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
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