A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Go read
a book
HDG$FURVV$PHULFD
week kicked off Monday,
and today is the birthday
of Dr. Seuss.
That makes this week as good
a time as any to remind parents
and grandparents, teachers and
students about the importance of
reading.
In some respects, reading
habits have changed for this
generation. Instead of reading
the comics on the back of a
cereal box at the breakfast table,
children are more likely to be
poking at their screen of choice,
watching videos or playing
games or conversing with
classmates.
But text messaging has made
reading and writing ever more
critical, perhaps at the expense
of inter-personal skills. Being
able to express yourself through
words is more important than
ever. Use bae or fam or lol
incorrectly and watch your bae
or fam lol at u.
Study after study shows the
EHQH¿WVRIUHDGLQJ,WLQFUHDVHV
your IQ, your vocabulary and
\RXUNQRZOHGJH5HDGLQJ¿FWLRQ
improves empathy, increases
brain connectivity and function.
The number of books in a home
is strongly linked to academic
achievement.
Reading also gives you
memories that can last a
lifetime. Here are a few:
My favorite childhood book
is “The Berenstain Bears and the
Spooky Old Tree.” I have a fond
PHPRU\IURPP\¿UVWJUDGH
class with Mrs. Johnson. She had
each student bring their favorite
book to share. I was always
drawn to this book because when
I was younger my cousins and I
were big explorers at our family
ranch. I remember thinking about
how those three little bears were
always so brave to go into that
spooky old tree by themselves.
Now with my own children,
when I am asked to read to their
class for Dr. Seuss Day, I take
my favorite book to share. I
love to be extra animated when
reading to the class and in the
end embarrass my kids. It makes
me smile to think this book now
creates memories for my kids.
Do they dare go into that
spooky old tree? Yes. They dare.
Three little bears ... One with
a light. One with a stick. One
with a rope.
— Marissa Williams,
publisher
R
$Q\PHPRULHV,KDYH
of reading books (as with
everything else in my life)
LQYROYHFKLOGUHQ$QGDVD
mother, grandmother and former
preschool teacher, I bet I’ve read
hundreds of them to and with
young and eager listeners — at
least half of which were on the
“heavy rotation” cycle and read
themselves a hundred times
each. If you know kids, you
know what I’m talking about.
My favorites are those that
captivated and held the kids’
interest — and mine. That often
meant easy-to-follow story
lines, illustrations that actually
followed the text and lots of
repetition. Young kids are really
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
P UBLISHED EVERY
W EDNESDAY BY
into repetition.
One of my favorites is “Little
Blue and Little Yellow” by Leo
Lionni. Between the covers of
WKLVSLFWXUHERRNWKH¿UVWRI
Lionni’s long list of published
works, is concise text and
simple illustrations — not much
more than just blotches of color
throughout. But the power is
in the story, and at the heart of
this one is a message of racial
intolerance and the power of
friendship — without actually
saying so much and without
being preachy. That’s the secret.
“Little Blue and Little Yellow”
is an example — at least to this
aspiring children’s book author
— of what a perfect children’s
book should be.
I have many favorites from
days gone by, mostly “classics”
— “Corduroy,” “Go Dog, Go,”
“The Little Red Caboose” —
most of which I still know
YHUEDWLP$QGDVWKHZRUGVDQG
images return from time to time,
so do the memories of sharing
a warm lap, time together and a
good tale.
²&KHU\O+RHÀHUHGLWRULDO
assistant
Reading was a huge part of
my life growing up. Growing
up without a television meant
there was a lot of time devoted
to reading in our household, and
that shaped my childhood. When
it comes to a favorite, would it
be the countless Dr. Suess books,
inherited from my mom and still
sitting on the family bookshelves,
waiting for the next generation
of young readers? Do I choose
the infamous Harry Potter series,
my constant companions for 10
years straight? The Little House
on the Prairie? Our collection of
nearly every book Louis L’amour
ZURWH"$Q\WKLQJ5RDOG'DKO
ever published? Choosing a
favorite is, in a word, impossible.
While I was a voracious
reader from a young age and
capable of spending entire days
with my nose in a book reading
to myself, I fondly remember
my mom reading aloud the
ERRN³*RQH$ZD\/DNH´
by Elizabeth Enright and its
VHTXHO³5HWXUQWR*RQH$ZD\´
once we discovered it existed.
