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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (March 11, 2015)
A4 Opinion wallowa.com March 11, 2015 Wallowa County Chieftain Cover Oregon a failure at all levels S tate government’s recent action to dissolve Cover Oregon highlights yet again how woefully inept Oregon was at setting up its medical insurance exchange — incompetence of historic proportions. It will go down as Oregon’s biggest tech EDITORIAL debacle ever, and you could exclude the word “tech” and The voice of the Chieftain still make a credible case. The biggest debacle in Oregon government history? It is, as people like to say, in the conversation. Cover Oregon has now cost $300 million and did not EHQH¿WDQ\RQH,WVLJQHGQRWDVRXOXSIRUKHDOWKLQVXUDQFH Heck, it didn’t pave a road or build a bridge. We didn’t even get to buy a Hawaiian island (like the one Oracle founder Larry Eillison purchased for $300 million in 2012) or throw an epic statewide parade. That makes the failed exchange a terrible disappointment and a waste of money, without even mounds of ticker tape to show for it. But while the Cover Oregon failure may be the bright, sticky icing on the cake, there is mounting evidence that the cake itself had plenty of its own problems. Our state government failed us from the beginning. Now-disgraced governor John Kitzhaber was a strong proponent of President Obama’s nationwide health care reform, and he advocated for Cover Oregon. Kitzhaber was always prone to big ideas, yet sported blinders on the details. Without a program manager, the buildout and preparation was poor. It also came at a time when investigative reporting on the state capital was at an all-time low. There were few nagging journalists peppering Kitzhaber and the Cover Oregon crew with persistent questions. Then came D-Day. The Cover Oregon rollout was a disaster, and it didn’t take long before everyone was running for political cover. The hunky-dory ad campaign added insult to injury, almost advertising a blithe LJQRUDQFHRIWKHV\VWHPLFÀDZVLQWKHSURJUDP Kitzhaber, preparing for his own re-election, was one RIWKH¿UVWWRGXFNDQGUXQ,I\RXFDQUHPHPEHUWKLVZDV many scandals ago) he asked Oregon Attorney General (OOHQ5RVHQEOXPWRVXH2UDFOHWKH¿UPWKDWZDVXQGHUD government contract to build the online exchange. And he campaigned to scrap the system that just months before he was promoting as proof of Oregon’s genius. Eventually, he won that argument. Cover Oregon was sent underground while the federal portal went into use. Yet the indignities to the state continue. Oracle counter- sued the state and two weeks ago sued Kitzhaber staffers, saying they advised the governor to trash the exchange not because it was systemically broken, but because that would be his best political move. The company is pretty much saying that Kitzhaber’s staff acted against the state’s best interest in order to get him re-elected. Emails leaked to The Willamette Week show Kitzhaber was well aware of what a political anchor around his neck the failed exchange was, and he wanted it off the front pages of newspapers across the state. What he and his political operatives did to make that a reality will be hotly contested going forward. It’s layer upon layer of questionable decisions. A total mess, followed up by a klutzy attempt at recovery. We can only say, using the online lingo of the day: epic fail. USPS No. 665-100 P.O. Box 338 • Enterprise, OR 97828 2I¿FH1:)LUVW6W(QWHUSULVH2UH 3KRQH)D[ :DOORZD&RXQW\¶V1HZVSDSHU6LQFH Enterprise, Oregon M EMBER O REGON N EWSPAPER P UBLISHERS A SSOCIATION P UBLISHER E DITOR R EPORTER R EPORTER N EWSROOM ASSISTANT A D S ALES CONSULTANT G RAPHIC D ESIGNER O FFICE MANAGER Marissa Williams, marissa@bmeagle.com Rob Ruth, editor@wallowa.com Stephen Tool, stool@wallowa.com Rocky Wilson, rwilson@wallowa.com Rich Rautenstrauch, rrautenstrauch@wallowa.com Brooke Pace, bpace@wallowa.com Robby Day, rday@wallowa.com Cheryl Jenkins, cjenkins@wallowa.com P UBLISHED EVERY W EDNESDAY BY : (20HGLD*URXS 3HULRGLFDO3RVWDJH3DLGDW(QWHUSULVHDQGDGGLWLRQDOPDLOLQJRI¿FHV Subscription rates (includes online access) Wallowa County Out-of-County 1 Year $40.00 $57.00 6XEVFULSWLRQVPXVWEHSDLGSULRUWRGHOLYHU\ See the Wallowa County Chieftain on the Internet www.wallowa.com facebook.com/Wallowa | twitter.com/wcchieftain POSTMASTER — Send address changes to Wallowa County Chieftain P.O. Box 338 Enterprise, OR 97828 Contents copyright © 2015. