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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 2016)
A10 News Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, September 21, 2016 Katy Coba says goodbye to the Department of Ag DOGS Continued from Page A1 her well when Gov. Ted Kulon- goski appointed her ag director in 2003, Jill Thorne said. “She brought to the direc- tor’s ofice that background and empathy for the work farmers do and their care for the land,” she said. By Eric Mortenson Community members noted the majority of dogs and pet owners in the area are responsible and well behaved and said the meeting was to deal with only a handful of problem animals. “We don’t want to walk around with ball bats,” Sharon Smith said. “What’s an old lady like me to do?” Councilwoman Lisa Weigum was in favor of a licensing program for dogs that would add ac- countability for the own- er. Additionally, licens- ing fees and fines could provide a financial base to add infrastructure and personnel to deal with the issue. Another major issue brought up was the at- titude of people toward wayward animals, that dogs will be dogs and there’s no changing that. “There’s gotta be some incentive for social change,” Councilman Paul Smith said. Another possible part of a solution that was discussed was an educa- tion program that would inform owners of the current ordinances in place to help keep ani- mals and people safe. City Manager Nick Green said he would look into funding op- tions and report back to the council. EO Media Group eomediagroup.com Debbie Ausmus 245 South Canyon Blvd. John Day, OR 97845 OPEN WED. & THUR. 9 am - 5 pm Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press Katy Coba, Oregon Department of Agriculture’s outgoing director, stands in a wheat field near Pendleton. an ambassador for public ser- vice. “I have two passions,” Coba said during an interview in her Salem ofice as her inal month as ag director unwound. “One is agriculture, the other is public service. I believe in it. I’m concerned about the discon- nect between citizens and gov- ernment, between Oregonians and state government.” She asked herself if she could take the new job and make a difference. “I would say it grabbed me right in the heart.” Born to it Jill Thorne says her daugh- ter, Katy, and son, Todd, were immersed in public service. Jill and Mike Thorne were Pendleton wheat ranchers, but their world views extended be- yond the blonde stubble that covers the rolling hills of East- ern Oregon this time of year. Recognizing the region’s isola- tion from Oregon decision mak- ers in Portland and Salem, they threw themselves into politics. “Our theory was, we’re so far from the Willamette Valley, if we didn’t get involved, who would?” Jill Thorne said. In 1968 they found them- selves hosting a campaign breakfast at the ranch for Robert Kennedy as he swung through in a bid to win the Oregon pri- mary and secure the Democratic party’s presidential nomination. Kennedy and the campaign MONUMENT Continued from Page A1 541-575-1113 24 hrs/7 days wk “It does heighten the concern he’s going to do it,” Jordan Val- ley rancher Mark Mackenzie said about the Maine declara- tion. The two cases are not en- tirely the same. The Maine parcel was gifted to the gov- ernment by the founder of the Bert’s Bees product line, debbie.ausmus@ countryfinancial.com A MAN WAKES UP in the morning after sleeping on... an advertised bed, in advertised pajamas. He will bathe in an ADVERTISED TUB, shave with an ADVERTISED RAZOR, have a breakfast of ADVERTISED JUICE, cereal and toast, toasted in an ADVERTISED TOASTER, put on ADVERTISED CLOTHES and glance at his ADVERTISED WATCH. He’ll ride to work in his ADVERTISED CAR, sit at an ADVERTISED DESK and write with an ADVERTISED PEN. Yet this person hesitates to advertise, saying that advertising doesn’t pay. Finally, when his non-advertised business is going under, HE’LL ADVERTISE IT FOR SALE. Then it’s too late. AND THEY SAY ADVERTISING DOESN’T WORK? DON’T MAKE THIS SAME MISTAKE Advertising is an investment, not an expense. Think about it! Blue Mountain Eagle Please call 541-523-2522 or visit www.eltrym.com for movies and showtimes. MyEagleNews.com Don’t get left behind, call today! Kim Kell 541-575-0710 $9 Adult, $7 Senior (60+), Youth WANTED Information leading to conviction of trespassers and/or poachers on Silvies Valley Ranch $2,500 00 REWARD A reward we’re anxious to pay. Again last year, several nice mule deer bucks and elk were killed and left to rot on our ranch – and that’s only what we found. Several poachers