KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
TueSDAy, SepTeMBer 21, 2021
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
COVID-19
painting
organizers
into corner
T
he Pendleton Round-Up is a pretty
big deal.
We recognize that and we also
acknowledge the week-long pageantry and
rodeo delivers millions of dollars into the
local economy. Without the event, the local
economy takes a major hit, and the reper-
cussion of that loss are significant.
Still, we would be remiss if we did not
identify the serious risk the event posed in a
time of the COVID-19 crisis. While health
officials believe the latest wave of COVID-
19 cases appears to have crested, they also
predict there will be a long recovery time
that will last into the holiday season.
The Round-Up attracted, as it always
does, huge crowds. While organizers
attempted to protect the rodeo crowd from
COVID-19, the fact is, the virus is every-
where.
Organizers faced a tough choice. Post-
pone the event again — and risk the loss of
millions — or go ahead and gamble that the
Round-Up won’t become a super-spreader
event.
It was a tough call, all the way around,
but in the end the decision was made to
make the money and hope for the best.
The organizers of the event are not the
only ones who face such hard decisions.
Any venue, anywhere, must contend with
what are terrible choices. Hold an event and
rake in the cash — and help the economy
— or cancel it and perhaps stop a larger
COVID-19 outbreak but hurt the economy.
We are in that situation because of poli-
tics. A solution — a federally-approved
vaccine — is available but it has become
a hot-button political issue. Masks have
too. Neither issue should have reached the
high-velocity level they are now. Yet, here
we are.
COVID-19 isn’t some vague threat. The
latest variant has sickened thousands and
killed many. We still believe getting vacci-
nated is a personal choice, but we also real-
ize that because of the political rhetoric and
blatant misinformation, big events such as
the Round-Up are put into a corner with
only two, horrible choices: postpone or go
ahead. Each carries serious risks — one
to the economy, the other to the health and
welfare of the public.
We realize the organizers of the
Round-Up faced a hard decision. We also
know either way they went, there was
going to be criticism.
Our hope now is the Round-Up will
not prove to be a super-spreader event and
lengthen an already long COVID-19 surge.
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
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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
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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
Scene’s from Joe’s Eastside
ALEX
HOBBS
PASTURES OF PLENT Y
T
he convenience store my father
owned for most of my life still sits
quietly on Main Street in Herm-
iston. My grandfather, after years of
working as a superintendent in Salinas,
California, left education when collective
bargaining entered it.
I don’t know what model of car they
owned, but in my mind, the Thompson
brothers are squabbling in the back of a
baby blue Ford Country Squire, its sleek,
faux bois panels, and V8 engine thunder-
ing up the California coastline toward
Oregon.
After college, with a history degree in
hand, my father returned to Hermiston to
man the market. Dishing out daily cups
of coffee and chicken strip baskets and
selling 25-cent Laffy Taffy by the hand-
ful to the neighborhood kids. This is how
it always was.
A new cigarette tax, a new bottle
deposit. Puddles of iridescent water pool-
ing in the parking lot after its morning
hose down. Hiding in the walk-in cooler
with my little brother, giggling, as our
tiny hands reached out to grab the unsus-
pecting patron whose only wish was to
procure a Diet Coke.
There was a seating alcove staged
around a wall-sized corkboard. It over-
f lowed with newspaper clippings of
local high school teams and their feats
of glory on the field. A golfer mid back-
swing; a tee-ball team; a running back
mid rush; a guard, arms outstretched in
what can only be assumed was a three-
pointer that found its way to the hoop.
Even a few pictures of the proprietor’s
daughter swimming butterfly. A shrine
to athleticism.
Tending to the shrine, huddled around
three small tables emblazoned with Coca-
Cola insignia, were the Coffee Boys. If
my father was the priest conducting daily
mass from behind his hot rack alter, these
were his acolytes. These days, they’ve
since dispersed. Only mirages of a
bygone era: One of pre-Starbucks, where
the coffee was brewed two hours ago,
consumed black and from a styrofoam
vessel.
Over the years the Coffee Boys would
occasionally band together to start collec-
tions for local charities like The Agape
House, or help with spaghetti feeds —
small-town fundraisers before the advent
of GoFundMe. They were not intentional
do-gooders. There was no charter docu-
ment stating their objectives, no bylaws
ruling their little organization. Yet, some-
how something good often came from this
group of men as they sipped their styro-
foam encased coffees.
