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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (March 14, 2018)
A4 Opinion Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, March 14, 2018 Eastern Oregon University serves as a rural rescue I n a nation that too often looks down on its rural residents, Eastern Oregon University embraces them. Its ties to rural America are so strong that the just- concluded 2018 Oregon Legislature unanimously declared EOU as “Oregon’s Rural University.” State Sen. Bill Hansell of Athena carried House Bill 4153 on the Senate floor, and Gov. Kate Brown last week signed the bill into law. The designation through HB 4153 is more than symbolism. It is a recognition that EOU has achieved a remarkable niche in higher education. EOU combines a sense of place — the La Grande-based university operates 11 centers throughout rural Oregon — with a well- regarded distance learning program that enrolls students from throughout Oregon, and beyond. Regional universities such as EOU were cast adrift when Oregon’s big research universities convinced the Legislature five years ago to dissolve the State Board of Higher Education in favor of independence for each institution. Meanwhile, EOU had suffered such turnover in leadership that state Rep. Greg Smith of Heppner has worked with seven EOU presidents during his nearly 18 years in the Legislature. EOU has prospered under the home-grown leadership of Tom Insko, an Eastern Oregon native and EOU graduate who was plucked from the private sector to become university president in 2015. Insko has been a consistent advocate for EOU in the Oregon Capitol. The 2018 Legislature approved $9.9 million in bonds for a new EOU fieldhouse, which will be constructed with cross- laminated timber, and $390,000 for replacing the track and related infrastructure. Every Oregon university has its niche. Western Oregon University serves many first- generation students, and promotes itself as providing a close-knit, private college- style of education at a public university price. The University of Oregon is the state’s flagship university and one of only 62 institutions in the prestigious Association of American Universities. Oregon State University is a land, sea, space and sun grant university — one of only three U.S. universities to obtain all four designations. But Eastern Oregon University is the first institution to have its official designation — “Oregon’s Rural University” — incorporated into state law. That status should enhance its opportunities to promote rural economic development and to obtain grants that support its rural mission. Most of all, the designation underscores the value of a rural education and EOU as the right place for that education. G UEST C OMMENT New NAFTA rules should stop theft of intellectual property By Peter J. Pitts To the Blue Mountain Eagle The seventh round of NAFTA renegotiations just ended. As American negotiators look ahead to round eight, they should prepare to demand stronger protection of intellectual property rights. Robust IP protections would prevent Cana- da, Mexico and other trading part- ners from freeloading off American ingenuity — particularly our med- icines. Development of a new drug is an expensive endeavor, requiring top-tier scientists and equipment and years of clinical trials. There are many false starts and dead ends. Altogether, it costs $2.6 billion to bring a single drug to market. Intellectual property rights, such as patents, give inventors the chance to recoup this enormous investment. IP protections allow companies to sell drugs exclusively for a limited time. The United States has some of the strongest IP protections in the world. As a result, it is the world leader in drug development. U.S. biopharmaceutical firms invest more than $60 billion annually in research and development, and they received more than half of all drug patents granted worldwide in 2014. Unfortunately, however, other countries embrace our inventions while regularly undermining Amer- ica’s IP. Take our NAFTA partner Canada. Our northern neighbor im- poses price controls on drugs. Be- cause of these artificial price caps, Canadians spend up to 55 percent less on pharmaceuticals than Amer- icans. That’s unfair — especially when you consider that the average Canadian’s family income is slight- ly above the average American’s. The Canadian price caps eat into companies’ research and develop- ment capabilities and shift more of the costs onto American consum- ers, who pay more as a result. Canada also regularly under- mines American manufacturers’ patents. Its courts revoke American patents, enabling Canadian compa- nies to create knockoff copies of our patented drugs. The problem is so bad that the U.S. Trade Rep- resentative put Canada on its 2017 “watch list.” This isn’t just a Canada problem, or even just a NAFTA problem. Australia, which has a trade agree- ment with the United States, prom- ised to notify U.S. patent owners if Australian drug companies want to make a generic version of a U.S. medicine that is still under pat- ent. The notice is designed to give American companies a heads up, so they can take proactive legal action to prevent patent infringement. But Australia hasn’t been giving U.S. companies this advance notice. It only alerts American firms after Australian generic manufacturers begin marketing knockoff copies of the medicine. In effect, the Australian govern- ment is aiding and abetting patent infringement. It’s helping domestic firms rip off American companies. Or consider India and Brazil. These countries engage in “com- pulsory licensing” schemes. Com- pulsory licensing is legal under in- ternational law, but only in limited instances. It allows local companies to produce generic versions of pat- ented medicines in desperate times — such as an infectious disease outbreak. However, India, Brazil, and other nations abuse this policy and allow drug-makers to produce just about any generic without any urgent reason at all, and without the patent owners’ permission. When other countries steal our intellectual property, American manufacturers lose revenues need- ed to invest in more research and development. They’re forced to scale back operations or postpone new research projects — thereby hurting American workers and pa- tients. American trade negotiators ought to make strengthening IP rights their top priority. The status quo hurts American workers and undermines the creation of lifesav- ing drugs. Peter J. Pitts, a former FDA as- sociate commissioner, is president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest. L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR 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@cityoflong- 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, Blue Mountain EAGLE P UBLISHED EVERY W EDNESDAY BY Salem, 97310. Phone: (503) 986-1180. Website: www. leg.state.or.us (includes Oregon Constitution and Oregon Revised Statutes). • Oregon Legislative Information — (For updates on bills, services, capitol or messages for legislators) — 800-332-2313. • Sen. