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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 2019)
OPINION Wallowa County Chieftain A4 Wednesday, February 13, 2019 Work, the curse of the drinking class I Staff photo by E.J. Harris, File/East Oregonian in this Jan. 23, 2018, fi le photo, ballots are counted at the Umatilla County Courthouse in Pendleton for the statewide special election. Local government is local people I t’s understandable that you might be tired of politics in general right now, and political campaigns specifi cally. Honestly, 2018 was brutal. Oregon saw record-setting cam- paign spending in the governor’s race and on statewide measures, and contested local races mixed in, too. back half of the B sec- tion is not part of your daily reading habit, there is a lot to be learned.) Districts across the state will take part in the special election, choosing volunteer representatives for all kinds of boards. These are often under-the-ra- dar positions that don’t draw nearly the same level of scru- tiny as city councils or of the county commis- sioners, much less statewide offi ce. They also attract It all translated into few applicants and are bushels of fl yers in our often fi lled by write-in mailboxes and adver- candidates if no one tisements in all forms fi les for the position. of media. It was impos- But they’re a cru- sible to avoid, and cial part of our democ- became a challenge racy. They represent to fi nd the substance the commitment of underneath the lay- common citizens to ers of posturing and make decisions for the rhetoric. good of the whole. The This current calm directors are in charge between storms of the of spending taxpayer 2018 midterms and 2020 general may seem money and making decisions about large like a good chance to employers, includ- not think about elec- ing the Hermiston and tions for a while. At the risk of ruining Pendleton school dis- tricts, Blue Moun- that relaxation, we’d tain Community Col- like to talk about the lege and the ports. election coming up in They oversee critical May. Don’t freak out. functions like ambu- You will not be get- lance and fi re services, ting mailers or seeing and community ser- advertisements on your vices like parks and television. Your inbox cemeteries. will not be fl ooded It takes all kinds of (any more than usual). people with all kinds of Mud will not be slung. expertise to keep local In fact, many peo- government function- ple won’t be aware of ing, and we applaud the election until the those who step up day a ballot arrives to the role. We also in their mailboxes. encourage more people Maybe you’re one of to sign up for duty. One those people. But if way or another, the you perused the classi- seats will be fi lled. It’s fi ed section in Wednes- our belief that democ- day’s East Oregonian, racy functions best you saw the listing of when the selection pro- 45 districts large and cess of representation small with seats com- is public, rather than ing open this year. chosen by default. (A quick side note Filing for the posi- on the classifi ed sec- tions begins Feb. 9 and tion of the newspa- per: Much of our local the deadline is March 21. Forms are available government’s work at county offi ces and appears there fi rst in on the Umatilla County the form of budgets, website. Ballots will go hearings, requests for bid, auctions and other out ahead of the May public notices. If the 21 election. VOICE CHIEFTAIN noticed in an interview a question Now that I had a car dependent about what the interviewee had on gasoline and repairs I had to step as his or her fi rst job. This made up my employment attendance. It me recall the fi rst job I ever got paid seemed there was no shortage of work in the fi elds and orchards. In the for. I was about 5 or 6 and the neigh- Barrie Qualle summer there was harvesting fruit, in bor was loading loose hay into the the fall grapes and nuts. I once made mow in his barn. The loose hay was pretty good money swamping grapes dumped in front of the barn and a big with a kid that would work hard. We Jackson Fork would swoop down and menial tasks. Living in the San Joa- were paid 50 cents a ton each to load grab a load and the hay would be ele- quin Valley there was always work out grapes. Don almost worked me to vated and run down a track where it in the orchards. The fi rst spring job I dumped in the hay mow. They had remember was picking boysenberries. death. In the winter you could prune trees and in the early spring you about 20 sheep in the loft and my job A bunch of us would ride our bikes could set out smudge pots in almond was to chase the sheep around on the to the berry patch about 6 a.m. and orchards or thin peaches. hay to pack it. I think I earned about pick till about 2 p.m. I can’t remem- I did have two jobs that were better 25 cents. My next paid job, age 8, was ber how much we were paid per crate than working in the fruit. I landed a helping the neighbor girl milk cows but it was more than mowing lawns. job taking care of the swimming pool for a week while her parents were on Later in the summer I next worked that wasn’t too bad. I also vacation. By age 10 worked for Oliver’s Fly- my Dad had me driv- ing A gas station pumping ing a tractor and doing JUST ABOUT EVERY KID IN MY gas. One day a couple of a little summer fallow- CLASS WORKED IN THE FRUIT IN boys about 18 pulled in to ing. Later in that year get gas. I knew them and again the neighbor had THE SUMMER AND IF THE HAR- wasn’t too fond of them. me helping his son I had just started putting stook oat bundles that VEST WAS LATE THEY WOULD POST- $2 worth of gas in their had been dropped by PONE THE OPENING OF SCHOOL car when Mr. McGee fl ew a horse drawn binder. into the gas station and I decided early on I TO GET THE WORK DONE. jumped out of his car. He didn’t need the job, I ran over to the passen- only needed the money. ger side of the car and pulls JC Phil- At age 11 I fi nally got a job I in a dry yard hauling peaches to the loved. The community pasture of women who cut them and put them on lips half way out the window and gave him a real good beating. He about 200,000 acres was not far west drying trays. First thing in the morn- of our ranch. The pasture manager ing we had to take the trays out of the then left. It turned out that these two had a kid, about 22, that traded a lot sulphur houses and spread the trays in boys were driving by Mrs. McGhee, of cattle and some ran in that pas- the yard. This paid $1.25 per hour and who was carrying a bag of groceries ture. He would come by with his cat- was hot miserable work. If you were a into her