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
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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.