A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Put rural lessons
on the slate for
Gov. Brown
G
ov. Kate Brown,
installed last week, is
taking the helm of a
state embroiled in a scandal – a
governor under investigation
for inÀuence peddling and
ethical transgressions – unlike
anything seen here before.
She takes charge of a state
government that is controlled
by the Democratic Party, her
party, which gives her plenty of
opportunity to be effective in
the short time before the next
statewide election in November
2016.
While the Kitzhaber mess
is likely to grab headlines for
months to come, the Democrats
nonetheless will continue to
maintain strong majorities
in both the state House and
the Senate. That’s not seen as
welcome news in Republican-
dominated Eastern Oregon,
where we need a lot of friends
in the Valley in order to get
anything accomplished. Despite
his foibles in Salem, Kitzhaber
could claim to be one such
friend.
A case in point was
Kitzhaber’s support for
increasing water from the
Columbia River to expand
irrigation and agriculture
production in the Umatilla
Basin. That goal seemed near
reality just a few weeks ago,
but has been thrown back into
limbo by the recent political
upheaval.
Kitzhaber’s proposed budget
featured money for such
water development, as well as
other projects to help the still
struggling rural areas. One
of the early tests for Brown
will be what she does with the
governor’s budget and with the
staff that coordinated policy
with rural Oregon communities.
Obviously, water is just one
of many issues important to
our communities. The change
in command has left county
and city of¿cials across this
region wondering about the
rami¿cations for their speci¿c
needs, whether that comes
down to water, forest health,
sage grouse habitat, or road
maintenance, to name just a
few items on the rural list.
In her early statements,
Brown weighed in for ethics
reforms – no surprise, given the
circumstances of her ascent to
power. But more important for
this region, she also said she
wouldn’t forget the needs of
areas of Oregon that have been
left behind by the economic
recovery. In other words, places
like Grant and Harney counties.
Political analyst Jim Moore
told the Capital Bureau he
thinks she’ll follow through on
the pledge to rural areas.
“The reason she will is
because that is where the
economic problems of the state
are right now,” he told reporter
Peter Wong. “The Legislature
has said we are going to focus
on the rural Oregon economy.
She has to be in on that
conversation.”
As do we. With some key
players changing, Eastern
Oregon leaders must be prepared
to adjust their strategies and build
new relationships to keep rural
recovery from slipping down
the priority list. Let the rural
education of Gov. Brown begin
now – and with a chorus, not a
whisper.
T HE F ARMER ’ S F ATE
Speeding combines
fail the small-town test
By Brianna Walker
For the Blue Mountain Eagle
I recently picked up an article
titled “You know you’re from the
farm when …” I settled down in
my chair and prepared for a few
minutes of amusing light reading.
It started out with “…you have
only two McDonald’s in town.”
Only two?
I read on: “You casually state
to out-of-towners that your house
is protected by the Good Lord and
a gun, and you’ll meet ’em both
if you show up without an invite.”
Okay, I’ll give them that one.
But when I came to the third
I had to wonder if the writer had
ever even been in a small town:
“You know you’re from a small
town when your school tardiness
is excused because your combine
only goes 35 mph.”
Huh? 35 mph? In a combine?
And a tiny town with two McDon-
ald’s? The article should have been
titled “you know you’re not from
a small town when you think … ”
The rest of the
statements
were
equally ridiculous.
“Yeh frequentleh
tahlk with that old
suthern drawl lai-
hke this, an’ no-
Brianna
body gits tired of it.
Walker
And them city gals
just melt when yeh
use it.”
After shaking my head, I decid-
ed to just write my own, hopefully
with a bit more accuracy.
You know you’re from a small
farming community when:
10. Your short cut across town
is avoiding the stop light.
9. When you look up at the sky,
see your familiar constellations,
and aren’t surprised that it’s dark
enough to see them.
8. On a grocery trip, you buy
all your frozen foods last … to en-
sure they won’t melt on the way
home.
7. You’re in the city and you
can see or smell livestock without
walking too far in any direction …
and you think nothing of it.
6. You have (or know someone
who has) put a lamb or calf in the
bathtub ... and it doesn’t seem un-
usual.
5. It’s time for roof repairs and
you get the front-end loader to do
the job.
4. Your early morning prayers
always mention rain.
3. Your chainsaw gets used for
everything from house remodels
to cutting down your Christmas
tree.
2. You wear specific hats for
farm auctions, cattle sales, and
holidays (and they probably all
advertise a local business).
And the No. 1 way you’d know
you were from a small farming
community: If you saw a combine
coming down the road at 35 mph,
you’d get out of their way in a
hurry – because you’d know they
must have lost their brakes com-
ing down the hill.
