A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Brown’s priorities
take steps toward
unity, bipartisanship
G
ov. Kate Brown outlined
three priorities in
her inaugural speech
Monday, which — if she and
the 2017 Legislature achieve
them — could dramatically
improve Oregon:
• Create more and better jobs
in rural Oregon.
• Expand health insurance
so all Oregon children are
covered.
• Improve Oregon’s dismal
rate of high school graduation.
Brown’s nearly two-year
tenure as governor has been
a decidedly mixed record,
pleasing to liberal and urban
Oregonians and frustrating
to conservative and rural
residents. Monday’s speech
could be a welcome turning
point for Democrat Brown,
who now is an elected governor
instead of an appointed one.
Her speech was bipartisan,
pragmatic and focused,
avoiding her penchant for
pursuing dozens of ideas.
Much of urban Oregon
has recovered well from the
recession. As Brown put it,
“For those living in urban
Oregon, it seems like the
economy is growing like a
gangly teenage boy: overnight
and out of control.
“For the fi rst time in almost
two decades, the statewide
unemployment rate dropped
below the national average.
News outlets from Forbes
to Fortune to Bloomberg
are writing glowing profi les
of Oregon’s job-producing
economy.”
Yet, she said, “there is a
disturbing gap between the
unemployment rate in urban
Oregon and rural Oregon.”
One antidote is the Oregon
Manufacturing Innovation
Center, which is being
developed in Scappoose,
thanks to the determination of
Sen. Betsy Johnson. Twelve
large manufacturers have
made commitments to the
center. Some are interested in
opening their own facilities in
Scappoose.
But Brown also sees
other opportunities for rural
economic development, starting
with preparing for the Big One.
At least 100 coastal bridges
would be destroyed or severely
damaged in that inevitable
major earthquake. Seismic
retrofi tting of coastal bridges
and roads would create good,
family-wage jobs. So too would
improving U.S. 97, which
would become the state’s major
north-south arterial when the
big quake makes Interstate 5
impassable.
Brown also spoke of the
importance of water projects
for agriculture, such as in
the Umatilla Basin, and of
increased timber harvests on
U.S. Forest Service land.
All these projects make
sense — if the governor and
Legislature will follow through.
“By leveraging the
human, material and natural
resources that once made our
rural communities the most
prosperous in the state, we
have a real chance to tackle the
economic fault line that has
split our state in two,” Brown
said.
There is a side benefi t as
well, one that Brown did not
dwell on. More jobs and better-
paying ones mean more tax
revenue for the state, not just
economic improvement for
families and communities.
State government and
schools face a projected $1.7
billion defi cit in 2017-19 —
if all programs were to be
maintained at their current
level. The biggest challenge
facing this year’s Legislature
is to balance that state budget,
including paying for health care
and education.
A healthy economy
throughout rural Oregon would
be a blessing for the entire
state.
L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
Each of us can make
Grant County better
To the Editor:
My horse stepped on my little
toe and broke it. To move my foot
was an experience that lasted for at
least two weeks. In all these years, I
have taken my little toe for granted;
it was just there. I’ve never made
New Year’s resolutions, but think-
ing about how I take my eyes, nose,
ears, hands and my beating heart
for granted, I decided to make a
resolution for 2017. When I wake
up in the morning, I will try to not
take for granted that I am alive, that
each day is important, is a gift, that
everyone I meet, friend, someone I
don’t agree with, or someone I don’t
know, is important, that this county
we live in, with its one stoplight, the
forest, the river and every one of us
who live here is important. In many
small ways, each of us can make the
quality of our lives and Grant Coun-
ty better each day of the year.
Jim Bahrenburg
Kimberly
State disbanded
Public Forest
Commission
W HERE TO W RITE
GRANT COUNTY
• Grant County Courthouse — 201
S. Humbolt St., Suite 280, Canyon City
97820. Phone: 541-575-0059. Fax: 541-
575-2248.
• Canyon City — P.O. Box 276, Canyon
City 97820. Phone: 541-575-0509. Fax:
541-575-0515. Email: tocc1862@centu-
rylink.net.
• Dayville — P.O. Box 321, Dayville
97825. Phone: 541-987-2188. Fax: 541-
987-2187. Email:dville@ortelco.net
• John Day — 450 E. Main St, John Day,
97845. Phone: 541-575-0028. Fax: 541-
575-1721. Email: cityjd@centurytel.net.
• Long Creek — P.O. Box 489, Long
Creek 97856. Phone: 541-421-3601. Fax:
541-421-3075. Email: info@cityofl ong-
creek.com.
• Monument — P.O. Box 426, Monument
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
P UBLISHED EVERY
W EDNESDAY BY
97864. Phone and fax: 541-934-2025.
Email: cityofmonument@centurytel.net.
