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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (May 19, 2021)
OPINION Wallowa.com IT’S ABOUT HEALTH AND WELLNESS Ann Bloom Celebrating Salad Month C heese, salsa, strawberries, asparagus, eggs — they don’t seem to have very much, if anything, in common, do they? May is Salad Month and the nice thing about the foods just listed is that they are also foods highlighted for the month of May and they can all be incor- porated into a healthy salad, either separately or altogether on a bed of greens, as an entire meal. On their own — strawberries, asparagus, eggs, cheese and salsa (either tomato or fruit- based) — contain many vitamins and nutrients that make them an important part of a well-bal- anced and nutritious diet. Combined with greens such as spinach or Romaine lettuce, they become fl avor- packed salads. For example, strawberries contain vitamin C, fi ber, manganese and potassium. They are also low in calories and are sodium free. The vita- min C in strawberries helps the body heal cuts and bruises. Strawberries should be stored in the refrigerator and will last about fi ve days. Straw- berries are a perishable fruit and should be used soon after purchase. The berries should not be washed prior to use; washing encourages spoilage. Before using, place them in a colander under cold running water for a minute or two and drain; pat dry with a paper towel. When selecting berries, avoid ones that are moldy or have spots on them. Ber- ries can be sliced and added to a green or fruit salad. Although strawberries can be found in the store all year, they are at their peak of fl avor and ripeness in season, spring and summer. Straw- berries can be grown by home gardeners and also be purchased at farmers markets and fruit stands. Oregon is famous for its many variet- ies of strawberries, and depending on the variety they are available in stores from approximately mid-May through September. Asparagus, another spring vegetable (though both strawberries and asparagus can be found in grocery stores year-round, both are usually more expensive when out of season) contains vitamin B6, calcium, zinc and magnesium. It, too, is low in calories and high in fi ber. Asparagus is good steamed and eaten as part of a cold salad plate or side dish. Asparagus is also good roasted with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Steamed aspar- agus, once cooled, can be sliced and added to a green salad with cold, diced chicken and other vegetables for a dinner salad. Eggs — hard boiled, poached or fried — can all be added to a salad for a quick, nutri- tious meal. Keeping hard-boiled eggs on hand in the refrigerator saves time, too. Eggs are a good source of protein and contain iron, vitamin E and are a source of choline, which is import- ant for a healthy nervous system and metabo- lism. Eggs are nutrient-dense and relatively low in calories (only about 77 calories per egg). Fry- ing eggs adds calories due to the added oil used for frying. Cheeses, from cheddar to Swiss, blue to moz- zarella, although high in fat, also contains cal- cium which is a nutrient used to build strong bones and teeth. Cheese is also a source of pro- tein, vitamin A and B12, and nutrients zinc, ribo- fl avin and phosphorus. Some cheeses can even be made at home. Cheese is also high in sodium, and some people cannot tolerate the lactose found in cheese (a dairy product). These peo- ple have a condition called lactose intolerance. When they consume dairy products they experi- ence gastric distress and abdominal discomfort. Cheese can be shredded or cubed and added to green salads to turn them into main dish meals. Fruit or vegetable based salsas lend them- selves to dressings and dips to accent salads or raw vegetables for a healthful snack tray. With the addition of a little mayonnaise or sour cream, salsas become more than just something in which to dip a corn chip. Feel free to experiment with diff erent combi- nations of cheeses, fruits, vegetables and eggs to see what new salads you can create for nutritious spring time meals. For more recipes or salad ideas visit www.foodhero.org. ——— Ann Bloom lives in Enterprise and has worked for the OSU Extension Service for 15 years as a nutrition educator. She studied journalism and edu- cation at Washington State University. Wednesday, May 19, 2021 A5 Today’s sociopolitical climate may prevent sidewalks MAIN STREET Rich Wandschneider I t occurs to me, as I walk my dog each morning, sometimes along the broken sidewalks of Joseph’s Main Street, that we might not be able to build side- walks in today’s sociopolitical climate. Sure, sidewalks will