were caught and prosecuted. Please help us catch trespassers and poachers who have no respect for private property rights and who give all hunters a bad name. If you legally wound an animal that comes onto any of our property, please come to ranch headquarters at Bridge Creek and we will help you find and clean it at no charge. Otherwise, do not go onto our property unless accompanied by a Silvies Valley Ranch team member. We will press charges, sue for damages, and are actively patrolling our property with ATVs, by horseback, and videocams. CALL Silvies, Oregon Sheriff Glenn Palmer 541-575-1131 Sheriff Dave Ward 541-573-6156 Colby Marshall 541-573-5150 x110 www.silviesvalleyranch.com 1-800-SILVIES Loyalty Jim Johnson, the Depart- ment of Agriculture’s land and water planning coordinator, is a big man with big opinions. He’s a ixture at public hear- ings, frequently testifying as local or state oficials wrestle with land-use decisions that might affect farming. By public employee standards, he is un- usually self-assured, direct and plain-spoken. It’s a trait some elected oficials don’t appreci- ate. He says Katy Coba is one of the best he’s seen at managing inter-governmental relations. “She’s always had my back,” he said. “She trusted me to do my job.” press corps descended on the ranch. In a favorite family sto- ry, Todd Thorne, then 3 1/2, demanded to know who CBS reporter Roger Mudd supported. “If you aren’t going to vote for Kennedy, you can’t eat breakfast here,” he told Mudd. Katy Thorne, then 5, sat in Bobby Kennedy’s lap. A black- and-white photo of her father and Kennedy, taken during the ranch breakfast, is in her Salem ofice. Kennedy was assassinat- ed in Los Angeles a month later. Mike Thorne, now 76, served in the state Legislature, headed the Port of Portland and Washington State Ferry sys- tem, and worked on numerous state and local civic projects in the decades that followed. Jill Thorne, 75 in November, was and is equally involved, and among other things worked for Gov. Neil Goldschmidt. Katy was a legislative page as a teen, earned an economics degree from Whitman College and her early government work included a stint at the ag depart- ment and positions in the irst Gov. John Kitzhaber adminis- tration as chief policy adviser, economic development and international trade policy advis- er and director of executive ap- pointments. But she worked the family wheat harvest, too, lettered in basketball and volleyball, com- peted as a barrel racer and was queen of the Pendleton Round- Up in 1982. All of that served Trust Jeff Stone, executive director of the Oregon Association of Nurseries, said it takes a certain skill to advocate, market and regulate agriculture at the same time, as the ODA director is required to do. Katy Coba was unique in her ability to do so, he said. An example: The recession hammered Oregon’s nursery in- dustry, as the sale of landscaping and ornamental plants is closely tied to development, especially housing. In 2010, South Car- olina began pulling aside and inspecting trucks from Oregon, the leading nursery state, look- ing for plant diseases. Stone said other states were attempting to use the regulatory system to protect their own mar- kets. One thing Oregon can’t afford, he said, is a trade war between states. Under Coba, the Oregon Department of Ag- riculture worked with USDA and other nursery states to adopt a “presumed clean until proven otherwise” stance. Following that, the nursery while the site of the proposed Owyhee Canyonlands Na- tional Monument is already controlled by the Bureau of Land Management. Even though the Maine monument involved private land “and had a little differ- ent twist to it, I didn’t sleep very well that night,” Mack- enzie said. Opponents worry a mon- ument designation would severely impact the county’s No. 1 industry, ranching, as well as mining, hunting and recreation because of restric- tions and regulations that would come along with it. “Of course the national monument in Maine is caus- ing concern,” Malheur Coun- ty rancher Sean Cunningham told Capital Press in an email. He said a lot of his op- eration’s recent business decisions are taking into consideration “whether our backyard becomes a monu- ment and how that’ll affect our daily operations.” After the OBSC ran a TV ad on MSNBC in the Port- land region during the Dem- ocratic National Convention urging people to oppose the proposed national monu- ment, its membership in- creased by about 2,500 in 10 days, said Mackenzie, who is a member of the OBSC board of directors. Rough Country