A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Innovative
plan deserves
to succeed
T
he city of John Day’s aggressive Innovation Gateway
development plan for 83 acres along the river appears to be
gaining momentum, and city and county residents should be
pleased.
The far-sighted plan combines several ideas and proposals for
a new wastewater treatment plant, redevelopment of a mill site, a
hydroponic greenhouse and facilities for Oregon State University,
among other ideas.
Before anyone writes off such ideas as “pie in the sky,” they
need to look west to the small town of Silverton, Ore. Almost 20
years ago, the town faced a decision on upgrading its wastewater
treatment plant. It could pay for a facility to further treat the city’s
wastewater, it could pay farmers to use the treated wastewater as
fertilizer — or it could do something else.
What the city decided to do is build a garden.
Here’s how it worked. The city obtained a multi-million-dollar
Environmental Protection Agency grant to build a radical new
means of handling the treated wastewater. The design was based
on a series of wetlands ponds on a hillside. The treated water from
the city’s wastewater plant would enter at the top of the hillside,
and slowly move from one wetlands pond to the next until it was
pure by the time it reached the last pond at the base of the hill.
Using that as the core development, the city of Silverton,
with the help of private businesses, the county and a nonprofi t
foundation, raised the money to build the Oregon Garden, an
80-acre collection of display gardens that attracts thousands of
visitors each year. A resort hotel has been built there, and the
foundation manages the garden.
It took a lot of hard work on the part of the local governments
and volunteers, but it mostly took vision. By taking a bare hillside
and converting it into a major tourist destination, they proved that
they could take something as mundane as a wastewater problem
and turn it into something that the entire community could be
proud of.
When you look at John Day’s proposal — which, incidentally,
involves building a unique new wastewater treatment plant — it
does have a lot of working parts. Whether all of them will come to
pass, we cannot say.
But with a lot of hard work, support from the community, state
and federal leaders and a little luck, John Day and Grant County
could see those plans grow to fruition.
It can be done.
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
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.
Website: www. leg.state.or.us (includes
Oregon Constitution and Oregon Revised
Statutes).
• State Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario (Dis-
trict: 60), Room H-475, State Capitol, 900
Court St. N.E., Salem OR 97301. Phone:
503-986-1460. Email: rep.cliffbentz@state.
or.us. Website: www.leg.state.or.us/bentz/
home.htm.
• State Sen. Ted Ferrioli, R — (District
30) Room S-223, State Capitol, Salem
97310. Phone: 503-986-1950. Email: sen.
tedferrioli@state.or.us. Email: TFER2@aol.
com. Phone: 541-490-6528. Website: www.
leg.state.or.us/ferrioli.
• Oregon Legislative Information —
(For updates on bills, services, capitol or
messages for legislators) — 800-332-2313.
F ARMER ’ S F ATE
Surfing the 50-50-90 rule
Ever heard of the 50-50-90 rule?
Any time you have a 50/50 chance
of getting something right, there’s
a 90 percent probability you’ll get
it wrong. And get it wrong I did —
over and over.
We have been encouraging our
oldest son to try skiing this summer.
He is extremely cautious when it
comes to water, and hadn’t shown
much interest in trying a new ac-
tivity — tubing or using his trainer
skis seemed to be enough. I can see
myself in him as he hesitates to try
anything new — especially when it
isn’t possible to try it out in private
fi rst. Nothing worse than test driv-
ing a new piece of machinery with
half a dozen eyes on you — just
waiting for a really stupid mistake.
So when he asked to try kneeboard-
ing alone (not behind the boat), I
understood.
One day early this summer, I
was given the opportunity to wake-
surf, a sport I have never tried and
have only watched a handful of
times. Now you already know that I
don’t enjoy learning something new
in front of people, but I also hate
getting in the water.
Don’t misunderstand — I love
water and water activities — but
getting in is the worst part about
them. Unless you are scuba diving
in the tropics, the water is chilly
and cold. And did I mention it isn’t
very warm? Even in 100 degree
weather, I am wearing a wet suit —
I’ll take the teasing over the cold
any day.
I looked at the surfboard. Half of
me wanted to try, the other half said
I was crazy for even thinking about
trying something new in front of a
boat full of spectators. I was waf-
fl ing. Then I saw my son. I decided
that if I expected him to learn new
things, I could at least attempt to
be an example. And an example I
made too — of what not to do.
I suited up, and pushed off the
back of the boat
with an unfamil-
iar board and a ski
rope. I listened
carefully to the in-
structions, moving
the board where it
Brianna
belonged and hold-
Walker
ing the rope just
right. “OK.” I nod-
ded to the driver.
I learned to ski when I was 10
years old, and consider myself mod-
erately water-athletic — I got this.
Well, what I got was a nose full
of water while the board shot up
over my head and landed 10 feet
away. The boat pulled around again.
I pushed my wet hair out of my face
as I repositioned the board.
“When you feel pressure on the
board, just push your knees up, then
hop up onto your feet.”
I nodded to the driver. I felt pres-
sure on the board... I got my knees
on it... then my right foot... then my
left — a mouth full of water.
Again, pressure, knees, right
foot, left — crash.
Over and over and over.
I crashed forwards, backwards,
sideways. I drank water, snorted
water, coughed water — everything
but getting up on the water. I’m not
sure how long I was out there — but
I know it was long enough I didn’t
have to worry about hydrating the
rest of the day. After a particularly
painful crash, I laid my feet up on
the board while the rest of me fl oat-
ed in the water.
“Hey, why don’t you try it like
that?”
Sure, why not? I thought, it can’t
hurt any worse — and that’s when I
got up. Within minutes I knew this
was going to be one of my new fa-
vorite water activities.
