A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Election
underscores
urban-rural
divide
T
he urban-rural divide is
not just a “divide.” It is
a widening chasm, one
whose fissures were underscored
by this month’s election results.
Large cities and suburbs
supported Democrats. Rural
areas went Republican. The
results were that Democrats
took over the U.S. House and
Republicans expanded control of
the Senate.
Those results were backed
up by research. Based on a
survey of more than 115,000
voters and 20,000 non-voters,
The Associated Press reported,
“Nationally, urban and suburban
voters preferred Democratic over
Republican candidates, while
voters in small towns and rural
places favored Republicans.”
There were exceptions, of
course. However, the same split
generally held true in Oregon,
where the geographically largest
part of the state was on the losing
side of the governor’s race and
high-profile ballot measures
concerning immigration and
abortion. Democrats also
gained supermajorities in the
Legislature, in part by ousting
suburban Republicans.
In Washington state, urban
areas ensured passage of
statewide ballot measures that
restricted firearms and enabled
more criminal prosecutions
of police officers who used
deadly force. Democratic
Sen. Maria Cantwell was
overwhelmingly re-elected by
Western Washington and Eastern
Washington’s Whitman County.
But with the exception of
King and Jefferson counties, the
state’s voters overwhelmingly
defeated a proposed carbon fee,
which should give the Oregon
Legislature pause as it considers
a state carbon cap-and-invest
program.
In Oregon, Republican
Knute Buehler prevailed in 29
of Oregon’s 36 counties but
lost by a substantial margin to
incumbent Democratic Gov. Kate
Brown. In several rural counties,
including Grant County, Brown
didn’t crack 20 percent of the
vote.
What does this mean for
the rural Northwest? For
politicians, they must be wary
of treating statewide vote totals
as mandates. If they assume
otherwise, they will increase the
urban-rural chasm.
For residents, they need to
figure out how to better convey
their story to urbanites: That
they live in rural America out
of choice, not because they
are economic or geographic
victims of circumstances. That
they value the land and water
because they interact with
natural resources every day. That
although they hold fewer degrees
in higher education, according
to state and national data, those
statistics are irrelevant as far
as rural residents’ intelligence,
ingenuity and aptitude for
solving problems.
And that without the daily toil
of rural Americans, urbanites
would not have the food,
electricity, water and natural
resources they take for granted.
This challenge is not new.
Rural Americans have been
telling their story for generations.
But the 2018 election results give
increased urgency.
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
Hydraulic strollers?
By Brianna Walker
For the Blue Mountain Eagle
“Mom, Mom, Mom... Mommy!”
Mom was not my first name, but
it’s my favorite — most of the time.
I look over at my two boys playing
at the front of my watermelon trailer
at the farmer’s market. They had one
of their brand new
camp chairs tipped
over and were star-
ing intently at the
base. “Mommy!”
my littlest kept hol-
lering.
“What do you
Brianna
need?”
I asked, as
Walker
I walked over and
peered at the chair legs with them.
“We can’t collapse it,” my oldest
answered.
“It just squishes together, like
the rest of our camping chairs,” I
answered, picking up the chair and
squeezing. The chair quickly made a
liar out of me, as I pulled and pushed
and stretched the canvas fabric.
Stupid chair is broken, I thought,
trying to force it to collapse. Custom-
ers were lining up, and I didn’t have
time to deal with a broken chair. I set
it back down, “I’ll collapse it for you
when the market is over.” Once again
the chair made me lie. The market
ended, and after packing up the bins
and pallets — all the non-child items
— I focused my attention on their two
little camp chairs proudly displaying
the WSU logo. I squeezed and pulled
and pinched and shook them. Finally,
with an exasperated sigh, I tossed the
fully opened chairs into the back of
the pickup. When I got home, I asked
my husband if he could collapse them
and put them back in their matching
crimson carrying bags.
“You’d think they’d collapse like
regular camp chairs,” he said, grimac-
ing as he tried to make the chair legs
fold together.
They were broken. Odd that they
both broke the first time out of the bag
— but at least they were fully set up
and still functional. We put the cute
but broken chairs in our camp trailer
and forgot all about them.
Months later, I was doing a quick
cleaning of the trailer. As I moved the
little chairs to sweep under them, I no-
ticed one of the caps on the leg base
looked different from the other three. I
picked up the chair and turned it over.
It was wider than the rest, and looked
to have a plastic washer in it. I pushed
it, and suddenly felt the legs of the
chair collapse. It was a child-safety
mechanism. I picked up the other one,
and just as quickly got it collapsed and
was able to slide them both into their
bags. Success at last!
