VIEWPOINTS
Saturday, October 2, 2021
East Oregonian
A5
LINDSAY
MURDOCK
FROM SUNUP TO SUNDOWN
Keeping
an eye on
the gauges
T
he low fuel light appeared out
of nowhere, or had it? I stared at
the dash questioning how it was
possible that I was once again running
on empty and then laughed out loud,
thankful I was alone.
In my heart and soul, I knew full well
that my fuel gauge was a very accurate
reading of where I was, not just in my
vehicle, but in my mind and spirit as
well. Honestly, nearly depleted, and in
need of fuel is a place where many of us
are right now.
Normally, finding myself in a situ-
ation that might possibly leave me
stranded on the side of the highway
needing help from strangers wouldn’t be
something I’d be thankful for. However,
the last thing I needed that night was
a reprimand. I could almost hear my
husband and teenage sons lecturing me
about the somewhat dangerous habit I
had of driving under a quarter of a tank,
and the fact I often forgot to check the
fuel gauge prior to leaving town.
Running low on milk, bread and
fuel were three things they didn’t take
lightly, and their patience with me was
growing thinner and thinner in my
attempts to push things to the limit.
The piercing sound that only whistles
at me when I have forgotten to buckle
my seatbelt or when the fuel that keeps
me moving forward is at a minimum
seemed to be the only lecture I needed.
The high-pitched sound instantly had
my heart racing, its piercing warn-
ing pumping through my body. I found
myself counting the miles at each exit,
praying my way past every sign, every
phone pole and every familiar land-
mark that had safely carried me home so
many times before.
My mind flooded with memories
from my childhood. Memories of driv-
ing north on Highway 97, and then
connecting with Interstate 5 from our
home in Central Oregon to my grand-
parents in Seattle multiple times a year.
I secretly think my dad enjoyed watch-
ing me squirm as the needle on the fuel
gauge dropped from a quarter of a tank
to the empty.
I would beg and plead with him to
stop at each exit we passed, while my
mom would do her best to lovingly reas-
sure me that we would, in fact, make
it to our destination with no trouble. I
vividly remember so many of those trips
when I thought for sure we had been so
very, very close to running out of gas,
but never once did it actually happen.
Why had I worried so much as a teen-
ager? Was it because I was so far away
from home? Why was I willing to put
myself in similar situations now as an
adult? Why are panic and frantic two
emotions I even want to have hold of
me? I’ve learned over the years as I’ve
found myself in similar situations that
my dad had not purposefully put us in
a predicament. He knew exactly where
he was going and how much was needed
to get there. And, now, it finally makes
sense. I know how far I can go, I know
that if I do get into trouble, help is close,
and I also know that he was probably a
lot like me — trusting in what he knew
to be true, even when he couldn’t quite
see it.
The roads I’ve been traveling on the
past several months have me buckling
up faster and faster with each passing
day, completely unsure of what kind
of terrain I may have to navigate, but
honestly, I haven’t done a very good job
of keeping myself fueled the way I know
I need to.
That evening was a wake-up call as
I watched the fuel pump blink on the
dash in front of me all the way home. I
made it home safely and the fuel left in
the tank had been just enough to get me
where I needed to go. I was lucky that
time — and I knew it. We aren’t always
given a chance to rest and refuel without
completely running out, so when we are,
I firmly believe we need to take it.
I don’t know if and when that will
happen again, but I do know that I’m
going to fill up whenever I can, I’m
going to watch the gauges a little more
closely, and I’m going to trust that wher-
ever the road I’m on takes me, I’ll have
more than enough to get me where I’m
going.
———
Lindsay Murdock lives and teaches in
Echo.
Lawsuit is about equal treatment
JAMES
DUNLAP
OTHER VIEWS
M
y family’s cattle ranching heritage
dates back to California’s Gold
Rush. Today, my wife, Katie, and
I are still going strong, and one day we hope
to have a ranch of our own that our daugh-
ter can inherit.
We also want our daughter to inherit a
country where government treats people
equally. COVID-19-related federal farm
loan forgiveness does just the opposite,
treating people as members of their racial
group.
Right now, we live and tend cattle on my
parents’ ranch in Baker City. At the same
time, we’re buying equipment and building
our herd, so we’re ready to start our own
farm when we can afford to buy property.
We’ve taken out federal loans to pay
for equipment and cattle and which we’re
repaying with income from other full-time
jobs — Katie works in sales, and I have
a job as a railroad engineer. Between our
second jobs and the ranch, we easily put in
100-hour workweeks.
As demanding as that had been, it was
nothing compared to the pandemic. Meat
packing houses shut down last year, affect-
ing our supply chain. Now we have rising
fuel prices, no seasonal workers willing to
help with our cattle, and the worst drought
in Eastern Oregon’s history.
On top of all that, we have a new baby
and more than $200,000 in outstanding
loans. It sounds ludicrous, but the real-
ity is the government considers us good
enough for federal farm loans, not loan
forgiveness, because we have the wrong
skin color.
Katie and I heard about the American
Rescue Plan Act of 2021, and we were
excited because the COVID-19 relief fund-
ing included $4 billion in loan forgiveness
up to 120% of USDA loan amounts.
That would have been life-changing for
us.
