A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
N ATIONAL A G D AY
Local producers
do their part in
critical industry
N
othing is more
thrilling to a farmer
than planting a
seed and waiting to see
what happens, or a rancher,
watching a newborn calf
wobble to its feet in the
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farmers and ranchers do just
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Some do their work
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others sow patches of
land the size of a small
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former industrial sites in
places such as Detroit and
Philadelphia and convert
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All are participating in
a 12,000-year-old ritual
that has allowed humans
to escape the role of
hunter-gatherer and create
a society where big ideas
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could be grown efficiently
and animals could be
domesticated for milk and
meat, humans were free
to think beyond their next
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It’s an historic, and
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In China, farmers have
cultivated rice for more
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Bolivia, another ancient
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extraordinarily high prices
among so-called foodies in
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raise beef cattle similar to
those first brought to
South America from
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Agriculture is important
everywhere, but nowhere
is it more important than
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agriculture that helped a
handful of colonies blossom
into a booming economic
powerhouse and world
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farmers raised more than
$400 billion in crops and
livestock on slightly more
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fellow Americans — and
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wheat, for example, can be
found in noodles sold by a
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bread baked in a stone oven
in Algiers or in a steamed
bun sold in a Jakarta
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Other crops and products
fill the shelves of shops and
stores around the world,
helping to feed 7 billion
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In Grant County, as
examined in this issue of the
Eagle, agriculture has deep
roots in the history of the
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and farmers have long plied
a land suited to cattle and
livestock, hay production,
and in certain areas, fruit
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while also conserving, is
a keystone for our local
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So who is the American
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tell us that the average age
is about 58 and the average
farm is a little more than
400 acres, no farmer is
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is different, so too is every
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they have tilled the land
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inspiration and perspiration
in an effort to grow new life
and a livelihood from the
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Ours is a society that
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Smart phones, electric
cars and all manner of
computer-enhanced gizmos
are seen as the wave of
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agriculture, without food
and fiber, none of that
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could be iPhones, there had
to be plows and tractors and
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National Ag Day is March
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how food is produced,
and about the integral role
farming and ranching play
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And to celebrate an
industry that can be called
the most important in our
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Blue Mountain
EAGLE
195 N. Canyon Blvd. • John Day, OR 97845
541-575-0710 • Fax 541-575-1244
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
USPS 226-340
John Day, Oregon
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Marissa Williams, marissa@bmeagle.com
Scotta Callister, editor@bmeagle.com
Kristina Kreger, kristina@bmeagle.com
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Angel Carpenter, angel@bmeagle.com
Angel Carpenter, angel@bmeagle.com
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Lindsay Bullock office@bmeagle.com
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C OMMENTARY
Frohnmayer: Our last
progressive Republican
By Steve Forrester
EO Media Group
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week reminds us of when Republicans
were the mainstream, progressive par-
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teresting pair, because both retooled uni-
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federal appropriations into the University
of Oregon Medical School, making it into
the research giant we know as Oregon
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his years as president of the University
of Oregon, Frohnmayer raised around $1
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In Frohnmayer’s 1990 campaign for
governor, one sees the undoing of the Ore-
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A religion-based Re-
publican splinter candi-
date, Al Mobley, took
13 percent of the vote
in Frohnmayer’s race
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Dave
We’ve not had a GOP
Frohnmayer governor in the 25 years
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Oregon is poorer because it’s a one-par-
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experience that produced landmark legis-
lation such as the Bottle Bill and Senate
Bill 100, establishing statewide land use
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A less observed aspect of Frohnmay-
er’s legacy was his 10 years as Oregon
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Clatsop County District Attorney Josh
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ly two things: “Frohnmayer remade the
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He also created a really elite appellate
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Court, the winning percentage of that unit
was very high, with Frohnmayer himself
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In describing Dave Frohnmayer and
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OLIH ZH ¿QG RXUVHOYHV VRXQGLQJ TXDLQW
using words that are out of fashion in our
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DFWHULVRQHVXFKZRUG
Steve Forrester is president and
CEO of EO Media Group, which
publishes 11 newspapers in the
Northwest, including the Blue
Mountain Eagle.
L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
Fully fund FVO job
To the Editor:
A tribute to our veterans:
“During the time when many fled,
so many more stayed and raised
their hands when their coun-
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rifices should never be forgot-
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Grant County needs an ac-
credited Veteran Services Offi-
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is an appointment minimum of
1,000 hours per year and an op-
portunity to receive training and
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accreditation allows a VSO to
function as an attorney-in-fact to
represent a veteran to the Veter-
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Without the authority exer-
cised by an accredited VSO, the
VA can ignore veterans’ claims
on a whim or minor technical-
ity and a veteran’s claim will
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opinion of many VSOs and any-
one dealing with the VA, it is the
largest bureaucracy in the United
States with predominantly unmo-
tivated and underpaid employees
who would just as soon not ex-
tend the effort to help veterans
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has plenty of highly paid attor-
neys representing them, always
looking for ways to cut costs to
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It is vital that the local VSO
be a well-trained advocate to as-
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Court needs to be made aware
that a potential VSO needs more
than 19 hours per week to meet
the 1,000-hour goal and be fully
trained to meet the needs of our
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VSOs in neighboring counties,
such a person could also extend the
helping hand to those outside our
county if the need arose and time
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to assist the federal government in
rewriting their failing forest plan
as Commissioner Britton proposes,
that money should be budgeted to
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pears, our County Court is selling
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Judy Kerr
Canyon City
The three Cs
To the Editor:
A recent front page article has
stirred some spirited conversa-
tions in the county, so I’m guess-
ing there are others out there
who don’t understand the impor-
tance of proper terminology when
talking about contracts and legal
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Collaboration and cooperation
both imply that one party is going
to do the work that is prescribed
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mission by the party that agrees to
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Chapter 36, Subchapter I, Section
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regarding forest management
plans and states that the Forest
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ernment’s forest management
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Congress that created the Forest
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Service to check with local gov-
ernment plans before implement-
ing any plan or regulation of it’s
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All the County Court has to do
is come up with their own plan
for managing our forests and the
Forest Service is already bound by
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When someone asks about your
involvement, would you rather be
a collaborator or a coordinator?
Larry Maplesden
John Day
Board too hasty
To the Editor:
I am disappointed with the report-
ing by the Blue Mountain Eagle, and
dismayed by the lack of transparen-
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March 4 that Mark Witty had ac-
cepted the superintendent position
at Baker School District 5J, and
on Page 10 gave a notice of a spe-
cial meeting of the District 3 school
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nation and options for hiring a new
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mention who was being considered,
how the board was going to act, what
the board was going to consider and
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At the meeting, Chris Cronin rec-
ommended hiring Curt Shelley as
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cuss the hiring of a new superinten-
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and spoke highly of Curt Shelley
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attendance, it appeared they had in-
formation the general public did not
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I told the board I had personally
contacted three individuals about
their willingness to serve as an in-
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board consider Grant County super-
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save money while allowing the
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One board member agreed a rushed
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was not hired then, he would accept
a position at another district, and he
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transparent about how they were
going to go about hiring a superin-
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and be more transparent with the cit-
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Charles G. Amling
Mt. Vernon
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.