A4
OPINION
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Move
government
closer to the
governed
R
ecently, media re-
ports have said that
the Trump adminis-
tration has decided to move
the headquarters of the Bu-
reau of Land Management
from Washington, D.C., to
Grand Junction, Colo.
The Interior Department,
the parent agency of the
BLM, has yet to confirm the
news, but the administration
has made moving the head-
quarters to a Western state a
key part of its plan to reorga-
nize the department.
A bipartisan coalition of
members of Congress from
Western states put forward
legislation last year to man-
date such as move.
Interior Department offi-
cials have said they were
considering Grand Junction
as well as Denver; Albuquer-
que, New Mexico; Boise,
Idaho; and Salt Lake City
for the new headquarters.
Whether Western Col-
orado or some other city
becomes the BLM’s new
home, we support the move.
As we said when the idea
was first floated last year, the
logic of moving the BLM
west isn’t hard for people in
the West to understand.
Ninety-nine percent of the
250 million acres managed
by the BLM is west of the
Mississippi River. Its deci-
sions impact the livelihoods
of people who populate rural
communities but those deci-
sions are made far from the
forests, grasslands and high
deserts they call home.
Not everyone is in love
with the idea, particularly
members of the ruling class
and the special interests that
court influence inside the
Washington beltway.
Critics say the BLM and
other agencies need to be
headquartered in the capi-
tal to be included in budget
and policy discussions. But
having all those discussions
in Washington is part of the
problem. That’s better for
K Street lobbyists and the
special interests, but not so
good for the people those
policies impact.
While it’s true that less
than 5% of the bureau’s
9,000 employees are sta-
tioned in D.C., they have
more say and less access to
the national treasures they
administer than their col-
leagues in the field.
The BLM isn’t the only
agency the administra-
tion seeks to move out
of the greater District of
Columbia. There are also
plans to move the Eco-
nomic Research Service and
National Institute of Food
and Agriculture to Kansas
City.
The elite hates that idea,
too.
They proffer the same
arguments in both cases. It
will cost money to move
these agencies out to the
countryside, and proba-
bly won’t save any in the
long run. They say valu-
able employees will be lost
if forced to move from the
beltway.
All of these moves will
cost money, and we’ve
yet to see the government
do anything that actually
saves any money. We have
a harder time believing that
we will lose a huge amount
of human capital if agencies
are moved from Washing-
ton. It is probable there are
a great many people who
would find government ser-
vice more rewarding if it
carried with it an affordable
duty station outside D.C.
We think the real value
of these plans is to keep
the government close to the
governed. That scares the
ruling class the most.
FARMER’S FATE
Air horn epiphany
W
e dragged into the
house, tired, dirty and
exhausted. It had been
one of those days. It had started
with a jolt, a little after 4 a.m.,
when an air horn blasted repeat-
edly as an unknown truck sped
down the road near our house.
Our feet hit the floor, wonder-
ing what animal had found his
way through the fence and hop-
ing everything was still alive. I
fashionably slipped rubber boots
over my pajamas. A quick check
revealed nothing out of place. We
never discovered who or why the
air horn had blared, but by now,
there was no point in going back
to bed just to shut off the alarm in
a few minutes.
The day was filled with one
air horn after another. A parts run
produced the wrong item, and the
correct ones were a day out; the
clamp on the telehandler broke
while picking up round bales; a
glass plate shattered coming out
of the microwave; I lost my favor-
ite red bandana sometime during
the day; and my phone fell in the
toilet.
It was with great relief that
the day finally ended. It was even
better to see that we had made it
in before midnight for the first
time in a week. I stared at our
dirt-streaked faces. As much as
I wanted to just fall into bed, I
knew we’d sleep better without
sharing that bed with all the dirt,
hay and dog slobbers we’d accu-
mulated throughout the day.
My grandmother always use
to say “the family that bathes
together, stathes together,” so I
drew a bath and sent our less-
than-excited boys into it, with
strict instructions to scrub good
behind their ears.
I had just re-bandaged my
hand from the screwdriver I had
rammed through my palm a few
I whispered. “Too little, too
scratchy, too many buttons —
and then too big? Ahhhhh.....” I
let out a big sigh. “He has two
whole drawers full of perfectly
good shirts. If he isn’t wearing
them, then why are we storing
them? We should just get rid of
them.”
My husband walked over to
my dresser, and opened my two
drawers of jeans. “How many of
those do you wear?”
