A4
Opinion
wallowa.com
December 23, 2015
Wallowa County Chieftain
A wage plan
for rural
Oregon
O
regon’s poorly conceived minimum wage
law — like so many Oregon laws the product
of a half-baked ballot initiative — has
abused farmers, ranchers, food processors and other
businesses large and small since it went into effect 11
years ago.
It has also abused their employees.
The law calls for Oregon’s minimum wage to
automatically increase each year based on the U.S.
City Average Consumer Price Index for All Urban
Consumers. That means when the cost of living goes
up in U.S. cities, the minimum wage across Oregon
must increase by the same
percentage. Whether a
business is in booming
Portland or tiny Mitchell,
Ore., population 130, the Voice of the Chieftain
minimum wage must be
the same.
The problem: Oregon’s minimum wage often goes
up even when the rural cost of living goes down or
stays the same.
The impact can be signi¿cant. In -ohn Day, the
McDonald’s recently closed its doors because of the
“low economics of the situation,” its owner said. In
an area with 9.1 percent unemployment the loss of 18
jobs was a big deal.
While minimum wage increases over the years are
not the sole reason for the loss of those jobs, they
were a contributing factor.
Across Oregon, farmers who depend on temporary
workers for harvest and other hand work have had
to tighten their budgets to cover higher minimum
wages.
We remind those of our readers unfamiliar with
agriculture that farmers and ranchers are generally
price-takers, meaning they cannot unilaterally raise
prices as expenses such as payroll increase.
Comes now an idea that at least acknowledges
the fact that the economy in Portland is vastly
different from elsewhere in the state. Sen. Michael
Dembrow, chairman of the Oregon Senate Workforce
Committee, has proposed three regional minimum
wages in Oregon. The minimum wage would be
highest in Portland and lowest in rural Oregon.
“We needed to take into account cost of living and
economic vitality in different parts of the state,” he
told reporter Paris Achen of our Capital Bureau, a
collaboration between EO Media Group, which owns
the Capital Press, and Pamplin Media Group.
The proposal, the details of which have not
yet been determined, is aimed at averting a ballot
initiative that would jump Oregon’s statewide
minimum wage to $15 an hour. Another initiative
would increase it to $13.50 and give cities the
authority to increase it more.
Either initiative would hammer farmers, ranchers
and food processors. Dembrow’s proposal represents
a compromise that would soften the blow to the rural
economy.
Though we’re still against constant efforts to
increase the minimum wage, we do appreciate the
senator’s recognition that Oregon’s rural economy
is in a far more precarious condition than the state’s
urban economies.
EDITORIAL And the GOP winner will be ...
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Contents copyright © 2015. All rights reserved. Reproduction
without permission is prohibited.
Volume 133
By John McColgan
For The Chieftain
As a political junkie and a sports fan,
I enjoy trying to handicap the quadrenni-
al presidential horse race that of¿cially
takes off in Iowa and New Hampshire
every leap year. In preparation for mak-
ing my prognostications, this lifelong
Democrat even stoically watched last
week’s Republican debates, hosted by
CNN. The debates focused on nation-
al security and terrorism, which turned
out to be more interesting, though only
slightly less annoying, than I had expect-
ed.
If we Americans could somehow con-
vince the followers of ISIS to abandon
their religious restrictions for an evening
and engage in a drinking game in which
they each took a shot of whiskey every
time a Republican candidate insulted our
president, we could simply cart them off
stone drunk in paddy wagons after the
debates, and that would be the end of our
troubles, right? Not a realistic proposal,
you say? Since when has workability
been a requirement in these discussions,
I reply. But I digress.
Although I didn’t see all of the “un-
dercard” debate, which featured the four
candidates — Pataki, Graham, Santorum
and Huckabee — who languish furthest
POLITICAL
PHILOSOPHY
John McColgan
back in the polls, I saw enough of that
event to reassure me that these gentlemen
will soon be able to resume their respec-
tive roles in retirement, in the Senate or
as professional political commentators.
Personally, I will miss hearing from Sen.
Lindsey Graham most because he actual-
ly added some badly needed words of re-
buke against the current frontrunner, who
shall remain nameless in this column for
as long as I can manage.
Turning to the nine Republicans
who quali¿ed for the “main event” and
wrestling or boxing terminology seems
appropriate, especially considering that
CNN deliberately arranged the format
as a set of face-offs between perceived
rivals, we could loosely organize them
into three groups of three candidates: the
governors, the senators and the outsiders.
It is a curious feature of this year’s polit-
ical preseason that, in general, the gov-
ernors have been underperforming in the
polls, the senators have been stuck in the
middle of the pack and the outsiders have
been leading.
Keeping to these three categories, I
think it is safe to say that the candidate
who lags furthest back in each will be
the ¿rst to fall by the wayside. So shortly
after the New Hampshire primary, I an-
ticipate that Ohio Gov. -ohn Kasich who
also has represented a more moderate
but apparently underappreciated voice
within his party, Sen. Rand Paul who
represents a strain of ¿scal conservatism
and libertarianism that Republican voters
ought to embrace more than they do and
Carly Fiorina (who earned a promotion
from previous undercard status by her
surprisingly strong debate performances
will all be spending more time with their
families again.
Of the remaining governors, Chris
Christie chose during the debate to high-
light his experience as a federal prosecu-
tor and to contrast his role as governor
with the more esoteric matters that oc-
cupy U.S. Senators, while -eb Bush was
set up by CNN to engage in direct con-
frontations with the current frontrunner.
The only aspect of this political presea-
son that I have found as stunning as the
enduring status of that frontrunner is the
lackluster response of Republican voters
thus far to -eb Bush.
