A4
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
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Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
Publisher............ ......................................Chris Rush, crush@eomediagroup.com
Editor & General Manager ...............Sean Hart, editor@bmeagle.com
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Contributed photo
Mitchell McKrola poses with a trout.
Online: MyEagleNews.com
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