A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Brown needs
to govern
from center
K
ate Brown was re-
elected as Oregon
governor with 49.99
percent of the vote in the latest
statewide results.
She should never forget that
number. Neither should her
Democratic colleagues in the
Oregon Legislature. Even if her
tally edges past 50 percent in
the final results, voters did not
seem very enthusiastic for her
policies or her performance.
Oregon needs a new Kate
Brown, one who will govern
from the center instead of
one who is seen as placating
the public-employee unions
and their allies who not only
helped keep her in office, but
also added to their Democratic
majorities in the Legislature.
Brown has resolutely
opposed significant changes in
the Oregon Public Employees
Retirement System, even
though the pension system’s
$22 billion unfunded liability
is grabbing ever-larger pieces
of city, county, school and state
agency budgets. It remains
confounding that the governor
and unions are willing to
sacrifice current jobs — and the
public services those employees
perform — to prop up pensions.
A number of worthwhile
changes have been proposed
by state Sens. Betsy Johnson,
D-Scappoose, and Tim Knopp,
R-Bend, the League of Oregon
Cities, the Oregon School
Boards Association and other
individuals and organizations.
Meanwhile, the need for PERS
reforms is an ongoing topic at
the annual Oregon Leadership
Summit because so little has
been accomplished during
Brown’s tenure.
Yet Brown and her cohorts
argue that the proposals would
accomplish too little, would
be unconstitutional and would
break contracts. Not so.
Certainly, any changes could
not be retroactive. The Oregon
Supreme Court has been clear.
But going forward, even small
changes collectively could have
a significant impact on PERS’
stability. As to the legality of
some proposals, only the courts
can determine that; it is worth
legislating those good ideas and
putting them before the courts.
The current pension system
pits job-seeking and current
public employees against
retirees and those close to
retirements. That is insane,
which is why everyone should
have a stake in meaningful
PERS reforms.
Now that Brown no longer
has to curry favor to gain
re-election, she should strive
to govern from the moderate
center and represent all of
Oregon, not just the urban
population centers whose
Democratic voters propelled
her re-election.
She must set well-defined,
achievable goals in key areas
— improving mental health
care for youth and adults,
lengthening the school year
and boosting graduation rates,
combating homelessness,
developing affordable housing,
strengthening foster care
while reducing the need for
it, expanding substance-abuse
treatment and fighting the
opioids epidemic and expanding
economic opportunity
throughout rural Oregon.
Brown tends to have so
many priorities that they
become meaningless. To be an
effective governor, that must
change. PERS reform is the
place to start.
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,
Salem, 97310. Phone: (503) 986-1180.
Website: www. leg.state.or.us (includes
Oregon Constitution and Oregon Revised
Statutes).
• Oregon Legislative Information —
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
P UBLISHED EVERY
W EDNESDAY BY
(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.
• U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R — (Second
District) 1404 Longworth Building, Wash-
ington D.C. 20515. Phone: 202-225-6730.
No direct email because of spam. Website:
www.walden.house.gov Fax: 202-225-5774.
Medford office: 14 North Central, Suite 112,
Medford, OR 97501. Phone: 541-776-4646.
Fax: 541-779-0204.
• Pending Bills: For information on bills in
Congress, Phone: 202-225-1772.
F ARMER ’ S F ATE
Magic scissor moments
By Brianna Walker
For the Blue Mountain Eagle
As any farm family knows,
harvest is busy. Not the “let me
check my schedule” kind of busy.
It’s more like “the entire summer
is only double-booked, I am sure
we can squeeze a
little
something
more into it.” So it
goes. As my boys
say, “from can see
to can’t see.”
I hope that my
kids are learning
Brianna
not only the val-
Walker
ue of hard work,
but how reward-
ing tired muscles can be from an
honest day’s labor. Agriculture
isn’t the easiest of occupations,
but there’s a grittiness to it — an
earthiness that helps rejuvenate
your soul. I recently got a letter in
the mail from an old friend who
said he felt that people in agri-
culture were the best people in
creation. I have to agree. There’s
no place I’d rather raise my
family.
That being said, however, all
work and no play, makes Jack sad,
stressed and gray. It was with ex-
citement that I climbed out of bed.
We had plans to spend the entire
weekend at the river. To say I was
excited is like saying a starving
honeybee suddenly thrust into a
field of lush sunflowers would be
mildly happy.
I scurried around the house try-
ing to get everything ready for our
weekend of fun. I began carefully
packing food into bags.
“Mommy, what doing?” my
2-year-old asked.
