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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (May 4, 2016)
Opinion 2 candidates, 1 opening for GOP governor From The East Oregonian Two Republican candidates for governor — Bud Pierce and Allen Alley — are facing off in the May primary. Five names will actually appear on the ballot for Republican voters, but the race will undoubtedly come down to Pierce and Alley, who have both the funding and wherewithal to win the nomination. It’s a solid 1-2 punch for a party that hasn’t held the governor’s ofice since 1987. (Incidentally, Republican governors led the state for 42 of the 48 years before this recent 30-year drought.) But only one can survive to take on Kate Brown in November, and Republican voters should consider the general election when voting in the May primary. If Oregon is to avoid the one-party rule that has plagued other states, Republicans need to prove they can win every once in a while. Which potential Republican nominee has the best chance this time around? We’ve spoken to both, and are impressed with both. Pierce is the kind of Republican we’d have supported in the last few elections, when the GOP let social issues derail campaigns. He doesn’t have time for that kind of nonsense. He is a successful doctor and private sector businessperson, with reasonable solutions to making state government more eficient and customer friendly. He has taken a keen eye to rural issues and has pounded the pavement (and the wheat ields and the forests and the deserts) of Eastern Oregon to secure support and raise money. He may lack in pizazz, but he’s a well-informed outsider with a reasonable approach to the big state issues that Democrats have been unable to tackle — PERS, a statewide transportation package, Columbia River Crossing and rural economic struggles. Perhaps his nice-guy image carries with it some naiveté. And if Republicans can somehow claim the governor’s mansion — they sure want someone who can swing some elbows, cut some bloated departments and shake up Salem. It’s dificult to picture Pierce in that role. Alley is similar to Pierce in many regards, but he may have more political polish and the hard edge needed to step into what would be a dificult situation. He is a latecomer to the campaign and this election cycle has not reached out to Eastern Oregon as much as he said he would like to. But you can bet if he survives in May, he’ll be drumming up votes in the reliably red side of the state. He, too, has stayed away from the unpopular issues that have tripped up predecessors, most notably Dennis Richardson who was in a seemingly winnable race with John Kitzhaber just two years ago. Alley told the editorial board this week that he watched the Kitzhaber debacle and resignation from afar and saw the state needed a change in party, a change in culture and a change in leadership. He spoke mostly about Oregon’s poor education system — near the bottom for K-12 graduation rates despite a recent overhaul of the entire system — and the quickly rising costs of a college degree. He’s got ways to ix it, and doesn’t believe another dump truck of dollars is the answer. Perhaps it will not matter which Republican wins in May. Perhaps Gov. Brown is untouchable in November — especially in a liberal state where Donald Trump may be on the ballot. Trump will cause 7 in 10 Oregonians to vote against him, and any Republican candidate is going to have to win back at least some of the anti-Trump anger. For Oregon’s sake, we hope Republicans are able to claim statewide ofice soon. The irst step to doing so is ielding quality candidates like Bud Pierce and Allen Alley and letting the best candidate advance into the second round. EDITORIAL USPS No. 665-100 P.O. Box 338 • Enterprise, OR 97828 Ofice: 209 NW First St., Enterprise, Ore. Phone: 541-426-4567 • Fax: 541-426-3921 Wallowa County’s Newspaper Since 1884 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 Scot Heisel, editor@wallowa.com Stephen Tool, stool@wallowa.com Kathleen Ellyn, kellyn@wallowa.com editor@wallowa.com Jennifer Powell, jpowell@wallowa.com Robby Day, rday@wallowa.com Cheryl Jenkins, cjenkins@wallowa.com Periodical Postage Paid at Enterprise and additional mailing ofices 1 Year $40.00 $57.00 Subscriptions must be paid prior to delivery 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. Volume 134 Listen, Springtime. Take it down a notch. I’ve got neighbors and they’re probably wondering what kind of show I’m running over here. I just started an important business call the other day and we were still in the pleasantries stage when a commotion under the footbridge in my yard forced me to say, “Hold on. Something’s happening.” Two ducks were wrestling in the water under the bridge. Then another duck lew in and the two boy ducks started ighting. Ev- erybody knows where baby birds come from. You go to Grain Growers during Chick Days. So I don’t know what these ducks were so angry about, but I hope they worked out their differences. Later the very same day I’m talking to my sister on the phone and two hawks start having Chick Days up in a tree — and you can’t not mention it when nature is happening like that right before your eyes. Oh, yawn. Nothing going on over here. Nope. Two raptors are most dei- nitely not procreating in a tree right now. No big deal. So I had to narrate Springtime in full swing over the phone to my own sister and a friend I’d called to broker a power deal on the sale of used picnic tables. It’s just getting a little out of hand, Spring- time. That’s all I’m saying. Get a room. Next topic: further proof that Wal- lowa County is wired to all things. AND FURTHERMORE Jon Rombach There’s a viral photo blowing around the internet from the last Prince concert. Atlanta photographer Evan Carter was at the show and snapped a quick shot after the inal encore. Concertgoers are waving at Prince. He’s standing with a purple background in a beam of bright light, holding up a purple power salute, one arm in the air. It would be a heck of a picture any time, but in light of his death not long after, it raises arm hairs. The Wallowa County connection to the photographer is Joseph resident Mary B Fort. She used to babysit Evan when he was just a duckling. One of the best child care anecdotes I’ve heard is how Fort was taking care of the Carter kids and this young fella Evan was sup- posed to go off to kindergarten for the day, but decided not to go — and stuck to it and won. Lots of kids declare a per- sonal boycott of school, but this is the irst I’ve heard of ditching kindergarten. The snacks, Evan. The naps. Stories. Re- cess. Arts and crafts. Kindergarten is the apex of human activity. How could you not want to go to