Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current, July 10, 2019, Image 5

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Newspaper Page TextNEWS Wallowa.com Wednesday, July 10, 2019 A5 Timber Unity movement gets presidential invite By Aubrey Wieber and Claire Withycombe Oregon Capital Bureau Two members of a quickly rising political activ- ist community of Oregon loggers have been invited to the White House to attend a speech on “America’s envi- ronmental leadership” on Monday, July 8, by Presi- dent Donald Trump. Timber Unity, a group comprised mostly of log- gers but also truckers, farm- ers and other Oregonians opposed to a carbon-regu- lating program proposed by Oregon lawmakers, posted the invitation on their Face- book page Tuesday night. As of Wednesday after- noon, the post had been shared more than 3,000 times and received more than 1,000 comments. A White House ofﬁ cial conﬁ rmed the invitation to the Oregon Capital Bureau Wednesday. Timber Unity organiz- ers Marie Bowers, a farmer from Coburg, and Todd Stoffel, a log truck driver from Washougal, Washing- ton, will be representing the group at Monday’s event. Stoffel grew up in Monroe, and half the business of his company, GT Stoffel Truck- ing, is in Oregon, he said. Stoffel said he didn’t know what the event would entail, or who else would be there, but he’s looking for- ward to the trip. “We have an opportu- nity to let the voice of rural America to be heard,” Stof- fel said. The Timber Unity Face- book page created its ﬁ rst post June 21, and already has more than 47,000 members. Those behind the group were chief organizers of a large rally at the Capi- tol last Thursday, June 27, protesting House Bill 2020, which would have capped the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. Bowers said she got word from a political friend during the rally that the White House was watching what was happening in Ore- gon. She announced it to the crowd, which erupted with applause. Bowers said the White House reached out to Nick Smith, executive director for Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities, a log- ging-friendly nonproﬁ t that started in Roseburg, during the rally. The White House asked Smith who from Ore- gon should attend the event, and he said Timber Unity, Bowers said. Bowers was told of the invitation after the rally, and got the ofﬁ cial invitation Tuesday. The cap and trade pro- posal, which prompted Sen- ate Republicans to avoid the Senate for nine days in pro- test late last month to pre- vent a vote on it, died at the end of the legislative session. Stoffel said many have been surprised at how Tim- ber Unity took off, but he said there are parallels to the national uprising of rural, working-class Amer- The Timber Unity move- ment casts itself as purely grassroots, according to several Republican law- makers and protesters. However, they are in part ﬁ nanced by Stimson Lum- ber CEO Andrew Miller, a frequent GOP donor who is prominent on the Tim- ber Unity Facebook page and has a letter explaining his $5,000 seed donation on their website. ‘THE RURAL PARTS OF THIS COUNTRY HAVE BEEN IGNORED FOR YEARS. THE MAJORITY OF AMERICANS ARE TIRED OF THE SAME OLD, SAME OLD.’ Todd Stoﬀ el, a log truck driver from Washougal, Washington icans who have become more vocal since Trump took ofﬁ ce. “A couple guys had an idea and they cre- ated a Facebook page. It’s been word of mouth from there,” Stoffel said. “This is a voice for rural Oregon, rural America, that we’re tired of being steamrolled, which is what a lot of the policies seem to do for us. The stuff that’s passed is about the big cities, espe- cially in Oregon. There are other parts of the state of Oregon other than just Portland.” Stoffel said he didn’t know what their current funding level is. Its politi- cal action committee shows $31,457, according to state campaign ﬁ nance records. A GoFundMe campaign that popped up when the group was getting orga- nized received money from several sympathetic busi- ness partners, though the group has moved to a direct funding channel on their website. Stoffel said Tim- ber Unity shut down the GoFundMe as organiz- ers learned it didn’t com- ply with state requirements to report political spending and contributions. Timber Unity’s website shows its organizers as three truckers: Jeff Leavy, Adam Lardy and Scott Hileman. The White House invi- tation is the apparent cul- mination of several weeks of national attention on the Republican walkout, which was picked up by outlets from the New York Times to Vice to Fox News. Stoffel said issue is rural versus urban, Republican versus Democrat. He said Democrats at the Legislature “snubbed their noses” at loggers and truck- ers who wanted to under- stand the bill. Republicans embraced them, he said. “The rural parts of this country have been ignored for years,” Stoffel said, add- ing