That night, I had to take my
husband out to show him my ac-
complishment. He groaned when I
showed him the nearly invisible latch.
“This reminds me of the stroller
at Disneyland,” he said. Now it was
my turn to groan. Strollers are pretty
impractical in the field, so my experi-
ence with them was little to none. My
husband’s knowledge of strollers was
maybe half a freckle more — mean-
ing he thought he had pushed one at
some point of his life — maybe.
Disneyland, however, seemed
to be a good place to have one, and
we’d picked one up right before our
oldest son’s first trip to southern Cal-
ifornia — when he was 11 months
old. It was collapsed and folded into a
small, easy-to-pack bundle. Arriving
at our hotel, we began unpacking and
getting ready for our week at Disney-
land. Out came the stroller. It took a
few minutes to figure out how to open
it up — and it took all week to get
accustomed to pushing it — feeling
very suburban motherly. It was good,
though, a great place for my baby to
nap — and an even better place to
store all of our coats and jackets when
the afternoon sun blazed down!
Too soon our vacation was over,
and we were packing up — that’s
when the stroller outwitted us. We
pushed and pulled, twisted anything
that moved, squeezed and pressed —
but nothing we did would collapse
that stroller. We sat on it, stood on it,
tipped it upside down and sideways —
and that stupid stroller happily defied
us. I was ready to leave it behind, but
my husband juggled all our luggage
around to accommodate a fully opened
stroller in the back of the pickup.
My husband picked up the lit-
tle WSU chairs to put them away,
and I couldn’t help but laugh. “We
open and collapse hay rakes all the
time, open and collapse hay clamps,
squeeze and move balers into road
position — and yet children’s items
outsmart us every time.”
My husband looked at me and
deadpanned, “Hydraulics — chil-
dren’s items are missing hydraulics.”
Brianna Walker occasionally
writes about the Farmer’s Fate for
the Blue Mountain Eagle.
L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
Locally grown music
director exceptional
cheon while reminiscing about past
service, duty stations, MOS (field
of training) with a few “war stories”
sprinkled in. Mostly it was ques-
tioned, “Where did all the time go?”
At the closing, the bill was re-
quested, only to learn that Pat Hol-
liday, mother of Marine Warrant
Officer Nick Holliday, who is near
retirement, had called in and paid
for our luncheon. We appreciate it,
Pat! And to all those on Nov. 10 and
Nov. 11 that said, “Thank you for
your service,” we can only say, as
part of the 1 percent of this country
that serve in our armed forces, “It
was an honor.”
Semper Fi.
Dave Traylor
John Day
group of veterans being thanked for
your service by receiving a beautiful
Quilt of Valor. So many ladies in our
community spent countless hours
making these quilts, and I feel very
honored to have received one recog-
nizing my time in the Army during
the Korean conflict. I would like to
congratulate all the ladies for putting
on such a great event. I was proud to
serve my country and was humbled
to finally receive such recognition.
The wonderful quilting ladies de-
serve appreciation, as do all the other
veterans for their service to this great
country of ours.
Darrell Howe
Monument
Letter: Thank you
for your service
Stop ad hominem
Humbled by honor on attacks on Trump
To the Editor:
Veterans Day
I understand that mud slinging is
To the Editor:
Nine Marines with ages averag-
ing around three quarters of a cen-
tury met at the Outpost on Nov. 10
to observe the 243rd Marine Corps
birthday. It was an enjoyable lun-
To the Editor:
It is quite something to head
down to what you think is just go-
ing to be a lunch at the Monument
Senior Center to celebrate Veterans
Day, only to find yourself one of a
part of the elective process, running
or not, but next time someone has an
ad hominem blast at President Trump,
they should visit promiseskept.com.
Richie Colbeth
John Day
To the Editor:
Surprise: The new music director
is locally grown.
Photos in the last two issues of
the Blue Mountain Eagle show Leva-
na James as music director at Grant
Union Junior-Senior High School.
It’s not so well known that she
was Levana Gilmore, the daughter of
Buzz and Bobbie Gilmore.
She’s a highly talented young lady
who’s trained as a violinist and fiddle
player.
Her teaching in our schools will
be exceptional.
Al Olson
John Day
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.
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
P UBLISHER ............ ..................... C HRIS R USH , CRUSH @ EOMEDIAGROUP . COM
E DITOR & G ENERAL M ANAGER ... 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
A DMINISTRATIVE A SSISTANT ........ M AKENNA A DAIR , OFFICE @ BMEAGLE . COM
O FFICE A SSISTANT .................... A LIXANDRA H AND , OFFICE @ BMEAGLE . COM
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
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