ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
WYATT HAUPT JR.
News Editor
JADE McDOWELL
Hermiston Editor
SATurDAy, MArCh 20, 2021
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Tip of
the hat,
kick in
the pants
A
tip of the hat to plans to demol-
ish and replace what’s left of
the Thorn Hollow Bridge much
sooner than expected.
The bridge, located on the Umatilla
Indian Reservation, was damaged too
badly to continue using during the
regional flood of February 2020. Initial
plans stated it may take as long as seven
years to replace, but officials from the
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation, Umatilla County and
the Oregon Department of Transportation
worked together on a funding plan they
now say could see the remainder of the
bridge demolished by the end of this year.
These sorts of public works projects
often take far too long, while those who
live and work in the area have their daily
commutes significantly disrupted. We’re
glad to hear of agencies collaborating to
help bring this particular problem to an
end sooner than expected.
A tip of the hat to the new system in
Umatilla and Morrow counties that will
let people sign up for text alerts to remind
them of their court dates.
Ideally, everyone would recognize the
importance of showing up to court and
keep track of dates on their own, but not
everyone is at that place in their life yet.
A simple reminder could help prevent
some defendants from derailing their
life further with additional charges or
warrants, and avoids wasting the court’s
time.
Sometimes simple solutions can have
a big impact, and we hope this is one of
those times.
A tip of the hat to FFA, which has
greatly added to generations of students’
education in Eastern Oregon and beyond.
While FFA students raise animals and
learn about details of agricultural science,
they also learn valuable skills that will
benefit them no matter what their chosen
profession — leadership, public speak-
ing, research, advocacy, business acumen
and more.
Like all extracurricular activities,
local FFA chapters have seen signifi-
cant disruption to their plans over the
past year. But we’re glad to see many
local students have stuck with it. During
stressful, isolating times it helps to have
things to look forward to and the support
of a community, and FFA is one outlet
for that. We hope despite the tumultuous
school year, they have many good expe-
riences with the organization in their
future.
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
What will become of our
great republic?
Fuel has raised 50 days out of the last
54 days. Oil futures are starting to raise
to $100 a barrel. The world runs on oil;
with the rise of fuel every consumer
good will also rise. Yet, the liberals
want to eliminate oil. Just what are we
to use to lubricate our mighty wind
turbines? Each turbine has 80 gallons of
oil in a generator.
Our border is now overrun with,
shall I dare say it, illegal people. So
much for a sovereign nation.
The math that may now be taught in
Oregon will not one produce one engi-
neer, physicist, chemist or accountant.
The rest of the world will teach math as
an exact science, so our forementioned
will come from foreigners.
Governor Kate Brown proposes
mandatory vaccinations and wearing
a mask. If we have mandatory vacci-
nation and I refuse to obtain one, will I
go vaccine prison? So long life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness. By the
way, Oregon is third last in the vaccine
rollout.
The new recreation center for the
homeless will only attract more. What
those poor individuals need is a purpose
in life, which will not be given to them.
Who will pay the taxes, water, and elec-
tric bill on the homeless motel?
On Pendleton canceling culture,
Pendleton is named after Colonel Pend-
leton. One might want to look him up.
He did many great things: He created
the civil servant structure for America,
but he also convinced Andrew Jackson
to have slaves sent back to the South
after they made it to the free states to
become free. They were sent back.
If anyone can remember the French
Revolution, all hell will soon break out.
The Roman empire fell because of, get
ready for this, morals, taxes, and too
many slaves. Once the bar is lowered
it is difficult to raise the bar up again.
Most of the immigrants work for less,
likewise foreign labor, which would
make them slaves to my way of think-
ing. Ask the businesses why they want
foreign labor — could it be for greater
profits for them? I suspect so.
We are losing our great republic.
Roesch Kishpaugh
Pendleton
Phinney’s CUJ tenure not
without its problems
I am writing this in response to the
recent front-page East Oregonian arti-
cle on Wil Phinney’s tenure as the editor
of the Confederated Umatilla Journal.
First of all, Debra Croswell, former
deputy executive director of the tribal
administration, and now the executive
managing director of Cayuse Holdings,
does not speak for the tribal community
(“Phinney put in the time to earn the
respect of the tribal community”).
I never did respect Phinney’s work as
CUJ editor because he always provided
biased, one-sided, feel-good reporting
clearly in favor of the tribal government.
However, when situations arose that
were genuinely and legitimately news-
worthy, but wherein the tribal admin-
istration was at fault, Phinney simply
covered up the situation, and refused to
write about the situation.
For example, several years ago, Cros-
well, Phinney and then-CUJ Publisher
Chuck Sams were sued in tribal court
by a former tribal member employee
for including her confidential personal
information in a front-page story. At the
time, I was a member of the Board of
Trustees, and I advised them to write a
general article on the situation since it
was a matter of the tribal public record
(tribal public court), and in the spirit of
transparency. However, they refused
to, and eventually the employee forced
Phinney, etc., to financially settle the
case.
Another example of a cover-up was
not too long ago; a situation arose at our
CTUIR-owned resort casino wherein
tribal member customers were being
unilaterally banned from the business
on allegations of misconduct, with-
out due process. This situation was
common knowledge in our community,
but the CUJ, under the editorship of
Phinney, refused to report on this news-
worthy situation because it might make
the tribe “look bad.”
Also, a directly related issue on
Phinney’s editorship concerns tribal
members’ right to free speech. Twice
Phinney and Sams denied my free
speech rights because of the content of
what I wrote. Specifically, I pointed out
that tribally owned Cayuse Technolo-
gies, now Cayuse Holdings, for years
was failing to contribute to the overall
tribal operating budget.
At the time, Sams was the chair of
the board of directors of Cayuse, and
they obviously did not like my mild
criticism of Cayuse, so they retaliated
by unjustifiably denying my free speech
rights. I had to hire an attorney, and the
situation was resolved before going to
court.
It is obvious that Phinney now
fancies himself an “expert” on tribal
issues, and probably even considers
himself an elder statesman on tribal
issues. However, I do wish him well in
his retirement.
Bob Shippentower
Pendleton
CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES
U.S. PRESIDENT
Joe Biden
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
Bobby Levy, District 58
900 Court St. NE, H-376
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1458
Rep.BobbyLevy@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
2185 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6730
Medford office: 541-776-4646
SENATOR
Bill Hansell, District 29
900 Court St. NE, S-415
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1729
Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us