Trump’s election proves that. “The majority of Americans are tired of the same old, same old.” Stoffel said he under- stands the majority of vot- ers put Democrats who ran on cap and trade in ofﬁ ce, but said that’s because rural voters have routinely been pushed down. They stay home because they know they will be “steamrolled” by the Democratic agenda, he said. Democrats and environ- mentalists pushing climate legislation said House Bill 2020 was tailored to protect rural Oregon, driving dol- lars from the cities to proj- ects in rural communities. Stoffel said that could be true, and many might be misunderstanding the bill, but if so, that’s on Demo- cratic lawmakers for not taking the time to clearly explain it. “If you read the bill and you read all the legal jar- gon, the normal person can- not ﬁ gure out what they are saying,” he said. “When we were in the House and Sen- ate chambers, they read so fast and push everything so fast, that you can’t under- stand what’s going on.” Stoffel said the invita- tion shows rural voices in Oregon and other states across the country are being heard. He said it could add momentum to Timber Uni- ty’s already skyrocketing proﬁ le, and he might even get a chance to talk policy with the president. Stoffel said some in Tim- ber Unity have been hurt by Trump’s trade war with China, resulting in higher tariffs. “There is not a perfect one-size-ﬁ ts-all policy with any administration,” he said. “Yes, there are some that have hurt our industry. I may have an opportunity to bring that up with him.” Hansell instrumental in funding for one-stop health center Steve Tool Wallowa County Chieftain Oregon Sen. Bill Hansell is earning his paycheck. The Dist. 29 senator has been hard at work getting a “one- stop” community health cen- ter ramrodded through the state legislature and to the governor’s desk. The “one- stop” moniker aptly describes how the projected center that would offer all-around services, including men- tal health, substance abuse, veterans services and public health services as well. Hansell said that the proj- ect funding came through the auspices of the legislature’s Capital Construction Com- mittee, which is a sub-com- mittee of the Joint Ways and Means Committee. He added that the project has been in the making for several years. The senator was work- ing with Dist. 58 representa- tive, Greg Barreto on a health clinic project at the request of his Elgin constituents when he was also contacted by peo- ple in the city of Enterprise with a similar request. Hansell told the Enter- prise constituents that he would start on their project after funding was secured for the Elgin project. “They understood and waited,” Hansell said. “We made it one of of our top pri- orities and began to work the process.” While there was virtu- ally no legislative opposi- tion to the project, Hansell said the major roadblock to getting funding approved for the center was simply the amount of requested projects versus the limited amount of funds available. “They’re (the Capital Construction Committee) looking for things like com- munity involvement — ‘Do you have skin in the game, what will be accomplished by it?’” Hansell said. He added that other consider- ations included project loca- tion and community bene- ﬁ ts. He also said that that the committee is very similar to a grant board and rigorously examines applications. Wal- lowa County’s passed with ﬂ ying colors. “It was a real team effort,” Hansell said. “My hat is off to the Wallowa community and the different folks working on the boards, the local fund- raising that was done and the commitment of the commu- nity to this project was just outstanding. They raised hun- dreds of thousands of dollars to match the state funds.” The senator noted that the committee saw the need was there, and that he and Bar- reto promoted the idea as a pilot project showing what a small community can do when they work together and come to the state to have it help fulﬁ ll its dream. According to Hansell, state senator of Dist. 17, Dr. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, a Democrat, was instrumen- tal in helping get funding for the project. She even visited Wallowa County with the senator to familiarize herself with the project and meet its key players. At the time, neither senator realized that Sen. Hayward would later be appointed as co-chair of the Ways and Means Committee. “She saw the project, and understood how help- ful it would be and important it was and she was an early supporter of it,” Hansell said. Hayward originally offered to co-sponsor the project but had to retract after being appointed the committee co-chair. “She didn’t feel it was right for her to be a co-spon- sor of legislation she would be trying to get funding for,” Hansell said. “I appreciated her integrity on this.” “It was a great idea for a community project, and we