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario – 900 Court St. NE, S-301, Salem 97301. Phone: 503-986-1730. Website: www.oregonlegis- lature.gov/Bentz. Email: Sen.CliffBentz@ oregonlegislature.gov. • Rep. Lynn Findley, R-Vale – 900 Court St. NE, H-475, Salem 97301. Phone: 503- 986-1460. Website: www.oregonlegislature. gov/findley. Email: Rep.LynnFindley@ oregonlegislature.gov. WASHINGTON, D.C. • The White House, 1600 Pennsylva- nia Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500; Phone-comments: 202-456-1111; Switch- board: 202-456-1414. • U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D — 516 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-5244. Email: wayne_kinney@wyden.senate.gov Website: http://wyden.senate.gov Fax: 202-228-2717. • U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D — 313 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-3753. Email: senator@merkley.senate.gov. Fax: 202- 228-3997. Oregon offices include One World Trade Center, 121 S.W. Salmon St., Suite 1250, Portland, OR 97204; and 310 S.E. Second St., Suite 105, Pendleton, OR 97801. Phone: 503-326-3386; 541-278- 1129. Fax: 503-326-2990. You don’t fight guns with new regulations To the Editor: Sometimes the solutions to a problem are the simplest ones and the least expensive ones. Banning guns in public places like schools leaves it wide open for an invasion or massacre. If the teachers and employees of schools would be willing to carry a concealed weapon, a gunman could be stopped before he killed so many people, if any. I would be willing to bet, if the gunman knew that the people in school were armed, he wouldn’t try these mass shootings in most cases. The personnel of the schools that would be willing to carry a con- cealed weapon would be trained in gun safety and marksmanship. There wouldn’t have to be any need for security guards to be hired. By the guns being concealed, a gunman wouldn’t know who was going to shoot back! In addition, much more needs to be done to keep the firearms out of the hands of the mentally disturbed and terrorist-related individuals. There is the old saying, you fight fire with fire! You fight guns with guns. You don’t fight guns with a bunch of new regulations! Kenneth R. Moore Mt. Vernon Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper P UBLISHER ............................... M ARISSA W ILLIAMS , MARISSA @ BMEAGLE . COM E DITOR .................................... S EAN H ART , EDITOR @ BMEAGLE . COM R EPORTER ............................... R ICHARD H ANNERS , RICK @ 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 O FFICE A SSISTANT .................... A LIXANDRA P ERKINS , OFFICE @ BMEAGLE . COM Prairie City Panthers make us proud To the Editor: I am so proud of our Prairie City basketball team! The Panthers did great. Sam Workman, coach, and Ty, Bo and Mike assisting put in a huge handful of time, energy and patience with these boys. I am proud of all the coaches, teachers, fans and all the players. We are lucky to live in a place where everyone has a chance to play and learn how to interact with people. The coaches and players deserve credit. You did good. See you next basketball sea- son. Rosalie Averett Austin Resources should be managed better To the Editor: The resources of this county are water, grass, timber, gold and some coal. It seems for some reason ev- erything goes full circle. Well, it is time to put this county back to work. For the past some 30 years, our state and federal agencies have poorly taken care of the county re- sources. In 1990, over 200 million board feet of timber laid to rot in the forest. A few years ago, 47 homes were burned up Canyon Creek 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 MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION Email: www.MyEagleNews.com Phone: 541-575-0710 and one side of Canyon Mountain. Many more homes, timber and grasses were lost due to this horrible fire. Due to government regulations and environment rules, these results are a disgrace to society. I suggest that the agencies do a 60/40 man- agement lease and let the ranchers and loggers manage the land. All junipers in this county should be cleared. Build a gin factory and create a bark dust factory. Build a dam. One juniper tree drinks 200 gallons of water a day, what a waste. Building a dam would create power, energy and tourism. Let the cattle graze on the forest like they used to. This would cut down a lot of fuel for fire. Clear your mountain streams so that your fish and water can do what they are supposed to do. If all of the above were done, it would create jobs and money, and we could be proud of our beautiful resources. I have written letters be- fore, but nothing seems to get ac- complished. So I hope you reading this will make some of my sugges- tions possible. My great-grandfa- ther came here with the miners and built the first homestead in Grant County in 1862. So I can’t help but be concerned about land, timber, water, gold and coal. Austene Lee Trowbridge Hendrix John Day Periodicals Postage Paid at John Day and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER send address changes to: Blue Mountain Eagle 195 N. Canyon Blvd. John Day, OR 97845-1187 USPS 226-340 Copyright © 2018 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. www.facebook.com/MyEagleNews @MyEagleNews