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Horses know who’s not boss By Rocky Wilson At risk of being without toothpicks for eight days, missing a Zags game, or some other catastrophic event, I feel the need to admit I’ve not always loved horses. Not a subject to be approached lightly in Wallowa County, I know. Yet, I’ll freely admit my aversion for the critters neither was from birth nor, DVDZKROHUHPDLQVWRGD\7KHGH¿QLQJ moment when my personal pendulum re- garding the equine species headed back in a positive direction came when I deter- mined never to board another horse. That decision made life much easier for me and any horse I might have in- tended to mount. I didn’t begin disliking horses. When a youth here, like many from Wallowa County, they’d place me on a gentle steed and, in the midst of a string of hors- es with riders and pack animals, we’d ride into the high mountains. I should have become alarmed, but didn’t, when on one of those trips a teenager reached out, slapped the horse carrying his moth- er, and the horse bolted. I was maybe 10 years old at the time, yet remember watching as the horse carrying the teen’s mother abandoned the narrow trail we were on and headed uphill. Anyone who’s seen Steamboat Lake far below on JABBERWOCK II the trail heading to that large body of wa- ter has to know the mother was a skilled rider not to have been bucked off. The thing I remember most about those days-long Eagle Cap excursions is how much faster the horses walked head- ing home than they did heading into the mountains. My falling out with the species came when, probably like the teenager who slapped his mother’s horse, I mistakenly thought I was boss over a borrowed horse and learned the hard way that horses are smarter than me. I remember myself and maybe three other guys borrowing horses for a late afternoon ride to Brownie Ba- sin, up the South Fork of the Lostine. The others knew horses far better than I did and encountered no problems negotiating safe passage courtesy of their animals. I, on the other hand, felt the need to es- tablish human dominance by kicking my horse in the ribs (no spurs, of course) and the dude put a “quit” to our joint venture, at least with me in the driver’s seat, to Brownie Basin. Would it be safe to say that I, a self-re- specting teenager, was embarrassed be- cause, while leading my horse by the reins on foot, I was unable to keep pace with my friends on horseback? Like so many, my wife always has liked horses and treats them with respect. She tells me of times at an earlier age when, seeking solace, she would ride her horse to distant locales and fall asleep while enjoying the stars. But many of my memories of horses are positive. Decades ago while playing basket- ball on the island nation of Malta, in the Mediterranean Sea, teammates I became friends with were brothers. While visit- ing them and their parents one Saturday morning, the parents asked if I wished to accompany them to the sulky races. Always willing to try something new, I VDLG³\HV´RQO\WROHDUQWKH\ZHUHRI¿FLDO judges for races that attracted stadium crowds in excess of 20,000 spectators. After every race, a horse would pull the judges (my friends’ parents) and me all WKHZD\DURXQGWKHWUDFNWRFRQ¿UPWKDW no rules had been broken. No big deal until I went to the grocery the next day and the owner, who’d seen me from the stands, called me rich for the ¿UVWWLPHLQP\OLIH *R¿JXUH Jabberwock II columnist Rocky Wil- son is a reporter for the Chieftain. Cowboy could be goaded, deceived Kenneth was from Texas, but we didn’t hold that against him. We did how- ever make him an object of ridicule and scorn whenever possible. Kenneth had worked strictly for purebred operations and had a work ethic second to none. Af- ter he had been working for Vintage An- gus for a couple of years, Jim Coleman the owner expanded by buying the old 9,000-acre Bloss Ranch near La Grange. This meant that Kenneth had to become a cowboy. Kenneth was lucky that I got hired on DV D GD\ ZRUNLQJ FRZER\ IRU WKH RXW¿W and could be a role model for him. I do have to say that he was a fast learner and after about ten minutes, with the help of Pedro, we had taught him all we knew. Like all Tejanos, Kenneth had been brain-washed into believing Texas was the biggest, the best and just the greatest. We used to tell him Texas was just a good place to send cowboys that couldn’t make it in our country. This would sull him up right now. The maddest I ever made him though was when I asked why they would celebrate Alamo Day in Texas when they had lost that battle? I then asked “and why would they name the streets in every small town, Bowie, Crockett, Travis, etc. after the losers that lost the battle?” This was too much for Kenneth. He whirled on me and said “If ya’ll say one more bad thing about Texas, I’m gonna whip you.” I informed Kenneth that age and vicious- ness would overcome youth and strength. Sonny Turman had an overdeveloped sense of humor and