Saturday, September 25, 2021
VIEWPOINTS
East Oregonian
A5
‘Patriots’ — please enlist and help us win this war
ANDREW
CLARK
A SLICE OF LIFE
I
have a friend from my Peace Corps days
in the 1960s named Francis Koster, and
we’ve retained a friendship from those
days. He now lives in North Carolina after
a career in pediatric health care administra-
tion.
He has two websites about his work —
one is “Pollution Detectives” that deals with
finding pollution health threats to children
like lead in school drinking-fountain water,
and the other is “America’s Optimistic
Futurist.”
This column is one of his writings in the
latter and is used with his permission. It
deals with a situation where he lives that is
very like our own here in Eastern Oregon.
Sometimes I will be in some large gather-
ing of thousands of people, and the speaker
will ask all veterans to rise and be recog-
nized for their patriotic service. And then
they say, “Let’s applaud our Patriots.” The
audience always applauds. When I stand,
people will come up later and say, “I appre-
ciate your service.”
Since our nation’s founding 245 years
ago, 646,500 members of our military have
died defending America. It sounds terrible,
but so does the fact that over the past one
year 667,000 Americans have died from
COVID. The disease has killed one in 500
Americans — more than all those who died
defending American independence over 245
years — including both sides of the Civil
War.
When I enlisted in the Army upon grad-
uation from high school in 1960, all young
men were required to register for the draft
or be prosecuted and fined of up to $250,000
and/or jail time of up to five years.
The law creating the draft was passed
because Congress felt that in times of war
the needs of the nation were more import-
ant than the desires of individual citizens.
You did what you were told, including leave
home for an unknown amount of time to
fight, get shot at, and maybe die to protect
your fellow Americans. If you did not regis-
ter for the draft, your family was ashamed
and you were punished.
I am confused. We are at war with
COVID, but people calling themselves
“Patriots” will not wear masks or get
vaccinated. Back in the day, they would be
called “cowards” or “draft dodgers” and
they would flee to Canada. Rowan County,
North Carolina, where I live, has 122,000
residents over 12 who are eligible for
COVID-19 vaccination. As of Sept. 15, just
over half who should have stepped up to be
vaccinated did so. Of Rowan County’s total
population, 24,000 have caught COVID,
364 have died and about 8,400 survivors
will have expensive health care problems
for life.
The virus has evolved into the more
contagious and deadly delta form. Our
hospitals are drowning in sick people.
Nationally, over the past four months, 98%
of those infected and hospitalized had not
been vaccinated. Those people that did not
get vaccinated have incurred medical bills
averaging around $25,000 and in most
cases will need to have those bills paid for
by the government, raising taxes for the rest
of us. Yea “Patriots.”
I am a former pediatric health care
administrator. I have seen parents cry after
they held their child’s hand for the last
time. You do not forget things like that — it
bruises your soul.
As folks with strong opinions about
“ freedom” debate how to get kids back
to school with no masks, during the first
week in September almost a quarter of
a million kids got infected with COVID-
19 — just about one-third of all newly
reported cases.
Is your definition of “Patriot” someone
who sacrifices to protect others, or does it
mean “you can’t tell me what to do?”
Are we now a country where practic-
ing selfishness that harms other people has
become something we ask people to rise and
be applauded for?
Where has our sense of community
responsibility gone? And, can it be recov-
ered?
———
Dr. Andrew Clark is a livestock veteri-
narian with both domestic and international
work experience who lives in Pendleton.
BLM has opportunity to reimagine the Owyhee Canyonlands
MICHAEL
O’CASEY
OTHER VIEWS
F
or many Oregonians, hunting, public
lands and family go together. Every
year, parents take their children out to
bag their first buck, catch their first trout or
take aim at their first covey of chukar.
Generation upon generation of hunters
pass on the family tradition of waking up
early, heading out to our state’s gorgeous
public lands, and heading home (hope-
fully) with protein to feed the family. As
we approach hunting season, it’s worth
reflecting on how we use our public lands
and how we can protect access to hunting,
fishing and our wild public lands for our
children.
This year, the Bureau of Land Manage-
ment, which manages some of the best hunt-
ing and fishing areas in Southeast Oregon,
is celebrating its 75th anniversary. The
theme of this milestone is to “Reimagine
our Public Lands,” which include places
like the Owyhee Canyonlands and the Trout
Creek Mountains. This anniversary comes
right as the BLM’s Vale District is conduct-
ing a public process to amend its Resource
Management Plan — a once in a generation
opportunity to guide management on these
lands for the next 20 years.
