A4
Opinion
wallowa.com
February 21, 2018
Wallowa County Chieftain
Shining a spotlight on agriculture
A
griculture is still king in
Wallowa County.
With bountiful cattle
dotting the landscape and
thousands upon thousands of
acres of hay grown for forage,
there is no denying its economic
impact.
Agriculture pays the bills in
Wallowa County. Farmers and
ranchers pay the lion’s share of
property taxes that fund public
entities large and small.
Today, it’s easy to drive by a
center pivot irrigation system and
not even notice it’s there unless
it happens to be watering the
highway.
Like much of America, fewer
and fewer Wallowa County
residents have a true personal
connection to agriculture.
It’s wasn’t that long ago that
everyone was either directly
involved in the ag economy
EDITORIAL
Voice of the Chieftain
or knew someone who was.
With those connections
growing weaker by the year,
it is increasingly necessary for
agriculture to do a better job of
telling its own story.
Farmers and ranchers generally
don’t believe in tooting their
horns. Bragging, most of them
have been taught, is not proper
etiquette. Many are reticent to
try to explain their work for fear
people will misunderstand or
think them out of touch.
Clearly, the need to tell
agriculture’s story has never been
greater as restrictions and other
roadblocks to success threaten
a way of life and an economic
driver.
To that end, the Chieftain is
unveiling this week a series of
stories designed to tell stories of
successful farmers and ranchers
in the county. If you’ve never met
someone engaged in agriculture,
you’ll get to know several of them
by the time the series ends later
this year.
Primarily, you will learn about
the innovations that are driving
agriculture in the county; How
things are changing dramatically,
yet in so many ways, remaining
the same.
In some instances, the stories
will confirm what you may already
know. In other instances, you may
learn something new and walk
away with a greater respect for
the panoply agriculture presents.
Rather than asking you to
side with farmers and ranchers
over environmentalists or
other interests, we ask that you
become educated. Learning
why certain things are done a
certain way builds a bridge to
understanding.
Most who make their living in
agriculture will tell you they are
misunderstood. Walking a mile
in their shoes will help readers
learn what makes these unique
individuals tick.
The series of stories such as
the Chieftain is embarking upon
requires farmers and ranchers
to place their trust in the media,
something they do not do often
and something we recognize as a
sacred obligation to get the story
right.
It is our deep desire that you
will find the stories engaging and
informative. Read them with an
open mind, and as always, we
welcome your feedback.
Your input key
to economic
development
T
he most powerful and successful communities are
those whose citizens are engaged in what’s going on
around them. Let’s keep building Northeast Oregon’s
strength by getting involved in regional economic planning.
Northeast Oregon Economic Development District com-
piles a new Comprehensive Economic Development Strat-
egy — affectionately known as the “CEDS” — every five
years (with annual updates). 2018 is a CEDS revision year,
so the district
has been work-
ing hard to
engage civic
leaders in vision-
Lisa Dawson
ing exercises.
Now, it’s
your turn. Please join us for a public meeting in Wallowa
County and share your opinions via our anonymous survey.
Led by the district, local leaders in business health care,
education, natural resources and government have explored
their hopes for and concerns about Northeast Oregon’s
economy.
A key finding discovered at a discussion in late Janu-
ary was the need for more collaboration across county lines
in order to diversify the economy and provide better-paying
jobs for the region. The importance of involving people of
different backgrounds, cultures and ages in planning for the
region’s future was also highlighted.
To gather more perspectives on how best to improve
quality of life in Northeast Oregon, the district is hosting
several opportunities to participate.
People who enjoy gathering to share food and ideas are
invited to attend a forum 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 7 at
Community Connections in Enterprise. Fun and facilitated
activities will inform participants about the region’s current
economy and gather input on strategies to provide for jobs,
education, housing and other essentials needed to support a
healthy economy.
Refreshments will be provided. RSVPs are not required
but are appreciated so we don’t run out of food. Call
541-426-3598.
People are also invited to complete the Northeast Oregon
Strategy Survey, at goo.gl/forms/ZcIABHgHGT2qi1Tk2.
Please respond by Mar. 30.
Those of us in government and economic development
do not — and don’t want to — work in a vacuum. We need
your input. We look forward to hearing from you.
GUEST EDITORIAL
Lisa Dawson is executive director of NE Oregon Eco-
nomic Development.
LETTERS to the EDITOR
Appreciated column’s
‘responsibility’ theme
Thank you for the very thoughtful Wahl to Wall column in
the Chieftain Feb. 14.
For a long time, I have wondered what happened to the
word and attitude of “responsibility.” More often, we hear peo-
ple speaking of “freedom” and either demanding more freedom
or complaining that their freedom is being taken from them.
It is time that we realize that there is no freedom without
responsibility.