probably be part of the new housing development in Joseph, as they are in the sprawl- ing suburbs of Port- land. But the idea that a city could ask individual citizens to put in side- walks as they build their houses would, I think, be a hard sell. Merchants in the commercial district know that good walk- ing surfaces that are easy to clean and shovel and that don’t turn to mud in spring are in their self-interest, so when necessary, they can form a special improvement district to clean up, stabilize and standardize the side- walks. Businesses in Joseph, with strong leadership from a few and from the city, and cooperation of the Oregon Depart- ment of Transportation, gave us the side- walks, buried utility lines and general streetscape that we all enjoy today. I’ll get in trouble by omitting many, but without business owner Rob Lamb, Mayor Shel- ley Curtiss and Sara Miller of the North- east Oregon Economic Development group, this would not have happened. Many who have moved here recently might not know this, and might want to shake a hand — and let Rob, Shelley and Sara tell you what other hands there are to shake. Sidewalks in new developments are an easy sell. They are wrapped into the price of streets, utility infrastructure, and some- times the house itself. A 40-home sub- division with gravel streets and no side- walks — even if legal, and I have no idea what the various laws that govern these things are from place to place — would be a hard sell. The cost is buried in a blur of other “infrastructure” costs, it won’t raise the overall price much and it looks good. But there was a time before hous- ing developments when cities and home- builders cooperated to build sidewalks. When a sidewalk in front of my house, no matter whether I had kids who played hopscotch or walked on it myself, was chalked hopscotch boxes and children’s drawings and the mobile basketball hoops on back streets. A few years back, when then-Mayor Dennis Sands tried mightily to talk the residents into fi xing our streets, he had little or no success that I remem- ber. And then, one day, over two summers, we had new, paved streets. I can’t tell you whether Dennis was still the mayor, or whether Theresa Sajonia had taken the job. I know that my monthly bill from the city went from $50 to $100 a month instantly and my complaints were few and short — I rode and ride my bike and drive my car without negotiating potholes, and I make it a practice to pay my dues. This is especially interesting in light of the recent hubbub about Joseph city politics. I’ve heard many rumors about the sources of those trou- bles, but can remember no one complaining that the city — or the mayor or the administrator or the council — had jammed new streets down their throats. We like our streets. The lesson here is that we could not get together to vote for them, but they got done and we are largely happy for it. Getting together to do things that might benefi t the neighbor more than me is hard to do today — not impossible, but a tricky task that we are more likely to throw back to “leadership.” I doubt the Main Street sidewalks that extend beyond the business district into housing will ever be repaired, but even the libertarians among us are not standing to shout that they did not need a paved street in front of their houses, and there- fore won’t pay for them. Some of those staunch individualists probably have chil- dren playing hopscotch. Or maybe just like watching the neighbor kids ride bikes and shoot hoops. ——— Rich Wandschneider is the director of the Josephy Library of Western History and Culture. “I’M NOT THE ONLY ONE WALKING MY DOG — OR JUST WALKING. STILL AND ALL, MOST PEOPLE IN MOST HOUSES IN OUR SMALL TOWNS CAN ARGUE THAT A SIDEWALK IN FRONT OF THEIR HOUSES ARE OF NO USE TO THEM, AND THEY ARE NOT GOING TO PAY FOR THEM.” considered a natural nod to community. Maybe it was before the overwhelm- ing use of the automobile, when people walked to work and school. Before the time when garages migrated from alley entrance to side of the house to part of the house. I’m not the only one walking my dog — or just walking. Still and all, most peo- ple in most houses in our small towns can argue that a sidewalk in front of their houses are of no use to them, and they are not going to pay for them. Which puts me in mind of Joseph’s paved streets. We don’t need walking sidewalks on most side streets in Joseph because the traffi c is light, and we now have smooth, new streets. What a joy to walk and ride my bike on them, to see Restoring faith in Legislature requires rooting out confl icts of interest OTHER VIEWS Bill Hansell I recently introduced Senate