Then one day, while I was on the trac-
tor — where I listen to news and podcasts
— I heard that the loan forgiveness was
only for “socially disadvantaged farmers,”
which, in the government’s eyes, are racial
minority farmers and ranchers.
My first thought was, “Socially disad-
vantaged farmers? Isn’t that anyone like us
who has an FSA loan?”
Farm Service Agency, or FSA, oper-
ating loans are designed for people who
have already been turned down by other
lending institutions and cannot get tradi-
tional financing anywhere else. We are in
our mid-30s, we didn’t have a lot of cash,
and we were still building up equity, so the
FSA was our only choice.
If Congress decides to forgive these
loans, I’ll cheer them on. But there’s no
logic behind the use of race to make that
decision.
I may be a rancher, but I also have
a history degree and a passion for the
bedrock principles of our nation’s found-
ing: fairness, justice, liberty. This loan
forgiveness is everything but.
It’s discriminatory and violates the
Constitution’s guarantee of equal protec-
tion before the law.
To be sure, racial discrimination for any
reason is unacceptable. In this case, the
government insists it’s making up for the
USDA’s past discrimination against Black
farmers and ranchers. But the government
has already paid billions of dollars to do
just that. In any case, past discrimination
cannot be remedied with more discrimi-
nation.
I credit my wife for what happened
next. She and my daughter were shut-
tling me around to do routine chores, and
I told her how farmers in other states are
suing to end the USDA’s discrimination. I
wanted to do the same in Oregon but suing
the federal government seemed too daunt-
ing, time-consuming, and expensive.
“I can’t,” I said.
“Yes, you can!” she shot back.
“Because right now, you still have a voice
in this country and the opportunity and the
right to speak your voice.”
The next day, I contacted Pacific Legal
Foundation, and soon afterward, Katie and
I filed a federal lawsuit.
To be perfectly clear, our lawsuit is
not about money, or loan forgiveness, or
the hard-working people who would have
received it. It’s about equal treatment for
all farmers and ranchers and fighting back
when the government does the opposite.
For us, it’s also about setting an exam-
ple for our daughter so that she might
someday exercise embrace her right as an
American to stand up and speak out for her
beliefs.
———
James Dunlap is a farmer residing near
Baker City.
We play a part for future generations
JEFF
BLACKWOOD
OTHER VIEWS
R
ecently, the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change released
its latest assessment regarding the
increasing risks of climate change. The
IPCC report was developed by 234 climate
scientists from 66 countries.
The report says the connection between
human emissions of greenhouse gases and
global warming is “unequivocal.” The
report goes on to state, “Atmospheric CO2
concentrations were higher in 2019 than at
any time in at least 2 million years, and the
past 50 years saw the fastest temperature
increases in at least 2,000 years.”
So, what does this mean for us locally,
and what can we do?
Climate scientists tell us that climate
change will present itself to us primarily
through weather extremes. It may seem
unfortunate or unfair, but climate trends
and future projections show that dry areas
are getting drier and wet areas are getting
wetter. We are seeing this pattern play
out here in the United States. The western
half of the country is becoming progres-
sively drier, and the eastern half of the
country is becoming wetter and more
prone to flooding.
EDITORIALS
LETTERS
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.
The East Oregonian welcomes origi-
nal letters of 400 words or less on public
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The newspaper reserves the right to
Locally, we are now starting to see
weather extremes, with recent flooding
along McKay Creek and the Umatilla
River, and with a severe drought and heat
wave this summer. Last fall’s devastat-
ing wildfires are also still on our minds,
coupled with large wildfires this past
summer.
Whatever our political, economic, or
cultural beliefs may be, our changing
climate will affect us all. Since humans
and the burning of fossil fuels, among
other things, are widely known to be caus-
ing these climatic changes, it is up to us to
deal with our actions. Recent global polls
have revealed that climate change is of
high concern for our younger generations.
A large part of that concern is distress
with the lack of action by governments.
What we leave for them, and what we do
or not do will be our legacy.
It will take action from locally to inter-
nationally to slow the advance of these
adverse effects of a warming planet. If
we believe there is not much we can do,
nothing will change other than continued
warming and the resulting consequences
for us all. If we believe we cannot or do
not have the will to modify our behaviors,
again, nothing will change these warming
trends.
We can do better, though. Although our
economy is based on consumption, we can
reduce what we buy, what we throw away
and support industries and businesses
committed to sustainable growth and
production. We can recycle more. We can
travel less in our vehicles and by airplanes.
If space allows, we can grow more of our
own food and increase plant-based diets.
We can take advantage of the incentives for
home and business solar power and electric
vehicles. And we can vote. We can vote
at all political levels for those with vision
and commitment to take positive action
to reduce the adverse effects of climate
change.
As weather extremes continue to affect
us, we must find our political and personal
will to act. Americans represent 5% of the
world population, yet we consume 30%
of world resources. We have the luxury of
being able to buy, to travel and to behave as
we please.
Let us use this enormous privilege to
do something positive and aggressive both
personally and politically to combat the
sources and adverse effects of a changing
climate before our options dwindle.
We all have responsibilities for these
climate trends, and we can all play a part
in what we leave to our children and future
generations.
———
Jeff Blackwood retired from a career with
the U.S. Forest Service and is a member of
the Eastern Oregon Climate Change Coali-
tion.
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