• Mt. Vernon — P.O. Box 647, Mt.
Vernon 97865. Phone: 541-932-4688. Fax:
541-932-4222. Email: cmtv@ortelco.net.
• Prairie City — P.O. Box 370, Prairie
City 97869. Phone: 541-820-3605. Fax:
820-3566. Email: pchall@ortelco.net.
• Seneca — P.O. Box 208, Seneca
97873. Phone and fax: 541-542-2161.
Email: senecaoregon@gmail.com.
SALEM
• Gov. Kate Brown, D — 254 State
Capitol, Salem 97310. Phone: 503-378-
3111. Fax: 503-378-6827. Website: www.
governor.state.or.us/governor.html.
• Oregon Legislature — State Capitol,
Salem, 97310. Phone: (503) 986-1180. Web-
site: www. leg.state.or.us (includes Oregon
Constitution and Oregon Revised Statutes).
To the Editor:
John George’s (Jan. 4) letter
contains numerous errors. I’d like
to correct several of them here.
I didn’t disband the Public For-
est Commission. The state did, after
it found the measure which estab-
lished the Commission to be un-
constitutional. I simply brought the
matter to the state’s attention per the
legally appropriate venue.
Nor did I, as George claims, seek
to disband the Commission because
it could be used to “coordinate on
projects in the county” and put me
out of work. The Commission never
enjoyed coordination status.
Indeed, it’s surprising folks
make such a claim: The Public
Forest Commission was estab-
lished to manage all public lands
in Grant County, not represent
county residents or coordinate
with the Forest Service about how
they manage public lands.
I’ve provided the Eagle with
copies of the information original-
ly submitted to the County Clerk
for ballot review, the ballot title
as fi nally approved by the DA and
accepted by Chief Petitioner Dave
Traylor, and the 2002 ballot mea-
sure county electors approved. I
hope the Eagle posts this informa-
tion and readers review it. Folks
who do will fi nd that I am right
about the Commission.
Ironically, no Commission
member ever did the job voters au-
thorized and elected them to do. In-
stead, some worked constructively
with the Forest Service in a repre-
sentative fashion, but most simply
groused about the agency.
That changed in 2015 when the
complainers began to think and
behave as if they could order the
Forest Service (and County Court)
around. That’s also when several
Commission members worked with
Sheriff Palmer in secret to create
land use laws intended to control
the agency, and later participated in
efforts to expand the militia occupa-
tion occurring in Harney County to
Grant County.
Such actions refl ect an unaccept-
able disregard for state and federal
laws, government overreach of the
worst sort, and a willingness to
compromise public safety in Grant
County for personal gain.
Good reasons, I thought, to bring
the Public Forest Commission’s le-
gal status to the state’s attention.
On review, the state disbanded the
Commission because it was uncon-
stitutional. And now Grant County
is better off.
Mark Webb
Mt. Vernon
Editor’s note: The documents
Webb submitted with his letter are
available to view with the online
version at myeaglenews.com.
Refuge occupation
‘awakened thousands’
To the Editor:
An open letter to Judge Brown:
My original letter to you was
meant as a private communication,
pointing out some of the daunting
liabilities the government would
face in any second Malheur trial. I
had hoped, as I said, that you would
see discretion over valor, and write
off the whole can of worms. It ap-
pears now that those discredited
conspiracy theorists Knight, Bar-
row and Gabriel will resume their
Quixotic tilting, this in the face of
an across-the-board exoneration of
we, the fi rst seven. The government
boys have passed by any avenue
toward face-saving and cost-saving
retreat.
Isn’t some mature intervention
called for?
Our rural electrifi cation project
has awakened thousands, a mag-
nifi cent camaraderie, lifting us in a
cause greater than ourselves. Tell-
ing to note the expanse of terrain we
have “occupied” in the Beaver State
psyche, and in minds, and hearts,
across the nation. How is it that a
strong contender for Oregon per-
son of the year could also be held
on federal charges? Every vote for
Ammon would say that the federal
culture is a sick, alternate reality, a
through-the-looking-glass world,
divorced from and inimical to we
the people. We would also assert the
era of coercive bureaucratic tyranny
has reached fi n die Siecle, and must
be ended. Those “swarms of agents
sent out to harass us and eat out our
substance” will have to fi nd honest
work — elsewhere.
Black comedy plays out in
Hatfield Courthouse, with the
government busily destroying its
credibility as it desperately tries
to save it. Regardless of the out-
come of this second Malheur trial,
a higher, more enduring, verdict
will be rendered, one that weighs
accused and accuser alike. It will
be the verdict of history. And we
will write it.
Neil Wampler
Los Osos, California
Editor’s note: Wampler was one
of seven defendants acquitted of
federal conspiracy charges related
to the occupation of the Malheur
National Wildlife Refuge in Harney
County in 2016.
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
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