$JUHDWPDQ\EHGWLPHVWRU\
hours were devoted to those
books, begging for one more
page of the adventures had by a
trio of cousins who discovered
an abandoned Victorian resort
community next to a bog that
used to be Lost Lake, and the
lifestyle of the two people who
still lived there. Countless nights
were spent, “way past your
bedtime, young lady,” exploring
the limitless edges of fantastical
worlds brought to life from
words on a page.
Reading taught me to use
my imagination and appreciate
every story someone has taken
the time to tell. Even now, if
I have a book in my hands,
the world may as well stop
revolving outside of it until
,¿QLVKLW/XFNLO\,JUHZXS
knowing the magic doesn’t end
when the pages do.
²/LQGVD\%XOORFNRI¿FH
manager
L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
“A sorry
performance” by
County Court
has Cramer and Grasty, who have
many friends and will rule in favor
of their “good old buddies,” and
Ward who is their buddy! Do you
really want this in Grant County?
To the Editor:
Sheriff Palmer had a tough job to
The Grant County Court re- do; he has to protect everyone’s
sponded to appeals from citizens rights, yep, everyone’s! He did ev-
for an investigation into the early erything he could to do that.
stages of the Mason Spring and
We commend Sheriff Palmer
%HUU\ &UHHN ¿UHV RI $XJXVW for doing his duty even while being
by voting, more or less, “No.”
ridiculed by those who think consti-
Judge Scott Myers stated the tutional rights are only for a chosen
Grant County Public Forest Com- few. For those of you that think you
mission was not the group to mon- are the chosen ones, read a docu-
itor the investigation and voted, ment that starts: We the people.
“No.”
Rick and Diane Camara
Commissioner (Boyd) Britton,
Athena
who does business with the Forest
Service and did not ethically recuse
himself, voted, “No.”
“My vote will go to
Commissioner (Chris) Labhart
was for an investigation but wanted the cowboy”
citizens to sit down to a “talk” with To the Editor:
the Forest Service to learn the facts.
$V IRU &RXQW\ &RPPLVVLRQHU
So the biggest and most damag- Chris) Labhart’s resolution to ban
LQJ¿UHLQ*UDQW&RXQW\ZLOOEHLJ- “militia” in Grant County, we have
QRUHGE\RXUWKUHHHOHFWHGRI¿FLDOV enough rules and regulations in this
even though it was evident from country; my vote will go to the cow-
those attending the meeting an in- boy in November. Mr. Labhart may
vestigation was absolutely in order. want to ban the “militia” that takes
Overall, it was a sorry performance over “4 Corners” every October.
by three men elected to represent
$V IRU 0U 'XQQLJKDP¶V OHWWHU
the citizens of Grant County
I have not seen or read anywhere
Ron Ballard Sheriff Glenn Palmer wants to take
Mt. Vernon public land and give it to private in-
WHUHVWV$OVR KH VHHPV WR WKLQN KH
is doing Grant County a favor in
coming here; well, I say, if he is not
Sheriff did his duty
protecting everyone’s coming here anymore, “Yeah!”
Don Long
John Day
rights
To the Editor:
I’ve just spent most of two days
reading past issues of the Blue
Mountain Eagle. I can’t believe how
arrogant some people are! Do you
really want a sheriff that doesn’t go
out and get as much information as
possible on a problem he doesn’t
want happening in Grant County?
Oh my gosh! Your sheriff had lunch
with one of Bundy’s group! What
a sensible way to gain knowledge!
$JUHHZLWK%XQG\"2QO\LQWKHIDFW
that we need to protect our consti-
tutional rights. Sheriff Palmer took
an oath to do that; he should agree.
Does he agree with how they chose
to make their point? Of course not,
if they’re breaking laws to do it!
$QG VLQFH ZKHQ VKRXOGQ¶W D VKHU-
iff try to attend or speak at a public
meeting? Wouldn’t his presence at a
public meeting with two groups of
people with very opposite opinions
have been a good thing? We lived
in Grant County and moved to the
Harney County area until recently
retiring. We saw what was happen-
ing there. Grant County, you should
all be thankful and realize how
lucky you are to have a hardwork-
ing, honest sheriff. Harney County
To the Editor:
$OLWWOHKLVWRU\DV,XQGHUVWDQGLW
The voters of Grant County told the
County Commissioners that they
wanted the county to manage and
oversee the public forests in Grant
County. This was by a large major-
ity of the voters. That was when the
Grant County Public Forestry Com-
mission was established.