Bill 865 and it has generated some contro- versy. The bill is about rooting out confl icts of interest in our government, but I wanted to provide my constituents with what I hope is helpful background. One fundamental American ideal is checks and balances. Oregon’s govern- ment, which is elected and governed by the people, must not only protect the rights of Oregonians, but must also have their trust. In regard to trust, our repre- sentative democracy needs all the help it can get. Polling shows that faith in our government is at an all-time low. Principles of checks and balances are intended to root out confl icts of interest in our elected offi cials. In the words of James Madison, the author of the Amer- ican Constitution, “ambition must be made to counteract ambition.” One way the Oregon Constitution seeks to counteract ambition is by pro- hibiting elected offi cials from holding multiple offi ces at one time. According to Article 3, Section 1 of Oregon’s Con- stitution, as a state senator, I cannot also serve as a county commissioner at the same time, nor can the governor serve as Wallowa County the attorney general and judges cannot be state representatives. The goal of this is to ensure that diff erent people are carry- ing out diff erent parts of our government. If one person was controlling all aspects of our government, we would call that tyranny. However, the Constitution is silent if elected leaders can also lead their polit- ical party as elected offi cers. While cur- rently legal, the same ethical and practi- cal concerns apply. Political parties are tasked with fundraising to help their can- didates get elected. Yet, elected statewide leaders make policy that directly infl u- ences elections, campaign fi nance and even the structure of the political parties themselves. If political party leaders are also elected to public offi ce, they can too easily change the rules of the game to benefi t themselves. That’s called cor- ruption, and one of my goals as a Repub- lican offi cial is to ensure that the Repub- lican Party avoids all appearances of corruption. There has long been an understanding that there should be a separation between the “people’s work,” which we are sent to Salem to do as elected offi cials, and political party politics. That is why we, for example, cannot use taxpayer dollars for our campaigns. As a lawmaker, one of my primary responsibilities is to ensure that my con- stituents trust their government. I want every Oregonian, regardless of political ideology, to have faith that confl icts of interest do not have the fi nal say on the laws that govern them. Without that fun- damental trust, we do not have a govern- ment by, for and of the people. This is why I introduced Senate Bill 865. The law would prohibit an elected offi cial to state offi ce from simultane- ously being an elected offi cer on a polit- ical party’s state central committee. This bill would codify neutral standards of transparency and accountability. I have been contacted by several of my constituents who are concerned about potential confl icts of interest among the current Oregon Republican Party lead- ership. Let me be clear — this bill is not about individuals. It’s about establish- ing clear ethical boundaries to which all political parties can agree. I can only imagine the rightful outrage from my Republican constituents if Gov. Kate Brown controlled both the state government and the fl ow of millions of campaign dollars as chairwoman of the Democrat Party’s central committee. That would be a clear problem. While we are nowhere near that point yet, we needn’t wait for such obvious abuse of power. As your senator, I feel a deep respon- sibility to make our government as trans- parent and accountable to “We The Peo- ple” as possible. That sometimes means doing things that some in my own party won’t like, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t the right thing to do. ——— Sen. Bill Hansell represents Wallowa, Union, Umatilla, Morrow, Gilliam, Sher- man and parts of Wasco counties. Conatact Elaine at 541-263-1189 FREE Chess Club No meeting until further notice but look forward to seeing you soon! WE HAVE KITTENS! Our first set of babies will be ready in 2 weeks! We have all colors and breeds, both male and female. $65 adoption fee includes vaccines, deworming and spay/neuter when of age. Black wins at least a bishop. Available for Adoption “Play golf for your body. Play chess for your mind.” JOSEPHY CENTER FOR THE ARTS AND CULTURE 403 Main Street Joseph, Oregon 5/12 Solution NXf6+ Check our Facebook page and Website for updates! http://www.wallowacountyhumanesociety.org/ Brought to you by,