A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Swimming out
of the education
backwaters
T
he presidents of both
Oregon and Oregon State
aren’t sure the residents
of this state care about having
excellent public universities.
“There’s something wrong
with a state willing to be 46th
in funding, willing to be a
backwater state,” bemoaned
University of Oregon president
Michael Schill Sept. 17.
Can that really be so — this
land of clear mountain streams
— a backwater? Nationally,
Oregon’s reputation is of a
green, progressive, well-run
state partial to marijuana and
brunch. But dig a little deeper
beneath those clichés and you
¿nd a state that is locked in
a struggle with Mississippi
and Alabama at the bottom of
many education rankings. It
is no coincidence that those
two other states are among the
nation’s poorest, too.
Schill, along with Oregon
State University president
Ed Ray and new Eastern
Oregon University president
Tom Insko, worry about the
mechanisms that fund higher
education in the state. They
were pleased with the funding
increase this biennium but
worry about the decrease they
said is sure to come next time
the economy dips.
That lack of long-term
planning and long-term
priority has them working at a
disadvantage. And students are
suffering because of it.
Higher education seemingly
did pretty well in the last
legislative session, with its
budget increased to nearly $700
million for the biennium. So it
is possible the colleges can be
seen as ungrateful — or just
always wanting more and more
dollars.
But Ray said the funding
bump offered a glimpse into a
“window of opportunity” and
none of them want to see that
window close.
“The everyday conversation
hasn’t changed,” said Ray.
“Everybody should be upset.”
“And embarrassed,” added
Schill.
All three men say they can
get exhausted having arguments
here — with legislators and
citizens — that aren’t had
anywhere else. Schill said
at previous stops, including
most recently at the University
of Chicago, the importance
of higher education was a
given. People knew they were
economic engines, necessary
for this country to keep
churning, and were real sources
of pride no matter the record of
the football team.
Not so here. Schill said there
is “something wrong” with a
state that doesn’t understand
that.
Let’s be clear there is
something wrong with our state
universities. The graduation
rate at two of our most popular
schools is miserable. The
number of Oregon students
at both is in serious decline.
At Oregon State alone, the
number of in-state students has
fallen from 85 percent to 73
percent, and Ray said he sees
it falling further if the school
continues to lose money to
educate Oregonians when they
can make money by importing
students from out-of-state. Or
even more money by importing
from out-of-country.
And let’s be even clearer:
there’s something wrong with
K-12 education in Oregon as
well. We’re down there with
Mississippi in graduation
rate, in classroom hours, in
numerous other statistical
categories.
We’ve been told we need
to rebuild our state education
system from the ground up
— starting with preschool
through third grade. We can’t
let those kids get behind, and
then everything after will be
improved.
But this state and this
country have been bouncing
through competing education
priorities and testing systems
and bureaucrats so rapidly that
it seems pretty unlikely that
we can stay on one track for
students to turn from toddlers
into college graduates.
We should be embarrassed
at the state of the Oregon
education system. But funding
isn’t the only way to ¿x it. It’s a
help, for sure. But we need that
total rebuild — a rebuild that
must come from the ground
up and — for the sake of this
generation of college students
— from the top down, too.
We can get into speci¿cs
later. The ¿rst step to recovery
is admitting we have a
problem.
W HERE TO WRITE
L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
Issues need to
be addressed
To the Editor:
I have heard from several sourc-
es the managers of the Canyon
Mountain Complex fires watched
the fire grow while farmers and
loggers begged to use their equip-
ment and manpower to get on
the fire right away and put it out,
but they were told they could not
move their equipment and person-
nel in. They did not have permis-
sion. There were also 6 helicopters
sitting at the airport not being used
until the fire was way out of con-
trol.
It is being said we need to learn
from our mistakes. We need to
have a timeline that tells the time
between when the fire was first
spotted until each of the units was
called for and when they got on
target and who was making the
decisions and who was making
the calls. It seems to me an in-
dependent investigation is called
for to review all of this material.
I’m urging all the Public Forest
Commissioners to get involved in
writing letters and calling for this
independent investigation
There seems to be a desire to
blame Global Warming for what
we are dealing with here, or that
there isn’t enough resources to
throw at this, but there seems to
me to be a management problem
also that needs to be addressed.
One other comment I’ve heard
is fire is big business, there for we
need big fires for big business.
Fortunately there were no lives
lost in this fire, but the tremen-
dous loss of property has hit this
community very hard and there is
no way to replace the real things
accumulated over a lifetime that
was lost in such a short time. My
prayers go with each person who
has lost so much.Commissioner
Nicky A. Sprauve
Grant County Public Forest
Commission position #2
Canyon City
Keep our kids,
community safe
To the Editor:
I confess, I have not been one to
make it to many city council meet-
ings in Prairie City since I moved
here, but having been made aware
of the upcoming decision on recre-
ational marijuana sales in our little
town, this is no time to stay home.