6ee 0&&O/*$1, PDge $
Wrong call on bronze sculpture
I feel the need to weigh in on the sub-
ject of the bronze sculptures that adorn
the streets and towns in Wallowa Coun-
ty. They help draw people to the towns
and help bring locals and visitors to local
businesses — not to mention the pride
that the community should have in the
fact that most of the sculptures on the
streets of -oseph and Enterprise are the
creations of artists who have lived and
raised families in Wallowa County and
helped build a thriving foundry industry
here.
I believe an injustice occurred in the
-oseph Arts Council decision to not al-
low Dick Cross’ life-size “Bronze Bike”
sculpture, modeled after his father’s trea-
sured Harley Davidson motorcycle, to be
displayed on Main Street in -oseph.
Dick was the second employee at
a Àedgling 9alley Bronze in the early
1980s. He brought his knowledge of the
steel foundry industry and his passion
for art to Wallowa County. He trained
employees to produce some of the ¿nest
castings and helped build a foundry rep-
utation for the county that is recognized
around the world.
There is a small percentage of bronze
artists who have the knowledge and skill
to take a project from concept to comple-
tion and do all the steps from sculpting to
welding, grinding and ¿nishing, to instal-
lation — and Dick is one of them.
A graduate of Enterprise High School,
Dick was able to make a living in the art
business and raise his family where he
grew up. -ust as Austin Barton remem-
bers good times racing horses down
Main Street in -oseph as a young man,
Dick has similar memories of riding his
¿rst motorcycle on the roads of Wallowa
County.
Dick Cross’ life-size bronze sculpture
would be a great addition to the assort-
ment of subjects and styles currently lin-
ing the streets of -oseph.
Tim Norman
Enterprise
Trump best bet against
ISIS
In the most recent debates among the
Republican hopefuls there were many, if
not all, who declared that they would set
out to defeat ISIS. But only one did I feel
would actually carry that promise to frui-
tion — Donald Trump.
Trump seems quite angry when he
states his determination to rid the world
of the ISIS scourge. That is exactly what
is needed, real obvious determination,
LETTERS to the EDITOR
with no mincing of words. I really like
Ben Carson and yet he seems too soft
spoken and therefore not as convincing.
Donald Trump seems more like General
Patton of World War II fame. That last
sentence will send the left wing loonies
into screaming ¿ts but we must not lose
sight of the fact that ISIS wants to KILL
Christians and -ews, especially in Ameri-
ca. Of course, they want to destroy Israel,
which will be unsuccessful since they are
the Chosen Nation of the scriptures.
Many Americans, I fear, have the false
impression that our leaders, especially
the Administration, will protect us from
ISIS. Every single person from whatever
country must be totally vetted before en-
tering this country and the borders must
be completely secured. Remember, ISIS
wants to KILL US. They are deadly seri-
ous and will do anything possible to take
advantage of American hospitality to ac-
complish their goal.
Stormy Burns (USN, Retired)
Joseph
Kudos on LWCF
extension
Founded in Oregon and now with
membership in all 50 states and Canada,
Backcountry Hunters Anglers BHA
applauds the Congressional three-year
extension of the Land and Water Con-
servation Fund LWCF with ¿rst-year
funding at a higher level than in past
years. We applaud Sens. Wyden and
Merkley for their efforts to make this
fund permanent.
Over the 50-year history of this tax-
free fund, over $300 million LWCF
dollars have helped ensure access to
our public lands in Oregon. It also
helps fuel a robust $10 billion outdoor
economy that employs approximately
100,000 people, according to Travel
Oregon estimates.
The Land and Water Conservation
Fund is especially important to rural ar-
eas where the economy lags. Headwaters
Economics studies show the closer a ru-
ral community is to public lands the bet-
ter the economy. While the recent exten-
sion included in the year-end Omnibus
bill is encouraging, BHA will continue
to support full and permanent funding of
this law that has overwhelming bi-parti-
san support.
Full and permanent funding was held
up primarily because of one elected of-
¿cial — Congressman Bob Bishop of
Utah, who wants to restructure and re-
direct LWCF funds. LWCF expired in
September because of Bishop. Had it not
been for the insistence of Sens. Wyden
and Merkley and others, this three-year
extension would not have happened.
It’s time for all those who love and
support public lands tell Congressman
Bishop to take a hike. He may ¿nd some-
thing worthy of support if he takes that
hike in public lands.
Brian Jennings
Bend
Fair Board reader
board update
The Wallowa County Fair Board
would like to update the public about
the reader board being down. We really
appreciate all of the donations that we
received to purchase the reader board.
Therefore, we feel it is important for you
to know what we have found out so far.
The company that the reader board
was purchased from in 2013 is no lon-
ger servicing the product they sold. We
have had a couple of volunteers look at
the wireless connection, computer setup
and board. They were unable to come up
with a solution. We then had a tech from
Education Service District look at things
as well.
Through the process of elimination
we discovered that the board is not
compatible with Windows 10, which
is why the board was completely down
for a couple of weeks. We then down-
graded the office computer to Windows
7 and were able to get a wireless con-
nection to the board and the south side
started working again.
As for the north side, that we have
been trying to get ¿xed for quite some
time. We have discovered there is noth-
ing wrong with the wireless connection
to the board and nothing wrong with the
computer set-up. It has been determined
that there is something broken within the
board itself. Therefore, we plan to take
the north side of the board down and are
going to have it looked at.
Once again we would like to apolo-
gize for this inconvenience and let you
know we are working to get it ¿xed. If
you have questions concerning the read-
er board, please feel free to contact the
Wallowa County Fair Of¿ce at 51-2-
097.
Wallowa County Fair Board
Enterprise