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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (July 27, 2016)
A4 Opinion wallowa.com July 27, 2016 Wallowa County Chieftain Treaty rights without ishing are meaningless he ishing rights guaranteed to Indians by treaties and court decisions are meaningless if there are few ish to catch. These “treaty tribes” are entitled to half the salmon. But 50 percent of nothing is nothing. Tribal negotiators are increasingly insisting that there be actual lesh attached to the bare bones of treaty rights. As a practical matter, this means the team of agencies responsible for salmon must ensure Voice of the Chieftain that salmon prosper through a combination of strategies, such as hatcheries, habitat restoration, modiications of hydropower operations, predator management and harvest adjustments. The current management plan, a result of a federal court ruling, expires Dec. 31, 2017. The states, tribes and feds have started deciding what comes next in terms of harvest strategies. It is possible the next harvest plan will be essentially identical to the current one, which is based on stock abundance. This means estimating how many ish are returning in various runs, including the 13 species covered by the Endangered Species Act. Managers then determine how many can be caught before the species recover to a healthy population. There are several suggested alternatives — even including no harvest at all. Chances are good that agencies will prefer to stick to something pretty close to the status quo. But our region’s many nongovernmental experts — including commercial and recreational ishermen on the Columbia River — may have better ideas and should promote them. Underlying any approach, we all should bear in mind the principle of insisting on a path toward sustainable salmon recovery, and resist squabbling over a share in an ever-threatened and too often diminishing set of salmon runs. Different ishing interests, cooperating together, must advocate for actual recovery, and be unsatisied with small percentages of small salmon runs. T EDITORIAL WHERE to WRITE U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D — 516 Hart Senate Ofice Build- ing, Washington D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-5244. E-mail: wayne_kinney@wyden.senate.gov Web site: http://wyden. senate.gov Fax: 202-228-2717. U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D — 313 Hart Senate Ofice Building, Washington D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-3753. E-mail: senator@merkley.senate.gov. Fax: 202-228-3997. U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R — (Second District) 1404 Longworth Building, Washington D.C. 20515. Phone: 202-225-6730. No direct e-mail because of spam. Web site: www.walden.house.gov Fax: 202-225-5774. Medford ofice: 14 North Central, Suite 112, Medford, OR 97501. Phone: 541-776-4646. Fax: 541-779-0204. Gov. Kate Brown, D — 160 State Capitol, Salem 97310. Phone: 503-378-4582. Fax: 503-378-8970. Web site: www. governor.state.or.us/governor.html. 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 In 1977, Tom Watson edged Jack Nicklaus by one stroke to win what used to be called “The British Open,” one of golf’s four major tournaments, which was played that year at Turnberry in Scotland. The iconic match eventually came to be known as “The Duel in the Sun,” in part perhaps because the weather on the inal day was atypical (since Scotland is more often windy and rainy), but primarily because Watson and Nicklaus played so superbly that they cleared the rest of the ield by 10 strokes at the end of four days of competition. Their inal-round scores of 65 (Watson) and 66 (Nicklaus) and their great sportsmanship in the midst of intense competition gave the tournament the feel of match play and earned the two friends and their battle a treasured place in golf’s renowned history. This year’s head-to-head weekend play at Scotland’s Royal Troon Course between Sweden’s Henrik Stenson and American Phil Mickelson — at the event now known as “The Open” — deserves to be remembered right alongside “The Duel in the Sun.” In fact, as golf’s el- der statesmen and classy sportsmen, Watson and Nicklaus both already have acknowledged the match between Sten- son and Mickelson might even have sur- passed their legendary inale. Several points of comparison on the basis of score alone would support that claim. Mickelson’s inal round of 65 left him 11 strokes ahead of the third- place inisher. Stenson’s winning round POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY John McColgan of 63 equaled the best round ever in any major (which already had been tied by Mickelson on Thursday in his opening round), matching Johnny Miller’s his- toric 63 at the U.S. Open at Oakmont in 1973. Meanwhile, Stenson’s score of 264 (20 under par) set a new standard for the best total score ever recorded in any major. But while scores are well worth not- ing for history’s sake, what made the viewing of this tournament most com- pelling was the match-play feel and the consistently high level of shot-making by both Mickelson and Stenson throughout the tournament. For years, Mickelson has been my favorite player to root for on the PGA Tour, partly because of his sports- manship and his consistently gracious treatment of the fans, but also because of his scrambling ability and his gambling mentality as a player. On Saturday, after a wayward drive, he decided to take on a shot where his backswing was imped- ed by a gorse bush. Even as I was urg- ing him telepathically from thousands of miles away to “just take the penalty and the drop, Phil,” he chose to ignore my well-intended advice and somehow punched the next shot down the fairway. Then he followed up that recovery shot with one of his masterful wedges, using backspin that drew the ball back 20 feet down a slope on the green, before he i- nally drained a 10-foot putt to save par. And that, in a nutshell, is what makes “Phil the Thrill” the amazing, lovable escape artist who has won more PGA tournaments and majors in his era than any other golfer