Wednesday, June 8, 2022
A4
OPINION
VOICE of the CHIEFTAIN
A complex
issue that
needs
solved
ecent steps by area school offi-
cials to ensure students are
safe should be good news to
patrons and parents in light of the recent
deadly Uvalde, Texas, massacre.
It is a deeply tragic fact that school
shootings have become a part of our
national consciousness, and the death
toll continues to rise every year.
In Texas, 19 young students — chil-
dren — were gunned down in yet another
senseless binge of carnage and butchery.
The school shooting phenomenon is
a huge subject, rife with competing the-
ories, views and fewer solutions but the
push to increase security in schools across
the region — in places like Union or Wal-
lowa counties — should bring a degree
of comfort to parents and students.
Schools have added cameras, key
cards and limited access over the past few
years and learning centers have estab-
lished protocols to respond to an emer-
gency situation. Annual training of staff
and drills for students are also another pos-
itive feature added at area schools.
Police are also deeply involved with miti-
gation efforts. For example, in La Grande, the
police routinely add an extra patrol to school
zones during the morning drop-off period.
That school and police officials are
focused on such security measures is a
good sign for our great communities.
The bigger question, though, is what
can be done to stop the school shooting
phenomenon. Punitive gun control mea-
sures are frequently mentioned as one step
to stop the massacres but that suggestion
is so loaded with local, state and constitu-
tional issues it seems like too big a leap.
Better mental health infrastructure for
youth appears to be a viable answer but,
again, questions remain about how to imple-
ment such steps over a nationwide canvas.
There are plenty of laws on the books
regarding guns and a fair question to ask
is do we need even more such edicts?
Perhaps the question is too
big, the implications too compli-
cated to be solved easily or at all.
It seems, though, that for a nation that
sent men to the moon and created grand
infrastructure masterpieces should be able
to find a method, a way forward, to erad-
icate school bloodbaths. We are a nation
built on the ability to use ingenuity and
know-how to achieve great things, yet we
seem unable to collectively solve an ongo-
ing problem such as school shootings.
Widespread and punitive gun control
measures are not the answer and uncon-
stitutional to boot. Yet, is there no other
way to solve this ongoing problem?
R
LETTERS to the EDITOR
Response to Wally
Sykes letter
Since we are having conversations
about wolves, the public deserves a few
more facts. Although Wally Sykes is cor-
rect about payments made to ranchers to
compensate for wolf kills on livestock,
he failed to mention that the payments
are made to the specifications of the Ore-
gon Wolf Plan, which was agreed upon
by people on both sides of the issue.
Also, the compensation does not
fully reimburse the rancher, and hav-
ing received compensation myself, (as a
livestock producer), I know it never will.
It only addresses the body of the vic-
timized animal, not the effect on herd
health, future loss of calves due to stress
related abortions and nonbreeding and
extra expenses and time spent protect-
ing animals, as the Birkmaiers reiterated.
Ranchers are also routinely turned
down for compensation because, as Russ
Morgan put it, “We have to meet about
60 criteria before we can confirm a wolf
kill, otherwise the environmentalists sue
us.” As an example, on May 19 this year,
a producer found six calves with inju-
ries, but ODFW determined that just three
of those were wolf related, even though
it appeared they were all injured in the
same time frame. The plan was not put in
place just to protect wolves, but to make
sure that a large segment of the economy
of Oregon, i.e. cattle and sheep produc-
ers, were not unduly affected by the allow-
ance of wolves to return to the state.
The majority of all wolf livestock kills
in Oregon have been on private prop-
erty! Wolves don’t live in Wally’s back-
yard, but he wants it to be OK for them
to live in my backyard. I am constrained
by a corrupt national Department of
Fish and Wildlife to dealing with an
unwanted predator, which is not endan-
gered and never has been. There are
over 60,000 wolves in Canada alone!
The purpose of putting the wolf on the
endangered species list was only to intro-
duce the wolf back into an area of our
country that they want to re-wild, by driv-
ing all human activity out. There are maps
of wildlife corridors the environmentalists
would like to designate “for animals only,”
which includes Wallowa County and goes
from the Canadian border all the way
to Mexico! In order to accomplish this,
EDITORIALS: Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the
Wallowa County Chieftain editorial board. Other columns,
letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions
of the authors and not necessarily that of the Wallowa
County Chieftain.
LETTERS: The Wallowa County Chieftain welcomes
original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and
public policies for publication in the newspaper and on
our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold
letters that address concerns about individual services and
products or letters that infringe on the rights of private
citizens. Letters must be signed by the author and include
the city of residence and a daytime phone number. The
phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters
will not be published.