Evelyn Swart
Joseph
Children, moms and the NRA
I
have no quarrel with hunters, in fact,
I wish we had more of them and that
we could figure out a way to sell wild
meat commercially and reduce the grow-
ing national deer herd.
But that’s not today’s discussion.
Today it’s mass shootings, especially
on school campuses and especially with
semi-automatic weapons with large mag-
azines. It’s also guns of any kind in the
hands of those who should not have them.
I think and hope we are at a turning
point in the national discussion about
guns and violence because the students at
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Park-
land, Fla., scene of the latest mass school
shooting, are speaking up.
They’re writing editorials in the New
York Times challenging elected officials
in their home state and most importantly
joining forces with students, mothers —
and dads — across the country to dare
elected officials to take on the National
Rifle Association.
Although an early advocate for gun
registration and some sensible restric-
tions, the NRA has powerfully opposed
all such restraints for more than 40 years.
In something that could have been
scripted for a movie, David Hogg,
a 17-year-old student journalist at
Stoneman Douglas, interviewed class-
mates as they huddled in classrooms and
closets while the shooting went on.
“I recorded those videos because I
didn’t know if I was going to survive,”
he said. “But I knew that if those videos
survived, they would echo on and tell the
story. And that story would be one that
would change things, I hoped. And that
would be my legacy.”
Another high school junior and sur-
MAIN STREET
Rich Wandschneider
vivor, Cameron Kasky, leads a “Never
Again” student campaign on Facebook,
calling out elected officials by name and
telling them that prayers and sympathy
are not enough.
Kasky, maybe the most articulate
17-year-old on the planet, told dithering
prayerful politicians that “People say it’s
too early to talk about it ... If you ask me,
it’s way too late.”
At other high schools across the coun-
try, students rallied in solidarity, staged
walkouts to protest Washington’s inac-
tion in protecting students and teachers
and made plans for a national protest day.
A gun control advocacy group, “Moms
Demand Action,” is setting up a parallel
student group.
Can it work? There’s some evidence
from Sandy Hook, the site of the 2012
killing of 20 young students and six
teachers.
In its wake, Connecticut lawmak-
ers under pressure from moms and dads
enacted laws expanding an existing ban
on the sale of assault weapons, prohibit-
ing the sale of magazines with more than
10 rounds and requiring the registration
of existing assault rifles and higher-ca-
pacity magazines.
The state also required background
checks for all firearms sales and created
a registry of weapons offenders, includ-
ing those accused of illegally possessing
a firearm.
Wallowa County’s Newspaper Since 1884
M eMber O regOn n ewspaper p ublishers a ssOciatiOn
Published every Wednesday by: EO Media Group
VOLUME 134
USPS No. 665-100
P.O. Box 338 • Enterprise, OR 97828
Office: 209 NW First St., Enterprise, Ore.
Phone: 541-426-4567 • Fax: 541-426-3921
Contents copyright © 2018. All rights reserved.
Reproduction without permission is prohibited.
Publisher
Editor
Reporter
Reporter
Newsroom assistant
Ad sales consultant
Office manager
Marissa Williams, marissa@eomediagroup.com
Paul Wahl, editor@wallowa.com
Stephen Tool, stool@wallowa.com
Kathleen Ellyn, kellyn@wallowa.com
editor@wallowa.com
Jennifer Powell, jpowell@wallowa.com
Cheryl Jenkins, cjenkins@wallowa.com
Gun deaths in Connecticut have
dropped more than 30 percent.
Oregon, like California and Con-
necticut, has more laws on the books
and fewer deaths per thousand than do
Texas, Florida and their NRA stronghold
kin.When I was on the Enterprise school
board in the ‘80s — before Columbine,
Sandy Hook and Stoneman Douglas —
Oregon Fish and Wildlife would call us
when they got a poached deer or elk, and
we would have it sent to the butcher and
processed for what was called “Cowboy
Macaroni.”
And pickups in the school parking lot
had gun racks and guns in them. Some
students hunted after school. The NRA
taught hunter safety classes so young kids
could hunt.
And every year there were thou-
sands of lethal drunk-driving accidents.
And then along came MADD — Moth-
ers Against Drunk Driving — formed
by moms who had lost children to drunk
drivers.
By the late ‘80s, “designated driv-
ers” were common; I remember Wayne
Davis telling me that alcohol had been a
big contributor to the auto-body business
before MADD.
He said that cleaning up alcohol-re-
lated car crashes had been the worst part
of his work.
Al Hoffman Jr., a Florida-based devel-
oper and Republican fundraiser, will no
longer donate to politicians who take
money from the NRA, and is writing to
cohorts suggesting they do the same.
Is this the turning point?
Columnist Rich Wandschneider lives
in Joseph.
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