a
new level of physical exertion by several
notches because of a blanket of snow
thicker than many in our region could
remember.
And when on a slow road to recov-
ery from COVID-19, as Marie’s husband
is, who continues to make his way back
to his job and daily tasks at home on
the farm, the impact of a polar vortex
snowstorm was an added insult to injury,
though his blog about their farm didn’t
suggest it.
That lines up with Marie’s persistence
in becoming a priest in her church and
tender of a different kind of flock, her
long journey filled with detours and
obstacles along the way. Yet, each expe-
rience brought something important to
enrich her capabilities in her calling,
whether in pastoral care, engaging her
students as a professor, or with those with
whom she interacts as a farmer.
Marie was born in Pendleton to
parents farming land her family has lived
on since 1904. She knows her husband
from her high school days, and they
reconnected after time away at college
studying applied mathematics and chem-
ical engineering for her, and a stint in
the Navy for him. Those years as young
adults had them working in Idaho, having
a daughter and finding that work leads to
a quest for more education, until circum-
stances at the family farm brought new
responsibilities.
A Thanksgiving one year confronted
them with the realization that they were
needed at home. Many conversations
later, the upshot was, as Marie told me,
“We moved home … began extensive
renovation and restoration … slowly
reclaiming the farmland from thistles and
growing our menagerie.”
They moved into the old farmhouse
there, also in need of loving care.
Marie’s early life informed this move
back to a place she knew from age 12,
where her adolescence included learning
to cook and sew, as well as show and sell
sheep through 4-H. Life was frugal, with
childhood clothing made by her mother,
meals at restaurants a rarity, attending a
movie a special family treat once or twice
a year. Still, life was good, with travel by
pony to visit both sets of grandparents in
Pilot Rock, who participated in her life
into adulthood.
“Mom and Dad always made sure
we knew that all people were to be
treated with dignity and respect,” Marie
shared. “That expectation was so deeply
engrained in me that I had no real under-
standing that behaving otherwise was
even an option. Anyone who came to the
house was fed. Tithing was expected.
Supporting church, community and
family was just how life was lived.”
And yet, there were experiences that
were not supportive: an employment situ-
ation that challenged Marie’s personal
integrity and led her to begin graduate
studies with an eye toward college-level
teaching, and the priest who opposed her
call to ministry.
Active in her church throughout her
youth, with a role reading scripture, serv-
ing communion and leading morning
prayer when needed, Marie was heading
toward her vocation.
“I was extinguishing candles after
the service, still in my acolyte attire,
and the then-priest of our congregation
said to me, ‘This is unusual for me, but
I feel compelled to tell you that I would
be honored to one day be present at your
ordination,’” she said.
Age 17 then, and aware of her inad-
equacy to answer the call at that time,
Marie says “that comment planted the
seed.” Over many years she was commit-
ted to her goal, through life events,
employment shifts, during graduate
studies and even when displaced by the
needs of her parents. Marie’s detour
through disappointments developed skills
she would need in her ministry, and her
words offer us wisdom for our lives today.
“I’ve become much better at reading
people … with a much deeper compas-
sion for folks who find themselves in
circumstances they never imagined
would be theirs. … It brought so much
growth, insight and compassion into how
I view the world and the people I encoun-
ter,” she said.
———
Regina Braker, a retired educator with
journeys through many places and experi-
ences, enjoys getting to know people along
the way.
become standard operating procedure.
Lack of coordination with the counties
circumvents local input (coordination
is the law). Failure to recognize local
concerns was the primary factor in the
Blue Mountain Forest Plan Revision
withdrawal. “Ditto,” trying it again.
No one cares more for our public
lands and waterways then the residents
of Eastern Oregon. Federal and state
agencies use many tools to protect and
preserve special places. Additional
restrictions, outside those presently
available, are unwarranted.
We’re urging the Eastern Oregon
Counties Association to join in and
support Baker County’s opposition to
the River Democracy Act.
D.M. (Tork) and Wanda Ballard
Baker City
on finding the right answer.
In promoting the “Pathway to Math
Equity Micro-Course,” the ODE states
that “white supremacy culture” allegedly
“infiltrates math classrooms” and goes
so far as to contend there shouldn’t
be wrong or right answers — or that
students “show their work.”
In other words, 2 plus 2 shouldn’t
equal 4. It instructs teachers of our chil-
dren to “identify and challenge the ways
that math is used to uphold capitalist,
imperialist and racist views.”
Makes sense, right?
We don’t want people to think and
calculate with precision — a habit that
might make for a better, safer world for
everyone. After all, their logic holds, we
shouldn’t have accurate calculations for
things like the construction of build-
ings and roads, bank accounts, budgets,
medical procedures or whatnot; that’s
“systematically racist” and “inequitable.”
In any event, most of the numbers
I’ve calculated over my years have been
black (or red). I’d say the evidence is
overwhelming that white numbers are
underrepresented and marginalized in
the field. And I feel the pain they suffer.
Keith Gallagher
Condon
YOUR VIEWS
Increasing river
protection is unwarranted
If the River Democracy Act passes,
4,700 river miles in Oregon will be
included in the wild and scenic designa-
tion. Considered a “remarkable achieve-
ment” by some, others see a monster
land grab, a back door to more lock up
and lock out.
Increasing the buffer zone from
one-quarter to one-half mile on both
sides of the rivers creates approximately
3 million acres of de facto wilderness.
Baker, Union, Wallowa and Grant coun-
ties will be saddled with 700 miles,
Wallowa County alone will add 440
miles.
Management plans will be devel-
oped by the U.S. Forest Service or other
agency. Presently the Forest Service
is way over its head in managing the
forest, so maybe the other agency that
is referred to in the Feb. 13 article in the
Baker City Herald can take on the chore.
Unsettling, upsetting, disturbing —
this is happening under the term democ-
racy. How and when did we lose control
to a room full of politicians in Washing-
ton, D.C.? Have we become so compla-
cent that this is acceptable? Ignoring
impacts and input at the local level has
‘Ethnomathematics’
an attempt to
dismantle racism
The Oregon Department of Educa-
tion (ODE) is now “trying to undo
racism in mathematics” by provid-
ing training for “ethnomathematics”
because, among other things, white
supremacy manifests itself in the focus