really didn’t care if anyone got hurt as long as he got a laugh The Bloss ranch where we worked was right in the Mother Lode country OPEN RANGE and had a couple of small mines that had been worked in the 49er days. While out riding one day, I told Ken- Barrie Qualle neth the history of the region and the Chinese ditch that was constructed on out of it. If someone did get hurt, it was a the western boundary of the ranch for placer mining. I told Kenneth that when bonus for Sonny. Vintage kept some cattle out at the he crossed any of the creeks after a rain Bull Testing Station north of Oakdale on to always look down into the water, as 26 mile road. Sonny sometimes worked nuggets were often uncovered, espe- IRUWKDWRXW¿WDQGJRWWRNQRZ.HQQHWK cially after a storm. A few days later, we were gathering Kenneth left his jacket on the fence one day and the next morning Sonny spot- a field of cattle and Kenneth was about ted a small gopher snake by the fence a hundred yards off to my left and I as Kenneth came down the driveway. knew he could see what I was doing. Since it was still pretty cool, Sonny As I crossed a creek I slowed up and easily caught the snake and put it in when I got to the other side I quickly dismounted and picked up a small rock Kenneth’s jacket pocket. The unsuspecting Kenneth hopped from the edge of the creek. I gave it a out of his pickup and spotted his jack- look and pretended to bite it. I stuffed it et on the fence. Since it was still cool, in my jacket pocket and got back on my he put the jacket on and hopped on his horse to ride off. Here came Kenneth horse to ride through the cattle. He had at a full gallop. He slid to a stop and de- gotten about a hundred yards before his PDQGHG³:KDWGLG\RX¿QG"´ Nothing, I responded, I thought I saw hands got cold and he put his hand in DQ DUURZKHDG .HQQHWK ZDVQ¶W VDWLV¿HG the pocket with the snake. When he found the snake, he let He just knew I had a nugget. Dammit, out a scream while his horse broke he said, we are partners and if you found wind and jumped ahead and sideways. gold, you should share it with me. I would Off he came, but managed to shed his with you. I assured him that I would share jacket before he hit the ground. Sonny and that I hadn’t found any. For the rest watched the action from inside the barn of the day, Kenneth was convinced that I had found a nugget and would pester me and got a huge kick out of it. Kenneth picked himself up but left about it. After that, Kenneth never failed the jacket where it lay and collected to examine any creek bottom he crossed. Open Range columnist Barrie Qualle his horse. Sonny said he didn’t pick the is a working cowboy in Wallowa County. jacket up for three days. 5REHUWVZURQJRQÀDGU\ZROIORVVSD\ To the Editor: Commissioner Roberts is wrong to GHVFULEHÀDGU\DVRQO\PLQLPDOO\HIIHF- tive in protecting livestock from wolves. Wolves in Wallowa County have never successfully attacked livestock protected E\ ÀDGU\ D IDFW WKH &RPPLVVLRQHU LJ- nores. Yet she and the livestock industry have never ceased calling for wolf-killing DVWKHRQO\VROXWLRQWRFRQÀLFWDVLIWKLV is 1915 not 2015, as if Oregon is against and not in favor of healthy wolf numbers. Commissioner Roberts is photo- JUDSKHG QH[W WR ZRUWK RI ÀDGU\ paid for by Oregon taxpayers in the ex- pectation that it be used as a wolf deter- rent, not a stage-prop for misinformation. Fladry is most effective during calv- ing, which is right now, when cattle are penned in relatively small enclosures and LETTERS TO THE EDITOR most vulnerable. Yet rather than urge its use, Commissioner Roberts undermines the good intentions of Oregon taxpayers by maligning this effective tool. Follow- ing her lead, ranchers are risking their stock, and we taxpayers will bear the cost of compensation. Now that direct losses have plummet- ed despite increasing wolf populations, indirect loss (i.e.: missing cattle) looms larger. Roberts says that compensation “could be small or nonexistent,” but to date all claims have been met in full, and the funding application now being sub- mitted includes full compensation for in- direct losses. Most missing cattle are lost on sum- mer range, usually on public land where they’re seldom checked and are vulner- able to predators other than wolves, to injury, disease, even theft since cattle prices have recently soared. Increasing claims for missing cattle are causing some conservationists to wonder if pro- ducers shouldn’t be expected to absorb losses on public land. After all, they’re getting a bargain rate at a fraction of the commercial grazing fee, and Americans value their wildlife and public lands at least as much as the rancher does his sub- sidized lease. Wally Sykes Joseph 6HH/(77(563DJH$