kindergarten? I used to be a substitute teacher and illing in for kindergarten was like R&R at Disne- yland compared to the running battles of older grades. I’ve illed out your report card, Evan Carter of Atlanta. Your Prince photograph earns a score of ten lashbulbs. Your de- termination to avoid kindergarten scores one graham cracker, because the rules state I cannot award any lower score. But I have to admire the pluck required to take a stand at such an early age, so you also get a bonus of one juice box. On a inal note: rental housing is tough to come by these days and I’ve got a one bedroom available. It’s small. About eighteen inches by eighteen inch- es. It’s a houseboat, loating on my little pond. I built it for those wrestling ducks because I’ve been inding broken eggs along the edge of the ditch. I igured the mother duck would move right in to this loating nesting box, secure from egg poachers out there on the water. But, nope. She has shown no interest. So un- grateful. If you know of any waterfowl in the market for housing, have them drop an application off with my rental proper- ty manager. A family of starlings applied, but their references look shady. First, last and security deposit required. Jon Rombach is a local columnist for the Chieftain. Monument idea ignores our voices My family has lived and worked in Southeast Oregon since the 1800s. We are people of the land and for the land. Our businesses have worked hand-in- hand with the U.S. Bureau of Land Man- agement, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and Oregon Department of State Lands to care for this land since the agencies were created. With our intimate knowledge of the lands, we assist in reporting, locat- ing and ighting rangeland ires and help- ing with search and rescues missions. Our goal for our own land and the pub- lic’s land is to maintain a healthy viable sagebrush ecosystem in the high desert of southeast Oregon. Now, all of this may come to an end. An outdoor clothing corporation and special interest groups have proclaimed 2.5 million acres in Southeast Oregon as “unprotected” in their campaign to pres- sure President Obama to turn the land into a monument. To call this public land “unprotected” is like saying the land in downtown Port- land has no zoning code. The Owyhee Canyonlands along the Oregon-Idaho-Nevada border and the GUEST EDITORIAL Linda Bentz water and wildlife that run through it enjoy protections from more than seven layers of local, state and federal govern- ment and is actively managed by profes- sional resource managers employed by the three state or federal agencies. The protections include at least ive federal acts (Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968, Endangered Species Act of 1973, Federal Land Policy and Manage- ment Act of 1976 and Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979) and three land-use plans (Federal Land Pol- icy and Management Act, Southeastern Oregon Resource Management Plan of 2002 and Oregon Greater Sage-Grouse Approved Resource Management Plan of 2015). When likely Oregon voters were told in a recent poll about the existing protec- tions and plans in place for these lands, 61 percent said the Owyhee Canyon- lands has enough protection. This monument declaration doesn’t offer further protection. It’s more an act of exclusion. Once a monument is declared, public land becomes less accessible, not more. It would restrict road maintenance and that would inhibit search and rescue and ireighting operations. It would also restrict ranchers’ ability to care for the land under their grazing permits, limit- ing our ability to maintain water sources and reservoirs that beneit all wildlife. The monument would limit access for people who are not aggressive hikers, especially the elderly, handicapped and veterans. Those who enjoy hunting, ish- ing, rafting and viewing birds, wildlife and wildlowers in the Canyonlands area also will be greatly restricted. Special interest groups are urging President Obama to act alone under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to cut Congress and our community out of this decision. But their agenda runs counter to the voice of Oregonians across the state, from Mal- heur County to Multnomah County. See VOICES, Page A5 Irresponsible suggestions on wolves p ublished every w ednesday by : EO Media Group Subscription rates (includes online access) Wallowa County Out-of-County All alutter as spring hits high gear Barry Qualle’s dad must have been a heck of a guy, but I wonder if he also believed like his son that if the law don’t suit, then break it. In his piece (April 20), Barry implic- itly threatens to illegally kill wolves if conservationists don’t kowtow to his in- terpretation of the wolf plan. He igures it a good idea if wolves were blamed right off for all dead, missing or injured cattle or economic loss in any place that’s wolf habitat, and all presumed losses compen- sated by wolf supporters. And he reck- ons if wolf supporters (the majority of Oregonians) would just agree with him, it “would bring a lot of good will to the range.” Un-hunh. Barry also congratulates himself for not poaching wolves — that is, commit- ting a crime — just the way regular cit- izens should congratulate themselves for not mugging old ladies or robbing banks. The thousands of Oregonians who LETTERS to the EDITOR don’t shoot cows, yet deeply resent cattle on public lands, must also feel virtuous. They might feel that there would be “good will” in the West if producers would remove from public lands the introduced European species that have over-run native grazing ranges, trampled streams and marshes, browsed aspen sap- lings so much that groves must be fenced, and required barbed wire to protect ripar- ian zones. They must also wonder if livestock producers shouldn’t consider voluntarily changing public land grazing rules so that ranchers should pay for the environmen- tal damage their stock cause. After all, a cow-calf pair currently grazes on public land for a measly $2.11/month, a tenth of the commercial rate. Barry’s article encourages law-break- ing, suggests blackmail and is entirely at odds with the statements of the Oregon Cattlemens’ Association and the editorial position of other EO Media Group publi- cations on the wolf issue. The Chieftain should be ashamed of printing it. Wally Sykes Joseph A nod to reporter What treasure you found when you hired Steve Tool. Such style, compassion and warmth he brings to a story. Espe- cially one of “human interest”; his sum- mation of the life of my friend Bob Fer- gison (April 20) epitomizes his skills. He is thorough, immensely articulate and to- tally enjoyable to read. Thank you, Steve. Mike Koloski Enterprise