KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
SATURDAY, DeCeMBeR 18, 2021
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
Founded October 16, 1875
A4
OUR VIEW
Freeway
frustration
in Eastern
Oregon
T
he sequence of events is as predictable
as it is frustrating.
Snow begins to fall along Interstate
84 in the Blue Mountains between La Grande
and Pendleton.
The freeway gets slick.
Vehicles — most often commercial trucks,
and often trucks that don’t have traction
chains installed — lose control or momen-
tum.
The lanes in one direction, and sometimes
both, are blocked.
And once again the main travel route
through Northeastern Oregon is closed.
When the freeway is blocked for more than
a few hours — and this is often the case when
trucks are involved, as they’re more cumber-
some to move than passenger cars are — the
closure can extend for more than 150 miles.
As safe parking areas for commercial trucks
are claimed in, say, La Grande, the Oregon
Department of Transportation frequently has
to close the freeway at Baker City and, as the
domino effect continues, in Ontario.
The effect works in the opposite direc-
tion, too. A couple crashes in the eastbound
lanes in the Burnt River Canyon between
Durkee and Huntington can trigger a cascade
of closures starting in Baker City and later
spreading to La Grande and Pendleton.
Weather-related closures on I-84 aren’t a
new phenomenon, to be sure.
Blizzards, particularly through passes
such as Ladd Canyon and the Blue Moun-
tains near Meacham, can create whiteouts so
severe that closing the freeway is necessary.
Although ODOT doesn’t have detailed
historical data about the frequency of I-84
closures in our region, even a cursory review
of media reports shows the freeway has
closed more often in the past several years
than in past decades — and in conditions that
aren’t particularly treacherous.
As mentioned above, it hardly rates as
a surprise when the freeway closes, even
during a relatively modest storm such as the
one that descended on the Blue Mountains
Monday evening, Dec. 13.
A cold front brought a few hours of heavy
snow, but this was no extended blizzard that
cut visibility to the length of a truck trailer
and made it dangerous for all vehicles.
ODOT’s press release announcing the
closure noted the culprit was “multiple spun
out trucks” in a three-mile section of the
westbound lanes between La Grande and
Meacham.
The closure, fortunately, was relatively
brief, lasting about four hours.
Yet it also was the latest example of how
fragile this vital transportation pike seems
to have become. It’s not an exaggeration to
wonder whether it’s possible to get through
even a modest storm — of which we can
expect several in a typical winter — without
a closure.
The culprit in the Dec. 13 closure —
unchained trucks — is a common one in
freeway closures, said Tom Strandberg,
a spokesperson for ODOT in La Grande.
In hopes of encouraging drivers to put on
chains, in late September the state doubled
the fine for failing to comply with the chain
requirement from $440 to $880. That’s a
reasonable change. Unchained trucks not
only are responsible for many freeway
closures, which is at best annoying, but
worse, they also pose a threat to other drivers.
The problem isn’t limited to commercial
trucks, certainly. All drivers on the freeway
during winter need to be prepared for snow
and ice, either by installing traction tires or
by bringing chains. And all motorists should
drive with caution, according to the condi-
tions.
Over the past couple decades, ODOT has
done many things to try to make I-84 safer,
including building a third lane on steep
grades such as Ladd Canyon and Spring
Creek, installing electronic signs to warn
drivers of bad weather and improving chain
up zones.
Those are worthwhile improvements. But
none can replace plain old common sense.
YOUR VIEWS
The hypocrisy of America
Another day in the hypocrisy that
is America. Pro-life people in Wash-
ington ranting about the sanctity of life
in front of the Supreme Court, while
voting for pro-life politicians who
won’t do a thing to protect our children
in schools, or anywhere, for that matter.
Don’t kill them in the womb! At
least wait until they’re in school so
the sanctimonious can offer phony
thoughts and prayers for their soon-
to-be-forgotten lives. All while doing
absolutely nothing to remedy this
horrific problem.
Great countries don’t allow their
citizens to be slaughtered on a daily
basis in schools, malls, mosques or
churches. They don’t talk out of both
sides of their mouths or bend to the will
of lobbyists so they can hang on to their
cushy jobs.
Most pro-life people are just
pro-birth. Make sure you have that
baby! Just make sure you have it way
over there, and don’t even think of
asking for assistance of any kind.
What if all the senseless public
shootings in this country had been
perpetrated by either foreign terrorists
or illegal aliens? The outcry would be
deafening, the lust for revenge would
be endless. Americans killing Amer-
icans with a gun? Cue the crickets.
All is well, nothing to see here, move
along and be thankful you don’t live in
a country where you can easily access a
gun regardless of your mental capacity.
