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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 9, 2019)
A4 Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, January 9, 2019 OPINION Solid ideas for restructuring PERS A new legislative report underscores that PERS could be headed for more trouble. The report from the Leg- islative Fiscal Offi ce reaf- fi rms that the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Sys- tem remains highly depen- dent on investment income for its fi nancial stability. That is not a surprise. How- ever, it should concern Ore- gon offi cials, especially in light of the current global economic swings. Our federal leaders are not helping, with their trade disputes and partial govern- ment shutdown. Their lack of fi scal leadership and polit- ical cooperation adds to wor- ries that the U.S. will fall into a recession. Where the nation goes economically, so goes Oregon. The legislative report is based on a study last year from the Pew Charitable Trusts, which compared state pension plans for fi s- cal 2016. PERS had one of the worst ratios of operating cash fl ow. On the other hand, PERS is one of the better-funded public pension plans. Cumu- latively, state pension plans amassed a $1.4 trillion defi - cit, because they generally are paying more in benefi ts than they receive in pension contributions. Poor invest- ment returns also are factors, although PERS has done rel- atively well. So PERS is not in dan- ger of imminent insolvency, it is in better condition than many state funds but it is more subject to market volatility. It should be of little com- fort that PERS is not as bad off as other public pension funds. PERS’ unfunded actu- arial liability forces schools and local governments to cut current jobs and services to pay for pensions. The bur- den can fall disproportion- ately on rural Oregon, as is detailed in the winter edi- tion of The Other Oregon, a quarterly magazine from EO Media Group. Rural Oregon also has proposed solutions. Mark Mulvihill, superintendent of the InterMountain Education Service District in Pendle- ton, has proposed changing state law to allow longtime public employees to col- lect both their pension and their salary for several years before retirement. Schools and government agencies would benefi t from retaining good workers who were con- sidering retiring, employees would have more money in the short term and they and their employer would con- tribute 6 percent of their sal- ary toward paying down the employer’s PERS liability. The PERS burden is stag- gering, and it’s growing exponentially. For Clats- kanie and Ontario — cities on opposite sides of the state — the burden is roughly the equivalent of six times the city’s annual payroll, accord- ing to 2017 fi gures from PERS. That is why the Ore- gon Business Plan said in a report last month: “Fix- ing PERS is Job 1, and it’s doable.” Among the plan’s recom- mendations: Oregon should again require that public employees contribute 6 per- cent of their pay to their pen- sion, similar to what most states do. Oregon could move to a defi ned-contribu- tion system, like a 401(k), for future employees. The state also could give current employees a choice of stay- ing with PERS or switching to a 401(k). All are solid ideas. All are reasonable. Only one thing is missing so far — leader- ship from Gov. Kate Brown and the Legislature. 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. Blue Mountain EAGLE Published every Wednesday by Prairie City FFA celebrates fall success By Abby Winegar For the Blue Mountain Eagle As fall has come to an end, Prai- rie City FFA would like to update everyone with what has been going on. We have had an amazing fall. We have experienced some once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and made some amazing accom- plishments, learning new things all the time. We started with traveling all the way to Nashville, Tennessee, where we got to do a lot of sight- seeing and learned a lot about Music City. We then traveled to Kentucky where we went to Chur- chill Downs to tour the facilities and learn their culture, and we even were able to watch a movie about the history of horse races. We loaded back up into our rental rigs to head for Indianapolis. While we were in Indianapolis, we got to experience the sea of blue jackets. As National Convention ended, we had to say goodbye to our new and old friends to come home to prepare for Ag Sales and Job Inter- view. We were proud to bring home fi rst place overall at the Ag Sales Career Development Event, along with Shaelynn Bice placing fi rst in job interview and Haley Pfefferkorn falling close behind in second place. Freshman member Marcus Judd received top individ- ual in the advertising practicum. We went on to prepare for our annual FFA auction. We want to make sure everyone knows how thankful we are for the support and funding we have received from this county. You helped make our auction go off without a hitch. We now are going on to pre- pare for Parliamentary Procedure and Public Speaking events. For Parliamentary Procedure, we will have one beginning team and one advanced team — the teams have yet to be decided. We are hoping to send both teams to state. Parli Pro is a contest to practice running a formal meeting using Robert’s Rules of Order; it also involves debate. One of the top- ics that they will debate is “Should Oregon FFA support requiring a commercial driver’s license for hauling of agricultural products or livestock?” There are 20 top- ics. One will be drawn at random for them to debate. They will have three rounds on the fl oor where they will get a chance to put their skills to work, and they will have one round in chair where the chair- man and secretary do most of the work. Shaelynn and Haley are both working very hard research- ing various ag-related topics, such as should the USDA standard defi - nition/requirements to label prod- ucts for practices such as “grass- fed” and “naturally grown”? Abby Winegar is writing a pre- pared public speaking paper on holistic management. Maddy Way is writing a paper that hits home to many 4-H and FFA members of our county. She is writing on the PRRS disease. And Abbey Pfef- ferkorn is also writing a topic for sophomore public speaking. Thank you, everyone, for riding along on this fun and amazing road we are on, and we hope that every- one had a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Abby Winegar is the Prairie City FFA reporter. