KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
TueSDAy, JAnuAry 25, 2022
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Helping
shape news
coverage
of key race
V
oters, and Eastern Oregon voters
especially, will be able to take
advantage of an incredible oppor-
tunity to give feedback to media outlets
regarding what they want candidates for
governor to talk about through 90-minute
virtual listening sessions.
The sessions, called “Let’s Talk,” will
be hosted on a Zoom platform and consist
of off-the-record input from voters about
what they want to know about each candi-
date. The goal is for news organizations
to furnish the public with viable reporting
during the run-up to the election in Novem-
ber. Viable reporting means giving read-
ers in-depth and useable information that
serves the voters, not the candidates. The
East Oregonian will serve as one of the
hosts of the events.
To get in on this opportunity, residents
can go to ”Let’s Talk” at www.surveymon-
key.com/r/8JV25WF to submit interest.
The deadline, though, is Tuesday, Jan. 25.
That means those who want to participate
need to make sure they get their names in
before the close of business Jan. 25.
The event is sponsored by Oregon Capi-
tal Chronicle, a nonprofit digital news
service in Salem, Rural Development
Initiatives, a nonprofit, and the Agora Jour-
nalism Center, part of the Oregon School of
Journalism and Communication in Port-
land.
The “Let’s Talk” initiative is a good one,
and we hope readers will sign up so they
can get their opinions aired in a private way
that will help all news organizations across
the state. We in the news business like to
pride ourselves on our ability to know what
voters and readers want regarding coverage
of events such as a governor’s race but the
fact is the more input we can get the better
job we can do informing the public.
This new effort will give all of us the
needed direction that can help navigate
through what issues are important for the
voter and what ones are not. We can write
all the stories in the world, but if the key,
essential information needed by readers
and voters isn’t there then we are not going
to be successful in our mission to inform
the public.
The sessions are good in another way.
They will provide a platform for people
to voice their opinions and concerns in a
low-key, non-confrontational way that will
help move our job as journalists forward.
The “Let’s Talk” meetings are a good
way for the public to get involved and will
help the media do a better job covering this
important election.
Serving together for justice
REGINA
BRAKER
ANOTHER MILE
D
uring the holidays in December
a jury summons arrived in the
mail, with instructions to call in
for scheduling details the first week of
January.
Thankfully, that first call at the start
of the new year brought a bit of reprieve,
with the recorded message announcing
no upcoming trials and telling us to call
in again in two weeks. For the Pendleton
Municipal Court summons to jury duty,
it’s always a question of how frequently
the call to serve will be enacted.
I’ve been summoned twice before to
this form of jury duty while still work-
ing in an academic setting, and at those
times, I filled out the form requesting
postponement, indicating my availabil-
ity during the summer months. And
even then, there were only a few times
we were required to show up in person
for selection to the actual trial jury. At
those sessions I never was seated in a
juror’s chair to hear the trial and decide
the fate of the accused. Perhaps that will
change with this summons.
It was a different experience this
past summer with a request for service
on the circuit court grand jury. This
involved appearing at the first meeting
along with all others who had received
notification. The judge, district attorney,
and court staff presented instructions
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
completing the docket. Sometimes there
were lulls in the proceedings as we
waited for a witness to appear, or a tech-
nical glitch to be worked on.
As the weeks went on those empty
minutes would find small talk filling the
room, photos of grandkids or a week-
end trip shared on a phone, or a concern
about a longer absence of a fellow juror.
One of us returned to report coming
through a COVID-19 experience. And
after a particularly long session ran late,
people started bringing in snacks to
keep energies from flagging.
With each passing week, the civic
responsibility we had taken on saw us
developing a sense of empathy and care
for the others in the room, strangers
though we still were to one another. One
of the permanent jurors was working
two jobs that involved late night hours,
and we cautioned him to drive carefully
and not risk a citation or accident to join
us on time. That’s why we had alternates
sitting on the periphery at the start of
each session.
Our last meeting in September
brought acknowledgement that we had
carried out a valuable civic responsibil-
ity, asked important questions on behalf
of plaintiffs and defendants, and found a
meaningful experiential connection to
each other. Glad to have served on this
jury, I believe what is of greatest signifi-
cance is our shared effort for justice.
———
Regina Braker, of Pendleton, is a
retired educator with journeys through
many places and experiences who enjoys
getting to know people along the way.
to repair and keep the Republican Party
glued together.
It would be nice if Mr. Bentz was on
board with that instead of making lame
excuses.
Thomas Hart
Bend
made clear over the last year that elec-
tions have consequences.
As the most powerful county in the
free world you would think we would
have the most stringent election laws in
the world. But, in fact we are the only
large industrial county that does not
require proof of identity to vote. I find
it ridiculous to think you have to show
proof of identification to go out to eat or
see a movie, but you don’t need one to
cast a vote.
To say or imply that minority votes
are being suppressed by these laws are
in themselves racist. Everyone needs or
has some form of identification. If you
receive public assistance you need some
form of Identification. If you receive
Social Security you need some form
of identification. If you cash a check
or have a bank account you need some
form of identification.
As the leader of the free world we
need to ensure voter integrity.
Joe Mesteth
Hermiston
YOUR VIEWS
Nobody bought my vote in
the presidential election
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.
and scheduling of meetings, and took
our questions.
We were roughly divided into three
groups of ten jurors with a weekly obli-
gation of appearing either Tuesday,
Wednesday or Thursday afternoon for
the months of July, August, and Septem-
ber. The judge named each group of
seven jurors and three alternates for
each day’s assigned jury. A minimum
of seven jurors are required to hear the
facts of each case to determine its trial
worthiness, with alternates available to
fill in any absences that might occur.
On that first day, my seating neighbor
and I exchanged a few comments, as she
had questions about the form we filled
out. I offered my understanding of what
the form required, but suggested there
might be others in the room with simi-
lar concerns, and so her questions were
raised for the staff to answer. We were
both relieved to be among the alternates
in our pool.
It turned out that an alternate was
needed at our first meeting in the small
conference room where we convened.
I volunteered to get a sense of how
the process worked. Throughout the
next weeks, we cycled through to take
the place of an absent juror with some
regularity, and I discovered that a sense
of common purpose and support had
begun to develop among the permanent
group.
Well represented across age range,
ethnicity and occupations, the group
included some who drove in from other
communities in the county. Most weeks
the afternoon hours were sufficient for
rep. Cliff Bentz claims the presiden-
tial election wasn’t stolen but instead
bought (“Bentz alleges 2020 election was
‘bought,’” Jan. 15, 2022, edition of the
East Oregonian).
Time for a reality check.
As a registered nonaffiliated voter I
can assure you no one bought my vote nor
the thousands upon thousands of other
voters across our nation of all political
persuasions. Any friends and relatives
I have who are Republicans, all voted,
with the exception of one, not so much for
Biden as it was for what it would take to
get Trump out of the White House.
While at this time it looks like Joe
Biden isn’t destined to be one of our most
popular presidents, at least he is not a
conspiracy spreading, egotistical, narcis-
sistic, dishonest, vindictive and congeni-
tal, pathological, unrepentant liar. There
are many hardworking, respective, honest
Republican politicians trying their best
Voter suppression
or voter integrity
If you listen to Democratic legis-
lators in Congress you would think
Republican-controlled states are trying
to reinstitute archaic voting laws to
suppress minority voters in their states.
The nucleus of this argument revolves
around requiring identification to vote.
They want to federalize the election
process. Currently, the election process
falls under the rights of states. These
rights were guaranteed under the Consti-
tution. What they fail to mention is there
are 36 states that already require a form
of identification to vote. It has been