A few years ago now, I was in The Store
the morning after an early snowstorm hit
the Columbia Basin. Temperatures had
dipped into the mid-twenties, and despite
the icy road conditions, the Coffee Boys
were in their self-assigned seats, my
father leaned over the counter as usual.
The conversation had just shifted from the
weather to football when in walked a man
who appeared to have fallen on hard times.
“Morning,” my father welcomed him
and turned back to discuss how the local
hometown heroes were heading toward
the state playoffs.
Over at the sink, the man stood
warming his ungloved hands in running
water, steam wafting from his fingers.
Afterward, he approached my father
and asked for two plastic bags, which
he then tied over his wet and weathered
tennis shoes.
It’s quite cruel that my mind cannot
recall which of the Coffee Boys asked the
man to take his seat just as he was head-
ing out the door, and instructed him to
wait for his return. Like Gandalf depart-
ing Helms Deep, we looked on as he
slowly pulled from the parking lot, snow
squelching from underneath the tires. Dad
poured the newcomer a cup of coffee and
offered him a plate of biscuits and gravy
which he accepted with many thanks. He
ate silently and languorously. The small
hand on the clock that stood sentry ticked
by. Ten, twenty, thirty minutes. Then, the
Coffee Boy reappeared — this time with
a backpack. With a flourish of prestidig-
itation, he extracted a brand new pair of
work boots and a bag of unopened socks.
A rabbit from a hat.
“They’re yours,” Coffee Boy said, “I
think they’ll fit okay.” The man took the
shoes, excused himself to the restroom,
and emerged with the brown leather boots.
———
Alex Hobbs is a former educator
turned full-time homeschooling mom.
She has a degree in political science from
Oregon State University.
YOUR VIEWS
Despite downfalls, many
Oregonians thankful for
the River Democracy Act
Sen. Ron Wyden deserves thanks for
creating the River Democracy Act. As
drought and fire make so clear, protect-
ing watersheds is fundamental to coun-
tering the effects of climate change and
preserving and enhancing the capacity of
our landscapes to absorb, hold and release
water and resist fire.
Several streams I (and others) nomi-
nated are included in the act. I had hoped
even more watersheds would be protected,
but from tiny acorns mighty oaks grow,
hey? As drought and fire persist, the
indispensability of even small waterways
becomes ever more evident and protec-
tions ever more prevalent, hopefully more
private landowners will see the advan-
tages to themselves and neighbors.
The act however leaves much scope
for irresponsibility by accommodating
commercial sales under the aegis of fire
prevention. Too often the U.S. Forest
Service and Bureau of Land Manage-
ment reveal their bias toward commer-
cial harvest over ecological recovery
by cutting large trees and fire-resistant
stands that have more environmental than
commercial value. Long-term ecolog-
ical values are subordinated to short-
term local economic gain. This needs to
change.
The same applies to grazing livestock
in riparian zones. Many small and medi-
um-sized streams are severely degraded
by 125 years of cattle grazing. That’s why
more and more streams are enclosed by
barbed wire, to keep cows out. It would
help if the Act recognized this fact and
made some practical gesture to address
the issue.
Despite the criticisms above, I, like so
many Oregonians, are thankful to Wyden
for The River Democracy Act.
Wally Sykes
Joseph
EOU and new fieldhouse
a bright spot for community
What an exciting time for Eastern
Oregon University, for students and our
local communities. I enjoyed reading the
recent article about the progress of the
new fieldhouse being built on campus.
On behalf of the board of trustees, we
have been a part of the project as it devel-
oped over the past several years. We are
excited to see this new building, the first in
many years, expand capacity and access
for all our students, including our Health
and Human Performance department and
the EOU Outdoor Adventure Program as
well as Mountaineer athletics.
We were very appreciative that the
funding for the fieldhouse comes from
state lottery bonds, adding to the state’s
investment in EOU and the region. In a
time when many universities are strug-
gling in various ways, it is so uplifting
to be a part of an institution that is able
to renovate current academic buildings
like Loso Hall and build much-needed
new facilities, while not raising tuition
for on-campus undergraduate students.
The possibilities and potential for this
new structure are endless for our univer-
sity while also reaching well beyond the
geographic region of Eastern Oregon. The
fieldhouse will serve as a recruiting tool,
an opportunity for hosting myriad sport-
ing events, and allow for space that will
provide outreach programs to touch many
different lives.
EOU is a bright spot during these chal-
lenging times.
Cheryl Martin
North Powder
EOU alumnus, EOU Board of
Trustees, vice chair