Fencing, llc Joe & Brandy Stills 04540 The most valuable and respected source of local news, advertising and information for our communities. Paulette Pyle is a Reagan Republican and Katy — ev- eryone calls her Katy — is a Robert Kennedy Democrat. But Pyle, who for many years was grass roots coordinator with the pro-industry Oregonians for Food and Shelter, loves Katy Coba. When Pyle deemed The Or- egonian newspaper was picking on Katy in its coverage of pes- ticide mishaps, she called a re- porter with a rival publication to complain. Because everybody loves Katy. Not literally everybody, of course. Some in the media be- lieve she’s been a lax regulator of Oregon agriculture and some in activist groups believe she’s too friendly to what they deine as Big Ag. But it’s fair to say most people who have dealt with her for more than a decade love Katy Coba. “We do,” Pyle said. And as Coba leaves the Or- egon Department of Agriculture after 13 years as director — she’s both the irst woman to hold the job and the longest-serving — people who make a living in farming, ranching and natural resources are bidding her bitter- sweet goodbyes. They hate to see Coba leave the ag department, but they’re pleased Gov. Kate Brown ap- pointed her director of the state Department of Administrative Services and her administra- tion’s chief operating oficer. They hope Coba’s model of col- laborative problem-solving and her calm, respectful manner will spread in state government. Coba herself said the Gov- ernor’s Ofice made multiple pitches before she said yes. She inally asked what the governor was looking for, and the answer swayed her. Brown didn’t want someone focused on the internal workings of DAS. She wanted CCB#211284 We do all types of fencing, corrals, spring rehabs and much more. PO Box 202 Spray, OR, 97874 roughcountryfencing@gmail.com 541-419-7403 • 541-408-2947 association and Oregon State University wrote a Safe Pro- curement and Production Man- ual to guide the industry. “That’s a lot of trust, when it means staying in business or not. To have faith in the department to solve a problem that really could bring you to your knees,” Stone said. “Trust between in- dustry and the department, those things aren’t assumed — they are earned.” The Future Katy Coba, 54, says she’s blessed to have a happy and sup- portive family. She and her hus- band, Marshall Coba, a lobbyist on behalf of engineering irms, have two grown daughters, Claire and Meredith. She said her parents, Mike and Jill, are her most important role models. They took the ideals the Kenne- dys espoused, she said, and “put them into action that I witnessed and experienced.” In her new job, she will seek to develop leadership within state government and attract a younger and more diverse workforce to public service. She’ll push for accountability and transparency. She wants to restore trust in government. The occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge head- quarters was an “explosion” of the public’s angst and frustra- tion with government, she said. The biggest change she’s seen in agriculture is consum- ers’ interest in food, she said. “I sometimes say ag suffers from too much love,” she said. “If you’re a farmer and igure it out and take advantage of it, good for you.” Political challenges for Ore- gon ag include labor, maintain- ing transportation infrastructure and continuing land-use dis- putes and competition for water, she said. Ag hasn’t seen the last of Katy Coba. “I’ve already told the gover- nor I’ll be an advocate for Or- egon’s natural resource indus- tries, I’ll be an advocate for rural Oregon in this new job. “And she said, ‘Good.’” Membership now stands at 8,100 and the coalition has also started producing videos that feature people who live near where the monument would be located explaining in their own words why it would be a bad idea. Malheur County rancher and OBSC board member Elias Eiguren said putting a face on the coalition’s mes- sage makes it more personal and allows people to under- stand that what would hap- pen would affect real people. “I think as more people see those videos ... it will bring more awareness to what’s going on,” he said. If the proposed nation- al monument is created, it won’t be because people didn’t know about the local opposition to it, said Mal- heur County Farm Bureau President Jeana Hall. “The Owyhee Basin Stewardship Coalition has done a great job of voicing Malheur County’s opinion on this and making sure (people) know where we stand,” she said. Cowboy Chapel H our KJDY, Sunday, 7 a.m. “Oldies but Goodies”