Why am I bringing this up? Be-
cause one of the county commis-
sioners, Chris Labhart, asked at a
recent meeting, “What do you do
anyway?” We are trying to do what
the voters mandated that we are to
do, but the County Court, coun-
ty commissioners (of which Chris
Labhart is one) and the U.S. Forest
Service keep putting roadblocks in
our way. They are using stall tactics
and diversions to keep us from even
doing an investigation as to how
WKH &DQ\RQ &UHHN &RPSOH[ ¿UH
EHFDPHVXFKDGHVWUXFWLYH¿UHDQG
who is responsible for letting this
kind of disaster happen. We have
been calling for an investigation,
but it appears that the county com-
Sheriff should be
physically able to
perform duties
To the Editor:
It was my understanding that
Todd McKinley resigned his posi-
tion as undersheriff due to a shoul-
der injury that made him unable
to perform his duties as a police
RI¿FHUEXWQRZKHZDQWVWREHWKH
sheriff?
Shouldn’t the sheriff be as phys-
ically able to perform the duties an
undersheriff would?
.rista Grif¿n
John Day
County fortunate to
have Sheriff Palmer
To the Editor:
What is this hysteria over pub-
lic safety in Grant County? Sheriff
Palmer is the one who should be
concerned about his safety. How
can he have absolute trust his fel-
ORZ RI¿FHUV DQG HYHQ KLV RZQ
dispatchers will have his back in
a potentially dangerous situation?
Yes, Peggy Clark, I too called this
a “witch hunt” from the beginning.
Sheriff Palmer has been and con-
tinues to be a good public servant,
and all of us are fortunate to have
him. It’s a shame he wasn’t at the
arrest site — cooler heads (his)
might have prevailed, and Mr. Fin-
icum might still be alive. Glenn
Palmer has supported this commu-
nity all his years as sheriff; now,
despite the allegations, innuen-
dos and outright lies, it’s time we
stand up in his support. Your vote
counts; use it.
Patti Yellow Hand Bull
Monument
L
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. We
must limit all contributors to one letter per person per month. 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.
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
P UBLISHER ............................... M ARISSA W ILLIAMS , MARISSA @ BMEAGLE . COM
E DITOR .................................... S EAN H ART , EDITOR @ BMEAGLE . COM
A DMINISTRATIVE A SSISTANT ........ K RISTINA K REGER , KRISTINA @ BMEAGLE . COM
E DITORIAL A SSISTANT ................ C HERYL H OEFLER , CHERYL @ BMEAGLE . COM
C OMMUNITY N EWS .................... A NGEL C ARPENTER , ANGEL @ BMEAGLE . COM
S PORTS ................................... A NGEL C ARPENTER , ANGEL @ BMEAGLE . COM
M ARKETING R EP ....................... K IM K ELL , ADS @ BMEAGLE . COM
O FFICE M ANAGER ..................... L INDSAY B ULLOCK , OFFICE @ BMEAGLE . COM
MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
Nothing but talk
missioners and the County Court
really do not want an investigation
to take place, because they keep
stalling and postponing so that no
action can take place. Folks, spring
is coming and along with it comes
snow melt and rain, and nothing has
EHHQGRQHEXWWDONRQWKHÀRRGPLW-
igation.
What does it take to get these
people off dead center?
:H¶YHKDGDGHVWUXFWLYH¿UHWKDW
has destroyed many homes and life-
times of valuable goods and mem-
ories, and now the experts tell us
WKH ÀRRGV DUH FRPLQJ DQG DOO WKDW
is happening is talk, talk, talk. How
much more destruction is going to
take place while the powers that be
keep putting roadblocks in the way?
Nicky A. Sprauve
Grant County Public Forest
Commissioner Position No. 2
Canyon City
1 YEAR SUBSCRIPTION RATES
(including online access)
Grant County .....................................$40
Everywhere else in U.S. .....................$51
Outside Continental U.S. ....................$60
Subscriptions must be paid prior to delivery
Periodicals Postage Paid at John
'D\DQGDGGLWLRQDOPDLOLQJRIÀFHV
POSTMASTER
send address changes to:
Blue Mountain Eagle
195 N. Canyon Blvd.
John Day, OR 97845-1187
USPS 226-340
ZZZ0\(DJOH1HZVFRP
Copyright © 2016 Blue Mountain Eagle
All rights reserved. No part of this
publication covered by the copyright
hereon may be reproduced or
copied in any form or by any means
— graphic, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, taping or
information storage and retrieval
systems — without written
permission of the publisher.
ZZZIDFHERRNFRP0\(DJOH1HZV
@MyEagleNews