Give a girl a surfboard, and
you’ve distracted her for a day.
Teach a girl to surf, and sudden-
ly work becomes the distraction. I
have never tried to get my swathing
done as quick as this year. Get it
done, catch that wave.
As the summer progressed, the
same friends started encouraging
my son to try surfi ng. He generally
just ignored their attempts at getting
him on that board. One day, how-
ever, he seemed less reluctant than
usual. He still didn’t want to surf,
but he asked to play with the board
in the water. Soon someone threw
him the rope and we started pulling
him slowly through the water. He
used it as a kneeboard for a bit, then
laid back down and motioned for
the boat to stop. He said he want-
ed to try standing up. Two attempts
and he was standing on top of the
water. I was one seriously proud
momma.
Later that day, my husband, who
has never skied or wakeboarded,
announced that he wanted to try as
well.
“If at fi rst you don’t succeed, we
have a lot in common.” I smirked
at him.
I was happy to see him try, yet
getting the camera out to capture
some epic crashes. He got the same
instructions I had earlier this sum-
mer.
They tossed him the rope... he
hollered “hit it”... the boat took
off... my fi nger poised on the cam-
era — and he got up. The fi rst try.
My fi rst reaction was shouting hur-
ray — followed by a close second
of “I was in the water how long?”
“Sometimes it’s not about how
good you are, but how bad you want
it,” he smirked.
I set down my camera and picked
up my soda. I guess he’d never heard
of the 50-50-90 rule. I wonder if he
heard about the guy who got hit in
the head with a can of soda? He was
lucky it was a soft drink.
Brianna Walker occasionally
writes about the Farmer’s Fate for
the Blue Mountain Eagle.
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.
Guest opinion: If net neutrality dies, the internet dies with it
By Kris Craig
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
Do you like paying more for less?
If so, then you’re going to love Pres-
ident Donald Trump’s plan to elimi-
nate net neutrality.
For those not familiar with the
term, it basically means that an in-
ternet service provider can’t slow
or block your bandwidth to certain
websites, nor can they charge you
extra fees for access to certain parts
of the internet. It is this philosophy,
codifi ed into sensible regulations
supported pretty much unanimously
by the tech industry, that allows you
to freely navigate the internet.
It’s what allows you to subscribe
to any video streaming service you
want, instead of being forced to
use the one provided by your cable
company. It’s what protects small
business owners from having to pay
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
P UBLISHED EVERY
W EDNESDAY BY
a ransom to every major ISP in the
country in order to not have their
websites blocked or slowed.
Net neutrality may not be around
for much longer, though, if the tele-
com industry and its lapdogs in
Congress get their way. The rules
that protect us from abusive prac-
tices like the ones I described are
in the process of being repealed by
the new FCC. I cannot overstate the
disastrous effects this will have on
our economy — with the exception
of the telecom giants, who stand to
profi t immensely.
Congress has the power to pre-
vent this by passing net neutrality
legislation, but they have thus far
failed to take any action on the issue.
Where does Sen. Jeff Merkley stand
on all this? That’s a good question.
Since we’re not hearing much from
him or his colleagues on the matter,
let’s see what we can glean from his
recent campaign contributions.
According to OpenSecrets, Sen.
Merkley has accepted the least mon-
ey from the telecom industry among
members of the United States Sen-
ate. He should be commended; how-
ever, that doesn’t mean we should
assume that he’ll do the right thing
on this issue. Voters need to make
sure he knows that if net neutrality
is lost because he failed to fi ght for
it, so too will his Senate seat be lost
after the 2020 election.
Let’s say that car companies were
allowed to charge you extra for driv-
ing to certain destinations. Better
yet, they can charge you for driv-
ing to any destination not on a pre-
determined list. You’d still own the
car, but you’d have to keep paying
the people you bought it from every
time you drive it. Does that sound
fair? Don’t worry, the car will proba-
bly still take you to your destination,
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
P UBLISHER ............................... M ARISSA W ILLIAMS , MARISSA @ BMEAGLE . COM
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either way, though the onboard com-
puter has been programmed to not
let you drive faster than 15 mph until
you pay the ransom. They wouldn’t
call it a ransom, of course; they’d
call it an “optional upgrade,” even
though they’re not providing any ad-
ditional services or features.
Fortunately, unlike the telecom
companies, America’s automak-
ers have had the good sense not to
attempt such a greedy and ill-con-
ceived power grab. Without net neu-
trality, companies will be allowed to
massively slow your internet speeds
any time you access sites that you
haven’t paid extra for. Worse still,
they’ll be able to block all of their
customers’ access to any website
that either competes with them or
refuses to pay a ransom.
For example, a cable company
might decide to severely throttle
(slow) or outright block their sub-
1 YEAR SUBSCRIPTION RATES
(including online access)
Grant County .....................................$40
Everywhere else in U.S. .....................$51
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scribers’ access to outside streaming
services while giving preference to
their own streaming video platform.
And if the Blue Mountain Eagle or
some other news organization were
to publish an article criticizing any of
the major telecom companies, they’d
risk losing most of their website traf-
fi c and ad revenue, which could lead
to a chilling effect on journalists.
These are just some examples of
the kinds of abuses that could hap-
pen if Congress allows net neutrali-
ty to be repealed. It is essential that
Americans’ access to the internet not
be obstructed. That is why I urge
you to call Sen. Merkley at 202-224-
3753 and tell him to save net neutral-
ity before it’s too late.
Kris Craig is a self-syndicated
columnist and a software engineer
with a quarter century’s experience
and opinion articles published news-
papers and magazines.
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