A4
OPINION
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
Voters need to
remain engaged in
legislative activity
T
he Oregon Legislature
is poised to approve yet
another gun mandate,
and while the battle lines over
such issues are clearly drawn,
the real lesson for voters is
they must remain involved and
watchful the actions of their
elected lawmakers.
Late last month, the Oregon
Senate voted to approve a bill
to eliminate guns carried by
concealed handgun licensees
from state buildings.
The new bill — House Bill
2510 — will require the stor-
age of fi rearms with trigger
of cable locks inside a locked
container or gun room.
Input on the bill is, as
expected, evenly divided. That
may be the only positive ele-
ment to this piece of legisla-
tion — there is no ambiguity
about how people feel about it.
It is diffi cult to see how
such a bill — which essen-
tially reaches into a resident’s
private home — will with-
stand a court challenge on at
least two specifi c constitu-
tional pillars, but chances are
it will gain approval.
Anti-gun bills and other
pieces of legislation that tackle
cultural fl ashpoint issues are
going to be the norm going
into the future, and that means
every voter must do all they
can to stay appraised of the
ambitions and workings of
their elected leaders.
In this day and age, that is
no easy task. Especially with
the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the past there was a
robust system — including
the media and other watchdog
groups — that keep citizens
informed about legislative
action. The media landscape,
though, has changed. The
number of reporters that cover
the Oregon Capitol isn’t as
large as it once was, and that
can be traced to economics.
That means it is up to every
voter to ensure they are fol-
lowing what is going on at the
Legislature.
Thankfully, there are paths
to keep up with our lawmak-
ers. The internet is probably
the easiest way to do so, and
the Oregon Legislature’s web-
site is very informative and
off ers a list of bills that can be
easily accessed.
The world is a bigger place
now. Stories and events are
occurring all the time and
often take center stage over
what can be viewed as bor-
ing news out of a legislative
session.
But it isn’t boring. At least
not when it comes to certain
pieces of legislation that can
impact us all. That is why it is
so important that voters stay
informed and remain focused
on what is going on at the
Legislature.
Every voter has an obliga-
tion to stay informed.
FARMER’S FATE
‘The Field’ gym and tanning salon
“Y
ou should join the gym
with me!” she exclaimed
excitedly. “Just think of
the exercise you’d get! It would be so
much fun!”
My face stuck in an expression
between a grimace and a smile. I tried
to nod and look interested. Thankfully,
my plastic grin hid most of my hor-
ror, and I was able to politely extricate
myself before I accidentally agreed.
With cross-fi t and gym memberships
the rage, I consider my continued
refusal to go to the gym as my own
personal resistance training.
Actually, I’m not against working
out at all — I am just very particular
— just any old gym won’t do. “The
Field” is by far my favorite place to
do a little sweating, especially as each
workout is accompanied with a natu-
ral tan and free hair highlights.
I love the place so much, I’m there
six days a week. There are no annual
fees, and it’s open 24 hours a day.
Every morning, I slip into my “gym
clothes” — jeans, T-shirt and boots
— grab my pocket knife and water
jug, and I’m almost ready to start my
workout.
Instead of the trendy protein
shakes, my family’s pre-workout food
is usually a fried egg, toast, orange
juice or coff ee, and then we’re off to
“The Field.” Our warm up includes
a little bending as we feed the ani-
mals, a little stretching as we reach to
scratch behind the horse’s ears and a
little twisting as we push the goat’s
head back out of the fence where she
has gotten her horns stuck.
Now that everyone is warmed up,
it’s time for the real workout to begin.
Sometimes the workouts are pitching
melons, sometimes
it’s bucking bales,
pulling weeds, dig-
ging holes, changing
irrigation or building
fence — each day is
diff erent, using alter-
Brianna
nating muscle groups
Walker
— but whatever the
workout entailed, at
the end of the day, your muscles will
feel well used.
“The Field” off ers more than just
strength training — there’s plenty of
cardio also. It comes at random times
and frequencies to keep your body
always on its “A” game. This comes
in the form of angry cows, or spitting
llamas, or forgetting your lunchbox on
the back of pickup bed that is pulling
out of the driveway.
My phone rang early one morn-
ing, the neighbor’s number blazoned
at the top. “I think I have one of your
chickens over here, and we can’t catch
it.” Catching a chicken in the mid-
dle of a 10-acre pasture, dotted only
with humming alpacas is a great way
for a little early morning aerobics —
not to mention some great “Ameri-
ca’s Funniest Home Video” moments.
After lunging a few times and hav-
ing the wings just brush my fi n-
gers as it fl ew over my head, I fi nally
caught the naughty hen. Heart pound-
ing, sweat dripping and the bird care-
fully sandwiched between my two
hands, I fi nally knew why the chicken
crossed the road — to help promote
“The Field” as the best cardio-gym in
the nation.
This summer, a friend of mine
asked me to write down exactly what
I eat in a given day, because she had
decided she was going to start what-
ever “diet” I was on. I laughed. I eat
whatever I want, whenever I have
access to it. That means I may have
thirds on those cream-cheese laden
mashed potatoes for supper — or
I may have nothing but some stale
Mexican cookies I found in the arm
rest of the tractor. One day may
include doughnuts for breakfast, pizza
for lunch, popcorn for supper and the
next day could be V8 for breakfast,
watermelon for lunch and nothing for
supper.
“You don’t want to eat what I
eat,” I said, “you want to work like
I work.” She looked skeptical, but a
few days later she showed up in work-
out clothes, and after a quick warm
up of making up some cardboard
bins, she found herself catching and
stacking 30,000 pounds of watermel-
ons. It wasn’t long before she was
dirtier than I’d ever seen her — but
even under all that dirt and sweat,
one could see proud, glistening mus-
cles. Her husband said upon arrival at
home, she went straight to the tub and
laid down, too tired to even stand with
a hot shower pouring over her.