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR me to use good judgment when a crime, but you still have Trump ‘tapped into with dealing with dangerous items in my the right to scream, “Lock her up” the hate in America’ or “Hillary for prison.” Although own home. I certainly don’t wish To the Editor: I believe the main reason Trump is president is he tapped into the hate in America and exploited it with lots of help from Russia and faith-based Trump lov- ers. Here is a partial list of what I believe endears Trump to his vot- ers. “Sad.” They believe everything he says. Everything else is fake news. When someone disagrees with Trump, Trump lovers just call them names, threaten them or, as Trump said, “knock the crap out of them ... I will pay for the legal fees.” Makes them feel better, right? When someone says something that is true and has facts to back it up and they don’t like it, they make up their own facts. Makes them feel better, right? When the media reports a story about Trump and has all those darn facts to back it up that they don’t like, they just start screaming fake news. Makes them feel bet- ter, right? Mueller investigation — forget about all the people indicted close to the Trump campaign and some going to jail — witch hunt, right? Climate change — although 99 percent of scientists agree it is hap- pening — fake news, right? After several investigations by Congress, the FBI and others, the DOJ determined there was no evi- dence to charge Hillary Clinton Publisher............ ......................................Chris Rush, crush@eomediagroup.com Editor & General Manager ...............Sean Hart, editor@bmeagle.com Reporter ...................................................Richard Hanners, rick@bmeagle.com Community News .................................Angel Carpenter, angel@bmeagle.com Sports ........................................................Angel Carpenter, angel@bmeagle.com Marketing Rep .......................................Kim Kell, ads@bmeagle.com Administrative Assistant ..................Makenna Adair, offi ce@bmeagle.com Offi ce Assistant .....................................Alixandra Hand, offi ce@bmeagle.com there is no logical reason to keep demonizing her, it’s better for Fox News and others to point the fi nger at Hillary for prison than Trump for prison! Let’s not forget Stormy and Karen. Didn’t happen, right? Here we go. Putin’s puppet in the White House might be head- ing for the big house. Russia on the march in the Black Sea. China laughing at tariffs. Voter fraud in North Carolina — oh, darn, it’s the Republicans. Massive defi cits. Stock market crashing. Some farm- ers will go under without a bailout. Government shutdown. Thank you, Trump lovers! I hope this letter doesn’t offend anyone, but if it does, “Oh well.” Clifford Smith Canyon City Common sense To the Editor: Are you aware the term “com- mon sense” is in the dictionary? It is, and it is defi ned by Webster as being sound, ordinary sense, good judgment. That’s it. Short and to the point. Judgment may also be spelled “judgement.” Anyway, you choose. Common sense may not be so common anymore. This letter is written in reference to the article about gun restrictions on the front page of the Jan. 2 Blue Mountain Eagle. Common sense should tell 1 YEAR SUBSCRIPTION RATES (including online access) Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION Contributed photo Students who participated in the 2018 FFA Strawberry Mountain District Ag Sales and Job Interview, include, from left, top row, Carson McKay, Abby Pfeff erkorn, Katie Hire, Hannah Wall, Damien Milesi, Marcus Judd and CJ Camarena; bottom row, Jessi Nolan, Shaelynn Bice, Haley Pfeff erkorn and Lucas McKinley. Grant County .........................................$40 Everywhere else in U.S. .......................$51 Outside Continental U.S. ....................$60 Online: BlueMountainEagle.com Subscriptions must be paid prior to delivery Periodicals Postage Paid at John Day and additional mailing offi ces. POSTMASTER send address changes to: Blue Mountain Eagle 195 N. Canyon Blvd. John Day, OR 97845-1187 USPS 226-340 Phone: 541-575-0710 any accidental harm on any friends or family that may be living or vis- iting there. Sound, ordinary sense should tell me I am responsible for any dangerous or hazardous item of risk in my own home. Now, that being said, let’s say you have trouble sleeping due to pain from an old back injury. Because of the injury and result- ing pain you use sleeping pills or pain medication obtained by pre- scription (legally) from your local drug store. These items are in your medicine cabinet in your home, and your doors and windows are locked. Your local burglar doesn’t care about your personal respon- sibility concerning items in your home. He or she doesn’t care about responsibility at all. This person breaks into your locked, secured home and steals your legally prescribed medications and deals them illegally to some- one on the street. The person on the street dies from an over- dose. Now enter common sense. Who’s responsible? You or the creep that broke into your home and stole your medications? Creep? Did I say creep? That may be politically incorrect. Excuse me for using my First Amendment. That may be verbo- ten. Did I spell that right? Any- way, you choose. Michael R. Christensen John Day Copyright © 2019 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. facebook.com/MyEagleNews @MyEagleNews