“Packing food for us to eat,” I
answered.
“Why?”
“Because we’ll be hungry.”
“Not hungry now. Why hungry
later?”
“Because we’ll be playing so
hard, we’ll work up an appetite.”
“Why appetite?” The ques-
tions came hard and fast, and my
patience disappeared with near-
ly the same speed. Soon I forgot
careful packing and instead start-
ed throwing food into bags — I
just wanted to be on the road.
With the food packed, I start-
ed on our clothes: swim wear,
towels, pajamas, etc. Hardly had
I opened the dresser when I heard
my 9-year-old hollering, “Mom!
Ma—uuuuuum! The goats are
out!”
Just then, I heard a trampling
of little hooves on the deck. I
dropped the clothes back on the
bed and turned to head outside.
“Why goat out, Mommy?”
“I don’t know, Bug, but Mom-
my has to help your brother get
them back in.”
“Why?”
“Because if we leave them out,
they will jump on top of Daddy’s
car, and that makes Daddy really
mad.”
“Me wanna come too,” he said
grabbing hold of my leg.
“No, sweetie, Mommy will be
right back.”
“Nooooooo. Me go with you,”
he wailed.
“Mom, they are eating my mi-
mosa plants!” my 9-year old cried
out — punctuated with a loud
crash from the deck. I rubbed my
temples. I just wanted to be at the
river. The bedroom door burst
open, “I chased them away, but
not before they knocked the table
over.”
“Here, little one, watch your
brother for a minute, and I’ll put
the goats in.”
The littlest goat was already
standing proudly on the T-top of
my husband’s Trans Am when I
walked outside. I lifted her over
the fence and ran the other ones
around through the gate. I fed the
sheep and, walking back to the
house, saw both my boys laying
on their tummies in the yard, each
with a pair of scissors clipping the
grass. I smiled at them as I walked
past, but they were both so en-
grossed in the task they barely no-
ticed. They stayed occupied cut-
ting grass while my husband and
I finished packing our weekend
supplies, and then we were off.
Two days filled with sun, sand,
surfing, water skiing, books and
fun. My oldest learned how to
double-ski, and my littlest learned
how to wake-surf with me. It was
just the weekend we needed to
rejuvenate from the stress of har-
vest. Watching my kids build sand
castles, I reminded myself never
to get so busy making a living that
I forget to make a life.
That night, as we tucked the
kids into bed, we asked them what
their favorite part of the weekend
was. Without a second’s hesita-
tion, my 2-year old responded,
“Cutting grass!”
I gave him an extra big hug. I
had long forgotten about that. I al-
ways say, “Take the vacation. You
can always make more money,
but you can’t always make more
memories.” I had gotten so caught
up in trying to give my family
something big and fabulous for
memories that I had failed to re-
member that it’s the little things
that give life it’s magic. May you
always discover and enjoy your
magic scissor moments!
Brianna Walker occasionally
writes about the Farmer’s Fate for
the Blue Mountain Eagle.
L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
Progress can be
made in Long Creek
To the Editor:
I encourage those who supported
me for Long Creek City Council to
continue to do so by caring about
this community. There are issues
that need to be addressed. I am go-
ing to try to do my part. Let’s all try
to work to improve Long Creek.
Remember, you do have a voice!
We can strive to encourage the
city to do something positive and
take action on the challenges facing
us here. Ordinances come to mind
— enforcement of standing ordi-
nances, supporting new ones! This
is a lovely area, but it languishes
under increased blight (on the 395
corridor in particular) and apathy.
The city did work to slow the
dangerous speeding through our
town, so I know progress can be
made.
Leslie Barnett
Long Creek
Make a stand against
lies and hate
To the Editor:
We now have a president who is
a habitual liar at best, but more like-
ly, a pathological liar.
When Bill Clinton lied about
his sexual misconduct, Repub-
licans tried to remove him from
office through impeachment. Our
current president has lied over and
over again about his sexual affairs.
Where are the Republican leaders
now?
When America elected Barack
Obama for president back in 2008,
even though he was not the can-
didate of my choice, I thought
America had become a better place
by its willingness to elect an Afri-
can American. Boy, did I get that
wrong — the haters started crawl-
ing out from under rocks all over
the country. President Trump has
spoken a dialogue that has contrib-
uted to hatred and division among
Americans.
This downward spiral will
continue as long as this vile man
is our president. It’s past time
for moderate Republicans to
become bipartisan and to stand
up against Trump’s hate-monger-
ing.
Terry Steele
Ritter
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
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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
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