“The Farm” workout: a series of
strenuous exercises that help convert
fats, sugars and starches into aches,
pains and cramps.
“You ready for a daily member-
ship?” my husband teased her later.
I couldn’t tell exactly what she
responded with, but it sounded some-
thing like, “I really don’t need buns
of steel — I’d be happy with buns of
cinnamon.”
Brianna Walker occasionally
writes about the Farmer’s Fate for the
Blue Mountain Eagle.
GUEST COMMENT
Join the Citizen Review Board
By John Nichols
he Citizen Review Board is
Oregon’s statewide foster care
review program that reviews
the case plans of children and fam-
ilies involved in the child welfare
system to determine if their place-
ments and services are appropriate.
Each child in foster care is
required by law to have their case
reviewed by a judge or a panel
of local citizens (Citizen Review
Board) every six months to ensure
the foster child is receiving adequate
care.
A local Citizen Review Board in
Grant and Harney counties is com-
prised of volunteers of the coun-
ties who are willing to give one day
every other month (two to eight
hours depending on the number of
cases) to review cases. In reviewing
plans and services for children and
youth, local boards seek to ensure
T
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,
oregonlegislature.gov.
• Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale — 900 Court St.
NE, S-301, Salem 97301. Phone: 503-986-
1730. Website: oregonlegislature.gov/fi ndley.
Email: sen.lynnfi ndley@oregonlegislature.
gov.
• Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane — 900 Court St.
NE, H-475, Salem 97301. Phone: 503-986-
1460. District address: 258 S. Oregon St.,
Ontario OR 97914. District phone: 541-889-
8866. Website: oregonlegislature.gov/fi ndley.
Email: rep.markowens@oregonlegislature.
gov.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500; Phone-
comments: 202-456-1111; Switchboard:
202-456-1414.
• U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D — 516 Hart Senate
Offi ce Building, Washington D.C. 20510.
Phone: 202-224-5244. Email: wayne_kinney@
wyden.senate.gov. Website: http://wyden.
senate.gov Fax: 202-228-2717.
• U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D — 313 Hart
Senate Offi ce Building, Washington D.C.
20510. Phone: 202-224-3753. Email: senator@
merkley.senate.gov. Fax: 202-228-3997.
Oregon offi ces include One World Trade
Center, 121 S.W. Salmon St., Suite 1250,
Portland, OR 97204; and 310 S.E. Second St.,
Suite 105, Pendleton, OR 97801. Phone: 503-
326-3386; 541-278-1129. Fax: 503-326-2990.
• U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, R — (Second District)
1239 Longworth Building, Washington D.C.
20515. Phone: 202-225-6730. No direct email
because of spam. Website: walden.house.
gov Fax: 202-225-5774. Ontario offi ce: 2430
SW Fourth Ave., Suite 2, Ontario, OR 97914.
Phone: 541-709-2040. Medford offi ce: 14 N.
Central Ave., Suite 112, Medford, OR 97501.
Phone: 541-776-4646. Fax: 541-779-0204.
• Pending Bills: For information on bills in
Congress. Phone: 202-225-1772.
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Published every
Wednesday by
that each abused or neglected child
has a safe and nurturing permanent
home as quickly as possible and that
everyone in the case gets the ser-
vices they need.
The CRB invite parents, fos-
ter parents, attorneys, caseworkers,
court-appointed special advocates
(CASAs), other interested par-
ties and the child, if appropriate, to
attend the CRB review and discuss
plans for the family and the child. It
is important for every party to have
a voice. The board then makes fi nd-
ings and recommendations to the
circuit court and the Department of
Human Services Child Welfare.
The mission of the Citizen
Review Board is to provide a citi-
zen voice on the safety, stability and
supervision of children in foster care
through impartial case review and
advocacy. Our vision is for citizens
to shape public policy and actively
promote conditions to ensure that
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
‘We live by way
diff erent standards’
To the Editor:
In regards to last week’s paper,
I would like to say that “assault
rifl es” were not designed “only to
kill other humans.” The AR was
originally designed for our infan-
try. The U.S. military uses AR to
this day. Protecting our U.S. troops!
And the troops standing outside the
state capitol are carrying them as
well.
As far as carrying a pistol, that
is a person’s right. Oregon is an
open carry state. If more honest
people carried, there would be less
stores robbed and less crimes tak-
ing place!
As for statements on people’s
masks and signs on people’s private
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
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property, that is their right. It’s called
freedom of speech!
Being a part of Idaho makes more
sense than trying to get the gover-
nor or any of the west side majority
to understand our rural way of liv-
ing out here. We live by way diff er-
ent standards than the west side. And
they do not understand that.
Cheltzy Cox
Monument
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mailing offi ces.
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send address changes to:
Blue Mountain Eagle
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Offi ce Assistant .....................................Alixandra Hand, offi ce@bmeagle.com
MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
every child lives in a safe, secure,
healthy and permanent home, pre-
serving families whenever possible.
Volunteers are screened and
trained to serve. They are appointed
by the chief justice of the Oregon
Supreme Court and sworn in by the
judge of the Grant and Harney Cir-
cuit Court.
If you are interested in looking
into this volunteer opportunity fur-
ther, please feel free to contact me
or go to http://www.courts.oregon.
gov/crb. You can submit an applica-
tion at: CRB APPLICATION.
Currently, due to the COVID-
19 restrictions, we are doing all
reviews remotely on Webex. We
hope to return to in-person reviews
in October.
John Nichols is the Citizen
Review Board fi eld manager for
Baker, Grant, Harney, Malheur,
Morrow, Umatilla, Union and Wal-
lowa counties.
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Blue Mountain Eagle
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