Known for its dark skies where one
can view the stunning spread of the Milky
Way, find increasingly rare solitude and
build memories of backcountry adven-
tures, the Owyhee is one of the most remote
and beloved expanses in the Lower 48. For
decades, folks have been trying to preserve
this unique area through various pathways
including legislation, national monument
designation and through administrative
planning, such as the RMP.
While the BLM is asking the public to
reimagine our public lands, hunters and
anglers are asking them to make changes
to its preferred alternative within the draft
Southeast Oregon Resource Management
Plan, the amendment that was published in
2019. In the BLM’s preferred alternative, it
chose not to manage even a single additional
acre for its conservation values.
The kicker is the agency itself identified
more than 1.2 million acres as containing
wilderness characteristics, meaning these
lands are wild, undeveloped, backcountry
lands and many of these acres deserve to be
managed to ensure they remain that way.
Oregonians deserve a plan that protects
our access and enjoyment of these shared
public lands and one that will conserve
habitat for iconic species such as the sage-
grouse and our state’s renowned big game
that have been declining for decades.
This RMP will guide the management
across millions of acres of public land for
decades to come. Through this amend-
ment process, there is an opportunity for
the BLM to conserve this wild and remote
area by limiting unnecessary develop-
ment. Following the BLM’s stated vision
of reimagining the shared treasure of our
public lands, this is a golden opportunity to
truly reimagine this plan.
The BLM is reviewing more than 4,000
public comments that were submitted about
the draft plan. The bulk of those comments
asked the BLM to make changes to their
proposal and to conserve this backcountry
escape. With the recent shift in the admin-
istration, the BLM has a great opportunity
to make changes between the 2019 draft
plan and the soon-to-be released, proposed
final plan. These changes should incorpo-
rate additional conservation measures that
would protect hundreds of thousands of
acres of remote, backcountry landscapes.
The solitude and the quiet in these
remote, high desert canyons and sagebrush
plateaus are some of the finest values any
place can offer. As the BLM celebrates
75 years, we should make sure our public
lands are protected for the next 75, starting
with this hidden Oregon gem. Please make
your voice heard and speak up by joining
the Owyhee Sportsmen’s Coalition and/or
contacting your senators today.
Updating the Southeast Oregon RMP to
include conservation measures will make
sure we are always able to share this place
with the next generation of hunters and
anglers and we continue to have robust
game species to pursue this uniquely Amer-
ican heritage.
———
Michael O’Casey lives in Bend and is the
Oregon/Washington field representative for
the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Part-
nership.
The fight for state’s future is here:
Make sure your voice is heard
ensuring that many rural parts of the
state are likely to be represented by urban
Democrats, diluting the voice of rural
ANGELA
Oregon in shaping policy.
BAILEY
The Legislature is under a court-or-
OTHER VIEWS
dered deadline to complete redistricting
by Monday, Sept. 27, or the task will fall
arlier this month, the Oregon Legis-
to Secretary of State Shemia Fagan.
lature released its proposals for
The 2020 census data has shown
redistricting in the state, and the
Oregon is entitled
stakes have never
to a sixth Congres-
been higher. This
sional seat, and
“WE
MUST
ENSURE
redistricting process
Oregon’s House
follows on the
THAT
FARM
AND
and Senate bound-
heels of the 2020
RANCH FAMILIES ARE aries will also need
census and will
to be adjusted as
be completed in a
KEPT IN DISTRICTS
Oregon’s population
special session later
has shifted. The
this month.