driveway, and threw a bunch of grapes hitting her. They didn’t tle truck and load my horse and we good worker you could pick peaches see Mr. McGhee sitting on the front would gather cattle to a corral and for 15 cents a box and maybe pick porch. Herman McGhee, though only sort out a few and load them. We 125 boxes. I wasn’t a good worker 145 pounds, wasn’t one to call the would jump the horses in with the so I worked for the $1.25 per hour cops. cattle and be off. On the way home swamping the fi lled boxes onto pallet Talking to my grandfather one day Tommy would pull a couple of beers trailers or propping peach trees. Just he was extolling the virtues of living out from under the seat and we would about every kid in my class worked in Saskatchewan. I asked him what have a cold one on the way. It was in the fruit in the summer and if the was so great about a country that got years later I found out that a lot of the harvest was late they would postpone down to 40 below in the winter and cattle Tommy loaded weren’t his. I the opening of school to get the work had mosquitos that would carry you did enjoy rustling. done. off in the summer. He answered, think At age 12 we moved to Califor- By the time I was 16, 1957, I had about it, if you were smart enough to nia and there seemed to be plenty saved enough to buy a 4-year-old stick to grain growing and not raise of work there. None of it pleasant. 1953 ford with 35,000 miles on it. cattle, you only had to work 40 days a Now that I was hooked on money I I paid $730 for this beauty, license year. He made a lot of sense. found work mowing lawns and other number FJN 813. OPEN RANGE OUR VIEW Anti-vaxxers put us all at risk O ver the past few weeks, we have received reports of an out- break of measles in southwest- ern Washington, which has now hit more than 50 patients. “But I thought we eradicated measles along with polio and a host of other seri- ous diseases through vaccination,” you might be thinking to yourself. You’d be right about that. The U.S., for all practical purposes, had indeed eradicated these pestilences as vaccines developed by top health care pioneers like the legendary Dr. Jonas Salk virtu- ally wiped out these dreaded affl ictions. So what has changed? In the Clark County (Vancouver), Wash., case, it has been reported that 42 out of the 49 known patients who have contracted the measles were not vaccinated. One patient had only received a par- tial vaccination and the status of the six others was unknown. Health offi cials sus- pect the outbreak can be traced to expo- sure at the Portland International Airport, the Moda Center and other possible sites in and around the Portland area. A separate group of cases have been reported among the Orthodox Jewish community in New York State. What ties these two diverse popula- tion groups together is they are both at the heart of an anti-vaccination move- ment in the U.S. LETTERS to the EDITOR Let’s remember, we are a great country To the citizens of our area and espe- cially to the ones in Wallowa County: We are a great country already in spite of the slogan “Make America Great Again”. The Wallowa County Cham- ber of Commerce Citizens Awards ban- quet recognized just a very few of those who have and who know that Amer- ica is great already. I was shocked and completely surprised to be honored by Whether refusal to be vaccinated is based upon religious conviction or the misguided belief that children can be healthier without them, many parents are refusing to have their children immu- nized. They place us all at higher risk. As one Washington state epidemiolo- gist stated, “This is entirely preventable.” It is indeed preventable, but only if we can successfully inoculate the entire pop- ulation, so as to protect the most vulner- able among us — the young, the aged, and those with already-compromised immune systems. Perhaps with the passage of time, we as a society have forgotten what ter- rible consequences these maladies can wreak upon human populations when left unchecked. Maybe it’s time for a new round of education, just as the older gen- eration among us received back in the 1950s and ‘60s when these vaccinations were becoming widespread. Meanwhile, the apparently grow- ing ranks of “anti-vaxxers,” as they have become known, are holding proven sci- ence, best health care practices, and the rest of us hostage. If you have children, please ensure that they are vaccinated and follow the recommended immunization schedule that virtually every state and local health department advocates. Do it for them and do it for all of us. the Wallowa Mountain Quilters Guild and the Chamber with the Unsung Hero award. I thank all involved. There are so many of us who go about our every day lives to make this a wonderful place to live and work. They deserve to be rewarded too. When we take note of the situations around the world, how many of us con- sider the fact that out of the billions of people that inhabit our planet, that, by the grace of God, you as the reader of this and I as the writer are two of those billions to live in the United States of America. We all have been rewarded with freedom, advantages and opportu- nities to do something to benefi t others and to help ourselves. It was so nice to be reminded of my efforts. I thank you WMQG again for singling me out for this very special award. Hope McLaughlin Enterprise 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 Offi ce: 209 NW First St., Enterprise, Ore. Phone: 541-426-4567 • Fax: 541-426-3921 Contents copyright © 2019. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. General manager, Jennifer Cooney, jcooney@wallowa.com Editor, Christian Ambroson, editor@wallowa.com Publisher, Chris Rush, crush@eomediagroup.com Reporter, Stephen Tool, steve@wallowa.com Reporter, Ellen Morris Bishop, ebishop@wallowa.com Administrative Assistant, Amber Mock, amock@wallowa.com Advertising Assistant, Cheryl Jenkins, cjenkins@wallowa.com Trump should pay for wall Let’s make this short and simple: If our billionaire president wants a wall that won’t cost the American one dime as promised, how about he and some of his billionaire pals pay for it themselves. Jeff Irish Enterprise Periodical Postage Paid at Enterprise and additional mailing offi ces Subscription rates (includes online access) Wallowa County Out-of-County 1 Year $40.00 $57.00 Subscriptions must be paid prior to delivery See the Wallowa County Chieftain on the Internet Wallowa.com facebook.com/Wallowa twitter.com/wcchieftain POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Wallowa County Chieftain P.O. Box 338 Enterprise, OR 97828