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
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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
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Kitzhaber, preparing for his own re-election, was one
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many scandals ago) he asked Oregon Attorney General
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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.
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Rob Ruth, editor@wallowa.com
Stephen Tool, stool@wallowa.com
Rocky Wilson, rwilson@wallowa.com
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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,
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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
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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
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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
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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
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tive in protecting livestock from wolves.
Wolves in Wallowa County have never
successfully attacked livestock protected
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nores. Yet she and the livestock industry
have never ceased calling for wolf-killing
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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
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