David Gracia
Hermiston
Thank you,
Gilliam County
Sheriff’s Office
When we were traveling Dec. 11
down the Gorge in a miserable rain-
storm accompanied by relentless wind,
we heard a loud “wham” followed by
other loud car noises as we quickly
pulled onto the shoulder of the road. We
thought it was a blown tire but found
the wind was so relentless it had blown
the front bumper off and it was hanging
onto the car as it was dragged under-
neath the front end.
We were surveying the situation
when a Gilliam County Sheriff’s Office
vehicle pulled in behind us, and before
I could get my coat and hat on, patrol
deputy Matthew Beard got down under
our car, disconnected what was still
holding on to the vehicle, and we were
able to drag the bumper out from under-
neath the car. We were very relieved
that no additional damage was done and
that we were able to continue our travel.
We are extremely thankful for the
timing of and assistance from deputy
Beard going above and beyond to help
us. Thank you, Gilliam County Sher-
iff’s Office and especially deputy Beard
for your service.
Don and Pam Hefner
Hermiston
Stories can connect all of us
BETTE
HUSTED
FROM HERE TO ANY WHERE
I
nterlibrary loan is a gift I’m grateful
for not just at Christmas but year-
round, and last week I got a notice
that the book I’d been waiting for was
here. Good news. But it wasn’t on the
“holds” shelf, and though they checked
and rechecked, the librarians were
stymied until they found a large red
zippered bag containing multiple copies
of my book. enough for a book club.
which of course is what I had mistak-
enly ordered.
Perhaps I could stand on the steps
of the post office offering copies to my
fellow citizens. By springtime, if we
all shared the same story, we’d have
something — an understanding — in
common. We’d be the kind of neigh-
bors who let each other go first in the
checkout line and raise two fingers from
the steering wheel when we meet on the
county road.
I know, I know.
And yet, some version of this hopeful
vision has inspired every english major
in history. Small towns, cities, univer-
sities have believed in it too, promoting
everybody Reads programs. You prob-
ably believe it yourself: Think of the
stories we share at Christmas, Hannu-
kah, Kwanzaa, at solstice ceremonies
everywhere. Stories can connect us,
help us understand our lives.
As I carried the red bag down the
steps of the library, I thought about the
title — “Hamnet,” by Maggie O’Far-
rell — and the book’s subtitle, “A Novel
of the Plague.” It might take an english
major to recognize the name of Shake-
speare’s son who died when he was
only 11. But who hasn’t heard the word
“plague” in these past two years? Surely
the pandemic we’ve all been living
through is a story we have in common.
But there are stories, and there are
stories — something even english
majors must acknowledge. Social media
has offered a perfect platform for the
stories of conspiracies and outright lies.
Doctors have reported that even as they
are dying, some patients don’t believe in
COVID-19.
And then, of course, there was that
day in January.
Not long ago, 23-year-old Peter
McIndoe decided to create a conspiracy
story of his own, one so preposterous
that surely no one would believe it: Birds
Aren’t Real.
What we think are birds are really
robots created by the government to
spy on us, he said. Billboards sprang
up. T-shirts appeared. According to a
recent article in the New York Times,
this movement was Generation Z’s way
of pushing back against the adults in
their lives who have fallen victim to
absurd stories. The goal was not just to
let us hear a generation giggling, but like
satire everywhere, to guide us back to
truth.
Of course, not everyone chooses the
same story. We all have our favorite TV
programs, movies, writers. You may
prefer science fiction while your friend
wants a mystery, preferably one set in
Shetland. But all good stories ask us to
feel, to evaluate, to question, perhaps
to reconsider. Is the story successful
at what it attempts? In literature class
discussions and at book clubs, read-
ers share differing opinions. It’s the
thoughtful response that matters.
Pendleton Center for the Arts First
Draft Writers’ Series is a great place to
hear the kind of stories that connect us.
We’ve been meeting via Zoom during
the pandemic — Brittney Corrigan was
terrific on Thursday, Dec. 16, as was the
long-distance open mic — and we’ll be
gathering in person again soon. Poet,
essayist and fly-fishing guide Cameron
Scott, from Wallowa County, will be our
featured reader on the third Thursday
in January, and David S.J. Pickering,
whose book “Jesus Comes to Me as Judy
Garland won the Airlie Press Poetry
Prize,” will read in February. David
Oates with “The Mountains of Paris” is
scheduled for March, and much-loved
Joe Wilkins, whose latest novel is “Fall
Back Down When I Die,” in April. I
hope you will join us.
Maybe share some stories of your
own.
Maggie O’Farrell’s “Hamnet” is a
story about grief and love, exactly the
book I needed in this December’s dark-
ness. If you, too, order it through interli-
brary loan, smile at the people you meet
on the steps of the post office. It will be
our secret book club.
———
Bette Husted is a writer and a student
of tai chi and the natural world. She lives
in Pendleton.