besides Tiger Woods. Mickelson’s play on Sunday proba- bly was as good as any round in his en- tire career. He shot a 65 with four birdies and an eagle, and without a bogey or a three-putt. Three times he scrambled brilliantly to save par on holes where he had hit an errant shot. Yet despite his outstanding performance, he was unable to match Stenson. The stoic Swede fal- tered on two holes where his three putts led to bogeys, but because his ball-strik- ing was so nearly lawless, and because he was able to sink ive putts from out- side of 15 feet (including one from over 50 feet), Stenson was able to reel off 10 birdies to go 8 under par for the round. For Stenson, at age 40, this was his irst major win, and it was richly de- served. For Mickelson, at age 46, this was perhaps as good a second-place, i- nal-day performance as any golfer has ever turned in. For me and millions of other golf fans, this was a match for the ages. John McColgan writes from his home in Joseph. Simple steps prevent injuries What is the No. 4 overall cause of death in the U.S. and the leading cause of death for those under age 45? You might think it was cancer or an- other illness, but the surprising answer is unintentional injuries and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention esti- mate that almost 40 percent of uninten- tional injury deaths are preventable. The costs are high. According to the National Safety Council (NSC), the es- timated national cost of unintentional injuries in 2013 was $820.6 billion. Or- egonians die from unintentional injuries at a higher rate than the national aver- age, according to the most recent statis- tics. In 2010, Oregon experienced 1,566 unintentional injury deaths costing over $1.2 billion in medical and work-lost costs. Poisoning, including opioid over- doses, has become the leading cause of unintentional injury deaths in the U.S. and in Oregon, overtaking motor vehi- cle deaths. Males are more likely to experience unintentional injury deaths even from GUEST COLUMN Susan Johnson the time they are small. Nationally, men account for 92 percent of fatal workplace injuries. In Oregon, the injury mortality rate among males is nearly twice that of females, according to the Oregon Health Authority. We all have a vested interest in pre- venting unintentional injuries. We have the know-how, but we need to put it into practice. Womenshealth.gov has some simple tips for unintentional injury prevention: • Don’t drive when you feel sleepy. Don’t drive while under the inluence of drugs or alcohol. Also, don’t accept a ride with an impaired driver. • Wear your seat belt. • Drive the speed limit and obey traf- ic laws. • Look for safety issues around your home and ix or remove problems. Re- move tripping hazards that can cause falls, such as cords or loose rugs. • Make sure smoke and carbon mon- oxide detectors in your home are work- ing. • Use the handrail when walking up or down stairs. • Use safety gear during sports activi- ties, such as a helmet when biking. • Follow workplace safety guide- lines and OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration) standards. • Learn to swim. • Use care with ladders, power equip- ment and chemicals when working around the home. The Injury Prevention & Control sec- tion of the CDC website (www.cdc.gov/ injury) provides additional information. Let’s work toward reducing the num- ber of unintentional injuries. The lives and money saved will be well worth it. Susan Johnson is regional director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Region 10. The most destructive animal 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 p ublished every w ednesday by : EO Media Group Periodical Postage Paid at Enterprise and additional mailing ofices Subscription rates (includes online access) Wallowa County Out-of-County Showdown rivals golf’s best 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. The stillness of the early morning air outside as Fred left the yard in search of a missing calf recently gave us a sense of fear. Walking through the woods a short distance from the open meadow, a small clearing appeared. Our dog Zippy was excited to have found something — a few rib bones attached to a spine and fresh blood spread over a large area. A concerned cow approached. Was it her calf’s remains? The news brought home was not good. I picked up a strong stick as I walked to the kill site. The confused mother cow’s eyes looking into mine told the story — I would have saved my calf if I could have. A short distance away a Shamrock pack wolf’s radio receiver told the rest of the story. Three weeks past before anoth- er calf went missing and was found dead in the same location. Tears illed our eyes as the mother cow walked past our yard calling for her calf, her milk bag full to LETTERS to the EDITOR the brim. Then, seven days later on June 28 a third calf lay dead in the same location. No bite marks were visible, but an exam- ination revealed the body was severely bruised, causing it to bleed to death. The inal probable cause was: “The calf ran into a tree.” The monetary loss for the farmer is great. The stress to the entire herd is as- tonishing. To quote from “The Real Wolf,” by Ted B. Lyons and Will Graves: “The wolf is the most destructive animal on Earth.” Of what value are they? They are rav- aging our elk and deer herds and terroriz- ing our livestock. Their insatiable hunger drives them out of the woods to attack livestock and people. These are the true facts. If the number of wolves is not con- trolled in Wallowa County, walking our many trails will no longer be safe. We have had cattle on this land for more than 35 years and not one has ever killed until now. The beautiful trees and landscape, the mountains in view are all beautiful. Do we really want to live with the most destructive animals on Earth? Donna Anderson Enterprise LETTERS You can submit a letter to the Wal- lowa County Chieftain in person; by mail to P.O. Box 338, Enterprise, OR 97828; by email to editor@wallowa. com; or via the submission form at the newspaper’s website, located at wallowa.com.