WHERE THEIR
stakes have never
While Oregon
VOICES ARE
agriculture has
been higher.
strong friends in the
Oregonians
COLLECTIVELY
Legislature on both
across the state
sides of the aisle, the
STRONG AND
expect maps to be
past several years
drawn fairly and in
REPRESENTED, NOT
of rule under the
a compact manner,
Democrat super-
with communities
MORE
DISPERSED
BY
majority has taken
of common inter-
DRAWING THEM INTO est
its toll on our farm
such as school
and ranch fami-
districts and neigh-
DISTRICTS
WITH
lies. Without the
borhoods left intact.
proper checks in the
HIGHER
We must ensure
system, dozens of
that farm and ranch
POPULATION
policies have passed
families are kept in
that have increased
DENSITY
AND
districts where their
costs for Oregon’s
voices are collec-
producers, with
DIFFERENT NEEDS
tively strong and
policies that benefit
AND PERSPECTIVES.” represented, not
producers becoming
more dispersed by
increasingly more
drawing them into districts with higher
rare in Salem.
population density and different needs
As a nonpartisan organization, the
Oregon Farm Bureau works with both
and perspectives.
parties in Salem to achieve the best policy
The Oregon Farm Bureau was part of
outcomes we can for Oregon producers.
a broad coalition to run a ballot measure
The 2021 redistricting process has
last year to ensure the Oregon had a
the potential to make that job exponen-
truly independent redistricting commis-
tially harder. Rural voices were already
sion. With COVID-19 restrictions, that
diluted in the 2010 redistricting process.
measure did not make it on the ballot, but
We cannot afford to allow partisanship
we will continue to push for meaningful
to further reduce our voice in the Legis-
reform of Oregon’s redistricting process.
lature. Countless farm and ranch fami-
Who represents you in Salem has never
lies are barely hanging on. Adopting new
been more important for the future of
districts that will disenfranchise farm-
agriculture in Oregon.
ers and ranchers and further encourage
If you do anything this week, please
policies that only harm rural communi-
find
a way to make your voice heard and
ties will be the last straw for many ag and
stand
up for the rights of rural Oregon.
rural families.
Visit OregonFB.org/advocacy to take
Each party has released its own
action on redistricting today.
proposals for redistricting.
———
To put it plainly, the proposals put
Angela Bailey is president of the Oregon
forward by the Democrat majority repre-
Farm Bureau and a fourth-generation
sent gerrymandering by every metric.
farmer operating a nursery in Gresham that
Across the state, the Democrat proposal
specializes in Japanese maples.
seeks to cement their supermajority by
E
Housing is one of city’s major goals
JOHN
TURNER
OTHER VIEWS
C
itizens of Pendleton participated in
formal housing studies in 2011 and
2021. These studies clearly showed
a need for more and better housing at all
income levels. This lack of suitable housing
is one of the reasons why we have so many
open jobs in Pendleton.
In 2017, the city council established a
goal of 50 new housing units, including
apartments and duplexes, each year. The
city began reaching out to land owners
and developers to see what might incen-
tivize them to build housing units in
Pendleton.
A “housing summit” was held at the
Pendleton Convention Center in the
summer of 2018 to acquaint builders with
some local opportunities.
By 2019, we started seeing increased
interest by developers but the economic
challenges of 2020, spurred largely by
the COVID-19 pandemic, slowed down
progress. Despite these challenges, we
achieved our goal of an average of 50 new
units each year.
2021 is shaping up to be a very encour-
aging year for housing. As of Sept. 1,
the city has issued permits to build 159
new housing units, with another 90-plus
units under review. Just as important, we
issued permits for 80 new units of afford-
able housing, which is much needed and
difficult to build.
The affordable housing complex called
“Wildflower” is next to Olney Ceme-
tery and is being produced by Chrisman
Development out of Enterprise and is
made possible by millions of dollars in
relief money that came from the Legis-
lature as the result of the February 2020
Umatilla River flooding.
The Horizon Project has received
financing for another 70 units of afford-
able housing and it expects to break
ground in 2022 on land donated by the
city in eastern Pendleton near the Oregon
Youth Authority facility.
Dusty Pace is about to build out the
Sunridge Addition and is working on
developing about 25 lots near Southwest
18th Street for more expensive, “execu-
tive level” homes.
So far in 2021, the value of site-built
housing units is about $18.6 million,
which is double the value of housing built
in 2020.
The Pendleton Development Commis-
sion is working with homeowners inside
the Urban Renewal District to improve
blighted homes through the “Love Your
Home” program.
This program involves loans of up to
$30,000 for outside improvements and the
loans are partially forgiven over a period
of five years. The remainder of the loan
doesn’t have to be paid back until the
home is eventually sold.
If you think you are interested in fixing
up a property within the URD using the
“Love Your Home” process, call Charles
Denight at city hall at 541-966-1233.
———
John Turner is the mayor of Pendleton.