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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (April 3, 2019)
A4 OPINION Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, April 3, 2019 Brown, Democrats not helping state farmers, ranchers O regon Gov. Kate Brown and the Democrat majority in the Legislature want to make sure that no one in the state, least of all farmers and ranchers, receive any benefi ts from regulatory re- lief from the U.S. Environ- mental Protection Agency. That’s bad for farmers and ranchers, and it’s bad for Oregon. Part of Donald Trump’s election campaign focused on regulatory reform. As far as agriculture is concerned, he’s followed through. The administration has proposed new clean water rules that are less ambigu- ous and less sweeping than the infamous “Waters of the U.S.” rules proposed in the waning days of the Obama administration. Under Trump, the EPA has taken the position that out- comes are more important than punitive enforcement actions. There will always be hon- est differences on environ- mental policy. It seems, though, that the impact of each rule should be taken on its own merits. But Democrats in Oregon have taken a more simplis- tic approach: Obama rules good, Trump rules bad. Under House Bill 2250, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the Oregon Health Author- ity would have to regularly check whether federal regu- lations have been rendered “signifi cantly less protec- tive” since the end of the Obama administration. The DEQ and OHA would then have to rec- ommend or take actions to ensure that Oregon’s envi- ronmental standards are at least as protective as federal standards before the Trump administration took offi ce. Proponents of the legis- lation argue it’s necessary because the Trump adminis- tration has sought to under- mine the purpose of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Rep. Werner Reschke, R-Klamath Falls, isn’t buy- ing it. He says the bill won’t accomplish much of sub- stance, but it will open the state government to litiga- tion from environmental groups and others who dis- agree with its assessments of changes to federal policy. “In effect, the bill by default assumes new envi- ronmental rules are and will be worse than what pre- viously existed and uses a date to set the bar,” Reschke said. “I fi nd this kind of pol- icy making under the guise of protecting Oregon’s envi- ronment to be more political science than science.” We agree. HB 2250 assumes that any regulations passed prior to Jan. 20, 2016, are, with- out question, infallible. It’s a position that probably plays well to the base, but doesn’t serve the interests of Oregonians. FARMER’S FATE 4 a.m. bedtime stories I ’ve always believed that jet lag was for amateurs. When one grows up sleeping behind the seat or on the fl oor of the trac- tor their mom is driving, or behind your dad on a forklift, one can sleep anywhere — including tiny, sardine-sized airline seats. Which means, when you step off that plane looking worse than your passport photo, all you need is a quick shower and you are ready to adventure or work. That belief has been upheld until this last trip to the Orient — a trip on which my 3-year-old’s bladder just couldn’t keep up with the airline apple juice and ginger ale. “I gotta go to the bathroom, Mommy.” It seemed we hadn’t been back in our seats 30 minutes when I heard, “Daddy, I gotta go again.” I closed my eyes. At least he wasn’t asking me. “Wake up, wake up. I gotta go.” I felt little fi ngers push up my eye- lids. “I gotta go bad.” Still later, “Are you sleeping? I gotta go pee.” I hummed the tune to “The Wheels in the Bus,” as I unbuckled my son and watched as he held his daddy’s hand down the long aisle back to the cramped little airplane bathroom. This toddler in the plane goes up and down, up and down, up and down the toddler in the plane goes up and down, all the long fl ight through Finally arriving home, after more than 30 hours of bathroom breaks in cars, buses and planes, rummy didn’t begin to describe our bleary eyes and achy muscles. Falling into bed seemed like the best thing to do, but it was the mid- dle of the day, and both my hus- band and I had work to catch up on. Finally, 7 p.m. arrived, and we gratefully collapsed into bed. I am pretty sure that we were asleep before our eyelids had closed. Unfor- tunately, the won- derful feeling of sleep was more elu- Brianna sive for our 3-year Walker old. Pretty soon, my eyelids were peeled open: “Mommy, I’m hungry. Mommy... mommy?” My lips felt thick as I tried talking. I tried encouraging him to go fi nd something in the fridge. There had to be something in there he could eat: cottage cheese, but- ter, frosting, candy bars — anything so that I didn’t have to move. It seemed to work, for a few minutes. Too soon he was back, “Mommy, I’m thirsty. Mommy... mommy!” This time I pushed him off to my husband, and I rolled over. What seemed like minutes later he was back. “Mommy, I can’t sleep.” I groaned, “I thought Daddy was going to get you something to drink?” “I already drank it,” he chirped cheerfully. “Sing me songs. Pleeeeease, Mommy? Please?” This became a nightly rou- tine for nearly a week. Regard- less of how early we woke him up or how hard we tried to keep him from napping, he would fall asleep around 7 or 8 — and be wide awake by 10 p.m. My husband and I had never felt so jet-lagged in our lives. Up for a glass of water, I glared at the clock on the oven. We have got to stop meeting this way 4 a.m., I glared at blurry blue num- bers. We’re supposed to be pillow friends, not kitchen mates! One evening after I had