SEND LETTERS TO: editor@wallowa.com, or via mail to
Wallowa County Chieftain, 209 NW 1st St. Enterprise, OR
97828
ranchers, farmers, miners, hunters, fisher-
men, small towns, resort areas and camp-
ing areas would have to be exterminated.
So basically what Wally is say-
ing is, we should let the wolves multi-
ply until they eat ranchers out of a live-
lihood, threaten children and domestic
animals, run off the tourists and destroy
the ability of residents of our county
to make a living, so the town will shut
down and the wolves can take over.
Maybe it hasn’t dawned on Wally
and his cohorts that that will mean they
also have to move on, because there
will be no grocery stores, no gas sta-
tions, no doctors or medical care and
no motels to stay in for visitors.
Connie Dunham
Enterprise
number of gun-control measures intro-
duced, everything from red flag bills to
banning assault rifles and large-capac-
ity magazines, while all were defeated
by a filibuster threat requiring 60
votes and/or a partisan block vote.
These are issues the public are over-
whelming in favor of and to vote
against them is to ignore the constitu-
ents, while our federal representatives
hide behind a partisan block vote. These
“block votes,” by Democrats or Repub-
licans, are a contributing factor to the
extreme division of our political parties.
Contact your representative!
Can individual principals be com-
promised with party policy?
David Ebbert
Enterprise
USS Oregon
Lessons from a
school shooting
It seems to me we should keep the
capabilities of the USS Oregon confiden-
tial and secret. We should not be print-
ing the capabilities of the USS Ore-
gon revealed to the general public.
This editorial does not help America
and it’s allies but does give information to
our enemies on what our nuclear navy can
do. This should not be public information
and can spread internationally at a mouse
click on the internet. Being a nuke in the
Navy myself we kept classified information
in the Navy and did not blab all over the
local papers back home. This is a disservice
to our country and jeopardizes our troops
presently in the military. This embold-
ens our enemies and does not strengthen
our country and its allies but reveals what
should be held confidential and top secret.
Mike Brink
Gresham, Oregon
Partisan block votes must end
How have our congressional rep-
resentatives come to this? Our sena-
tors and representatives vote as partisan
block with no opportunity to compro-
mise. Can we honestly believe they have
no individual responsibilities to per-
sonal principals or public opinion?
A couple of glaring examples are
very recent. Women’s Health Protec-
tion Act, an act to codify Roe v. Wade,
was defeated by a Republican Party
block vote plus one Democrat, Joe Man-
chin. There has been an uncountable
Wallowa County’s Newspaper Since 1884
Member Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association
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 © 2022. All rights reserved.
Reproduction without permission is prohibited.
General Manager, Karrine Brogoitti, kbrogoitti@eomediagroup.com
Editor, editor@wallowa.com
Reporter, Bill Bradshaw, bbradshaw@wallowa.com
News Assistant, Cheryl Jenkins, cjenkins@wallowa.com
Classifieds/Inside Sales, Julie Ferdig, jferdig@bakercityherald.com
Advertising Assistant, Devi Mathson, dmathson@lagrandeobserver.com
• • •
To submit news tips and press releases, call 541-426-4567
or email editor@wallowa.com
The shooting in Uvalde, Texas shows
the need to restrict the sale of assault weap-
ons to just the military and police. The
shooting revealed numerous factors con-
tributed to the massacre, including warn-
ing signs that were missed on social media,
the school was not secured and police
showed ineptitude in doing their job.
Somehow, social media posts should
be monitored for potential shooter
comments, and people should report
these warning signs to authorities.
Schools should have entrances rein-
forced and locked, and only one
entrance should be used. Alarm sys-
tems should be installed on all entrances
except the main entrance. Weaponiz-
ing and training a few teachers/adminis-
trators should be evaluated. Why wasn’t
the Uvalde school police officer in the
school at the time of the shooting?
Nineteen Texas police officers stood in
a hallway outside the Uvalde school class-
rooms for about 48 minutes waiting for
a tactical police force to arrive. During
that time students made 911 calls while
sporadic shots were heard in the class-
rooms. These officers should have shot
open the door and broken windows to
confront the shooter. Local police offi-
cers should not be waiting for tacti-
cal support in a situation like this, but
should immediately stop the shooter.
Donald Moskowitz
Londonderry, NH
Published every Wednesday by: EO Media Group
Periodical Postage Paid at Enterprise and additional mailing offices
Subscription rates (includes online access)
Annually
Monthly (autopay)
Subscriptions must be paid prior to delivery
See the Wallowa County
Chieftain on the Internet
Wallowa.com
facebook.com/Wallowa
twitter.com/wcchieftain
1 Year
$51.00
$4.25
POSTMASTER:
Send address changes to
Wallowa County Chieftain
P.O. Box 338
Enterprise, OR 97828