The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current, June 19, 2019, Image 4

The Blue Mountain eagle., June 19, 2019, Page A4, Image 4

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Newspaper Page TextA4 OPINION Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, June 19, 2019 Crisis averted, but farmers need trade stability T he United States and Mexico reached a last-minute deal June 7 that prevented the imposition of new tariffs threatened by the Trump administration. The president’s mercurial approach to North Amer- ican trade relations has left farmers in the Paciﬁ c Northwest understandably, and unnecessarily, on edge. Just a few weeks ago the administration canceled tar- iffs on Mexican and Cana- dian aluminum and steel, which signaled that retalia- tory tariffs placed on U.S. farm goods by those coun- tries would come off. Not so fast. Late last month Trump said he was going to place a 5% tariff on all Mexican goods if the government there didn’t do something to stem the tide of illegal immigrants mov- ing through Mexico from Central America and into the United States. Migrants ﬂ eeing oppres- sive governments and unimaginable economic hardship in El Salva- dor, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua are stream- ing across Mexico’s south- ern border and proceeding — often en masse — north to the United States. Once across the U.S. border they claim refugee status. More than 100,000 came in May alone. International convention requires a would-be refu- gee to stop and take asylum in the ﬁ rst safe country they enter. (Indeed, those enter- ing the U.S. but whose ﬁ nal desired destination is Can- ada will be turned back by Canadian border guards to make their plea from U.S. soil.) The administration says the ﬁ rst safe country is Mexico and that migrants wishing to enter the United States as a refugee should make their application and await its adjudication in Mexico. The horde of migrants has overwhelmed Mexico’s asylum. Ofﬁ cials there are no doubt reluctant to take on the responsibility of car- ing for so many hoping to eventually gain refugee sta- tus in the U.S. Whether the threat of tar- iffs prompted the Mexi- can government to act, or, as some say, it was merely following through on pre- viously negotiated mea- sures is unclear. The timing seems to support Trump’s view that the tariff threat prompted the action, but we could also assume that Mexican bureaucracy is no different than U.S. bureau- cracy and it took sev- eral months to swing into planned action. Either way, action has been taken to interrupt the ﬂ ow of illegal immigrants from Central America, and new tariffs that would have caused havoc to the Mexi- can economy and American farmers have been averted. For now. Whether this was all part of a well-crafted strate- gic plan or an ad hoc play, we do not know. In either case we hope the intended outcome is a stable, pre- dictable trade relationship with Mexico and our other partners. With this latest crisis averted, it’s time for Con- gress to ratify the United States-Mexico-Canada agreement and the adminis- tration to focus on formaliz- ing deals with China, Japan and Europe. Farmers in the Paciﬁ c Northwest are waiting for the deals that were prom- ised and the stability they would bring to agriculture. 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. Blue Mountain EAGLE Published every Wednesday by SHOOTING THE BREEZE A day at the derby J une 1 was a good day. I took my little girl and a friend to the ﬁ shing derby hosted by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wild- life at McHaley Pond. They hold it every year on the state free ﬁ sh- ing day, and they do a great job. Rod Carpenter The pond had just been stocked with 1,000 trout and 150 “tro- phies.” Trophies are greater than 14 inches in length and can be over 20 inches, so anticipation was high, and chances of catching some ﬁ sh were good. Fish and Game did a good job hosting the event. They had lots of folks around to answer questions and help novices catch a ﬁ sh or two. Kids could try out a ﬂ y ﬁ sh- ing station, paint a ﬁ sh or look at some frogs. They had an exhibit of all the animals found at the pond, which was neat, and they pro- vided hot dogs and hamburgers at lunchtime. They divided the kids into under 6 years old and 6 and above. We had until noon to ﬁ sh, and then ﬁ rst, second and third prizes were awarded for the big- gest ﬁ sh caught in each age group. Some really neat ﬁ shing gear was given away, but we weren’t in the prize money this year. That’s OK, though, because we had a great time ﬁ shing. It seems like Powerbait with a bob- ber was the most popular way to go. McHaley has a lot of weeds so you needed to stay off the bot- tom. Those ﬁ sh got pretty smart fast, though. You would set the hook after watching your bob- ber go clear under the water and get nothing! I think they were just mouthing the bait. Finally I just waited until the bait was half digested to set the hook. Ella and I caught eight or nine eating-size trout but no giants. We had some success with spinners, but it was hard to keep them out of the weeds. I think we may head back up with a dry ﬂ y outﬁ t and see what we can do. We saw a few 17 or 18 inchers caught, but most of them are still out there. Yep, it was crowded, and you needed to be there early to get a “prime” spot down on the west end of the pond where it is deep- est, but we were late and still were able to get a good spot to ﬁ sh. I noticed everybody seemed to be doing pretty well, no matter where they were. Standing near a 4-year-old try- ing to cast can be a real adven- ture and lines were crossed many times. However, everyone was friendly and patient with the little kiddos and tried hard to make it a good time for them. I will be back next year. If you come too, bring a chair, some water and sunscreen. There isn’t much in the way of shade there. A fun attitude and a little patience for the little guys trying to catch a ﬁ sh is a good idea as well. We welcome your thoughts at shootingthebreezebme@gmail. com. Rod Carpenter is a husband, father and hunting fool. 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 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 MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION Contributed photo Mitchell McKrola poses with a trout. Online: MyEagleNews.com 1 YEAR SUBSCRIPTION RATES (including online access) Grant County .........................................$45 Everywhere else in U.S. .......................$57 Outside Continental U.S. ....................$60 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 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