There will be a town hall meeting
at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept 23, at
the Strawberry Grange in Prairie
City to give our residents the op-
portunity to declare their stance on
this important matter to the coun-
cil members.
If you don’t come, don’t be
whining about a dramatic change
in the face of our community
should our council members de-
cide to go for the shops. The Gov-
ernor has given us a rare opportu-
nity to not be overrun by the voters
in Portland and other liberal areas
in Oregon, and we should take it,
and keep our kids and community
safer.
Mary Brown
Prairie City
Quick action
appreciated
Our fire was small and insig-
nificant in comparison to Canyon
Creek, but the Berry Creek was
small and insignificant when the
lightning first hit the snag. Hugh
and Cindy Gray, Meredith and I
truly appreciate the efforts of all
involved in dealing with our fire.
Thank you on behalf of our rural
community.
Roger and Meredith Ediger
Mt. Vernon
Local contractors
deserve recognition
To the Editor:
I received calls from Scott and
Mary Ellen informing me there
was a fire headed our way Aug.
30 outside of Mt. Vernon. Getting
my water bucket, gunny sacks and
shovel loaded I headed out as John
pulled into the driveway and asked
if my crawler was handy. I told him
it wasn’t and he said he would be
back with his. Crossing the high-
way I found Sgt. Hutchison on the
creek bottom and asked him to ra-
dio the pumper truck to come and
follow my track to the ridge top
where I was working on flames. I
saw Bill and the Mt. Vernon Ru-
ral pumper coming up the hill and
shortly after Todd and his crew
with a pumper. John came on his
crawler and immediately started
a dozer line around the north and
east edge of the fire and headed up
the ridge. I could see Hugh with
his spray tank on his side-by-side,
Jeff with his bale chaps flailing the
flames while being followed by
his son and daughter-in-law with
shovels. Steve, Leonard, Cody,
and a number of other friends and
neighbors were working the edge
of the blaze. John Day Rural and
State had pumper trucks on the
fire and others were working the
edges and hot spots.
Standing in the smoke and heat
I could not help but wonder if the
Berry Creek fire was met with this
“stop it here and put it out now”
level of aggressive determination
I was observing, staffed mostly by
volunteer workers? If so then how
could it have ever gotten away? I
know there may be no comparison
between the incidence - fuel loads,
topography, weather, man power,
agencies, perhaps even philoso-
phies, budgets and the list goes on
- but as I watched this blaze get
extinguished I could not help but
wonder if the situation may have
been entirely different.
Our rural fire suppression de-
partments, both Mt. Vernon and
John Day, are staffed by dedicat-
ed volunteers and they do what is
needed to stop fires where they are
and extinguish them now. I am not
sure they realize how significant
they are to our community.
To the Editor:
In reading about all of the people
who helped on the Canyon Creek
Complex, I have seen mention of
the Forest Service, Oregon Depart-
ment of Forestry and Rural Fire De-
partments. They did a good job, but
one group is missing.
The local contractors. Grayback
Forestry, Thunderbolt Fire Service,
Strike Back, Trico, Crown Chaser,
Iron Triangle, J&D Logging, Moore
& Heuckman, DaKom Logging,
L&L Excavating, Chad Engle Log-
ging, JWS Wild¿re, Neil Bauer, and
the local timber fallers. These peo-
ple live in this community and gave
their all to help.
These people were put in harms
way and performed at a high lev-
el, helping to try to save hous-
es and property of friends and
neighbors.
If I missed anyone, which I am
sure I have, I am sorry. To all of you,
a job well done, you can be proud of
the work you have done.
Roy Cates and family
Mt. Vernon
Follow up thoughts
Dear Editor:
Sadly, the Grant County Re-
gional Airport’s (GCRA) annual
Fly-In was canceled this year.
Credits are certainly due to Dr.
Joe Intile’s comments regarding
this unnecessary decision in his
Sept. 16, Blue Mountain Eagle
Letter to the Editor.
Dr. Intile is a person with deep
wisdom and experience: a military
flight surgeon (Fellow American
College of Physicians (FAMC)
highest distinction for the profes-
sion), retired colonel, private pi-
lot, jet pilot, former GCRA Com-
missioner and hangar owner, and
well traveled individual with vast
experience certainly brings cre-
dence to his insight and opinion
regarding this incredibly disap-
pointing situation.
Al Olson
Private Pilot and 6 years part-
time Airport Manager
John Day
L
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