were successful in get- ting it done,” Hansell said. “There was great leadership locally, and they just helped me to help them. We were a team from start to ﬁ nish, and it was an honor for me to be part of it.” Combat veterans more likely to experience mental health issues Michelle Klampe Oregon State University CORVALLIS, Ore. – Mili- tary veterans exposed to com- bat were more likely to exhibit signs of depression and anxi- ety in later life than veterans who had not seen combat, a new study from Oregon State University shows. The ﬁ ndings suggest that military service, and partic- ularly combat experience, is a hidden variable in research on aging, said Carolyn Ald- win, director of the Center for Healthy Aging Research in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences at OSU and one of the study’s authors. “There are a lot factors of aging that can impact mental health in late life, but there is something about having been a combat veteran that is especially important,” Ald- win said. The ﬁ ndings were pub- lished recently in the jour- nal Psychology and Aging. The ﬁ rst author is Hyunyup Lee, who conducted the research as a doctoral stu- dent at OSU; co-authors are Soyoung Choun of OSU and Avron Spiro III of Boston University and the VA Bos- ton Healthcare System. The research was funded by the National Institutes on Aging and the Department of Veter- ans Affairs. There is little existing research that examines the effects of combat exposure on aging and in particular on the impacts of combat on mental health in late life, Ald- win said. Many aging studies ask about participants’ status as veterans, but don’t unpack that further to look at differ- ences between those who were exposed to combat and those who weren’t. Using data from the Vet- erans Affairs Normative Aging Study, a longitudi- nal study that began in the 1960s to investigate aging in initially healthy men, the researchers explored the relationship between com- bat exposure and depressive and anxiety symptoms, as well as self-rated health and stressful life events. They found that increased rates of mental health symp- toms in late life were found only among combat veter- ans. The increases were not seen in veterans who had not been exposed to combat. Generally, mental health symptoms such as depres- sion and anxiety tend to decrease or remain stable during adulthood but can increase in later life. The researchers found that com- bat exposure has a unique impact on that trajectory, PET OF K THE WEE “We took our daughter to Dr. Allen on several occasions, and we were extremely happy with the care we received…” -Enterprise Mom Dr. Allen is a family practice physician and doctor of osteopathic medicine. Call Dr. Allen to schedule your appointment today! 541-426-7900 We treat you like family 601 Medical Parkway, Enterprise, OR 97828 • 541-426-3111 • www.wchcd.org Wallowa Memorial Hospital is a equal opportunity mployer and provider PARTS S & SERVICES MAINTENANCE 72 INSTALLATION Ed Staub & Sons Energy Community Service. 201 East Hwy 82 Enterprise, OR 97828 541-426-0320 gon! For the first time in Eastern Ore Meet Nemo VETERAN BENEFIT A male born April 21, 2019. Sweet, calm and more mellow than a typical kitten. He plays soft and rarely uses his claws. Nemo stays in his provided environment and is less likely to go exploring or go outside. He likes to get cuddles but is more independent. He has been raised with 3 large dogs and 2 adult cats. Nemo has had upper respiratory shot and de-worming. EXPO19 9 A.M. TO 3 P.M. SATURDAY, JULY 27TH PENDLETON CONVENTION CENTER Learn about all of your Federal and State benefits Under one roof! NEW THIS YEAR: Veterans town hall meeting with odva director kelly fitzpatrick Contact Emily at 541-398-2090 603 Medical Parkway THE ONE STOP SHOP FOR YOUR HVAC... Brought to you by, Available for Adoption Mountain View Medical Group (next to Wallowa Memorial Hospital) Enterprise, Oregon 97828 independent of other health issues or stressful life events. “In late life, it’s pretty nor- mal to do a life review,” Ald- win said. “For combat vet- erans, that review of life experiences and losses may have more of an impact on their mental health. They may need help to see meaning in their service and not just dwell on the horrors of war.” Veterans’ homecoming experience may also color how they view their service later in life, Aldwin said. Welcoming veterans home and focusing on reintegra- tion could help to reduce the mental toll of their service over time. Most of the veterans in the study served in World War II or Korea. Additional research is need to understand more about how veterans’ experi- ences may vary from war to war, Aldwin said. 6 p.m. july 26 same location WZ^Ed/EWZdEZ^,/Wz $45 adoption fee includes a neuter at any WC Vet when of age. http://www.wallowacountyhumanesociety.org/ W W W. E X P O.O R E G O N D VA .C O M