I raised an eyebrow. “That’s
different. Some are for particu-
lar occasions, some are long and
need to be worn with heels, and
others are just a little tighter than
I’d like, and maybe by the end of
summer —”
He interrupted me, “In other
words, they are scratchy, have
buttons, are too small or too
big...”
I gave him my best pretend
glare, knowing I’d lost. But the
next morning, as I was going
about my morning chores, I sud-
denly had a mental air horn going
off in my brain, waking me as it
were, for the second morning in
a row.
I looked at the miscellaneous
machinery sitting around col-
lecting dust, the car that hasn’t
been driven in years, imple-
ments whose cobwebs haven’t
been disturbed in even longer
— and in that moment I discov-
ered a strong connection between
machinery and jeans. Women
don’t throw out jeans, that (if
we were being perfectly honest)
we’ll never wear again, because
of some crazy sentimental attach-
ment. I think men have that same
affection toward cars they’ll
never drive and implements
they’ll no longer pull.
Brianna Walker occasionally
writes about the Farmer’s Fate
for the Blue Mountain Eagle.
days prior, when
the boys emerged
from their bath.
My oldest wear-
ing pajama pants
— and the same
dirty shirt he’d just
peeled off!
Brianna
“Why didn’t
Walker
you put on a clean
shirt?” my husband asked sharply.
“I don’t have any. This one is
OK. I shook most of the dirt out.”
“It’s filthy!” I exclaimed, then
added, “You have two drawers
full of shirts.”
“No, I don’t,” he stubbornly
insisted.
“I know you do. I just put them
there,” I said, getting up to look
myself.
Sure enough, two drawers full
of nicely folded, clean shirts.
“But they don’t fit,” he argued.
He started pointing, “too small,
too small, too tight...”
“What about this shirt?” I
asked pointing to an orange one.
“... scratchy ... it has buttons ...
I can’t sleep in a collar...”
He had a reason why each of
the shirts in his drawer were less
appropriate than the filthy one he
was currently wearing.
I picked up a light blue one
with Donald Duck on the front.
“Here. Wear this.”
“It’s too big,” he said, a look of
complete seriousness on his face.
“Too big? How can a pajama
shirt be too big? That’s practically
the definition of pajama!” I said, a
touch of exasperation in my voice.
He grudgingly took the shirt
I held out, and somewhere in the
house the clock struck 12.
“So much for being in bed
before midnight,” I grumbled as
I walked into our room where my
husband stood apparently listen-
ing to the clean shirt tête-à-tête.
“Did you hear all that?”
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Hazardous fuels
funding should
be spent within
wildland-urban
interface
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.
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Published every
Wednesday by
To the Editor:
I was surprised to see my
name mentioned in the Blue
Mountain Eagle (July 10).
The words attributed to me
were incorrect and careless.
It wasn’t a comment I pre-
sented to Greg Walden at his
town hall; it was a plea.
What I discussed with the con-
gressman was the federal bud-
getary process, something Greg
would understand.
Congress allocates money to
reduce hazardous fuels on federal
lands, but often it goes to under-
funded programs, such as large
fire suppression or timber sale
support.
Thinning dense stands of tim-
ber does reduce potential fire
behavior, but the location was
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
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MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
Online: MyEagleNews.com
often in the back country. Where
the bigger trees are. Forest resil-
iency, restoration and improve-
ments to anadromous fish habitat
are wonderful goals I support, but
calculating their value is difficult.
The lessons of the Canyon
Creek fire, or the Camp Fire in
Paradise, California, last year
were tragic, painful but obvious.
Fires will impact communities.
But there won’t be any new
hazardous fuels money allocated
to federal land managers. The
amount currently appropriated
must be spent in the right loca-
tion, which is within the wild-
land-urban interface and to pro-
tect other critical infrastructure.
This is something a congress-
man can do, specify that hazard-
ous fuels money be spent within
the WUI.
While I believe 100% should
be spent doing the hard work
protecting homes, businesses
and infrastructure, any legislative
increase will help.
It will help save lives.
It’s not about wasteful
spending.
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Chamber of
Commerce looks
great
To the Editor:
Kudos to the many volun-
teers who did an excellent job
in improving the landscaping
around the Grant County Cham-
ber of Commerce. First impres-
sions are important to the many
visitors coming through John Day
and Grant County. Tourism con-
tributes to our communities in
many different ways. The Cham-
ber of Commerce headquarters
looks great.
Chris Labhart
John Day
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send address changes to:
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good for the greatest number, for
the longest time.
Scott McDonald
Mt. Vernon
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