sung every one of my son’s favorite songs at least half a dozen times, I told him it was Daddy’s turn to tell him a story. My eyes burned, and my legs throbbed. I wanted sleep. I needed sleep. My toddler leaped over the top of me, and I felt him jump on my husband’s snoring body. “Tell me a story, Daddy! Mommy said you’d tell me a story!” My husband groaned, and had I cared to open my eyes, I am sure he was sending me a dirty look — or at least a dirty vibe, his eyes may have been too tired to open enough to send a look. “It was a dark and stormy night...” his story started. Soon my sleep was again interrupted by a squirming kid thrashing around under the covers. “Too scary, Daddy! Too scary!” Scary bear stories. My husband was telling our son, who was hav- ing trouble going to sleep, scary bear stories. Now he was wide awake — and scared! “No more stories, just songs,” he pleaded. My husband acquiesced and began singing in a quiet voice: Five little monkeys swinging from the trees teasing Mr. Crocodile you can’t catch me along comes Mr. Crocodile, hungry as can be ... and CHOMPED (he sud- denly lunged at the covers hiding our son) that monkey right out of the tree. He sang the song over and over, counting down with each “chomped” monkey. Soon our son was squealing and hiding — scared and hyper — and not a chance in this world that he was going to sleep the rest of the night. I felt kind of like that hun- gry, cranky, crocodile — ready to chomp something — and I decided that my earlier belief needed to be modifi ed: Jet lag is for amateurs — and parents of toddlers! Brianna Walker occasionally writes about the Farmer’s Fate for the Blue Mountain Eagle. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR WHERE TO WRITE 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@ centurylink.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 ongcreek.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: governor.state.or.us/governor.html. • Oregon Legislature — State Capitol, Salem, 97310. Phone: (503) 986-1180. Website: 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: oregonlegislature.gov/Bentz. Email: Sen.Cliff Bentz@oregonlegislature.gov. • Rep. Lynn Findley, R-Vale – 900 Court St. NE, H-475, Salem 97301. Phone: 503- 986-1460. Website: oregonlegislature. gov/fi ndley. Email: Rep.LynnFindley@ oregonlegislature.gov. Blue Mountain EAGLE Published every Wednesday by Dugout fences unsafe To the Editor: I was able to go see my grand- son play baseball March 21-23 at the Seventh Street Complex and was surprised by something that happened during the fi rst game. A foul ball went into the dugout where the South Umpqua players were sitting, and one of the play- ers was hit in the face and required some stitches. It could have been much worse if he hadn’t been hit in the jaw but the throat or side of his head. I was unaware that there are no safety fences in front of the dugouts in either fi eld, and only what looks like a hitching post in the fi eld where the Prospectors play. That seemed even more dan- gerous as the boys were leaning on the top with their faces protrud- ing toward the back of the batters, looking rather like targets. Some of the parents said there were other schools that had inadequate protec- tive fences, but some had enclosed fronts with openings on each end. Seems a sort of simple solution to prevent a very serious injury, or 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 A different perspective on the city’s plans To the Editor: In regards to the many front page articles about all the wonderful things the city of John Day has done and are planning to do, I would like to offer a little different perspective for your readers to consider. To begin with, government at any level should never be compet- ing with private enterprise whether it be a greenhouse, broadband or what have you. Give me one exam- ple of a government-run enterprise that is not taxpayer funded, makes a profi t and actually pays taxes. The city of John Day, by their own admission, is no exception. If they can’t run the pool and the 911 center cost effectively, what are the chances that a greenhouse or broadband enterprise will be any different, considering they have 1 YEAR SUBSCRIPTION RATES (including online access) Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION maybe just continue to play Rus- sian roulette with the kids. Mary Brown Prairie City Grant County .........................................$45 Everywhere else in U.S. .......................$57 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 no experience, no trained person- nel, no equipment and no capital. Even if they obtain free taxpayer grant money for construction, it is highly unlikely that they will ever be able to even cover the mainte- nance costs. As for the rest of the county “stepping up,” we have been sup- porting John Day businesses for decades. But with today’s shopping opportunities via broadband, we no longer have to do so unless we choose to. We can get most every- thing we need delivered right to our front door, saving time, money and wear and tear on our vehicles. The latest census shows the pop- ulation of Grant County at 7,200 and the city of John Day at 1,700 of that total. When you look at the facts pre- sented, a logical-minded reader might draw at least a couple conclu- sions. One might be that perhaps the city of John Day has not been mak- ing very wise fi nancial decisions, and it may also appear as though the city of John Day needs the rest of the county a whole lot more than we need them! Pete Hettinga Dayville 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