Brianna Walker writes about the
Farmer’s Fate, published occasion-
ally in the Blue Mountain Eagle.
C OMMENTARY
Solve the costly port crisis
By Rep. Greg Walden
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
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PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY BY:
For the past nine months, opera-
tors and workers at the Port of Port-
land and 28 other West Coast ports
have been locked in bitter negoti-
ations over a collective bargaining
agreement.
Like pebbles thrown into a pond,
the slowdowns and delays caused
by the dispute have had a ripple
effect throughout Oregon’s econo-
my. Crops are sitting, rotting on the
docks. Trucks sit idle at the ports.
Prices of commodities are plummet-
ing. Farmers are losing their custom-
ers and communities are losing their
livelihoods.
And negotiations are still at an
impasse after nine months, despite
the involvement of a federal media-
tor. The situation will only get worse.
Since growers cannot reliably export
their products, foreign customers
have been forced to go elsewhere
and may never come back.
Onion growers in Malheur Coun-
ty, with whom I met last week, are
shipping at less than their produc-
tion costs, if they are able to ship at
all due to a backup on the railways.
Pear growers in the Columbia Gorge
are seeing shipments
of perishable fruit
delayed by over a
month, degrading
the value of the prod-
uct. Cherry growers
have lost thousands
Rep. Greg of dollars due to the
Walden
disruption, and Ore-
gon’s potato farmers
have seen their sales decline 15 per-
cent. Manufacturers and transporta-
tion companies are also reporting a
heavy reduction in sales, reverberat-
ing throughout Oregon’s economy.
Nationally, agriculture exports
have been reduced by $1.75 billion
every month because of the labor
slowdown. At the Port of Portland,
Oregon’s largest port, 95 percent of
shipments are being delayed, with
delays averaging four to six weeks.
On top of that, the Port’s largest car-
rier, Hanjin, announced recently they
are canceling service to Portland, a
double whammy for Oregon agricul-
ture and other industries.
Enough is enough. It’s time to
end this crisis. I’ve teamed up with
members of Congress from both
sides of the aisle to introduce a reso-
lution calling on both sides to swift-
ly reach an agreement. It’s time they
get their work done before more peo-
ple suffer.
And we’re calling on the presi-
dent to get involved too. A similar
situation in 2002 was only ended
when the president got involved
to end a lock out. While it is en-
couraging that President Obama
has sent a member of the cabinet to
help mediate the dispute, he must
do more to publicly urge both sides
to end this conflict as soon as pos-
sible. And if the situation should
move into a strike or lockout, he
should immediately use the legal
authority Congress has granted
him to settle the dispute and end
this crisis.
More than one in five Oregon
jobs depend on trade. And 40 per-
cent of our agriculture products are
shipped internationally, according to
the Oregon Farm Bureau. The labor
dispute at West Coast ports has al-
ready harmed our fragile economy,
and it will only get worse if not re-
solved. It’s time to end this crisis and
get Oregon products – and our econ-
omy – moving again.
Greg Walden (R-Hood River)
represents Oregon’s Second Con-
gressional District, which covers 20
counties including Grant.
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Focus on
logging?
To the Editor:
Christy Cheyne, the
District Ranger of the
Emigrant Creek Ranger
District, Malheur National
Forest proposes to amend
L
the Forest Plan twice to
allow her to implement the
Wolf Timber Sale in the
Wolf Creek Watershed 17
miles southeast of Seneca.
The proposed timber sale
will log 43.2 square miles.
She claims the logging
is needed to save the aspen
growing in the area.
Cheyne proposes to
amend the plan to allow
logging trees greater than 21
inches DBH in aspen stands
and to log big-game winter
range to an extent the big
game cover will be way be-
low Forest Plan standards.
If you plan to hunt in
this area and/or enjoy hik-
ing and camping among the
old-growth trees that will
be liquidated, please call
Cheyne at 541-573-4398
and comment in writing on
the draft Environmental As-
sessment before March 6.
Dick Artley
Grangeville, Idaho
etters policy: Letters to the Editor is a forum for Blue Mountain Eagle readers to express themselves on local, state, national or world issues. Brevity
is good, but longer letters will be asked to be contained to 350 words. No personal attacks; challenge the opinion, not the person. No thank-you letters.
Submissions to this page become property of the Eagle. The Eagle reserves the right to edit letters for length and for content. Letters must be original and
signed by the writer. Anonymous letters will not be printed. Writers should include a telephone number so they can be reached for questions. Deadline is 5
p.m. Friday. Send letters to editor@bmeagle.com, or Blue Mountain Eagle, 195 N. Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845; or fax to 541-575-1244.